Latest news with #Overture
Business Wire
15-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Overture Life Appoints Former Butterfly Network Executive Matt Combs as Chief Commercial Officer to Lead Scale-up of IVF Automation Technology as Demand Surges Worldwide
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Overture Life, the leader in automated IVF technology that delivered the first live births in the world from automated fertilization and egg freezing, today announced the appointment of Matthew Combs as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Combs joins Overture to drive global expansion amid rising domestic and international demand for IVF automation technology that directly addresses the embryologist shortages worldwide. In the newly created role, Combs will lead the company's global commercialization as it expands access to technology that automates fertilization and egg freezing processes previously done by hand. These include the ICSI.A, the world's first robot for automated fertilization, and the DaVitri, for automated, consistent, high-quality vitrification that will expand egg freezing beyond specialized IVF facilities. Combs will focus on scaling Overture Life's fertility technologies to meet growing clinic demand. Combs has over 15 years of experience driving rapid revenue growth and scaling organizations across healthcare and medtech, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He most recently served as Chief Growth Officer at Amalgam, where he led the market expansion of the company's SaaS products. In 2017, Combs joined Butterfly Network as the first commercial hire when the company was pre-revenue, helping scale operations to over $70 million in annual revenue before the company went public in 2021. During his tenure, he transitioned from leading early-stage business development to serving as VP of Sales for the business, managing the commercial organization through periods of rapid growth. He has also held commercial leadership roles at Boston Scientific, Stryker, and FUJIFILM Sonosite. 'We're seeing clinics from the US and Europe, to Latin America and Asia asking when they can get our systems,' said Hans Gangeskar, CEO of Overture Life. 'Matt's track record building Butterfly Network into a public company gives us exactly the commercial expertise we need as we move from proving our technology works to scaling it globally. The demand is increasing exponentially as clinics want automation that actually delivers tangible results.' 'What I've seen with Overture's technology reminds me of the early excitement around Butterfly Network, that sense of a solution arriving at exactly the right moment,' said Combs. 'IVF has been constrained by manual processes that create barriers to accessibility and inconsistency in performance. Overture's automation addresses real operational challenges that clinics face every day, from embryologist shortages to the need for affordable and predictable outcomes.' About Overture Life Overture Life integrates engineering, reproductive medicine, and regulatory-grade validation to modernize embryology lab procedures, particularly fertility preservation and embryo handling, in ways that lower repeated cycles, increase throughput, and reduce the overall cost of IVF. With R&D in Spain and active U.S. operations, including a CLIA-licensed laboratory for non-invasive embryo selection, Overture unites robotics, analytics, and clinical rigor to deliver tools that clinics and patients can trust. The company's DaVitri platform aims to boost reliability and consistency in IVF, giving women and families worldwide more control over their fertility timelines. Overture's backers include Overwater Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Khosla Ventures, Octopus Ventures and others committed to advancing the future of fertility.
Digital Trends
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
We need to stop arguing about difficulty settings in games
It seems as though every six months or so the discourse around difficulty settings in video games lights up across pockets of the internet — typically tied to the release of the latest soulslike. These games pride themselves on being a challenging experience in which overcoming the odds through skill and dedication is the ultimate reward for most players. Many enjoy piecing together the lore, exploring the world, or playing with the fashion as well, but it is the sense of pride one gets from overcoming these tough, but fair, obstacles that has made it one of the most popular genres in recent memory. Naturally, this leads to some debate about whether or not these games should offer any difficulty options, and if they do, like Lies of P: Overture has not so long ago, if playing on a lower difficulty 'counts,' is not the 'developer's intent,' or one of a handfull of other reasons that miss the point entirely. There is no argument to be had surrounding difficulty settings and it is time we stopped pretending there is. One size doesn't fit all Difficulty settings are accessibility settings, full stop. We might not think of them the same way we do colorblind or visual indicators for sound cues, but there's functionally no difference. If an option allows someone to experience a piece of media they otherwise couldn't, it should be celebrated. Suggesting that lowering the difficulty is somehow cheating or not getting the 'real' experience just sounds like gatekeeping and ignores the main reason those options exist. It is there for people who, for whatever reason, could not engage with the game on the default setting. Everyone is at a different skill level before taking into account genre familiarity, time, and any disabilities. You and I might experience the same level of challenge, but on opposite difficulty levels because our natural skill levels simply vary that much. Recommended Videos It should go without saying, but everyone is unique. That is why options exist. Even in cases where someone uses an easier difficulty when they could spend the time practicing to overcome the challenge, why should it matter to anyone else if they decide to lower the difficulty? We all come to games for different things and enjoy them for different reasons. A newer argument I've seen cropping up as of late pivots the focus from people who use lower difficulty options robbing themselves of something to robbing the developers. The term I see thrown around most often is 'developer's intent' and the assumption that the default difficulty, or a game without any options, is the way developers want players to experience the game. While quite presumptuous on its face, I do get the logic. Whatever the normal difficulty is tends to be what the game was balanced for first, with higher and lower options being tuned after the fact. That isn't always the case, of course, but it seems to be the most common approach. That's about as far as I'm willing to go with that logic, though. For one, every major game goes through tons of changes and playtesting to find the right level of challenge. That doesn't stop when a game releases anymore, either. Elden Ring underwent some major balance changes for bosses, weapons, and abilities. Was the original version the developer's intent before bosses like Radahn got nerfed, or after? Difficulty is a fluid thing and always the result of the entire team working to find a balance that appeals to the target audience best. Again, this goes right back to the first point where what is easy for some might be overwhelming for others. We need to stop pretending that difficulty is a one-size-fits-all situation. Even if you believe that a developer wants a game to be hard, understand that 'hard' is a subjective term. Me playing on easy might pose just as much challenge to me as you playing on ultra-nightmare, or whatever. Even if we lived in a perfect world where everyone was at the same skill level and there were no disabilities to accommodate, there's nothing to gain by shaming people for playing a game differently than you. The death of the author should apply just as much to narrative as difficulty in games — we should be free to experience and take away whatever we want from a game.
