SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY

Search headlines

Find the stories shaping the conversation.

Search mode
Refine results
Active filters Keyword All time

Results for " big " 10,791 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle

Red Bull New York Debuts New, Lower Prices on Fan Favorites at Sports Illustrated Stadium

Matchday just got better. Red Bull New York are always looking for ways to improve the experience at Sports Illustrated Stadium, and fan input is a big part of that. The latest step: lower prices on six fan-favorites, starting with the Saturday, October 17 match vs. Toronto FC. Crispy Fries

newyorkredbulls.com logo
Oct 16 • 12:00 PM EDT • Sports • newyorkredbulls.com
The best Amazon deals this weekend: Score big brands like Yeti, Lego, Apple and more for up to 70% off

We found fabulous fall discounts on everything from kitchenware and vacuums to holiday gifts, headphones, skin care and more.

shopping.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 11:57 AM EDT • Technology • shopping.yahoo.com
Eagles sign Joe Milton III off Cowboys practice squad

The Philadelphia Eagles have signed Joe Milton III off the Dallas Cowboys practice squad.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 11:49 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Miranda Lambert exhibit coming to Fort Worth’s National Cowgirl Museum

FORT WORTH, Texas — One of country music’s biggest stars is getting an exhibit at a Fort Worth museum. The National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame announced Tuesday that

recorderonline.com logo
Oct 16 • 11:49 AM EDT • Entertainment • recorderonline.com
NBA, sportsbooks agree to ban different types of prop bets

The NBA and prominent sportsbooks agree to ban different types of prop bets.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 11:45 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (0%)
angry
100%
AtScale Finds Semantic Layer Boosts AI Accuracy on Enterprise Data by Up to 2.4x

A more powerful AI model isn’t necessarily the answer to unreliable business analytics. New research from AtScale found that leading AI models answered fewer than 40% of business questions correctly when querying databases directly. But when AtScale added its semantic layer, accuracy improved by 1.7x to 2.4x across all seven models tested. In one test, […]

hpcwire.com logo
Oct 16 • 11:27 AM EDT • Science • hpcwire.com
Indiana's biggest home game ever will reveal just how far Curt Cignetti has taken the Hoosiers
sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 11:13 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
The biggest changes between the new“ Sense and Sensibility ”movie“ ”and Jane Austen’s book

Georgia Oakley’s film stays mostly true to the novel, with a few notable changes.

yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 11:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
Biggest post-postseason questions for the White Sox

October was an eye-opener for the future of the team

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 10:42 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Can AI solve our mental health access problem?

Last week I asked you what worries you most about AI in health. It was close, but your top answer was “AI giving bad health advice.” Last week’s poll results: You’re in good company. This concern was top of mind at a conference I joined at Stanford last week, where researchers, clinicians, and people who build AI systems spent a day debating trust and safety in health AI. Stepping back, I’m also hearing your emerging concerns about AI’s impact on our well-being generally. I see this as a matter of public health, and we’ll take it in pieces as we learn together. Today we’ll focus on AI chatbots used for therapy for mental health. Early this month, Governor Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 903, California’s most ambitious attempt to regulate AI use for mental health. It’s at the center of active debate, and raises the questions patients, family members, citizens, and voters will face as AI moves deeper into health care. Let’s work through it. What is “AI-based therapy”? It’s really two things: purpose-built mental health apps designed to deliver structured support, and general chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini that people increasingly use for emotional support—even if they weren’t built for it. Spoiler alert: I don’t know whether the shift toward AI therapy is good or bad. The evidence isn’t there yet. But I do know it’s already happening, and I have some ideas about how we can roll it out with safety in mind. The therapy dilemma, in a nutshell Mental health challenges are common, and strain health and well-being across populations. Therapy (interactive dialogue with a trained, empathetic practitioner) helps many people heal. The demand for licensed therapists far exceeds the supply in California, and AI-based therapy can narrow that gap. AI-based therapy remains novel, unproven, and not well tested. Right off the bat, we can see we’re dealing with trade-offs here. Since the main driver of demand for therapy from a robot is lack of access to therapy from a human, we’ll start there. It’s too hard to find and afford a human therapist California is short roughly 55,000 licensed, non-prescribing therapists and counselors, about 40% of what we need. Psychiatrists, who rely on talk therapy as a complement to prescribed medications, are even more scarce. Eight counties have none, and density ranges from 1.7 per 100,000 residents in San Benito County, to 68.1 in Marin County. My wife is a psychiatrist in Marin, and even here access is tight. If it’s hard in the best-supplied county, imagine rural Sierra County, or the San Joaquin Valley. In 2024, more than half of Californians who tried to make a mental health appointment struggled to find a provider who took their insurance, compared with 14% for physical health care. When Senate staff posed as “secret shopper” patients and called 120 mental health providers in Medicare Advantage networks, they landed an appointment less than once for every five tries. Insurers pay behavioral health clinicians about 22% less than medical and surgical clinicians for comparable office visits. On top of that, billing denials and prior authorizations hit hardest at the solo and small practices common in mental health. Psychiatrists opt out of Medicare at the highest rate of any specialty. In many places, a cash practice for therapy fills quickly with patients paying $250 or more an hour, with no insurance paperwork at all. Families who can pay cash find providers more easily. Those who rely on insurance, including Medi-Cal enrollees, older adults, rural residents, and non-English speakers, compete for what’s left. So we can’t pretend the human system works, and we can’t blame people for turning to AI for support when they’re in distress. AI is filling the gap It’s estimated that roughly a quarter of AI users use it for mental health support. If you have internet, it’s available 24/7, it’s cheap, and it speaks your language. Uninsured adults are about twice as likely as insured adults to do it (30% vs. 14%). It feels anonymous in ways that may enable people to ask things they’re unsure or embarrassed about. The largely hidden, personal use makes it hard to study whether it’s actually helping people with their mental health issues, but researchers are trying. Does AI therapy work? A 2026 analysis of nearly 40 randomized trials found chatbots showed a real but small reduction in depression symptoms. But most of these trials were compared to an alternative of no therapy, not a human therapist. So the benefit of AI therapy is probably real, but modest, and mostly untested against the alternative of human contact. We need more studies. Serious concerns OpenAI’s own estimate is that more than a million ChatGPT users each week show signs of suicidal planning or intent. These are high stakes encounters, and AI doesn’t always get it right. That’s partly because a chatbot can sound like a therapist, but it has no license, no duty of care, and it’s not clear who to hold accountable when it gets things wrong. AI is also designed to help users in whatever task they’re seeking to accomplish. People may feel like they’re getting therapy, but they’re mainly getting a convincing conversation. It’s easy for an AI companion to wander into gray areas, like playing along with “creative writing” that may be about the user’s own suicidal intent. Courts are driving safety conversations A wave of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of families claiming that chatbots pushed people they loved toward self-harm, including teens who died by suicide. The first settlements came this year. OpenAI is headquartered in San Francisco, and dozens of cases alleging that ChatGPT drove users to suicide or self-harm are now before a San Francisco judge. Character.ai has filed for bankruptcy after several states brought lawsuits accusing the chatbot of pushing dangerous content to kids. But the technology seems to be improving. Last month, an independent evaluation found that newer AI models “almost never endorse suicide.” That’s progress, but our societal appetite for even one preventable death is very low. So how do we move forward? Finding a middle ground Earlier this month the governor vetoed Senate Bill 903, a bill designed to place guardrails on the use of AI for therapy. The bill would have prohibited any AI-based platform from being advertised as psychotherapy, and would have required a licensed professional to review and approve each encounter where AI was used to support therapeutic decisions. Newsom called it overly broad, since even routine screening questions would have needed clinician sign-off. Knowing we’re already short on mental health providers, requiring human review of AI encounters may not relieve our access problems. Still, the answer isn’t no oversight. Here’s one feasible short term solution. Rather than reviewing each encounter, a licensed clinician can design the guardrails: what counts as a crisis, what triggers an immediate handoff to a human, and what gets sampled for audit each month. The AI runs inside that structure. Conversations get checked, failures get reported, and a real clinician owns the framework. Medicine already has models to learn from. The FDA process for rolling out newly approved medications is an example. After a product reaches patients, we keep watching for adverse events. Patient-facing AI needs the same “digital pharmacovigilance”: systematic tracking of harms, near misses, and the types of groups that get hurt and why. It’s also critical that users know that they can reach a human if they’re in crisis. Most chatbots now include messages like these: Bottom line The rush to use unproven AI tools for mental health support is mostly a workaround, a sign of a health system people can’t get into. We need better access to proven care from licensed clinicians. That takes reimbursement that makes accepting insurance viable, and a bigger workforce. But, built and tested well, AI could be part of the answer. It could be the 2 a.m. check-in when no one else is awake, or a way for patients to practice skills their therapist taught them. It could be the first step to get someone the right level of care, and take paperwork off clinicians’ plates so they spend more time with patients. None of this is simple. The SB 903 veto doesn’t end the debate, and the legislature will be back. In the meantime, those of us using these tools need to stay informed, ask hard questions, and hold the companies building them accountable. I’ll try to do my part, and we’ll keep learning together. Love,Matt P.S. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988- you’ll reach a real person— or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7. Dr. Matt Willis is the author of Your Local Epidemiologist in California. A California native, he’s served as a primary care physician, CDC epidemiologist, and public health officer for Marin County, where he guided the pandemic response. He lives in Marin with his family and their dogs, Teddy and Ramona. Thank you Cynthia He, MD, PhD, and Parnika Saxena, MD, for their guidance in preparing this article. Cynthia works in an outpatient mental health clinic, treating patients who have Medi-Cal or, sometimes, no insurance. Parnika works in an inpatient psychiatric unit, treating patients with public or private insurance or self-pay ability. All opinions are their own and do not represent their employers.

