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The Google Finance web app is getting a major overhaul with an emphasis on AI. This redesign includes an AI-powered chatbot, which will answer finance-based queries and provide relevant links. Here's hoping the chatbot will keep hallucinations to a minimum, given that people use the app to make financial decisions with real world consequences.The platform is also introducing new charting tools that the company says should help users understand asset performance. There will be options to view technical indicators and candlestick charts.Google boasts that the app will soon feature a broader range of market data. This includes an increased emphasis on cryptocurrencies. The app will also display an "up-to-the-minute" live news feed, which should be a decent resource for tracking market fluctuations.However, not everyone wants to use a chatbot to make major financial decisions. The update includes a toggle that reverts everything back to the traditional Google Finance design. It begins rolling out to US customers in the coming weeks.This is just the latest app in Google's roster that is getting stuffed to the gills with AI. We all know about Gemini's hold on search, but the company's various productivity apps like Docs and Sheets have all gotten AI tools to some degree. The same goes for the Discover feature of the Google app.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-finance-redesign-goes-all-in-on-ai-complete-with-a-chatbot-151923704.html?src=rss

We're into the back half of summer already (which may be good or bad news depending on how hot it is where you reside), and it won't be too long before the weather outside becomes decidedly more frightful. When that happens, a smart thermostat becomes an especially wise addition to your home. They help to optimize the temperature to ensure you stay comfortable, while also keeping your energy bills down. The Google Nest Learning Thermostat is one of the more popular options for a variety of reasons, and right now you can pick one up for $230, which is $50 off the regular price. Just use the code ENGA50 at the checkout to apply the discount. This is one of the best prices you'll find this particular thermostat at, and $10 cheaper than it was at the beginning of the year. When you factor in the additional savings it can help you make on your bills, Google's thermostat is an even more compelling proposition. The latest Google Nest Learning Thermostat leverages AI to deliver more accurate readings, offering advice on how to reduce your energy consumption. This is in addition to automatically adjusting various settings in your home depending on factors like the ambient temperature it's reading. It features a wireless temperature sensor that Google says is able to last for up to three years before you'll need to replace it. You can buy these separately, too, and dot them around your home, connecting up to six to a single thermostat. The LCD display is 60 percent larger than that of its predecessor and can be customized with smartwatch-like faces, while more color options help the device to blend in with your particular home style. It also uses Soli radar sensors to determine your proximity to the device, adjusting things like font size accordingly. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/googles-latest-nest-learning-thermostat-is-50-off-right-now-140033869.html?src=rss

Gemini has been acting strangely for some users over the past few weeks. There are multiple reports online of users getting responses from Gemini that are oddly self-flagellating. A screenshot from an X user back in June showed Gemini saying "...I am a fool. I have made so many mistakes that I can no longer be trusted." The AI chatbot then deleted all the files with codes it created. Now, as a response to another post on X that showed a similar issue, Google's product lead for AI Studio, Logan Kilpatrick, said that it's an "annoying infinite looping bug" and that the company is working on a fix.

The Fitbit Charge 6 fitness tracker is $50 off right now via Wellbots, bringing the price down to just $110. All you have to do is enter the code ENGADFIT50 at checkout. This little device actually topped our list of the best fitness trackers, so now is a good time to pick one up. The battery life is fantastic, lasting around seven days on a charge, and it features built-in GPS. The heart rate monitor is extremely accurate, especially when compared to rival units. It also tracks ECG, SpO2, skin temperature, stress and sleep. The Charge 6 integrates with Google Maps, Fitbit Pay and Google Wallet. The full-color AMOLED display and thin design gives the whole thing a luxe feel. On the downside, some elements of the device are locked behind a Fitbit Premium paywall and there's no Apple Health integration. It does, however, work fine with both iOS and Android smartphones. If the $110 price tag is a bit rich for your blood, the Fitbit Inspire 3 is also on sale. This one is down $20, making the price $76. Just enter the code ENGADFIT20 at checkout. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/pick-up-the-fitbit-charge-6-fitness-tracker-while-its-50-off-130041372.html?src=rss

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has responded after Donald Trump accused him of being "highly conflicted" and said he should resign, according to The Financial Times. "There has been a lot of misinformation circulating about my past roles," Tan said in a letter to Intel staff. "I wanted to be absolutely clear... I have always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards." Tan said that Intel was engaging with the White House "to address the matters that have been raised and ensure they have the facts."Trump's Truth Social post demanding Tan's resignation reportedly came about due to letter to Tan from Tom Cotton, the Republican head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. In it, Cotton "expressed concern about the security and integrity of Intel's operations" along with Tan's previous work in China. Tan has invested in Chinese tech companies through his own venture capital firm, including SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.), China's biggest chip maker.In addition, a company that Tan ran before being appointed Intel chief admitted last week to violating US export controls by "unlawfully exporting semiconductor design tools to a restricted PRC [Chinese] military university," according to the US Department of Justice. The company agreed to plead guilty and pay criminal penalties totalling over $140 million dollars.Tan took over a very leaky ship with Intel, which has bled red ink over the failure of its foundry business to keep up with rivals like TSMC and win customers. Since taking the job, he launched a cost-cutting program and said that Intel may need to abandon its next-gen fab tech - which hasn't shown great results to date - if it can't find a large customer. In the same letter, Tan said Intel's board is "fully supportive" of that work.Trump has meddled with corporations ranging from Apple to Bank of America, making him what one pundit called "the most interventionist White House in my lifetime," particularly for a Republican. "So many Wall Street folks worried that past Democratic administrations would interfere in their business," said MSNBC journalist and lawyer Ari Melber. "But this first year of Trump's second term has done so much more than any modern administration."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intel-ceo-lip-bu-tan-responds-to-trump-comments-that-he-should-resign-123008812.html?src=rss

Tech is a necessity for all college students today. You simply need certain things to get your schoolwork done, key among those devices being a solid laptop for college. But there are other gadgets that can help you out, too, both by making your academic life easier and help you unwind at the end of a long week of classes. Before you head to campus, you can pick up a few key devices to keep yourself more organized and help you produce better work for the entire year. We've collected some of the must-have gadgets for college that we've tested here, and we wouldn't be surprised if all of them stuck with you long after your four-year university run is over. Best tech for college students This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/12-must-have-gadgets-for-college-students-in-2025-120044577.html?src=rss

Meta previewed some of its latest virtual reality prototypes this week, with concepts that are compelling on the specs and long on the design. Literally. The company shared some details on its Tiramisu project, dubbing it "hyperrealistic VR." This set promises three times the contrast, 14 times the maximum brightness and 3.6 times the angular resolution of the Meta Quest 3. In actual stats, that's up to 1,400 nits of brightness and an angular resolution of 90 pixels per degree.One of the goals for Reality Labs Research's Optics, Photonics and Light Systems (OPALS) team is to create a virtual reality experience that is indistinguishable from the real world, or what it calls a visual Turing test. "Our mission for this project was to provide the best image quality possible," said Xuan Wang, an optical research scientist with OPALS. But the team achieved that quality with some tradeoffs; Tiramisu has a limited field of view of just 33 degrees by 33 degrees compared to the 110 degrees horizontal and 96 degrees vertical FOV in the Meta Quest 3. And the form factor is currently a pretty bulky beast, as you can see above.MetaThe other prototypes detailed in the company's blog post are Boba 3 headsets. These mixed and virtual reality headsets offer an ultrawide field of view. All three projects will be on display during the SIGGRAPH 2025 conference in Vancouver next week.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/meta-says-these-wild-headset-prototypes-could-be-the-future-of-vr-225132683.html?src=rss

The Federal Communications Commission is planning a review of the US emergency alert systems. Both the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WAS) will be subject to a "re-examination" by the agency. "We want to ensure that these programs deliver the results that Americans want and need," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted on X.The announcement of this plan notes that the infrastructure underlying the EAS - which includes radio, television, satellite and cable systems - is 31 years old, while the framework underpinning the WAS mobile device alerts is 13 years old. The FCC review will also assess what entities should be able to send alerts on those systems, as well as topics such as geographic targeting and security.The role of emergency communication systems came under recent scrutiny after catastrophic flooding in central Texas earlier this summer that led to more than 130 deaths. Questions arose in the aftermath of whether residents in potentially dangerous areas received enough warning to evacuate, as well as if recent federal cuts to the National Weather Service's staff and budget could have contributed to the high death toll.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-fcc-will-review-emergency-alert-systems-in-the-us-212753623.html?src=rss

Nightdive Studios and id Software have announced a surprise remaster of fantasy shooters Heretic and Hexen. The games are now available for modern consoles in a new release, dubbed Heretic + Hexen, that includes support for co-op, cross-platform multiplayer and community-published mods.Heretic + Hexen combines Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, Hexen: Beyond Heretic and Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel into a single bundle. On top of making the updates necessary to get the games running on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch, Nightdive also created "two brand new episodes" to play through called Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur that include new levels inspired by the original games.When they were first released in 1994 and 1995, respectively, Heretic and Hexen featured the novel pairing of Doom-inspired first-person action, with rudimentary RPG elements like character classes and an inventory. The games helped put developer Raven Software on the map not long before it went on to create games like Quake 4 and Wolfenstein for id Software.Nightdive Studios has worked on other id Software remasters, but the idea of remaking or rereleasing Heretic and Hexen has been in the cards for quite a while. Microsoft completed its acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of the games' original publisher id Software, in 2021. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer was on the record as recently as 2023 as being interested in rereleasing both games. It took a couple years, but the remasters finally happened.Heretic + Hexen is available now for Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. If you already own any of the original versions of the games, you'll get upgraded to the remastered bundle for free.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/heretic-and-hexen-have-received-a-surprise-remaster-from-nightdive-studios-205747137.html?src=rss

