Gadgets
Podcast Probes Mysterious Death of Blockchain Whiz Gerald Cotten
Soon it was also discovered that the money was gone, because the vaults had been emptied 8 months before he died. The podcast will take a deep dive into the various mysteries and wild theories surrounding the untimely death of the blockchain whiz. The episodes will be available every Mondays till June 28.
The makers of the eight-part podcast series have released an audio trailer in which they appear to tackle the various theories circulating. The host, Aaron Lammer, asks his listeners, “Does this Gerry story sound fishy to you? Sounds fishy to me too. So, I spent the last two years investigating.” Lammers then says “believe me when I tell you” that nothing could have prepared him for what he found during his quest.
The first episode of the podcast miniseries, titled The Lost Password, released on May 10. Using comments and quotes from varied sources, it deals with how Cotten set up his company, his India trip, what happened after his death and the millions of dollars in locked funds.
Asked why he was interested in Cotten’s story, Lammer told Mashable in an interview that the “story was so complicated” that he has fascinated by it and wanted to “simplify it and break it down and organise all this stuff because it was just all over the internet.”
Twelve days before his death, Cotten had filed a will listing substantial assets. According to his last will and testament on November 27, 2018, he left all his assets to his wife, Jennifer Robertson, and made her the executor to his estate, the documents show.
Earlier, CBC News cited a report by the regulatory agency Ontario Securities Commission to report that the Quadriga exchange was a “fraud” and Ponzi scheme.
Since Cotten’s death, many people have come forward to raise questions about the CAD 215 million owed to 1.15 lakh of Quadriga customers. Cotten died of complications due to Crohn’s disease in Jaipur, according to his wife’s affidavit and a statement of death from JA Snow Funeral Home in Halifax.
Gadgets
Microsoft Partners With Inworld to Bring AI Game Development Tools to Xbox
“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”
The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.
Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.
Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.
Gadgets
BSNL Offers Free 4G SIM Upgrade: Here’s How to Get It
In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.
To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.
Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.
The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.
Gadgets
Realme GT 5 Pro Teased to Feature 3,000 Nits Display; More Details Revealed
Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.
The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.
For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
-
world news4 months ago
Gulf, France aid Gaza, Russia evacuates citizens
-
world news4 months ago
‘What will your excuse be?’: Gaza hostage’s mother urges world to help
-
Camera2 years ago
Sony a7 IV sample gallery
-
Solar Energy4 months ago
The potential of solar cars in the world
-
TOP SCEINCE2 months ago
Chemists create a 2D heavy fermion
-
world news3 months ago
Yemen’s Houthis in Oman-mediated talks over Red Sea ‘operations’
-
Smart home12 months ago
Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 Series, Robot Vacuum Mop-2i, More Debut in India
-
Camera2 years ago
Sony Xperia Pro-I sample gallery