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Here's everything that was announced during The Game Awards

Engadget - Fri, 2023-12-08 12:30

The Game Awards is over and done with, leaving an empty theater in Los Angeles and plenty of happy game developers placing pointy statuettes on their mantels. To that end, Larian Studios and its massively successful RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 was the big winner of the night, taking home the prize for game of the year, player’s choice, best multiplayer game and more.

Remedy’s Alan Wake 2 was also on fire, winning best game direction, best narrative and best art direction, among others. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom paraglided away with the statue for best action/adventure and the RPG Sea of Stars won for best indie game, with Cocoon being awarded best debut indie game.

Okay. Now that the actual awards are out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. The main reason people watch The Game Awards is for reveals and trailers, and this year didn’t disappoint. There were over a dozen announcements, and here are the best and brightest of the bunch.

Light No Fire

Boy oh boy, a new title from Hello Games, the makers of a little-known space sim called No Man’s Sky. The studio has finally announced a follow up, which has been in development for five years. Light No Fire, another three-word monosyllabic game name, is being billed as the “the first real open world” title, a lofty promise that Hello may be able to pull off. The world is allegedly the same size as Earth, with secrets and mysteries around every corner. It’s also multiplayer, which is neat. Who knows when this one will come out, but it looks gorgeous.

Jurassic Park: Survival

It’s been a couple of years since a new Jurassic Park game, and more than that for a proper adventure title. Jurassic Park: Survival actually takes place one day after the events of the first film, and looks to feature plenty of stealthy action as you hide from hungry dinos. There’s no release date, but it’s launching on Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.

OD

Did you think Hideo Kojima would be spending all of his time on Death Stranding 2? Heck no. The legendary developer has also been busy preparing the cinematic horror game OD, previously called Overdose. It’s described as something “no one has ever experienced or seen before,” which is entirely possible, given Kojima’s pedigree. Filmmaker Jordan Peele is also on board, as are actors Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer and Udo Kier. Details are scant, as it’s a Kojima joint, but the game will release for Xbox X/S and PC at some point.

Marvel’s Blade

That’s right. Everyone’s favorite vampire hunter is getting his own video game. Even better? It’s being developed by Arkane Lyon, the talented team behind Deathloop and Dishonored 2. Sure, the dev also made Redfall, but maybe Arkane can take some of the best parts of that vampire shooter and translate it to Marvel’s hero. There’s no release date and no announced platforms for this one.

Exodus

This is the first game from Archetype Entertainment, a studio staffed by former developers from Bioware, Naughty Dog and other AAA developers. Exodus is a sci-fi RPG that deals with the effects of time dilation, the notion that time passes more slowly to those experiencing high-velocity space travel. It looks cinematic and gorgeous, with a major emphasis on player choice. Exodus has no release date, but it's in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Monster Hunter Wilds

Capcom is busy working on a new Monster Hunter entry. Monster Hunter Wilds is a direct followup to Monster Hunter World and it looks to feature all of the big, bad beasties you can shake a sharpened stick at. It’s on the way to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, with more information coming this summer.

Windblown

Motion Twin, the developer of Dead Cells, is back with another roguelike. Windblown looks to be a fast-paced release that promises “a whole new level of speed to the action rogue-like genre.” It’s also not a sidescroller, which is a definitive break from the Dead Cells formula. Windblown launches in 2024 for PC, though consoles are likely to follow.

Big Walk

Looking to relax? House House, the developer behind Untitled Goose Game, has got you covered. Big Walk is, well, a multiplayer walking sim with plenty of secrets to uncover. Cooperation is a major part of the game as you and your friends work to explore the wilderness. Big Walk is slated to arrive on Steam and the Epic Game Store in 2025.

No Rest for the Wicked

No Rest for the Wicked is the new project from Moon Studios, the team behind Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel. It’s a top-down action RPG, departing from Ori’s metroidvania roots, set during the middle ages. The graphics are stunning, which is no surprise considering the developer. It's due to hit early access on Steam in the first quarter of 2024, and will eventually launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Pony Island 2: Panda Circus

Indie developer Daniel Mullins made a name for himself with Inscryption and the original Pony Island. Now he’s back with Pony Island 2: Panda Circus, a game that’s not actually about ponies. The trailer is weird and creepy, as one would expect, with sudden shifts from a 3D adventure to a 2D point-and-click and back again. Voice actor SungWon "ProZD" Cho is also on board. The game may not be released until 2026, so put on your waiting cap.