yourlocalepidemiologistca.substack.com logo
Oct 16 • 10:32 AM EDT • Health • yourlocalepidemiologistca.substack.com
Albania: Protesting students demand political change and resignation of longtime Prime Minister Edi Rama

Empty lecture halls, burning buildings and demands for change: Albanian students are spearheading a protest movement that has become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Edi Rama in years.

dw.com logo
Oct 16 • 10:23 AM EDT • Politics • dw.com
Northwestern vs. Michigan State: 3 Best Bets for Week 7

Capitalize on vulnerable pass defenses and Aidan Chiles’ revenge narrative as these three expert picks target undervalued player props for a high-stakes Big Ten showdown in East Lansing.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 9:56 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Five Big Questions The Angels Must Answer This Offseason

From new ownership to the GM position to the manager's office and finally to the field, the Los Angeles Angels face some pretty significant unknowns as they begin preparations for 2027.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 9:29 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (0%)
wow
100%
WNBA Superstar A’ja Wilson’s Next Big Play? Building A Business Empire

Beyond her $1.4 million Aces salary, Forbes estimates Under 30 alum A’ja Wilson will earn more than $5 million from sponsors including Nike, Chase and AT&T.

forbes.com logo
Oct 16 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • forbes.com
Big Tech and Big Business are spending millions to block progressives on the California ballot

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. With less than three weeks until Election Day, outside groups are pouring millions of dollars into two types of state legislative races: purple districts featuring a Democrat and a Republican, and safely Democratic districts featuring Democrats of different ideological stripes. Political action committees […]

rwcpulse.com logo
Oct 16 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • rwcpulse.com
Big Tech and Big Business are spending millions to block progressives on the California ballot

Groups funded by Meta, Google, and cryptocurrency billionaires have spent millions trying to sway voters, especially in races with two Democrats on the ballot

calmatters.org logo
Oct 16 • 8:00 AM EDT • Politics • calmatters.org
Big Dom, Elon Musk and George Santos. The Pa. campaign cameos are getting weird.| PA 2026 Newsletter

The rematch between Scott Perry and Janelle Stelson heats up in Harrisburg. Philly Dems celebrate Bob Brady's 40 years with Big Dom and Joe Biden.

inquirer.com logo
Oct 16 • 7:01 AM EDT • Politics • inquirer.com
BTS' Grammy boycott spreads to K-pop's biggest agencies

The decision of BTS to boycott the Grammys amid the newly introduced Asian pop category appears to have grown into an industrywide stand, with arti...

koreatimes.co.kr logo
Oct 16 • 6:54 AM EDT • Entertainment • koreatimes.co.kr
Maryland football vs. Rutgers preview

The Terps are looking to snap a four-game skid with their first Big Ten win.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 6:40 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Blake Butera’s Year One Gave the Nationals Reason for Optimism

Blake Butera's first season as a manager in the big leagues was not perfect, but did provide a positive outlook for the Washington Nationals going forward.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 6:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
How Big Business Lost Its Big Bet on Trump

The captains of industry that many assumed would keep the president in check all turned out to be paper tigers. Democrats, take note.

yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 6:00 AM EDT • Business • yahoo.com
Medicare for All vs. moderate Democrats

Most Democrats in competitive races are moderates who aren't big fans of a single-payer system.

axios.com logo
Oct 16 • 5:30 AM EDT • Health • axios.com
High-Signal Publisher
Sports quiz of the week: love, songs, speedy skating and celebrations

Have you followed the big stories in football, rugby, tennis, boxing, basketball, skateboarding, F1 and the NFL?

theguardian.com logo
Oct 16 • 5:00 AM EDT • Sports • theguardian.com
Notre Dame-BYU clash carries College Football Playoff implications, Big 12 dreams
sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 4:59 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Gen Z founders are hiring while Boomers’ corporate America freezes out—‘I’ve already proven to myself that I can thrive in this’

While entry-level job seekers face a ‘low-hire, low-fire’ market, young entrepreneurs are betting big: 46% plan to add staff, compared with just 19% of boomer owners.

fortune.com logo
Oct 16 • 3:02 AM EDT • Business • fortune.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (14%)
wow
53%
ahah
47%
Shohei Ohtani could require multiple surgeries this offseason

