Category: 4. Technology

Hoyoverse just wrapped up the Genshin Impact version “Luna I” preview livestream, showing off all sorts of details about the upcoming patch. Most importantly, there were several codes that award Primogems and other rewards shown during the stream. Our Genshin Impact “Luna I” livestream code list provides you with the three stream codes for rewards and explains how to redeem them. Notably, this upcoming version is not being called 6.0 by Hoyoverse, but rather “Luna I.”

The stream showed off Nod-Krai, the upcoming region coming to the game, alongside the Archon Quest, “Song of the Welkin Moon.” There are tons of new characters being introduced in this area. We’ve already gotten Ineffa in the last patch, but this new version will also add the Electro polearm-user, Flins, Dendro catalyst-user, Lauma, and Hydro claymore-user, Aino. There’ll also be a set of limited-time challenges to complete as part of the “Clink Clank Clash” event that rewards an event-exclusive weapon, as well as the usual goodies.

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Genshin Impact version ‘Luna I’ livestream codes

The codes are as follows:

You’ll want to redeem these codes quickly, as they expire on Sept. 1 at 12 a.m. EDT.

They not only reward Primogems, but they also give Mora and Adventurer’s EXP to level up your characters.

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How to redeem Genshin Impact gift codes

To redeem codes, you can log in and input them on the code redemption website. You can also input them in-game through the settings menu, but copy and pasting them in a browser is much easier. You can also click the links above, if you’re logged in on whatever device you’re seeing this post on.

Once you redeem the codes, you’ll get the rewards via in-game mail shortly after that.

Game Developer can confirm that Chinese publisher, developer, and studio investor NetEase has shut down T-Minus Zero Entertainment, the game studio founded by BioWare alumni Rich Vogel in 2023.

Vogel initially posted on the company’s LinkedIn page about NetEase’ decision to cease its partnership with T-Minus Zero. “We deeply appreciate NetEase for providing us with both ample runway and support – from helping us find potential investors to giving us the time and budget to develop our game into a fully playable hands-on demo. It has generated a lot of interest.”

He later told Game Developer that NetEase has shut down T-Minus Zero.

T-Minus Zero had been working on “third-person online multiplayer action game set in a sci-fi universe,” according to the company’s founding announcement. It appears the project was well-liked by high-level NetEase employees. Former NetEase president of global investments and partnerships Simon Zhu commented on the company’s post, stating that the game “delivers [the] great fantasy of fighting against 15th floor kaiju to protect the city you care about.”

Meanwhile NetEase head of brand/publishing for North America & Europe Cisco Maldonado called it a “super great concept and [in my opinion] a solid market fit” in a post on Vogel’s page.

Related:Nintendo’s stinginess on Switch 2 dev kits, layoffs at Crystal Dynamics, and Diablo developers unionize – Patch Notes #20

A spokesperson for NetEase initially told Game Developer that the company is “actively working with the studio [to] find a new publishing home.” They added that the company “cannot confirm any layoffs,” and that it was “working with the full studio in terms of this transition and future publishing plans.”

NetEase is reversing course on millions of dollars worth of studio investments

NetEase has spent 2025 unwinding a number of international investments in studios like Skybox Labs, Ouka Studios and Jark of Sparks, also laying off US-based developers working on live service megahit Marvel Rivals. 

This hasn’t been a complete withdrawal. Rebel Wolves and Anchor Point made statements saying they were not affected by a business pivot reported on by Bloomberg News.

Game Developer has reached out to NetEase to follow up on the studio’s previous statement and will update this story when a response is issued.

Meta Ray-Bans have often been very difficult to find in stock at both retailers and online stores for the past two years — and they rarely go on sale. But one of the best ways to not only get a 20% discount but also find some of the styles that have been discontinued or are rarely ever in stock is to use the little-known Meta Refurbished AI Glasses online store. 

I recently ordered a pair of Meta Ray-Bans in the Skylar style with the Shiny Caramel finish with Polar Brown lenses. If you’ve followed Meta Ray-Bans, then you’ve probably seen these before because they are in a lot of the Meta promotional materials. The frames themselves are semi-transparent, so you can see a lot of the technology inside. And the lenses have that amber tint that’s popular in lots of sunglasses because it gives the world a bit of warm orange glow. 

I was able to buy these for $263, even though they normally retail for $329. Other configurations, like the black with blue transition lenses, were as much as $76 off. As of the writing of this article, Meta’s refurbished store was selling the Wayfarer, Headliner, and Skyler styles. The Wayfarer is the most common style, while the Headliner and Skyler can be more difficult to find.

When my transparent brown Meta Ray-Bans arrived, they were in the original box and it was unopened, with the perforated pull tag still in perfect condition — no different than the box of the original pair of black Meta Ray-Bans I bought when the product first launched two years ago.

When I opened the box, everything was in perfect order, just like a new pair. All the accessories, booklets, polishing cloth, and even the paper protectors over the arms of the glasses were all just as they are in the packaging of a brand new pair of Meta Ray-Bans that you’d buy at retail or online. 

