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Elden Ring Tarnished Pack DLC will cost 4.99 Euros
Bandai Namco details how to get new Elden Ring classes, weapons, and Torrent skin customizations on PS5, PC, and Xbox.
Microsoft Frontier Company: AI engineering that amplifies and protects your intelligence
The pace of AI adoption is moving incredibly fast. Customers have moved well beyond experimentation and understand the importance of adopting AI to transform their business. They are now concentrating on delivering measurable business outcomes and demonstrating a return on their AI investments, while ensuring their intelligence is amplified and their IP is protected. Today...
Springfield trash company accused of unfair business practices
Customers tell KY3 they weren't given complete information about the service terms by GFL Environmental representatives.
Bayer Group to consolidate U.S. glyphosate business into distinct entity operating as Ruveon
Advances key component of Crop Science division’s Five-Year Framework strategy / Reinforces commitment to delivering trusted Roundup® brands and glyphosate products and services to U.S. customers
PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium's announcements of monthly new games are being changed in some territories, and players aren't happy about it
PlayStation has made some changes in certain key territories to how new PS Plus Extra and Premium game reveals are made.
Sony will cease production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028
New games sold for PlayStation consoles will only be available digitally and won’t be sold on discs effective January 2028, Sony has announced. The move applies to all PlayStation games released from that point on, including those made by Sony and those released by third parties. The PlayStation group calls the change “a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” according to a PlayStation blog post reviewed by Game File in advance of its publication. As movies, TV and music have shifted from physical media to an age of downloads and streaming, Sony’s move could speed the demise of physical media in a gaming. The industry has offered consumers games via cartridges, cassettes, floppy discs, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays across a 50-year stretch. Sony has been reporting to investors in recent years that PlayStation games have been increasingly purchased as downloads, not as discs. The most recent figures show nearly four in five purchases of full games for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were purchased digitally in the past year. Stats like that may cause today’s news to carry an air of the inevitable. But Sony’s declaration for 2028 is still likely to produce a shock, as the biggest gaming platform on the planet that uses game discs leaves them behind. Discs going away, but the fate of game boxes is unknown Sony is committing to still selling games in physical retailers even after they drop discs in 2028. Just how those games will be sold—in boxes with codes inside, as cards marked with digital redemption codes—is unclear. Digital games will also continue to be sold in the online PlayStation Store. New games released for PlayStation consoles prior to January 2028 will be unaffected by the policy change, Sony says. That means the PS5 games of 2027, be they a new Madden, a new God of War, a new Call of Duty, a new Sly Cooper (one can dream?), would still potentially be offered on disc. PlayStation 6 implications Sony’s timeline for a transition to a no-disc era will also spin up more speculation about the timing and configuration of Sony’s next-generation console, the probable PlayStation 6. “This pretty much guarantees that PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,” Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games research analyst at Ampere Analysis tells Game File. Harding-Rolls also concludes from today’s news that “the base version of a PS6 will not include a physical media drive,” as Sony looks to keep costs down on the device. Sony itself is saying nothing about the PS6 today: not its timing, nor how it might or might not support internal or external disc drives in order to run disc-based PS4 and PS5 games, should the console be backwards compatible. The many signs this was coming Industry support for games being released on physical media has been waning. As has consumer interest in them. PC games effectively went all-digital years ago, thanks to the popularity of playing games through Steam and other digital storefronts. The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that kept much of the global population home helped shift shopping patterns toward downloads. Sony’s own data shows PlayStation game downloads being an uncommon consumer choice a decade ago and now becoming the norm. On consoles, physical media has been in such decline that Sony and Microsoft both launched their current gen Xbox Series and PS5 consoles in 2020 with cheaper versions that lacked disc drives. In early 2024, Phil Spencer, then head of Xbox, told me that ““[w]e ship games physically and digitally, and we’re really just following what the customers are doing.” He added that the game industry had become an outlier in still supporting disc-based entertainment, even as movies and TV have bailed on discs in favor of downloads and steaming: “Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive. And this is a real issue, just in terms of the number of manufacturers that are actually building drives and the cost associated with those. And when you think about cogs that we’re going to go put in a console—and as you have fewer suppliers and fewer buyers—the cost of the drive does have an impact.” Last year, the Nintendo’s Switch 2, which uses cartridges rather than discs, introduced the concept of game-key cards, which are physical media that contain no game, just a prompt for a download. Even disc-based games aren’t what they once were, now frequently containing just stubs of games rather than the whole thing. The website Does It Play has tested over 3000 games and found that, for example, that the disc version of this year’s hit 007: First Light, only contained the game’s first mission, with the rest needing to be downloaded. Beyond all that, last week brought the news that Grand Theft Auto VI, likely the biggest game launch this decade, will debut for PS5 and Xbox Series without a disc-based version. Today’s big news comes to you for free. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and ensure more of my work is possible, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Discs helped define PlayStation However the trends in entertainment may be going, it is still remarkable to see PlayStation ditch discs given their importance in PlayStation history: In the late 1990s, the first PlayStation’s support for games on relatively cheap CD-ROMs instead of traditional game cartridges allowed the upstart console to outmaneuver cartridge-based systems from Nintendo and Sega, as it drove down game prices down in the process. (The cheaper disc format even prompted Final Fantasy VII maker Square to taunt Nintendo in a magazine ad, saying that if the game was “available on cartridge, it’d retail for around $1200.”) PlayStation devices often doubled as machines for watching movies and TV on the latest disc-based formats. In the late 2000s, for example, Sony’s pricy PS3 gained traction as a go-to device for playing then-novel Blu-Ray discs. In 2013, Sony effectively roasted the digital game-sharing restrictions proposed by rival Microsoft for its upcoming Xbox One console by showing how games could be shared for the then-upcoming PS4. In a 21-second clip that has over 20 million views on YouTube, one PlayStation executive simply handed a game box—presumably with disc inside—to another, who said “thanks.” Sony’s possible motivations The PlayStation announcement today cites “consumer preferences” and a shift away from discs among “the broader entertainment industry,” but does not delve into the decision-making process that brought Sony to this point. Sony is not discussing the economics of this move (I asked!), but there are a number of potential factors: Abandoning discs will spare Sony the cost of manufacturing and shipping them, which analysts and industry veterans I spoke to said could account for $1 or so of a game’s retail price. For first-party games, that’s direct savings for Sony, though the amount is limited by the winnowing percentage of people who were even buying the disc-based versions. For third-party games, Sony could pass the savings on to partners or just retain the better profit margin for themselves. As the 2024 comments from Phil Spencer alluded to, leaving discs behind could mean leaving disc-drives behind, allowing Sony to produce consoles more cheaply. Switching to digital-only for games could diminish the risks of copies of new games leaking. It would also seemingly make second-hand sales of used games impossible, pushing more people to buy their own copies of games. These economic benefits for Sony could be boons for the games industry overall, Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls tells Game File. Among other things, it could free publishers and retailers from having to worry about securing an inventory of game discs when trying to sell games, he noted. “If there is a way to streamline the business of games retail, I generally think it’s a good thing for the industry as it removes unnecessary costs,” Harding-Rolls said. “This will help offset pressure on margins from other directions – development and staffing costs for example.” Should the industry shift from game boxes that contain discs to smaller, cheaper game cards, Harding-Rolls said, that reduces pressure on publishers and retailers. “The advantage of everything going digital for the industry is that sales can be tracked much more easily and there is less commercial risk for publishers wanting to continue selling via retail,” he said. The shift to no discs will also likely impact game development timelines, as developers will no longer face the same urgency to have a build ready to submit to PlayStation for the production of a disc, as industry experts noted around GTA VI’s no-disc news last week. Instead, projects may gain weeks of development time, in the event delivery deadlines for platform approval move closer to release date. Preservationists’ likely worries While millions of gamers have shifted to digital, there are still people who associate game discs—and only game discs—with actual ownership of PlayStation games. That portion of the gaming community spoke up last week about wanting to buy a version of GTA VI that they could hold in their hands, could lend to a friend and could potentially pop into a well-preserved PS5 console three decades from now and still see it run. Such gamers didn’t want to worry that they’d merely purchased a digital copy that could lose access to the game if, say, the company behind the game someday turns of the servers that transmit downloadable copies. Digital copies of games are inherently less long-lasting, because consumers aren’t actually buying a game (on a disc), just buying access to the game. The fine print in online gaming shops notes this, as does a recent law that went on the books in California in 2025. That lasw requires game publishers doing business in the state to refrain from words like “sell” when offering digital copies of games, unless they explicitly tell consumers that what’s being sold isn’t the game itself but a potentially revocable license to access it. A Sony spokesperson noted to Game File that “[w]ith all digital content, including games, movies, and music, players are purchasing a personal license for non-commercial use.” Regarding the fears of PlayStation games being lost to time in an all-digital era, the rep also noted that Sony remains “committed to delivering experiences from past generations to the new platforms our players are using.” They noted that PlayStation has used emulation and remasters to keep offering its classic games to modern gamers. It’s true that many consumers have become accustomed to not having physical copies of new music albums or movies, but the relative precariousness of digital copies of games is in fact being highlighted today by…. Sony’s other big announcement: the upcoming closure of the PS3 and PS Vita online stores Sony said today that it will be closing the online