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A new survey of over 300 US and UK gaming executives found that 72% view Steam as a monopoly. "Furthermore, 88% said that at least three-quarters of their revenue came from Steam, while 37% reported that the platform accounted for 90% of their total revenue," adds Techspot. From the report: Atomik Research conducted the recent survey on behalf of Rokky, a company that helps game publishers minimize the impact of grey market key resellers on prices. In addition to opinions on Steam, developers also answered questions about the PC market's biggest challenges. The increasing popularity of free-to-play games such as Fortnite, DOTA 2, Counter-Strike 2, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Roblox topped the list of concerns for 40% of respondents. Approximately a third mentioned market saturation and discoverability, echoing data that suggests there aren't enough players for the thousands of new titles released on Steam each year. A similar portion of survey respondents also expressed concerns regarding subscription services.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Google Maps is heading in a new direction with artificial intelligence sitting in the passenger's seat. Fueled by Google's Gemini AI technology, the world's most popular navigation app will become a more conversational companion as part of a redesign announced Wednesday. The hands-free experience is meant to turn Google Maps into something more like an insightful passenger able to direct a driver to a destination while also providing nearby recommendations on places to eat, shop or sightsee, when asked for the advice. "No fumbling required -- now you can just ask," Google promised in a blog post about the app makeover. The AI features are also supposed to enable Google Maps to be more precise by calling out landmarks to denote the place to make a turn instead of relying on distance notifications. AI chatbots, like Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT, have sometimes lapsed into periods of making things up -- known as "hallucinations" in tech speak -- but Google is promising that built-in safeguards will prevent Maps from accidentally sending drivers down the wrong road. All the information that Gemini is drawing upon will be culled from the roughly 250 million places stored in Google Maps' database of reviews accumulated during the past 20 years. Google Maps' new AI capabilities will be rolling out to both Apple's iPhone and Android mobile devices.

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A new bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Mark Warner and Josh Hawley would require companies and federal agencies to report quarterly on AI-related workforce changes, including layoffs, new hires, and retraining efforts. The data from the AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act (PDF) would then be compiled by the Department of Labor into a publicly available report. "This bipartisan legislation will finally give us a clear picture of AI's impact on the workforce," Warner said in a statement. "Armed with this information, we can make sure AI drives opportunity instead of leaving workers behind."

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A new Activate Consulting report reveals that 43% of Gen Z now prefer YouTube and TikTok over traditional TV or paid streaming. With global media revenues surging and traditional TV viewership collapsing, the average person now spends over 13 hours a day consuming content across platforms, effectively living a "32-hour day" through multitasking. Variety reports: Per the same survey, the popularity of "microdramas" -- one of the latest trends on those platforms, consisting of 1-2 minute scripted episodes of an ongoing storyline -- has been increasing at a fast rate with 28 million U.S. adults (52% aged 18-34) reportedly watching that new form of content. Additional findings include projections for global internet and media revenue to increase by $388 billion by 2029, while average daily time spent streaming video will climb to 4 hours and 8 minutes as time spent watching traditional TV is set to collapse to just 1 hour and 17 minutes. Activate estimates that, as a result, streaming revenues (from ads and subscriptions) will grow 18-19% annually while traditional TV revenues will fall 4-6% year to year.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Authorities in Denmark are urgently studying how to close an apparent security loophole in hundreds of Chinese-made electric buses that enables them to be remotely deactivated. The investigation comes after transport authorities in Norway, where the Yutong buses are also in service, found that the Chinese supplier had remote access for software updates and diagnostics to the vehicles' control systems -- which could be exploited to affect buses while in transit. Amid concerns over potential security risks, the Norwegian public transport authority Ruter decided to test two electric buses in an isolated environment. Bernt Reitan Jenssen, Ruter's chief executive, said: "The testing revealed risks that we are now taking measures against. National and local authorities have been informed and must assist with additional measures at a national level." Their investigations found that remote deactivation could be prevented by removing the buses' sim cards, but they decided against this because it would also disconnect the bus from other systems. Ruter said it planned to bring in stricter security requirements for future procurements. Jenssen said it must act before the arrival of the next generation of buses, which could be even "more integrated and harder to secure." Movia, Denmark's largest public transport company, has 469 Chinese electric buses in operation -- 262 of which were manufactured by Yutong. Jeppe Gaard, Movia's chief operating officer, said he was made aware of the loophole last week. "This is not a Chinese bus problem," he said. "It is a problem for all types of vehicles and devices with Chinese electronics built in."

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An anonymous reader shares a report: T-Mobile is opening up access to its Starlink-powered emergency texting service. The carrier announced on Wednesday that anyone with a compatible phone -- even AT&T and Verizon customers -- can sign up to text 911 over satellite for free. In July, T-Mobile launched its "T-Satellite" service to customers across the US for $10 per month, allowing both T-Mobile and non-T-Mobile customers to send messages, share their location, and access select apps over satellite. This service also includes texts to 911, but now, that's available for free.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: The Microsoft Store on the web now lets you create a multi-app install package on Windows 11 that installs multiple applications from a single installer. This means you can now install multiple apps simultaneously without having to download each one manually. The experience is similar to that of the third-party app Ninite, a package manager that lets you install multiple apps at once.

