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Withings and Function Integrate Connected Health Data with Comprehensive Lab Testing
Withings and Function have announced a partnership integrating connected health device measurements with comprehensive laboratory testing, enabling users to access daily biometric data and clinical results through both companies’ digital platforms. The integration aims to provide a more continuous view of individual health by combining routine measurements with periodic laboratory assessments.Under the agreement, Function members can synchronize data from Withings devices directly into the Function app, including body com...
Indiana men’s basketball listed as a top NIL spender ahead of 2026-27 season
Indiana, fresh off a transfer portal roster reload, was listed as a big spender by CBS Sports ahead of the season.
Urban Meyer only has one concern about a 24-team College Football Playoff
Urban Meyer won three national titles as a college football head coach, but the game is already very different from his time at Florida and Ohio State. The ways NIL and the transfer portal have shifted the sport’s landscape were hard to predict, and the Fox Sports college football analyst is among those who misread…
'All INdiana Politics': Secretary of State candidates face off on voting reform and business portals
INDIANAPOLIS — The race for Indiana Secretary of State is taking center stage as four candidates vie to lead the office responsible for state elections and business licensing. The contest features former congressional aide Max Engling running as the Republican nominee, lawyer and former Marine Corps infantry officer Beau Bayh carrying the Democratic banner, small […]
‘All INdiana Politics': Secretary of State candidates face off on voting reform and business portals
INDIANAPOLIS - The race for Indiana Secretary of State is taking center stage as four candidates vie to lead the office responsible for state elections and business licensing. The contest features for...
‘All INdiana Politics': Secretary of State candidates face off on voting reform and business portals
INDIANAPOLIS - The race for Indiana Secretary of State is taking center stage as four candidates vie to lead the office responsible for state elections and business licensing. The contest features for...
All Lancaster County health systems will soon use same software for patient records
All major health systems in Lancaster County will be using the same online portal for health records by Nov. 2, allowing caregivers to access records with patient consent regardless of
Google’s new ‘Shop devices’ tab sells Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices side by side
Google has launched a new “Shop devices” portal that lets interested buyers pick up a Samsung Galaxy smartphone from the...
SEC announces decisions on revamped NIL policy, transfer portal
The Protect College Sports Act has passed in the Senate, but the legislation, which is aimed at eliminating some of the “chaos” that has affected college sports, and in particular, football, faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives. Earlier this month, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise detailed some of the issues the PCSA…
Whistleblowing Portal Launches in U.K. for Entertainment Industry Workers to Report Abuse, Harassment and Discrimination
Workers across the U.K.’s film, TV, music and theater sectors are now able to report whistleblowing concerns, including those relating to harassment and abuse, following the launch of a new portal by ...
Whistleblowing Portal Opens in UK for Film, TV Sectors to Report Abuse
The UK's Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority has launched a new portal for the entertainment sectors to report abuse and harassment
Nico Iamaleava’s Post-Tennessee Saga Takes Another Twist at UCLA
Nico Iamaleava still can’t really find his footing since leaving the Tennessee Volunteers. His name was massively in the headlines more than a year ago, when he wanted more money from the Vols and couldn’t get it, so he hit the transfer portal. Iamaleava hasn’t lived up to that saga, though. He keeps hitting bumps […] The post Nico Iamaleava’s Post-Tennessee Saga Takes Another Twist at UCLA appeared first on HEAVY.
Texas health agency proposes eliminating children's autism program
KVII serves the Amarillo, Texas and Panhandle region with local news, sports and weather for the city and surrounding towns, including Canyon, Hereford, Borger, Pampa, Dalhart, Dumas, Childress, Perryton, Clarendon, Texas; Guymon, Oklahoma; and Clovis, Portales, Tucumcari, New Mexico.
Study Rewrites Cattle Pregnancy Science
A new LMU study found cattle embryos can establish pregnancy without interferon tau, opening new research paths to improve livestock fertility.
CDFW News | Del Norte County Recreational Razor Clam Fishery Closes Due to Public Health Hazard
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Meghan Hertel has closed the recreational razor clam fishery in Del Norte County. This closure comes following a recommendation from state health agencies that determined consumption of razor clams in the area poses a significant threat to human health for domoic acid exposure.
Travel Health Insurance Requirement Implemented
As of October 6, 2026, all travelers to Kenya must obtain travel health insurance through the government-sanctioned provider prior to entry and must present proof of coverage upon arrival. The Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) portal (for ETA-eligible nationals) and the eCitizen portal (for non-ETA-eligible nationals) have been updated with this requirement. The insurance costs approximately USD 44 and is valid for one year, including for repeat trips to Kenya during the insurance policy's validity period. Previously, travelers could rely on private or employer-provided health insurance and did not need to provide proof of coverage before entering the country. This change will not affect the above applicants' processing times. However, travelers should obtain the required insurance before traveling to avoid delays or bars to entry. Notably, Tanzania recently adopted a similar mandatory inbound travel insurance requirement, potentially signaling an emerging trend in the East African region.
Tom Izzo Says Transfer Portal Is Detrimental To The Kids
Tom Izzo used his Big Ten media day turn to say what most coaches won't about the portal. #GoGreen
Texas Launches Expedited Online Business Filing System via SOSPortal
Governor Greg Abbott announced the launch of online Texas Express services, allowing businesses to utilize same-day and next-day filings through the Texas Secretary of State.
Disney Believe to debut new entertainment and dining experiences in December 2027
Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Believe will enter service on 18 December 2027, with the new Wish-class ship set to introduce new entertainment, dining and accommodation across its public spaces and...
PS5 Fans Think They May Have Found Evidence of an Enhanced PS Portal
OLED screen incoming?
Cybersecurity portal to fight bad guys open for business: NMFTA
The NMFTA has launched its threat portal, where targets of successful and unsuccessful cyberattacks can share their stories.
Senate GOP smashing political spending records in TX with ad-buying binge for Paxton
KVII serves the Amarillo, Texas and Panhandle region with local news, sports and weather for the city and surrounding towns, including Canyon, Hereford, Borger, Pampa, Dalhart, Dumas, Childress, Perryton, Clarendon, Texas; Guymon, Oklahoma; and Clovis, Portales, Tucumcari, New Mexico.
Kauai small businesses still waiting for financial aid after Hurricane Lowell
Nearly a month after Hurricane Lowell devastated Kauai, struggling businesses are still waiting for help with unemployment numbers skyrocketing every week. Meanwhile, an application portal that was supposed to go
Protect College Sports Act Clears Senate, Faces House Next
In the era of NIL and a seemingly unlimited transfer portal, many are concerned about the future of college sports. On Monday, the Senate took a step in the direction to create stricter guidelines for the NCAA. The Protect College Sports Act was passed by the Senate with a 77-22 vote in the nation’s capital. […]
September Monthly Review: Health MCP Guy?