marketplaces for its PlayStation 3 console and PS Vita handheld in most countries in July 2027 (sooner elsewhere: August 2026 for the PS3 store Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua; late 2026 for PS3 in other Latin American countries and the Middle East). “We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming,” Sony said in its announcement, saying the move “was not an easy decision for us to make.” Sony said that PS3 and Vita marketplaces “are no longer able” to support modern commerce systems, prompting a “need” to close the shops and focus on more modern PlayStation platform stores. The news may spark some deja vu. Sony announced back in March 2021 that it planned to take the PS3, Vita and PlayStation Portable marketplaces offline that summer. The move would have caused some 2,000 digital-only games to become unavailable for new purchasers, according to a VGC analysis at the time. Fans complained loudly. By April 2021, Sony walked back the PS3 and Vita shop closures, with then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan saying “it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here.” This time around, Sony is giving a longer notice period in most regions. The closure of those stores is still likely to cut off access to new purchases of digital-only PS3 and Vita games. The current PlayStation 5 marketplace sells PS5 and PS4 games, as well as a selection of PS1 and PS2 games. It does not sell PS3 games, because games for that platform can’t run on the system (some are offered via a PlayStation Plus streaming option). Vita games also aren’t sold via PS5. Sony says digitally purchased PS3 and Vita games will be downloadable after the stores’ shutdowns “for the foreseeable future.” Sony’s move contrasts with Microsoft’s Xbox platform, which continues to sell and support games from all four Xbox console generations. But it puts it in line with Nintendo, which disabled purchases in the marketplace for its Wii console (a contemporary of the PS3) in 2019. Nintendo discontinued purchases in the online shop for its 3DS portable (a contemporary of the Vita) in 2023. The big questions about Sony’s 2028 post-disc era Will Microsoft follow suit, ending support for new disc-based games on Xbox platforms and therefore all game consoles, too? Whether Microsoft does or not, will third-parties that can no longer release games on discs for PlayStation, simply ditch the disc options across the board? Given the GTA VI no-disc experiment launching this November, will more game publishers decide to forgo disc-based offerings even in 2027? How will no-disc PS5/6 games be packaged and sold in brick-and-mortar retail stores? What becomes of game sharing in an all-digital era? Will Sony modify its current set-up, which currently allows some sharing of digital games across a pair of consoles, to allow more casual lending? (See for example, Nintendo’s year-old system of letting players lend a digital game to another player in a “family group” for up to 14 days.) Will there be a version of a PS6 with a disc drive? Or will a drive be offered as an add-on? And how will gamers who want to retain access to PS4/PS5 disc-based games react to whichever configurations Sony chooses to offer? What will the final disc-based PlayStation game be?
Anthropic Launches Claude Science to Court Pharma Ahead of IPO
Anthropic unveiled Claude Science, an AI workbench designed to run — not just assist with — pharma research. The company is seeking to build out its customer base in the pharma sector as it deepens its healthcare push ahead of a widely anticipated IPO.
Acti puts AI agents directly into your smartphone keyboard
Startup Acti is betting the smartphone keyboard is the next home for AI assistants. Its new keyboard for iOS and Android works across apps and lets users create custom AI-powered shortcuts using natural language.
OnePlus is now pushing its users to buy Oppo products in some regions
OnePlus is, in some regions, pushing its customers to buy Oppo products instead, and the subtext isn't at all quiet here.
The Hound Haus Opens for Business in El Centro
A new business called The Hound Haus, which specializes in canine fitness, opened its doors to the Valley’s two-legged customers.
Splatoon Raiders Direct details enemies, weapons, tanks, customization, upgrades, and more
Nintendo released new information, footage, and screenshots for single-player action shooter Splatoon Raiders during a dedicated Nintendo Direct broadcast today, revealing details on the game’…
Claude Science, an AI workbench for scientists
Claude Science is a customizable app that integrates the tools and packages researchers most often use, produces auditable artifacts, and provides flexible access to computing resources.
Pilates Isn't Just a Workout Anymore. It's Becoming a Business Strategy.
Pilates has become the new marketing infrastructure, giving brands a trusted way to reach customers through shared experiences.
Louisville woman sentenced to federal prison after pool business fraud
Tracy Davenport was sentenced to federal prison after facing charges in connection with defrauding customers from her pool installation business.
Twin Cities Somali businesses face long, slow recovery after Operation Metro Surge
Customer traffic and spending remain down, and many Somali-owned shops have had to lay off workers and fallen behind on rent.
How Trump chose a former Oklahoma state trooper to lead ICE — and handed Markwayne Mullin a win
After an occasionally rocky start in his new post, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin won an internal debate when President Donald Trump announced he was nominating Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, five sources familiar with the dynamic told CNN.
WhatsApp Is Making Its Biggest Change in 17 Years—and It's a High-Stakes Race for Businesses
The Meta-owned messaging app just unveiled a massive privacy shift that could change how businesses and customers interact.
T-Mobile retires legacy plans, prompting price hikes and customer backlash
Average plan increase is $4 per month
T-Mobile phasing out older plans, moving customers to 5G offerings
T-Mobile is ending legacy wireless plans and auto-upgrading customers to newer, pricier options.
