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Today — 6 March 2025Tech News

AI and human emotion are the building blocks of effective creative advertising

By: Nexxen
6 March 2025 at 10:35

Gabriela Maestre, vp, global creative solutions, Nexxen

Last year, there was a major uptick in the buzz around generative AI and emotional creative analysis, particularly in marketing. Since then, both tools have become indispensable for optimizing performance and increasing output, with advertisers and publishers using them to enhance audience engagement, personalize content for specific demographics and drive conversions. 

The challenge, though, is figuring out how best to harness these tools — individually or in combination; a question that’s fueled industry-wide debate for months.

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This is what One UI 7 looks like on the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra

6 March 2025 at 10:29

One UI 7 still hasn’t made it’s way to most devices, even though Samsung is actively proclaiming that the software is soon to roll out to users. Still, it seems the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra has gotten access to One UI 7 before publicly available, and new photos showcase what the OS will bring to Samsung’s most premium tablet.

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Victrola adds more wireless options to its Sonos-compatible turntables

If you own one of Victrola's high-end, Sonos-ready turntables from the last few years, your techie record player is about to get more versatile. The company said on Thursday that all of its "Works with Sonos" vinyl turntables will support Bluetooth, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and hi-fi Roon streaming through a software update.

The update will dramatically increase the streaming versatility of the Stream Carbon, Pearl and Onyx turntables. Meanwhile, Victrola says the ultra-premium Sapphire player, which also supports those standards, has already received the update. The company says it will install automatically, and the new options will appear in the section of the app where you previously only saw the option to pick a default Sonos speaker.

A Victrola Stream Carbon turntable sitting on a shelf next to a Sonos One speaker.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

While the new capabilities are good news for anyone who spent anywhere from $600 to $1,500 on a hi-tech vinyl player, it seems curious (if not infuriating) that the premium gear launched without these capabilities despite having all the requisite hardware. And while the company framed the update as a natural continuation of its mission to help vinyl lovers, you could look at Sonos' calamitous year and speculate that Victrola calculated that hitching too many horses to that post might not be the best idea.

An incomprehensibly botched Sonos app update in May led to months of downward spiraling. Despite numerous attempts to plug holes, the debacle culminated in two rounds of layoffs and the departure of its CEO and chief product officer in January. Although Victrola launched cheaper Sonos-less alternatives to the same turntables months before Sonos' plummet began, it's easy to imagine it nervously eyeing that mess and deciding now is a good time to awaken the Sonos variants' dormant wireless capabilities.

"This update is a major step forward in our mission to blend the warmth of vinyl with the convenience of modern wireless audio," Victrola Scott Hagen wrote in a press release. "The Victrola Stream turntables have been the best option for Sonos users, and now we're extending that same effortless streaming experience to even more audio ecosystems. Vinyl lovers can now enjoy premium wireless flexibility without compromise."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/victrola-adds-more-wireless-options-to-its-sonos-compatible-turntables-181634084.html?src=rss

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© Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Photo of the Victrola Stream Carbon sitting on a shelf housed with vinyl.

Prehistoric bone tool cache suggests advanced reasoning in early hominins

Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania boasts sediment layers dating back to about 1.8 million years ago. Those layers contain simple stone tools that marked one of the earliest recorded technological transitions. Now, researchers have uncovered a substantial cache of prehistoric bone tools in the same region dating back 1.5 million years. It's the oldest collection of mass-produced bone tools yet known, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature. And while it's still unclear which hominin species crafted the tools, the discovery suggests that our early human ancestors had some advanced reasoning skills a good million years earlier than previously thought.

“The tools show evidence that their creators carefully worked the bones, chipping off flakes to create useful shapes," said co-author Renata F. Peters, an archaeologist at University College London. "We were excited to find these bone tools from such an early timeframe. It means that human ancestors were capable of transferring skills from stone to bone, a level of complex cognition that we haven’t seen elsewhere for another million years.”

As previously reported, species on the hominin family tree have made and used stone tools for about 2.6 million years. For instance, Homo habilis was an early member of our genus who walked upright and had a mixture of human and ape-like features. Starting around 1.2 million years ago, a later hominin species called Homo erectus made more complex stone tools, like hand axes.

