TechCapsules

Rockstar Games has announced a free next-gen upgrade for Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5) on Xbox, PC, and PS5. Existing owners of the Xbox One, PS4, or Legacy (PC) version can upgrade to the next-gen Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and Enhanced (PC) editions by downloading them from their platform's storefront. The upgrade includes access to both GTA 5 Story Mode and GTA Online, with improved visuals and performance. However, physical disc owners on Xbox are ineligible [...]

Apple TV will offer free streaming of the entire Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix weekend to viewers in the US, marking the first time an entire Formula 1 race weekend has been made available without a subscription. The free access, available from June 26 to June 28, includes all on-track sessions, from practice and qualifying to the Grand Prix. The schedule begins with Practice 1 on June 26 and concludes with the Austrian Grand Prix on June

OpenAI is bolstering its team ahead of its public debut by hiring Noam Shazeer, a renowned AI expert, and Dean Ball, a former Trump White House AI policy official. Shazeer, credited with co-authoring the seminal 2017 paper "Attention Is All You Need," joins from Google, where he had been a co-lead at Gemini and founder of Character AI. Ball, who will lead OpenAI's Strategic Futures team, will focus on shaping frontier AI policy, covering catastrophic risk, recursive [...]

Quantum Space, a Rockville, Maryland-based company, has won a Pentagon contract to develop an orbital refueling spacecraft using its Ranger platform. The contract, funded by the Department of Defense's Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund, aims to establish a broader in-space logistics infrastructure to support long-duration military operations. The spacecraft, expected to be delivered by 2028, will be compatible with military client spacecraft and feature a multimode propulsion system combining chemical and electric propulsion. Quantum Space has repositioned [...]

Forza Horizon 6 players discovered a glitch that allowed them to farm in-game credits quickly. Playground Games initially disabled one of the game's online modes, Eliminator, to prevent the exploit. However, following the release of the first balancing update, the studio is rolling out a new update that re-enables Eliminator and gives users a free McLaren Sabre as a gesture of goodwill. The update also rebalances rewards in some game modes to prevent exploitation using Auto Drive.

Apple's 1TB M5 MacBook Pro has been discounted to $1,529 at B&H, with a total savings of $170. The deal combines a $150 instant markdown with a $20 in-cart coupon. The discounted price beats Amazon's price by $20 and is the lowest available, according to B&H's 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 Price Guide. The configuration includes 1TB of storage, 16GB of unified memory, and a 10-core M5 chip. Supply is limited, and the online checkout closes for 24

Google has released an update for YouTube TV that restricts background playback and shortens the future program list for users on older and less powerful devices, including Roku. The update aims to prevent crashing and create a seamless experience for these devices. Users on devices with less than 512MB of memory may experience a different experience, with some features not available. The update has been reported to affect several Roku devices, with users advised to upgrade to [...]

Snap is spinning off its internal generative AI video team into a new company called Dotmo, citing high costs of conducting such work internally. Dotmo will focus on developing AI models for interactive gaming experiences and will retain close ties to Snapchat. The initial team will consist of current Snap staff, and while Dotmo won't be directly funded by Snap, the company will receive a large equity stake in exchange for a technology license and talent. This [...]