The 2-way MLB star might need multiple surgeries this offseason.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 1:04 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Most of Ken Paxton’s Money Can Be Traced to One Man: Elon Musk

The world’s richest person, who has become the biggest known midterm donor, gave $158 million to a group that quickly spent that much to help Mr. Paxton’s Senate bid in Texas.

nytimes.com logo
Oct 16 • 12:51 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
Dodgers veteran confirms he’s retiring immediately after NLCS

The 37-year-old singled in his final career plate appearance.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 16 • 12:22 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Big Game Preview: Maryville vs Science Hill

Big Game Preview: Maryville vs Science Hill

wjhl.com logo
Oct 15 • 11:13 PM EDT • Science • wjhl.com
Dodgers make surprising decision on Shohei Ohtani

The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the brink of elimination in the National League Championship Series, trailing the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0, and Shohei Ohtani has been one of the biggest reasons why their offense has gone cold. But rather than dropping Ohtani further down the order or benching him completely, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went…

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 8:35 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
🙂 Positive (31%)
Gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand meets with small business owners, city officials in Marshalltown

MARSHALLTOWN – Slightly more than 10 small business owners and Marshalltown city officials met with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand on Friday, Oct. 9, to talk about what was on their minds, and wages and healthcare were big topics. Alfonso Medina, the owner of La Carreta, hosted the small business roundtable discussion at his restaurant. […]

northtamatelegraph.com logo
Oct 15 • 8:00 PM EDT • Business • northtamatelegraph.com
You’re Not Gonna Like the List of Donors Fronting the Bill for Trump’s Big, Ugly Ballroom

A White House spokesperson called them “a wide array of great American companies and generous individuals.” I call them a bunch of influence-buying grifters.

esquire.com logo
Oct 15 • 7:15 PM EDT • Politics • esquire.com
Arizona babies take a bite out of research

Like many parents, Megan Rivas wants to give her 6-month-old daughter, Monroe, a healthy start, and one of the ways she’s going about it could make a big difference for more than just her daughter. Rivas is among dozens of parents across the Valley feeding their babies an unexpected research ingredient — avocados — as part of an Arizona State University College of Health Solutions study called Guac & Grow.

news.asu.edu logo
Oct 15 • 6:18 PM EDT • Health • news.asu.edu
The tech backlash is now in theaters

It feels like studios are finally ready to make critical films about Big Tech’s heavyweights.

theverge.com logo
Oct 15 • 5:39 PM EDT • Entertainment • theverge.com
Big Ten Preview: Week 7

There’s a headline game in the Big Ten this weekend…and some other games, too. FRIDAY NIGHT Washington (3-3, 0-3) at Purdue (3-3, 2-1), 8 p.m. on FOX Details: Who is the more surprising 0-3 Big Ten team? Washington or Penn State? Well, the Huskies travel west to take on a Purdue team that suddenly has […]

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 5:07 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Iowa health agencies step up as refugees lose Medicaid coverage

The Trump administration’s wide-ranging One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes several changes to Medicaid eligibility requirements. One change that took effect on Oct. 1 bars anyone without a green card from being eligible for coverage.

iowapublicradio.org logo
Oct 15 • 5:06 PM EDT • Health • iowapublicradio.org
Leadership Snohomish County celebrates local leaders, introduces Small Business Big Impact recognition

Leadership Snohomish County (LSC) brought together community leaders from across Snohomish County Tuesday morning for its 11th annual Leadership Day Breakfast at Tulalip Resort Casino. The high-energy gathering celebrated the […]

myedmondsnews.com logo
Oct 15 • 4:50 PM EDT • Business • myedmondsnews.com
Tom Haberstroh joins NBC Sports Philadelphia as 76ers sideline reporter

Tom Haberstroh is back covering LeBron James. Fifteen years ago, Haberstroh was one of a trio of ESPN reporters who decamped in Miami to run the Heat Index for the Worldwide Leader, a constantly running live feed of news and content around the “Big Three” era of the Miami Heat. Haberstroh chronicled LeBron James, Dwyane…

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 4:45 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Aaron Judge’s comments ‘slightly to somewhat annoyed’ Yankees brass

Sometimes the truth hurts and Yankees brass couldn't handle it.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 4:43 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Melton given clean bill of health, ready to lead Tigers' rotation in '27

DETROIT -- Hot Stove season doesn’t begin until next month, but the Tigers already got a big addition to their rotation entering next year. Right-hander Troy Melton, given a clean bill of health, looms large again as a potential frontline starter in a group of talented young arms. Melton, whose

mlb.com logo
Oct 15 • 4:21 PM EDT • Health • mlb.com
IP Saves the Day On Streaming

