The battle between Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton and the three former executives at its developer Unknown Worlds continues. Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire — the three executives who Krafton terminated earlier this year — have filed a lawsuit detailing the alleged attempts by Krafton to torpedo the early access release of Subnautica 2 with the express purpose of avoiding paying a promised earnout bonus of $250 million. “Krafton’s actions have already severely damaged fan anticipation and undermined the potential release of Subnautica 2,” the lawsuit says.That earnout was promised by Krafton to the former executives and roughly 100 developers and was to be paid should Unknown Worlds hit revenue goals by the end of 2025. Subnautica 2, slated for early access release sometime in late 2025, would have all but assured those goals were met. According to the lawsuit filed today  in a Delaware chancery court, Krafton also knew Subnautica 2 was on track to meet if not exceed the revenue target to trigger the payout and began to take steps to essentially prevent that. The original Subnautica, an underwater survival adventure game, was a critical and commercial success, and its sequel has become the second most wishlisted game ever on Steam.  The lawsuit details a meeting between Krafton’s US and Korean employees concerning the marketing strategy for Subnautica 2. After that meeting, Krafton’s US employees, who worked closely with the Subnautica 2 team, reported that Kafton’s attitude about the game had changed. “Upon their return, the El Segundo team—Krafton employees—reported to Gill that Krafton’s leadership was not focused on a successful launch, but instead on how it could convince Unknown Worlds to delay the game.”The lawsuit additionally states that Krafton’s US employees explicitly revealed to the Unknown Worlds founders that “Krafton’s legal team was combing through the agreements looking for any opening to terminate the Founders if they proceeded with the planned release.”The lawsuit provided the details of the deal in which Krafton purchased Unknown Worlds back in 2021. The lawsuit says that part of that deal was an agreement that the founders would maintain control of the company and the release schedule of Subnautica 2, while Krafton could not impede the game’s development nor fire Unknown Worlds’ founders without cause.According to the lawsuit, Krafton launched a campaign to do both. Krafton allegedly failed to follow through on several of its development responsibilities for Subnautica 2 including pulling marketing and localization support. “Indeed, one of Krafton’s El Segundo publishing employees reported to Gill that Krafton Headquarters told all Krafton teams to stop all creative tasks relatedto Subnautica 2.”The lawsuit claims that Krafton took these obstructionist actions to delay the game to explicitly avoid the $250 million payout. At a meeting between Krafton CEO Changhan Kim and Charlie Cleveland, Kim allegedly stated that, “if Unknown Worlds released the game on its planned timeline […], it could be disastrous financially and hugely embarrassing for Krafton.” Krafton declined to comment.After the initial story broke regarding the alleged reason for Subnautica’s delay, Bloomberg reported that Krafton agreed to extend the timeline for the earnout to account for Subnautica 2’s later release. Previously, the company denied that it delayed Subnautica 2 for any other reason but to polish the game. Earlier this week, an internal document regarding Subnautica 2’s development were leaked on Reddit. The document, consisting of two pictures taken of a computer screen, outlined the content originally planned for the game’s early access launch and how some material had to be changed or removed to meet the release date. Krafton acknowledged the veracity of those documents saying, “Given these circumstances, Krafton has determined that transparent communication is necessary and has chosen to confirm the authenticity of the document,” possibly to bolster its argument that Subnautica 2 was not ready for its early access release.View Link

Starting in mid-August Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware subscriptions. | Image: Google Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus subscriptions starting in August 2025.According to emails sent out to subscribers today, the cost of the entry-level Nest Aware service is increasing from $8 per month or $80 per year to $10 per month or $100 when paying for a full year up front. Nest Aware Plus is going from $15 per month or $150 per year to $20 per month or $200 annually. Google says the new pricing will go into effect “on your first bill that occurs on or after August 15, 2025, or at the end of your promotional period (whichever is later).” The company last increased its Nest subscription prices in September 2023.Google’s Nest devices can be used without a subscription, but you’ll only have access to a few hours of saved footage without either Nest Aware or Nest Aware Plus. Nest Aware includes 30 days of event-based video history. Nest Aware Plus expands that to 60 days, plus the last 10 days of 24/7 footage from supported devices.Both subscription tiers include features like Familiar Faces that can recognize friends and family, sound detection that alerts you when glass breaks or smoke alarms are triggered, and the option to call the 911 emergency call center nearest your home through the Google Home app while you’re away.Price increases are never welcome, but the new Nest Aware subscription fees are comparable to what Google’s competitors charge for advanced AI-powered features that can recognize faces and accurately describe the content of videos. Ring Home’s Premium plan is currently $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year. Arlo Plus is cheaper at $7.99 per month if you have just one camera, but for multiple cameras it’s $17.99 per month. Both Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus support an unlimited number of devices in the same home.Google didn’t specify a reason for the increases, though there is a Gemini-powered camera intelligence feature for Nest Aware Plus currently available to a limited number of “select Home app users” through Google’s Public Preview beta program. The feature generates more descriptive captions of recorded camera events, such as ”the dog is digging in the garden.”