Austin Home Theater Helps Central Texas Homeowners Reimagine Entertainment With Custom Home Theater Design
Locally owned integrator combines decades of experience with personalized design to deliver cinema-quality systems across the Austin area
Flipper Device's new Busy Bar is a customizable display for productivity
Flipper Device's new Busy Bar will retail for $249.
CVC Capital Partners to Buy Ingredients Business Irca From Advent
Irca creates more than 7,000 products and serves customers in more than 100 countries and CVC said it would support the next phase of the company’s growth.
T-Mobile Is Automatically Pushing Legacy Customers Onto Its Current Plans
Some long-time subscribers could see a price increase of around $4 a line.
Comcast to split cable business from media through NBCUniversal, Sky spinoff
Comcast will split into two publicly traded companies through a spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky, separating its cash-generating broadband arm from a media and entertainment business under pressure from streaming rivals and industry consolidation. The latest U.S. media industry shake-up follows years of cord-cutting as legacy players chase scale to better compete with Netflix while Paramount Skydance's $110 billion deal for Warner Bros Discovery is set to boost competition. Comcast, which leans on cable for much of its cash flow, is also losing broadband customers to fixed wireless offerings from T-Mobile and Verizon and to fiber rivals building out networks.
Breaking: T-Mobile To Force Migrate Over 8 Million Customers To More Expensive Plans
Bad news for loyal long-time customers of T-Mobile: prices are about to go up by quite a lot.
The role customer relationship management plays in small business growth and efficiency
Nutshell reports that small businesses benefit from CRM systems, improving customer retention and sales, while starkly contrasting with larger firms' efficiency.
BT, Verizon to Form International Joint Venture
The London-listed telecommunications operator said the 50:50 joint venture would serve more than 3,000 customers in around 180 countries.
Life Science Reagent Market Forecast Points Higher Toward 2035, Driven by Biopharma Scale-Up and Cell Therapy Expansion
World life science reagent market forecast 2026-2035: CAGR 6-8%, index 2035=185. Bioprocessing, cell therapy, and QC drive growth. Key players: Thermo Fisher, Merck, Danaher.
Vallejo: Armed Suspect Arrested After Allegedly Making Death Threats At Business
Police have arrested a man after he allegedly brandished a gun and made death threats to customers at a business in Vallejo, police said Sunday.
Sony will pull Studio Canal purchases for European users
The trend of revoking access to digital purchases continues, this time affecting European customers of Sony's PlayStation Store.
From global politics to legendary performances: 110 years of Western Herald
June 28, 2026 marks the 110th birthday of Western Herald, celebrating over a century of journalism and dedication to delivering news to campus.
This Week’s Small Business Tech News: Apple Significantly Raises Their Prices
AI is reshaping small business IT, customer service and marketing. Learn why Microsoft agents, Apple price hikes and AI influencers matter to your business.
New business brings hat bar experience to Mineral County
Haley Nelson started her business in November 2023 in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Since moving to Montana, she has remained busy fulfilling online custom orders and shipping hats to customers across the country.
Trump says he’ll nominate former Oklahoma state trooper as ICE director
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he will nominate Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper and Marine, to be the next director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
PlayStation is pulling "previously purchased" digital movies from users' libraries
Sony has written to customers to advise that hundreds of "previously purchased" digital movies previously available via its online store will "be removed".
A day in the life of Nicky Hilton between London and New York
Nicky Hilton, socialite and cofounder of custom jewelry brand theo grace, splits her time between London and NYC. Here's a day in her life.
Colonial Market owner closes south Minneapolis location due to sharp drop in business following Metro Surge
Colonial Market owner Daniel Hernandez has closed the chain’s south Minneapolis location, which he said never recovered after the store’s employees and customers were targeted during Operation Metro Surge.
PlayStation encourages Blu-ray adoption by deleting purchased movies from customer accounts
PlayStation encourages Blu-ray adoption by deleting purchased movies from customer accounts
Cascades doubles down on business case for sustainability
The fiber specialist laid its path forward in a 2026-2030 sustainability plan. It’s emphasizing supplier vetting and its capacity to assist customers with their sustainability goals as it continues to strive for widely recyclable packaging.
I own a Turkish restaurant in SF. The World Cup changed my business.
Turkey playing in San Francisco as part of the FIFA World Cup 2026 has brought new customers to one restaurant, Turquaz's owner told Business Insider.
Slate's $24,950 EV truck is tiny and ridiculously customizable
Slate's pickup truck just revealed its sub-$25k price. So we tested out its build-your-own tool to see how the accessories work.
