OpenAI just rolled out GPT-4.5, and the excitement was short-lived. Billed as the most expensive AI model ever produced, it arrived with high expectations, yet it hasn’t delivered anything groundbreaking. The model doesn’t set new benchmarks, introduce revolutionary capabilities, or […]
After years going mostly unchanged, Apple’s Calendar app has started improving quickly over the last few months. And there’s one recent feature in particular that I’ve long wanted, and it’s made a big difference for me: integrating Reminders with the Calendar app.
Welcome to episode 43 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, we talk about the Chromecast going out of stock and the future of Gemini smart displays/speakers.
DOGE claims that a government agency has nearly three times as many software licenses as employees. Experts say there are plenty of good reasons for that.
The north pole of Mars is slowly sinking under the weight of an ice cap that only formed within the past few million years. And, in the process, it's telling us something about what the planet's interior must be like, thanks in no small part to data obtained by hardware we landed in Mars' equatorial regions.
That's the conclusion of a new modeling study that produces results that are broadly consistent with earlier work, although quite a bit more detailed. In the process, the work shows how it's possible to take data from radically different data sources and pull them together into a coherent picture.
Weighted down
While the crust of a planet is relatively solid, it bends and breaks in various ways under the strain of plate tectonics. It also flexes in response to ice. The long glacial period that preceded our current interglacial saw sheets of ice that pressed the crust down into the mantle under their difficult-to-conceive weight. With the ice gone, the crust is slowly rising again, in a process called glacial isostatic rebound.
OpenAI intends to eventually integrate its AI video generation tool, Sora, directly into its popular consumer chatbot app, ChatGPT, company leaders said during a Friday office hours session on Discord. Today, Sora is only available through a dedicated web app OpenAI launched in December, which lets users access the AI video model of the same […]
It may be difficult to believe in this time of Zoom, Google Meet, and Slack, but at one point, Skype was one of the primary ways to make contact with friends, family, and colleagues. First released in 2003 and, after going through several owners, finally purchased by Microsoft in 2011, the app allowed you to make phone calls and eventually video calls over the internet. For its time, it was a major convenience.
Unfortunately, the once-popular app was fated to be neglected and ignored, and it has finally reached its end. Microsoft has announced that it is shutting Skype down on May 5th; current users will be encouraged to move to Teams or to export their data. But although Skype will be gone, the memories it evokes — not to mention the sound of its weird and wonderful ringtone — will stay with many of us for years to come.
Here are some thoughts from The Verge’s staff on Skype’s passing.
“Skype was my lifeline back home.”
In 2006, I was 18 and did a thing only brash teenagers could do: I left the country on my own to live in Japan for seven years. This was before smartphones, when you had to have international calling cards, and my family had only gotten high-speed internet access the year before. On the one hand, I was excited about an adventure in a place where I knew no one and wasn’t fluent in the local language. On the other hand, I was petrified.
Skype was my lifeline back home. All of my high school friends were on it, and it was cheaper than calling my family with expensive international minutes. The call quality wasn’t always great, and the time difference between Tokyo and New York City was tough. But in those early days, it was comforting to set up Skype dates with people who I knew loved me. That distinctive Skype ringtone was a reminder that I could always go home if I wanted to. Nearly a decade later, when my dad had to leave the US to receive more affordable medical treatment in Korea, Skype was the only video chat software he knew how to use. It became the main way I could see him for several months before his health declined.
Eventually, we all moved on to other chat and video apps. My Japanese friends all use LINE, and my Korean family all uses KakaoTalk. FaceTime, Zoom, and Google Meet pretty much cover the rest of my friends. I haven’t thought of Skype in a hot second. But now that it’s going away, I am grateful it was there for me during some of the hardest moments of my life. – Victoria Song, senior reviewer
“Those long-distance calls were expensive if you didn’t use Skype”
Remember the first iPhone? No, not that one. Infogear sold products under the name beginning in 1998. It was acquired by Cisco, which later sold Linksys-branded iPhones. (Yes, there was a lawsuit over it.) I remember reviewing the Linksys iPhone CIT400 — otherwise known as a “Skype phone” — in 2007.