For all the time I spend talking about APIs and data exchange, this newsletter has had embarrassingly little interoperability of its own. It’s old-school SaaS, baby - UI or bust. Not all of that is my fault! Substack, for all its popularity, is (as mentioned before) really frustrating as my system of record. The primary user it optimizes towards is the reader, whose attention feeds the app, the Notes feed, and the recommendation network that Substack is actually selling. Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe They’re falling into the same trap that Medium once sprinted into, albeit at a much more glacial speed. Younger generations may not remember (or never knew) it, but Medium once lured publications like The Ringer and Signal v. Noise onto its platform, only to lose them as it rebuilt itself around a paywall and an algorithmic feed. Substack’s original pitch circa 2020 was the antidote (you own your list), but every new feed feature chips away at it. I get it: writers are generic supply in the eyes of the Substack product team. Generic supply follows demand, so the consistent pressure on the PMs is to generate demand, which leads to every product cycle going toward discovery (Notes, recommendations, the app, live video). The end result lackluster author tools (laggy and broken analytics are truly crippling) all despite the premium price point. The archive is where it crosses from authorial gripes to actual reader impact, though. Across Substack and LinkedIn, I’ve published 1,218 posts and nearly 900,000 words since 2018. Substack’s native search can see only the 464 posts that live on Substack, and even there it’s woefully inadequate at surfacing relevant content (even for the guy who wrote it)! Readers have the same problem, writ large. Ask the Archive Fixing search (for both my readers and my own use) turned out to be extremely non-trivial, unfortunately: There’s no public API for readers to access content RSS exists for new content notification, but it only carries the 20 most recent posts and cuts paid ones off at the preview The only Substack MCP is an admin tool for analytics The export exists for authors, but it’s painfully awkward and slow. So I built something to work around that: the Health API Guy MCP. It’s a private MCP server holding the full text of everything I’ve written across Substack and LinkedIn. Add it to Claude or ChatGPT as a connector and you can ask things like: It pairs keyword search (for acronyms and case names, of which we have many) with semantic search. Every post is also labeled by topic, form, and court case, so you can pull a lawsuit’s (or multiple cases’) entire docket across Substack and LinkedIn in one query: Hail, Healthapiguyhydra This is also a bit of me eating my own cooking. I’ve spent the year arguing that headless healthcare is arriving and that developers want primitives over abstractions. Last week in Hail, Benihydra, I watched Salesforce plug its platform into Claude and bet that the records underneath outlive whatever interface sits on top: Salesforce must believe that the Hydra’s immortal head is the records, permissions, and business logic (in that they will survive whatever happens to the interface). It felt a bit hypocritical to keep my own archive behind a Substack search bar. The archive is the body. Substack is one head, and now whatever tool you might use is another. Will the EHRs follow my lead? Probably not imminently, but one can hope! Why Founding Members Only The MCP is available to Founding Member subscribers. A few reasons: It costs money and time to run. Hosting, the database, Clerk usage and AI compute for search and labeling are significant operational costs (that increase with usage). Substack gives me no way to automate access. There’s no API to check whether someone is a paid subscriber, so every user is manual operations for now. It’s a beta. We’ll need to improve things and parts will break. I’d rather they break for a small group of dedicated readers who will tell me about it. The Founding tier deserved a real benefit. Until now it was mostly a generous tip. Now it comes with something. If you’re already a Founding Member, reply to this email with the address you’d like provisioned. If you’re not and want in, upgrade here. Larger teams (such as companies) can get access too: group subscriptions at the Founding tier come with the group discount. The admin for the subscription can reply with the list of addresses to provision. Get 20% off a group subscription Pricing Founding membership is now a flat $200 a year, replacing the old suggested $150 that readers could adjust. Existing Founding Members will have access grandfathered in at their previous rate. Month in Review Articles Published Make Networks Dumb Again (Sep 11): AI is making old analog networks cheaper to use and flooding them with machine traffic in the process. A plea for agent-native rails with the intelligence at the endpoints, and for Washington to drag them to ubiquity. Interoperability, Unbuttoned (Sep 29): Interoperability is a series of workflows in a trenchcoat, and this post finally takes the trenchcoat off. A color-coded map shows which provider workflows went digital, which are fragmented, and which still run on fax. Video Content Antitrust’s System of Record Problem (Sep 3): The FTC’s investigation into Epic prompted a ninety-minute webinar, now posted with chapters and a smoothed transcript. We get into why market definition, missing B2B share data, and the SSNIP test leave antitrust poorly suited to systems of record, plus why information blocking may be doing more than any pending lawsuit. The Information Exchange: Cerner Milking Edition (Sep 18): This was so fucking fun. Ryan Tucker, Ryan Brickner, Brad Thorson, and I try an Around the Horn format, complete with points, penalties, and a mute button. We debate whether Oracle Health is dead, who would actually buy Cerner (IBM enters the chat), p(Doom), and why the front desk still hands you a clipboard. Regulatory Ask Not What Your Network Can Do (Sep 23): CDC’s RFI on public health data intermediaries lists use cases already served, unevenly, by eCR, lab reporting, IZ Gateway, and syndromic surveillance. The real opportunity sits in one question about AI: a network that can handle the next emergency without another interface project. Court cases Particle v. Epic: The Naughty Schoolteacher (Sep 4): After a summer-long vigil, the answer on Epic’s early summary judgment bid is two paragraphs and a remedial assignment. Particle advances to the next grade, and market definition gets another year of discovery. The Epic Discovery Files (Sep 8): Texas’s motions to compel arrive with a 251-page appendix of requests, objections, and meet-and-confer letters with Cravath. Inside: Epic using generative AI for document review, denied interoperability requests in scope, and Noerr-Pennington raised against lobbying discovery. Epic v. Health Gorilla: “Working as Designed” (Sep 9): Epic wants nothing to do with the data breach MDL, and explaining why puts fresh discovery on the public docket. The spiciest allegation: Health Gorilla told GuardDog to scrub its law firm business from its website instead of cutting off access. Veeva v. Epic: Legal Bypass Surgery (Sep 15): Veeva asks the Wisconsin Supreme Court to skip the Court of Appeals, while law professors and three policy groups line up as amici. Meanwhile, Epic’s lawyers apologize for another round of citation errors, including a quote that never existed. Texas v. Epic: Behind the Black Bars (Sep 17): The court portal served up Epic’s unredacted filings, revealing a $5 million document review budget and the AI workflow behind it. Also inside: the 200-plus company names Texas wants searched, and one very expensive Zoom invitation. OpenEvidence v. Doximity: Consequences Will Follow (Sep 25): OpenEvidence tells the court it will not comply with a discovery order, and its own lawyers at Quinn Emanuel say they won’t defend the choice. Add years of Slack reported unrecoverable, and Rule 37 sanctions come into view. Health Tech Keeps Choosing Violence (Sep 28): Doximity moves to end OpenEvidence’s case, Epic asks Texas to show its work, and a sleepy Audacious Inquiry patent fight sprouts antitrust and information blocking counterclaims. The main event is a long-sealed Cognizant v. Infosys ruling that hints where system of record antitrust claims can survive. EHRs One Verb for Oracle Health (Sep 14): Oracle’s earnings call quantifies every data center to the decimal point, while Oracle Health gets a single verb: “accelerate.” Panning the few healthcare mentions turns up an agentic care management system, a research-to-care ledger play, and the question of whether healthcare gets Larry’s patience. Epic’s Forretress Under Siege (Sep 30): Judy Faulkner tells a panel Epic paused hundreds