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Jackbox games are coming to smart TVs

6 March 2025 at 10:25
Tee K.O. 2 from Jackbox Party Pack 10.

Jackbox Games are going to be available on smart TVs as part of a new cloud streaming service, according to a blog post. Jackbox aims to launch a beta of the service on “one or two smart TV platforms in the Spring of 2025.”

Generally, Jackbox titles are offered in bundles called “Party Packs” that you can play on platforms like game consoles and PCs. This new native smart TV app could make it easier to jump into a Jackbox game, since you won’t need to launch the titles from a device like a game console.

To start, this Jackbox service will only offer a “small collection” of “ad-supported” games for free. But down the line, Jackbox plans to “also offer our entire catalog of games for a subscription fee.” (You can already subscribe to a Jackbox Games channel on Amazon’s Luna cloud gaming service for $4.99 per month to access the Jackbox catalog.)

Jackbox’s service relies on Amazon’s new AWS GameLift Streams technology that lets companies build their own cloud gaming apps and experiences. GameLift Streams is also being used by companies like Bandai Namco, which relies on it to “stream an immersive metaverse platform to fans of its Gundam franchise,” according to a press release.

Christie’s AI art auction reportedly exceeds expectations

6 March 2025 at 10:38

Nearly 6,500 artists demanded in an open letter that fine art auction house Christie’s cancel its first show dedicated solely to works created with AI. Yet, the show, Augmented Intelligence, went on — and reportedly exceeded expectations. According to Christie’s, the show brought in more than $700,000, with many lots reaching beyond their high estimates. […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

ChatGPT on macOS can now directly edit code

6 March 2025 at 10:36

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot platform, can now directly edit code — if you’re on macOS, that is. The newest version of the ChatGPT app for macOS can take action to edit code in supported developer tools, including Xcode, VS Code, and JetBrains. Users can optionally turn on an “auto-apply” mode so ChatGPT can make edits […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Spotify says it’s fixing the bug that caused Premium users to hear ads

6 March 2025 at 10:31

Spotify has acknowledged an issue that’s causing some of its paid Premium subscribers to encounter ads when trying to play music. In an X post published on Thursday by Spotify’s customer service account, the company said it’s looking into the problem and linked to its Community website where the issue has been documented by users […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

David’s Bridal Elevates Marketing Vet Kelly Cook to CEO

6 March 2025 at 09:37
David's Bridal has elevated marketing leader Kelly Cook to chief executive officer (CEO). Cook made the announcement yesterday on her LinkedIn page. "Today marks a significant milestone for both David's Bridal and my career!" she wrote. "I am honored to share that I will be stepping into the role of CEO at David's Bridal during...

New MacBook Air, iPad Air, and Mac Studio launches

6 March 2025 at 10:07

Benjamin and Chance recap the newly announced lineup of iPads and Macs. The new iPad Air and base iPad offer even better value for money, while Apple pushes the performance edge with the surprising launch of the M3 Ultra in the Mac Studio, and makes the best MacBook yet with the new M4 MacBook Air. Also, iOS 18.4 beta 2 brings even more new features to discuss.

And in Happy Hour Plus, Apple takes a swing at a home run with a trio of baseball content announcements. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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Prime Gaming's March freebies include Saints Row: The Third and Mafia II remasters

By: Kris Holt
6 March 2025 at 10:00

It's Thursday, which means there are some more PC games that Amazon Prime members can claim for free. Amazon has also revealed the entire slate of freebies that subscribers can snag throughout March, as well as the games they can stream at no extra cost on Amazon Luna.

Arguably the highest-profile additions of the month are available today in the form of Saints Row: The Third Remastered and Mafia II: Definitive Edition. As ever, nearly every game on the list is for PC, but since Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is claimable via the Microsoft Store, you'll be able to play that one on Xbox as well.

Mortal Shell is an RPG from a few years back that I'd been meaning to check out, so I'll be sure to pick that one up. Elsewhere, The Forgotten City is a mystery RPG that was originally a Skyrim mod. The standalone version debuted a few years ago to critical acclaim.