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get started, I wanted to highlight a new idea I saw from Real Good AI, proposing a ratings system for AI use. (H/T to Anthony Kaufman’s article highlighting this.) It would look something like this: In general, I think that this is a solid, middle-ground solution that should appease both the pro-AI camp (who love AI) and the anti-AI camp (who wants to know if what they’re watching didn’t come from humans). Regardless of your feelings on AI/LLMs—I’ll never use it for my writing—transparency is often the best solution to many problems. In general, I think way more media outlets need to be using way more AI disclosures. My quick “Yes and...” to this idea: what about ads? In particular, I hate it when I see or hear ads that are obviously AI-generated, but a person or voice says, “I used this product”. AI doesn’t use products! Just today, I watched a YouTube ad where a “person” said they use some sort of rain wind chime...but that’s not a real person! They didn’t use this product. (Especially since the video of the wind chime itself also appeared to be AI-generated...) I believe most traditional advertising already has standards like this anyway.1 Okay, on to this week’s issue. We’re covering the week of 14-Sep, and then next issue, I’ll be fully caught up with Nielsen’s new release schedule. In the future, I plan to put out Streaming Ratings Reports each Monday after Nielsen’s Thursday releases. Overall, we had some big new shows this week, like Prime Video’s Reacher spinoff_, Neagley_, which is off to a big, big start, and Netflix’s latest in its Monster anthology, which is their largest opening since June and the second-largest since One Piece came out in March. All that, plus Slow Horses returns, the trio of returning shows (Lioness, Reacher and Ted Lasso) continue to dominate the top tens, Paramount+’s latest crime drama, a big whiff for a Netflix original film and a precipitous drop for Netflix film charts, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of September 14th to September 20th 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - IP For the TV Win Can I use the dirty word of entertainment journalism right now? IP. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone I said it. But IP works at the box office, and we’ve seen some evidence it works in TV too. Not as well, and not all the time—no absolutes here!—but often enough. And glancing at the Nielsen top ten…it worked this week! Take Prime Video, who has a monster hit in the crime drama Reacher. Would a spinoff work for that show? Yep! They binge-released Neagley, about a detective from the original Reacher series, and its eight episodes debuted to 29.6 million hours. Here’s how it stacks up to Reacher, one of Prime Video’s biggest shows: That’s great. Nearly as strong as Reacher’s opening! (Both shows started with eight, binge-released episodes, so this comparison is apples-to-apples.) Notably, Prime Video scheduled the debut of Neagley to overlap with Reacher’s most recent season, to help drive tune-in. Obviously, I love smart release strategies like that. And even though I wrote “obviously”, it’s not really that obvious, since streamers don’t often take advantage of natural overlaps like this_._2 Other data backs how well Neagley performed. It opened at second place on Samba TV for two weeks and got 51.7 million hours on Luminate. That’s the eleventh biggest opening on Luminate since May of 2024 and tied with Bridgerton’s third season opening. That’s a huge opening! Its IMDb is solid too, a 7.7 on 24K reviews. Netflix’s latest edition in the “Monster” series—which started with Jeffrey Dahmer and comes from Ryan Murphy—did well too, opening to 24.7 million hours. That’s the biggest opening for Netflix since I Will Find You in June, and second biggest since March. Unlike the Reacher series, this franchise is trending downward, though. The first Monster show—Dahmer - Monster—was giant. More than anything, I think this reflects that Netflix running out of extremely popular—if that’s the right word?—serial killers to feature. Still, the data says this is a very good opening. It made it to third place on Samba TV for two weeks. It also opened to 40.0 million hours on Luminate. That’s not quite as elite as Neagley, but still very, very strong. I’ll be honest: my priors coming into any given week are that IP works to help drive buzz for new shows, but TV shows need to stand on their own even more than movies, so they will succeed or fail based on their quality. But these two spinoffs definitely worked. Quick Notes on TV The top show, film or special this week? Football, again. Specifically, Prime Video’s season opener of Thursday Night Football. The games run long (three hours) but mainly a lot of people watch each game. That adds up to a lot of viewership. Paramount released the second season of MobLand on an unusual day for that service, a Friday! Often, they put their new shows out on a Sunday, as they did last year with a run of shows (Lioness, Tulsa King and Landman). MobLand didn’t make Nielsen in its first week, but on Samba TV it got to eighth and seventh place. Luminate had a smaller opening too, only 5.3 million hours. MobLand missed the Nielsen charts for its first eight weeks, so this season is off to a stronger start. (Bonus note: the first season streams on both Prime Video and The Roku Channel, but I only have it as Paramount+ on those charts.) I’ve mentioned a few times that foreign-language originals do lower numbers than English-language originals on Netflix most of the time. But I don’t usually emphasize what country those originals come from, and observationally, they tend to be from Western or Northern European countries, in general. So credit to Not a Stranger, a Turkish Netflix original, for breaking through on Luminate, getting to 7.9 million hours in its first full week on those charts. As I mentioned last issue, Crew Girl ended up making the Nielsen charts in its second week. That’s still a soft performance compared to many shows, but again this, one looks affordable. And if you’re curious, here’s how it stacks up to some other sports romance shows: We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… …about a new data source and how it drives streaming viewership… ...what reality show is struggling in its latest season…. ...what Netflix film bombed…. ...How Reacher, Ted Lasso, and Lioness are doing on the charts… ...what obscure sport put up great viewership numbers… …how far streaming films are falling… …all the flops, bombs and misses for the last week… …and more… ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you want an idea of just how much content you’d get in a full issue, check out this older issue. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue, then we’ll be all caught up with Nielsen’s data. Yes! The goal is to have my report out on the Monday after I get Nielsen’s data. So next issue, I’m looking at East of Eden, The Great British Baking Show, a Willy Wonka game show (that people are upset uses AI, but viewers might not care), and a Cosby show spinoff reboot on Netflix, and Brothers on Apple TV (starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey). That’s about it for TV, but who’s going to win the streaming week, The Breadwinner or Backrooms on streaming? Answer: Toy Story 5. Plus Netflix has a Unabomber film and a new Tyler Perry film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma tries to repeat The Substance’s run on MUBI, and Paramount+ has Jackass: Best and Last. Long term, Netflix is remaking Lonesome Dove. I love this choice, but man, there are a lot of westerns on TV right now. And they’re making Sega TV shows, including a Crazy Taxi TV show and Sonic show with an “edge”.

entertainment.substack.com logo
Oct 15 • 3:32 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com
Touchscreen MacBook Pro Could Launch on November 6

Apple is planning to introduce new OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro models on October 27 or October 28, and the machines could launch on Friday, November 6, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said during his latest podcast. Apple retail stores apparently have a "big floor reset" scheduled for the evening of Thursday, November 5, and into Friday, November 6, which Gurman says could be in preparation for the new Macs.

macrumors.com logo
Oct 15 • 3:09 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com
European giant ready to take Liverpool's biggest problem

It is still early days in Andoni Iraola’s reign as Liverpool manager, but the first few months have lacked consistency. The Reds have only lost once under the Spaniard, but the team have struggled ...

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 2:35 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Alexa Tablet 12 Pro review: Amazon's premium tablet gets almost everything right

This tablet is a great value, even if Android apps still aren't great on a big screen.

engadget.com logo
Oct 15 • 2:30 PM EDT • Technology • engadget.com
Indiana’s Title Windfall Meets Its Biggest Home Game in History

A new jersey patch extends Indiana’s run of sponsorship deals

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 2:20 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Which NFL game should be nationally televised in Week 6?

Caleb Williams' potential comeback makes Chicago's trip to Atlanta a very intriguing Week 6 matchup.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 1:24 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Best Denver Broncos player prop bets for Week 6

3 best Denver Broncos prop bets for Week 6 against the Seattle Seahawks.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 1:17 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Seattle Mariners Managerial Search: One Big Question Around Joe Espada

There's a few different ways to look at the news from earlier this week regarding the former Houston Astros skipper.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 1:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Packers returning CB Keisean Nixon (groin) to practice on Thursday

Big injury news: Cornerback Keisean Nixon, who missed Wednesday's practice, will practice Thursday ahead of Sunday's matchup with the Cowboys.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 12:59 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Berlin Philharmonic planning to vacate Philharmonie for renovation from 2032-40

Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic face a big challenge. Renovations planned for their home, the Philharmonie, likely will displace the orchestra from 2032 to 2040. Petrenko, the chief conductor,

yakimaherald.com logo
Oct 15 • 12:24 PM EDT • Entertainment • yakimaherald.com
Leafs catch tough break with injury news on Chris Tanev

Latest injury news raises concerns for Maple Leafs blue line.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 12:14 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
"No Offense To Zelda" - Activision Exec Says Call Of Duty: MW4 And GTA 6 Are The Two Biggest Games Of The Year

How to p*** off Nintendo fans in four words

nintendolife.com logo
Oct 15 • 11:45 AM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
Top health civil servant urged to play no role in clampdown on ADHD clinics

Four MPs raise conflict of interest concerns over Samantha Jones’s past links to a big provider of ADHD assessments

theguardian.com logo
Oct 15 • 10:34 AM EDT • Health • theguardian.com
Sun Belt Week 7 Biggest Matchups

Another fun week of Sun Belt football is approaching, and there are certain matchups that can have big implications down the road. Georgia State has been the biggest surprise in the Sun Belt, and a victory over James Madison could do wonders for its confidence. Troy and Louisiana is a marquee matchup for the West …