of projects to harden its software and calls it a “shame,” while a spokesperson insists the roadmap hasn’t changed. Project Glasswing, a Pokémon-branded QAN sprint, and a trove of Jodel grievances reconcile the two Epics and preview the Jevons paradox coming for all software. Industry Analysis Scanning for a Network (Sep 1): Scan.com raises $220M to build the imaging network labs never got, speedrunning Zocdoc’s consumer-to-B2B pivot. Its wedge to network density may be the most American one available: personal injury litigation. The Front Desk Wants the Damn Whole Building (Sep 16): Hello Patient buys Converse Health, pushing its AI front desk into referrals, chart work, and prior auth. The copilot categories keep blurring, and your distribution partner is still your final boss. Cross-industry Comparisons A Different Patchwork Quilt (Sep 10): Healthcare loves to envy open banking, but the US version has no mandate, a toll booth at Chase, and data quality problems of its own. The grass isn’t greener; it’s another American patchwork quilt, and perhaps a worse one. Hail, Benihydra (Sep 21): Salesforce brings its platform into Claude, Slack, and its own agent, inviting the interfaces that might replace it. Cut off one head and more grow back, so long as the records underneath stay put. Living on A Trade Secret Prayer (Sep 22): Six credit unions are suing Fiserv, the Epic of core banking, by claiming their own member records as trade secrets. Banking has no Cures Act, so its lawyers reach for legal alchemy that healthcare has already tried. Other News None this month External Media Nabla Accelerate NYC: I kicked off fall conference season at Nabla’s Accelerate event in New York, where Delphine Groll opened by asking the room to picture the company it wants to become and the one it doesn’t. I liked her framework of bureaucracy, fear, and ego as the blockers. I also love vendor conferences/events in general - different vibe than industry biggies. Healthcare 101 with Nikhil Krishnan: I briefly guest lectured Out-Of-Pocket’s Healthcare 101 class. Appreciated Nikhil’s takeaways cover whether AI doctors can query HIEs, why healthcare’s data-liberation rules beat most industries’, and the hi-res graphic is in the comments. HCN: Epic Probed by the FTC: I joined the HCN guys to talk through the FTC’s investigation into Epic. Cedric’s new hairdo was an unexpected plot twist. The episode also covers MFN drug pricing, healthcare M&A and Eli Lilly’s acquisition streak. Fall Conferences: At eHealth Exchange’s Annual Meeting in Austin on Oct 27, I’ll moderate a panel on the tensions between AI, HIEs, and timely patient access with Jean Ross (Primary Record), Therasa Bell (Kno2), Byron Crowe (Doctronic), and Michael Marchant (Freenome). Here’s the rest of my schedule if you want to meet up: CommonWell (Redwood Shores, CA): Oct 13-14 Will be participating in a fun Jeopardy event Open@Epic (Madison, WI): Oct 20-23 Will be enjoying Verona, Willy Street, and other local adventures eHealth Exchange and Sequoia Project (Austin, TX): Oct 27-29 Yeehaw HLTH (Vegas): Nov 15-18 Groundhog Day, Venetian Edition RSNA (Chicago): Nov 30-Dec 2 See me at “Governing AI in Breast Imaging: What Health Systems Are Actually Doing” Digital Health Counsel 2026 AI Summit (Seattle): December 2-3 Will likely be speaking to a bunch of lawyers about information blocking Posts I Liked ChatGPT’s Epic integration: game changer or nothing burger?: Joshua Liu, MD offers five thoughts on OpenAI’s Epic launch, starting from the point that it rides the same open APIs available to anyone. He argues read-only access leaves ordering to Art and the ambient startups, and asks why HCA is piloting it alongside Commure. He’s sorta a must-follow at this point - consistently excellent, thought-provoking takes. Epic, Lilly, and the Discovery pass: Seth Chaney reads Epic’s first major Discovery deal (with Eli Lilly), as well as its revised developer terms on commercial displays, as the pipe finally opening between EHRs and pharma. Life sciences and health continue to collide. Scott Rossignol on EHR payer platforms and ePA fees: Scott argues the top ambulatory EHR vendors are turning the prior auth mandate into a per-member-per-year toll on payers, for an API whose operating cost has nothing to do with covered lives. His fix is two lines of regulatory text: put the CRD/DTR/PAS certification criteria in the Base EHR definition, and bring payer-facing ePA connectivity under § 170.404’s cost-based fee rules. It’s a good solution. Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Community & Health Impacts and Risks of Gas
Learn about benefits of electrification, community & health impacts and risks, and financial costs
Community & Health Benefits of Electrification
Learn about benefits of electrification, community & health impacts and risks, and financial costs
Kansas Adds Running Back Chase Belcher After Midseason Portal Opening
Kansas Adds Running Back Chase Belcher After Midseason Portal Opening
Senate passes Protect College Sports Act with decisive vote
The Protect College Sports Act, which would set national rules for NIL deals, the transfer portal and more, was passed by the Senate on Monday night.
Amarillo Public Health investigating tuberculosis exposure at West Texas A&M
KVII serves the Amarillo, Texas and Panhandle region with local news, sports and weather for the city and surrounding towns, including Canyon, Hereford, Borger, Pampa, Dalhart, Dumas, Childress, Perryton, Clarendon, Texas; Guymon, Oklahoma; and Clovis, Portales, Tucumcari, New Mexico.
How to submit high school sports highlights to The Palm Beach Post
The USA TODAY Network has launched a new portal that lets fans upload and share their athlete's best high school sports highlights.
Top 10 transfer portal impact players of Week 4
In the new era of college football, the transfer portal has become a significant component of roster construction. Throughout the 2026 college football season, On3 is breaking down the top 10 transfer portal impact players based on weekly performances. Here are the most impactful transfer portal players from Week 4: 1. Oregon QB Dylan Raiola Raiola came […]
First known AI agent breach: What happens when it starts acting independently?
OpenAI agent gained unauthorized access to Australian health portal after encountering restrictions, says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese | Anadolu
45th annual Catface Turpentine Festival is set for Saturday, October 3
From a parade and rosin potatoes to Turpentine soap and a street dance, the Catface Turpentine Festival promises a day of entertainment for the whole family. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the event, hosted by the Portal Heritage Society.
How to submit your high school sports highlights to FLORIDA TODAY
The USA TODAY Network has launched a new portal that lets fans upload and share their athlete's best high school sports highlights.
Revamped Data Tool IDs Trends In Mental Health, Substance Use Among CT Residents
The portal is designed to provide researchers, journalists, and community members statewide with streamlined access to mental health and substance use data through interactive visualizations and centralized resources.
Australia Says Rogue OpenAI Agent Hacked Health Service Website
Australia said an OpenAI agent hacked a data portal for its public health insurance system, in what’s thought to be the first known instance of an AI agent infiltrating a government website. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said the agent had accessed public and non-public information relating to health care spending, but personal information is not believed to have been part of the breach. Albanese, speaking on Wednesday at a media briefing in New York where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly, said that the incident took place in June. OpenAI learned of the hack in August, but only emailed a general inbox of an Australian government agency on September 10, and it wasn’t until this week that OpenAI and the Australian government spoke directly about the issue. “It took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred,” Albanese said, “and the nature of the way that that notification occurred as well was unacceptable.”
Science Debunks Cracked Solar Panel Fears
Scientific studies suggest cracked solar panels present little environmental danger, with protective designs limiting chemical exposure and testing showing contamination levels remain below established safety limits.
Australia Condemns ‘Unacceptable’ OpenAI Breach of Government Health Portal
The breach follows a string of incidents involving AI models going rogue.
Australia launches urgent review after OpenAI program hacks government health portal
Experts believe it's the world's first known AI breach of a government system.