You typically have about a month to claim each of the games before they leave the lineup (meaning that you can still snag many of the February additions) Here's what you can snap up and when, along with the launcher you can play each game on:

Now

  • Saints Row: The Third Remastered (GOG)

  • Mafia II: Definitive Edition (GOG)

  • Crime Boss: Rockay City (Epic Games Store)

  • Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master (Amazon Games App)

March 13

  • Wall World (Amazon Games App)

  • Syberia: The World Before (GOG)

  • Endling - Extinction is Forever (Amazon Games App)

  • Dark Deity: Complete Edition (GOG)

  • Beholder 3 (Amazon Games App)

March 20

  • Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (Xbox and PC via Microsoft Store Code)

  • Mutazione (GOG)

  • Figment 2: Creed Valley (Amazon Games App)

  • Legacy of Kain: Defiance (GOG)

  • Mortal Shell (Epic Games Store)

March 27

  • The Forgotten City (Amazon Games App)

  • Deus Ex: Invisible War (GOG)

  • Session: Skate Sim (Epic Games Store)

  • Let's Build A Zoo (Epic Games Store)

  • Gamedec - Definitive Edition (GOG)

  • The Wisbey Mystery (Legacy Games Code)

Along with those games that Prime members can claim and keep forever (even if they cancel their plan), subscribers can stream a bunch of other titles via Amazon Luna. Along with staples like Fortnite, Trackmania and a couple of Fallout games, members can stream WRC Generations Fully Loaded Edition, Spitlings, The Jackbox Party Pack 3, Strange Horticulture and the utterly brilliant Overcooked! 2 throughout March. As a reminder, only Prime members in the US, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands and Poland have access to these games on Luna.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/prime-gamings-march-freebies-include-saints-row-the-third-and-mafia-ii-remasters-180008526.html?src=rss

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© Amazon

Amazon Prime Gaming free games for March

The MagicX Zero 40 handheld features a vertical display for DS emulation

The Nintendo DS is one of the toughest consoles to emulate, for an obvious reason. It’s the two screens. This is even an issue with ports. Some developers avoid the problem by mushing everything together onto a single traditional screen, like the recently-released Castlevania Dominus Collection. However, gamers may finally have an affordable emulation solution, thanks to the MagicX Zero 40 handheld console.

On its surface, it’s yet another handheld emulator, but this one features a four-inch vertically-oriented 800x480 touchscreen display. This should allow players to accurately recreate the experience of playing DS games. That’s great news, as replacement parts for any of the DS's iterations are difficult to come by these days.

The MagicX Zero 40 runs on a 64-bit Android operating system and features 2GB of RAM and a battery that lasts for four to seven hours. As for storage, it supports flash cards up to 512GB. What about 3DS emulation? The specs sheet indicates there’s no support for Nintendo’s follow-up dual-screen handheld, but the Zero 40 will emulate games from all of the standard single-screen systems. These include the PSP, NES, SNES, Dreamcast and many more.

The Zero 40 is expected to be released this April, with an asking price of $75. Pre-orders were open, but are sold out for the time being. There’s another option for a dual-screen emulation, if you have deep pockets. The Ayaneo Flip DS will run Nintendo DS, 3DS and Wii U games, but starts at $739.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-magicx-zero-40-handheld-features-a-vertical-display-for-ds-emulation-175820385.html?src=rss

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© MagicX

A handheld console.

Trump claims CFPB “destroys” people. Senators say killing it is a gift to Musk.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from monitoring digital payments companies for fraud and privacy concerns—which Democratic lawmakers Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff said gave Elon Musk a "get out of jail free card."

The vote advanced a proposed joint resolution to the House of Representatives that "disapproves" of a final rule Republicans introduced last year that was supposed to bring consumer protection regulation of digital payments companies in line with traditional financial institutions.

At that time, lawmakers were concerned about tech companies spying on consumers' transactions, preventing valid transaction disputes over incorrect or fraudulent money transfers, and other potential harms to consumers "when they lose access to their app without notice or when their ability to make or receive payments is disrupted."

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