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 10:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
‘No offense to Zelda’ but GTA 6 and COD Modern Warfare 4 are ‘the two biggest games of the year’, Activision exec says

Modern Warfare 4 is out next week…

videogameschronicle.com logo
Oct 15 • 9:44 AM EDT • Technology • videogameschronicle.com
Top Weekly Entertainment Picks

There’s no shortage of entertainment at the Shore this week, with big-name concerts, live theater, comedy, jazz and Halloween-inspired fun. See Ricky Martin

shorelocalnews.com logo
Oct 15 • 9:27 AM EDT • Entertainment • shorelocalnews.com
'I found the biggest ever haul of organics on Mars.' Meet the scientist at the centre of the search for life on the Red Planet  | BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Dr Amy Williams and her team discovered the largest collection of organic compounds on Mars in a sample collected by the Curiosity rover.

skyatnightmagazine.com logo
Oct 15 • 8:58 AM EDT • Science • skyatnightmagazine.com
Opponent Breakdown: Syracuse Orange Defense

Fran Brown lost his defensive coordinator this offseason, but he arguably made an upgrade when he brought in Vince Kehres from Toledo. Kerhes led an outstanding group during his time at Toledo, and he did a very good job mining talent for a school that wasn’t playing big-time football. The Cuse defense looks improved early […]

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 8:33 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Spartans Wire Big Ten Football Picks: Week 7

Check out our picks against the betting spread for each of the Big Ten games this week

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 8:01 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Is the EU research budget actually increasing?

Is a Horizon Europe budget of €158 billion a 10% cut or a significant increase to the EU’s support for research and innovation? What would seem like a question of fact has divided opinion in Brussels since the Irish presidency of the EU Council presented its negotiation box on October 10. The answer depends on factors such as how you adjust for inflation, whether you account for increases in overall EU wealth and if you care about absolute or proportional figures. The €158 billion budget in current prices, proposed by the Irish presidency of the EU Council, was quickly criticised by university lobbies and rejected by the high-level expert group led by former Portuguese science minister Manuel Heitor. It was also decried by the four pro-European political groups in the European Parliament. “How can Europe close its competitiveness gap while cutting the European Competitiveness Fund by 13% and Horizon Europe by nearly 10%?” asked a joint statement by the European People’s Party (EPP), Renew Europe, the Socialists and Democrats and the Greens/European Free Alliance. Together, these parties hold 63% of seats in the Parliament.In stark contrast, Irish foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee said that the proposal “significantly increases investment in competitiveness, research and innovation,” Meanwhile, a presidency press release said that, compared to the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the proposal would “double the volume of competitiveness related programmes.” So, who is right? That depends on how you make the calculation.Compared to the Commission figure or the previous budget?The first thing to notice is the difference in baselines. When the MEPs say the Irish presidency will cut Horizon Europe by “nearly 10%” they are using the European Commission proposal for the MFF from July 2025, which allocated €175 billion in current prices to Horizon Europe. However, when the Irish foreign affairs minister said the research and competitiveness budget is increasing significantly, she is comparing it to the 2021-27 MFF, which had a Horizon Europe budget of €84.9 billion in 2018 prices.Her point holds when accounting for inflation. Applying a 2% annual inflation rate, the calculation method used by the Commission, the 2021-27 Horizon Europe would have a budget of €97.5 billion in 2025 prices. In comparison, the Irish presidency’s €158 billion figure in current prices translates to €140 billion in 2025 prices. Does the ECF count?But there is more to the dispute. In its statements, the Irish presidency lumped the research budget in with the overall budget for competitiveness. The Parliament statement, however, kept the two separate. This matters because the next MFF includes plans to add a new European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) to fund programmes meant to boost the continent's competitiveness. The Irish negotiating box allocated €245 billion in current prices to this programme.When this is added to the €158 billion for Horizon Europe, as well as programmes such as the EU education programme Erasmus+, the total for “competitiveness, prosperity and security” in the Irish proposal becomes €514 billion in current prices. But it is still uncertain how big a share of this competitiveness budget would go to research. The Commission proposal of July 2025 for the MFF included clear links between the ECF and Horizon Europe, indicating some ECF money will go to research. At the same time, the structure of the ECF is still being negotiated, and a substantial part of its budget is expected to support non-research activities such as defence manufacturing, decarbonisation and digital infrastructure. Related articlesCouncil floats 9.6% budget cut to next Horizon EuropeResearch community to appeal to national governments over planned EU budget cutEU own resources ‘essential’ for future research budget, says leading MEPSo, it is by looking at competitiveness rather than research, or combining the two, that the Irish presidency can claim that its proposed budget will significantly increase investment in competitiveness, research and innovation.According to the Irish presidency proposal, Horizon Europe and other competitiveness-related programmes in the current multiannual budget received €221 billion in current prices. However, since this money is being distributed from 2021 to 2027, it is not directly comparable to the €514 billion in current prices which will be distributed from 2028 to 2034.Research as a proportion of the MFFBut the relative rise in competitiveness-related programmes points to another important distinction: whether you look at the research budget in absolute terms or as a share of the overall MFF. Here, too, the size of the research budget has risen, although only slightly. In the 2021-27 MFF, Horizon Europe accounted for 7% of the total budget. In the Irish presidency’s proposal, it amounts to 8.7%. The share for the total competitiveness envelope went from 17.7% in the current MFF to 28.1% in the Irish presidency proposal.This proportional share may seem irrelevant to universities looking for research funding, but it is becoming significant as budget negotiations between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council begin. On October 2, a group of 17 southern and eastern European countries sent out a statement calling for the EU agriculture and cohesion budgets to be protected. The Parliament’s co-rapporteur on the budget, Siegfried Mureșan of the EPP, has also said that the research envelope is likely to be cut disproportionately as the budget is slimmed down during negotiations.

sciencebusiness.net logo
Oct 15 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencebusiness.net
Ohio State gets troubling injury news before massive Indiana showdown as Ryan Day faces difficult decisions

The Buckeyes are preparing for one of their biggest games of the season, but several important injuries could complicate their plans against Indiana.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 7:36 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Could the Big Bang theory be wrong? Some of the biggest questions remain unresolved

The Big Bang explains a great deal, but some of its deepest questions remain unanswered. Future discoveries could change far more of the story than many people realize.

yahoo.com logo
Oct 15 • 7:23 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com
Big Walk skipped Xbox to boycott Microsoft’s involvement with Israel

The omittance was intentional.

theverge.com logo
Oct 15 • 6:05 AM EDT • Technology • theverge.com
How Trump’s megabill may be affecting you right now

When Republicans ask voters to keep them in the majority, they frequently point to the most significant policy achievement of Trump 2.0 — the tax and spending cuts bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

cnn.com logo
Oct 15 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Why health systems are putting big bucks behind family caregivers

CARE Act laws require hospitals to provide training and information to family members caring for patients at home.

modernhealthcare.com logo
Oct 15 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • modernhealthcare.com
Hasan Piker isn't worried about being a political boogeyman this midterms season