Australia launches urgent review after OpenAI program hacks government health portal
The program, or "agent", hacked a portal containing data from Australia's Medicare scheme. Experts believe it's the world's first known AI breach of a government system.
Australia Says OpenAI ‘Infiltrated’ Public Health Care Portal
Australia is exploring potential legal action after an artificial intelligence agent accessed nonpublic information on the country’s universal health care system.
Australian prime minister says OpenAI agent accessed government health website, raises 'extreme concern'
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said investigations are ongoing into the June incident involving Australia's Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal.
Dr. Carlos Afonso Nobre Awarded 2026 Thomas E. Lovejoy Prize for Leadership in Amazon Science and Conservation
NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2026 — Dr. Carlos Afonso Nobre, one of the world’s leading scientists on the Amazon and its relationship to the global climate, has been awarded the 2026 Thomas E. Lovejoy Prize in recognition of more than four decades of groundbreaking science, leadership, and c
OpenAI agent breaches Australia’s government health data portal
SYDNEY >> Australia said today that an AI agent developed by OpenAI breached a government health data portal in June, gaining unauthorised access to public and non-public files, in what could be the first known instance of an AI agent hacking a government website.
Australia says OpenAI agent breached government health data portal
Australia said on Wednesday that an AI agent developed by OpenAI breached a government health data portal in June, gaining unauthorized access to public and non-public files, in what could
Changes Coming to Texas Secretary of State Business Filings, Sept. 29th
The SOSPortal, a new Business Filing system, will be launched on September 29, 2026.
Parental rights group questions student data, portal tied to mental health screenings
(The Center Square) – An Illinois parental-rights organization is raising concerns about how student information could be handled through BEACON, a state behavioral health portal that Awake Illinois describes as
Political Pulse: Tamara Lesnar runs as third-party alternative in Secretary of State race
Libertarian candidate Tamara Lesnar is running for South Dakota Secretary of State, proposing a mock-ballot portal to track public opinion on pending state and federal legislation.
Whitney Houston production headlines Norwegian Aura entertainment lineup
Norwegian Cruise Line has unveiled the entertainment lineup for its new ship, Norwegian Aura, including a headline production called Whitney: A Celebration of Whitney Houston. Developed with...
Top 10 best-performing economies in PISA 2025 science
The latest PISA 2025 science results show dominant East Asian performance. B-S-J-Z (China) claims the No.1 spot, followed by Singapore, Japan and Estonia. The US, with 502 points, failed to make the top 10.
Magic of science
Students take a fun science class in Wenling, East China’s Zhejiang Province, on September 13, 2026. Through intuitive and interesting experiments, abstract physical principles were turned into visible phenomena, allowing students to explore the mysteries of low-temperature science up close. Photo: VCG
Louisville basketball adds NKU transfer LJ Wells
It’s the middle of September and Pat Kelsey and company are still active in the transfer portal. LJ Wells, a 6’8 power forward who played the last four seasons at Northern Kentucky, has committed to play for Louisville in 2026-27. Wells is the namesake plaintiff in the ongoing Wells vs. NCAA case in Jefferson County Circuit Court […]
CDFW News | Commercial and Recreational Take Restrictions in Place for Northern Anchovy in Monterey Bay Due to Public Health Hazard
State health agencies have recommended restricting the take of northern anchovy to bait use only for both the commercial and recreational fisheries in Monterey Bay after determining anchovies contain elevated levels of domoic acid.
Wilmington health tech founder launches new venture
Several years after launching his health tech startup Artemis Immersive, founder Adam Isley is setting his sights on new horizons. Co-founded in 2023 by husband-and-wife Adam Isley and Kaylan Barbrey, along with Matthew Raffa and Bill Blakesley, Artemis Immersive began as a spatial medtech company that created digital renderings of medical scans for viewing in augmented reality (AR). Isley said the firm, which won an NC Tech award in the Biotech + HealthTech Innovation category last year, has raised $1.2 million in total in seed funding since launching. Isley has since created a new venture, Research and Me, building on the Artemis platform. Like Artemis Immersive’s core software, VoxScan, Research and Me combines health data with artificial intelligence in a 3D interactive environment to help patients better understand health outcomes and provide integrative wellness support. While the Artemis product is no longer Isley’s primary focus, he said the company’s technology and ambitions have evolved into different ventures, like Research and Me. "It's a different venture building on the Artemis platform, and there'll probably be more,” Isley said. He added, "I was very disappointed in the quality of the information available to general patients about their healthcare... I wanted to give patients more and a better plate of choices." Research and Me is still in its beta phase, Isley said, with usability testing ongoing in partnership with the firm’s partner, Medicap Pharmacy and Wellness Center, owned by Barbrey. "As someone who's kind of dedicated their life to working in healthcare, I've tried to bring this spirit and passion to it,” he said, “and a lot of the resources that we'll be providing are free — like a base level of free care for any patients, or medical education if they've got specific conditions." Isley describes Research and Me as a “patient-first” platform designed to securely store and pseudonymize health data and use AI and medical literature to generate insights. The insights are presented in an interactive 3D environment for patients and providers to explore conditions, treatments and wellness plans together. "It's almost like a democratization of understanding medical information," Isley said. "We take a whole bunch of clinical data, we take a whole bunch of peer‑reviewed, published studies on PubMed, and we try to turn them into chunks of information that normal humans can understand." Like VoxScan, the Research and Me platform lets users interact with 3D anatomical models for visualization. The platform provides a space for tracking, notes and insights. The platform also supports video conferencing, Isley said, allowing providers or coaches to examine models and data together. "We wanted to create a safe environment where you can start to learn and experiment with new features about your health, using agents to do that,” Isley said. While Research and Me is in beta-phase testing with Medicap Pharmacy, Isley said he envisions the platform serving a wellness-oriented community, working with sports performance clinics and hormone optimization. Isley, who is working towards a wellness-coach board certification, also plans to offer functional wellness consults through the platform. Long‑term, Isley says he wants the platform to embody an “integrative health practitioner” approach, “connecting experts of different fields and specializations in a way that they can make a greater impact in people's lives.” “For people in the state of North Carolina, it's already a win,” Isley said of the Medicap rollout, noting that partner clinics get “immediate resources for learning about their health and wellness conditions… out of the box.” Isley plans to launch Research and Me’s provider portal in 2028 and begin pursuing integrations with larger systems, he said.
Player Who Left LSU Over Russian Teammate Gets Transfer Waiver
Kate Koval is now in the transfer portal.
Center Kate Koval receives NCAA waiver to transfer from LSU
Former LSU center Kate Koval is officially in the transfer portal and will be immediately eligible to compete after being granted a waiver, a source with knowledge of the decision confirmed to The Athletic. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the situation. Per NCAA rules, waivers to transfer outside of sport-specific transfer windows are granted only in an “exigent event outside the student-athlete’s control unrelated to athlet
Morpholio Trace for Business Brings a New Way for Firms to Buy and Deploy at Scale
New Enterprise Offering Connects Trace to the Vectorworks Customer Portal, Enabling Centralized Purchasing, Licensing, and Managed Deployment, With Early Access to Upcoming Trace Ultra Tier. Morpholio Trace for Business Now Available Morpholio Trace for Business Brings Firms a New Way to Centralize Purchasing, Licensing, and Manage Deployment Columbia, MD, Sept. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Morpholio from Vectorworks launches Trace for Business, a new enterprise tier that gives organizations str
Webinar: The Massive Scale of GLP-1s: Evolving Health, Healthcare and Markets
Watch this discussion on how GLP-1 drugs for obesity are changing the shape of U.S. healthcare. From direct-to-consumer portals to pharmacy deals, how these drugs reach patients is changing—and leading to debates over pricing and coverage. Learn how your company can be both patient-forward while also maximizing revenue in this unique environment.
