Category: Technology

The rumored MMO set in Sony’s post-apocalyptic Horizon universe is real — and we’ve seen a video spilling details about the game before it’s been announced. 

The new game is called Horizon Steel Frontiers, and Sony and the Korean video game company NCSoft are working on it together. Based on a more than 10-minute video we’ve seen featuring a mix of cinematic and pre-alpha gameplay footage as well as developer interviews, the game will focus strongly on fighting the Horizon series’ giant mechanical beasts and being able to do so with other people. 

Sony and a PR company representing NCSoft didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. The Verge initially spotted promotional art for Steel Frontiers on a website used to share game assets that media and influencers are approved to use. The art seems to have been posted early, perhaps ahead of an announcement at the G-Star 2025 event in Korea later tonight. The website also included a link to a Google Drive with open access that contained the video. According to that website, Steel Frontiers will be available on PC, iOS, and Android.

Footage from the video shows groups of players taking on beasts …read more

IBM has introduced two different quantum chips that it believes could help demonstrate “quantum advantage,” or the ability for a quantum computer to solve a problem faster than a classical computer, by the end of 2026. The new chips, Nighthawk and Loon, should help do that by taking different approaches to connecting qubits in a quantum computer, producing fewer errors and supporting more complex computations.

Of the two new chips, IBM Quantum Nighthawk is the one the company believes it can iterate on to produce quantum advantage. By the end of 2025, the version of Nighthawk IBM will provide to its partners will have “120 qubits linked together with 218 next-generation tunable couplers” arranged in a square lattice to connect with their neighbors. IBM claims this will allow Nighthawk to “execute circuits with 30 percent more complexity” while maintaining lower error rates. It’ll also let it handle more demanding computational problems “that require up to 5,000 two-qubit gates,” the company says.

IBM Quantum Loon is the more experimental of the two chips, connecting qubits not just horizontally on the chip, but vertically, too, New Scientist …read more

In its new Steam Frame VR headset, Valve put dual audio drivers on each side in the included head strap. That puts the audio near your ears while you’re wearing it, and in my brief time trying the device at Valve’s headquarters recently, I thought the sound was just fine. But the choice to have those dual drivers also helps reduce audio vibrations, which helps the headset with tracking while you’re playing games in VR, Valve hardware engineer Jeremy Selan tells The Verge.

The Frame, like many other VR headsets, uses outward-facing cameras built into the main part of the headset for tracking. However, audio with good bass “induces vibrations into the headset,” which can affect that tracking, according to Selan. But on the Frame’s included head strap, the dual drivers per side are “mounted opposite to each other,” which creates “vibration cancellation inherent in the design.” That allows for “better tracking, even with good audio,” Selan says.

If you’ve ever received a spammy text falsely alerting you to an unpaid toll or failed delivery, it might have come from a so-called Phishing-as-a-Service network that Google is now trying to take down. 

Google filed suit against several unnamed defendants it says make up an enterprise called Lighthouse. The company argues in a new complaint that Lighthouse makes a “‘phishing for dummies’ kit for cybercriminals who could not otherwise execute a large-scale phishing campaign.” 

The group would allegedly charge a monthly licensing fee to provide SMS or e-commerce software with hundreds of templates for websites closely resembling financial institutions or government-affiliated organizations that could trick consumers into entering sensitive details. In just 20 days, Google alleges, Lighthouse was used to spin up 200,000 fraudulent websites to attract over a million potential victims. It estimates that somewhere between 12.7 million and 115 million credit cards in the US were compromised by the scam.

While many people are familiar with the kind of spammy texts Lighthouse-enabled services allegedly help blast, the lawsuit details what happens after someone actually clicks on …read more

More than a month after the first season’s finale aired, FX has finally confirmed that Alien: Earth will get a second run of episodes, ending some sleepless nights for this reporter / Alien obsessive. No release date has been set for the second season yet, though it will film some time next year.

Showrunner Noah Hawley is returning to lead the series again, and the holdup on the announcement might have been because it brings with it confirmation that he’s signed a new ongoing deal with Disney. The Hollywood Reporter suggests the deal could see him move beyond FX, where he’s worked on Fargo, Legion, and now Alien, to work across Disney’s other networks and platforms.

“FX has always supported bold, character-driven storytelling. From the very beginning with Fargo, they’ve encouraged me to take creative risks and follow the story wherever it leads,” said Hawley. “I’m grateful to continue exploring the world of Alien: Earth alongside our partners, cast, and crew as we begin the next chapter.”

Production for the second season will move from Thailand to London, though we’ll have to …read more