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Microsoft is planning to get rid of more US employees via its first voluntary buyout program, CNBC reports . The buyout program will reportedly be offered to US employees at "the senior director level and below whose years of employment and age add up to 70 or higher," and could cover up to 7 percent of the company's US workforce. With around 125,000 employees in the US as of June 2025 , that could mean up to 8,750 will be offered a paid exit when Microsoft begins its program in May. That's a smaller figure than the 15,000 or so employees the company laid off in May and July of 2025, but still significant, particularly if the majority of employees do take the buyout. "Our hope is that this program gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support," Microsoft's executive vice president and chief people officer Amy Coleman shared in a memo viewed by CNBC . Engadget has contacted Microsoft to confirm the existence of the voluntary buyout program and other details CNBC reported. We'll update this article if we hear back. Microsoft used its 2025 layoffs to streamline layers of management and its video game business, but these new cuts may have a lot more to do with AI. Not necessarily because the company's adoption of AI tools has made employees redundant, but rather because Microsoft continues to aggressively spend on AI infrastructure. The company said it spent $37.5 billion in capital expenditures during Q2 2026, much of which went toward data center buildout. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/microsoft-is-reportedly-offering-voluntary-buyouts-to-up-to-7-percent-of-its-employees-200050484.html?src=rss
I would love to tell you everything about my favorite game of the year so far. But that would be doing a great disservice to Titanium Court . I'm not even sure I could explain it all, anyway. Titanium Court is a run-based game with elements of permanent progression, so it's technically a roguelite. However, you cannot really break Titanium Court like you can with Balatro . There are multiple ways to win a run, but you have to play by the rules. Gradually learning what those are — and how the game suddenly changes them — is a big part of what makes this so effective. I can at least break down the core gameplay loop for you. There are two stages to each battle in every run aka a "war." The first is a match-three segment (think Candy Crush Saga ), in which you gather resources by lining up wheat fields, rivers, hills and forests. At the same time, you're setting up the terrain and positioning your own tile (the titular court) for the second stage. For instance, water will stop foot soldiers entirely, so you can position yourself behind a barricade of rivers to block them. But you'll need to be careful, since a chain reaction of matches can wipe out your carefully constructed defense. At the same time, you'll be moving around enemy strongholds. You can line up three or more matching enemy bases to eliminate them, but you don't gain any resources from those. Plus, you can only make a limited number of moves in this phase. So that makes for an interesting risk-reward conundrum. A timeline shows you which enemies will attack and when so you can plan accordingly. The second phase is where the tower defense element really takes hold. You'll use what you've collected to recruit soldiers to attack enemies or defend your base, add workers that will gather more resources and maybe deliver magic attacks. You can trade at shops and markets as long as you haven't wiped them from the grid, since they're bonded to terrain tiles. When you're ready to fight, you hit a play button and the battle takes place automatically. Nothing’s as simple as it might seem at first, because this is a game that will mess with you. I was scolded for trying to buy my way to victory by trading too much, with the game calling that approach "boring" and closing the shop's doors for the round. Perfectly fair. I chuckled the first time that happened. When I thought I was being clever by using the introspective power of self-reflection (you'll see) to win a boss fight, I was swiftly shut down. Between wars, you'll explore the titular court as its newly anointed queen, trying to figure out what on Earth is going on and, ultimately, how to get home. Here, Titanium Court morphs into a blend of old-school adventure game and bizarre visual novel. This is where much of the magic lies, and where you gradually learn about the story and even how to play the game. AP Thomson/Fellow Traveller Developer AP Thomson's writing is smart and funny. I lost count of the number of jokes I've laughed out loud at. His narrative takes you in startlingly unexpected directions. It feels like a grand performance and Thomson is the master of ceremonies. It’s a confidently authored experience that offers further evidence as to why absolutely no one needs a generative AI game platform that seeks to “kill the scripted RPG.” Titanium Court won the prestigious Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival Awards earlier this year and it's not hard to see why. Thomson and his collaborators have cooked up something really special here. It's a game with dragons and ballet, baseball and bike races, shower thoughts and wormholes. There are road signs in a world in which faeries believe cars are a figment of your imagination. It references Catan, the Civilization series, Jenga and A Midsummer Night's Dream . It skewers capitalism and social inequality. I'll let you discover the details of the job system, which completely upends how you play the game, yourself. I haven't been this engrossed by a game since Ball x Pit . It surprises and delights at almost every turn. Titanium Court is certainly not going to be for everyone (there's so much reading!) and I’m going to stop here before I tell you too much about it. You can get a taste by checking out a Steam demo that’s available for PC and Mac. The full game arrived today . It usually costs $15, but it's 20 percent off until May 7. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/titanium-court-mashes-together-genres-and-cultural-references-to-tell-a-strange-funny-tale-184750797.html?src=rss
Meta is making another steep cut to its staff, this time to the tune of a 10 percent reduction in its workforce. About 8,000 people will be laid off and about 6,000 open jobs will also be eliminated, according to Bloomberg . In an internal memo from Janelle Gale, Meta's head of human resources, the latest cuts are "part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making." Those "other investments" are likely in artificial intelligence. Meta is building its own models and apparently training them on its own staff . Its smart glasses are also leveraging ever-more AI capabilities . Today's layoffs likely don't mark the end of Meta's current contraction. A report from March suggested that Meta was planning to downsize by up to 20 percent , although no timeline was given. The company cut hundreds of jobs, primarily in its Reality Labs division, shortly after those claims circulated. It also kicked off 2026 by slashing its metaverse operations with the closure of three VR studios . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-downsizing-by-about-10-percent-192658099.html?src=rss
Anthropic is expanding its directory of connected services for its Claude AI chatbot. The platform can now link up with your accounts on AllTrails, Audible, Booking.com, Instacart, Intuit Credit Karma, Intuit TurboTax, Resy, Spotify, StubHub, Taskrabbit, Thumbtack, TripAdvisor, Uber, Uber Eats and Viator. Additional services will be added in the future. More and more AI companies are trying to up their third-party integrations in a pitch to make their services as useful as possible. The benefit of having multiple apps connected means that a chatbot can theoretically execute more complicated tasks on your behalf. This expansion takes that capability from the professional and educational settings, where Anthropic’s connectors have been focused for the past year, to a personal one. So, for instance, Claude can now help plan a hike on AllTrails and then pull up a Spotify playlist that will last for the duration of your trek. Anthropic noted that it is also reframing how apps are showing up so that an appropriate service is suggested for the task you want to perform. The apps should appear dynamically within the Claude conversation rather than needing a user to swipe between programs. As with most AI actions, Claude is supposed to check with its user before actually taking any actions like securing a reservation or making a purchase. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/claude-can-now-connect-to-lifestyle-apps-like-spotify-instacart-and-alltrails-225510552.html?src=rss
