Paipai News: GTA 6 Sparks a Wave of Time-Off Requests

According to The Wall Street Journal, Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to officially launch at midnight EST on November 19. This marks the franchise's first mainline sequel in 13 years. As a result, international gamers are sparking a massive wave of taking time off, with many professionals planning their annual leave or comp time months in advance just to immerse themselves in the game on release day, effectively turning the launch date into an unofficial holiday within the global gaming community.

Currently, across major social media platforms, players are sharing their leave-request strategies, with time off generally ranging from five days to two weeks. To secure gaming time, some players have even prepared multiple days' worth of meals in advance and adjusted their sleep schedules. This enthusiasm has even spread to military bases; the U.

S. Army's 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion previously introduced a special retention incentive program, promising a dedicated four-day leave for soldiers who renew their contracts within a specified period to experience GTA 6. Out of 130 eligible soldiers, 44 have already applied to stay for this reason.

As one of the most commercially valuable entertainment IPs globally, the Grand Theft Auto series has sold nearly 475 million copies cumulatively. When the predecessor GTA 5 was released in 2013, it took only three days to surpass $1 billion in sales. The new installment is set in the fictional state of Leonida, inspired by Florida, USA, and the second trailer garnered nearly 500 million views on its first day.

Despite multiple delays and content leaks, GTA 6 has not diminished the global market's anticipation for this open-world blockbuster.

Sam Altman Commissions Luxury Watches for OpenAI Executives According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently partnered with Swiss watchmaker Vanguart to customize seven premium watches featuring the OpenAI logo, exclusively for himself and the company's core members. The custom timepiece is based on Vanguart's titanium Orb series, which starts at $180,000 (approx. 1.21 million RMB), and incorporates numerous AI culture details. The automatic rotor is engraved with an Altman quote, "COMPUTE IS DESTINY," the crown button bears the AI term "SCALING," and the case back is etched with a line of Python code: if AGI.aligned: deploy(), signifying that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) must only be deployed once safety alignment is ensured. Beyond the high-end custom pieces for management, OpenAI's head of applied research previously revealed that Tudor, a brand under Rolex, had also customized 400 watches with the OpenAI logo for the company, with the case back engraved with the OpenAI slogan, "Good Research Takes Time." In recent years, custom watches commissioned by tech giants have grown increasingly popular. Employees from other tech companies like Adobe have also recently begun collaborating with independent watchmakers to release limited exclusive editions. Data from online watch auction platforms shows that custom watches bearing the logos of companies like Meta and Amazon often fetch higher prices than standard models on the secondary market. For Silicon Valley professionals, these custom watches are evolving into a unique symbol of tech culture and an "insider" status credential.

Hisense Releases A10 Series E-ink Phone On August 28, Hisense released the A10 series e-ink phone. The Hisense A10 runs on the Android 16 system and utilizes the Qualcomm Dragonwing Q-6690 octa-core processor. Built on a 4nm process, the processor features a prime core clocked at 2.9GHz, supports 5G, and delivers baseline performance roughly comparable to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The device features a 6.13-inch Carta 1300 e-ink display with a resolution of 1648x824 (300ppi), supporting 36 levels of warm and cool front light. The cameras consist of an 8MP front sensor and a 48MP rear sensor. The Ultra version comes standard with a 4.96-inch LCD screen attached magnetically to the back. The Hisense A10 has a 4000mAh battery, supporting 18W wired and 15W wireless charging, and includes NFC and infrared remote control capabilities. The body weighs 190g and is available in white and green color options. The A10 series is priced starting at 2799 RMB (Pro version 8+128) and goes up to 3898 RMB (Ultra version 12+512).

Pixel 11 Cuts Memory Security Features, GrapheneOS Considers Dropping Support On August 30, the GrapheneOS team, an open-source mobile system renowned for its focus on privacy and security, announced that due to Google cutting critical ARM hardware Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) support in the Pixel 11 series, the team may abandon adapting the OS for these models and strongly advises security-conscious users not to purchase the Pixel 11. MTE is a core hardware security feature under the ARM architecture used to prevent memory corruption vulnerabilities, effectively blocking the vast majority of remote exploits and local attacks. GrapheneOS has utilized MTE as the default protection mechanism for the underlying kernel and system-wide processes since the Google Pixel 8. During adaptation testing, the team discovered that the Pixel 11 lacks MTE support across software, firmware, and even hardware levels, which they speculate is a cost-cutting measure by Google. Although the Pixel 11 upgrades to post-quantum secure verified boot and the Titan M3 security chip, the team pointed out that losing MTE will lead to a significant regression in device security post-unlock, making the overall security performance even worse than the previous generation Pixel 10. As the industry broadly follows memory security...