Sega Embraces its Roots

Sega dropped a trailer for not just one game, but a whole bunch of games based on classic IPs. You can look forward to forthcoming reboots of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and Shinobi. Everything old is new again. But, where’s Seaman?

Final Fantasy XVI and God of War Ragnarok get DLC

The DLC faeries were good to us this year. There’s a God of War Ragnarok update launching next week, bringing a new roguelite game mode to Sony’s hit adventure. We also got a surprise drop for the first Final Fantasy XVI DLC. Echoes of the Fallen, set before the base game’s final battle, is available now, with a second DLC planned for next year. To that end, Square Enix dropped a trailer for next year’s installment, The Rising Tide.

Everything else

Those were the biggest reveals, but not all of them. The Game Awards also saw a title reveal and trailer for Supermassive’s Dead by Daylight spinoff, The Casting of Frank Stone. There was an announcement trailer for a remake of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and one for the music-tinged VR title Thrasher, by the makers of Thumper. Finally, we got an actual release date for Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones, February 16, and a surprise launch for Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox systems.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/heres-everything-that-was-announced-during-the-game-awards-173051610.html?src=rss

Google Calls Drive Data Loss 'Fixed,' Locks Forum Threads Saying Otherwise

SlashDot - Fri, 2023-12-08 12:20
Google Drive recently lost user files, with some reporting missing documents since May 2023. Google said this month that it has posted a fix, but its description of a "syncing issue" doesn't seem to capture the problem based on user reports of web files disappearing, ArsTechnica notes. The company hasn't fully explained the cause or its recovery solution, which involves desktop app options and command line file recovery, the report asserts. This opaque handling, along with Google shutting down the Drive user forum that allowed people to share fixes, adds to perception that the company prioritizes PR over assisting users, the report adds.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hideo Kojima’s documentary will be a Disney+ exclusive

Engadget - Fri, 2023-12-08 12:15

Hideo Kojima said his documentary, Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds, will be distributed exclusively by Disney+. The legendary game designer posted Thursday on X (formerly Twitter) that the film, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this summer, will launch globally in the spring of 2024.

Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds tracks the pioneering auteur during the development of Death Stranding while providing a rare glimpse into his creative process as he launched his studio, Kojima Productions. The film also includes “shots from the early days of our independent studio, memories from my childhood and my creative journey,” as the designer said. The film strives to capture the artistic side of gaming, which Kojima embodies as well as anyone.

 Connecting Worlds. The game designer sits, smiling, in a work setting. A caption reads, Kojima Productions

The documentary announcement follows the official reveal of Kojima’s next game, OD. Although we don’t know much about it yet, its trailer blends a cinematic art style with horror, aligning with previous leaks. Director and comedian Jordan Peele is even involved. Xbox Game Studios is publishing the title, which Kojima has said will lean heavily on Microsoft’s cloud technology.

“Video gaming is an art,” director Guillermo del Toro summarizes in the documentary trailer (below) about the Metal Gear creator. “But the only person in charge of the orchestra is the auteur.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hideo-kojimas-documentary-will-be-a-disney-exclusive-171555906.html?src=rss

23andMe Moves To Thwart Class-Action Lawsuits by Quietly Updating Terms

SlashDot - Fri, 2023-12-08 11:40
Following a hack that potentially ensnared 6.9 million of its users, 23andMe has updated its terms of service to make it more difficult for you to take the DNA testing kit company to court, and you only have 30 days to opt out. From a report: In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week, 23andMe said hackers accessed around 14,000 customer accounts earlier this year by trying login-password combinations exposed in unrelated breaches. It later said hackers had access to 6.9 million accounts due to the interconnected nature of its DNA Relatives feature. 23andMe has since updated its terms of service in a way that changes how the company resolves disputes with users. Customers were informed via email that "important updates were made to the Dispute Resolution and Arbitration section" on Nov. 30 "to include procedures that will encourage a prompt resolution of any disputes and to streamline arbitration proceedings where multiple similar claims are filed." Customers have 30 days to let the site know if they disagree with the terms. If they don't reach out via email to opt out, the company will consider their silence an agreement to the new terms.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Score Huge Discounts on Lego Sets for All the Family This Holiday Season - CNET

CNET News - Fri, 2023-12-08 11:33
Whether you're shopping for kids or adults, there's something for everyone across these retailer sales.

