The legendary studio behind series like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is no more. BioWare announced via social media Wednesday afternoon that "after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending."

The official announcement was posted mere minutes after a Bloomberg report detailed 400 job cuts across BioWare parent company Electronic Arts, including 50 at BioWare, based on reports from "a person familiar with the company's plans."

"Across our portfolio, we’re making deliberate choices to align talent and investments where we see the greatest opportunities for players and long-term growth," EA executives wrote in a message to staff, according to Bloomberg.

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Scientists and artists tell us about the book that scared them to the core

The post The Most Unsettling Books We Know appeared first on Nautilus.

Everyone loves the MacBook Neo. Apple’s fresh-squeezed laptop was a not-too-surprising hit with computer buyers, and presumably sales have continued to be good despite a $100 mid-stream price increase elevating its original $599 price tag to a still-good-but-not-astounding $699.

The Neo proved that Apple’s iPhone-class processor, the A18 Pro, was powerful enough to drive a Mac and the Mac’s wide-open software platform. With performance roughly in between an M1 and M2 processor, the Neo is completely capable of even somewhat difficult tasks like audio and video editing. Obviously, RAM and processor limitations prevent it from tackling the toughest jobs, but that’s why Apple makes numerous other, more expensive Macs.

A friend’s kid is moving into her college dorm—the same one both of my kids lived in!—as I write this. I have no idea what computer she’s bringing to school, but it certainly could be a MacBook Neo, and I’d wager a bunch of her classmates will have them, too.

So, hooray for the Neo, but what’s next? With the arrival of the iPhone 18 Pro and the A20 processor, the question is, will Apple release a Neo based on last year’s A19 Pro processor, or jump to the A20? I fear that the answer is the less-exciting A19 Pro, but what if it’s the A20 Pro? (And if it’s not the A20 Pro in 2027, it’ll be the A20 Pro in 2028, you could almost bank on it.)

So what’s in store for the MacBook Neo in the future? Let’s go to the charts:

In short, the A19 Pro would be an incremental update to the Neo, keeping it roughly in the ballpark of M1 CPU performance and M2 or M3 GPU performance. The A20 Pro, on the other hand, would elevate the Neo to M2-level CPU and M4-level GPU performance.

Also, in terms of differentiating the product line, next year the MacBook Air will presumably get the M6 chip just unveiled for the Mac mini. But regardless, both the M5 and M6 chips are still well ahead of the A20 Pro in everything that really matters for Mac performance.

I’m sure Apple could get away with releasing a MacBook Neo with an A19 Pro chip, and given the pressures on its margins caused by the RAM crisis, that’s probably what it will do. (It would presumably bring the Neo up to 12GB of RAM, which would be a nice boost—while raising the price, of course.)

But now that we’ve seen it in action in an iPhone, the prospect of the A20 Pro in a MacBook Neo is even more tantalizing. The question is how long we’ll need to wait to see it.

A tech start-up’s stunt in San Francisco tested the boundaries of combat sport safety and regulations.

This novelist has spent a good part of his medical career training others for emergencies, and acting in emergencies himself. He takes them seriously. 

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Author Simmons is, among other things, a disaster preparedness expert. The outcome here would make 9/11 seem negligible.

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The family has put together the Big Premise (a solar flare has flung Oak Street back to the Mesozoic era). The dad predicts, “God's not gonna let us die here.”

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It’s easy to see why people might latch onto the idea of a reptilian brain as an explainer, or an explainaway, for complex topics.

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For the 25th anniversary of 9/11 you may be wondering what to read or watch for the occasion. I have a few suggestions.

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This week marks 25 years since the shocking attacks of September 11, 2001. Why did the civilized world respond as it did?

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Here is yet another clue about how we are both spiritual and physical beings. The two realms are connected in mysterious and remarkable ways.

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In Nolan's supposal, the mad scientist takes on the mystique of a wizard. Perhaps this is fitting, given that he sees science and wizardry as the same thing.

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On Thursday, Apple announced record third-quarter earnings, with total revenue of $109.4B, up 16 percent from the year-ago quarter. iPhone revenue was up 22%, Mac revenue was up 10.4%, Services revenue was up 12%, and Wearables revenue was up 6%. iPad revenue was down 6%.

Shortly thereafter, Apple execs spent an hour on the phone with financial industry analysts, and we’ve got our usual complete transcript, including many farewells to Tim Cook.

And now, to help you visualize what Apple just announced, here is our traditional barrage of charts and graphs:

The previously unpublished short story reveals the playful and erotic side of the father of modern computing

The post A Forgotten Literary Window Into the Personal Life of Alan Turing appeared first on Nautilus.

Stuck between life and death, this foot consumes nutrients, heals itself, and grows, but doesn’t turn into a whole new organism.

NewCore argues the next challenge in enterprise security will be managing AI agents, not people.

Inflammation is one of the body’s most important defense systems. When you cut your finger, catch a virus, or suffer an injury, inflammation helps the body heal and protect itself. In the short term, this response is useful and necessary. It helps fight infections, remove damaged cells, and support recovery. However, when inflammation continues for […]

The post Scientists Discover How to Stop Harmful Inflammation Before Disease Starts appeared first on Knowridge Science Report.

Com a atualização "The World's Game", o EA SPORTS FC Mobile convida-o a escolher a sua seleção nacional e a competir pelo título mundial. Conta com mais de 50 seleções licenciadas, estrelas de hoje e ícones históricos do futebol.

The post EA SPORTS FC Mobile: com o Mundial em campo, é tempo de conduzir a sua seleção à glória no bolso appeared first on Tek Notícias.

Maybe it's the midlife crisis talking, but the racist purge of straight white men from arts and entertainment has degraded all books and films, says Nick Dixon, and left behind only meaningless, endless culture war.

The post Why Books and Movies and Life All Suck Now appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

A lunar lander nicknamed Odie carries 125 small moon sculptures by artist Jeff Koons that could become the first authorized artwork on the moon

© NASA