President Donald Trump recently called Hasan Piker a “terrible liability” and a “communist.”The California-based streamer — who describes himself as a socialist — has become the GOP’s political bogeyman ahead of the midterm elections. Piker argues those attacks will backfire, but also says he has played a role in being portrayed as a 'figurehead of the insurgent left.'“The way that I'm portrayed in the media is an America-hating communist Islamist fundamentalist who wants to secretly do jihad, and then also, at the same time, very woke and gay, so there's this weird inconsistency in their messaging,” Piker says. “Who I am is very simple. I'm a socialist. I'm an anti-imperialist. I want what's best for Americans, and I want what's best for everyone from all around the world.”In this episode from NPR’s Newsmakers, Piker sits down with host Leila Fadel and argues Republicans are using him to distract from policies that made life less affordable. He also addresses his seven Twitch bans, defends his rhetoric against right-wing reactionaries, and reflects on the crisis of loneliness among young men — and the limits of his influence.“At the end of the day, I'm a Twitch streamer,” Piker says. “I hold no political office. I have no real political power. So getting people to be upset at a Twitch streamer and their affiliation as a, if you want to call it a surrogate, in the primary is going to be very difficult.”Newsmakers is where you'll find NPR's biggest interviews. We post new episodes as soon as they're available -- any day of the week. Follow or subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you watch or listen to podcasts to get new episodes as soon as possible. You can also find Newsmakers on the NPR app. Newsmakers relies on supporters who value independent journalism and a free press. Join NPR+ today to support our work and get perks from the podcasts you trust. Go to plus.npr.org.

npr.org logo
Oct 15 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • npr.org
High-Signal Publisher
Big Walk developer explains the lack of Xbox version is due to Microsoft's place on the BDS boycott

Big Walk developer House House has explained no Xbox version of Big Walk will come until the Palestinian-led boycott movement removes Microsoft from its list.

eurogamer.net logo
Oct 15 • 4:48 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net
Different measures of what learning looks like

Colorado voters face some big propositions — Amendment 87, Proposition 136 and Proposition NN — about money. Nothing like a fight over dollars to get everyone’s hackles up. If Amendment 87 and Proposition NN pass and Proposition 136 fails, a chunk of money will go to our public schools to help make up for years […]

coloradopolitics.com logo
Oct 15 • 3:00 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com
Ceuta and the Politics of Not Naming

The Ceuta gray-zone crisis reveals how migration pressure, political ambiguity, and delayed attribution shaped Spain’s response to Morocco.

smallwarsjournal.com logo
Oct 15 • 2:00 AM EDT • Politics • smallwarsjournal.com
Courtney Ogden 'wanted business,' and Michigan fit the bill

At 6-foot-1-inch, Courtney Ogden is not only a stifling presence on defense, but she is also a reliable shooter with an extensive resume.

michigandaily.com logo
Oct 14 • 11:31 PM EDT • Business • michigandaily.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (9%)
wow
71%
ahah
29%
Blazers' Tom Dundon Meets the Man Betting Big on Portland

As Tom Dundon navigates high-stakes arena negotiations, the Blazers owner finds an optimistic ally in a real estate mogul wagering $250 million on downtown Portland’s recovery.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 14 • 10:44 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (0%)
wow
100%
Minnesota Vikings Star Provides Big Announcement Before Week 6

Undefeated quarterback Kyler Murray officially closed his Arizona chapter, finalized a multi-million dollar estate sale to focus entirely on leading Minnesota’s offense through a dominant breakout season.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 14 • 10:43 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (0%)
wow
100%
Ben Rice Under Pressure To Make Big Change For Yankees

The New York Yankees have a lot of issues entering the offseason and how to improve the roster. However, one noteworthy issue involves the team’s best hitter of the 2026 season. Ben Rice led the team after Aaron Judge suffered his injury and was among the best overall hitters in the MLB. The problem is […] The post Ben Rice Under Pressure To Make Big Change For Yankees appeared first on HEAVY.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 14 • 10:32 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (2%)
wow
100%
Warriors Could Trade For Draymond Green’s Longtime Rival

The Golden State Warriors will be looking for ways to improve via the trade market, and Rudy Gobert could emerge as an option. A new report claims that the Minnesota Timberwolves will look to trade Gobert due to his contract ending soon. Paying big money to an aging NBA player can hurt the franchise, especially […] The post Warriors Could Trade For Draymond Green’s Longtime Rival appeared first on HEAVY.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 14 • 10:06 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
☹️ Negative (-9%)
From pallets to presents, Ames entrepreneur builds mystery box business

Two years ago, Jami Tharp was scrolling through TikTok when a trend caught her attention: mystery boxes. She ordered a few from Amazon, curious to see what would arrive. Soon, she started thinking bigger, buying wholesale pallets of merchandise and creating her own mystery boxes. Today, Tharp runs J&O Mystery Box Co., an online business...

iowastatedaily.com logo
Oct 14 • 9:42 PM EDT • Business • iowastatedaily.com
Katie Zacharia Is Trump’s New Press Secretary. But Is She a Lawyer?

Katie Zacharia told The New York Times that the confusion over her legal credentials was the result of one big misunderstanding.

nytimes.com logo
Oct 14 • 8:45 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
Old Google Home and Nest speakers getting big firmware update

Google is testing a big firmware update for the Google Home, Home Mini, Nest Mini, and Nest Audio. This release...

9to5google.com logo
Oct 14 • 6:35 PM EDT • Technology • 9to5google.com
Kristaps Porziņģis remains out indefinitely with health-related matter

The Warriors hoped that the big man's preseason absence would only keep him out for a short time, but that hope is now gone.

nytimes.com logo
Oct 14 • 6:04 PM EDT • Health • nytimes.com
Kristaps Porzingis sets the record straight on health issues: 'Everyone can relax now'

The Warriors big man remains out indefinitely, but he tried to offer some clarity on his mysterious health issue on Wednesday.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 14 • 6:02 PM EDT • Health • sports.yahoo.com
Big Top Xtreme Opens in Pine Bluff Bringing Family Entertainment and New Attractions After Six Years of Development

Big Top Xtreme officially celebrated its grand opening in Pine Bluff on Wednesday, October 14th, marking the completion of a six-year effort to transform a former property into a family entertainment destination featuring go-karts, miniature golf, paintball, arcade games and Big Banjo Pizza. City officials, […]

deltaplexnews.com logo
Oct 14 • 5:26 PM EDT • Entertainment • deltaplexnews.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (14%)
wow
67%
love
33%
Joni Mitchell celebrates citizenship after 62 years living in the U.S.