Amazon device deals include an Echo Show 5 and smart bulb bundle for $40

Engadget - Fri, 2023-12-08 11:08

If you've been thinking of grabbing or gifting a new Echo device for the holidays, here's a quick PSA: A number of Amazon's smart speakers and displays are currently on sale for the lowest prices we've tracked, and many of them can be bundled with a Sengled smart light bulb for no extra cost. An Echo Show 5 bundle is down to $40, for instance, while one for the Echo Dot is available for $23. Beyond that, the latest Echo Show 8 is available for a low of $105, albeit without any extras. A bundle with the full-size Echo is also $40 off at $60, though that's a few bucks higher than its all-time low. Most of these deals have been lingering since around Black Friday, but each still represents a good chance to save. 

We recommend the Echo and Echo Dot in our guide to the best smart speakers, while the 8-inch Echo Show 8 and 5.5-inch Echo Show 5 are picks in our guide to the best smart displays. If you can afford the higher-end model of each pairing, they should be worth it: The Echo sounds decidedly fuller than the Echo Dot, while the Echo Show 8 has a better display, richer speakers and a much sharper camera than the Echo Show 5. But the Dot still performs well for its size and remains a good value for those looking to see if they'd get any use out of an Alexa speaker in the first place, while the Echo Show 5 can be useful on a bedside table as a sort of smart alarm clock

Amazon's Alexa assistant still has plenty of deficiencies — and all Alexa-based devices carry inherent security and privacy concerns — but for simpler requests and controlling other compatible smart home gear hands-free, each of these devices generally work well. The Sengled bulb, meanwhile, is a fairly simple color model that's compatible with the new Matter standard and normally costs around $20 on its own.

If you want the absolute cheapest Echo speaker, the Echo Pop is also on sale for $17 with the same smart bulb, but most people should get the superior-sounding Echo Dot when it's only a few dollars higher. The Echo Dot with Clock, which includes an LED display for showing the time and other basic info, is worth a longer look at $40, though that's $10 more than the lowest price we've tracked. On the smart display side, the Echo Show 10 is $80 off and down to $170, but we found that auto-rotating display to offer little extra value over the Echo Show 8 in our review.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-device-deals-include-an-echo-show-5-and-smart-bulb-bundle-for-40-160851722.html?src=rss

9 Best Chef's Knives for 2023, Tested and Reviewed - CNET

CNET News - Fri, 2023-12-08 11:00
Our list of best chef's knives includes a $25 Mercer that punches above its weight, a $650 splurge you have to see to believe and a bunch of beautiful blades in between.

