If you're looking for ways to further expand your virtual life in the metaverse, maybe consider fostering a dog.
Pet food maker Pedigree is offering metaverse users a chance to foster a pet from the real world — in the comfort of the virtual one. It's being dubbed as the 'FOSTERVERSE' and the goal of the virtual activation is to find sheltered pets forever homes.
In order to be eligible for virtual fostering, a user must be a "landowner" on the metaverse platform Decentraland. Landowners will be given access to the pet adoption site 'Adopt a Pet' and will be able to choose the furry friend they want. Those that do not own land can still interact with pets but cannot adopt.
As part of the activation, Pedigree is also set to match donations to its Pedigree Foundation up to $100,000. The organization specifically focuses on helping dogs find forever homes.
Jean-Paul Jansen, the vice president of marketing for Mars Petcare North America, said that virtual fostering is an expansion of the company's mission to end pet homelessness.
"Both the Pedigree brand and Pedigree Foundation have long histories of supporting animal shelters and promoting dog adoption, and this program enables people to support deserving dogs in a new way through virtual fostering," he said in a statement.
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
Visa is hoping to hand your credit card to an artificial intelligence “agent” that can find and buy clothes, groceries, airplane tickets and other items on your behalf.
Shares of Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, are hitting three-year highs on Monday after it received a $3.6 billion proposed takeover offer from DoorDash.
X, the social media platform owned by Trump adviser Elon Musk, is challenging the constitutionality of a Minnesota ban on using deepfakes to influence elections and harm candidates.
The State Bar of California has disclosed that some multiple-choice questions in a problem-plagued bar exam were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence.
