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Today’s Storystream

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Gemini will now automatically pull up Google Maps when you ask for directions.

This is according to the Play Store release notes for the Gemini mobile app. The updated voice command will save drivers a step if they use Google’s AI chatbot app for navigation.

Although Gemini hasn’t outright replaced the voice assistant Google Assistant, Google now lets users make Gemini the primary assistant on Android phones.


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Star Trek: Discovery’s final season is going to have an Indiana Jones vibe to it.

Star Trek: Discovery really found its own voice once it leaped forward almost 1,000 years into the future, but for the series’ final season, showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise say they looked to classic Indiana Jones movies for a new sense of adventure.


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Youtube
The final season of Rooster Teeth’s Red vs. Blue is being released as a movie.

The 19th and final season of Red vs. Blue, the sci-fi comedy show set in the world of Halo, will be released as a feature length film on all major PVOD platforms. Red vs. Blue: Restoration will be available for purchase on May 7th and as a digital rental on May 21st.

Earlier this month Warner Bros. Discovery shut down Rooster Teeth, the production company behind Red vs. Blue.


Live updates from the trial and sentencing of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried

The former crypto billionaire’s punishment of 25 years in prison could have huge implications for the industry.

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Twitter
Elgato’s updated Facecam adds a privacy shutter and new HDR mode.

The $150 Facecam MK.2 is cheaper than its $200 predecessor and includes the virtual Pan-Tilt-Zoom tech that was previously only available on the Facecam Pro.

The field of view has also been increased from 82 to 84 degrees, alongside other visual improvements mentioned in the post below. There’s still no built-in mic, but good riddance because webcam mics tend to suck anyway.


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The Verge
Sam Bankman-Fried is about to find out how much prison time he’s facing.

The FTX founder is in court now, waiting to see whether Judge Kaplan hands the 40 to 50 years in prison prosecutors recommend — or if his decision is closer to the more lenient five- to six-year sentence that Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are pushing for.


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External Link
An AI junk site used AI to rip off an AI ethics guide.

A Poynter article about using AI in newsrooms was ripped off and rewritten by a pink slime site called Tech Gate. Guess they didn’t read the guide.

I took a browse around the site and saw some familiar faces — Tech Gate also republished a mangled version of a Vergecast segment, including using our image. My favorite line:

Simply after that, we launch Nilay Patel into his Mexican vacation, and we do a newsy lightning spherical.


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Twitter
Microsoft delights IT admins by removing Copilot from Windows Server 2025.

Microsoft is working on finalizing its Windows Server 2025 release and IT admins discovered last month, in disbelief, that Copilot was added to a server OS that’s usually free of additional Windows features. A month later and Microsoft has removed Copilot from test builds of Windows Server 2025. We’ll keep an eye out to see if it manages to sneak back in for the final release.


Microsoft is removing WordPad from Windows 11 later this year.

The basic WordPad app has shipped as part of Windows since Windows 95. but Microsoft announced last year that it’s removing it from Windows 11. Now we have a rough date for the removal. “WordPad will be removed from all editions of Windows starting in Windows 11, version 24H2 and Windows Server 2025,” says Microsoft. We’re expecting version 24H2 of Windows 11 later this year, and hopefully with a much better update name.


Farewell, WordPad.
Farewell, WordPad.
Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge
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Twitter
Sega is laying off 240 staff in Europe.

The company’s latest cost-cutting efforts — which include selling off Vancouver-based Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment — impact the Sega Europe office, and UK-based Sega Hardlight and Creative Assembly studios.

In an email to staff seen by Eurogamer, Sega Europe CEO Jurgen Post said that “change is necessary to secure the future of our games business.” The news was announced less than a day after Sega’s US union ratified its first contract.


Here’s why AI search engines really can’t kill Google

The AI search tools are getting better — but they don’t yet understand what a search engine really is and how we really use them.

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External Link
Galaxy AI starts rolling out for the S23.

Are you’re using an older Samsung device and jealously eying up the Galaxy AI features available with this year’s phones? Well good news; Samsung has started rolling out its AI-equipped One UI 6.1 update to the Galaxy S23, S23 FE, Z Flip 5, and Z Fold 5, starting today. SamMobile reports that the update has arrived for Verizon devices in the US, and unlocked devices will follow next month.


Elon Musk has a new pay-to-play X Premium gambit.

Elon's X Premium package pitches have included forcing them on celebrities, bundling access to an AI bot of uncertain value, and a chance at a slice of ad revenue generated by other paying customers, in addition to an edit button, blog posts, and fewer ads.

Now he's offering Premium or Premium Plus (normally $8 or $16 per month) as a free sweetener for accounts with at least 2,500 "Verified subscriber" followers (5,000 for Plus) that presumably also pay for access.


"Going forward, all ? accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium features for free and accounts with over 5000 will get Premium+ for free"
Buy 2,500, get one free
Image: Elon Musk (X)
Scientists reveal the magnetic structure of black holes with new images.

Scientists for the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration say the magnetic structure of the Milky Way’s central Sagittarius A* black hole is “strikingly similar” to the bigger singularity in the middle of the galaxy M87, writes Phys.org.

They discovered this by comparing polarized images of the two. One researcher told Phys.org that this discovery could mean “this structure is common to all black holes.”


Comparison of the two black holes, each showing a magnetic pattern resembling that of water going down a drain.
“Strikingly similar” magnetic structures.
Image: Event Horizon Telescope
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External Link
Even LinkedIn is trying TikTok-like videos now.

LinkedIn confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s testing a short-form video feed housed within a new “video” tab on the app, which one user shows off here.

The Microsoft-owned platform is the latest to jump on the vertical video bandwagon, following Twitch, Reddit, Spotify, and even Netflix in experimenting with similar features.


Melting ice, missing seconds.

University of California geologist Duncan Agnew published research in Nature saying the melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica has contributed to slowing Earth’s rotation,?reports Space.com.

While timekeepers have already agreed to stop adding leap seconds by 2035, Agnew claims a negative one will be necessary by 2029 and would’ve been required sooner if not for the effects of climate change. If that’s true — and not everyone agrees that it is — international timekeeping guidelines and the world’s computers will need updates.


Graph showing the time differences including or excluding melting accelerated by climate changes.
An adapted graph based on Agnew’s research.
Image:?Nature.com
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Twitter
OpenAI is experimenting with sharing revenue with builders in its GPT Store.

When the GPT Store opened in January, OpenAI promised it would pay creators by the first quarter of the year. The company has now announced that it is testing a payment model.

The GPT Store makes it easy for anyone to build a GPT, which is essentially a custom AI assistant that can do anything from summarizing a PDF to suggesting furniture purchases.


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