The Race To 5G is Over - Now It's Time To Pay the Bill

SlashDot - Fri, 2023-12-08 11:00
Networks spent years telling us that 5G would change everything. But the flashiest use cases are nowhere to be found -- and the race to deploy the tech was costly in more ways than one. From a report: At CES in 2021, 5G was just about everywhere you looked. It was the future of mobile communications that would propel autonomous vehicles, remote surgery, and AR into reality. The low latency! The capacity! It'll change everything, we were told. Verizon and AT&T wrote massive checks for new spectrum licenses, and T-Mobile swallowed another network whole because it was very important to make the 5G future happen as quickly as possible and win the race. CES 2024 is just around the corner, and while telecom executives were eager to shout about 5G to the rafters just a few years ago, you'll probably be lucky to hear so much as a whisper about it this time around. While it's true that 5G has actually arrived, the fantastic use cases we heard about years ago haven't materialized. Instead, we have happy Swifties streaming concert footage and a new way to get internet to your home router. These aren't bad things! But deploying 5G at the breakneck speeds required to win an imaginary race resulted in one fewer major wireless carrier to choose from and lots of debt to repay. Now, network operators are looking high and low for every bit of profit they can drum up -- including our wallets. If there's a poster child for the whole 5G situation in the US, it's Verizon: the loudest and biggest spender in the room. The company committed $45.5 billion to new spectrum in 2021's FCC license auction -- almost twice as much as AT&T. And we don't have to guess whether investors are asking questions about when they'll see a return -- they asked point blank in the company's most recent earnings call. CEO Hans Vestberg fielded the question, balancing the phrases "having the right offers for our customers" and "generating the bottom line for ourselves," while nodding to "price adjustments" that also "included new value" for customers. It was a show of verbal gymnastics that meant precisely nothing.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google's AI-infused NotebookLM note-taking app is open to everyone in the US

Engadget - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:52

Google’s NotebookLM, a note-taking app that’s infused with a large language model, is now available to everyone in the US. The company built NotebookLM to only pull information from a custom dataset. So you might use it, for instance, to help write a paper based on a specific set of PDFs and only rely on details from those documents.

The idea is that, by sticking to a custom dataset, the information NotebookLM handles will always be relevant to your specific needs as opposed to a more general chatbot that might draw from the entirety of the public internet. Google debuted NotebookLM as Project Tailwind at I/O this year before rebranding it and it says the tech is based on its Gemini Pro model

Google also notes that personal data isn't used to train NotebookLM, so any sensitive or private details in your sources will remain hidden. That is, unless you share the sources with collaborators.

Along with making NotebookLM more broadly available (Google has been granting access based on a waitlist over the last five months), Google has announced a string of new features for the software. It plans to roll these out over the next few weeks with the aim of easing the transition between reading, taking notes and writing.

Among other things, the chatbot can format your notes into a newsletter, script outline or a marketing plan draft and export everything to Google Docs with one click. You'll be able to pin notes to a Noteboard space above the chat box, save and pin responses from the chatbot as notes and hide the source material if you want to focus on jotting down your thoughts with fewer distractions. You'll soon be able to ask the AI to focus on certain sources (of which you'll be able to have up to 100 in total) or jump to a citation from a chat response or saved note.

NotebookLM will also suggest some actions based on selected text or notes. At the outset, you'll be able to combine notes, summarize several of them or create an outline or study guide.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-ai-infused-notebooklm-note-taking-app-is-open-to-everyone-in-the-us-155239999.html?src=rss

Is it Cheaper to Buy Groceries Online and Have them Delivered? I Did the Math - CNET

CNET News - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:49
Online grocery delivery is convenient but could it actually be cheaper than in-store shopping? I compared grocery lists from Amazon Fresh, FreshDirect and a national supermarket chain to find out.

Kick-Start Your New Year Fitness Regime With Horizon's Holiday Fitness Deals - CNET

CNET News - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:46
Horizon Fitness is offering deep discounts on its cardio equipment like treadmills, indoor bikes and more.

Take $100 Off This Roku Streambar and Wireless Bass Bundle for the Holidays - CNET

CNET News - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:36
Now you can revamp your entertainment space with 4K streaming and premium Dolby Audio for just $150.

Save 20% on Drinkware During BruMate's Holiday Sale - CNET

CNET News - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:27
Save on insulated mugs, water bottles, can coolers and much more.

23andMe frantically changed its terms of service to prevent hacked customers from suing

Engadget - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:24

Genetic testing company 23andMe changed its terms of service to prevent customers from filing class action lawsuits or participating in a jury trial days after reports revealing that attackers accessed personal information of nearly 7 million people — half of the company’s user base — in an October hack.

In an email sent to customers earlier this week viewed by Engadget, the company announced that it had made updates to the “Dispute Resolution and Arbitration section” of its terms “to include procedures that will encourage a prompt resolution of any disputes and to streamline arbitration proceedings where multiple similar claims are filed.” Clicking through leads customers to the newest version of the company’s terms of service that essentially disallow customers from filing class action lawsuits, something that more people are likely to do now that the scale of the hack is clearer.