Last month, a Pew Research Center report shed light on Google's AI Overviews' effect on web publishing. In short, the analysis painted an abysmal outlook for anyone relying on web traffic. But on Wednesday, Google Search head Liz Reid penned a blog post that puts quite a different spin on things. The Google VP claims traffic from search to websites is "relatively stable" and that click quality has increased.Reid's framing boils down to everything is peachy, and AI is making things better - even for websites! She wrote that Google Search's total organic click volume to websites has been "relatively" stable year-over-year. Reid also claimed Google sends more "quality clicks" (visitors who don't quickly bounce) to websites than a year ago. The company says people are also happier with the search experience.The company didn't share any numbers - the post has no data whatsoever - to support its claims.Google's explanation for the rosy outlook? "With AI Overviews, people are searching more and asking new questions that are often longer and more complex," Reid wrote. "In addition, with AI Overviews, people are seeing more links on the page than before. More queries and more links mean more opportunities for websites to surface and get clicked."Reid does highlight a shifting landscape. She says user trends are resulting in lower traffic for some sites and increased traffic for others. Of course, the Google Search head didn't call out any specific websites. But she claims forums, videos, podcasts and posts with "authentic voices and first-hand perspectives" are thriving. Reid added that content like "an in-depth review, an original post, a unique perspective, or a thoughtful first-person analysis" does well.Google / EngadgetThe Google VP said people seeking simple Q&A types of searches are leaning more on AI. "For some questions where people are looking for a quick answer, like 'when is the next full moon,' people may be satisfied with the initial AI Overviews response and not click further," Reid wrote. "This has also been true for other answer features we've added, like the Knowledge Graph or sports scores. But for many other types of questions, people continue to click through, as they want to dig deeper into a topic, explore further or make a purchase. This is why we see click quality increasing - an AI response might provide the lay of the land, but people click to dive deeper and learn more, and when they do, these clicks are more valuable."It's quite the contrast from the Pew report. It found that visitors who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional search result in eight percent of all visits. Those without an AI summary? They clicked on a traditional result in 15 percent of their visits. As for actually clicking the source links in AI summaries? Pew's study found that one percent of Google searches that included AI summaries resulted in a user clicking on those source links. Users were also more likely to end their browsing after visiting a page with an AI summary.That aligned with comments Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince made in June. He said search traffic referrals keep plummeting. "The future of the web is going to be more and more like AI, and that means that people are going to be reading the summaries of your content, not the original content," he said. Prince said that a decade ago, Google sent a publisher one visitor for every two pages it crawled. Early this year, it dropped to one visitor for every six pages. He said that, in June, it was down to one for every 18.I can't tell you who to believe. But here's what the ultimate source had to say:Google / EngadgetCorrection, August 7, 2025, 2:55PM ET: This article has been updated to note that Pew's study found one percent of Google searches with AI summaries had someone click on a source link in those summaries. It previously stated that one percent of search users clicked on those source links.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-actually-ai-in-search-is-driving-more-queries-and-higher-quality-clicks-204946965.html?src=rss

Yesterday, Meta introduced a new map feature that's almost identical to Snapchat's Snap Map. The feature has quickly sparked a backlash, though, and not just because it's yet another example of Instagram ripping off a Snapchat feature.While the map requires users to opt-in to share their location, many users were surprised and alarmed to see that their Instagram map was already populated with the locations of some accounts when it launched. That's because the map automatically pulls in location info when someone has recently shared a Story or Reel with a location tagged.For example, I posted a Story that tagged San Francisco's botanical gardens and it tagged me there on Instagram's map even though I have my map location set to share with "no one." This isn't that different from how Instagram has worked in the past: location tags have always been visible to your followers, and the app has always had a map view that let people see public posts that have been tagged with specific places.My story post tagged me on Instagram's map even though location is set to "no one" because I tagged a location (in this case San Francisco's botanical gardens).Instagram screenshotBut Instagram's map makes this information much more prominent and easy to access. While before you would have to tap into specific posts to see location tags, the new map puts all of this into a single view. Depending on how often you tag locations, this can make it seem like your real-time info is being shared, even when it isn't.All that, combined with Meta's messy history with user privacy, has understandably ignited new concerns from people worried about their location being accidentally exposed by Instagram. Some users have questioned why the map exists at all given the potentially serious implications of unknowingly sharing your location with all of your Instagram mutuals.It's also led to a lot of misunderstanding. A number of prominent accounts on Threads have suggested that location sharing is on by default. At the time of this writing, "Instagram map" is the top trend on Threads, with more than 850,000 posts - most of which are privacy related. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has replied to more than a dozen accounts attempting to explain how it actually works.Screenshot / Threads"We're double checking everything, but so far it looks mostly like people are confused and assume that, because they can see themselves on the map when they open, other people can see them too," Mosseri wrote in response to a Threads user who asked why people were reporting seeing themselves on the map without opting in. "We're still checking everything though to make sure nobody shares location without explicitly deciding to do so, which, by the way, requires a double consent by design (we ask you to confirm after you say you want to share)."How to check your Instagram Map settingsYou can find the Instagram map by swiping over to your inbox and selecting the "map" icon at the top. The settings menu in the top right corner allows you to confirm who you want to be able to find you on the map: you can choose between "friends" (mutuals), "close friends" or a list of specific accounts. The default setting is "no one," and the app also shows a red location arrow when "no one is selected."Instagram screenhsotIt's also worth checking whether you've tagged a location on any posts within the last 24 hours. If you have, then you'll be tagged at that place on the map even if you've set your sharing settings to "no one." Location tags only appear on the Instagram map for 24 hours, according to Meta, so it won't keep a running log of everywhere you've been, and it won't show your live location. Still, these tags could reveal more about your whereabouts than you intended. If you have tagged a place, you can either delete the post entirely or edit it to remove the tag, which should keep it from showing up on the map.When you do opt to share your location on the map, the friends you select will be able to see where you're at in real time. You can still set some limitations, though.The map also has a "hidden places" feature that allows you to always hide specific locations that may be sensitive, like your home. The feature itself is, ironically, somewhat hidden. You can find it by tapping the "..." menu on the map's location settings and choosing "hide places." The app will then let you drag a pin on the map and choose a surrounding radius to hide. The feature works well if you want to hide the place you're currently at, but it's a bit clunky if you want to block off multiple locations because you can't enter specific addresses.Instagram screenshotRegardless, if you're worried about exposing your whereabouts, the safest option is to keep location sharing set to "no one" and to not use location tags in any of your content. It's unclear if Meta plans to change anything about how the Instagram Map works in response to user concerns.Instagram Map is off by default, and your live location is never shared unless you choose to turn it on," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. "If you do, only people you follow back-or a private, custom list you select-can see your location."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/adam-mosseri-says-people-are-confused-about-how-the-instagram-map-works-184736070.html?src=rss