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Nothing has announced that it will allow users to delete Facebook, Instagram and other Meta services from its mid-range and entry-level phones after users objected to the company's decision to pre-install these apps. The update will arrive by the end of November for devices running the Android 16-based OS 4.0 on the Phone (3a) series. Nothing said it will continue to pre-install partner apps on non-flagship devices in most regions. Devices in the United Kingdom, European Union and Japan will also come with TikTok installed by default. The company defended the practice by saying most users rely on these apps and that pre-installing them allows faster cold starts. Carl Pei's company blamed razor-thin margins on mid-range devices for the decision to bundle third-party software. Nothing did not address whether users can uninstall the service that powers newly introduced lock screen advertisements, which the company previously described as disabled by default and standard across the industry.

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We visited Miami earlier this month to see firsthand how students and teachers are using our AI tools in innovative ways.We visited Miami earlier this month to see firsthand how students and teachers are using our AI tools in innovative ways.

Solar geoengineering could increase the ferocity of North Atlantic hurricanes, cause the Amazon rainforest to die back and cause drought in parts of Africa if deployed above only some parts of the planet by rogue actors, a report has warned. The Guardian: However, if technology to block the sun was used globally and in a coordinated way for a long period -- decades or even centuries -- there is strong evidence that it would lower the global temperature, the review from the UK's Royal Society concluded. The world is failing to halt the climate crisis and the researchers said that in future, a judgment might need to be made between the risks of geoengineering and the those of continued global heating, which is already costing lives and livelihoods. The logistics of a large-scale geoengineering effort would be daunting, the experts said, but the cost would be small relative to climate action -- billions of dollars a year against trillions. The researchers emphasised that geoengineering only masked the symptoms of the climate crisis, and did not tackle the root cause -- the burning of fossil fuels. Geoengineering could only complement the cutting of emissions, not replace it, they said. If geoengineering was halted abruptly but emissions had not been reduced, there would be a termination shock of rapidly rising temperatures -- 1-2C within a couple of decades -- that would have severe effects on people and ecosystems unable to rapidly adapt.

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Financial Times: Deutsche Bank is exploring ways to hedge its exposure to data centres after extending billions of dollars in debt to the sector to keep up with demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Executives inside the bank have discussed ways to manage its exposure to the booming industry as so-called hyperscalers pour hundreds of billions of dollars into building infrastructure for their AI needs that is increasingly funded by debt. The German lender is looking at options including shorting a basket of AI-related stocks that would help mitigate downside risk by betting against companies in the sector. It is also considering buying default protection on some of the debt using derivatives through a transaction known as synthetic risk transfer (SRT). Deutsche's investment banking business has "bet big" on data centre financing, according to one senior executive. However, the scale of expenditure on AI infrastructure has prompted concerns that a bubble is forming with some likening the enthusiasm to that which preceded the dotcom crash. Sceptics have pointed out that billions of dollars have been deployed in an untested industry with assets that quickly depreciate in value due to the rapid change in technology.

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The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data centre projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically-made AI chips, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. From the report: In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centres that are less than 30% complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage will be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China's most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a pause in trade hostilities between Washington and Beijing, and achieve its quest for AI chip self-sufficiency. China's access to advanced AI chips, including those made by Nvidia, has been a key point of friction with the U.S., as the two wrestle for dominance in high-end computing power and AI. U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Sunday following talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week that Washington will "let them deal with Nvidia but not in terms of the most advanced" chips.

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GNOME’s X11 Farewell: Wayland Takes the Helm in Linux Display Revolution  WebProNews

Hackers Are Using Linux Malware to Invisibly Bypass Windows Security  How2shout

Epic Games and Google have agreed to settle their long-running antitrust lawsuit. The settlement converts Judge James Donato's United States-only injunction into a global agreement extending through June 2032. Google will reduce its standard app store fees to either 20% or 9% depending on the transaction type. The company will also create a program in the next major Android release allowing alternative app stores to register and become what Google calls first-class citizens. Users will be able to install these registered app stores from a website with a single click using neutral language. The settlement addresses Epic's concerns about friction and scare screens that discouraged sideloading. Google will charge a 5% fee for transactions using Google Play Billing, separate from its service fee. Alternative payment options must be shown alongside Google Play Billing.

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Today, we're announcing enhancements to Structured Outputs in the Gemini API.Today, we're announcing enhancements to Structured Outputs in the Gemini API.

4 ways to make any Linux distro feel more like Windows  XDA

Learn more about how Google Workspace apps now work with Gemini’s Deep Research tool.

Plus, the AI Mode shortcut is expanding to 160 more countries

Devuan 6 ‘Excalibur’ Linux lands  theregister.com