Valve’s Steam Deck “Verified” program is pretty great, but extremely specific to… well, the Steam Deck. But now that SteamOS is expanding into other non-Steam Deck devices, we’re going to need something a little more general to tell if a Steam game will work on a particular device. Enter the SteamOS Compatibility system, a rating that will be similar but separate to the Steam Deck Verified status. According to Valve’s announcement post, a game needs to pass a pretty low bar to be marked as “SteamOS Compatible” on the store. Basically, it needs to boot up on SteamOS (either by offering a Linux version of the game or just running in the Proton compatibility layer) and not have any middleware that breaks in the Linux-based OS. “Middleware” means any of the extra software that a game relies upon to boot up, run, and get you your primary experience—some elements like the anti-cheat in popular multiplayer games might be a stumbling block here. Valve In short, if you can get the game working without any massive or insurmountable hurdles, it’s SteamOS Compatible. Valve might mark the game with a couple of warning flags, like requiring an active internet connection for first-time setup or needing a mouse/touchscreen for the game’s separate launcher program. (By the way, if you sell a game on Steam and it needs a separate launcher, everyone hates you.) But those things won’t preclude a game from the SteamOS Compatible badge. At the time of writing, only the Legion Go S Powered by SteamOS (yep, that’s its full and terrible name) is officially part of the program, and it doesn’t launch until later this month. But there are reportedly more SteamOS-powered handhelds on the way, and I get the feeling that this compatibility badge will be helpful for others as well, like those rolling their own SteamOS hardware with projects like Bazzite. Read...

A report highlights out-of-date systems and failure to advise passengers about disruptions Read...

AT needs to focus more on passengers’ experiences, an Auditor-General report says Read...

Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins oversaw a process where Afghan special forces were prevented from settling in the UK. Read...

Recording during a remote meeting is sometimes necessary, sometimes less than ideal. But if you specifically want to prevent someone else from taking screenshots or recording video, you don’t have a lot of options. Teams will give you that option soon, according to a recent roadmap for Microsoft’s meeting tool. “Prevent Screen Capture” is what Microsoft is calling the feature, added to the roadmap last week and currently slated for a July 2025 rollout. According to the post (spotted by BleepingComputer), it’ll let meeting organizers use a Prevent Screen Capture toggle in the Enhanced Meeting Protection tool to turn the screen black if you try to take a screenshot, on either desktop or mobile. If you join in from an unsupported platform with this feature enabled, you won’t have access to video. It’s a bit of a niche use case. I mean, when you’re sharing a PowerPoint slide or something similar with people, you generally want them to retain the information. But for info that’s secret or otherwise under wraps, I can see how this would be useful. The feature is marked for general availability and worldwide release, so with any luck you should see the Prevent Screen Capture option in Teams sometime in 2025 at the latest. Read...

On July 1, New Zealand launches its Depositor Compensation Scheme (DCS), a transformative policy aimed at protecting savers and rebalancing the financial sector Read...

The Attorney-General has challenged a decision allowing all three parents to be named. Read...

Microsoft has been bringing a number of new features to the Outlook email app lately. Just the other day, the tech giant announced that you’ll soon be able to switch freely between the new and classic Outlook apps, and now they’ve announced that soon you won’t need to be connected to the internet to manage your Outlook calendar. In the roadmap of upcoming Microsoft 365 features, there’s an entry for “Outlook: Offline Support for Calendar” that mentions “you’ll be able to create, edit, and delete events in your calendar when not connected to the internet.” The rollout is expected to start in June 2025 and will be for all users with general availability. However, this offline calendar support only seems to apply to the new Outlook app. If you want to keep using classic Outlook, note that you’ll still have to be always online to manage your calendar. Further reading: Useful tips for the new Outlook app Read...

