Google says it’s preparing for the quantum apocalypse, when traditional encryption methods are broken by quantum computers, by 2029—which is much sooner than originally expected

If you’ve never heard of Q-Day, the moment when quantum computers become capable of breaking traditional encryption methods and exposing vast amounts of data, often referred to as the ‘quantum apocalypse‘, then Google’s latest announcement might come as something of a shock. The company is giving itself a 2029 timeline to “secure the quantum era”…

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Videogames are more of a rich guy’s hobby than ever, says analyst, and that’s ‘leaving a whole portion of the market to Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox’

The term “K-shaped economy” is one that economists and finance writers came up with to avoid having to say “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”* It goes like this: as the economy recovers from shocks like the Covid-19 pandemic, the recovery is uneven across sectors and income levels. The already-affluent at the…

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Star Wars Zero Company’s lead mission designer is eagerly waiting to watch all your all-astromech challenge runs: ‘Granted, it might not be a very easy thing to do’

R2-D2 is proof that the humble astromech droid is the unsung hero of the galaxy far, far away. During every climactic space battle, bombing run, and ill-considered marriage between dignitary and warrior monk, there was a heroic animate trashcan nearby guiding the course of history. Star Wars wouldn’t be the same without the astromech’s nobility…

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Star Wars Zero Company devs said ‘there were some fights’ about its story-centric squadmates suffering permadeath, but accepting that ‘Star Wars is about loss’ made the game stronger

Our hands-on preview of Star Wars Zero Company might’ve left us convinced that it’s more than just Star Wars XCOM, but just like with clone troopers and bounty hunters, there’s clearly some crucial DNA being shared. As with XCOM, Zero Company’s rogue padawans and plucky astromechs will risk permadeath whenever they take the field. While…

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World of Warcraft: Midnight review

World of Warcraft: Midnight is one of the most ambitious expansions in the game’s 20-year history, and I don’t entirely mean that as a compliment. Blizzard is taking its biggest swings in years, and sometimes Midnight whiffs—but just as often this expansion smashes it, dosing you with a hit of pure refined nostalgia in the…

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Senator Bernie Sanders announces bill to pause US data center construction: ‘AI and robotics will impact our economy, our democracy, our privacy rights… even our very survival as human beings on this planet’

US senator Bernie Sanders has announced a new bill calling for a pause on the construction of new data centers in the United States, alongside Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The AI Data Center Moratorium Act aims to buy time for US lawmakers to put into place regulations around AI and AI data center expansion, taking…

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