Tom's Guide
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Lies of P: Overture is a massive expansion for one of my favorite PS5 games — and it's absolutely brutal
2023 was considered a pretty phenomenal year for video games. The likes of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Resident Evil 4 remake, Baldur's Gate 3 and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 all duked it out for the majority of GOTY awards (Spidey ultimately won ours). While I thoroughly enjoyed all of those titles, my personal pick for the best game of the year was Lies of P. And after all this time, I stand by it. This action-Souls-like shamelessly cribs from the works of genre-originator FromSoftware, and feels a lot like the Bloodborne sequel we all want, but Sony frustratingly refuses to actually give us (Please, Sony, even a remaster will do). I loved almost every moment of my 60 hours spent with Lies of P across two playthroughs (one on PS5, the other on Steam Deck OLED), and that playtime just increased thanks to its meaty new DLC expansion. Called Lies of P: Overture, it offers you the chance to return to the gothic city of Krat and square off against a new range of tough bosses that will do their very best to cut you down. In a nutshell, Overture is more of the brilliant Lies of P experience I love, but with the difficulty ramped up to 11. Lies of P: Overture: $29 @ PlayStation StoreLies of: Overture is the new DLC expansion for 2023's critically acclaimed action-Soulslike Lies of P. Adding around 15 hours of new content, you explore a past version of the city of Krat, and take on very challenging bosses. To help you fight back against the numerous tricky foes, you get access to a suite of new weapons and powerful abilities. Additional platforms: $29 @ Steam | $29 @ Xbox Store In Lies of P: Overture, you once again play as Geppetto's deadly puppet and are tasked with exploring the nightmare city of Krat. The wrinkle is that this time, you've stepped into the past to experience the striking location before the events of the base game. But it's certainly no more welcoming in this period. The Puppet Frenzy massacre, the aftermath of which you encounter in the base game, is currently ongoing, dropping you into the thick of a city in complete turmoil with chaotic scenes of violence and blue blood all around. So, where do you go first? The Zoo, of course. Overture's opening takes you to Krat Zoo, and it might just be my favorite level in all of Lies of P. Fighting back against deformed animals from aggressive ages, to a truly twisted type of kangaroo, sees the body-horror, which was already a strong theme in Lies of P, ramped up to new grotesque levels. And the first major boss fight, an oversized crocodile, is an absolutely doozy. Later DLC locations like an underground facility and a cavernous mine are less visually dynamic, but the final two of Overture's five chapters do occur in more visually distinctive settings (which I won't spoil here). So, the DLC starts and ends strong, with a slightly mundane middle. The core game's fast-paced combat is maintained, which is a very good thing, because outside of the works of FromSoftware, Lies of P offers the best Soulslike gameplay I've ever played. Though, for the record, I still suck at parrying, so the dodge button remains my best friend. Perhaps the DLC's biggest addition is its numerous lore implications and revelations. I'm far from a Lies of P scholar, but I was constantly finding hidden notes that had me rethinking what I thought I knew about the Lies of P universe and the characters within it. If you enjoyed the well-told story of the base game, you're going to love what you learn here. Alongside the new levels to explore, there's also a bunch of useful new weapons to pick up, new gear to wear and powerful legion arms, including my personal favorite, which lets you shoot spinning sawblades from your wrist. Adding around 10-15 hours of new content, Lies of P: Overture is solid value for money at its $29 price. But fair warning, prepare for a tough time. If I have one substantial criticism of Lies of P: Overture, it's that developer Neowiz has gone a little too far in its efforts to make this DLC the hardest content in the game to date. As part of the Soulslike subgenre, Lies of P was always a tough game by design. And that's part of the reason I loved it so much. Few feelings are better in gaming than slaying a testing boss after dozens of attempts. And some of the base game bosses rank as my favorite ever in the genre. In fact, it's not Overture's bosses where the overtuned difficulty can be felt. Aside from one late-game dud, these named DLC combatants are mostly brilliant. The last boss in particular gives Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree a run for its money. Finally bringing them down had me leaping from my chair in satisfaction after they had torn my face off for almost an hour. The problem arises in the various open spaces, corridors and choke points between bosses. Regular enemy mobs have had their health pools and damage-dealing abilities seriously beefed up, and even my max-level weapons often felt like merely smacking a raging puppet with a pool noodle. Overture also appears to have taken cues from the divisive Dark Souls 2, as not only are standard enemies extremely overpowered, they're also thrown at you in sometimes ludicrous quantities. I'm taking crammed rooms that contain an enemy count in the double digits. This leads to numerous sections that are a complete slog to play as you regularly find yourself swarmed by enemies that can send you to an early grave in just a few hits, and that take a practically silly amount of damage to be defeated. These moments see Lies of P: Overture fall on the wrong side of the fine