'Big Yellow Taxi,' 'Woodstock' and 'Both Sides, Now' singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is from Canada but has long resided in the U.S. She shared video of her naturalization ceremony on social media.

latimes.com logo
Oct 14 • 5:09 PM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com
Ubisoft plans cuts at German studios, adding to wave of workforce reductions

Ubisoft is planning to reduce its workforce in Germany, where it operates a trio of studios, by about 100 workers, Game File has learned. The company wants to offer employees buyouts to, should enough people accept, avoid having to lay anyone off. “In Germany, we initiated discussions with the Works Council last week regarding a proposed voluntary departure plan across Ubisoft Dusseldorf, Ubisoft Berlin & Ubisoft Mainz,” a company rep told Game File. A “works council” is a union-like group representing employees. “The voluntary plan is the primary measure being proposed to support the intended organizational changes,” the Ubisoft rep added. The company declined to confirm the scale of the potential headcount cut. Of the impacted studios, Mainz might be the best known to the public. It leads development of the Anno series and shipped the well-reviewed strategy game Anno 117: Pax Romana in November 2025. Berlin and Dusseldorf operate as support studios within Ubisoft’s creative network. Berlin recently supported the development of Rainbow Six Siege and the Rayman Legends Retold remake. Dusseldorf also contributed to those projects, as well as The Settlers and Ubisoft-branded escape rooms. Dusseldorf is the biggest of the three studios, with some 400+ workers, compared to just over 100 at the other two, a source familiar with the reductions and the teams told Game File. More than half of these new reductions of about 100 people are expected to happen at Dusseldorf. The planned cuts were announced at a town hall for the German studios on Tuesday of last week. In an email follow-up, the studio group’s managing director, Benedikt Grindel, said the cuts were intended to “best position our German studios for the future... with a clearer focus on their role, capabilities and organizational setup needed for the work ahead.” The email was an echo of the past. In January 2025, Grindel had emailed the Ubisoft developers in his region (or studio “zone”) to explain that a round of 185 cuts at the time, including about 65 at Dusseldorf, were “essential to improve our operational efficiency and ensure the long-term sustainability of our studios, the zone and the company.” A half-decade of continued job cuts Ubisoft has been aggressively cutting its headcount for years. At the end of September 2022, it had 20,729 workers. By the end of March 2026, that total was down to 16,590. Studio management is trying to trim costs as it grapples with a changing industry and a drought of releases, let alone hits. The company announced earlier this year that it had reduced its costs since 2022 by “nearly €325 million” ($362m) and planned to lower them through 2028 by another €180 million ($200m). In June the company said it was closing down its Winnipeg and Belgrade studios and cutting roles in its Barcelona team. Even commercial and creative success hasn’t spared studios from this ongoing company-wide contraction. As Game File was nailing down details around the proposed cuts in Germany, Ubisoft management was informing workers of cuts in its Singapore studio, which shipped a hit remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag this past July. Some 70 positions in Singapore are being eliminated “to align the studio with upcoming production needs,” per a company rep’s statement to Game File. In early 2024, a large team in the Singapore studio launched the multiplayer pirate game Skull & Bones. It performed poorly but has been supported with regular content updates since. Many of Ubisoft’s studios around the world are heavily subsidized via regional grants and tax breaks. Singapore had been among them for years, but received no such local assistance in the 12 months ending this past March. News of the Singapore cuts broke today alongside word that Ubisoft is also proposing the closure of RedLynx, pending negotiations with officials. The Finnish studio behind the motorbike series Trials was founded in 2000 and sold to Ubisoft in 2011. As reported by VGC (and corroborated by Game File), Ubisoft management told employees it could not come up with a new, sustainable assignment for RedLynx. The 2025 workforce at Ubisoft Dusseldorf were straight-up cuts. This time, Ubisoft is hoping the reductions at its trio of German studios will largely come from workers taking a payout to leave. The company offered such voluntary dismissals at its Massive Entertainment studio (The Division) a year ago. For the German studios’ buyouts this time around, Ubisoft and the Works Council had discussed a formula that’d pay a worker’s monthly salary multiplied by 1.5 and by the number of years they’ve worked at the company, according to Game File sources. The formula is still subject to negotiations with the Works Council and has not yet been part of an official offer to workers. It could be adjusted up or down, and it could be supplemented with additional bonuses. Asked about the floated payout formula, a Ubisoft rep told Game File, “The terms of a potential voluntary departure program remain subject to negotiation with employee representatives. No final agreement has been reached, and we won’t comment on specific proposals while discussions are ongoing.” 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: Epic’s AI adventures Epic Games (Fortnite, the Unreal engine) is all-in on using AI to try to transform the way it makes video games and game-making tools. It’s leaders appear to be undeterred by any resistance among gamers and some game developers around generative AI—and instead emboldened by advances, particularly in AI-assisted programming. A recap of the last three days: On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Epic management told workers last week that development of an upcoming game combining Star Wars and Marvel characters would be “AI first.” Employees would be expected to use AI models such as Claude to code the game. A manager told Epic’s developers there would be “[n]o more hand-written code” and that art for the game would be “generated with full AI workflows,” per the outlet. Just ahead of that story running, Epic founder Tim Sweeney tweeted: “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration. The aim isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal.” In a follow-up, Sweeney predicted that most game development processes would be at least three times faster a year from now than they were in January 2026, thanks to AI. To a person on X who told him he was failing to read the room, Sweeney said: “Much of the room wants it to be 2016 again, but it’s not. Our job, as the provider of tools and technology to much of the industry, is to design for the present that is and the future that will soon be.” On Wednesday, Epic announced it was releasing a faster launcher for its Epic Games Store marketplace. It did so by stating in a blog post as clear as could be that the launcher is an AI-enabled, vibe-coded project: Programming is hard. So, instead of doing that, we vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher that’s way faster and more responsive than the current one, and has a new look. Programming is hard? That was unexpected phrasing from a company founded by a legendarily great programmer. Back in 2011, Sweeney told me that he’d picked up programming quickly as a kid and rejoiced at the power it gave him. “I could look at any program that anybody else had written and, with enough effort, build something cooler.” Item 3: The Xbox Labs experiment (and one of the people behind it) Microsoft’s Xbox division, which is flooding the zone with announcements lately, yesterday revealed a new internal tech-tinkering team called Xbox Labs. In the words of Xbox boss Asha Sharma Labs is “a small group of game makers, engineers and scientists whose job is to turn emerging ideas into things our players and developers can experience.” Conventional wisdom coming out of the announcement is that Labs is a team that’ll focus on ideas driven by generative AI. In her announcement, Sharma cited some of the dizzying achievements in tech and gaming over the past month as AI agents and other AI tools have been deployed to swiftly figure out how popular games work, then rebuild them and mix them up. She mentioned seeing ”games rapidly decompiled and rebuilt to run on hardware they were never originally designed to support” and said “[p]erhaps more surprisingly, we’ve seen many of the biggest games in the world have been remixed into the source code of another.” (Minecraft plus Elden Ring, for example, or Fortnite + Super Monkey Ball + Overwatch + Diablo + others.) Sharma also cited the work of Windows PC games being ported to run in browsers, a seeming reference to a recent AI-assisted fan port of Halo. Or perhaps Call of Duty or GTA. Sharma didn’t use the specific term “AI” in her memo, but she came close, citing AI “agents” and their potential for game-making tools that Labs could help craft: I think XBOX has an important role to play here. Coding became the first major workload for agents because they can write, run, and test software. Games share many of those same properties, and people spend more than 72 billion hours a year playing XBOX games, roughly five times the estimated time spent writing code worldwide. We’ve spent 25 years learning how to make great games, and I want our game makers to help shape what these new technologies make possible. As we learn, we’ll share the tools we build with developers across the industry, just as we always have. When I asked an Xbox rep if Labs was an AI-centric team, they said genAI was not the focus, describing it as having a broader mandate for using new tech in new ways in gaming. As an example, they pointed to Xbox’s recently launched disc-to-digital gaming usage rights program. Microsoft didn’t specifically name anyone involved full-time in Xbox Labs yesterday, but on social media and LinkedIn, I spotted Adrian Mato IDing himself as leading the creatio of tools at Labs and talking up the launch. Mato first caught my attention in late September, when he said on X that he was “starting to build a new team at Xbox focused on products and tools for how games get built and distributed as agentic tools become more capable.” At the time, he framed AI-based tools as a supplement to traditional game dev tools. “I don’t think we need to replace them,” he said. Since then, he’s publicly shown interest in AI and in games. He’s recently spent some of his X feed marveling at the power of AI agents and praising the lighting in the latest Gears of War. Following the Labs announcement yesterday, he enthused about the Xbox Labs’ stylish landing page. He wrote: “We built some fun tools to art-direct shaders in real time, experimented with interactive ASCII art, and sprinkled in lots of tiny details. “Move your mouse to leave a colorful trail that reveals the original footage, or interact with the video to trigger bursts of particles. “A lot of love went into making it all feel just right. “More to come”