NYC releases 170,000 pages of long-sought 9/11 health, air quality records
New York City opened a public portal containing 170,000 pages of 9/11 records sought for years by first responders, survivors and families concerned about Ground Zero health risks
NYC releases 170,000 pages of long-sought 9/11 health, air quality records
New York City opened a public portal containing 170,000 pages of 9/11 records sought for years by first responders, survivors and families concerned about Ground Zero health risks
Clemson Tigers Called Out for Fumbling QB Aidan Chiles
The Clemson Tigers may have been able to nab Aidan Chiles in the transfer portal, but they chose not to.
Notre Dame Opponent Preview: Rice Owls
Marcus Freeman seeks to break a home-opener slump as the Irish host a portal-heavy Owls squad boasting a dynamic ground game and quarterback Jacurri Brown.
Ohio State's Newest WR Addition Makes Statement Against Ball State
Transfer portal star Devin McCuin electrified in his Buckeyes debut, showcasing gritty playmaking and a versatile new role to solidify his place as the offense's crucial second option.
Close to science
Visitors view a scale model of the escapement mechanism for a Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) hydro?mechanical astronomical and time?keeping device at an exhibition at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing on September 6, 2026. Since 2025, September has been designated as China’s annual National Science Popularization Month. Photo: VCG
‘Politics of disaster’ does little to help those on the ground
China was affected by the mudslide. China then mobilized to respond to it. China assisted Nepal in responding to it. Turning an evolving humanitarian crisis into an immediate geopolitical morality play does little to help those on the ground.
Naevis prepares for AI-powered rebirth as SM plots new portal to virtual fandoms
Studio Realive CEO Jay Kim says SM Entertainment aims to reinvent its virtual idol with AI-driven interaction and immersive live experiences as early as 2027.
UConn football 2026 season preview: WR & TE
Over the 2026 offseason, the UConn football team lost one of the most productive receivers in the country to the NFL and the rest of its depth here hit the transfer portal. Skyler Bell racked up a career-high 1,278 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns last season, good enough to be a Biletnikoff finalist and the […]
Former TCU Starting Center Makes Decision About Immediate Plans
For the latest notable player to pursue a return to college football after failing to make an NFL roster, former TCU center Coltin Deery has entered the transfer portal.As first reported by Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, Deery will now look to find a new college program to play one extra season. Though Deery never […] The post Former TCU Starting Center Makes Decision About Immediate Plans appeared first on HEAVY.
“No It Ain’t, Yelling at Clouds Guy”: Fans React As Geno Auriemma Claims “College Basketball Is Dying”
College sports have been in turmoil for quite some time now. There has been a lot of discourse about the NCAA’s eligibility, transfer portal, and NIL rules.
15 discouraging hours with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and 10 brilliant ones with He Who Watches
In the last few weeks, while playing some video games that I might review, I emailed two cries for help. I sent the first to a rep for Capcom, confessing that the company’s samurai game Onimusha Way of the Sword (out today for PC and console) was crushing me. “Feels like I’m playing ‘hard’ mode, not ‘normal,’” I wrote. “And I don’t want to have to knock it down to “story”. I’m exploring, trying to level my gear, but these two-phase boss fights with no mid-fight checkpoints are brutal.” I wagered I was only about halfway through the game, if that. I wasn’t sure I could keep up with the steepening difficulty curve. Was I missing something? Then, on Monday, I took some photos of some puzzles that were baffling me in the mind-bending He Who Watches (out now on PC), wrote out lengthy descriptions of how I’d been trying to solve them and asked Bobby Vanden, the game’s solo developer, for a nudge in the right direction. I told Vanden I’d spent hours on these puzzles. “I’m stuck in triplicate,” I told him. Could he tell me if the solutions I was attempting were even on the right track? I didn’t mention that the puzzles—coupled with major time pressures from other work—were stressing me out so much that playing the game was giving me headaches. This double dose of panic was unusual. I’m used to managing a workload full of reporting and reviewing, used to a crowded schedule and the need to stay calm amid the bustle. But I was stressed about these games. No one was forcing me to review them, nor even play them. I’d simply found them interesting enough to start, hoped they’d be interesting enough to write about and I’d sunk hours into them assuming I’d made the right call. Suddenly, however, I felt trapped. I was emailing for a way out. Above: This guy took me about an hour to beat. The feedback I got from Capcom confirmed my fears. They didn’t say it, but I will: Onimusha Way of the Sword is not for me. It’s a brutally hard game in need of a normal difficulty level. It’s a game that spikes so severely during its abundant boss fights—yet offers such flawed ways to improve when outside of them—that it feels like a bait-and-switch. In the new Onimusha, you play as famed samurai Musashi Miyamoto, aided by a magical soul-absorbing gauntlet that is possessed by a lady who offers advice. (Way of the Sword is a continuation of Capcom’s long-dormant Onimusha series, but that set-up had me wondering if the company was cribbing from their ill-fated Bionic Commando reboot; read about “wife-arm” when you get a chance). Way of the Sword is partially set in 17th century Kyoto, an explorable city where Miyamoto can fight demons, help civilians and eventually rescue ghostly dogs. The city evolves over time, with new mini adventures and obtainable loot on offer, all feeding into systems that promise to upgrade your gear and sword-fighting skills. Upgrades, however, are so incremental as to be imperceptible, causing the exploration of Kyoto to feel like inconsequential busywork. From that hub, players can go on linear missions into forests and old temples, where they will encounter many of the game’s tough bosses. Combat in Way of the Sword is akin to many modern melee games. Players are asked to mix attacks with dodges and parries. They’re encouraged to deplete an enemy’s stamina bar in order to do greater damage to its health bar. The old Onimusha games’ signature move was the issen, a counter-attack so sudden it’s all but pre-emptive. You strike just as they begin to strike toward you, beating them to the cut. By definition, the issen is a high risk move, leaving you wide open to pain. It feels risky in the game, especially against bosses, who can maul you in just a few blows. A game might train you to perform an issen well by offering a variety of lesser enemies who are not as tough as the boss but get close. Or it might offer a toehold against bosses by saving or checkpointing the player’s progress when a boss’ first health bar has been destroyed and before the second health bar appears. It might offer the less skilled player a chance to over-level their character, should the player simply commit to playing through its optional sidequests. Way of the Sword does none of this. Fighting its trivially easy grunt enemies and then its ferociously adept bosses is like playing a game of chess where I’ve got a rook, while the opposing side is all pawns and five queens. Bosses simply don’t checkpoint. You may be able to clear a boss’ first phase without taking much damage. Good for you. Do it again, every time you fail the second phase. As for the the central Kyoto hub, I kept pace with all of its added side activities and never felt like I was overpowered. Bosses could still easily buckle me. The new Onimusha, I concluded, is just too discouraging to keep playing. The advice I got from Capcom had been well-intentioned. They reminded me of the game’s various systems. They alerted me to an optional assist that flashes recommended button inputs (basically: counter this move; dodge that move). It was a little helpful. So was dropping down to “story mode,” which I tried last night. Story mode turns on those button prompts by default. It makes countering and dodging way too easy, nearly automatic. I don’t consider myself a master of action games like these, but I’ve cleared the likes of God of War, Stellar Blade, Star Wars Jedi and others of sub-Sekiro difficulty and had a fun time doing so. Not here. Not yet. Unless they patch Onimusha: Way of the Sword and add a middle difficulty or just checkpoint the damn bosses when they’re between health bars, my streak of loving Capcom games released in 2026 will likely end at two. It’s a shame, because I was having a good time finding those ghostly dogs. And then there’s He Who Watches, a phenomenal first person puzzle game with Portal vibes, except instead of a portal gun you’ve got a magical bow that shoots one arrow that can activate switches or be used to drag blocks. The twist is an actual twist: you can also walk on walls and the ceiling, reorienting gravity as you do, thereby