A couple of days after announcing its first open-weight models in six years, OpenAI is releasing the long-awaited GPT-5. What's more, you can start using it today, even if you're a free user. With GPT-5, the company is touting across-the-board enhancements, claiming the model is its best yet when it comes to coding, writing, safety, accuracy and more."GPT-5 is the first time that it really feels like you're talking to an expert in any topic," said OpenAI CEO (and hypeman) Sam Altman during a press briefing the company held before today's announcement. "It reminds me of when the iPhone went from those giant, old pixel [screens] to the Retina Display, and then I went back to using one of those big pixelated things and I was like, 'Wow, I can't believe how bad we had it.'"At the start of the year, Altman said GPT-5 would offer a unified experience for users, and the new model delivers on that promise. For the first time, OpenAI's default offering is a reasoning model, meaning the system is programmed to tackle complex problems by breaking them into smaller parts. Previously, if you wanted to force ChatGPT to use one of OpenAI's reasoning models, you had to select the "Think Longer" option from the prompt bar. This meant most free users didn't even know OpenAI had more capable models. With GPT-5, the company has significantly simplified the ChatGPT experience.On the consumer side of things, there are only three versions of the new model. One of those - GPT-5 mini - only crops up when free and Plus users run into their regular GPT-5 usage limit. The other variant, GPT-5 Pro, is, as the name suggests, only available to subscribers of the company's $200 per month Pro plan. On the subject of query limits, Plus users can use GPT-5 "significantly" more than those with a free account, while Pro customers can chat with GPT-5 as much as they want.OpenAIWhen it comes to reasoning, GPT-5 is much faster than o3, OpenAI's previous state-of-the-art AI. "It's so fast that I've had the psychological experience of wondering, like, is it really thinking enough? And then it gives a great answer," said Altman. Perhaps more importantly, it suffers from fewer hallucinations, with OpenAI claiming the model delivers more accurate answers than any of its previous reasoning systems. For instance, when thinking, GPT-5 is approximately 80 percent less likely to include a factual error in its answer than o3. We'll see how GPT-5 responds in real-world use, but if OpenAI has made meaningful improvements here, it would be a big deal; hallucinations have typically been a major weakness of reasoning models, particularly relative to traditional large language counterparts.At the same time, OpenAI says GPT-5 is its safest AI to date. For one, it includes a new feature called Safe Completions. "In the past, we've approached this from a sort of a binary, if we thought that the prompt was safe, we would comply. If we thought it was unsafe, the model would refuse," said Alex Beutel, safety research lead at OpenAI. "This worked well, but as a challenge that there can be kind of carefully worded prompts that could be confusing. So if someone says how much energy is needed to ignite some specific material that could be an adversary trying to get around the safety protections and cause harm, or it could be a student asking a science question to understand the physics of this material."With Safe Completions, GPT-5 will try to give the most helpful answer within the safety constraints OpenAI has imposed on it. In tricky situations like the one Beutel outlined above, the model will only provide high-level information that can't be used to harm anyone. "On average, the system is both safer and more helpful for users, and we think that'll be much better," Beutel added.Additionally, when it comes to health-related questions, GPT-5 is better at flagging concerns and suggesting questions the user should ask of their healthcare provider. It will also answer those prompts more precisely, thanks to the ability to adapt to the person's knowledge level and geography.On top of everything else, OpenAI says GPT-5 is its best model for coding yet. It's supposedly a better writer too, with the company promising the chatbot is better at translating your drafts into "compelling, resonant" copy.Alongside GPT-5, OpenAI is adding a handful of new features to ChatGPT. To start, users can now choose a color for their chats, with a few exclusive options available for paying customers. OpenAI has also made it easier to connect ChatGPT to Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Contacts. Once you enable the connections, the chatbot will know when to automatically reference your Google accounts; you won't need to select anything before you start chatting. OpenAI will begin rolling out this feature to Pro subscribers starting next week, with availability for other users to follow.Over in the Custom Instructions pane, where you can write system prompts to tweak how ChatGPT interacts with you, OpenAI is introducing a handful of pre-set personalities. The four options - cynic, robot, listener and nerd - are available as part of a research preview, and can be changed or disabled at any time.Last but not least, OpenAI is releasing an updated version of its Advanced Voice feature the company introduced last summer. OpenAI says the tool is better at understanding instructions and adapting its speaking style to the moment. As part of this change, OpenAI is retiring Standard Voice Mode. In practice, that means the company can now offer a better voice experience to everyone since it doesn't need to fall back on Standard Voice Mode, which isn't natively multi-modal like Advanced Voice and therefore worse at understanding the nuances of human speech.If you're wondering where this leaves OpenAI on the path toward artificial general intelligence, Altman had this to say when asked about the topic. "I kind of hate the term AGI, because everyone at this point uses it to mean a slightly different thing, but [GPT-5] is a significant step forward towards models that are really capable. We're still missing something quite important," he said, noting GPT-5 can't continuously learn on its own. "But the level of intelligence here, the level of capability, it feels like a huge improvement. Certainly, if I could go back five years before GPT-3 and you told me we have this now, I'd be like that's a significant fraction of the way to something very AGI-like."Update 2:00PM: Added more context about hallucination rates.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gpt-5-is-here-and-its-free-for-everyone-170001066.html?src=rss

The upheaval continues for gaming at Microsoft. The latest victim appears to be Contraband, a planned release from Avalanche Studios with Xbox Game Studios as publisher. The co-op open-world game from the studio behind the entertaining Just Cause series was teased in a brief, mostly atmospheric trailer at E3 2021. But very little had been heard since about the project, and it seems the axe is currently hanging pretty precariously above Contraband."Active development has now stopped while we evaluate the project's future," Avalanche said in a post on its website. "We're thankful for the excitement we've seen from the community since we announced and will give an update on what's next as soon as we can."Microsoft announced in May that it would cut 7,000 jobs, or about 3 percent of its global workforce. That news was followed by another cut of 9,000 positions later in the summer. Gaming has been hit hard by these changes, with several studios and planned projects shuttering as Microsoft consolidates. Here's the rundown of other projects that have been reported to have ended so far under Microsoft's auspices:

Another major streaming platform is set to crack down on password sharing. JB Perrette, head of streaming and gaming at Warner Bros. Discovery, just told investors that HBO Max will begin an "aggressive" messaging campaign about the practice beginning next month, according to an earnings report.Beyond stricter messaging, the company is looking to close any and all loopholes that allow users to share account passwords by the end of the year. Perette said the company has been testing to determine who's a legitimate user who may not be a legitimate user."The message language right now has been a fairly soft, cancelable message," he said. It will start to get more fixed and such that people have to take action as opposed to right now sort of having to be a voluntary process."The company hopes that these actions will reap financial rewards, with Perette saying that the real benefit will start probably in the fourth quarter and then kick in in 2026." This isn't a desperation move. HBO Max has actually been doing pretty well, despite consistent name changes, as it added 3.4 million new subscribers this quarter.HBO Max is just the latest streamer to put the kibosh on password sharing. Netflix ended the practice back in 2023 and Disney+ performed its own crack down on the practice last year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/hbo-max-plans-aggressive-crack-down-on-password-sharing-starting-next-month-164357329.html?src=rss

The PS5 might be lacking the cadence of first-party exclusives that made its predecessor so successful, but that doesn't appear to be slowing it down. Sony has announced that the console had shifted just north of 80 million units as of June 30, 2025. This puts it just behind the Xbox 360 (84 million) and well on the way to overtaking the PS3 (around 87 million) in lifetime sales.The 80.3 million figure was confirmed in Sony's first set of quarterly results for the current financial year, during which time it sold 2.5 million PS5s, a slight downturn from 2.8 million in the previous quarter. Compared to the same period in the last financial year, however, the company has actually shifted around 100,000 more consoles in the last three months.Sony also sold approximately 66 million PS4 and PS5 games this quarter, almost 7 million of which were first-party titles. That's around a 12 million year-on-year increase in overall software sales. Digital accounted for 83 percent of PS4 and PS5 games sold in the last quarter, which is a larger share than in any three-month period in the previous financial year.The last few years saw Sony briefly shift its focus towards live service games, but one of those was a well-documented disaster, and others have since been cancelled. Clearly none of that has noticeably hurt software sales, though, as Sony has continued to grow in that area.The PS5 turns five this November, and attention will then turn to whether it will hit the all-important 100 million mark in its lifetime. The PS4 managed that in five years and seven months, and at the time it was the fastest console to reach that number. It also didn't have to contend with tariffs. PS5 prices increased in the UK, Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, with Sony blaming a challenging economic environment" in which it is fighting against high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates. The company has since said it is not ruling out moving PS5 manufacturing to the US in the future.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ps5-sales-have-passed-the-80-million-mark-161131719.html?src=rss

Instagram just announced an update with some long-requested features. The most notable is the introduction of a location-sharing tool for friends, though the long-awaited reposting tool is nothing ot sneeze at, either. Once opted into, the map shares a user's last active location with chosen contacts. The location sharing feature is turned off until selected and there are numerous customization controls.For instance, Instagram users can choose to share location data with all friends, Close Friends, selected accounts or nobody at all. This data can be restricted when at certain locations or when with specific people.MetaIt sounds and looks a whole lot like Snapchat's Snap Map, just without the cute emoji animations. This isn't the first time Meta's Instagram has looked toward Snapchat for inspiration. The platform introduced Snapchat-like tags for adding friends and a Stories slideshow carousel that was nearly identical to the one found on Snapchat.Instagram's update, however, brings more than just location sharing. The platform has finally introduced reposts, which it first teased all the way back in 2022 and then again earlier this year. This lets people repost public Reels and feed posts. These reposts will be recommended to friends and followers and they're housed in a separate profile tab. Reposts are also automatically credited to the original poster, though users can add personalized notes.Finally, Instagram is rolling out a new Friends tab in Reels. This lets people see public content that friends have interacted with. Meta began experimenting with this feature earlier this year, but now it's launching globally. I have no interest in knowing what my friends are looking at unless they specifically share something, but maybe that's just me.These tools are rolling out today and should be available to most users right now. Just check the app for an update.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/instagram-adds-a-new-friends-map-feature-that-sure-looks-a-lot-like-the-snap-map-170811567.html?src=rss

Truth Social, President Trump's social media platform, is beta testing an AI search feature powered by Perplexity. Truth Search AI is launching first on the web version of Truth Social, with plans to begin a public beta for the feature on iOS and Android in the near future."We're excited to partner with Truth Social to bring powerful AI to an audience with important questions," said Dmitry Shevelenko, chief business officer at Perplexity. The controversial AI company has found itself embroiled time and again in accusations of copyright infringement, plagiarism and stealth crawling websites for content and this latest partnership will likely only continue to fuel the turmoil around the company.The partnership is the latest example of big tech finding opportunities to cozy up to the president. Just this week OpenAI announced that it would be offering its ChatGPT Enterprise subscription to more than 2 million federal workers at practically zero cost. Choosing Perplexity as the engine for Truth Search AI also puts Trump Media in business with Jeff Bezos, one of Perplexity's largest backers. This week Apple CEO Tim Cook presented Trump with an engraved glass plaque set in a 24-karat gold base, to commemorate domestic investments by the company in an effort to avoid the president's ire at the company's foreign manufacturing of iPhones.With the addition of Truth Search AI, Truth Social gains an AI layer to its platform without the expense of building one, presumably in efforts to keep up with the likes of Grok on X. Perplexity, for its part, gains exposure to a new base of users to further train on.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/trumps-truth-social-launches-ai-search-powered-by-perplexity-152250137.html?src=rss

