Latest news with #GabeNewell
The Star
28-05-2025
- Health
- The Star
Soon miniature chips in the brain could treat degenerative diseases
The idea is to be able to stimulate several areas of the brain in a coordinated fashion. These first chips would measure just 2 to 4mm in length, and would be equipped with data recording and biphasic pulse stimulation capabilities. — AFP Relaxnews Starfish Neuroscience is a startup cofounded in 2019 by Gabe Newell, CEO of video game publisher Valve. The company recently announced its plans to develop innovative brain-computer interfaces, in the same vein as the brain implant specialist, Neuralink. While Neuralink's technology currently takes the form of a single implant, consisting of 1,024 electrodes, designed to interact with a specific area of the brain, Starfish Neuroscience envisages the use of several much smaller implants, each targeting a specific brain region. The idea is to be able to stimulate several areas of the brain in a coordinated fashion. These first chips would measure just 2 to 4mm in length, and would be equipped with data recording and biphasic pulse stimulation capabilities. On paper, these implants look tiny and would consume extremely little power, possibly even eliminating the need for recharging. A first prototype implant is due to be tested by the end of 2025. Starfish's current focus is on medical applications, including the treatment of neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease, depression and bipolar disorder. However, with Gabe Newell at the helm of the project, many people are already imagining video game applications, with implants specially dedicated to this purpose. This could pave the way for totally new immersive experiences. However, this vision of human-machine interaction remains the stuff of science fiction at this stage. In the field of brain-computer interfaces, Neuralink has paved the way, with the striking example of a quadriplegic man able to play chess on a computer thanks to the implant grafted into his brain. Its next stated objective is to enable a patient to control a robotic arm, simply by the power of thought. – AFP Relaxnews
The Verge
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Posted May 27, 2025 at 3:07 PM EDT
The latest news in brain chips. Following the news that Valve CEO Gabe Newell's stealthy company, Starfish, plans to produce its first brain chip later this year, there's a report that Elon Musk's Neuralink has almost tripled in value in less than two years. Semafor reports that a recent $600 million investment valued the company at over $9 billion. The technology has only been implanted in three people so far, the latest being a non-verbal ALS patient who used it to narrate this video.
The Verge
23-05-2025
- Science
- The Verge
Valve CEO Gabe Newell's Neuralink competitor is expecting its first brain chip this year
Valve co-founder and CEO Gabe Newell, the company behind Half-Life and DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike and preeminent PC game distribution platform Steam, has long toyed with the idea that your brain should be more connected to your PC. It began over a decade ago with in-house psychologists studying people's biological responses to video games; Valve once considered earlobe monitors for its first VR headset. The company publicly explored the idea of brain-computer interfaces for gaming at GDC in 2019. But Newell decided to spin off the idea. That same year, he quietly incorporated a new brain-computer interface startup, Starfish Neuroscience — which has now revealed plans to produce its very first brain chip later this year. Starfish's first blog post, spotted by Valve watcher Brad Lynch, makes it clear we're not talking about a complete implant yet. This bit is the custom 'electrophysiology' chip designed to record brain activity (like how Neuralink can 'read your mind' so patients can interact with computers) and stimulate the brain (for disease therapy), but Starfish isn't claiming it's already built the systems to power it or the bits to stick it into a person's head. 'We anticipate our first chips arriving in late 2025 and we are interested in finding collaborators for whom such a chip would open new and exciting avenues,' writes Starfish neuroengineer Nate Cermak (bolding theirs), suggesting that Starfish might wind up partnering with other companies for wireless power or even the final brain implant. But the goal, writes Starfish, is a smaller and less invasive implant than the competition, one that can 'enable simultaneous access to multiple brain regions' instead of just one site, and one that doesn't require a battery. Using just 1.1 milliwatts during 'normal recording,' Starfish says it can work with wireless power transmission instead. Here's the chip's current spec sheet: Neuralink's N1, for comparison, has 1,024 electrodes across its 64 brain-implanted threads, a chip that consumed around 6 milliwatts as of 2019, a battery that periodically needs wireless charging, and the full implant (again, not just the chip) is around 23mm wide and 8mm thick. Starfish says it could be important to connect to multiple parts of the brain simultaneously to address issues like Parkinson's disease. 