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Microsoft inks Nvidia game deal to assuage regulators over Activision merger

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BRUSSELS — Microsoft Corp has struck a 10-year deal to bring “Call of Duty” and other Activision games to Nvidia Corp’s gaming platform, if the Xbox maker is allowed to complete its much-contested $69 billion acquisition of Activision.Regulators and competitors like Sony have come out hard against the proposed Microsoft-Activision tie-up, and a Nvidia deal could allay concerns by ensuring more ways for consumers to get games controlled by Microsoft.

Britain earlier this month said the deal could harm gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and PlayStation, resulting in higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation for millions of players, as well as stifling competition in cloud gaming.
Microsoft President Brad Smith told a news conference on Tuesday he was now more optimistic of getting the Activision acquisition done after the Nvidia deal and a similar arrangement with Nintendo Co Ltd.Phil Eisler, vice president and general manager of Nvidia’s GeForce Now segment, said that titles such that “Call of Duty” will not be available on Nvidia’s service unless Microsoft acquires Activision but that other Microsoft-owned titles such as “Minecraft” are covered immediately under the 10-year license agreement.

“We were a little concerned about it at the beginning,” Eisler said of the Microsoft-Activision deal. “But then we reached out to Microsoft, and they were very open about wanting to enable cloud gaming and work with us on a 10-year license agreement. So over time, they made us more and more comfortable with it.”

Eisler said Nvidia is not paying Microsoft for access to the titles, which is the same arrangement the company has with other gaming companies such as “Fortnite” maker Epic Games. Instead, Nvidia’s 25 million customers will need to pay Nvidia for access to its cloud gaming platform and pay Microsoft for its games.Shares of Microsoft were down 2.2%, Nvidia was down 2.8% and Activision was down 0.6% in a broadly lower market on Tuesday afternoon.

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Nvidia said it now supports the Xbox maker’s bid to purchase Activision, but the deal could still be a hard sell with regulators. European officials issued Microsoft a warning about the deal earlier this month, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has asked a judge to block it. The UK competition watchdog has said Microsoft may have to divest “Call of Duty.”

Smith said he hoped that rival Sony Group Corp will consider doing the same type of deal with Nvidia.Sony has led opposition to the Microsoft-Activision deal, saying last year it was “bad for competition, bad for the gaming industry and bad for gamers themselves.”

Apart from Sony and Nvidia, other companies including Alphabet Inc’s Google had expressed concerns to the FTC about the deal, according to media reports.

Microsoft has pledged to keep “Call of Duty” on Sony’s PlayStation. The popularity of the first-person shooter franchise is undimmed nearly two decades after launch, with the latest installment achieving $1 billion sales in its first 10 days in October.

The U.S. tech giant has said the deal is about more than “Call of Duty.” It has said buying the company that also makes “Overwatch” and “Candy Crush” would charge its growth in mobile, PC, and cloud gaming, as well as consoles, helping it compete with the likes of Tencent as well as Sony.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew Lewis)

 

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Apple iPad Air 2024: Insider Makes Hasty U-Turn On New Feature – Forbes

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Well, that was quick. On May 18, a respected industry insider predicted a new display technology for the iPad Air that’s expected in the coming days—Apple just announced its latest special event.

The new 12.9-inch iPad Air, the report claimed, would have the same miniLED backlighting currently found on the larger iPad Pro, using the leftover inventory from the current Pro as that model switches to OLED. That was exciting news.

But now, Ross Young, the analyst who made the claim, has changed his mind. The new prediction, shared with paid subscribers only, is that the miniLED technology won’t be coming to the iPad Air, in either size.

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While it made sense that the inventory could be maximized in this way, it now “makes sense” that it won’t.

Young says that while he’d heard from supply chain sources that it would, he’d now had contact from “even more supply chain sources” that it won’t.

And the reason this change of heart now makes sense is that this miniLED technology is expensive, so it would be surprising if it made it to the iPad Air, which is more affordable than the Pro.

That’s not quite all the analyst shared. He also said that there are now reports of a new iPad coming later in the year. This is a 12.9-inch iPad, with miniLED backlighting and it could arrive between October and December this year.

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This is intriguing. What could it be? Assuming that the iPad Pro and iPad Air are released in May, it’s extremely unlikely either will be updated later in the year. And if the iPad Air isn’t pricey enough for miniLED to be included, what tablet could Apple be introducing that is the same size as the bigger Pro, with a pricey screen tech, which would sit between the Air and the Pro, it seems?