placing blocks onto those other surfaces. Walking on walls and ceilings to solve problems is really the best thing. Would that I could in reality. He Who Watches consists of locked-room challenges, each brief enough to only require about a minute to actually solving, though it will take five, 10, eventually 30 minutes to figure out said solutions. They are not obvious! It’s a game of layered mechanics and shocking solutions. For example, see if you can follow this: You can drag a block to a wall. Then you can walk on the wall, which now feels like the floor, and drag that block across the wall. Later, back on the floor, you might realize you can look up. The block is still on the wall, stuck to it. You can shoot your magic arrow to its underside. Doing so creates a tether, so that you can yank the block off the wall and carry it, as if it were a balloon, into the spot where you need it to be to solve the puzzle. Here, watch Vanden explain some of the game’s basics in this launch trailer: As with any great puzzle game, the solutions to He Who Watches’ puzzles elicit relief and amazement. Oh my god, that worked! I didn’t even think that could be possible! Learning to solve the game’s puzzles feels like learning magic. But, oh, does the game get hard. Its Steam reviews, mostly glowing, are full of players remarking how quickly He Who Watches made them sweat. Wrote one: “loving this one already although my brain is hurting!” Wrote another: “As you get further in the game it feels like you need an IQ level of at least 120+.” Vanden has shown some mercy. Each locked room puzzle includes an optional junior version of the puzzle, meant to teach you. Difficulty nevertheless ramps severely. By the time I was emailing Vanden for help, I was struggling to even clear one of the hint puzzles. When I messaged him, my stress was exacerbated by strange things I’d found in the game’s various hubs: suspicious passageways, odd blocks and some intriguing locked doors. These were hints of secrets, I realized, yet I sensed I needed to play further into the game to understand them. I was stuck, but I wanted to see the rest. Vanden offered to give me the exact solutions, to solve those three puzzles for me, but first he gave four nudges. Three were for the specific puzzles, but his best hint was for all and ultimately proved to be a terrific life lesson: go back a bit, he suggested. Do the puzzles right before those. They were teaching you something. Focus on what their lesson was. Don’t rush, in other words. Recognize what you’ve accomplished. Build off of that. I did so. I absorbed the lessons. I saw those three tough puzzles in a new light. I solved one the night after he wrote back, another the morning after. I left a third for another time. I didn’t need it and I wanted to plunge deeper into the game, closer to the moment when I was sure I could start unlocking those secret doors. My head stopped hurting, too. He Who Watches feels special. It’s got more challenges, and I’m undeterred. It’s also nice that its puzzles don’t have a surprise second health bar. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: In brief… 🎮 Ilari Kuittinen, co-founder of Helsinki-based Housemarque (Super Stardust HD, Resogun, Returnal) has stepped down from his studio, after a 31-year run, saying he’s “ taking a rare and well-deserved breather.” Sony purchased Housemarque in 2021, and the studio released its newest game, Saros, earlier this year. Trend-watch: Sony-owned Insomniac saw its founder Ted Price retire in early 2025, after a 30-year run. Sony-owned Sucker Punch saw its co-founder Brian Fleming step down in late 2025, after a 28-year run. 👀 Savvy Games Group chief Brian Ward is stepping down from the Saudi-government-backed games conglomerate, Bloomberg reports. No word on a long-term successor yet, nor if this augurs any closer integration between Savvy and Electronic Arts. EA was purchased by a consortium led by Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, in early August. 💿 Square Enix has denied a Japanese media report that the company was planning to go private. In very different Square Enix news, the company revealed that the physical version of Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, the April 2027 finale of its radical remakes of FFVII, will include just one disc in its case, requiring a download for the rest. The first two FFVII remakes in the trilogy shipped on two discs apiece. While Square hasn’t commented on the reason why, a feature here in Game File last month broke down the processes and costs for physical games. The expense of a second disc comes out of the game publisher’s cut of each copy. Square could be saving in excess of a dollar a copy with this move. 🟥 Grand Theft Auto IV’s 26-minute ’‘extended look” gameplay showcase that premiered on Netflix last week—and was exclusive to the platform for six hours—drew 31.1 million views in its first four days, the streamer announced. (Netflix calculates views as total viewed hours divided by runtime; excludes replays). Compared to YouTube: The version that later premiered on Rockstar Games’ YouTube channel is sitting at 22.6 million views after seven days (YouTube’s more liberal counting system tallies anyone who viewed even just the first few second.) Compared to other Netflix mega-events: Last year, Stranger Things season 5’s first four episodes, which debuted together, drew a record 59.6 million views in their first few days on Netflix. For more of a live event type of comparison, in 2024, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match drew 65 million concurrent streams as it happened; Netflix didn’t release live numbers for the GTA premiere. ☁️ Microsoft is changing the way it charges for cloud gaming, from an all-you-can-play offer for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, to caps for the subscription’s tiers (15 hours per month at the Ultimate tier), with the option to buy more hours in bulk beyond that. The company also said it will sell batches of cloud gaming time to non-Game Pass subscribers, details TBA. Microsoft does not release figures for cloud game usage, but said its changes would impact 4% of Game Pass subscribers. That implies a small portion of its subscribers exceed the 15-hour monthly mark. Cloud gaming offers the promise of playing games without the need for console or PC hardware, as the graphics, sound and controls are all transmitted via a streaming connection. Microsoft notes that its cloud gaming service can be used for a range of things, including Xbox One players using it to play newer-gen Xbox Series games via streaming; and people playing games via streaming, sans any console, “in markets where consoles are less available or affordable.” (That latter use case could even be relevant in Xbox’s home market soon, as console prices keep rising.) Take Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick recently told investors he expects game-streaming tech, which has been only lightly adopted by gamers for over a decade, to be widely used within three years. 🇺🇸 The Trump administration has published multiple agenda-driven web video games to the White House’s website. One called Build The Wall partially clones Tetris as it asks players to build a wall to stop a “zombie border siege.” While actual Tetris involves clearing lines and basically not building a wall, the Trump-backed game omits the line-clearing aspect (and omits the fun as well). On Instagram, Tetris’ official license holders reacted by stating: “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them. To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community. P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall.’ P.P.S.: We take copyright infringement very seriously.” Item 3: The week ahead: Tuesday, September 8 Game releases: Mewgenics (consoles; already out on PC) is an engrossing tactical combat game (with cats). It is getting its console port right after the release of a Star Wars tactics game and ahead of the late September launch of a Fire Emblem–a bumper crop for the genre. Wanderburg (PC) is an auto-shooting game like Vampire Survivors, but you’re a castle on wheels Event: Nintendo airs a 30-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on The Legend of Zelda’s 40th Anniversary. A full unveiling of the upcoming remake of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is expected. Will they also show footage from next year’s live action movie? Tease the next big 3D Zelda? Add Link to Mario Kart World? Shadow-drop a new Tingle game? Wednesday, September 9 Event: Nintendo again! On this day, they’re planning to air a 45-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on games heading to Switch 2 this winter. Followed by about an hour of gameplay demoed by the company’s Treehouse team. The September Nintendo Directs are always some of the year’s biggest. The 2025 edition included announcements of several major 2026 Switch/Switch 2 games: Pokémon Pokopia, Mario Tennis Fever, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave. Plus the return of the Virtual Boy. Friday, September 11 Game release: EA Sports NHL 27 (PlayStation, Xbox) is a hockey game. There are so few that an indie studio that had been making wacky sci-fi first-person shooters just announced that, hey, we’re going to fill a void and make a hockey game for PC.
