The rightmost number is the score for each bracket.
| MASTER BRACKET | Motoman | 192 | ||
| Motoman's Sweet Bracket (of doom) | Motoman | 86 | ||
| Bracket Bud Northrup | Old Bud | Bud | 76 | |
| Bracket Jason Willy | Jason Willy | Jason | N | 61 |
| Bracket Sarah | Sarah | Sarah | N | 52 |
| Bracket Rose Northrup | Illini Rose | Rose | N | 49 |
IDC’s latest preliminary data on the smartphone market suggests Apple’s traditionally weakest smartphone quarter might be a little weaker than usual this year as political tension gnaws away at the company. If IDC is correct, this unravelling has lopped a few more hairs from Apple’s Big Tech scalp, with Q1 iPhone sales down as much as 9.6%. That means Samsung is once again the temporary King of the Hill, even as China’s Xiaomi also makes gains. Comparative market share only tells part of the story, of course: Apple still allegedly sold 50 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2024, according to [...]
While generative artificial intelligence (genAI) models are expected to shrink down in size to fit more defined needs and corporate budgets, a large number of service providers are still plotting their revenue course based on delivering AI cloud services. In his annual letter to shareholders last week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company will focus less on building consumer-facing genAI applications and more on delivering AI models it can sell via web services to enterprise customers. “Sometimes, people ask us, ‘What’s your next pillar? You have Marketplace, Prime, and AWS, what’s next?,’” Jassy wrote. “If you asked me today, [...]
Microsoft released 149 updates in this month’s Patch Tuesday release, though there were no reports of public disclosures or other zero-days for the Microsoft ecosystem (Windows, Office, .NET). This update is very large, complex and will require some testing time, especially for the OLE, ODBC and SQL focused updates and their impact on complex applications. Microsoft also moved to make it easier to understand security-related CVE entries much easier by adopting the new CWE vulnerability reporting standard. The team at Application Readiness has provided this infographic detailing the risks associated with the April updates. Known issues Each month, Microsoft publishes a list of known issues that [...]
The UK’s antitrust regulator has put tech giants on notice after expressing concern that developments in the AI market could stifle innovation. Sarah Cardell, CEO of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), delivered a speech on the regulation of artificial intelligence in Washington DC on Thursday, highlighting new AI-specific elements of a previously announced investigation into cloud service providers. The CMA will also investigate how Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI might be affecting competition in the wider AI ecosystem. Another strand of the probe will look into the competitive landscape in AI accelerator chips, a market segment where Nvidia holds [...]
Consider this: Apple has been working with artificial intelligence (AI) in specific domains for many years. Then OpenAI’s ChatGPT emerged and made Apple look bad. Today as WWDC approaches, the company is expected to deliver souped-up AI across all its devices — and as competitors struggle to catch up in processor design, we expect fresh M4 Macs to appear this fall. What this means is that Apple may soon offer computationally advanced mass market computers in a range of configurations (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro), software with built-in AI to run on those devices, and the integration between hardware, software, and operating systems [...]
Now that you’re used to seeing co-workers, family, and strangers at coffee shops, offices, and planes using the oblong USB-C connector, it’s time to see just what this promising standard can do today and tomorrow. As we approach its 10th birthday, the USB-C plug is now part and parcel of just about every new laptop, phone, and tablet made. Even MacBooks, iPads, iPhones, and Chromebooks now have USB-C ports, at least living up to the first part of its full name: Universal Serial Bus. In other words, the older rectangular USB Type-A plugs we are so used to are slowly [...]
The desktop/laptop market has been pretty quiet for several years. Windows carved out its dominant space, and despite repeated claims that it would happen, Linux never really emerged as a challenger on the desktop. The Apple Mac proved to be a solid if pricier alternative, popular in certain markets and industries and seeing a surge of interest in recent years with the introduction of powerful M-series Apple processors, which boosted Apple’s market share to 16% by the end of 2023. Chromebooks found their niche as well, primarily in education. Nevertheless, Windows still claims around 72% of the desktop OS market [...]
At its annual Intel Vision conference, CEO Pat Gelsinger laid out an ambitious roadmap that includes generative artificial intelligence (genAI) at every turn. Intel’s hardware strategy is centered around its new Gaudi 3 GPU, which was purpose built for training and running massive large language models (LLMs) that underpin genAI in data centers. Intel’s also taking aim with its new line of Xeon 6 processors — some of which will have onboard neural processing units (NPUs or “AI accelerators”) for use in workstations, PCs and edge devices. Intel also claims its Xeon 6 processors will be good enough to run [...]
One of my favorite Android features right now is something that’s simultaneously new and familiar. It’s Circle to Search — a clever concept that came out for Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones along with the Galaxy S24 earlier this year and is now in the midst of rolling out to even more Android devices. Circle to Search is brilliant in both its power and its simplicity: On any device where it’s available, you just press and hold your finger to the bottom-center of the screen to summon it and search for anything you see on your screen [...]
Far from shrinking, the scale of mercenary surveillance companies paid by governments to spy on journalists, human rights campaigners, and other members of the civil state is growing. Today Apple warned iPhone users in an astonishing 92 nations that attacks against them have taken place. (The company sends out these notifications several times each year.) Without opposition, governments and other entities will not quit this unconstrained descent into becoming a surveillance society. You are a surveillance target According to TechCrunch, Apple wrote users: “Apple detected that you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the [...]