Young is highly reliable, but this seems slightly preposterous to me. The only other iPad in the range due a refresh is the regular iPad (at 12.9-inches, the iPad mini is clearly out of the picture) and that doesn’t seem likely either.

It seems to me that any regular iPad will almost certainly have the same screen size as now, 10.9 inches. The regular iPad only grew to this size screen in the current generation, and Apple almost never changes designs after one iteration.

Perhaps things will become clearer as the year goes on.

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Woman who left beaten dad on floor for 2 days was 'overwhelmed' with his care, judge told – CBC.ca

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A Calgary woman who abused her sick, 77-year-old father was “overwhelmed” at the task of caring for him, a judge heard Wednesday at a sentencing hearing. 

In January, Tara Picard, 52, pleaded guilty to charges of assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life after her father (whom CBC News is not naming) was found injured on a basement floor, where he’d been lying for two days. 

On Wednesday, prosecutor Donna Spaner and defence lawyer Shaun Leochko asked the judge to allow Picard to serve her sentence in the community under conditions as part of a conditional sentence order.

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Justice Indra Maharaj agreed to a two-year conditional sentence for Picard followed by a year of probation. 

“There is no doubt she became overwhelmed,” said Spaner in her submissions. “There is no question Ms. Picard has remorse.”

Leochko told the judge that caring for her father “was really more than [Picard] could handle.”

Maharaj heard that Picard is Indigenous and was the victim of abuse growing up. She lives in a sober dorm-style facility and is working with a mental health and addictions navigator, according to Leochko.

A ‘willingness to give back’

As part of the sentence, Picard must complete 300 hours of community service. 

Justice Maharaj commended Picard for “taking that on.”

“That shows me Ms. Picard sincerely does recognize what has happened here,” said the judge. 

“What I interpret from that is Ms. Picard’s willingness to give back to her community.”

During Picard’s plea, court heard that in November 2021, Picard and her father fought over his drinking. 

Nurses discover victim

The victim suffers from a number of medical issues, including diabetes, heart disease, dementia and alcoholism.

At the time, home-care registered nurses were assigned to help provide supplementary care.

Nurses found the victim wearing a soiled adult diaper and suffering from two black eyes with blood on his head. 

He told the nurses who discovered him that he’d been there for two days. 

Picard admitted she knew her father had fallen and she had “administered a number of physical blows.”

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Calgary woman who neglected elderly father spared jail term

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Leaving her elderly father on a basement floor for two days in a soiled adult diaper won’t mean jail for a Calgary woman.

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Justice Indra Maharaj accepted a joint Crown and defence submission on Wednesday for a two-year-less-a-day conditional sentence order for Tara Picard to be followed by 12 months of probation.

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Prosecutor Donna Spaner and defence counsel Shaun Leochko proposed a community-based term which will include eight months of 24-hour house arrest followed by a nightly curfew for the second eight months.

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Maharaj also agreed with the lawyers to order Picard to commit 300 hours of community service over the length of the three-year sentence.

The Calgary Court of Justice noted that amount of community-service hours was “a lot” to commit to.

But Maharaj said it showed Picard, 52, was truly remorseful for her conduct towards her father, whom Postmedia is not identifying because of the embarrassing nature of the facts of the case.

“What that shows me is Ms. Picard does sincerely recognize what has happened here,” the judge said of her willingness to complete community service.

“What I interpret from that is Ms. Picard’s willingness to give back to the community.”

Picard pleaded guilty in January to charges of assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life to her 77-year-old father.

Court heard caregivers found the elderly Calgary man on the basement floor of his daughter’s southeast home wearing a soiled adult diaper.

At the time, Picard was responsible for her father’s day-to-day care after he was moved to her residence, Spaner, reading from a statement of agreed facts, told court at the time.

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“He had a number of medical ailments, including non-insulin dependent diabetes, coronary artery disease, some early onset dementia-like symptoms and chronic alcoholism,” Spaner said.

“(He) had been living independently in a Calgary apartment building. Family members became concerned that he was not caring for himself safely.”

With the help of Alberta Health Services he was moved to a home where Picard resided.

A registered nurse assigned to his care attended the 38 Street S.E. home on Nov. 15, 2021, to drop off food bank supplies for him and was told he was sleeping downstairs.

When the nurse called about an hour and a half later and spoke to the man on the phone he said he was lying on the floor, had fallen and was unable to get up.

When she returned to the home with a co-worker she found the victim lying on his back on the floor.

“(He) said that he had been lying on the floor for two days,” Spaner said.

Leochko said Picard was overwhelmed by the situation she was thrust into.

“It really was more than she could handle,” he said.

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