Netflix Unveils 'Playground' Gaming App for Kids, Enhances Family Engagement

Netflix has launched a new app, "Netflix Playground," featuring games based on popular children's characters such as Peppa Pig and Sesame Street. This initiative aims to deepen engagement with families, a segment where children's content traditionally helps reduce churn for the streaming service.

Credit: NETFLIX

The "Netflix Playground" app is designed for children eight years old and younger. It is included in all Netflix membership levels, ensuring no advertisements, in-app purchases, or extra fees. Parental controls are also incorporated into the platform.

Each game within the app will be playable offline, including "Playtime With Peppa Pig," "Dr. Seuss's Horton!" and "Sesame Street." Netflix describes the features as a "curated space where parents know kids are entertained, engaged, and enriched."

Credit: NETFLIX

The app is currently available for download in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand. Netflix plans a global launch later this month.

Emarketer senior analyst Ross Benes noted that emphasising kids' programmes will make Netflix "stickier for households with children." Benes added that the new app will help Netflix "compete in the one area where it has a deficiency compared to Disney+, which is children's programming."

Analysts believe the streaming giant's gaming efforts have not yet become a major growth driver. One challenge identified is Netflix's relatively limited portfolio of iconic intellectual property, especially compared with rivals like Warner Bros Discovery, which owns franchises including DC Comics.

Netflix's existing popular games include Rockstar Games' "GTA: San Andreas" and titles based on its hit shows, such as "Squid Game: Unleashed."

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• Netflix has launched "Netflix Playground," a new gaming app specifically for children.

• The app features games based on popular children's characters and is designed to boost family engagement.

• "Netflix Playground" is included with all Netflix memberships, offers parental controls, and is free of ads or in-app purchases.

Source: REUTERS

Nvidia's SchedMD Acquisition Sparks Concerns Over AI Software Access

Nvidia's acquisition of SchedMD last Dec. has generated concerns among artificial intelligence and supercomputer specialists. They view the move as a test of the largest AI chip company's commitment to maintaining a fair playing field for chip rivals and AI data centre builders.

Credit: NVIDIA

SchedMD controls Slurm, an open-source software critical for scheduling computing tasks. This software is essential for training the large language models that power chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude.

Slurm also operates on government supercomputers used for weather forecasting and developing nuclear weapons. According to SchedMD, the software helps power approximately 60 per cent of supercomputers worldwide.

Five individuals, including engineers and executives who use Slurm, fear Nvidia could subtly favour itself. They suggest the company might prioritise writing software updates for its own chips before those of rivals like Advanced Micro Devices.

Slurm is currently used to manage Nvidia chips operating in supercomputers or AI-focused data centres. Some users hope Nvidia, the world's most valuable publicly traded company, will boost Slurm's development.

They anticipate the company will invest resources into long-awaited updates for a system originally built years ago for government supercomputers and now spreading to frontier AI companies.

Nvidia stated, "Customers everywhere benefit from our open source and free software. Slurm is open-source and we continue to provide enhancements for everyone." The company previously affirmed its commitment to developing and widely distributing the "open-source, vendor-neutral software" when announcing the SchedMD acquisition.

Addison Snell, chief executive officer of chip consultancy Intersect360 Research, said Nvidia positioned the acquisition as an expansion of investment in open-source technology that aids AI's development. Mr. Snell added that Nvidia could help SchedMD users, particularly government laboratories, adopt newer AI techniques alongside traditional supercomputer work.

However, Mr. Snell also expressed concern that Nvidia might eventually make the common open-source tool work better or exclusively for its own parts. This could disadvantage competing technologies from companies such as Intel or Advanced Micro Devices.

An engineer with extensive experience with Slurm on supercomputing systems suggested that early tests of Nvidia's intentions could include the speed of integrating new Advanced Micro Devices chips into Slurm's computer code later this year. This would be compared with how quickly Nvidia integrates the software with its own technologies, such as InfiniBand networking chips.

Three sources expressing concern work in the AI industry, and two have knowledge of supercomputer operations. All of these individuals have used or developed systems that include non-Nvidia hardware.

Several other experts using SchedMD's software did not voice immediate concern but acknowledged these worries. They indicated they were closely monitoring Nvidia's actions with Slurm, viewing the acquisition as a test of the company's intentions.