line between frustration and fun. To somewhat counteract this issue, Lies of P: Overture's launch has coincided with a major free upgrade that adds two new difficulty options to the game. One is marked as essentially easy, the other very easy. Of course, for dedicated Souls players, dropping the difficulty is antithetical to why the genre appeals; the struggle is supposed to be part of the experience. I should warn any new players hoping these new difficulty settings might allow them to breeze through the game, and enjoy the excellent world-building and rich lore, even on the simplest setting, Lies of P: Overture still puts up a real fight. You will need some skill, whatever level you play on. Overall, Lies of P: Overture has given me the perfect excuse to return to one of my favorite games of this current gaming generation. It's a largely well-crafted expansion with some intriguing new locations to explore, and some tough but tantalizing new bosses to overcome. I just wish the supposedly "regular" enemies didn't always hit with the force of a turbocharged monster truck. However, after rolling credits on Overture, my itch for more Lies of P remains burning, which is perhaps its biggest accomplishment. I was already desperate for the already-confirmed full sequel, and after experiencing Lies of P: Overture, that wait is going to feel just a little bit longer.
Scottish Sun
13-06-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
‘Son of Concorde' bosses reveal over 600 routes could see flight times HALVED including 3.5-hour trips from UK to US
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MAKERS of a supersonic plane have revealed there are more than 600 global routes where Concorde-style speedy flights could slash flying times by as much as half. And a 3.5 hour trip between the UK and US is "absolutely" possible, the company told The Sun. 2 2 The "Son of Concorde" reached supersonic speeds in January Credit: Boom Technology Boom Technology has been testing its XB-1 test jet which managed to fly faster than the speed of sound in January. One of the hurdles they've overcome from supersonic flying is the sound. The firm's jet, aptly dubbed the "Son of Concorde", has no audible sonic boom. A number of orders from the likes of American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines have already been made for Boom Technology's passenger jet model, Overture. Read more about flights SPEED OF SOUND 'Son of Concorde' test pilot reveals update on jet's first supersonic flight President Trump recently signed an executive order effectively lifting a 52-year ban on civil supersonic flight over land in the US. "While Boom is pleased to see the regulatory pathways to supersonic flight clearing, Boom's business case has never been predicated on regulatory change," a spokesperson for Boom told The Sun. "There are over 600 global routes that are economically viable for supersonic flight—even without going supersonic over land. "Now that rules are being updated to allow boomless supersonic flight over land in the US, additional routes will benefit from speedups. "Boom's supersonic airliner, Overture, will fly transatlantic routes, such as New York to London, at its full cruising speed of Mach 1.7 over water – about twice as fast as today's conventional airliners." "Boomless Cruise enables Overture to fly at speeds up to Mach 1.3 over land without an audible boom - up to 50% faster than subsonic jets - reducing US coast-to-coast flight times by up to 90 minutes. I'm a Boom supersonic test pilot - my day job is testing a new generation of Concordes "International routes with overland segments can also benefit from increased speeds." The company also revealed that Overture "remains on target" to get certification from relevant bodies including the FAA by the end of the decade so it can carry passengers. Bosses are aiming to roll out the first Overture in three years, and be flight testing in four. To accomplish that, they expect production of the first aircraft in the "Superfactory" to start next year. WHY DID CONCORDE FAIL? CONCORDE was the supersonic passenger jet considered the ultimate luxury in air travel. Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their fleet of Concorde planes on April 10, 2003. The plane had its first commercial flight on January 21, 1976, so was retired after 27 years of service and 50,000 flights. Several reasons led to the decision to retire Concorde. Air France and British Airways cited low passenger numbers and high maintenance costs. By the early noughties, the planes were outdated and expensive to run, despite being incredibly advanced when they were first introduced almost three decades previously. The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 majorly impacted passenger numbers, as people opted not to fly. Passenger numbers also fell after an Air France Concorde crashed just minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000. The disaster killed all 109 people on board and four others on the ground. The plane ran over a small piece of metal on the runway, which burst a tyre and caused an engine to ignite. It was also the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer. Image credit: Alamy By the end of this year, they expect to produce thrust during fully-operational engine core tests for Overture's bespoke engine, Symphony. "Boom's current order book accounts for the first five years of production at the Overture Superfactory in North Carolina," the spokesperson added. "Airlines have been very receptive to Overture and the competitive advantages of supersonic travel. "In fact, the passenger research we have conducted indicates that 87% of passengers are willing to switch from their preferred airline in order to gain access to supersonic travel."