'there is increasing evidence that a number of neurological disorders involve circuit-level dysfunction, in which the interactions between brain regions may be misregulated,' Cermak writes. In addition to multiple simultaneous brain implants, the company's updated website says it's working on a 'precision hyperthermia device' to destroy tumors with targeted heat, and a brain-reading, robotically guided transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) system for addressing neurological conditions like bipolar disorder and depression. In case you're wondering how any of this might make its way back to gaming, I'll leave you with Valve's talk from GDC 2019 about brain-computer interfaces.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Valve創辦人Gabe Newell愛玩《浩劫殺陣2》，已經達成4個結局
Valve 遊戲公司、Steam 平台創辦人 Gabe Newell，被中文圈網友稱為「G胖」（後來瘦身成功），雖然經營著全世界最大的 PC 數位遊戲平台，以及神經科技和腦機介面公司十分忙碌，但仍然是一名相當熱愛遊戲的玩家。而最近，Gabe 更是透露出自己正在玩《浩劫殺陣2 車諾比之心》（S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl）。 根據 X（推特）上的情報分享帳號 @TheCSTimes，貼出了一張玩家詢問 Gabe 正在玩什麼遊戲的電子郵件節圖。可以看到 Gabe 清楚回答：「最近我一直在玩《浩劫殺陣 2 車諾比之心》，我明天應該就能完成第 4 個結局，然後我要想想接下來該玩什麼」從時間來看，目前應該已經達成。 許多網友也開玩笑的回應：「Gabe 知道 4 之前是什麼嗎？」、「這才是有血有肉的 CEO」、「遊戲公司的 CEO 都應該像是這樣，定期回答網友問題」、「所以他已經通關了"3"次？」、「Gabe 不像是其他 CEO，他是一名真正的遊戲玩家」 Gabe Newell, known for never attending a Counter-Strike Major, was asked via email what games he plays:"Lately I've been playing a bunch of Stalker 2." — Counter-Strike News (@TheCSTimes) March 14, 2025 Gabe 除了曾經在 Reddit 上開放玩家 AMA 回答問題外，老玩家都知道，Gabe 和其他 Valve 員工一樣都有公開的專屬信箱，Gabe 也曾回應過，每天會收到超過數百到數千封信件，而他則是會全部都看完，因為這樣能清楚知道玩家們的想法，甚至還會從挑選幾封來回應。Gabe 更曾經親自挑選幾名幸運兒，將 Steam Deck 送到他們手裡。 緊貼最新科技資訊、網購優惠，追隨 Yahoo Tech 各大社交平台！ 🎉📱 Tech Facebook： 🎉📱 Tech Instagram： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 社群： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 頻道： 🎉📱 Tech Telegram 頻道：
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Why the Valkyrie Hypercar is worth the (very long) wait
For the 2025 FIA WEC season, which gets underway later this month in Qatar, the big headline addition to the field is the pair of Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMHs in Hypercar. It's one of the most hotly-anticipated program debuts of recent times for several reasons, but principally because it's been five years in the making. The original Valkyrie program was set to debut back in 2020 after Aston Martin became the second manufacturer (after Toyota) to commit to the ruleset back in 2019. But its plans were scrapped before testing got underway as the brand's priorities shifted to Formula 1. Now, though, after Gabe Newell's Heart of Racing organization resurrected the effort in 2023, we will finally see the Valkyrie in competition. The car's test program, which got underway in the UK last July at Silverstone and Donington Park, has been hailed a 'success' by the manufacturer. More than 15,000 kilometers have been covered at circuits in Europe, the Middle East and the USA by the two test chassis produced. The car has been put through its paces at Vallelunga, Jerez, Bahrain, Qatar, Road Atlanta, Sebring and Daytona in preparation for the car's global debut, which will come in the Middle East after Heart of Racing decided to sit out the Rolex 24 at Daytona to free up time before the car's final homologation. The Valkyrie stands out from the pack in the Hypercar and GTP ranks and not just because of its dashing good looks and the eye-catching liveries. You could say it's the purest horse in the race. It's a non-hybrid LMH-spec prototype based on a road car which has been in the hands of customers since 2021. Philosophically, it ticks just about every box that the Hypercar regulations originally set out to achieve. But that doesn't mean that putting this racer together has been a simple task – far from it. Ensuring the Valkyrie fits within the regulatory boundaries that the FIA and ACO have put in place has been a complex exercise in engineering. The car's Cosworth-built 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine – which in roadgoing form reaches 11,000 rpm and produces over 1000 bhp – has been modified to get it in the performance window and withstand the punishment it will take during some of the longer, more taxing races. On reliability and durability, the hypercar regulations, which include a power limit of 500kW (680bhp), offer advantages for a V12 that was already built to withstand extremes. 'Running lean to reduce the amount of fuel you are carrying to deliver the required stint energy is important,' Aston Martin's endurance racing boss Adam Carter says. 