Preview & Prediction: Boston College Football vs Cincinnati
We’re back! The long and boring offseason is finally over. After the Boston College football team finished 2-10 last season, we’ve seen a lot of turnover and changes come to the program. They hired a GM, hit the transfer portal like never before, and have brand new staff under Bill O’Brien to bring the Eagles […]
Who is Josh Hoover? Meet Indiana's new QB1 replacing Fernando Mendoza
Curt Cignetti is hoping a transfer portal quarterback can take Indiana back to the promise land.
English: College football politics are ravaging the game — for Texas, the show still goes on
It’s a hellish era for college football teams. It has become typical for us to go through the same cycle of previously unbelievable news over the offseason. The transfer portal has always resulted in some messiness, as well as highly dubious tampering claims, and finding replacements for head coaches always brings on a little bit...
No. 18 Penn State vs. Marshall Preview & Prediction
It's been over eight months since Penn State football last played a game. In that time, the Nittany Lions have established almost an entirely new coaching staff, added 15 signees, seven walk-ons and a program-record 40 transfers, watched 74 players leave either via the transfer portal, the NFL or graduation, and even switched apparel partners …
West Virginia, Coastal Carolina open season amid QB questions
Rich Rodriguez aims to rebound from a 4-8 campaign in Morgantown, while the Chanticleers kick off the Ryan Beard era with a revamped roster featuring 43 transfer portal additions.
Sony and Microsoft say they’re not obligated to pass U.S. tariff refunds to consumers, echoing Nintendo
Back in July, Sony executives told investors that the company expected to receive $508 million in refunds from the U.S. government, after tariffs that the PlayStation-maker paid were ruled mostly in 2025 were found to be illegal. “Most” of the refund would by recouped by Sony’s gaming division, its chief financial officer said. This week, Sony’s lawyers are arguing that the company is not legally obligated to pass those proceeds on to consumers who paid for recently price-hiked PlayStation consoles. That’s in the face of a lawsuit from gamers calling on them to do exactly that. “Paying fair market price for voluntarily purchased consumer goods is not a legally cognizable injury in fact,” the lawyers wrote in a legal motion filed on Monday, as they asked a judge in California’s Northern District to dismiss a potential class action lawsuit over the tariff refunds. Microsoft made a similar argument two weeks ahead of Sony’s lawyers, in a similar lawsuit brought by a gamer in federal court in Washington State. As Microsoft’s legal team put it on August 21, in their request for a dismissal of that lawsuit: “There is nothing unjust about Plaintiff purchasing an Xbox at an advertised price and getting exactly what he paid for—regardless of whatever theory he devised months later about Microsoft’s cost structure.” Both legal fights are set to go on for some time. How things got to this point U.S. tariffs impacting a wide range of imported goods, including game consoles, had kicked off in early 2025. In May 2025, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox consoles, citing “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” They raised them again that September. In August of that year, Sony raised the price of PlayStation 5 consoles, citing “a challenging economic environment.” Sony later told investors that its tariff fees for the fall quarter were nearly $200 million. in February of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 2025 tariffs illegal, prompting impacted companies to begin to request refunds. In turn, consumers began suing the likes of Sony and Microsoft to get what they said was their share. The gamers in the Microsoft and Sony lawsuits argue that the 2025 price hikes of PlayStation and Xbox consoles, which added $50 or more to their sticker price, were due to illegal tariffs and should now be returned to consumers. The Sony suit started in May, when a group of gamers sued in federal court in California, saying Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation) would be unjustly enriching itself if it did not pass tariff refunds to its PS5 buyers. “Sony is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds),” the gamers’ lawyers wrote at the time. They called for Sony to partially reimburse anyone who bought a PlayStation in the U.S. since August 1, 2025. The Microsoft suit, filed by gamer Trevor Hastings against the Xbox giant in July, made similar claims. The console makers push back In late July, Nintendo’s lawyers, facing a similar suit accusing them of double-dipping on tariffs and refunds, replied with arguments that previewed Microsoft’s and Sony’s: “Nintendo or one of its retailers set a price for each product, and consumers decided whether that price was worth paying,” they wrote. Sony has buttressed that Nintendo-style argument this week by saying that the gamers have failed to prove that tariffs were the reason for its August 2025 PS5 price hike. They call thatclaim “speculative and illogical.” Other factors, including “inflation, currency fluctuations, component costs, logistics, competitive dynamics, or demand,” could have played a role. (No, the Sony lawyers do not break down the costs and factors that officially triggered the price increases). Microsoft has also argued that there’s no proof in these lawsuits that tariffs drove all or some of the price increase, as it seeks to dismiss the tariff refund suit it’s facing: “Plaintiff provides no specific allegations that would establish any pricing differential attributable to tariffs or suggest any possibility that Microsoft applied then or could recreate now any dollar-for-dollar calculation of tariff-related pricing—any more than it could any other market factor that affects pricing.” To further skewer the gamer side’s argument in its case, Sony’s lawyers have pointed to what might be a surprising defense: yet another PlayStation 5 price hike from this past spring, after the tariffs were ruled illegal. “If the original price increase were attributable to tariffs, SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment, aka PlayStation] would have had no reason to raise prices again after the Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs.” … “If tariffs were the cause of the price increases, one would expect SIE to lower prices once the tariffs were eliminated—not raise them again. Instead, the timeline confirms that the pricing of PlayStation consoles includes a diverse and dynamic set of input costs.” Judges have not yet ruled on the arguments made by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. Last week, Panic, the company behind the small, yellow Playdate handheld said it would be passing its tariff refunds on to consumers. It is the only gaming hardware maker to have made such a pledge. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my reporting, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: A reporter’s second Second Life Wagner James Au, who from 2003-2006 was paid by San Francisco-based tech company Linden Lab to be a full-time journalist embedded in their virtual world Second Life, is returning to the company. This time, he’ll be an editorial advisor and business development specialist, he tells Game File. The new role will involve trying to share the stories of people inhabiting Second Life’s ongoing online world with reporters and by extension the public. Au plans to continue to also chronicle some of that through his long-running blog New World Notes. I’ve known Au since the mid-2000s and featured him in a 2007 article for the Columbia Journalism Review about reporters like him opening up virtual news outlets within Second Life. As I wrote at the time: On April 22, 2003, writing as Hamlet Linden for the New World Notes blog on Second Life’s Web site, Au introduced himself. “For the next few months, Linden Lab has invited me to set aside my journalist cap, and instead, don the digital beanie of their in-house virtual correspondent.” He wasn’t paid to keep it positive. He wrote about builders and eccentrics, but then in August of that year, he reported on a tax revolt against Linden Lab (a complaint about the fees it charges users who build stuff) led by a resident whose avatar was a big cat. Second Life has always been less of a video game and more of a virtual world where people can live, hang out, make art, sell virtual items and flirt. Back in 2007, Au described touring it as “sort of like underwater lucid dreaming.” For the past two decades, Au has maintained New World Notes as an independent publication. But he said he’s been drawn back to Second Life and Linden Lab as a place to directly work. The virtual world has around 650,000 monthly active users, he said, “which is actually about what it was during the hype wave.” Au says he’s still finding rich stories in Second Life, the kind that keep him interested 20 years into the beat: “Over the last few months for instance, I wrote about an SL creator in Venezuela whose apartment was destroyed by the earthquakes, so the global SL community rallied to get him back on his feet,” he told me. “Then there’s the woman from a Middle Eastern country who explored her lesbian sexuality in SL, then earned enough from her virtual jewelry to escape her abusive family situation and country.” Au wants to beckon more reporters to give Second Life another look. He argues that it is often ahead of internet trends, noting, for example, an early backlash in the community against AI-made art. Now the platform is drawing curiosity from more of the user-generated content community who’ve grown up with the likes of Roblox, according to Au. “Second Life was too early during its hype wave in 2005-2010, but it now feels right for a new wave of interest,” he told me.
