Meet G-Assist, a seven-year-old April Fool’s joke
Nvidia, displaying unparalleled powers of foresight, first unveiled G-Assist back in 2017, an AI assistant that would essentially help you conquer any title when asked. Of course, the news was nullified by the 1 April date attached to it. The world laughed, not knowing how valuable this exact product could be in this AI-riddled Black Mirror episode we’re living through. Sorry though, Nvidia. Microsoft beat you to, well, not the punchline, but to market.
See, Project G-Assist, in its current (and entirely real) state is designed to be a powerful assistant that can help players traverse the apparently-too-difficult realm of gaming, all in real-time. Just ask G-Assist for help in a game (text or voice is accepted) and it’ll screenshot what’s happening on-screen, run it through an LLM that’s hooked up to a database, like a wiki, and have it spit out an answer.
Nvidia showed off as much during a demo that showed a player struggling in the early stages of Ark (we get it, man) after which G-Assist arrived to save the day — encouraging the player’s brain to slide back into an unreceptive state as it solved the issue. As of right now, G-Assist exists only as a demo, but there’s a real possibility it could arrive on your PC in the future.
We’re not entirely dismissive of the idea, however. When G-Assist isn’t actively helping players un-develop their critical thinking skills, it will help fine-tune your PC’s performance by scanning your PC’s hardware and pointing out when you’re running low on frames or helping overclock your GPU. You just have to ask.
Boeing’s whistleblowers live to see another day
Look, all we’re saying is that if we were slated to head up to the International Space Station (ISS) in something crafted by Boeing, we’d be more than a little worried. Especially after Boeing called off yet another launch of its Starliner spacecraft, with just minutes to go before launch. Starliner was initially scheduled to begin its journey on Saturday, 1 June before it was scrubbed, with NASA citing issues with the equipment on ground support.
It’s now targeting another launch for this Wednesday, 5 June at 10:52 AM ET (16:50 PM for South Africa). The launch, should it finally take off (without blowing up first), will see astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams catch a ride to the ISS aboard the Atlas 5 rocket from Florida’s Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“The ULA team identified an issue with a single ground power supply within one of the three redundant chassis that provides power to a subset of computer cards controlling various system functions, including the card responsible for the stable replenishment topping valves for the Centaur upper stage. All three of these chassis are required to enter the terminal phase of the launch countdown to ensure crew safety,” NASA said.
“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” – Trump, probably
“The President is now on TikTok” Dana White excitedly exclaimed as the former president of the United States arrived on the app he once tried to get banned when he was in power. @realdonaldtrump already has 3.4 million followers, and only one video on his account, announcing his arrival at UFC 302 for… some reason. That at least explains Dana White’s presence.
Politico first reported the ‘news’ that Trump was extending his campaign to another social media platform, something the Home Alone 2 star has had trouble with in the past. Apparently, the 600,000 or so users on Truth Social weren’t quite pulling in the numbers Trump needs ahead of America’s re-election in November 2024.
With roughly 121 million TikTok users in the US (according to Statista), it’s clear Trump is trying to appeal to the younger generation in the U.S., which reportedly features a 2:1 ratio of pro-Trump supporters than not, according to a TikTok official. “Being able to do outreach on multiple platforms and outlets is important and this is just one of many ways we’re going to reach out to voters. TikTok skews towards a younger audience” said a Trump adviser.
Trump recently changed his tune where TikTok’s proposed ban in the U.S. is concerned, noting that the app’s disappearance would allow Meta to reach new heights, another undesirable outcome for the former president.
There’s an 18+ Minecraft set on the way (not like that)
Put Lego’s new $300 Legend of Zelda-themed set out of your mind because there’s a vastly cheaper $90 Minecraft set arriving this August to celebrate the game’s fifteenth anniversary. It may not be as flashy as Netflix’s contribution to the celebrations, but we’re guessing it’ll be infinitely more fun than whatever the streamer’s got cooking. It’s a 1,195-pieced crafting table, doubling as a diorama with mini biomes inside.
Unfortunately (for you kids), Lego has this rated at 18+. It hasn’t exactly made it clear why, but we reckon it might have something to do with the microscopic nature of the pieces involved. There are eight ‘microfigures’ included and 5 “mini build modules featuring 12 Minecraft biomes.” When complete, it’ll only measure 14x15x15cm on your shelf.
There’s no word on when South Africa’s Great Yellow Brick will get hold of the Minecraft set, or how much it’ll cost locally, but we can make a safe guess that it won’t be long after the U.S.’ 1 August 2024 release.