gamefile.news logo
Oct 14 • 4:31 PM EDT • Technology • gamefile.news
A user has installed Googlebook OS onto a Chromebook Plus, and it runs great

Ever since Google officially launched the new Googlebook platform, one of the biggest questions hanging in the air has been what this means for existing Chromebook hardware. While we wait for...

chromeunboxed.com logo
Oct 14 • 4:30 PM EDT • Technology • chromeunboxed.com
Netflix is laying off 6% of its workforce, in biggest round of job cuts at streaming giant in years

Netflix plans to lay off about 6% of its workforce as part of wider organizational changes. Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos announced the cuts in a memo to employees

wqow.com logo
Oct 14 • 4:30 PM EDT • Entertainment • wqow.com
Netflix is laying off 6% of its workforce, in biggest round of job cuts at streaming giant in years

Netflix plans to lay off about 6% of its workforce as part of wider organizational changes. Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos announced the cuts in a memo to employees

wxow.com logo
Oct 14 • 4:30 PM EDT • Entertainment • wxow.com
2026 Internet Invitational full roster, prize money & schedule revealed

The second season features several notable athletes and YouTube stars competing for the $4 million prize.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 14 • 4:16 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Aged aircraft exhaust poses a rising threat to human health

Fine particulate matter consists of tiny particles with diameters in the nanometer range. They are produced, for example, by fuel combustion, remain suspended in the air and can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract.

news-medical.net logo
Oct 14 • 3:37 PM EDT • Health • news-medical.net
Big 12 football bowl projections after Week 6 results

BYU, Utah and Texas Tech are the Big 12's CFP contenders after Week 6, while Colorado and Kansas are left out of bowl projections.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 14 • 3:27 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (0%)
wow
100%
The First AI Advantage Was About Productivity. The Next One May Give Entrepreneurs a Bigger Edge.

The next AI advantage for entrepreneurs isn't about more content or productivity. It's moving from idea to execution faster.

entrepreneur.com logo
Oct 14 • 3:00 PM EDT • Business • entrepreneur.com
Mamdani accuses Blakeman of 'bigotry and racism' in breakout debate that mayor didn't watch

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani admitted he didn't watch Tuesday's governor debate between Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican Bruce Blakeman.

foxnews.com logo
Oct 14 • 2:41 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
Microsoft is considering making Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and even Minecraft Xbox console exclusive

Microsoft is actively asking Xbox users with multiple consoles how they'd react if big franchises went fully console exclusive. Is this a hint at things to come?

windowscentral.com logo
Oct 14 • 2:38 PM EDT • Technology • windowscentral.com
Netflix is laying off 6% of its workforce, in biggest round of job cuts in years

Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos said the company's product, tech, legal and human resources teams would be the most impacted

spectrumlocalnews.com logo
Oct 14 • 2:31 PM EDT • Business • spectrumlocalnews.com
😐 Neutral (5%)
ahah
40%
wow
40%
love
20%
Salt Lake City’s massive downtown sports district gets its big reveal. Take a look.

Smith Entertainment Group released renderings of their downtown sports, entertainment, culture, and convention complex on Wednesday.

sltrib.com logo
Oct 14 • 2:16 PM EDT • Entertainment • sltrib.com
Software advance brings complex quantum simulations to standard computers

A major software advance could aid the creation of bigger, more reliable quantum computers, a study suggests. Researchers have developed an algorithm that enables off-the-shelf computers to run quantum ...

phys.org logo
Oct 14 • 2:01 PM EDT • Science • phys.org
Teradata Brings Elastic Python Compute to AI Studio, Unifying Data, Governance, and AI

New distributed Python capability accelerates large-scale AI operations while keeping data and compute within the Teradata platform SAN DIEGO, Oct. 14, 2026 — Teradata today announced the general availability of Elastic Python Compute within AI Studio. The capability gives enterprise data science teams a managed, distributed Python environment for scaling AI compute and machine learning […]

hpcwire.com logo
Oct 14 • 1:58 PM EDT • Science • hpcwire.com
Gemini 4 Argon Arrives With Big Claims for AI Agents and Scientific Discovery

Google just released the new Gemini 4 Argon, which it claims can generate up to a million tokens in a single run, a big jump for long code migrations and multi-step agent work. Competitors top out around 128,000 output tokens per request, so based on that claim, Argon’s 1 million is roughly 8x higher. Argon […]

hpcwire.com logo
Oct 14 • 1:12 PM EDT • Science • hpcwire.com
Goldman Sachs CEO Solomon on earnings: We have a big, durable, diverse business

CNBC’s Kate Rooney and David Solomon, Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO, join 'The Exchange' to discuss earnings going forward, M&A activity, and more.

cnbc.com logo
Oct 14 • 1:10 PM EDT • Business • cnbc.com
Can math stay human in the age of AI?

As AI churns out mathematical proofs, a DeepMind study raises a bigger question: What do we lose when we focus only on the answers?

sciencenews.org logo
Oct 14 • 1:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencenews.org
DeWolf Family Foundation donates $3.5 million to Tippie College of Business

The Cedar Rapids-based DeWolf Family Foundation is planning a big investment into the future of student readiness at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business. According to a University of Iowa news release, the foundation will be donating $3.5 million to the college’s Tippie Thrive program, a peer-led initiative to prepare Tippie students for […]

corridorbusiness.com logo
Oct 14 • 12:53 PM EDT • Business • corridorbusiness.com
Dodgers outfielder blasts MLB for airing controversial Sydney Sweeney commercial

Alex Call doesn't like watching what he called 'soft porn ads' with his young son.

sports.yahoo.com logo
Oct 14 • 12:30 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com