Cheshire orchard closes after 75 years in business
A longtime Cheshire orchard has announced its closing for good. In a message shared with customers, the family that owns Drazen Orchards said it is now permanently closed and will not reopen for the foreseeable future. The orchard has been open since 1951. The Drazen family said the decision was difficult, citing rising operating costs, the physical demands of running…
Regenerative Agriculture and Population Health
Regenerative agriculture can enhance food quality and reduce harmful exposures through improved soil biology, biodiversity, and ecosystem health, yielding downstream benefits for agriculture, food systems, and human health. It may improve profitability through greater land resilience and lower input costs and may deliver benefits to farms, farmers, communities, and the broader environment. More research is warranted to understand the full range of potential health benefits of regenerative agriculture.
How should European scientists respond to the US AI kill switch?
Earlier in June, Europe’s worst fears of technological dependence were confirmed when the White House ordered the AI firm Anthropic to stop non-US citizens using its leading models. This kill-switch moment crystalised anxieties in Brussels that the continent, lagging the US on the creation of leading-edge AI models, is now a technological of vassal of Washington. The shock has specific implications for European scientists and universities. Some governments are now worried that with AI being integrated into labs, Donald Trump now has his finger hovering over an off switch for European science. “Having restrictions on this tool, it can have an impact on our own research,” said France’s research minister, Philippe Baptiste, at the VivaTech conference in Paris on June 18.Baptiste, himself a former academic, said that colleagues in mathematics had recently warned him they were now cut off from leading-edge US models, risking their work. “This model is not available anymore now because of the US restriction, and for the first time this had an impact on mathematics,” a field where large language models (LLMs) are making a significant contribution, said Baptiste. So, should European scientists avoid relying on US models in the future? Or would this be a self-harming overreaction? And how is AI being used in science, anyway? What happened?On June 12, it emerged that Washington, citing cybersecurity concerns, had ordered Anthropic to stop non-US citizens using two models: Claude Mythos 5, and Claude Fable 5, a version of Mythos but with guardrails to prevent abuse. Anthropic said Washington’s concerns were overblown. But forced to follow the order, yet with no way to check who was using the models, the company suddenly shut down access for everyone, US citizens included. There’s still no agreement on how to restore broad access. But last week, Bloomberg reported that select US companies, and the US government, still had access to Mythos despite the ban, but the EU’s cybersecurity agency Enisa had been shut out. Class division of researchersIn the longer term, access outside the US should be restored, said Marcel Salathé, co-director of the AI centre at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL), because a permanent restriction would be financially ruinous to US AI firms. “Even Trump will eventually budge to economic pressure,” he said.However, US AI firms might end up operating rather like banks, doing due diligence on users of their leading-edge AI models, he went on.European scientists are unlikely to fall foul of such checks, he said. But having a Chinese postgraduate in their lab, or doing a type of research the US disapproved of, could potentially result in access being denied. “It will create a sort of class division of researchers,” he said. More than frontier modelsHowever, successfully deploying AI in science is about far more than just having access to leading LLMs such as Mythos.Instead, many science-specific tools, most famously Alphafold, which predicts protein folding structures, require “far less” computing power to train than frontier models, well within the capabilities of European supercomputers, according to a recent analysis by the Arq Foundation, a Brussel-based AI think tank. Instead, tools such as Alphafold are possible because certain fields, like protein folding, weather prediction or astronomy, have large, clean, standardised datasets that can be used to train predictive models. Rather than compute, “data is the central constraint for AI for science,” the report says. For example, a less powerful physics model trained on CERN’s data “will be more valuable than the best model without certain data,” said Bengüsu Özcan, author of the report. European advantage?Europe could therefore steal a march by using its scientific data and infrastructure to create models US digital giants cannot. “They might actually match or go even beyond what these big [US] companies are doing,” said Özcan.Indeed, some European start-ups hope to create automated testing labs to create the kind of standardised data that could speed up the discovery of new materials. Materials scientists say there’s currently too little data to train models. AI scientistsHowever, even if the bottleneck for AI in science is often data, rather than compute, being at the mercy of the US for LLM access could still become a problem for European scientists. A new class of “AI scientists” based on leading LLMs is also emerging, Özcan’s report says.Unlike domain-specific tools like Alphafold, these try to automate day-to-day scientific work, by providing an overarching tool that coordinates specific models to synthesise existing literature, generate hypotheses or run analysis of data. The problem for Europe, however, is that these tools are sometimes based on US leading models. Google Deepmind’s AI Co-Scientist, for example, is built on Google’s Gemini LLM. Systematic failureThese scientific automation tools are still in their early stages, and still exhibit “systematic failures on scientific tasks,” Özcan’s report says. One of the problems is that the messy, day-to-day process of scientific discovery is largely not documented, meaning LLMs don’t have a good source of data to learn how scientists actually work. Meanwhile, some tasks, such as literature synthesis, don’t typically require access to leading edge models.However, the