Although there were a couple of competitors, it was relatively unique at the time since it allowed you to use Skype to place voice calls like you would on a normal household phone (remember those?). It was useful because my girlfriend (now wife) was living in Italy. And those long-distance calls were expensive if you didn’t use Skype! – Todd Haselton, deputy editor
“It became a cherished lifeline”
I actually avoided Skype right up until a few years before its demise. I don’t remember it being a popular “thing” in the UK when I was growing up. When I started jobs that required me to make overseas calls, however, it became a cherished lifeline. My mobile carrier outright blocked me from dialing non-UK numbers, and every attempt to correct the issue fizzled out. Instead, I found it was easier and cheaper to just download Skype and use credits when I needed to make those calls. It was good while it lasted :’-( – Jess Weatherbed, news writer
“We were using Skype for a lot of our productions”
When I first started producing podcasts at The Verge in 2015, we were using Skype for a lot of our productions. Before each taping of our show Ctrl-Walt-Delete, I’d sit in our VO booth on Skype with veteran tech journalist Walt Mossberg in DC to make sure his Blue Yeti microphone was still operating with the software.
For our show Verge ESP, I remember having to buy Skype credits to call the phone numbers of guests who didn’t have / want to use a Skype account.
When The Vergecast was live on YouTube every Thursday, we used Skype’s NDI (Network Device Interface) to bring remote guests onto the show, which was the best software for our needs in the live control room at the time.
However, once Zoom took over, that was the end of using the buggy Skype software. – Andru Marino, senior producer
“If a writer couldn’t get to the studio … Skype worked”
For decades now, my partner Jim Freund has been the host of a radio show called Hour of the Wolf on listener-sponsored NYC station WBAI-FM. He talks about science fiction and fantasy, and over the years, he has interviewed a lot of authors.
For many of those years, if a writer couldn’t get to the studio to talk and read from their work, Skype worked. It was easy to use — the most tech-nervous author could be talked through the downloading and registering process — and the quality of the resulting recording was better than you’d get over a phone. And if the writer was overseas, the cost wasn’t as prohibitive as if you’d used the landline.
But as time went on, Skype didn’t keep up. When Microsoft bought it in 2011, Jim was hopeful that this would mean better quality calls and more features — in other words, increased product support and development. However, Skype was, for the most part, ignored. As a result, especially with the increased popularity of Zoom and other apps, it became pretty much forgotten.
These days, if a guest is having trouble installing or understanding the video / podcasting software that Jim uses, and he suggests, “Well, we could use Skype instead,” the current answer is often, “Skype? What’s that?” When he told me that, I knew Skype was a thing of the past. – Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor
“All the actual components [were] recorded organic sounds like wind, water, pops, people’s voices,” says [Steve] Pearce. Wind, he says, provided the white noise in a notification. A bubble pop could be recorded from a ketchup bottle, a glass, or a human gasp or gulp. “We don’t like technical things, even though we are a technical company,” he adds.
“If you actually ask people to hum or sing the Skype ringtone, they can’t.”
Ironically, I listened to that ringtone so many times that, almost 10 years later, “doo dee doo, dee doo dee” popped into my head immediately. – Adi Robertson, senior editor, tech and policy
DOO DEE DOO — DEE DOO DEE. – Jay Peters, news editor
The United Kingdom dealt a significant blow in its war on encryption last week that, aside from blemishing Appleâs meticulously curated privacy commitments, could have worldwide ramifications for personal data protections. And while several days have passed since Apple pulled its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature from UK customers, other end-to-end encryption providers like Meta, Signal, and Telegram have yet to meaningfully take an official stand beyond some of their execs posting about it on social media.
The UK may have set a precedent for other global governments to follow when it reportedly ordered Apple to give it backdoor access to iCloud data. Under the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), the British government can legally demand user data be handed over for the purpose of national security and crime prevention. That seemingly includes worldwide data access, even if itâs tightly encrypted.
