Shona Boy

Super Heroes

[Mirelo @MireloAI]

Today, together with @kyutai_labs, we’re introducing our new Audio-to-MIDI model.

It takes a finished recording, identifies the instruments playing, and returns separate MIDI tracks for each — voice, drums, bass, keys, and more.

Unlike most existing solutions, our model works directly from the full mix rather than requiring separate stems.

It also detects chords, key, and tempo, giving producers broader musical context.

We’ve written more about the model, the problem, and how it works here: https://t.co/GvzH7hLjlg

[Financial Times @FT]

Breaking news: Apple claimed that OpenAI used former and current Apple employees to steal hardware designs as the ChatGPT maker prepares to launch its own AI-focused devices. https://t.co/YrvxVtX3B0

[Shona Boy @mr_supremo]

@thsottiaux Is Sol low equivalent to 5.5 medium?

[ClaudeDevs @ClaudeDevs]

We've reset 5-hour and weekly rate limits for all users.

[Ruvarashe 🌻 @beloved_ruva]

When I visited Zimbabwe recently, I happened to look through the Form 1 Science textbook currently being used in government schools because my nephew needed help with a project.

I was surprised to find that much of the content was comparable to what pupils in Grade 3 are learning in Japanese science classes.

If you’ve ever looked through the textbooks many of these children are using, you’d better understand why they communicate and reason the way they do.

I’m not even sure who the current Minister of Education is, but having worked as a STEM educator in the Chinese, Thai, and Japanese education systems, I can confidently say that Zimbabwe’s education system has fallen alarmingly behind.

I recently told someone that if I were given the chance, I would gladly work for free part time in that department, spending my time updating and modernizing the information in our school textbooks.

Because right now pakaipa.

[Shona Boy @mr_supremo]

@matigary Because of history and planning rules, UK houses mostly follow traditional styles, they're not designed to flex. Building a house to flex is lowbrow stuff. In Zim you can build anything, which is why you get sub-standard houses popping up in affluent areas.

[Shona Boy @mr_supremo]

@justmamoyo @daddyhope Why didnt you report them to child welfare?

[Claude @claudeai]

We're extending access to Claude Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12.

[Larry Madowo @LarryMadowo]

I haven't stopped thinking about a brilliant little girl named Faith that I met outside the Malawian consulate in Joburg.

She was born in South Africa but her whole family is undocumented. Her dad - a gardener - said they were kicked out of their house and he lost his job

[Chahat Sharma @Chahatusharma]

🧐Just a reminder: July 13 is coming up soon, and that’s when the 50% higher Claude Code weekly limits will end.

[Yann LeCun @ylecun]

@ZhugeEX The *median* wealth of a French is almost *twice* the median wealth of an American.
So much for the "Europoor" meme.

The *average* American wealth is high because a tiny number of Americans are absurdly rich. But most Americans get screwed.

[Pietro Schirano @skirano]

Fable is extremely good at writing original NES games in assembly.

Here it designed an original game graphics, soundtrack, everything from scratch, and it'd actually run within the constraints of a real cartridge. Wild.

[ASHA @asha_shar]

This is an important email I sent today to all employees at XBOX:

Team,

We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I've made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave XBOX to new management. I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day, and I wanted to be direct about the scale.

I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX. Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today's decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.

Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3–10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX.

First, we will reset our content portfolio.

Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined. We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio. We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested. As we reset XBOX, we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.

Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3. In France, Arkane’s management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options.

We are also making reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects. These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions.

In addition, Mojang and King will now report directly to me. These two studios have increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players. They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to XBOX.

Second, we will reset our platform.

We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger. Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify.

We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes. And we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend.

Third, we are resetting how we operate.

As XBOX grew our headcount, we became more fragmented. Teams, studios, and functions often operate independently, and it became harder to work towards a shared goal, make the right tradeoffs, and get things done.

For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Helen Chiang has been promoted to this role and will report directly to me. Over nearly two decades at XBOX, Helen has helped build some of our most important businesses, from XBOX Live to leading Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results.

Thank you, Dave McCarthy, who is retiring after 17 years with XBOX. Dave has played a defining role in building the platform that millions of players rely on every day and has been a trusted partner through many of the biggest moments in XBOX's history. We wish him all the best.

These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one. The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we've seen before. This year, we'll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates.

I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect. I know we can achieve this goal. XBOX has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world, and we will return to growth in 2027.

History is full of companies that mistake longevity for inevitability. We will not be one of them.

Asha

[Nintendo UK @NintendoUK]

Starting this summer, to prepare for upcoming changes in European battery regulations, selected Nintendo products in Europe will begin to be replaced on a rolling basis by revisions containing a user-replaceable battery.

See more: https://t.co/YTAkwOsIR0

[Bloomberg @business]

Nigeria accused the South African authorities of criminal liability in the death of three of its citizens, warning that it will mobilize regional and international action to ensure those responsible for violence against foreigners are held to account https://t.co/7QCINlJJr2

[Nuel @LfcNuel]

🚨🗣️ José Mourinho on the refereeing in Argentina's 3-2 victory over Cape Verde:

"We are watching a script, not a football match. Cape Verde did not just play against eleven men from Argentina tonight, they played against the referee, they played against the system, and they played against the entire agenda of the tournament.

When you are a small nation, you have to be perfect to win. But when you are Argentina, you are allowed to make mistakes because the whistle will always save you. Every 50/50 challenge went one way. Every time Cape Verde built momentum, there was a convenient foul given. A 111th-minute own goal? The pressure was artificially created. It breaks my heart for Cape Verde because they were absolute warriors, but in modern football, being a warrior is not enough when the result has already been decided in an office."

[Shona Boy @mr_supremo]

@Genki_JPN Is this why they sell physical game-key cards?

[Lainey @miss_laineyxx]

I mean Mara should have seen the signs when Simba told her that ‘this didn’t feel right’ at Casa the night before the recoupling. Not exactly what she expected after that. #LoveIsland

[Geoff Keighley @geoffkeighley]

PlayStation will stop producing discs in January 2028, moving to digital only.