'We operate the engine slower than it's capable of because we require less power. The lower power limit within the regulations creates an opportunity for us to revisit the torque curve and reduce frictional losses by reducing engine speed to increase fuel efficiency. 'In order to take a 6.5-litre V12 in that package and meet the regulatory requirements within WEC and Hypercar it's not possible to create that (a hybrid component),' Carter adds. 'Also, Aston Martin V12 engines feature throughout the product range, so running a sustainable fuel, lean-burn engine is synergy with that strategy. 'Everything is based on closed-loop torque controls at the rear wheels, and it's about how good a job you do at achieving that control. We're confident that we have a very capable package.' As an aside, there's been plenty of discussion regarding the decibel levels the car will produce in competition via its V12. When testing at Daytona at the end of last year, it ran quieter than expected. This, according to Carter, was the result of a cautious approach to silencing the car. The Valkyrie (shown here in its IMSA colors) sounded relatively tame during testing, but will sing with its full voice when it hits the track for real. 'When it first started running we were over-suppressed in terms of noise, we took a safe position in terms of silencing. The worst-case scenario is to get stopped in testing due to breaching noise limits,' he explains. 'We overcompensated, so as part of the development program, which has been driven purely by performance, has been to reduce the silencer size. It reduces the weight, the inertial loading on the exhaust, the underbody blockage and helps with cooling. 'In turn, this has unleashed more of that beautiful soundtrack. I'm really looking forward to hearing it in Qatar out on track.' Aerodynamically, the Valkyrie has had to evolve too, to meet the FIA's performance window criteria. The active aero devices found on the road-going model, for instance, are gone, replaced by a 'passive' solution that Aston Martin hopes will still see the AMR-LMH capable of fighting at the sharp end. 'We've had to redefine the aerodynamics. If you look at the car, actually we went out with great intention of leaving as much of the outward-facing surfaces as per the Valkyrie surfaces. It's important that it's the full representation of the Valkyrie where possible,' Carter explains. 'So, in terms of the re-positioning in the performance window, a lot of that is in the underfloor, the underfloor front wing area and you will also see, as per other LMH and LMDh cars, there's an amount of work put in place around the aerodynamic stability criteria. So, apertures in fenders, rear-wing end plates etc.' The suspension configuration has also been finalized. It features double wishbones front and rear, with pushrod actuated torsion bar springs with adjustable side and central dampers. And looking further, some significant tweaks have been implemented to ensure it is race-ready. Unlike the production model, the LMH boasts quick-change front and rear bodywork, a single-point rapid refuelling coupling, a high-speed pneumatic jack system incorporated into the chassis, and a driver cockpit optimised for safety and quick access. The three Valkyries that will be campaigned across IMSA and the FIA WEC will be operated mainly by Heart of Racing staff and driven by a pool of six drivers during the season. Aston Martin THOR Team has assembled a strong roster that blends youth with experience. While it will come as no surprise to keen observers that the likes of Marco Sorensen, Harry Tincknell, Alex Riberas, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis have received the nod due to their associations with either Heart of Racing and/or Aston Martin, the addition of Tom Gamble is a notable one. The 23-year-old Briton will race alongside Tincknell in the WEC full-time and joins this effort after departing McLaren's factory roster just last month. 'He's an extremely good young talent who comes from the BRDC Autosport Award program and has shown his talents through sportscar racing,' Carter says of Gamble. 'He also had his chance to show what he could do to Heart of Racing previously (at the Rolex 24 in GTD), making his mark there. 'We've got all these drivers building through their time with Aston, and that's something we see in all of the Aston racing programs. We see it as a family, and we like to develop as a group.' So what are the expectations for the program in Year 1? 'We fully respect the caliber of the competition and that's part of why Aston Martin Racing wants to compete in both WEC and IMSA,' Carter says. 'There's only really a point in going if the competition is strong. If we can complete this year having shown competitively, then I will take that as a good position.' Story originally appeared on Racer