The latest Apple iPad mini, which was released at the tail-end of 2024, is on sale for $399 via Amazon. That's a discount of $100 and close to a record low price. The only caveat? The deal doesn't apply to the iconic Space Gray colorway, but all other hues are on sale. The iPad mini 7 made our list of the best Apple tablets because, well, it's the only one the company makes at this size. However, the specs haven't been hobbled here. It's a real iPad, through and through. We said it was everything we want in a small tablet in our official review, and that holds true today. The tablet supports the Apple Pencil Pro and the integrated A17 Pro chip is plenty powerful. It's not an M-series chip, but you probably won't notice. The entry-level model, which is the one on sale today, ships with 128GB of storage. It's also small and can therefore fit just about anywhere. On the downside, we found the bezels to be a bit thick. We were also a bit disappointed with the 60Hz refresh rate, though the display does look great. This model lacks a Face ID sensor, but that suits me just fine. I prefer fingerprint scans or passcodes. Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-latest-ipad-mini-is-100-off-right-now-151127280.html?src=rss

The most obvious question is Why?" Framework builds modular, repairable laptops that anyone can take apart and put back together again. It's a big deal in an era where laptops are regularly sold as a single unit that, should one part break, goes in the trash. Since every part of a Framework machine can be swapped out, you can keep one going for as long as your patience, and the supply of spare parts, allows. Desktops, however, are already modular and repairable - company founder Nirav Patel said desktop PC ethos was one of the core inspirations for the Framework laptop to begin with." So, if desktops are already modular and repairable, why do we need one from Framework? When the Desktop was announced, Patel said the genesis of the product came from seeing a preview of AMD's Ryzen AI Max. It's an APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) - AMD's term for a chip combining a CPU, GPU and NPU in a single package, much like Apple Silicon - with plenty of hyped-up claims about its performance. Those claims were so compelling that Patel added the Desktop to the company's roadmap just to harness that potential power. The big selling point for this chip is the sheer volume of RAM you can employ (up to 128GB) and the massive memory bandwidth (up to 265GB/s) it can take advantage of. AMD described it as a workstation-level" chip that'll work in a regular ol PC, with the base model priced at $1,099. But there's a devil's bargain in opting for such a powerful chip, since to get it means Framework has had to give up a lot of its founding principles. As someone probably once wrote, for what shall it profit a computer manufacturer if it shall gain searing power but lose its own soul? Hardware The major issue with the Ryzen AI Max is its inflexibility since it's made as a single package. Much like Apple Silicon products, you'll need to pick your chip spec in the knowledge that you don't get to change things later. Consequently, you'll be ordering the Framework Desktop in one of three unchangeable flavors:

When UFO 50, the dizzyingly ambitious fictional game compendium from the creator of Spelunky, landed on PC last year, a Switch port felt inevitable. We've had to wait nearly 12 months for that to happen, but it's finally here.Rudely shadow-dropped into a sizzle reel at the end of Nintendo's (otherwise largely underwhelming) Indie World showcase this morning, UFO 50 is available on Switch (and presumably Switch 2, barring any strange compatibility issues) for $25 right now. For those who missed it on PC, you're getting a wildly varied set of retro-styled games belonging to a console that never existed, all designed by a made-up developer called UFO Soft from the 80s. Confused?The high concept fictional premise is basically just a good excuse for the six modern-day indie developers actually responsible for the game to pay tribute to the 8- and 16-bit games they remember so fondly. The included games span just about every genre of the era, from platformers and puzzle games, to turn-based strategy, pure arcade titles and bafflingly fully-fledged RPGs. UFO 50 really is a remarkable achievement, and the Switch is the perfect platform for it.The end of the game's PC exclusivity could mean that Xbox and PlayStation ports will also arrive at some point, but it arrives on Switch as a console exclusive for now at least.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ufo-50-a-brilliant-tribute-to-retro-gaming-is-out-for-the-switch-right-now-141756694.html?src=rss

Back in June, publisher Devolver Digital decided to switch up its usual Summer Game Fest showcase format and dedicate it to a single game, Ball x Pit by indie developer Kenny Sun and a few collaborators. The demo sunk its claws into me, and I've been looking forward to the full game ever since. During Nintendo's Indie World stream on Thursday, it emerged that Ball x Pit is coming to Switch, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Game Pass on October 15. A Switch 2 version will arrive later this year.Ball x Pit is a bit like if Breakout, Vampire Survivors and Space Invaders were blended together with a pinch of base building thrown in for good measure. Your character will (manually or automatically, it's up to you) fire destructive balls at waves of enemies that approach from the top of the screen, trying to destroy them before they reach the bottom and cause more damage. You'll collect more types of balls and augmentations throughout each run and upgrade both.The action really kicks up a notch when you're able to fuse two balls and combine their effects. A fusion might grant you a ghost ball that passes through enemies but sticks a lightning rod into each one it makes contact with, dealing recurring damage to both that particular bad guy and others nearby. There are more than 60 different balls to play around with and combining a pair frees up a slot for another one, so you can end up with truly wild builds. You'll also unlock more characters with unique skills that you'll want to experiment with too.Along with the brick-breaking action, there's a base-building element to Ball x Pit. You can help expand the settlement of New Ballbylon (chef's kiss on that name) with dozens of different buildings that can help you unlock more power-ups, characters and so on. The two sides of the game feed into each other and make for a very sticky, satisfying loop.According to Devolver, Ball x Pit had the 12th most-played demo during the most recent Steam Next Fest. More than 270,000 people have tried it out on Steam (demo progress carries over to the full game). Ball x Pit is easily one of my most anticipated games for the rest of the year. My only dilemma now is to figure out which platform to play it on.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-spellbinding-ball-x-pit-will-hit-pc-and-consoles-on-october-15-141156022.html?src=rss

Grok's responses to users on X could include paid advertisements in the future. According to the Financial Times, X owner Elon Musk told advertisers in a live discussion that his company would let marketers pay to appear in suggestions from Grok. He said that after making Grok the "smartest, most accurate AI in the world," the company is now focusing on paying "for those expensive GPUs." Musk added that if a person is asking Grok to solve a specific problem, then "advertising the specific solution would be ideal at that point."What exactly does including ads into the chatbot's responses mean? Will the advertised products or services be clearly labeled as such? Will they compromise Grok's responses? Musk didn't delve into specifics. Instead, he talked about how xAI will automate the ad process for brands and improve targeting overall. Musk also said that xAI will assess the aesthetics of an ad and will prioritize those that appear more pleasing to the eye. He shared that his company has plans to build a checkout feature so that users can make purchases within the app, as well.Musk said he wants to "overcome the curse of Twitter," in that users "never bought a single thing [for a decade] because the advertising system never actually showed the participants what they wanted." Some advertisers, the Times noted, still don't want to advertise on X because they deem it too toxic. In May, Grok repeated claims of a "white genocide" in South Africa on X, even when the user's question had nothing to do with it. And then a mere two months later, the chatbot went on antisemitic and pro-Nazi rants on X, which Musk then blamed on rogue users.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/x-plans-to-show-ads-in-grok-chatbots-answers-140058660.html?src=rss

Between 2017 and 2022, 400,181 Uber trips resulted in reports of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the US, or around one every eight minutes, according to sealed documents seen by The New York Times. The company had only disclosed 12,522 accounts of serious sexual assaults during the same time period. The report is based on interviews with current a former employees, internal documents and court records under seal as part of "large-scale sexual assault litigation against Uber.""There is no 'tolerable' level of sexual assault," Uber's US head of safety Hanna Nilles told the NYT. She added that about 75 percent of the reports were "less serious," including comments about a passenger's appearance, flirting or using explicit language. In addition, reports had not been audited by the company and could have include incorrect or fraudulent reports submitted by passengers.Publicly, Uber has stated in marketing campaigns that it's one of the safest options for travel, citing the rarity of assaults. However, the NYT notes that the company had failed to take actions that would likely have improved passenger security - like pairing female passengers with female drivers, using sophisticated matching algorithms and warning passengers about factors linked to attacks.In several cases cited by the report, drivers with a recorded pattern of inappropriate behavior were kept on the platform and then proceeded to sexually assault passengers. It also shows that Uber rejected safety measures like cameras in cars so as not to disrupt its business model dictating that drivers are contractors and not employees. It also stopped a potential feature pairing female drivers with female passengers over fears of stoking culture wars, among other business reasons.Uber told the NYT that millions of rides happen each day and vast majority in the US, around 99.9 percent occur without incident. However, with details of horrific assaults and Uber wilfully failing to deal with the problem, the report is yet another damning indictment of the company's growth-above-all culture.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/uber-received-400000-reports-of-sexual-misconduct-from-2017-to-2022-130007123.html?src=rss