I pulled the little protective tab inside the case to activate charging and plugged the case into USB. After about 30 minutes, I opened up the Meta AI app, tapped the glasses button on the far right, hit the plus sign in the upper right corner, tapped on the Ray-Ban | Meta button, and the software immediately recognized that there was a pair of glasses in a case nearby. I accepted the prompt and tapped through the menus. 

I pulled the glasses out of the case and examined them, and they were in perfect condition. I put them on and immediately started using them like the other pairs of Meta Ray-Bans I’ve been testing and using for the past couple years. 

What does refurbished actually mean for a tech product?

So if these are just like new and sold at a discount, then what does it mean when you buy a refurbished tech product? These are typically products that have been lightly used and a customer returned or traded in for another product, or that originally had small defects. They go back to the manufacturer for inspection, cleaning, repair (if needed), and another round of quality assurance. They are then repacked, often in the same original packaging as new products. However, both the US and the European Union have regulations that require refurbished products to be marked and sold as refurbished, and can’t be passed off as new products. That’s why they are typically discounted, even though in many cases they are as good as new. 

In the case of refurbished Meta Ray-Bans, when you buy through the Meta Refurbished AI Glasses online store, then Meta offers a 30-day return policy and a 1-year warranty. Based on my experience, I have no problem recommending that you buy a refurbished pair of these smart glasses, if one of the styles you like is available.

Buying advice

Keep in mind that Meta is likely to unveil its next-generation Meta Ray-Bans Smart Glasses on September 17 at its Meta Connect event. These could have new features like longer battery life and better cameras — two of the items on my wish list. It’s unclear if they will be more expensive, but it appears possible if they are integrating better technology and there’s also the uncertain US tariff situation that could impact the cost of parts. 

The recently released Oakley Meta Smart Glasses have some nice tech upgrades and retail for $400-$500. That could be an indication of where the prices of the new Meta Ray-Bans are going to land. If that’s the case, the deal on these refurbished Meta Ray-Bans could look even better.

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Gwen Archer

Charles Thorp is the Fitness and Commerce Editor at Men’s Health, where he shares the best product recommendations in gym equipment, recovery tools, supplements, and more. Following an early life in athletics, Charles became a NASM-certified trainer and began writing programs alongside the most respected coaches in the world.  

Since entering the world of fitness content, Charles has had the opportunity to learn from and train alongside high performance individuals from the NFL, UFC, NBA, Formula 1, CrossFit, US Olympics, and Navy SEALs. When he’s not writing about training programs or gear, he can be seen at the gym or in the wild, putting them to the test.

To make such a network possible, so-called quantum network nodes — that can store quantum information and share it via light particles – are needed. In their latest work, the Innsbruck team led by Ben Lanyon at the Department of Experimental Physics of the University of Innsbruck demonstrated such a node using a string of ten calcium ions in a prototype quantum computer. By carefully adjusting electric fields, the ions were moved one by one into an optical cavity. There, a finely tuned laser pulse triggered the emission of a single photon whose polarization was entangled with the ion’s state.

The process created a stream of photons; each tied to a different ion-qubit in the register. In future the photons could travel to distant nodes and be used to establish entanglement between separate quantum devices. The researchers achieved an average ion-photon entanglement fidelity of 92 percent, a level of precision that underscores the robustness of their method.

“One of the key strengths of this technique is its scalability,” says Ben Lanyon. “While earlier experiments managed to link only two or three ion-qubits to individual photons, the Innsbruck setup can be extended to much larger registers, potentially containing hundreds of ions and more.” This paves the way for connecting entire quantum processors across laboratories or even continents.

“Our method is a step towards building larger and more complex quantum networks,” says Marco Canteri, the first author of the study. “It brings us closer to practical applications such as quantum-secure communication, distributed quantum computing and large-scale distributed quantum sensing.”

Beyond networking, the technology could also advance optical atomic clocks, which keep time so precisely that they would lose less than a second over the age of the universe. Such clocks could be linked via quantum networks to form a worldwide timekeeping system of unmatched accuracy.

The work, now published in Physical Review Letters, was financially supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF and the European Union, among others, and demonstrates not only a technical milestone but also a key building block for the next generation of quantum technologies.

Google has issued a security alert to its 2.5 billion Gmail users, urging them to update their passwords and enhance account protection following an increase in “successful intrusions” by password hackers.

The tech giant is encouraging users to be proactive and remain vigilant for suspicious account activity, and to install additional safety measures—such as two-factor authentication—if they haven’t already done so.

Hackers often obtain Gmail credentials by tricking users through phishing emails that lead to fake login pages or prompt them to disclose sensitive information like two-factor authentication codes.

One group, known as ShinyHunters—allegedly named after the Pokémon franchise—has been active since 2020 and linked to several high-profile breaches involving AT&T, Microsoft, Santander and Ticketmaster.

Despite growing awareness around online security, Google reports that while many users already have strong and unique passwords, only about one-third update them regularly—leaving a significant window of vulnerability.

In an advisory, Google also addressed a separate breach involving its Salesforce database, where attackers used social engineering tactics. In these cases, cybercriminals posed as IT support—a method that proved highly “effective in tricking employees,” according to the company.

