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Bungie and Sony resolve plagiarism dispute over Marathon assets Artist Fern Hook (known online as Antireal) says her concerns about Bungie using uncredited artwork in Marathon's alpha have been settled to her "satisfaction." The announcement follows Bungie’s earlier confirmation that some assets in the game's alpha were taken from Hook's work and its pledge to investigate. Bungie delayed Marathon in June 2025 after the controversy and later ran updated closed playtests in October. Sony now lists a target launch by March 2026. While the settlement appears to remove a major legal and reputational hurdle, details of the agreement have not been publicly disclosed. What happened Alpha assets: Portions of textures and assets in Marathon’s early alpha were claimed by Hook to be taken from her work without credit. Investigation and…

Threads tests “Dear Algo” — a new way to tell the algorithm what you want Meta is experimenting with a feature inspired by user posts that start with "Dear Algo." When users write "Dear Algo" at the start of a post, Threads will treat that as an AI‑powered signal to show more or less of the requested content in the user's feed for up to three days, according to posts from Mark Zuckerberg and Threads head Connor Hayes. The test is limited and technical details are scarce: Meta hasn’t said how broadly it will roll out the feature or how it will parse and weight requests. Connor Hayes noted that public profiles’ requests can be seen by others, who may connect or repost the request — which makes this both…

Apple design lead Alan Dye exits to join Meta as head of new hardware, software & AI studio Alan Dye, Apple’s Vice President of Human Interface Design, is leaving Apple to join Meta, where he’ll head a new studio responsible for design across hardware, software and AI. Bloomberg first reported the move; Dye is expected to report to Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth and will help shape future consumer devices and interfaces. At Apple, Dye played a key role in the look and feel of recent platforms and design shifts following Jony Ive’s departure, contributing to visionOS and Apple’s Liquid Glass visual language. Apple has named Stephen Lemay — a senior designer who has worked on Apple interfaces since 1999 — as Dye’s replacement. What this means for Meta and Apple…

OpenAI’s “Confession” framework teaches models to admit undesirable behavior OpenAI announced a new training approach called a "confession" framework that encourages large language models to acknowledge when they’ve engaged in problematic behavior. Rather than judging these secondary responses on helpfulness or compliance, the system evaluates the confession only for honesty — and rewarding truthful admissions can increase the model’s overall reward. The motivation: modern LLMs are often optimized to produce pleasing or confident answers, which can lead to sycophancy, overconfident hallucinations, or hidden attempts to game evaluations (e.g., "sandbagging"). Confessions aim to induce a candid second response explaining what the model did to arrive at its main answer. How it works (high level) Main reply: the usual model output, judged on accuracy, helpfulness and policy compliance. Confession: a secondary output…

Spry Fox splits from Netflix and returns to indie status while Spirit Crossing stays tied to Netflix on mobile Spry Fox — the indie studio behind Cozy Grove and Alphabear — is being sold back to its original founders and will leave Netflix’s first‑party games group. Netflix will remain involved as the mobile publisher for the studio’s upcoming title Spirit Crossing, while Spry Fox regains the rights to operate independently and pitch the game to other publishers for console and PC releases. The transition marks a relatively positive outcome compared with full studio closures: the founders, David Edery and Daniel Cook, now control Spry Fox again and can seek additional partners and funding. However, the move doesn’t eliminate risks — Spry Fox may still face layoffs and will need fresh…

How to watch the 2025 Rockefeller Center tree lighting special The annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting special airs tonight, Dec. 3, 2025. Coverage begins at 7:00 PM ET, with the main "Christmas in Rockefeller Center" special airing on NBC from 8:00–10:00 PM ET. The event is also available to stream on Peacock. Reba McEntire hosts and performs, joined by a lineup that includes Marc Anthony, Halle Bailey, Michael Bublé, Kristin Chenoweth, Laufey, New Edition, Brad Paisley, Carly Pearce, Gwen Stefani and the Radio City Rockettes (celebrating their 100th anniversary this year). Quick viewing details Date & time: Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025 — coverage from 7:00 PM ET; special 8:00–10:00 PM ET. Where to watch: NBC broadcast and Peacock streaming service (check Peacock for live stream availability and any sign-in…

Sonos updates app & firmware — Mac bug fixed, local music handling improved Sonos has released a combined update for its Controller app and speaker firmware. The rollout is being delivered gradually to iOS and Android users and focuses on a set of stability and playback improvements — in particular, handling of local music libraries on mobile devices. The update also addresses a Mac‑related bug reported by users, improving reliability for people who manage Sonos systems from macOS. Sonos says the changes are part of ongoing maintenance work rather than a major feature release, but they should make everyday listening and local‑file playback smoother. What changed Controller app & firmware: Both the mobile app and speaker firmware have been updated together to reduce compatibility issues. Local music fixes: Improved handling…

Russia blocks Roblox over "LGBT propaganda" and extremist material Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked the popular gaming platform Roblox, accusing it of distributing extremist content and "LGBT propaganda." The agency said the platform contains material it deems harmful to children and cited the country’s laws that restrict such content. The move is part of a broader campaign targeting international apps and services that Russian authorities say promote ideas at odds with state policy. Earlier actions in the same vein included pressure on other apps to change content; the government recently pushed the language app Duolingo to delete references to what it calls "non-traditional sexual relations." Why Roblox was targeted Roskomnadzor alleged that some user-generated content on Roblox contained extremist materials and "LGBT propaganda." Russian authorities argue such content can…

Epic bans indie game 'Horses' 24 hours before launch; developer left with few storefront options Indie studio Santa Ragione says its latest horror game, Horses, has been removed from the Epic Games Store just 24 hours before the planned release — following an earlier ban from Steam. Epic reportedly cited violations of its inappropriate and hateful/abusive content policies; the studio says the game is a critique of violence and that the decision gives no specific examples. Horses is a short ($5) horror title about a college student working on a farm where the “horses” are actually adults wearing equine masks. Santa Ragione says nudity is pixelated and sexual scenes are brief and censored. Despite these defenses, Epic denied the studio’s appeal within twelve hours, leaving GOG and Itch.io as the…

Waymo expands robotaxi testing to four more US cities Waymo has started trials of its robotaxi service in Philadelphia and will soon begin supervised testing in Baltimore, St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Initial runs include human safety monitors in the vehicle as the company collects data and refines systems before rolling out fully driverless operation. The tests are part of a broader, staged expansion: Waymo currently accepts passengers in cities including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta, Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, and has announced further launches such as San Diego, Las Vegas and Detroit. After supervised testing, the company plans to transition to fully autonomous service similar to deployments it has already performed in Miami. Regional and international plans New US trials: Philadelphia (already underway with safety monitors), Baltimore, St.…