Someone made a CAPTCHA where you play Doom on Nightmare difficulty

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly?) this is not the first Doom CAPTCHA.

People have been complaining for a while that passing a CAPTCHA is too difficult, but developer and tech CEO Guillermo Rauch has made one of the hardest yet: a fully playable CAPTCHA based on the classic PC game Doom.

It's been a long-running joke that developers will make Doom run on absolutely anything, so it's not much of a surprise that it's now running inside something that resembles a CAPTCHA.

The app essentially amounts to a small Doom level that is playable with keyboard controls (arrow keys to move, space bar to shoot) within a CAPTCHA-like presentation. You must kill three enemies to pass the test.

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USB-C gets a bit more universal as the EU’s mandate goes into effect

Apple has already pulled devices to comply with the Common Charger Directive.

"It's time for THE charger," the European Commission posted to X on December 28, 2024. While the sentiment only applies to one continent (and not all of it) and only certain devices, the Common Charger Directive now in effect in the European Union suggests that far fewer gadgets will foist barrels, USB-micro, or proprietary plugs onto their owners.

The Common Charger Directive demands that a "USB-C receptacle" be equipped on "radio equipment" that is "equipped with a removable or embedded rechargeable battery" and "can be recharged via wired charging." If it has a battery and can be powered by up to 100 watts through a USB-C connection, it's generally subject to the EU's USB-C requirements. The directive applies to devices "placed on the market"—sent to a distributor or buyer—after December 28, even if they were initially designed and sold before that date.

Laptops get until April 2026 to comply, but most other things—phones, tablets, handheld gaming devices, computer accessories, and wireless headphones—will have to be powered by USB-C to be sold inside the EU from now on. Drones, for the time being, are largely unaddressed by the directive, but the EU will likely get around to them.

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Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M

Apple users may get $20 each for up to five Siri-enabled devices.

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its voice assistant Siri routinely recorded private conversations that were then sold to third parties for targeted ads.

In the proposed class-action settlement—which comes after five years of litigation—Apple admitted to no wrongdoing. Instead, the settlement refers to "unintentional" Siri activations that occurred after the "Hey, Siri" feature was introduced in 2014, where recordings were apparently prompted without users ever saying the trigger words, "Hey, Siri."

Sometimes Siri would be inadvertently activated, a whistleblower told The Guardian, when an Apple Watch was raised and speech was detected. The only clue that users seemingly had of Siri's alleged spying was eerily accurate targeted ads that appeared after they had just been talking about specific items like Air Jordans or brands like Olive Garden, Reuters noted.

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It’s January, which means another batch of copyrighted work is now public domain

More Mickey Mouse versions, early talkies, and classic novels all go public.

It's January, and for people in the US, that means the same thing it's meant every January since 2019: a new batch of previously copyrighted works have entered the public domain. People can publish, modify, and adapt these works and their characters without needing to clear rights or pay royalties.

This year's introductions cover books, plays, movies, art, and musical compositions from 1929, plus sound recordings from 1924. Most works released from 1923 onward are protected for 95 years after their release under the terms of 1998's Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. This law prevented new works from entering the public domain for two decades.

As it does every year, the Duke University Center for the Study of the Public Domain has a rundown of the most significant works entering the public domain this year.

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LattePanda Mu computer module now available with up to Intel Core i3-N3

The LattePanda Mu is a tiny computer-on-a-module that combines and Intel Alder Lake-0N processor with memory, storage, and I/O capabilities onto a package that measures just 60 x 69.6mm (about 2.36″ x 2.74″). When LattePanda first launched …

The LattePanda Mu is a tiny computer-on-a-module that combines and Intel Alder Lake-0N processor with memory, storage, and I/O capabilities onto a package that measures just 60 x 69.6mm (about 2.36″ x 2.74″). When LattePanda first launched the module in 2024 it was only available with an Intel N100 quad-core processor. Now the company has introduced a […]

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Samsung is the next company to try to popularize 3D displays (again)

A new year, a new attempt at 3D displays.

Samsung is starting 2025 with a fresh attempt at popularizing 3D displays. Announced today, Samsung’s Odyssey 3D is the follow-up to prototypes that Samsung demoed at last year's CES technology trade show. This year, Samsung is showing off a final product, which is supposed to make 2D content look 3D.

Those who have dealt with 3D glasses may be relieved to hear that the Odyssey 3D doesn't require them. According to the South Korean company’s announcement, the monitor's use of a lenticular lens that is “attached to the front of the panel and its front stereo camera" means that you don't have to wear glasses to access the monitor's “customizable 3D experience.” Lenticular lenses direct different images to each eye to make images look three-dimensional. This is a notable advancement from the first 3D monitor that Samsung released in 2009. That display used Nvidia software and Nvidia shutter glasses to allow users to toggle between a 2D view and a 3D view through a few button presses and supported content.

Another advancement is the Odyssey 3D's claimed ability to use artificial intelligence “to analyze and convert 2D video into 3D.” We’ve recently seen similar technology from brands like Acer, which announced portable monitors in 2022 and then announced laptops that could convert 2D content into stereoscopic 3D in 2023. Those displays also relied on AI, as well as a specialized optical lens and a pair of eye-tracking cameras, to create the effect. But unlike Acer's portable monitors, Samsung claims that its monitor can make 2D content look like 3D even if that content doesn’t officially support 3D.

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MeLE PCG02 fanless PC stick now available with Intel N100 for $150 and up

The MeLE PCG02 is a small fanless computer that’s designed to plug directly into the HDMI port of a TV or monitor, effectively turning any screen into a fully functional computer. MeLE has been selling versions of this pocket-sized computer since…

The MeLE PCG02 is a small fanless computer that’s designed to plug directly into the HDMI port of a TV or monitor, effectively turning any screen into a fully functional computer. MeLE has been selling versions of this pocket-sized computer since 2015, but the last major update came in 2020 when the company introduced a model […]

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Meet Squid Game S3’s new killer doll

After getting 68 million views in first three days, Squid Game‘s third season is already being teased.

Squid Game's hotly anticipated second season debuted on Netflix the day after Christmas and racked up more than 68 million views in just three days. It had already been renewed for a third and final season—filmed back-to-back with S2—but Netflix ushered in the new year by gracing us with a 15-second teaser on X, introducing a brand new killer doll dubbed Chul-su—similar to the giant "Red Light, Green Light" doll Young-hee.

(Spoilers for S1 below; some spoilers for S2 but no major reveals.)

As previously reported, the first season followed Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae, seen earlier this year in The Acolyte), a down-on-his-luck gambler who has little left to lose when he agrees to play children's playground games against 455 other players for money. The twist? If you lose a game, you die. If you cheat, you die. And if you win, you might also die.

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How NASCAR and its teams are embracing 3D printing

Both teams and the sport’s organizer are using additive manufacturing for parts.

Carbon fiber, aluminum, maybe the odd bit of titanium here or there: These are the materials we usually expect race cars to be made of. Now you can start adding thermoplastics like Ultem to the list. Additive manufacturing has become a real asset in the racer’s toolbox, although the technology has actually been used at the track longer than you might think.

"Some people think that 3D printing was invented last year," said Fadi Abro, senior global director of automotive and mobility at Stratasys. The company recently became NASCAR's official 3D printing partner, but it has a relationship with one of the teams—Joe Gibbs Racing—that stretches back two decades.

"Now the teams only have certain things that they can touch in the vehicle, but what that does is it makes it so that every microscopic advantage you can get out of that one tiny detail that you have control over is so meaningful to your team," Abro said.

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