As MMORPG Black Desert Online sneakily celebrates its tenth anniversary, developer Pearl Abyss reveals a brand new playable class coming to the game soon. There's even a new expansion on the horizon, alongside the reveal of the highest-tier weapon in the entire game.

For years, Apple has touted privacy as its major advantage over rivals like Google and Microsoft. Instead of relying on cloud processing to improve or organize your images, which requires sending your photos to Google's servers, Apple handles those tasks directly on your device. But with the advent of Apple Intelligence, the company's take on artificial intelligence, the company is stepping out of its comfort zone with "Private Cloud Compute." It says "private" right in the name, so it has to be secure, right?

While Apple AI will run some models locally, it will occasionally have to send data to Apple's servers for complex requests. So how is the company squaring this with its previous security stance? 

According to Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of Software Engineering, the company is being very careful about how its sending your data to its servers. "You're putting a lot of faith in the cloud... with Private Cloud Compute, the stakes are even higher," he said in a WWDC 2024 conversation with Apple's AI head, John Giannandrea, and YouTube influencer iJustine.

During the WWDC keynote, Federighi showed off how Apple AI could help him reschedule a meeting and determine if he could still attend his daughter's dance recital. Apple AI was able to determine who his daughter actually was, where her event was located, and the estimated travel time from his meeting.

Federighi says Apple isn't sending all of your data to the cloud, instead it's only uploading the most important bits of information relevant to your Apple AI query. Additionally, your server request is anonymous, since it's using the same IP masking technology as iCloud Private Relay. Federighi also noted that Apple's cloud servers have no permanent storage and don't have the ability to keep logs. 

To make things even more secure, Federighi says Private Cloud Compute servers are running software with published images for security researchers to audit. Apple Intelligence devices can only talk with servers running those approved images — if there are any changes to the servers, the local devices will also need to be updated to see them.

That process may a bit restrictive, but that's precisely the point. Federighi calls it "a step up" in the level of trust you can have with server computing. "It's essential that you know no one—not Apple, not anyone else, can access the information used to process your request," he said.  

Intel's relatively new Foundry division — formerly known as Intel Foundry Services until earlier today — has just landed a notable order from a big name. According to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that his company will be tapping into Intel's latest 18A (1.8nm) fabrication process for an upcoming in-house chip design. But given Intel's process roadmap, this means we likely won't be seeing Microsoft's new chip until 2025.

While neither company disclosed the nature of said silicon, Microsoft did unveil its custom-made Azure Maia AI Accelerator and Azure Cobalt 100 CPU server chips last November, with an expected rollout some time "early" this year to bolster its own AI services. The Cobalt 100 is based on Arm architecture, and it just so happens that Intel has been optimizing its 18A process for Arm designs since April last year (it even became an Arm investor later), so there's a good chance that this collaboration may lead to the next-gen Cobalt CPU.

In addition to the usual efficiency improvements as node size decreases, Intel 18A also offers "the industry's first backside power solution" which, according to IEEE's Spectrum, separates the power interconnect layer from the data interconnect layer at the top, and moves the former to beneath the silicon substrate — as implied by the name. This apparently allows for improved voltage regulation and lower resistance, which in turn enable faster logic and lower power consumption, especially when applied to 3D stacking.

Intel

In Intel's Q4 earnings call, CEO Pat Gelsinger confirmed that "18A is expected to achieve manufacturing readiness in second half '24." Given that Intel's very own 18A-based processors — "Clearwater Forest" for servers and "Panther Lake" for clients — won't arrive until 2025, chances are it'll be a similar time frame for Microsoft's next chip.

At Intel's event earlier today, the exec shared an extended Intel Foundry process technology roadmap, which features a new 14A (1.4nm) node enabled by ASML's "High-NA EUV" (high-numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet) lithography system. According to AnandTech, this 14A leap may help Intel play catchup after its late EUV adoption for its Intel 4 (7nm) node, though risk production won't take place until the end of 2026.

Intel Foundry is the brainchild of Gelsinger, who launched this department right after he assumed the CEO role in February 2021, as part of his ambitious plan to put Intel up against the likes of TSMC and Samsung in the contract chip-making market. Before Microsoft, Intel Foundry's list of clients already include MediaTek, Qualcomm and Amazon. The company still aims to become "the second largest external foundry by 2030" in terms of manufacturing revenue, which it believes is achievable as early as this year.

NASA wants volunteers for its second year-long simulated Mars mission, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA 2). For the mission’s duration, starting spring 2025, the four selected crew members will live in a 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed habitat in Houston. It’s paid, but we don’t know how much. At least living costs will be nil.

The Mars Dune Alpha habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center simulates life for future explorers on the red planet, where the environment is harsh and resources limited.

Applicants must be US citizens aged 30 to 55, speak English proficiently and have a master’s degree in a STEM field, plus at least two years of professional experience, a minimum of one thousand hours piloting an aircraft. Or two years of work toward a STEM doctoral program.

I barely qualify for two of those requirements — good luck to the rest of you.

— Mat Smith

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The EU is reportedly hitting Apple with a $539 million fine in antitrust probe

It’s been investigating Apple’s App Store rules since a 2019 complaint from Spotify.

Apple may be facing a fine of roughly $539 million (€500 million) from the EU and a ban on its alleged anti-competitive App Store practices for music streaming services, according to The Financial Times. The publication cites five unnamed sources and says the European Commission will announce its ruling early next month.

The investigation was prompted by a 2019 antitrust complaint filed by Spotify and focuses on App Store rules that, at the time, prevented developers from directing customers to alternative subscriptions outside the app, which could be notably cheaper as they didn’t have to include Apple’s 30 percent fee.

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Reddit reportedly signed a multi-million content licensing deal with an AI company

The company will use Reddit content to train its AI models.

Anadolu via Getty Images

Your dank memes, confessional posts and excessively strong feelings on Baldur’s Gate 3 couplings will soon train an artificial intelligence company’s models, according to Bloomberg. The website reportedly signed a deal “worth about $60 million on an annual basis” earlier this year.

When Reddit started charging companies for API access in April 2023, it said pricing would split in tiers so even smaller clientele could afford to pay. Companies need that API access to train their chatbots on posts and comments. This is likely the top tier of all that.

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Intuitive Machines’ moon lander sent home its first images

The landing attempt is scheduled for February 22.

Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines’ own attempt at the first-ever commercial Moon landing is off to a good start. After launching without a hitch on Thursday, it snapped a few incredible images of Earth. The team posted a series of updates on X at the end of the week, confirming the lander has passed some key milestones, including engine firing, ahead of its touchdown.

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