Some of these demands would be facilitated by controversial changes that were made to the IPA in April 2024 to expand its surveillance capabilities, like allowing intelligence services to access bulk personal datasets held by third parties and the UK government to interfere w …
The smartphone market would have you believe that tri-fold devices, whether released or in concept, are supposed to be massive. Some new entrants would have you believe the exact opposite. Infinix’s new Zero Series Mini Tri-fold concept unfolds to be the size of a regular phone.
About 10% of the NOAA workforce was laid off, according to some reports, in a move that could kneecap the agency's ability to forecast local and national weather events.
The Dungeons & Dragons faithful have another option for times when a physical tabletop isn't feasible. Wizards of the Coast's Sigil is a 3D virtual tabletop (VTT) experience that borrows some elements from video games without straying too far from the joy of sitting around a table with like-minded cohorts. It launched publicly this week and is now available for anyone to try.
If you have no clue what a 3D VTT is, imagine a graphical recreation of all the hallmarks of tabletop D&D: virtual versions of a game board, miniatures, dice, character sheets and so on. It isn't a full-on video game like Baldur's Gate because the characters are still static minis that you move around as if they were physical pieces. But it adds digital touches like animated spell effects and lighting. If done well, it's like recreating top-of-the-line D&D gear (with some added flair) that you can use to play with anyone in the world.
Sigil (named after a city in D&D lore) isn't the first of its kind. BouncyRock Entertainment's TaleSpire is a popular 3D VTT currently in early access for PC and Mac. And its business model will be preferable to many: Everyone pays $25 as a one-time purchase. Although Sigil is free to tinker around with and join others' games, you'll need a D&D Beyond Master Tier subscription ($6 monthly or $55 annually) to host multiplayer games and unlock extra goodies like builder kits and mini customization options.
Wizards of the Coast
Where Sigil has an advantage is its integration with D&D Beyond's character sheets. So, if you've already built out your characters, equipment and abilities with the official D&D digital companion service, you should (at least in theory) have an easy transition.
Sigil provides a library of assets, brushes and lighting effects for you to play around with and customize your maps and minis to your heart's content. "These customizable tools let you bring your world to life, whether you're exploring fantastical landscapes, towering fortresses or dangerous dungeons," the company says in its pitch.
It also includes tabletop-esque touches like virtual dice that tumble realistically across the game board. You can customize your miniatures with different scales, sizes and appearances. "All of our assets are created in a way that's like actually buying a high-end mini or figure," the company said in its 2024 introduction video. "We wanted them to feel kind of painted, but kind of realistic — trying to capture that beautiful in-between where art, figures and games come together."
Wizards of the Coast
Sigil runs on Unreal Engine 5, and you'll need at least a decently powerful gaming PC to partake. Although its minimum system requirements are less daunting, D&D Beyond recommends at least an Nvidia RTX 2080, AMD R9 380 or Intel UHD on the GPU front, along with 16GB of RAM. It's Windows only for now, but the company wants it to eventually run on consoles, mobile and maybe even your fridge. (Fridge-top gaming, anyone?)
If this sounds like your kind of adventure, you can sign up with your D&D Beyond account on the product page. (For a more established alternative, you can also give the highly rated TaleSpire a spin.) For a better sense of Sigil, check out Wizards of the Coast's intro video from D&D Direct 2024:
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/dds-3d-virtual-tabletop-experience-sigil-is-now-available-for-pc-212113793.html?src=rss
A Texas health authority is warning against "measles parties" as the outbreak in West Texas grew to at least 146 cases, with 20 hospitalized and one unvaccinated school-age child dead. The outbreak continues to mainly be in unvaccinated children.
In a press briefing hosted by the city of Lubbock, Texas, on Friday, Ron Cook, chief health officer at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, offered the stark warning for Texans in his opening statements.
"What I want you to hear is: It's not good to go have measles parties because what may happen is—we can't predict who's going to do poorly with measles, be hospitalized, potentially get pneumonia or encephalitis and or pass away from this," Cook said. "So that's a foolish idea to go have a measles party. The best thing to do is make sure that you're well-vaccinated."
