Author: Merrel Briona

It’s been 13 years since Rockstar dropped a new mainline Grand Theft Auto, so there was always going to be a fairly large crowd for the next one. A week before launch, we’re getting a sense of just how big that crowd is.

Eight days before its Nov. 19 release, GTA 6 has already topped $1 billion in preorders, according to an estimate from market research firm Sensor Tower. The firm also estimates that players worldwide have preordered more than 10 million digital copies for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. (About three out of every four orders were for PS5, The Washington Post reported on Nov. 11.) The previous game, GTA V, hit that same $1 billion milestone three days after it went on sale in 2013, according to publisher Take-Two Interactive.

Take-Two has yet to share its own preorder tally for the sequel, though CEO Strauss Zelnick wrote in a release on Monday that orders were reaching “unprecedented levels.” Both Sony and Microsoft also said it’s already the most preordered game in the history of their respective digital stores.

Rockstar opened preloads on Nov. 10, so players can get the download out of the way before launch day.

The hype for GTA 6 has been building for nearly three years, ever since Rockstar released its first trailer in December 2023. It drew more than 90 million YouTube views in 24 hours, setting a Guinness World Record, and has 302 million views as of Nov. 11, 2026.

Rockstar gave fans more than trailers to watch while they waited. In August, it premiered Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, a 27-minute preview made entirely from in-game footage, on Netflix before putting it on YouTube later that day. The rollout spilled into music, too. The official album drops alongside the game on Nov. 19, and two days later, Rockstar and PlayStation will host a music festival in Miami with performances from Cardi B, Travis Scott, and Justice, who composed the game’s score.

Streamers have made their own entertainment out of the countdown. IShowSpeed reacted to the launch trailer on YouTube, amassing 1.7 million views, while Twitch streamer Kai Cenat has gone back through the series, spending more than 130 hours playing five older GTA games.

The anticipation has reached a level where Hollywood’s ears have perked up. When Screen Engine and The Wrap asked people which upcoming movie, show, or game they were most excited about, GTA 6 came out on top for the sixth week in a row, drawing 8.3 percent of mentions in the latest survey, ahead of Avengers: Doomsday at 6.7 percent.

That’s unfortunate data to see as an entertainment exec, especially considering The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens the next day, when new seasons of Yellowjackets and Percy Jackson and the Olympians also premiere. All three are arriving on a weekend when some fans have already taken time off to spend in Vice City. “Hollywood should look at the hours as closely as the dollars,” The Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley told The Hollywood Reporter.

When I say time off, by the way, I mean literally. Some fans have already blocked off those hours on their work calendars. As Mashable’s Amanda Yeo noted in September, a Thursday release means two vacation days can buy a four-day weekend playing the game, though some were already talking about taking a week or more. HR software company BambooHR found that employees requested Nov. 19 off at a rate 13 percent higher than for comparable days in 2024 and 2025. In a separate survey, 18 percent of salaried workers said they planned to take launch day off to play.

As for workplaces, the company Logitech is giving employees a day off to play a game of their choice, and its gaming division will stream from its San Jose headquarters on launch day. Even an Army unit at Fort Stewart in Georgia allegedly offered eligible soldiers a four-day pass timed to the release if they reenlisted by Nov. 14.

By the time Avengers: Doomsday opens in December, those launch-day vacation days will be long gone. The question for Hollywood is how many people will still want to spend their precious free time in Vice City versus watching TV or going to the movies. If preorders are any indication, quite a few.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily or sent straight to your device? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.

As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is being investigated for having an affair with an alleged Chinese spy, let’s not lose sight of the core of the story: an uber-rich dude who cheated on his wife the moment he became a global celebrity.

Jensen and Lori Huang have been together for over 41 years. Lori has been by Jensen’s side since he was a broke college student, when according to Jensen’s telling, he wooed her by promising to get her straight As — and, upping the ante, that he’d be a CEO by the time he was 30. He stayed true to his word: when he was 30 years old, he co-founded Nvidia. 

“Lori’s been with me for a long time, our whole life,” Jensen told Singapore-based news channel CNA in a May interview. “She’s been part of Nvidia every step of the way.”