performance of AI scientific assistants could improve as companies such as Google pour resources into developing them. Rely on US“Unfortunately, for scientific assistants, there is not much we can do right now except rely on US frontier AI,” said Antoine Bosselut, a natural language processing expert based at EPFL. Chinese-built open models, which can run on local computers, lessening the risk of a shutdown, are touted as one alternative to US dependence. There’s also Mistral, once seen as Europe’s main AI hope, but the Paris-based company has seen its recent models fall behind in performance. But the Chinese alternatives are generally not as capable as US frontier AI models, said Bosselut, unless paired with fiddly, custom tools that allows them to act as independent agents. “Most scientists do not have the time,” he said. Don’t jump ship yetAlthough the kill switch moment is seen a warning shot for European scientists, it doesn’t mean labs should abandon US AI tools immediately. “I do not think the right response is simply to abandon US-based models and systems under the banner of sovereignty or independence,” said Mattias Björnmalm, secretary general of the Cesaer university association. “That would be an overreaction.”Related articlesEuropean sovereignty in AI requires ‘ugly trade-offs,’ say experts Robotic lab start-up makes case for €500M EU-funded materials testing facilityAI in science: is it useful? Instead, European researchers need to ask themselves whether they’re becoming dependent on technology that could be turned off in Washington, said Özcan. “They might not see this today, but they should really start asking this question,” she said. European researchers need a plan B, said Salathé. “I would recommend to every researcher, very proactively explore alternatives.”Own toolsIn addition, Björnmalm and others want European research institutions to develop their own scientific AI tools.Instead of signing AI deals with US digital giants, European universities should be using this money to create their own models, which may end up being superior for research, said Sabine Leonelli, an expert on the use of AI in science at the Technical University of Munich. “Universities in Europe seem to be happy to sign commercial contracts with US companies on the assumption [their AI tools] are better,” she said. But US frontier LLMs are typically opaque, and have been developed without independent scientific input, she said. “This is not good enough for science.”Last year, Swiss researchers released Apertus, an LLM designed to be completely transparent, from its development methods to its training data. The idea is that this makes scientific tools built on top of the model far more reproducible than with closed, commercial alternatives.“Europe needs more of this: serious capacity-building that gives researchers, universities and companies credible options,” said Björnmalm.
Porsche unveils the new 911 GT4 R for global customer motorsport
For the first time, a car designed for global GT4 racing is based on the 911 platform.
Valve clarifies: all Steam Machines, for now, will ship with one 16GB stick of RAM.
In an interview with Gamers Nexus, Valve had said that the PCs would ship with either one 16GB stick of RAM or two 8GB sticks of RAM. “We misspoke here - all units will actually have one 16GB stick of RAM,” the company says in a follow-up statement to the channel. “It’s possible that this might change in future builds, but the units that customers are currently signing up for will all come with one 16GB stick of RAM.” [Media: https://youtu.be/glXA3ObwSwQ?si=QGmDWmVfbMiONxLd&t=109]
Health insurers propose high rate hikes for 2027 Minnesota plans
To find out why and how much it'll burden customers, policy analyst Matt McGough with KFF Health News joined Morning Edition Wednesday.
GTA 6 Ultimate Edition Pre-Order Details Confirm Major New Gameplay Features, Giving Players A First Look At Safehouses And Custom Vehicles
The latest GTA 6 Ultimate Edition news reveals plenty of fresh gameplay details, including fishing, fencing, fixing up classic cars and much more.
Startup’s strategy challenges EV industry assumptions
A new EV startup led by a former Amazon executive is betting that a low-cost, highly customizable pickup starting at just under $25,000 could help it achieve something that has eluded many EV startups: profitability, CNBC reports. The central goal for Slate Auto and CEO Peter Faricy is to make a full-size, practical truck accessible […]
Trump alleges gas price gouging, calls for DOJ investigation
President Donald Trump alleged that customers are facing fuel price gouging and said that he had ordered the Justice Department to investigate.
Federal officials plan to offload some warehouses purchased for immigrant detention
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is retreating from a plan to use warehouses to hold up to 10,000 people on a single site, dropping a key piece of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s $38-billion plan to rapidly expand detention capacity this year.
Oracle Health Extends AI into the Operating Room in Collaboration with Theator
/PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Health and Theator are working together to provide AI-powered surgical intelligence solutions to Oracle Health customers in the U.S....
Businesses say smoke from Boyle Heights warehouse fire is keeping customers away
After days of thick smoke covering the region from the warehouse fire in Boyle Heights, conditions are finally improving — a positive sign for some nearby businesses that say the smoke has been keeping customers away. The fire sparked last Wednesday at the 500,000-square-foot building, which was being leased by Lineage for use as a cold-storage facility and holding about…
Google Messages starts rolling out custom ‘Chat themes’ with wallpaper backgrounds
Google Messages is finally giving Android users more customization and personalization options with “Chat themes.”
Governor Moore Announces Tenfold Expansion of Funding Database in Maryland Community Business Compass
Governor Moore Announces Tenfold Expansion of Funding Database in Maryland Community Business Compass
A Small Business Platform Expands Its AI-Driven Advice Tool, Finding Solopreneurs Are Flocking
The public benefit corporation ZenBusiness has built out its Velo AI guide in response to high usage by customers.