While the compromised data in this incident was largely publicly available, Google warned that the tactics used could evolve into more serious and targeted attacks in the future.

“We believe threat actors using the ‘ShinyHunters’ brand may be preparing to escalate their extortion tactics by launching a data leak site (DLS),” Google stated in a blog post published in June.

Google also warned, “These new tactics are likely intended to increase pressure on victims, including those associated with the recent UNC6040 Salesforce-related data breaches.”

All users potentially affected by the incident were notified by email on Aug. 8.

As digital threats continue to evolve, Google is strongly encouraging its global user base to take proactive steps to secure their accounts.

Google advises users to not only use complex passwords and enabling two-factor authentication, but to also remain alert for phishing attempts, unsolicited login prompts, and suspicious activity that may indicate a breach attempt.

Tactile sensors are widely used in robotics, prosthetics, wearable devices, and healthcare monitoring. These devices detect and convert external stimuli such as pressure and force into electrical signals, facilitating effective environmental detection. Scientists have made extensive efforts to improve the performance of tactile sensors in terms of sensing range and sensitivity. In this context, mechanical metamaterials are highly promising. Specifically, auxetic mechanical metamaterials (AMMs)-possessing a negative Poisson’s ratio-enable inward contraction and localized strain concentration upon compression. These counterintuitive behaviors render them lucrative options for designing sensors and actuators with excellent properties.

However, existing AMM technology suffers from fabrication and integration challenges.

Addressing this knowledge gap, a team of researchers from the Seoul National University of Science and Technology, led by Mr. Mingyu Kang, the first author of the study and a Master’s course student in the Department of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, and including Dr. Soonjae Pyo, an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, have proposed a novel 3D AMM-based tactile sensing platform based on a cubic lattice with spherical voids and fabricated using digital light processing-based 3D printing. Their breakthrough findings were made available online and published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials on July 6, 2025.

The researchers explored the tactile sensing platform, utilizing 3D-printed auxetic metamaterials in both capacitive and piezoresistive sensing modes. While the sensor responds to pressure via electrode spacing and dielectric distribution modulation in the first mode, the latter mode leverages a conformally coated network of carbon nanotubes that alters resistance under load.

“The unique negative Poisson’s ratio behavior utilized by our technology induces inward contraction under compression, concentrating strain in the sensing region and enhancing sensitivity. Beyond this fundamental mechanism, our auxetic design further strengthens sensor performance in three critical aspects: sensitivity enhancement through localized strain concentration, exceptional performance stability when embedded within confined structures, and crosstalk minimization between adjacent sensing units. Unlike conventional porous structures, this design minimizes lateral expansion, improving wearability and reducing interference when integrated into devices such as smart insoles or robotic grippers. Furthermore, the use of digital light processing-based 3D printing enables precise structural programming of sensor performance, allowing geometry-based customization without changing the base material,” remarks Mr. Kang.

The team showcased two proof-of-concept scenarios highlighting the novelty of their work: a tactile array for spatial pressure mapping and object classification, as well as a wearable insole system with gait pattern monitoring and pronation type detection capabilities.

According to Dr. Pyo: “The proposed sensor platform can be integrated into smart insoles for gait monitoring and pronation analysis, robotic hands for precise object manipulation, and wearable health monitoring systems that require comfortable sensing without disrupting daily life. Importantly, the auxetic structure preserves its sensitivity and stability even when confined within rigid housings, such as insole layers, where conventional porous lattices typically lose performance. Its scalability and compatibility with various transduction modes also make it suitable for pressure mapping surfaces, rehabilitation devices, and human-robot interaction interfaces that require high sensitivity and mechanical robustness.”

In the next decade, auxetic-structured 3D-printed tactile sensors could form the backbone of next-generation wearable electronics, enabling continuous, high-fidelity monitoring of human movement, posture, and health metrics. Their structural adaptability and material independence could drive the creation of custom-fit, application-specific sensors for personalized medicine, advanced prosthetics, and immersive haptic feedback systems.

As additive manufacturing becomes more accessible, mass-customized tactile interfaces with programmable performance may become standard in consumer products, healthcare, and robotics.

Valve has started to comply with the UK’s Online Safety Act, by rolling out a requirement for all Brits to verify their age with a credit card to access “mature content” pages and games on Steam. UK users won’t even be able to access the community hubs of mature content games unless a valid credit card is stored on a Steam account.

While platforms like Reddit, Bluesky, and Discord have opted for age verification checks using selfies, Valve is restricting its age checks to just credit cards, according to a support article. “Among all age assurance mechanisms reviewed by Valve, this process preserves the maximum degree of user privacy,” says Valve. “Having the credit card stored as a payment method acts as an additional deterrent against circumventing age verification by sharing a single Steam user account among multiple persons.”

In the UK you need to be 18 years of age to obtain a credit card, so this passes the age checks onto banks instead of Valve having to perform them. If you don’t have a credit card then you won’t be able to access mature content games or pages on Steam, as there’s no other way of verifying your age.

Microsoft has also started rolling out Xbox age verification in the UK. While the age verification checks are optional right now, they will become a requirement to access a variety of Xbox services in early 2026, when additional parts of the UK’s Online Safety Act come into force.