SchedMD's software has been adopted by various AI laboratories. Meta Platforms, French AI startup Mistral, and Anthropic utilise it for some specific tasks, including elements of AI training. OpenAI, however, employs a different method based on technology developed by Alphabet's Google, according to a spokesperson.

AI industry sources cited Nvidia's 2022 acquisition of Bright Computing as a basis for their concerns. Bright Computing's software, while usable with non-Nvidia hardware, had been optimised for Nvidia, creating a performance penalty for users of other chips without additional work.

Nvidia dismissed these claims, asserting that Bright Computing technology supports "nearly any CPU or GPU-accelerated cluster." The company added that it encourages others to join in contributing to the "growing ecosystem of free and open source software."

Nvidia highlighted its track record of continuing to provide free and improved offerings after acquiring open-source software firms. It also stated that it "will continue to offer open-source software support, training and development for Slurm to SchedMD’s hundreds of customers."

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• Nvidia's acquisition of SchedMD last Dec. has raised concerns among AI and supercomputer specialists.

• The concerns revolve around potential favouritism for Nvidia's own chips in Slurm software updates.

• Slurm is an open-source software critical for managing computing tasks, supporting 60 per cent of supercomputers worldwide.

Source: REUTERS

Modular Robots Navigate Damage, Reconfigure for Outdoor Survival

Engineers at Northwestern University have developed a new class of modular robots, termed "legged metamachines," capable of exceptional agility and resilience. These robots can flip, jump, and continue moving even after being severed into multiple pieces.

Credit: Sam Kriegman/Northwestern University

The machines possess built-in athletic intelligence, adapting their movements on the go. They are composed of autonomous, Lego-like modules, each containing its own circuit board, battery, and motor.

While a single module can roll and jump independently, their true power emerges when they connect. The core components are half-meter-long modular limbs, featuring a central sphere that connects two elongated, stick-like segments.

Sam Kriegman, the lead author, explained the sphere contains the robot’s essential functions: a "nervous system," "metabolism," and "muscle." These correspond to a circuit board, a battery, and a motor.

Kriegman added that the modules are mechanically simple, able to rotate around a single axis, yet are surprisingly athletic and smart. The designs for optimal movement were generated using an evolutionary algorithm.

This AI-driven process simulated a Darwinian system of mutation and selection, evolving high-performing body types. The resulting machines feature modular parts assuming specialised roles, leading to "bizarre, alien-looking" designs.

These new robots mimic movements found in nature, shifting from the rhythmic undulations of a seal to the rapid bounding of a lizard or the powerful, coiled springs of a kangaroo. They perform complex acrobatics and survive extreme damage that would be fatal to standard designs.

Rather than failing when broken, these robots simply reconfigure. Severed parts remain autonomous, continuing to move until they can rejoin the collective.

Kriegman stated these are the first robots to venture outdoors after evolving within a computer. They are rapidly assembled, immediately move freely, and easily recover from major injuries that would be fatal to every other wild robot.

He noted that if flipped upside down, they instinctively right themselves and continue their journey. They can survive being chopped in half or cut into many pieces, with every module becoming an individual agent when separated.

To validate the AI's designs, Kriegman’s team built physical three-, four-, and five-legged prototypes. These were tested across various outdoor terrains, including shifting sand and tangled tree roots.

The metamachines demonstrated autonomy, performing flips and jumps without manual recalibration. Their most striking feature is their functional immortality, as each metamachine is essentially a "robot made of other robots."

Catastrophic damage is not fatal. If a leg is severed, the main body instantly recalibrates its gait. The severed limb does not become dead weight; it remains an autonomous agent, rolling and crawling across the terrain until it can rejoin its team.

Kriegman explained a module can sense its surroundings, move, compute, and learn. He added that metamachines can be rapidly assembled, repaired, redesigned, and recombined, moving themselves across a wide array of unstructured environments immediately after assembly.

This research holds potential for future robots capable of self-repair and rapid reconfiguration, suitable for extreme settings. The study was published in the journal *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*.

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• New "legged metamachines" developed by Northwestern University engineers can flip, jump, and continue moving after being cut.

• These robots are composed of autonomous modules, each containing its own power and control systems.

• AI-generated designs led to resilient body types that mimic natural movements and can reconfigure after damage.

Source: INTERESTING ENGINEERING