Regions Bank Announces New Leaders in Key Markets to Drive Business Growth and Customer Experience
Lisa Phillips to lead Consumer Banking in Georgia and the Carolinas; Mia Hubbard to serve as Retail Service Delivery Manager for the entire Regions branch network. Regions Bank on Tuesday announced two key leadership appointments that will drive continued business growth in vibrant Southeastern markets while also supporting consistent service enhancements at branches throughout the company’s 15-state retail banking footprint. Longtime Regions banker Mia Hubbard (top left) will serve as Retail Service Delivery Manager, and Lisa Phillips (lower, right) will succeed Hubbard as Consumer Banking Executive for Regions in Georgia and the Carolinas. Lisa Phillips will serve as Consumer Banking Executive for Georgia and the Carolinas, overseeing branch performance and growth in vital and fast-growing markets such as Atlanta, Charlotte, and additional cities across the three states. Phillips succeeds Mia Hubbard , who is taking on the role of leading Service Delivery across Regions’ entire
Some businesses along KC’s streetcar are making bank on the World Cup. Others not
Businesses owners and manager reported an increase in out-of-town visitors coupled with a drop in local customers.
Is Lowe's (LOW) Entertainment-Focused Loyalty Push a New Edge in Customer Engagement?
Lowe's Companies, Inc. recently announced a multi-year partnership with Live Nation Entertainment to offer MyLowe's Rewards and MyLowe's Pro Rewards members exclusive live music benefits, including concert perks and amphitheater tailgate experiences at select venues starting this summer. This expansion of the loyalty program into entertainment experiences highlights Lowe's effort to deepen customer engagement beyond the store and into members' leisure time. Next, we’ll explore how this...
Little Saigon businesses say World Cup crowds downtown aren't boosting sales as hoped
But according to the organization, many business owners have reported fewer customers than expected during the tournament's opening weeks.
Mill Avenue businesses brace for recovery as construction nears the end
After months of construction being just one factor keeping customers away from Mill Avenue businesses, places that have made it through hope a rebound is coming as construction nears its end.
New Health Science High School looks to strengthen career-building opportunities
Students could get hands-on experience at hospitals through the proposed school, which would be set in a traditional school.
Blending Creativity and Business with Emma Richey
Storytelling-based business owner Emma Richey chose to specialize in finance and securities analysis with the Oregon MBA to challenge herself analytically and pivot careers.
Minnesota hospitality businesses are wary about the summer season | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Businesses reported increasingly price-sensitive customers as costs continued to rise
A Big Change Is Coming to Roku TVs
A big transformations are underway across the Roku TVs home screen as leading manufacturers, including TCL, begin implementing standardized home screen interfaces on their devices. This shift replaces the previous customized designs that each brand had developed independently with the uniform Roku platform experience. The result is a more consistent visual presentation that emphasizes the […]
SoKno Pride helps connect LGBTQ-owned businesses with new customers
While SoKno Pride celebrated the LGBTQ community, vendors and organizers said the event also helped local businesses reach new customers, expand their networks and strengthen support across East Te…
I started treating my dad with dementia like a customer
When my father's dementia made communication difficult, I borrowed a lesson from customer service: smile first.
Carrie’s Custom Confections serves up sweet treats in Umatilla
UMATILLA — Anyone suffering from chronic dry mouth should stop by Carrie’s Custom Confections in Umatilla for a mouth-watering treat. Carrie and Jenny Stamm moved into one of the business […]
Growing pains: Nolensville Pike project creates new challenge for longtime businesses
A road closure connected to the Nolensville Pike widening project is creating confusion for customers trying to reach a South Nashville shopping center.
World Cup fever boosts business in Portland
Portland businesses, from bars to soccer shops, saw a surge in customers and sales as World Cup fans gathered locally to watch the U.S. match despite Seattle hosting the game.
Real Estate Is Still a People Business
Unless you’ve been avoiding the internet for the past few years, you’ve probably noticed that artificial intelligence is everywhere. From customer service chatbots to content creation and personal assistants, AI is reshaping how people work, communicate, and access information. Real estate is no exception. Buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals are incorporating AI into their […]
It’s possible to end corporate influence in politics
There’s more money in politics than ever. But some state governments are finding ways to fight back.
Steam Controller demand is so high Valve is changing reservation estimates, and some customers won't get theirs until 2027
Valve has updated its Steam Controller reservation system as demand has exceeded its expectations.
Your Business Should Hire an AI Receptionist. Here’s How Quickly They Can Pay for Themselves
AI receptionists can catch missed bookings, answer questions, and free up employees to focus on customers.