USPS Is Building a Mail-In Ballot Screening System Despite Legal Battles Over Trump Order
Election officials warn that the creation of a new online portal for states to upload voter information is already fueling confusion and could ultimately disenfranchise voters.
Homey just made the smart home controller I hoped Apple would build
A portal to a smarter home?
Baptist Health warns patients of MyChart phishing scam
Baptist Health is warning patients about a widespread phishing scam targeting users of the MyChart medical portal.
Postal Service plans may keep voters from getting ballots, whistleblower says
An anonymous federal official warns that a rushed USPS portal tied to Trump’s mail-voting order could reject large batches of ballots before the midterms.
CDFW News | Del Norte County Razor Clam Fishery Opens After One-Month Closure Due to Public Health Hazard
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Meghan Hertel has opened the recreational razor clam fishery in Del Norte County following a recommendation from state health agencies that domoic acid no longer poses a significant threat to human health if consumed.
A 12TB Steam “teraleak” spills more than a decade of lost PC gaming history
Cut content from Portal 2, hints of Half Life 2: Episode 3, and so much more.
12 TB Valve Archive Leaks Online, Fans Dig Through Early Portal 2 and Half-Life Clues
A gigantic 12-terabyte archive from Valve's old Steam2 content servers has leaked online, containing internal development builds spanning from 2003 to 2013. The trove includes a July 2009 build of Portal 2 with unused sequences and beta menus, along with assets from F-Stop, the canceled Portal...
12TB Valve archive leak includes early Portal 2 builds and hints of Half-Life 2: Episode Three
A leaked 12TB archive of old Valve builds includes early Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead content, with fans hunting for Half-Life 2: Episode Three clues.
12TB Steam leak exposes old game builds from 2003 to 2013
A roughly 12TB archive from Steam's old Steam2 infrastructure reportedly contains thousands of game depots dating from 2003 to 2013. Portal 2, Left 4 Dead and early CS:GO builds are included.
Recent Steam Leak Reveals Major Details For Cancelled Valve Games
Portal, Left 4 Dead, Half-Life Episode 3, and More.
College football analyst says college sports don’t need NCAA anymore
Paul Finebaum says the NCAA is no longer needed as college football conferences gain power amid constant NIL, transfer portal, and eligibility battles.
Saul Williams opens a portal between politics and possibility
The unflinching multidisciplinary artist has long welcomed new challenges. With the release of a new album and a new book, he embraces the role his career has been building toward: investigative poet.
Georgia Tech football’s Brent Key enjoys transfer portal ‘inexact science’
With the transfer portal one of the most criticized parts of college football, Georgia Tech football coach Brent Key speaks positively about building a roster through it.
Boston Scientific hit by cyberattack causing ‘disruptions’ to parts of its business
This year has seen a growing number of medtechs hit by cyberattacks, and now Boston Scientific has become the latest victim. In an SEC filing posted Aug. 26, the medtech giant said it had detected a “cybersecurity incident” the day before. The incident has affected certain parts of its information technology systems, something that “has resulted in a global disruption to the company’s operations.” The incident has hit not just its information systems but also its business applications, which “support aspects of the Company’s operations,” it said in the filing. This includes its ability to process and ship customer orders. Boston Scientific said it is working to restore the systems, but the timeline remains unknown. Related Baylor Genetics hit by cybersecurity attack targeting patient, staff information As the company investigates the incident, it remains unclear how significantly its business will be affected. “Accordingly, the Company has not yet determined whether the incident is reasonably likely to have a material impact.” The company’s shares were down 3.5% in premarket trading as the news broke. This adds another layer of pressure for the medtech, which last month revealed a new global restructuring program that starts this year and is slated to be completed by 2029. The company said at the time that it “does expect some headcount reductions to result from these restructuring activities,” but did not provide any numbers or specify areas where the cuts may be made. It added, however, that new jobs are also set to be “created in areas of growth.” It was also forced to cut its sales guidance in Q2, saying in late July that it now expects full-year 2026 organic revenue growth of 5% to 6%, down from its previous guidance of 6.5% to 8%. Boston Scientific is one of a growing number of life sciences companies, notably medtechs, that have been hit by cyberattacks this year. These include Abbott, iRhythm, Medtronic and Stryker, as well as Big Pharmas Amgen and Novo Nordisk.
Health systems warn of coordinated phishing targeting Epic’s patient portal
It isn’t clear how many scammers are involved in the effort, but health systems across the country are warning their patients to ignore fake messages, many of which offer a “reward” in the form of a “MyChart Medicare Kit.”
Indiana First State to Roll Out VA's New National Health Records Portal
The current system 'My HealtheVet' will transition to VA.gov and combine health records, prescriptions and secure messages.
41,000 HUSKY Health members impacted in second security incident this year, DSS says
For the second time this year, the Connecticut Department of Social Services is notifying HUSKY Health members about a security incident involving a Medicaid provider portal. The latest incident affects approximately 41,000 HUSKY Health members after an unauthorized person accessed certain claims and payment information through a provider’s account. The last incident happened in March, and an unauthorized user gained…
A college football coach used to complain about the transfer portal. He reframed his thinking
Dave Doeren had to “reframe” the way he thought about the changes in college sports. Researchers have another name for what he did.
Mississippi weighs three-year short-term health plan as coverage drops
One-year short-term plans are already available. The state is working on a three-year option through an online portal where people could compare doctors, drugs and provider networks.
ASU's Ghost Rowser enters transfer portal
A fan favorite for his hard hits, Rowser racked up 182 tackles, 7.5 for loss, one sack and eight passes defensed over his 27 games in two seasons as a Sun Devil.
LSU football pass rushers earn praise from Tigers offensive line
LSU football added two talented defensive ends in the transfer portal. Both are making an impact during fall camp.
Netflix plans to close two gaming studios, including one in Hollywood
Netflix said has closed Hollywood-based Night School and plans to close Helsinki-based Moonloot.