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Where does virtual reality go next? Right now, there seem to be two paths: Portable and self-contained headsets or those connected to computers and consoles. Valve is clearly betting on the second way with the Index, its first VR hardware. It crams in just about every feature you’d expect from a high-end headset, including some truly transformative finger-sensing controllers. It’s just too bad the entire Index package costs $999, putting it out of reach for most people. It’s a boundary-pushing headset meant to keep the VR industry from getting stale.

A post shared by Engadget (@engadget) on Jun 28, 2019 at 10:31am PDT

1. Xbox is reportedly closing Ninja Theory, Double Fine and Compulsion Games

   Some well-known first-party Xbox studios are reportedly at risk of being closed down.

2. Google Earth's flight simulator mode is now available in your browser

   Up, up and away! (Just try not to crash.)

3. Samsung expands its Galaxy Book 6 lineup with a Snapdragon X2 Elite-powered model

   The Galaxy Book 6 Edge comes with 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM, and it costs $2,100.

4. Investigation by The Atlantic reveals many millions of songs used for AI music training

   Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and many, many more artists have had their work fed into AI models.

5. Anthropic hit with lawsuit over its Claude Max usage limits

   Anthropic is being sued over Claude Max usage limits

6. What's the difference between Dolby Cinema and IMAX?

   It all comes down to big sound and big pictures.

7. xAI's lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets has been thrown out

   A federal judge decided to dismiss an xAI lawsuit against OpenAI with prejudice.

8. Facebook's new AI tools offer more of the same, with photo-editing and question-answering capabilities

   Don't worry, there's yet another chatbot you can ask for restaurant recommendations.

9. Open-source Discord alternatives: What Stoat and Element actually fix

   Hosting your own group chat could let you avoid a lot of drama.

10. Xbox Game Studios chief reportedly steps down as layoffs loom

    Things continue to look grim for Xbox as layoffs loom and Craig Duncan steps down.