“To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, you and we agree that each party may bring disputes against the other party only in an individual capacity and not as a class action or collective action or class arbitration,” the updated terms say. Notably, 23andMe will automatically opt customers into the new terms unless they specifically inform the company that they disagree by sending an email within 30 days of receiving the firm’s notice. Unless they do that, they “will be deemed to have agreed to the new terms,” the company’s email tells customers.

23andMe did not respond to a request for comment from Engadget.

In October, the San Francisco-based genetic testing company headed by Anne Wojcicki announced that hackers had accessed sensitive user information including photos, full names, geographical location, information related to ancestry trees, and even names of related family members. The company said that no genetic material or DNA records were exposed. Days after that attack, the hackers put up profiles of hundreds of thousands of Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people for sale on the internet. But until last week, it wasn’t clear how many people were impacted.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, 23andMe said that “multiple class action claims” have already been against the company in both federal and state court in California and state court in Illinois, as well as in Canadian courts.

Forbidding people from filing class action lawsuit, as Axios notes, hides information about the proceedings from the public since affected parties typically attempt to resolve disputes with arbitrators in private. Experts, such as Chicago-Kent College of Law professor Nancy Kim, an online contractor expert, told Axios that changing its terms wouldn’t be enough to protect 23andMe in court.

The company’s new terms are sparking outrage online. “Wow they first screw up and then they try to screw their users by being shady,” a user who goes by Daniel Arroyo posted on X. “Seems like they’re really trying to cover their asses,” wrote another user called Paul Duke, “and head off lawsuits after announcing hackers got personal data about customers.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/23andme-frantically-changed-its-terms-of-service-to-prevent-hacked-customers-from-suing-152434306.html?src=rss

Apple Report Finds Steep Increase in Data Breaches, Ransomware

SlashDot - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:20
Data breaches and ransomware attacks are getting worse. Some 2.6 billion personal records have been exposed in data breaches over the past two years and that number continues to grow, according to a new report commissioned by Apple. From a report: Apple says the escalating intrusions, combined with increases in ransomware means the tech industry needs to move toward greater use of encryption. According to the report, prepared by MIT professor emeritus Stuart E. Madnick: 1. Data breaches in the US through the first nine months of the year are already 20% higher than for all of 2022. 2. Nearly 70 percent more ransomware attacks were reported through September 2023, than in the first three quarters of 2022. 3. Americans and those in the UK topped the list of those most targeted in ransomware attacks in 2023, followed by Canada and Australia. Those four countries accounted for nearly 70% of reported ransomware attacks. 4. One in four people in the US had their health data exposed in a data breach during the first nine months of 2023.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Cooler Master’s Framework case gives your laptop a second life

Engadget - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:00

We’ve covered Framework’s modular, easy-to-repair laptops plenty here at Engadget and with good reason. Its mission is to end the need for users to toss out an otherwise perfect machine when just one component goes dead. But, as the company matures, it also has to tackle the issue of what happens when people choose to upgrade for performance reasons. An early buyer might choose to swap their 11th-gen Intel mainboard for any of its successors, or leap across the aisle to get the newly-released AMD edition. That leaves them with an otherwise perfectly functional mainboard they either have to sell on, turn into a hobby project or, more likely, leave on a shelf gathering dust as a just-in-case option. That’s why the company hooked up with Cooler Master to give you a far better alternative.

The Framework x Cooler Master Mainboard Case is a $39 barebones chassis into which you can put your existing Framework mainboard. For that, you get a cool-looking plastic frame and a kickstand, with four VESA mount screws buried inside and, uh, not much else. That’s the point, since you can either cannibalize other components from your laptop, use any compatible spares that are lying around, or pick up fresh ones from Framework on the cheap. I’d say this is aimed not at Framework’s dedicated and talented hobbyist community, which has made a raft of great 3D-printed cases on their own. Instead, it’s pointed at people like me, who break into a sweat whenever a DIY Perks video mentions soldering. (If you’re reading this, doubtless you’ve seen that video about preserving broken laptops but I also bet you’ve never tried to actually do it.)