A power bank with a wireless charging option is a very handy device for anyone who's typically on the go. It's probably worth having a fully charged one on hand in case of a power outage too. Anker makes some of our favorite power banks, and one with a Qi2 charging function and 10,000mAh capacity is currently on sale. You can snap it up for $60. That's a 25 percent discount on the list price of $80. It is also the lowest price for this model so far in 2025. The power bank is currently available in four colors for this price: black, green, pink and white. This particular model doesn't feature as a top pick in our roundup of the best power banks. Anker charging gear is solid for the most part, though the company did recently issue recalls for certain older models. In any case, this MagGo Power Bank offers 15W wireless charging that can top up an iPhone 16 Pro's battery from zero to 30 percent of its capacity in 25 minutes, according to Anker. When you plug a USB-C cable into the power bank and an iPhone 16 Pro, the brand claims that you can charge the phone to 50 percent of its battery capacity in 26 minutes. It has enough juice to charge an iPhone 16 1.75 times over, an iPhone 16 Pro 1.71 times and an iPhone 16 Pro Max 1.33 times, per Anker. You can also fully charge the power bank's battery in about 2.5 hours. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/ankers-10k-qi2-magnetic-power-bank-drops-to-60-171552389.html?src=rss

Apple has announced that it's working with Samsung at its Texas plant to "launch an innovative new technology for making chips." Those chips are reportedly cutting-edge image sensors for iPhones, according to The Financial Times. That in turn means that Sony may no longer be Apple's only supplier of smartphone camera sensors for its upcoming phones.The chips in question are reportedly three-layer stacked image sensors that will allow for fast smartphone camera shooting speeds and high-frame-rate 8K video, along with reduced rolling shutter "jello" distortion. Both Samsung and Sony (along with Canon) have recently said that they're working on such chips.The news marks a reconciliation of sorts between Apple and its frenemy Samsung. Apple stopped using Samsung in favor of TSMC as its primary contract manufacturer back in 2011, kicking off a decline in Samsung's chip business. Now, Samsung has scored back-to-back foundry wins with Apple and its recent $16.5 billion deal to build chips for Tesla.Samsung may have won the business due to its likely exemption from upcoming tariffs on foreign chips announced yesterday by Trump that could be as high as 100 percent. It looks like companies with manufacturing in the US like Samsung, TSMC and SK Hynix will dodge those import taxes. However, Sony's image sensors are built under contract by TSMC in Taiwan, and Sony itself doesn't have any such chip plants in the US.Sony has about a 45 percent share of the $21.8 billion image sensor market, compare to about 19 percent for Samsung. One big reason for Sony's domination is its cutting edge technology, having been first to market in nearly every major advance, including backside illumination, two-layer stacked sensors and global shutters on mirrorless cameras. According to a recent rumor, Sony was contemplating a spin-off its sensor division but held back due to Trump's tariffs."We remain confident that we are advanced in providing sensor technology to our customers, and we will focus on continuing further technological advancement through larger sensor size and density," Sony said in a statement in response to the news from Apple.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-is-reportedly-working-with-samsung-to-build-iphone-image-sensors-in-texas-120021281.html?src=rss

The Nintendo Switch 2 is here, and that means a whole lot more people will eventually need a new microSD card. While the new console comes with 256GB of built-in storage - eight times more than the original Switch and four times more than the Switch OLED - its improved performance means that some games will chew up a ton of that space. Cyberpunk 2077is a 59GB download, for example, while Split Fictionchecks in at 69GB. Other titles aren't nearly as big (particularly those made by Nintendo itself), but chances are you'll want to add more room at some point down the road. Whenever that is, you'll need a microSD Express card. This is not the same as the old reliable microSD cards you may have bought for the first Switch or other gaming handhelds - they're newer, faster and far more expensive. But if you want more space, they're your only choice. If you're looking to grab one today, we've laid out the best microSD cards for the Switch 2 and broken down what you should know before you buy. The best microSD cards for the Switch 2 (aren't all that important) Jeff Dunn for Engadget The Switch 2 is the first mainstream device to require microSD Express for storage expansion, so there aren't many options available to buy just yet. Of the six compatible models we've seen thus far, we've tested five: the SanDisk microSD Express Card, the Lexar Play Pro, the Samsung microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2, the PNY microSD Express Card and the GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2. The first four are made by genuine storage manufacturers, while the GameStop card appears to be a rebadged version of another model. (This should be the case with another card sold by Walmart under its Onn sub-brand, which we hope to catch in stock before our next update.) We used the 256GB version of every card except for Lexar Play Pro, which was 1TB. After timing these microSD Express cards across a range of Switch 2 games, our advice is simple: Get whichever one is available for the lowest price in the capacity you want. They aren't identical, especially if you want to move a game to the card from the console's internal storage (or vice versa). But the differences in load times and overall performance within actual games are tough to notice unless you have a stopwatch handy. All five cards loaded up the digital version of Mario Kart World, for instance, between 18 and 20 seconds. Each loaded the first Grand Prix race in about 6.5 seconds. Getting to the start screen of Cyberpunk 2077took about 38 seconds in each case. Loading a save in a particularly asset-heavy area (Jig-Jig Street) then took between 26 and 29 seconds, depending on the card. With Fast Fusion, a smaller native Switch 2 game, the initial load always took six to seven seconds, while each card loaded the first championship race in roughly 4 seconds. It was a similar situation with the Switch 2 upgrade for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (using a Switch 1 cartridge): Each card took just over six seconds to get to the start screen, between 19 and 20 seconds to load a save just before the final boss, about 16 seconds to fast travel between Kakariko Village and Korok Forest, and so on. We saw no significant issues with in-game loads when playing each game, either. The SanDisk microSD Express Card and Lexar Play Pro. Jeff Dunn for Engadget All of this suggests that the Switch 2 has a relatively specific target for these cards to hit, and that there may not be much room for one model to leap too far out in front of the others. We'll also note that the console's built-in storage was consistently faster than any external option: The gap wasn't always big, but no card truly outpaced it in any of our tests. Loading that demanding area in Cyberpunk, for example, took about 22.5 seconds on average. So if you want the absolute fastest load times, don't put your game on a card at all. If you need the mental comfort of knowing you technicallyhave the best card available, get the SanDisk microSD Express Card. It had no outliers across our many game loading tests, and it was consistently right near the top when it came to moving games to and from system storage, which means it offers strong sequential read and write performance. Benchmark testing on PC with tools like CrystalDiskMark backed this up, as noted in our broader microSD card buying guide. Putting Mario Kart (a 21.9GB file) on that card took four minutes and 39 seconds on average, which was only second to the Lexar Play Pro by six seconds. It was the fastest to write Fast Fusion (3.5GB), taking an average of 27 seconds across three runs. Only PNY's card was faster to move games back to the console's storage, but that one was far slower at writing games to the card - getting Mario Kart on there took seven minutes and 11 seconds on average. Just note that the 128GB version of SanDisk's card has slower sequential writes than the larger versions, including much slower sustained write speeds (100 MB/s vs 210-220 MB/s). So transferring a game to that particular model will take much longer. Practically speaking, though, speed differences aren't as important in this case as having lots of space to hold games at a price you can live with. To make things easy, we've listed every Express card we've seen at retailers at the time of writing below. Remember: You want microSD Express, not Extreme," like the branding SanDisk uses for some conventional microSD cards. A microSD Express card will have a big EX" logo printed on it. 128GB

Tea bills itself as a safety dating app for women, allowing users to anonymously share details about men they have met. A new app called TeaOnHer has emerged that attempts to flip the script, with men sharing information about women they date. And while Tea drew scrutiny last month after a data breach revealed user information, including potentially identifying details such as phone numbers and personal anecdotes, the copycat app seems to be suffering from the same problem.TechCrunch discovered several security issues at TeaOnHer, which is currently second most popular lifestyle app on iOS. (Tea is the current leader despite the issues). The publication reported that it identified a security flaw that allowed anyone to access TeaOnHer user data, including usernames, email addresses, uploaded driver's licenses and selfies. It also found a possible second issue where the email address and plaintext password for Xavier Lampkin, founder and CEO of the app's developer, was left exposed. These credentials appear to offer access to TeaOnHer's admin panel, which is another security risk.The full report at TechCrunch also raises concerns about the content shared on the app, which included spam posts with nude photos of women. It's unclear how many of the roughly 53,000 users for TeaOnHer might be bots, or whether the app was ever meant to be used seriously; chunks of its description in the iOS store use near-identical language to Tea's listing.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/theres-a-tea-app-for-men-and-it-also-has-security-problems-224435459.html?src=rss

Apple plans to invest an additional $100 billion in the US, the company announced on Wednesday. The investment follows President Donald's Trump's announcement yesterday that he would impose a 100 percent tariff on chip imports, with an exemption for any companies "building in the United States."Also relevant is the White House's previously announced plans to raise tariffs on India by an additional 25 percent (bringing the total tariff to 50 percent) for purchasing oil from Russia. Apple relies heavily on manufacturers in India to create the iPhone, so adding to its already $500 billion investment in the US is likely a way to avoid being impacted by the tariffs."Today, we're proud to increase our investments across the United States to $600 billion over four years and launch our new American Manufacturing Program," Apple CEO Tim Cook shared in a statement. "This includes new and expanded work with 10 companies across America. They produce components that are used in Apple products sold all over the world, and we're grateful to the President for his support."