Lori was instrumental to Jensen’s start. A talented engineer like her husband, she got a job at a Silicon Valley tech company and, initially, earned a higher salary than he did. But when Jensen pursued starting his own company, it was Lori who sacrificed her career so she could take care of their two children, Spence and Madison.

Jensen often acknowledges her sacrifice, notes the New York Times, quoting a 2014 interview.

“It’s good to have someone in your life who unconditionally believes in you, who believes you’re doing your best,” Jensen said. “You need people like that, and Lori’s always been that person for me — ever since I was 18, she was there believing in me and knowing I could do it. Even when I had self-doubts, she didn’t.”

Jensen’s company would first find success selling gaming graphics cards. It then cemented itself as the premier manufacturer of AI chips, catapulting its valuation into the trillions of dollars. Jensen became not just an enormously successful businessman but a veritable celebrity, an image he was happy to play into with his signature collection of leather jackets. Like the rockstar he was dressing himself to be, at one point he even signed a women’s chest.

Lori, meanwhile, stayed out of the limelight. Though she attended the same state dinners and glitzy conferences as her husband, she typically resigned herself to the background. But her support was indispensable. At “every moment of Nvidia, she was there,” Huang said. And unlike other spouses of wealthy industry barons, she wasn’t concerned about boosting her own public image by promoting her own philanthropic pursuits.

“Lori is unusually modest by the standards of billionaire couples,” longtime Daily News gossip columnist George Rush told the NYT.

Huang may very well be completely sincere about the praise he’s shown his wife. But in the end, he betrayed her trust. 

On Sunday, he admitted to having an extramarital affair with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang (no relation), an executive at the Singapore-based cloud computing firm Megaspeed. The US government is alleging that Alice Huang is a Chinese intelligence asset who was recruited to spy on Huang and possibly help divert Nvidia’s chips into China.

Huang fessed up to his infidelity in a letter to his employees at Nvidia — where both of his children also work.

“Throughout my life, my family has given me love and support. They deserve my honesty and loyalty,” he wrote. “Instead, I let them down and damaged the life we built together.”

More on Nvidia: If Jensen Huang’s Wife Cuts Him Loose, She Could Get the Largest Divorce Settlement of All Time

Investing.com — Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google is expanding its reach across Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) ecosystem by bringing its Gemini artificial intelligence assistant directly to Apple CarPlay. The integration allows drivers to conduct hands-free, two-way conversations with Gemini Live through vehicle dashboard displays, with all voice exchanges automatically syncing back to the iOS app.

Our AI stock portfolio is beating the S&P 500 by 118%. Discover the stocks we’re buying and the opportunities we’re watching next. Exclusive for Yahoo! Finance readers: 55% off for Black Friday, plus an extra 10% at checkout. Subscribe today! »

The rollout follows Google’s earlier deployments on Android Auto and vehicles running Google built-in software, underscoring Big Tech’s push to secure consumer engagement during daily drive times. By linking directly into Google Workspace services such as Gmail and Google Calendar, the assistant enables drivers to summarize unread email threads, dictate replies, and review daily agendas behind the wheel.

Stop chasing stocks after they’ve already rallied. Find your next investment opportunity with AI stock picks, earnings insights, and market-moving news. Yahoo! Finance readers get an extra 10% off on top of the 55% off Black Friday price. Join today! »

For Apple, the move highlights a continuing shift toward opening its long-restricted automotive interface to outside generative AI platforms. While CarPlay historically limited dashboard voice control strictly to Apple’s native Siri assistant, the company opened the platform earlier this year to competing AI engines, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, SpaceX’s Grok, and Perplexity.

Against that backdrop, vehicle cabins have emerged as an active operational battleground for AI providers racing to make their interfaces daily consumer habits. The automotive setting offers an ideal deployment test for voice-driven reasoning models, where screen-free utility and natural conversation provide clear consumer value over conventional touch-based mobile apps.

Google said the feature is beginning a global rollout across all languages supported by Gemini Live for users with updated iOS applications. The strategic integration ensures Google maintains a competitive foothold inside Apple’s lucrative hardware installed base as multi-modal AI models increasingly contest primary interface roles across mobile and connected environments.

Original Article

Google rolls out Gemini AI voice assistant to Apple CarPlay dashboards

JPMorgan names top Mid & Small Cap stock pick

Nomura explores sale of crypto unit Laser Digital, report says