Harvard Business Review Brings Back The World’s Dumbest Idea
HBR revives “maximizing shareholder value”—the dumbest idea in the world—treating customers as mere constraints. True value creation for customers, not metrics, wins long-term.
Sea of Thieves players can craft their own experiences with the new Custom Seas update
Sea of Thieves Season 20 has arrived with Custom Seas, giving you the tools to make your own experiences in the swashbuckling pirate game.
Downtown Lansing launches new initiative to boost evening business
Thursday marked the first Downtown After 5 night of the summer in Lansing. Some businesses have extended hours, new specials, and live music for their customers.
Google Is Using Nvidia’s Playbook to Build a Rival AI Chip Business
Wielding its war chest to win data-center customers for its silicon, the world’s second-biggest company is taking a page from No. 1.
Two Maryville restaurants fail initial health inspections
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The restaurants with the failing scores are in Maryville. It was a customer complaint that sent the inspector to a pizza place. The second restaurant is a cafe that serves…
Architect Labs raises $24 million to take on Broadcom, Marvell custom chip business
Architect Labs said on Thursday it had raised $24 million in seed funding to build a company that will use artificial intelligence to speed and ease the design of custom chips.
Analyst Perspectives on Oracle’s Strategy to Help Customers Secure Business Data against AI Threats
Oracle today announced its AI security strategy based on three principles: secure at source, secure at speed, and secure through resilience. To help customers accelerate and strengthen their security posture Oracle is making several of its most widely deployed and battle-tested database security, patching, testing, and lifecycle management tools available at no cost for a limited time, or at a 90% discount on one-year term licenses. This move has been positively received by leading industry analysts and reaffirms Oracle’s leadership in equipping enterprises to maximize their resilience in the face of increasing AI-era security threats.
Kansas City businesses see World Cup boost as fans pack bars and watch parties
Kansas City businesses are seeing a surge in customers during the FIFA World Cup. Bars, restaurants and watch parties report large crowds as soccer fans from around the world visit the metro.
Tracy Davenport sentenced to federal prison for defrauding customers of her pool business
Tracy Davenport was sentenced Monday to federal prison after pleading guilty to defrauding more than 50 customers through her pool business.
Social media’s next evolution: user-controlled algorithms
Social media feeds are becoming more customizable as platforms like Threads, Instagram, and TikTok introduce tools that let users directly influence the algorithms powering their recommendations.
Is the customer always right? Study finds rude customers hurt business
Frontline employees who face rude or disrespectful customers are more likely to justify negative behaviors, from cutting corners to leaving their jobs, according to a new study.
I went from summer intern to CEO in 17 years
Marissa Frois says a relationship with regular restaurant customers led to an internship that eventually turned into becoming CEO.
Intel takes a major step toward turning around a business that’s bleeding cash
Intel’s new manufacturing process has entered a stage that signals the company is confident in its ability to bring on external customers, analysts say.
Your Business May Be Too Measurable for Its Own Good. Here's What It's Costing You.
Customers are making more decisions in places metrics can’t fully reach. The result is a growing disconnect between what you can track immediately and what actually shapes buyer confidence.
No Liquid Glass slider for Apple Watch, but here's how watchOS 27 design changes
With iOS 27, Apple is giving iPhone users a slider to customize how clear or frosted Liquid Glass appears. While...
Trump’s war on science is in the fine print
A fresh attack on the U.S. scientific infrastructure could be the most damaging yet.
Commodore’s newest gadget is a flip phone that blocks social media and browsers
Commodore's Call Back 8020 is a phone “where the customer is not the product."
This is why a new East Cobb business is rushing to help homeless students
Big Frog Custom T-Shirts launched a "Room for Everyone" fundraiser in East Cobb to support homeless students.
Threats to Science Research, Changes to OMB Rules, and How We Fight Back
Join the AAUP, AFT Higher Education, and Stand Up for Science for an action hour on the proposed OMB rules that would politicize science research funding.
Microsoft is gearing up to let you spread the cost of Xbox purchases — partnering with Klarna and PayPal
Microsoft is exploring ways to help Xbox customers manage the cost of living crisis, adding the ability to split costs in over weeks or even monthly instalment payments "interest free."
iOS 26.5.2 update likely coming soon for iPhone users
While much of the attention has shifted to iOS 27, that update won’t ship to customers until later this year....
Businesses feeling strain from AI spending, so OpenAI reportedly weighs price cuts
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the cost concerns he’s hearing from customers, with some corporate users blowing through their annual AI budgets in a fraction of their fiscal years. “That went from, at the beginning of this year, an iss…
Electronic Arts launches EA Advertising, a new way for brands to advertise 'directly into gameplay'
Electronic Arts announced EA Advertising, a new way for brands to connect with fans through its portfolio of games, from stadium signs to custom content.
Booth Insights: Your AI strategy is the next business valuation test
Investors will put a premium on companies that use AI to deepen customer relationships, improve operations and turn data into an asset.