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How it started
Microsoft closed out Summer Game Fest with a bang. The company’s annual June showcase was packed with crowd-pleasers: Halo, Gears of War, Fable, a translucent Xbox, and even some pleasant surprises like new Persona and Crazy Taxi games. It was the kind of event that harkened back to the boisterous days of E3, when the industry was in a healthier place an …
Read the full story at The Verge.

Record temperatures are already being recorded around the world, from the streets of New York to the icy shelves of the Antarctic. Even the surface waters of the world’s waterways are under unprecedented stress from the heat, with the average global ocean temperature breaking the all-time record high for the month of June.

The human impact, as predicted, is already staggering. While the heat waves currently baking North America, South Asia, South America and Africa are sure to have their fair share of tragedy, early reporting on weather-related fatalities across Europe makes it clear that these are no ordinary summer conditions.

According to El Pais, June heat has culminated in over 1,000 excess deaths in Spain, 623 of which came as a direct result of Europe’s June heatwave.

In France, where temperatures are eclipsing worst-case forecasts set for the year 2050, a further 1,000 or more deaths have been attributed to extreme heat.

Both tragedies are a terrifying sign of things to come, as the current El Niño phase, a warm period of a 2-7 year climate cycle, is literally just beginning. In 2022, the most recent banner year for European heat waves, there were over 61,000 heat-related deaths across the continent — and it wasn’t even an El Niño year.

Given El Niño’s amplifying affect on European heat, to say nothing of its impact on the rest of the world, it’s likely that number could be a whole lot worse by the time the Autumnal equinox comes around.

More on extreme heat: All But Five US States Are Currently Experiencing Droughts
The post El Niño Already Killing Thousands in Europe appeared first on Futurism.

No one knows this better than the Marjorie and Billy Finn, a married couple who live right in front of the sprawling complex. The constant hum is like a jet engine, Billy Finn told MLive. Using his own decibel meter in a video taken by the newspaper, he measures the noise levels from his porch, which hover around 60 decibels. That’s roughly the equivalent of a noisy dishwasher, except that sound is a constant presence everywhere outside.

“It’s like we’re living in a prison in our own yard, in our own house,” Marjorie Finn told the outlet, adding that she can even hear the hum while she tries to sleep at night.

@ayathetigress Hyperscale Data Inc. recently announced they plan a substantial expansion of the facility. Multiple residents have sued over the sound emissions. #kalamazoo #dowagiac #michigan #datacenters ♬ original sound – Aya

Two other residents are suing the data center, Hyperscale Data, saying that their homes are being “physically invaded” by the “excessive noise” from its facility, MLive reported. (The Finns were approached to join the lawsuit but declined.) It doesn’t matter if you close the windows or turn up the TV — you’ll hear its constant screeching anyway, the suit alleges.

It also accuses Hyperscale Data of failing to implement adequate soundproofing measures, like the concrete walls that surround highways in residential areas.

According to Billy Finn, the noise is actually getting louder. He’s been tracking the decibel levels on Louise Avenue since 2022, when Hyperscale Data began operating. Back then, the sound level was around 52 decibels. Today, they’re typically around 61 decibels, and sometimes go as high as 78 decibels, he told the paper.

Inside his house, it goes down to 39 decibels, which is about the level of a quiet office or library, according to the American Academy of Audiology. But it jumps to 62 decibels when he opens the door, sounding a bit like a passenger jet taxiing on the runway in the distance.

“It’s [like] a constant major city street where you have a lot of vehicle traffic,” Billy Finn said.

Noise pollution isn’t an uncommon complaint about data centers. The Nashville Zoo in Tennessee warned that the construction of a nearby data center could harm the animals living in captivity. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute claims that they emit at ultra-low frequencies that can possibly induce a range of symptoms over time such as anxiety, nausea, though the science on this is iffy.

Sixty-two decibels won’t damage the ears, but over time it can spike your stress levels and has even been linked with cardiac problems, according to Kim Kragt, lead audiologist for Bronson Hospital.

“Even at a lower level, if it wasn’t doing damage to your ears, it is damaging your overall health and well-being,” Kragt told the newspaper, adding that because the data center’s hum is “unnatural,” it might be harder to adjust to.

The Finns feel trapped. They say fewer friends and family visit because of the noise, and they’re worried that it’s also driven down the value of their home.

“They’ve stolen something from us,” Marjorie said. “It feels like an immense loss.”

More on data centers: Massive Data Center Cooks Nearby Residents Alive Amidst Deadly Heatwave
The post Data Center Emits Constant Screeching Noise Directly Into Man’s House appeared first on Futurism.

At the Microsoft AI Tour Tel Aviv 2026, Calcalist reports, Epstein bragged that his company is blazing new territory by churning out World Cup-themed AI slop for sports broadcasters all around the world.

“With AI, you can create much more personalized, local sports content, where everyone can see only what they want, when they want, where they want,” the VP boasted, referring to the firm’s handling of live- and post-game video content.

Epstein was particularly proud of his work with Kan 11, an Israeli-state owned broadcaster which partnered with WSC to provide AI-generated material centered around the World Cup in North America.

“We have a partnership with Kan 11 in which we create content for everyone who watches World Cup coverage,” Epstein explained, per Calcalist. “Everyone who watches sports content in Israel also receives stories through us that are updated live during the game, as well as summaries of the matches. All the World Cup content you watch comes from WSC Sports.”

Asked by panelists whether WSC’s sports content is “produced automatically, without human input,” editing, or “studio production,” Epstein said: yep!

“AI analyzes the game in real time, identifies what is interesting, and produces all kinds of content for digital, television, and every platform,” he boasted.

“In the last two years, we’ve built a new division called WSC Studios, which uses generative models for text, audio, image, and video, and we create sports content for kids,” Epstein continued, per Calcalist‘s transcript. “For example, with the NBA, we created brand-new characters, Alley and Oop, who teach kids about the NBA. We’re doing this with other clients around the world.”

“It’s an illustrated digital series with two kid characters who are like NBA creators for kids, and they have a magic bus, their ‘Hoopmobile,’ that takes them from city to city in the United States,” he continued. “They teach kids about the players, the game, and the teams, and that’s part of what we’re doing to connect the next generation to sports.”

You can check out “The Alley & Oop Show” here, if you’re curious.

Epstein bragged that, in addition to automating the content-sharing process, AI has resulted in significant reductions in staff. Character voices for the kids’ programming, for example, is synthesized using “text-to-speech models based on cloned versions of the actors’ voices,” while adult sports series require “a lot fewer people” to produce.

It’s worth noting that AI systems are notoriously bad at analyzing, indexing, and labeling sport events, as a recent study found. Given that a significant chunk of WSC’s businesses seems to revolve around “transform[ing] live and archived sports content into intelligent, searchable, and personalized experiences,” it’s hard to say how much of Epstein’s gasconade is based on real results, and how much is just public relations bluster. The proof will be in the pudding: will sports fans embrace the play, or call foul on this type of AI slop?

More on sports: Fans Aghast as New York Jets Say They’re Switching to AI
The post Startup Exec Boasts About Using AI to Churn Out Sports Content”Without Human Input” appeared first on Futurism.