Tired of complex image or video editing software? Need to produce quality image and video content at scale quickly? Frustrated by switching between multiple platforms? If any of this is true, then you may need Pollo AI! In this guide, you will learn how to create stunning AI-generated images and videos in one place using Pollo AI. You will also learn about its features, benefits, and more. Keep reading! Overview of Pollo AI Pollo AI is an all-in-one AI image and video generation platform that lets users create stunningly realistic content via simple text prompts or reference images. While most traditional AI generators function on single models, Pollo AI is a multifaceted tool. Aside from its proprietary model, Pollo 1.5, it’s integrated with several industry-leading platforms. For images, you can use models like GPT-4o, FLUX, Imagen, Recraft, and Dall-E. For videos, options include Kling AI, Hailuo, Runway, Pixverse, and Luma AI. This ecosystem makes Pollo AI incredibly versatile, catering to content creators, filmmakers, marketers, educators, and hobbyists alike. What makes Pollo AI stand out in AI video generation? Text to video & image to video Using descriptive text prompts, you can bring any imaginative concept to life. Powered by advanced algorithms and trained on vast visual datasets, Pollo AI can understand context and semantics to craft a tailored video that matches your instructions accurately. Pollo AI also lets users upload any static image and transform it into a realistic visual scene that looks and feels like real footage. This can open up new creative possibilities for your video content workflow, while also saving you a lot of time in the process. Video to video Ever wanted to restyle an existing video without needing professional video editing skills? Pollo AI’s video-to-video generator lets you convert any video to create new iterations across a wide range of visual styles in high resolution quality. Some of these styles include Anime, Pixar, Claymation, and several others. Best of all, Pollo AI does well to ensure every single movement is preserved in the new version. Plus, the tool even lets you choose between restyling just the subject or the whole video. Numerous AI video models Besides its flagship Pollo 1.5 AI video model, the platform comes integrated with several other industry-leading AI video models. This means you can generate multiple videos using different APIs to produce unique and varying outputs, all in one place. You can choose from Runway, Kling AI, Pixverse AI, Hailuo AI, Luma AI, and more. So, whether you prefer better motion dynamics, higher video quality, or even detailed visuals, there is an AI video model for every need. Unique AI video tools/effects With Pollo AI, you can edit your existing videos in just a few simple clicks to enhance or transform the output. Some of the AI video tools that are available on the platform include Video Upscaler, Lip Sync AI, and more. You can also access the AI video effects library to transform your uploads into entertaining novel videos. Some of the unique effects you can use include AI kissing. How to create AI videos with Pollo AI Step 1. Enter your prompt or upload an image: For text-to-video, type a descriptive prompt (e.g., “A red-haired girl walking through a field of flowers on a windy day”). Pollo AI For image-to-video, upload a static image to transform into a video. You can also enter a prompt to guide the generation. Pollo AI Step 2. Select an AI video model: Pick from models like Pollo 1.5, Kling AI, Runway, or Luma AI to match your desired style or quality. Step 3. Customize and generate: Adjust settings like resolution or style if needed, then hit “Create.” Wait a few minutes for your video to generate. Step 4. Download or share: Once satisfied, download your video or share it directly from the platform. What makes Pollo AI stand out in AI image generation? All-in-one AI image generator Pollo AI offers access to several top-class AI image generation models, all in one place. Naturally, this helps diversify your image creation experience by allowing you to experiment with various options and create the perfect output. You can choose between Recraft, Stable Diffusion, FLUX, Dall-E, GPT-4o, and more. Each of these AI models has a unique approach to image generation, so you can pick the one that best suits your needs, be it for cost-effectiveness, photorealism, general art, etc. Image-to-image generation With Pollo AI, you can convert any existing images and restyle them in new ways. Just upload the original image, and using the text prompt box, feel free to alter various aspects like color, art style, character expressions, etc. You won’t even need any advanced editing skills to get professional-grade results. For instance, you can direct the AI model to generate images in popular art styles like Ghibli, anime, surrealistic, isometric, abstract, fantasy, and so much more. Extensive AI image tools/effects Editing existing images has never been easier than with Pollo AI. The platform has numerous AI image tools that can be used to improve the quality of your photos. Some of these include an AI Image Enhancer, AI Art Generator, and so much more. You can also transform existing images into all sorts of unique and novel styles using various tools like an AI Polaroid Maker, Ghibli AI Generator, etc. With these AI tools, Pollo AI can help take your image editing to a whole new level. How to create AI images with Pollo AI Step 1. Enter your prompt or upload an image: For text-to-image, type a prompt (e.g., “Full stadium, daytime, with a large grassy field in the center”). For image-to-image, upload a photo to restyle. Step 2. Choose an AI image model: Pick from models like GPT-4o, FLUX, Recraft, Stable Diffusion, or Dall-E to suit your desired style or quality. Step 3. Customize and generate: Adjust settings like aspect ratio or style—options include Ghibli, Realism, Pixel Art, Anime, and more. Then, hit “Create.” Your image will be ready in seconds. Pollo AI Step 4. Download or share: Once you’re happy with the result, download your image or share it directly from Pollo AI. Conclusion Pollo AI is a powerful visual content generation AI solution that does well to mix simplicity with convenience. Having all these AI models in one place ensures that it can optimize any image or video creation task, with the platform delivering undeniably satisfying results. Read...

In its latest attempt to oust Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata`afa, Samoa`s FAST Party is taking legal action to try and secure an early general election. Read...