The Irish Sun
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Irish Sun
‘Son of Concorde' bosses reveal over 600 routes could see flight times HALVED including 3.5-hour trips from UK to US
MAKERS of a supersonic plane have revealed there are more than 600 global routes where Concorde-style speedy flights could slash flying times by as much as half. And Advertisement 2 2 The "Son of Concorde" reached supersonic speeds in January Credit: Boom Technology Boom Technology has been testing its XB-1 test jet which managed to fly faster than the speed of sound in January. One of the hurdles they've overcome from supersonic flying is the sound. The firm's jet, aptly dubbed the "Son of Concorde", has no audible sonic boom. A number of orders from the likes of American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines have already been made for Boom Technology's passenger jet model, Overture. Advertisement Read more about flights President Trump recently "While Boom is pleased to see the regulatory pathways to supersonic flight clearing, Boom's business case has never been predicated on regulatory change," a spokesperson for Boom told The Sun. "There are over 600 global routes that are economically viable for supersonic flight—even without going supersonic over land. "Now that rules are being updated to allow boomless supersonic flight over land in the US, additional routes will benefit from speedups. Advertisement Most read in Tech Exclusive Latest "Boom's supersonic airliner, Overture, will fly transatlantic routes, such as New York to London, at its full cruising speed of Mach 1.7 over water – about twice as fast as today's conventional airliners." "Boomless Cruise enables Overture to fly at speeds up to Mach 1.3 over land without an audible boom - up to 50% faster than subsonic jets - reducing US coast-to-coast flight times by up to 90 minutes. I'm a Boom supersonic test pilot - my day job is testing a new generation of Concordes "International routes with overland segments can also benefit from increased speeds." The company also revealed that Overture "remains on target" to get certification from relevant bodies including the FAA by the end of the decade so it can carry passengers. Advertisement Bosses are aiming to roll out the first To accomplish that, they expect production of the first aircraft in the "Superfactory" to start next year. WHY DID CONCORDE FAIL? CONCORDE was the supersonic passenger jet considered the ultimate luxury in air travel. Air France and British Airways announced they would be The plane had its first commercial flight on January 21, 1976, so was retired after 27 years of service and 50,000 flights. Several reasons led to the decision to retire Concorde. Air France and British Airways cited low passenger numbers and high maintenance costs. By the early noughties, the planes were outdated and expensive to run, despite being incredibly advanced when they were first introduced almost three decades previously. The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 majorly impacted passenger numbers, as people opted not to fly. Passenger numbers also fell after an The disaster The plane ran over a small It was also the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer. Image credit: Alamy By the end of this year, they expect to produce thrust during fully-operational engine core tests for Overture's bespoke engine, Symphony. "Boom's current order book accounts for the first five years of production at the Overture Superfactory in North Carolina," the spokesperson added. Advertisement "Airlines have been very receptive to Overture and the competitive advantages of supersonic travel. "In fact, the passenger research we have conducted indicates that 87% of passengers are willing to switch from their preferred airline in order to gain access to supersonic travel." THE RISE OF SUPERSONIC AND HYPERSONIC There are several types of hypersonic and supersonic jets. A breakdown of what's been happening in the industry and what's expected in the coming years. Talon-A Built by Stratolaunch Reported speeds of Mach 5 The first test flight conducted in 2024 Built by Nasa and Lockheed Martin Predicted max speeds of Mach 1.4 The first test flight in 2024 - but subject to delays Built by Venus Aerospace and Velontra Predicted max speeds of Mach 6 First test flight in 2025 Built by Hermeus Predicted max speeds of Mach 2.5 First test flight in 2026 Built by Hermeus Predicted max speeds of Mach 5 First test flight by 2030 Built by China's hypersonic plane programme Predicted max speeds of Mach 6 First test flight in 2025 Built by Hypersonix Launch Systems Predicted max speeds of Mach 7 First test flight in 2025
