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My wife and son spent their weekends exploring and piecing together the mansion in Blue Prince. | Image: Courtesy of Raw Fury I've always been the gamer in the family. When my son was born nearly 11 years ago, gaming was one of the things I looked forward to sharing with him. Pulling up a chair next to me, he would watch as I played Sea of Thieves with friends, often wearing the too-big-for-his-head headset to talk with them, instructing me where to go. Now instead of him watching me play through Clair Obscur , I'm sitting next to him and he battles Calamity Ganon in Breath of the Wild . His real gaming passion for years has been Minecraft - he appreciates the rules and order, as well as the calming environment of creative mode. He also likes to meticulously stack up … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/games/964262/blue-prince-family-bonding

A yard sign opposing a planned data center is displayed along Route 54 in Mount Carmel Township Northumberland County. | Image: Getty Images This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the data center buildout, follow Emma Roth . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started Years before the AI boom threatened local power grids, a small group of protesters set the stage for the battles cropping up across communities today. In 2015, Apple announced plans to build a roughly $1 billion data center in the sleepy town of Athenry, Ireland. The data center's 500-acre site would power Apple's services in Europe, including iTunes, iMessage, and Siri. At th … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/column/963346/ai-data-centers-fight

More mint green synths please. | Image: Nopia After setting the music gear corner of the internet on fire back in 2023 with the first glimpse at the Nopia , creators Martin Grieco and Rocío Gal are almost ready to bring it to market. The duo brought it to the MusicRadar offices for an in-depth first look and revealed that it will be launching in "a couple of months" for around £550. Nopia is built around harmonic interplay in a unique way. Rather than a few knobs and a keyboard controlling a single synth patch, it blends multiple modules - keys, bass, arp, and pad - into a single performance, not unlike a drumless groovebox . There's a one-octave keyboard called the Chord Builder, a 12-b … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/964499/nopia-viral-synth-finished-price-release-demo

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield had been seeking documents from Paramount related to its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Rayfield also asked a state circuit court judge to delay the closing of the deal by 60 days so that his office could review the documents. But according to Deadline and Variety , he's now dropped his civil investigative demand for the records. Obviously, Paramount is pleased with Rayfield's decision to withdraw his request, but the AG's office isn't exactly satisfied with the outcome. Jenny Hansson, communications director for Rayfield, told Deadline that, "Paramount made it clear that they weren't going to compl … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/964493/oregons-ag-delay-paramount-warner-bros-merger

Department of Homeland Security. | Image: The Verge Advocates are demanding that the Department of Homeland Security release bodycam footage of the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who was killed by ICE officers in Houston during a traffic stop earlier this week. But DHS claims the agents involved in the shooting weren't wearing body cameras because of the lengthy government shutdown that prevented ICE and Customs and Border Protection from receiving additional federal funding for 76 days - a shutdown that was itself spurred by congressional bickering over reforms to DHS after federal agents killed two civilians earlier this year. Two competing narratives have em … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/964294/ice-shooting-houston-lorenzo-salgado-araujo

Spotify is giving listeners control to fine-tune what gets surfaced for them in Release Radar - one of its most popular weekly playlists. The new options allow you to narrow the playlist to a specific genre, focus on artists that are new to you, and more. Listeners can choose from up to five options like "Discover new artists," "Editors' picks," and "Pop." They're rolling out now across mobile and desktop apps and will appear at the top of your Release Radar playlist once they're available. Spotify also says it's making tweaks to the algorithm to serve up "more personalized recommendations," along with a new look featuring updated cover and … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/964021/spotify-release-radar-algorithm-controls