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- [00:01]
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- [00:30]
Godfather
You come here on the day my daughter is to be married and ask me for tech news? Well, I don't even have a daughter. So what now?
- [00:43]
Tech Analyst
Microsoft published a blog post yesterday titled Opening a Billion Doors with Xbox, and the post now has a fairly generic image of the Xbox UI on a bunch of devices. But as spotted by Tom Warren at the Verge, it's different than the image that was originally included, which depicted an Xbox console next to a TV showing an Xbox user interface with a search tag for Steam. Now hold on, hold on. Just calm down. This doesn't mean that Xbox consoles are gonna play Steam games. This is probably just a mockup for the Windows Xbox app. And the Xbox console and TV are just in there because the next gen Xbox is rumored to basically be a Windows PC in all but name. Wait, that makes the Steam on Xbox thing seem more likely. Okay, and then there's also the fact that Microsoft VP of Next generation Jason Ronald told the Verge back at CES that the company's goal is bringing the best of Xbox and Windows together, and I don't think he was talking about the Ubisoft Kinect PC app. Okay, it would still seem weird for Microsoft to be chill with Steam encroaching on its territory, especially as pre orders open for the first SteamOS gaming handheld that isn't the Steam deck the Lenovo Legion Go s. But are Xbox consoles even Microsoft's territory anymore when they're giving away console exclusives like candy to a baby? Is that how that phrase goes? Discuss so Steam games on Xbox would be cool. Other companies are doing less cool things. Plex just locked its coolest free feature, remote streaming, behind a Plex Pass subscription, meaning that either the server owner or anyone streaming from that server will have to have a pass. Plex also hiked the price of the Plex Pass for the first time in 10 years. I mean, kudos where kudos are due for holding out for a decade, I guess. And they're also allowing anyone to purchase a lifetime Plex Pass for the current price of 120 bucks before they increase the price on April 29th. And they're introducing a remote watch pass for 2 bucks a month or 20 bucks a year. That only gives you remote streaming if you don't want all the other Plex Pass stuff. So yeah, it still sucks, but it seems like Plex tried to make it less sucky. At least they aren't pulling a Discord who's bringing ads to its mobile app, even for Nitro subscribers after introducing them on desktop last year under the name of Quests. So that you feel like a fantasy hero for agreeing to watch a commercial in exchange for a hat for your avatar. I'd love to explain the economics of this exchange to link and see what he thinks it's about attention, you know, impressions, clicks. Yeah, but hey, at least Discord isn't pulling a meta who's giving Instagram users the option to just have AI write all their messages and comments because it takes way too much brain power to come up with S tier remarks like this is so fire. Speaking of AI, Apple has been hit with a federal lawsuit accusing the tech giant of false advertising concerning its delayed Apple Intelligence features, like the sorely needed but still delayed AI upgrade for Siri. The plaintiff, Clarkson Law Firm claims that Apple cultivated a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that Apple Intelligence features would be available when the iPhone 16 lineup launched, which they were not as of last week. Some Apple product pages still promoted the enhanced Siri Assistant as if it was available now. When it was called out in social media posts, Apple added a disclaimer to their product pages saying that the better, more special Siri is coming later. I mean, I know girls take a long time to get ready, but we are gonna be so late. Trust me, it'll be worth it. Another lawsuit is the last thing Apple needs. According to a report from the Information, the company is losing more than $1 billion a year on its streaming service, Apple TV. And they better keep losing money, okay, because I will have my severance. Season 3 no spoilers. I haven't seen it yet. Stop it. I have seen War Thunder, though, our sponsor, and the comprehensive vehicle combat game available now for free on PC, consoles and mobile devices. It's got everything from biplanes and armored cars of the 1920s to the fighter jets and main battle tanks of today. With over 2,500 incredibly detailed vehicles, realistic graphics, and authentic sound effects, you'll feel like you're really at the helm of the most powerful war machines of our time. And it might be necessary to look away every once in a while and remind yourself that it's just a video game. Okay? It's okay. You're okay. Join up with War Thunder's worldwide community of over 70 million PvP players. Play for free today on PC, Xbox, PS5 and mobile using our link in the description Quick Bits what is that?
- [05:45]
Godfather
It sounds like something an idiot would come up with.
- [05:48]
Tech Analyst
I didn't want to put them back in.
- [05:49]
Godfather
Okay?
- [05:50]
Tech Analyst
My mouth is so dry. At GDC or the Game Developers conference, Microsoft introduced DirectX Ray Tracing 1.2, an update to the company's widely used tool set that they say could boost path tracing performance by up to 2.33 times, thanks to added support for opacity, micromaps and shader execution reordering. Those are definitely cool words. The TLDR is these are essentially features that were previously available only on Nvidia cards when game devs chose to implement them, but now any game dev using DirectX will have access to them. Meanwhile, at Nvidia's similarly named but different GTC, Team Green was spotted selling RTX 5090s and 5880s out of a food truck, which is one way to foil scalpers and confuse anyone looking for shawarma. Bigscreen the makers of the beyond hi Fi VR headset have revealed the bigscreen Beyond 2, which is lighter than the original, with better lenses, added eye tracking, and an adjustable IPD for anyone who can't reposition their eyes at will. I know I can't imagine. Despite costing over US$1,000, BigScreen says they already sold more Beyond 2 headsets in a single day than the Beyond 1 sold in the first six months. Probably because everyone got really excited by seeing Linus Face Map turned into a desk pad in their launch video. That could be me. Neurotech company Synchron showed a paralyzed man equipped with the company's Brain computer interface, using it along with an Apple Vision Pro headset and Nvidia's Holoscan technology to turn on smart devices by looking at them, including a dog feeder and a robot vacuum to clean up the mess. Frankly, he's a bit too powerful at this point. We may need to calm down with this. Synchron also announced they're working on Chiral, which the company calls the first cognitive AI Brain foundation model, which is trained directly on neural activity instead of text or images. The AI won't really be able to do anything, but it'll have so many thoughts. A 10 on the neuroticism scale. The GPUs will just be constantly under load for no reason. Tesla has issued a recall of nearly every cybertruck out there to fix a little issue where the decorative piece of stainless steel trim above the windows has been flying off. It's not really dangerous and if it hits you, you probably deserved it anyway. Are you even American? The issue is caused by the glue the issue is caused by the glue used by Tesla being prone to what the company calls environmental embrittlement. Because there's so many snowflakes in the environment these days, you gotta tie the truck outside the environment and in the front. Trim won't fall off. Hopefully cybertruck owners bring in their vehicles soon, or it's gonna be a race to see who will destroy the most Tesla vehicles first. Gangs of anti elon vandals, or Tesla's own manufacturing defects. And MSI has launched a foolproof promotion in collaboration with Taiwanese retailer Taiwan Original Price House. If you collect nine of these lucky Dragon figurines and bring them to the store, you'll get a free RTX 5080. Hey, that's fun. So how do you get the Luckies? Well, a randomized figurine comes bundled with MSI's Vanguard Launch Edition RTX 50 GPUs. So either participate in the hot market that has suddenly sprung up for these little guys or buy nine, get one free. But the market for tech news is as hot as ever, so you'll want to come back on Monday for more. Or you're going to be left behind holding nothing but your lucky Dragon. That's not a very Riley joke. I'm disappointed in myself.