Image of the rear of the case, with the expansion cards visible. The case is on a grey cloth in front of a grey background, and the rear of the case is white.Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

If you’re starting from a clean slate, you can probably pick up a better-specced mini PC for less cash. But if you’re already inside Framework’s ecosystem, and you have one of those boards to hand, as well as some other spare components, then this makes perfect sense. After all, that first generation model I tested was packing a Core i7-1165G7; more than enough power for everyday tasks like browsing, productivity work or for use as a media center. The case is flexible enough to let you pick and choose what accessories you need or use, including pre-drilled holes for you to add SMA antennas rather than reusing a laptop WiFi module. Oh, and you’ll need to buy a 100W charger since the mainboard was designed to be used with a battery.

The byword is flexibility both in letting you choose how you want to craft your system, but also a comment on the build quality. $39 doesn’t buy you a lot, and the two halves of the plastic case are a lot flimsier than I would like. It doesn’t help that you don’t so much mount the components onto the backboard as place them in, and then they’re held in place when you screw the lid in. It’s easy enough to drop all of the parts in – although a lack of cable routing for the WiFi was an issue when it came to seal this all up. Not to mention, the first time I screwed it all in, the USB-C ports for the expansion cards didn’t sit properly over the holes for them to pass through.

Close up of the Framework x Cooler Master logo on the front of the case in front of a grey painted wall.Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

The only other roadblock to my initial setup was that I couldn’t get the unit to push video to the TV. You need to set the mainboard into Standalone mode, but the iFixit-style guides don’t make it massively clear about how you go about doing that. Especially if you spend half an hour in the BIOS looking for the setting to no avail before and after installing a batch of updates. In the end I just dumped the board back in the case to see if anything had changed and, to my surprise, it booted straight to the screen. It’s worth hoping Framework remembers its user base might have a broader range of abilities than it expects and that no instruction should be made off-hand.

Once I’d dealt with those teething woes and poked the WiFi cables back into place by shoving a screwdriver through the VESA mount hole, I was ready to go. Since this is a Framework laptop just outside its usual chassis, you get the same pick of USB-C expansion cards as usual. With a HDMI-out and a couple of USB-A ports for peripherals, I was streaming 4K video without issue just as soon as I’d signed into Plex. Fundamentally, for those of us too timid to even think about rolling their own hobby project, it’s tools like this that make these projects accessible.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cooler-masters-framework-case-gives-your-laptop-a-second-life-150051741.html?src=rss

Today's Best Savings Rates: Dec. 8, 2023 -- The Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Can Earn You Up to 5.35% - CNET

CNET News - Fri, 2023-12-08 10:00
Not all savings accounts are created equal. These are some of the top ones worth considering.

Save on Photography Equipment and Capture Precious Holiday Memories This Season - CNET

CNET News - Fri, 2023-12-08 09:57
The holidays are a great time to save on tech gear, including photography equipment.

Google's Best Gemini Demo Was Faked

SlashDot - Fri, 2023-12-08 09:40
Speaking of early-impressions of Gemini, users' confidence in Google might be shaken further to learn that the company pretty much faked the most impressive demo of Gemini. TechCrunch: A video called "Hands-on with Gemini: Interacting with multimodal AI" hit a million views over the last day, and it's not hard to see why. The impressive demo "highlights some of our favorite interactions with Gemini," showing how the multimodal model (that is, it understands and mixes language and visual understanding) can be flexible and responsive to a variety of inputs. To begin with, it narrates an evolving sketch of a duck from a squiggle to a completed drawing, which it says is an unrealistic color, then evinces surprise ("What the quack!") when seeing a toy blue duck. [...] Just one problem: the video isn't real. "We created the demo by capturing footage in order to test Gemini's capabilities on a wide range of challenges. Then we prompted Gemini using still image frames from the footage, and prompting via text." So although it might kind of do the things Google shows in the video, it didn't, and maybe couldn't, do them live and in the way they implied. In actuality, it was a series of carefully tuned text prompts with still images, clearly selected and shortened to misrepresent what the interaction is actually like.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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