Keanu Reeves is joining the cast of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter (and first broken by The John Campea Show). The outlet’s sources report that the John Wick and Matrix star is voicing Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is set to premiere on December 20 and will pit Shadow alongside a returning Dr. Robotnik (played by Jim Carrey) against Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. The returning cast includes Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, James Marsden, and Colleen O'Shaughnessey. The film's first trailer premiered in front of a select audience at Cinemacon in Las Vegas [...]
Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion, Dawntrail, arrives this summer alongside the game’s first graphical update. As such, Square Enix has released a new benchmark software to let PC players test how well their machines will handle these new bells and whistles while getting a small head start on Dawntrail. Available as a free download for Windows, the benchmark software uses playable characters and actual maps to assign a performance score to your PC. This will provide a peek at the new graphical update, which spruces up the game with enhanced textures, shadows, material qualities, and other elements. You can download [...]
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Massive Entertainment Release: August 30, 2024 As you navigate the galaxy in Star Wars Outlaws, you do so as Kay Vess, a pickpocket-turned-thief who gets in over her head and winds up with a bounty on her head. Early in conversations, Lucasfilm Games and developer Massive Entertainment agreed that telling a scoundrel story was the way to go. Through these discussions, Massive decided it wanted to portray a "resourceful underdog" for its main character rather than the trained soldiers that star in The Division. In the various meetings with Lucasfilm [...]
Despite currently being in the midst of a crossover event with Avatar: The Last Airbender, Fortnite is teasing an upcoming event with a returning collaborator: Star Wars. The details have yet to be disclosed, but attentive fans of the science fiction juggernaut will notice something about the start date right away. The event is set to take place on Friday, May 3. The following day, May 4th, is known to many as Star Wars Day. We have a good feeling about this...Star Wars is returning to #Fortnite. pic.twitter.com/6MCkDkolNb — Star Wars (@starwars) April 15, 2024 The most newsworthy piece of [...]
The 2017 low-gravity hero shooter LawBreakers is coming back from the dead. However, this isn’t an official revival but rather due to the work of a dedicated group of fans. LawBreakers was created by Boss Key Productions, a team led by Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski. Upon launching for PlayStation 4 and PC in August 2017, it garnered a generally positive critical impression (read our review here). However, it failed to find its place in the competitive multiplayer shooter market of the time, resulting in poor sales and low player engagement that eventually led to its early demise [...]
The rogue-lite and roguelike genres have been growing in popularity over the years They’re challenging games where players attempt runs with different abilities and random elements that generally force the player to restart from zero or near-zero for each attempt. They are born from the 1980 game Rogue which established many of the mechanics now considered staples of the genre. But the difference between rogue-lite and -like has always been confusing, so we asked an expert from Evil Empire, the co-developer of Dead Cells, to explain it to us. Lucie Dewagnier is the game director of the upcoming The Rogue: [...]
The Pokémon Trading Card Game: Scarlet & Violet series rolls on with the latest expansion. This newest set, Temporal Forces, continues the Ancient and Future conventions introduced in Paradox Rift, giving players new strategies featuring a variety of easily playable Basic Pokémon. The Pokémon Company sent along a bunch of booster packs for us to open to see what we could pull. The set is one of the smaller recent expansions, but still large by the long-established standard of Pokémon TCG. Players picking up Temporal Forces can expect to pull from a pool of more than 160 cards. In addition to [...]
As part of this month’s exclusive cover story, Game Informer’s Brian Shea sat down with Star Wars Outlaws creative director Julian Gerighty to discuss protagonist Kay’s backstory, how Massive Entertainment created her sidekick creature Nix, the game’s intriguing Reputation System, and what it’s like crafting a Star Wars game in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. How Massive designed the first open-world Star Wars game: Are you seeking more exclusive details about Star Wars Outlaws before its August 30 release date? Be sure to read our 12-page cover story, which you can read by purchasing an annual Game Informer magazine subscription right here. [...]
After The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time reinvented the series in 3D and became its new gold standard, Nintendo followed up with a surreal sequel in Majora's Mask. Set two months after the events of Ocarina, Link finds himself transported to an alternate version of Hyrule called Termina and must prevent a very angry moon from crashing into the Earth over the course of three constantly repeating days. Majora's Mask's unique structure and bizarre tone have earned it legions of passionate defenders and detractors, and one long-time Zelda fan is going to experience it for the first time to [...]
Nintendo Switch Online’s Super Nintendo catalog is three games larger today thanks to the additions of Super R-Type, Wrecking Crew ‘98, and Amazing Hebereke. Super R-Type is a side-scrolling sci-fi shooter launched in 1991, and it’s essentially an enhanced port of the arcade game R-Type II. It includes elements from that game while featuring new stages and enemies of its own. Wrecking Crew ‘98 is the Japan-only sequel to the NES classic Wrecking Crew. First released in 1998 for Nintendo Power’s download service before getting its own cartridge, this marks the game’s first release in the West. Amazing Hebereke is [...]