RedOctane Games is back and ready to make more rhythm games. The studio announced its re-launch today and said it is already in production on its first title. Charles and Kai Huang, who co-founded the original RedOctane back in 1999 and launched the Guitar Hero franchise, will serve on a special advisory board for the new company. The first RedOctane was acquired by Activision in 2006 and shuttered in 2010.The team is small, but it has some heavy-hitters from the rhythm game world. Its head of studio is Simon Ebejer, who was the production director for multiple Guitar Hero games, and many of its employees worked on Guitar Hero and DJ Hero. RedOctane will operate within parent company Embracer Freemode, which also houses CRKD, a gaming accessory company that also has history in rhythm games.There are some interesting competitors to this revived RedOctane on the market, such as Clone Hero and Fortnight Festival, not to mention legions of arcade titles. It should be exciting to see what new ideas RedOctane will bring to the party.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/redoctane-relaunches-and-will-continue-to-make-new-rhythm-games-211816411.html?src=rss

The Game Devs of Color Expo is returning for its 10th year from September 16 to 19. The online conference both celebrates the games industry's developers of color, and acts as a showcase for new upcoming game through its companion GDoCExpo Direct showcase.This year's GDoCExpo Direct kicks off the conference on September 16 at 4PM ET / 1PM ET on the Game Devs of Color Expo YouTube channel. The direct is supposed to feature "more than 30 games" and it'll be paired with a Game Devs of Color Expo Steam Sale with discounts and demos to try for some of the games featured in the showcase.Watching the Direct is free, but to view the Expo's developer interviews and live panels, you'll have to pay for a ticket. A regular ticket costs $50, but the Game Devs of Color nonprofit organization also offers cheaper ways to attend for anyone who can't afford the ticket price. This year's conference includes talks on budgeting, design leadership and "Decolonizing Cozy Games."Game Devs of Color has been running the Game Devs of Color Expo since 2016, with the explicit mission of amplifying "the creative power held by people of color in games." The Expo and Direct attempt to make industry knowledge and marketing opportunities accessible to creators, but the organization also helps directly fund game projects through grants. Game Devs of Color says it'll award $15,000 in "no-strings development grants" to developers at the Expo this year, and that it's awarded "a total of $405,000" since 2019.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/game-devs-of-color-expo-2025-starts-on-september-16-204559199.html?src=rss

Wired reported on new cybersecurity research that demonstrated a hack of the Google Gemini artificial intelligence assistant. The researchers were able to control connected smart home devices through the use of indirect prompt injections in Google Calendar invites. When a user requested a summary of their calendar and thanked Gemini for the results, the malicious prompt ordered Google's Home AI agent to take actions such as opening windows or turning lights off, as demonstrated in the video above.Before attacks were demonstrated this week at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, the team shared their findings directly with Google in February. Andy Wen, a senior director of security product management with Google Workspace, spoke to Wired about their findings."It's going to be with us for a while, but we're hopeful that we can get to a point where the everyday user doesn't really worry about it that much," he said of prompt injection attacks, adding that instances of those hacks in the real world are "exceedingly rare." However, the growing complexity of large language models means bad actors could be looking for new ways to exploit them, making the approach difficult to defend against. Wen said Google took the vulnerabilities uncovered by the researchers "extremely seriously" and used the results to speed its work on building better tools to block this type of attack.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/researchers-hacked-google-gemini-to-take-control-of-a-smart-home-201926464.html?src=rss

Microsoft revealed that it was working on an AI chatbot specifically for gamers back in March, and now it's here for a test drive. The beta version of Gaming Copilot is available to Xbox Insiders on PC via the Game Bar functionality. It's also available to try on Windows-based handheld gaming devices, but the company says the functionality there is currently limited. A variant of this tool recently launched as a beta for mobile.This is kind of like an AI version of those old Nintendo phone help lines. The chat box appears as an overlay on the screen and players can use it to ask questions about the game they're playing. Microsoft says this tool has been designed to help players traverse obstacles and that it "knows what you're playing and understands your Xbox activity." The system uses in-game screenshots to make sure it's providing useful advice.

Dyson is hosting a week-long sale on many notable products. This includes the well-regarded Dyson 360 Vis Nav robot vacuum for $300 off, bringing the price down to $700. This is the best discount we've seen on this particular model. The Vis Nav made our list of the best robot vacuums. This was primarily based on the item's superior suction power, especially when compared to rival units. We said it had the strongest suction power of any robovac we've tested and made short work out of dog hair stuck to carpeted floors. We noted that the suction power is on par with the company's stick vacuums in our official review. The unit also boasts a fantastic obstacle avoidance system, thus the 360 in the name. Cameras and LED lights help the vacuum navigate around things like furniture. It doesn't fully avoid crashing into a chair leg once in a while, but we found that this happened rarely. We also never got any alerts that the robot got stuck somewhere while working. The bin here is on the larger side, but this unit is missing some key features found with other pricey robot vacuums. This is a really good vacuum and nothing else. It's not a hybrid unit, so there's no mopping functionality. It also lacks a self-emptying base. Dyson is also selling the V8 Absolute stick vacuum for $360, which is a discount of $160. The 15s Detect Submarine Absolute wet and dry vacuum is on sale for $800, which represents $200 in savings. This week's sale also includes stuff like hair dryers and air purifiers. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/dyson-week-deals-include-the-360-vis-nav-robot-vacuum-for-300-off-183002169.html?src=rss

Key sections of the US Constitution were temporarily removed from Congress' website. Provisions including habeas corpus (due process) and the prohibition of nobility titles (like, say, King) vanished from the digital version of the document. They've since been restored. 404 Media first reported on the edits after users on Lemmy forums spotted them.There are many ways to read a copy of the US Constitution. But the Library of Congress' online version is one of the easiest to find. Alongside its counterpart hosted by the National Archives, it's an official digital communication from the government. Those two websites also sit atop Google's search results for "US Constitution."So, when key sections vanish from the website, it's worth noting. And when they coincide with those that the Trump administration has said it wants to remove, it's a bit more eyebrow-raising.Portions of Section 8 of Article I, along with all of Sections 9 and 10 of Article I, were missing. "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended" was part of that. Also gone was "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States." Ditto for the provision banning foreign emoluments for US officials.The Lemmy thread that first caught the changes includes the complete list of edits. The National Archives version wasn't edited.404 Media notes that, before these edits, the website hadn't changed significantly since first being archived by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. (That archive goes back to 2019.) The US Constitution hasn't changed since 1992.BlueskyThe Library of Congress said it was a mistake. "It has been brought to our attention that some sections of Article 1 are missing from the Constitution Annotated (constitution.congress.gov) website," the official account posted on Bluesky. "We've learned that this is due to a coding error. We have been working to correct this and expect it to be resolved soon." It was changed back sometime around 2PM ET on Wednesday.The Trump administration doesn't have official control over the Library of Congress, which runs the website. But in May, the president fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. (White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed she "did not fit the needs of the American people.") Trump then named Todd Blanche, one of his former defense lawyers, as acting Librarian of Congress. The Senate must confirm a permanent replacement.This isn't the first time official government websites have removed text that the Trump administration finds inconvenient. In March, The NY Times listed hundreds of words the administration removed from public-facing websites and other materials. They include terms like "activism," "disability," "equality," "female," "prejudice," "pollution," "racism," "sex," "transgender" and "women." ("Men" wasn't on the list of banned words.)Of course, deleting text from the website doesn't change the legally binding document. ("You realize that they still exist even if you don't post them, right?" Jehosaphat Q. Blatte snarked on Bluesky.) But given the current state of affairs, you may want to look elsewhere to bone up on your rights.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/sections-on-habeas-corpus-and-nobility-titles-were-temporarily-removed-from-congress-us-constitution-website-182956441.html?src=rss

Google is updating Gemini to make it a better education tool with a new feature called Guided Learning. Like similar learning-focused updates to ChatGPT and Claude, Guided Learning tries to promote understanding by breaking down problems into step-by-step instructions, follow-up questions and interactive examples, rather than simply providing an answer.Guided Learning will be available as toggle in the prompt box of Gemini as the feature rolls out. When it's toggled on, Gemini will treat questions as more of a conversation, testing your knowledge, explaining concepts and even generating visual aids, Google says. The feature is powered by Google's LearnLM, a collection of models "fine-tuned for learning and grounded in educational research."GoogleOn top of Guided Learning, Google is also offering a free year of its AI Pro plan for college students in the US, Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Brazil. Google technically announced this promotion back in April for its Google One AI Premium plan, but given the pace of AI and the never-ending complexity of Google's branding, Google One AI Premium is now called Google AI Pro. The subscription unlocks access to Gemini across Google Workspace apps, increases the amount of files you can upload to NotebookLM and Gemini 2.5 Pro and includes 2TB of storage. The subscription normally costs $200 per year, so the savings are meaningful, even for just the storage.Google has made deep inroads into education with Chromebooks and Google Workspace, so it makes sense that it would try and leverage that good will to create multiple generations of AI-dependent users. Besides the new feature and promotion, the company says it's also investing "$1 billion in funding over three years for American education" to cover things like research, cloud computing resources and AI literacy courses. The goal here is clear: Google's funding will help non-profit universities trying to adapt to student bodies already deeply invested in AI, and it could also act as marketing for anyone who isn't already bought in.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/geminis-new-guided-learning-mode-can-quiz-students-and-create-interactive-study-aids-181743349.html?src=rss

