Meta does not have the most stellar of reputations. Despite offering the world’s most popular social media platforms, the company, through its various experiments throughout the years, continuously proves that it has other priorities than just providing the best for its users. Today, another reported experiment wants to take Meta to a new market that its users might fall into: the prediction market.

If you haven’t heard of the prediction market, consider yourself lucky. These apps, such as Kalshi, are basically just gambling platforms without the glitz of playing cards or the rigor of the stock market. Users gamble on mundane circumstances like the weather and more serious ones like war.

Today, as reported by The New York Times, Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly asking Meta to develop a prediction app of its own. Interestingly, the experimental app, supposedly called Arena, will use virtual points, rather than real money. However, Meta has not ruled out real money — and hence, real gambling — in the future.

Meta is entering the industry at an extremely volatile time. The world is starting to crack down on prediction markets. Some users, for example, have been accused of using insider information to get easy wins on these platforms. Some markets have also accused these platforms of subverting anti-gambling laws.

SEE ALSO: Meta adds subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp

The Steam Machine is the most anticipated gaming device this year. Valve’s upcoming machine aims to deliver a PC gaming experience in a convenient package. Today, the price of the Steam Machine was finally unveiled, and it’s a doozy. But did you know that it was supposed to be much, much cheaper?

Now, we already know that the Steam Machine was cheaper before, but we didn’t really know how much cheaper. Speaking to IGN, Valve essentially confirmed the Machine followed the same price hikes as the Steam Deck, which experienced an increase of over US$ 200.

After doing a bit of algebra, it can be assumed that the Steam Machine was supposed to start at around US$ 750. That’s a huge jump, considering that the more expensive variant currently costs almost US$ 1,500, almost double the price of the original.

Unfortunately, that’s just how the industry works these days. Because of the ongoing RAM crisis, several manufacturers have already confirmed price hikes happening throughout the year. Apple, most recently, announced that price increases might come soon because of the untenability of shouldering the costs themselves.

It gets worse for the Machine, though. Despite being expensive, the price tag doesn’t really reflect the specs you’re getting. You can certainly grab a gaming laptop with better specs for around the same (or even a smaller) price tag, especially considering that Valve’s console-but-not-really-a-console doesn’t come with peripherals yet.

SEE ALSO: Steam Machine price, reservation system revealed

Admit it; you probably have a hoard of free games languishing on the Epic Games Store. Though it’s nice that Epic gives away games every week, the overall inconvenience of using the platform sadly outweighs the freebies. Now, the company is finally redesigning the app from the ground up with a distinct focus on making it much faster.

Earlier this year, Epic admitted that “the launcher sucks.” Though the company cited a number of reasons, the number one culprit is certainly speed. Compared to its contemporaries (especially Steam), the Epic Games Launcher leaves much to be desired. The platform just doesn’t let users into their games as quickly as Steam does.

During the recent Unreal Fest, Epic, via @LuKaOnIndeed on X, confirmed that the entire launcher will be rebuilt to be “5x to 6.5x faster.”

The performance improvements will come with other new features including player profiles and user written reviews. Epic’s vision of the future looks completely different from how the launcher is today.

Though the company doesn’t have a definite timeline right now, Epic promises that the updates will come later this summer.

It does remain to be seen whether these updates will change anything about how users perceive the platform. For the longest time, gamers consider Steam as the platform of choice. Some users even repurchase their Epic games (sometimes obtained for free) on Steam just to have it on the platform they prefer.