On Monday, OpenAI announced it has signed a seven-year, $38 billion deal to buy cloud services from Amazon Web Services to power products like ChatGPT and Sora. It’s the company’s first big computing deal after a fundamental restructuring last week that gave OpenAI more operational and financial freedom from... Read more

Romania’s National Gambling Office has added Polymarket to its blacklist of unauthorized gambling operator websites. The National Gambling Office (ONJN) added Polymarket to its blacklist as of October 29, meaning it has found that the platofrm has been conducting gambling activities without a license on Romanian territory. This comes after... Read more

Soon after Sora dropped its invite-only requirement, OpenAI is already moving to monetize the popular AI video social media app. The company has introduced paid “video generation packs,” allowing you to purchase additional AI-generated videos after reaching the daily free limit. Read also: Deepfake Videos Are More Realistic Than Ever.... Read more

All of it came shrink-wrapped in its own sections, in little bamboo and/or cardboard boats set into a reusable acacia wood tray. All I had to do was unwrap the sections and arrange the crackers. There are three different board sizes (Classic serves 2-3, Medium serves 4-5, and Large... Read more

I’m thrilled to announce a fantastic new addition to our leadership team: Karyne Levy is joining VentureBeat as our new Managing Editor. Today is her first day. Many of you may know Karyne from her most recent role as Deputy Managing Editor at TechCrunch, but her career is a... Read more

Victoria Gate Casino in Leeds has been shut down after the UK Gambling Commission suspended its license. Leeds’ Victoria Gate Casino was shut down on Friday (October 31), following an investigation by the Gambling Commission due to concerns about anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing risks. The UKGC has suspended... Read more

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has the best screen on any phone that I’ve tested, but it was largely an incremental update over its predecessor. Samsung removed some S Pen features, making it more like a traditional stylus rather than one that connects over Bluetooth for Air Actions or... Read more

Chicago always has something to prove. When it went up against New York for the 1893 World’s Fair, a New York Sun reporter called out its “windbag” campaigners. Illinois ended up hosting the fair, and Chicago embraced its new identity as the Windy City. That chip-on-the-shoulder energy still defines... Read more

Snooker is a game that has long been associated with conservative play, lengthy matches, and a standard pattern of shots and breaks. Each shot is well-established, many safety battles have been played out in similar ways, and each elite player has their own style of break building.  Ask anyone... Read more

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles. Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a fun one. The purple category, as always, is a real brain-bender. If you’re... Read more