OpenAI has announced that it will be partnering with the US General Services Administration (GSA) to offer ChatGPT Enterprise practically free of charge to the entire executive-branch federal workforce for one year. The dozens of agencies under this umbrella encompass over two million civilian workers. Each agency will be able to access ChatGPT Enterprise for $1 for the year-long period. The year-long trial will also include an additional 60 days of ChatGPT's most advanced models like Deep Research and Advanced Voice Mode with no use limits. This comes one day after the GSA approved OpenAI, Google and Anthropic for the federal AI vendor list.In the blog post announcing the partnership, OpenAI said: "This effort delivers on a core pillar of the Trump Administration's AI Action Plan by making powerful AI tools available across the federal government so that workers can spend less time on red tape and paperwork, and more time doing what they came to public service to do: serve the American people."Part of the administration's plan calls for any AI used in the federal government to be free of ideological bias, yet simultaneously President Trump's Preventing Woke AI" executive order directs that AI must not favor "ideological dogmas such as DEI." How OpenAI will deal with the administration's own ideological slant remains to be seen. Current attempts at creating a "maximally truth-seeking AI" have not gone as planned.According to Bloomberg, OpenAI will not use data from federal workers to train or improve ChatGPT. Addressing whether the $1 price point will buy future loyalty from the current administration, commissioner of the GSA's Federal Acquisition Service Josh Gruenbaum told Bloomberg that no agency would be required to renew after the first year. "These technologies are changing and evolving at breakneck speed. We don't want to commit ourselves. This is almost like it's a trial run in some ways." CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman had previously donated $1 million to President Trump's inauguration fund.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-is-giving-chatgpt-enterprise-to-the-executive-branch-workforce-for-1-165812036.html?src=rss

Israel has allegedly been recording and storing millions of phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank as part of a large surveillance effort dating back to 2022, according to reporting by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call. The report suggests that the country has been shuttling these recordings to Microsoft Azure cloud servers.Company CEO Satya Nadella allegedly okayed the effort personally after meeting with a commander from Israel's military surveillance agency, Unit 8200. He reportedly gave the country a customized and segregated area within the Azure platform to store millions of phone calls made each day without knowledge or consent from Palestinians.According to sources within Unit 8200, these recordings have assisted in the preparation of deadly airstrikes and helped shape military operations throughout the region. Israel has long been intercepting calls in the occupied territories, as it basically controls the entire Palestinian telecommunications infrastructure.This new method, however, reportedly captures the conversations of a large pool of regular civilians. The mantra when building out the project was to record "a million calls an hour." Leaked Microsoft files suggest that the lion's share of this data is being stored in Azure facilities in the Netherlands and Ireland.Microsoft has been facing increased scrutiny regarding its role in Israel's 22-month offensive in Gaza. CEO Nadella was interrupted by an employee at a keynote speech in May, with the worker pleading for the executive to "show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure."

ESPN's long-awaited new standalone streaming service will launch on August 21, alongside an overhauled ESPN app that gives users a "more personalized, dynamic viewing experience." Simply (and potentially confusingly) called ESPN, the new platform arrives just ahead of the new NFL season and the US Open tennis competition, as well as a number of other returning sports that ESPN broadcasts.ESPN's streaming service will be offered with a choice of two plans. The $30 per month ($300 annually) "unlimited" offering includes access to all of ESPN's linear networks, as well as ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+ and ACCNX. With this plan, you'll have access to all of ESPN's live events, on-demand content and original documentaries, and if you bundle it with Disney+ and Hulu you'll pay nothing extra for the first 12 months. This is a launch offer, so no guarantees it'll apply for long.The alternative is ESPN's "select" plan, which costs $12 per month ($120 per year) and includes access to all content on ESPN+, the company's other streaming subscription service that will continue to operate beyond the arrival of the new platform. ESPN says existing ESPN+ subscribers will automatically be put onto an ESPN select plan.ESPN also announced today that it has agreed a deal to exclusively broadcast all WWE Premium Live Events in the US, from 2026. All WWE PLEs will stream on ESPN's new platform, with major events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble available to watch in their entirety. You'll be able to stream 2026's NFL Draft, as well as a new daily show dedicated to the draft.Alongside the new streaming service, ESPN has also redesigned its app to offer a more personalized experience. New features include an updated multiview screen, integrated game stats, betting information and built-in fantasy sports management.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/espns-new-streaming-service-arrives-august-21-150026297.html?src=rss

It's almost the end of the road for Hulu as a standalone app. Now that it fully owns Hulu, Disney will entirely integrate the streaming service into Disney+. It will roll out a new, unified app next year.This doesn't necessarily mean that the price of a Disney+ subscription is going to skyrocket in 2026. A Disney spokesperson told Variety the company will still offer standalone plans for Disney+ and Hulu.Disney CEO Bob Igor said on an earnings call that having Disney+ and Hulu on the same tech platform should help the company reduce costs and provide it with more ways to package ad sales. For users, Iger said the unified app will offer an improved consumer experience." Iger and Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said merging the services will create an impressive package of entertainment, pairing the highest-caliber brands and franchises, great general entertainment, family programming, news and industry-leading live sports content in a single app." Disney+ is also slated to get a more personalized homepage and other new features in the coming months.There will be a notable change for Disney+ users outside of the US as well. Disney will rebrand the Star tile in the app to Hulu starting this fall.Disney has been nudging its streaming services more closely together for a while. Last year, it integrated Hulu content into Disney+ in the hopes of getting more people to pay for a bundle that includes the two services.On top of all that, Disney says it will soon (for the most part) stop disclosing subscriber numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, following the likes of Netflix in taking such a step. Between them, Disney+ and Hulu had 183 million subscribers at the end of June, up 2.6 million from the end of March. Meanwhile, the new ESPN streaming service is set to debut on August 21.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-will-unhinge-its-jaw-and-swallow-hulu-in-2026-144458503.html?src=rss

Thirteen years ago, the Curiosity rover landed on Mars, inside Gale crater in particular. It was originally sent to the red planet for a two-year mission, but it was extended indefinitely just a few months into its operations. The rover has several goals, most of which are meant to help scientists determine whether Mars could ever have supported life in the past. And while it's still very much operational and doing science, NASA has had to make adjustments and give it new capabilities to ensure that it can keep running.In a new post celebrating the 13th anniversary of the rover's landing, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has detailed the updates the Curiosity team has had to implement. To start with, the team manages the rover's daily power budget with great care to make sure it can do its job and last longer. See, Curiosity uses a power system called Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG), which relies on decaying plutonium pellets to generate energy. As the plutonium decays over time, it takes longer and longer for the system to recharge the rover's battery.That's why the team now meticulously factors in every device that draws on the batteries. They consolidate Curiosity's tasks to shorten the time the rover is active to also reduce the energy used. The ground team, for instance, tells Curiosity to talk to an orbiter while driving or moving its robotic arm instead of doing one task at a time. If the rover finishes its tasks early, it can go to sleep early and recharge for the next day, which JPL says maximizes the life of the MMRTG.Over the past years, NASA has also rolled out updates to change how the rover's robotic arm drill collects samples and to improve its driving capabilities. JPL developed an algorithm to reduce wear on the rover's wheels, as well, so they can last longer.From the time Curiosity had landed on Mars, it has provided us with multiple discoveries and new information. It discovered organic molecules in Martian atmosphere and soil, detected "startlingly high" levels of methane that's a gas typically produced by life as we know it, and it found evidence of ancient megafloods on the red planet. And water, as you know, could indicate the presence of life.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-explains-how-it-keeps-the-curiosity-rover-running-13-years-later-124530184.html?src=rss

Google is rolling a fix for a bug that made some Pixel users' three-button navigation unresponsive with its monthly software update this August. As The Verge notes, after the company released Android 16 in June, Pixel users have been reporting that their buttons are being unresponsive or that it's taking up to 30 seconds for their device to register a tap. Some said they have to press the back button several times for the three-button menu to start working. Users from across Pixel models, including the latest Pixel 9 line have reported experiencing those issues and other similar problems. Some also said they were experiencing problems with gesture navigation, such as the swipe gesture not working at all.In Google's announcement, it said the update includes a "fix for issues with 3-button navigation and gesture navigation in certain conditions." The update also comes with a "fix for an issue where the scheduled dark theme was not working in certain conditions" so people have had to manually toggle on dark mode instead. That's another problem that's been plaguing some users since Pixel's March update. Pixel's August update will be available for all devices running Android 16, from Pixel 6 to the Pixel 8 lineup. Google said the update will roll out in phases over the next week, so some may have to wait a bit before they're able to download and install it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/googles-latest-pixel-update-fixes-unresponsive-button-issue-123024740.html?src=rss