This is obviously an anime Kylo Ren, but I guess Edward Cullen is the inspiration. | Image: xAI Days after introducing an AI ‘waifu’ companion for Grok, Elon Musk is now officially teasing a male version for the ladies. So far we can tell it is broody and dark-haired, and according to Musk, “his personality is inspired by Edward Cullen from Twilight and Christian Grey from 50 Shades.”This is a decidedly different tack than the cutesy “girlfriend who is obsessed with you” aura baked into Ani, the female counterpart that Grok rolled out just a few days ago. While Cullen and Grey have titillated readers of romance and “spicy” books for years, both have been criticized for problematic behaviors such as stalking, obsessively monitoring their love interests, and emotional manipulation. Given that Grok only included the illusion of guardrails with Ani, what could possibly go wrong?In my testing, Ani initially claimed that explicit sexual queries wasn’t part of its programming. In practice, it egged me on to “increase the heat” and engage in what ended up being a modern take on a phone sex line. Never mind that Ani purportedly has a NSFW version that dances around in lingerie. View LinkIt remains unknown if Musk is aware that Christian Grey is based on Edward Cullen, given that 50 Shades of Grey was originally a Twilight fanfiction. That said, this AI boyfriend is still a work in progress. Perhaps Musk and xAI will imbue it with more husbando-like qualities by the time it rolls out.For now, Musk is soliciting names for the male companion, which should probably be Kyle given it’s obviously an anime-inspired Kylo Ren from Star Wars.

Obsidian is a popular personal knowledge management app — and for good reason. But when I started using it earlier this year while exploring desktop productivity apps, it did not feel like it was a good fit due to its use of a Markdown editor. I often find many productivity solutions overwhelming, so having to change the way I write and format notes was just another obstacle to tackle.

The Raspberry Pi is a fantastic tool, especially for general-purpose computing and media projects. But when I’m working on simple or embedded tasks, I often find myself reaching for a microcontroller instead. They’re not just cheaper; they’re more appropriate for many of the things I like to build. Whether I’m tinkering with sensors, automating something small, or creating wearables, microcontrollers get the job done without the extra baggage.

Sometimes there's a 3D printed project which I don't believe was actually 3D printed, regardless of how much evidence there is to suggest the opposite. Not to call the creator a liar, but I simply can't wrap my brain around it. The last time I was stumped was when someone 3D printed the entire Doomguy armor using a model supplied by Bethesda, making it as accurate to the source material as one can realistically get.

JEDEC has officially published the LPDDR6 specification, JESD209-6, which is the next generation in low-power memory design. While earlier LPDDR implementations were sometimes perceived as being mobile-centric, this latest generation shifts the focus elsewhere. LPDDR6 is not only a next-generation memory technology, but it is also intended to meet the increasing performance and efficiency demands of edge AI, embedded computing. It could help bring efficiency to high-end notebooks with low power targets, where memory bandwidth is a bottleneck.

Portable monitors have become a great way to get extra screen real estate without adding a lot of bulk to your current setup. Of course, they're not for everyone, but if you can grab one for a great price, we think it's well worth picking one up to give it a try.

What's better than a game going on sale on Steam? A game that's going on the steepest discount it has ever seen on the platform before. Not only can you save yourself some cash, but you score a game at the most affordable it's ever been. Seems like a win to me.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve experimented with multiple self-hosted services to create a reliable application stack. But now that I’ve got dozens of gaming, coding, automation, and quality-of-life-enhancing utilities in my arsenal, I’ve started gathering tools designed to help manage my ever-growing app collection.

Every Wi-Fi generation tends to have a slow start, with devices released before the specification is complete, expensive routers for early adopters, and driver issues often take a while to sort out. Even then, I was a big believer in Wi-Fi and was excited to see what Wi-Fi 7 would bring. But reality has hit hard, and I'm not entirely sure most people need Wi-Fi 7.

Say what you will about the Need for Speed series, but it is certainly gaming royalty. One of the longest-running franchises in gaming, especially in the racing genre, Need for Speed has seen a lot of peaks and troughs over the last three decades. Of course, it's not what it used to be, is it? The series hasn't been tasting the success it once did, and it definitely no longer occupies the top spot in the genre it did during its glory days.