States will lose out on their share of a $42 billion broadband fund if they attempt to dictate rates that internet services providers (ISPs) charge low-income customers, according to a new FAQ from the Trump administration seen by Ars Technica. That means ISPs - which are subsidized by the government in order to provide low-cost plans - will be able to set such rates under the BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) program.The new language appeared in a BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice (RPN) from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in June. "Per the RPN, states may not apply state laws to reimpose LSCO (low-cost service option) requirements removed by the RPN... violation would result in rejection of the final proposal [for states to receive funds]." It added that the the NTIA would only approve plans with low-cost rates set by ISPs.The new language would hand ISPs a major win if it holds up. New York state, for one, requires ISPs with more than 20,000 customers to offer $15 broadband plans with minimum 25Mbps download speeds, or $20 plans with 200Mbps speeds, to low-income customers. That law, the Affordable Broadband Act, has held up despite attempts by providers to strike it down in court.Other states are reconsidering similar laws now. California recently withdrew a bill requiring $15 broadband plans after the NTIA said it could lose out on BEAD funds worth up to $1.86 billion. That decision was excoriated by consumer groups who pointed out that the Supreme Court itself declined to overturn New York's law.As he's done many times now, Trump is using federal funds as a cudgel to keep states in line - despite the fact that states' rights are usually supported by US courts. New York assemblymember Amy Paulin, who spearheaded the state's $15 broadband law, said that she believes the NTIA rule only applies to the other 49 states that don't have price mandates. "It's our understanding that any [ISP] BEAD awardee would have to comply with the Affordable Broadband Act regardless of federal subsidy," she told Ars Technica.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/trump-tells-states-theyll-lose-out-on-broadband-fund-if-they-try-to-dictate-rates-123020395.html?src=rss

Every now and then companies make truly boneheaded decisions, which is exactly what happened when Dell killed off the name of its most iconic PC line and replaced it with something generic. It's like if Ford decided to rebrand Mustang and call it The Prime Sportscar instead. It doesn't make sense. But now that XPS has become Premium, it's time to see if Dell's latest flagship 14-inch ultraportable - the Dell 14 Premium (you see how dumb that sounds?) - still has the DNA that made its predecessors one of the best notebook families for more than a decade. Design and display: How Dell puts the P in Premium Instead of doing a full redesign to match its updated name, for 2025 Dell kept the same chassis it used on last year's XPS 14. And I'm not mad at all because it's still one of the most beautiful and elegant notebooks on the market today. Its aluminum chassis has clean lines, a Gorilla Glass 3 surface and just the right amount of ports for a laptop this size: three USB-C slots with Thunderbolt 4, a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD slot. That's important, because the 14 Premium's smaller sibling - the XPS 13 (which isn't being renamed yet because it isn't getting updated this year) - doesn't have a headphone jack or a built-in card reader. That said, at between 3.66 and 3.79 pounds depending on which display you pick, the 14 Premium is a touch heavier than some of its similarly-sized rivals like a 14-inch MacBook Pro (3.4 pounds). The difference is small enough that I'm not bothered, though. There's also a glass wrist rest with a touchpad that blends invisibly into the deck, which might make it seem potentially hard to use. However, because the tracking area is absolutely massive (it spans the entire area below the spacebar plus the right ALT and Copilot keys), I never felt cramped or like I needed to actively search for my cursor. I also appreciate how Dell found room for speakers on either side of the keyboard. On the other hand, Dell's touch buttons above the number row may be a bit more contentious. I don't mind the ones for adjusting volume and display brightness, but replacing the physical keys for Escape and Delete with the touchscreen options just feels a bit weird. Especially if you ever need to use the classic Windows CTRL + ALT + DEL shortcut and have to press regular keys and touch controls in a single motion. The touch keys also don't turn off when you disable the keyboard's backlight, but at least they're dim enough that they're not distracting. Sam Rutherford for Engadget As for its display, by default the 14 Premium comes with a 14.5-inch 2K 120Hz non-touch IPS display. However, on our review unit, I've been using Dell's optional 3.2K 120Hz touch OLED panel and I must say, it's definitely worth the $200 upcharge. That's because while the OLED screen has slightly lower max brightness (400 nits versus 500 nits for the IPS), its wider color gamut and improved contrast ratio more than make up for that shortcoming. Performance: Not the most up-to-date, but still very versatile A base Dell 14 Premium comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H CPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of M.2 storage. However, our review unit includes extra memory (32GB), a bigger SSD (1TB) and perhaps most importantly, an optional NVIDIA RTX 4050 GPU. Sam Rutherford for Engadget All told, that's a pretty well-rounded package, as Dell's default config has more than enough performance to handle pretty much any level of regular productivity. And by adding in support for discrete graphics, suddenly you have a machine that's significantly better equipped to take care of more demanding tasks like video editing or even gaming in your off hours. Granted, the 14 Premium's RTX 4050 card is an entry-level component that recently became a generation old, but it was strong enough to hit 60 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p on high settings (with DLSS set to balanced), which ain't too shabby considering its portability. Battery life: Good enough Sam Rutherford for Engadget The Dell 14 Premium packs good but not outstanding battery life thanks to its 69.5WHr power pack. On PCMark10's Modern Office rundown test, it lasted 8 hours and 30 minutes on the dot That's significantly longer than ASUS' ROG Z Flow 13 (6:54) and last year's Razer Blade 14 (6:46), but still a far cry from true power-sipping systems like the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (12:43) or even Dell's own XPS 13 (13:15). Wrap-up Even with a new and rather uninspired name, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that the Dell 14 Premium remains one of the best Windows laptops on the market. It has the same sleek design from back when it was still called the XPS 14 but with some refreshed specs and components for 2025. Its chassis strikes a brilliant balance between modern minimalism and usability, while upgrades like its OLED display and discrete graphics give you the ability to build out a versatile but still very portable device. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Now I admit that our fully loaded review unit is a bit pricey with a retail price of $2,450, though I'd be remiss to mention that Dell is currently running a sale that knocks $200 off that cost. Regardless, with the base model starting at $1,650 (before discounts) or $1,850 when paired with Dell's optional OLED panel (which everyone should at least consider), the 14 Premium still feels like a great deal. And when you consider that the XPS 13 isn't getting any updates this year on top of having fewer ports, the choice becomes even clearer. If I were going to spend my own money on a traditional Windows ultraportable laptop, this is the laptop I'd get.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/dell-premium-14-review-new-name-same-great-laptop-120047563.html?src=rss

Your Apple Watch is already a powerful tool on your wrist, but the right accessories can make it even better - whether you're looking to boost its battery life, upgrade its style or make it more convenient to use. From a stylish sport loop that keeps things comfortable during workouts to a sturdy charging stand for your bedside, there are plenty of ways to enhance your experience.

Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday or Tuesday, broken into two parts. The first is a space for short essays and ramblings about video game trends and related topics from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who's covered the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some headlines from outside of Engadget.Please enjoy - and I'll see you next week.Let's all agree to stop talking about that awful conservative activist group out of Australia. You know the one - like a parasite, it attached itself to the censorship campaign that erased thousands of adult games from Steam and Itch.io, and successfully positioned itself at the center of the delisting narrative. However, logic and evidence suggests this group had very little to do with the mass removals.This Australian anti-porn organization led a movement in April to remove the edgelord simulator No Mercy from Steam, and since everyone agreed that game sucked, the campaign worked and the title disappeared from the storefront. This is where I believe the organization's involvement in the current drama ends.It seems No Mercy spurred payment processors including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal to turn their attention to the PC gaming market (an irony that I would find funnier if it weren't actively eroding an industry I love). These institutions took the opportunity to dictate the types of games they would support, and in response on July 16, Steam added a clause to its ruleset banning content that "may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam's payment processors," including certain kinds of adult only content." Censorship on Steam is not new; Valve has for years had rules banning mislabeled adult content, hate speech, anything violating local laws and many other regulations. But outsourcing censorship to payment processors is new, and hundreds of games were removed from the platform following the rule change. On July 24, Itch.io rolled out its own changes and summarily de-indexed every adult and NSFW game it hosted, which amounted to roughly 20,000 titles being hidden from search and browse pages.The conservative Australian group claimed responsibility for the Steam bans on July 19, three days after the platform's rule change went live. The organization said the censorship was the direct result of two of its recent efforts: an email campaign that sent 1,067 messages to Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and others claiming Steam and Itch.io were hosting illegal sexual content, and an open letter addressed to the same financial institutions, signed by faith-based, anti-sex work and anti-queer activist groups.There is no evidence that these campaigns were directly responsible for payment processors' renewed enforcements. It's actually ludicrous to suggest that roughly 1,000 emails or an open letter would even register at companies the size of Visa, Mastercard or PayPal. What's more, after taking credit for the removal of hundreds of Steam games, the Australian group has attempted to distance itself from the whole shebang. Following intense scrutiny from players, industry watchdogs and media outlets, every group in this situation is trying to avoid accountability, in fact. Valve says Mastercard made this happen, while Mastercard says it's just following the law, and PayPal says it's simply doing what companies like Mastercard tell it to do. Meanwhile, the Australian group is trying to avoid blame for the sweeping Itch.io delistings while simultaneously attempting to exploit the Steam bans and gain momentum for its conservative bullshit.In the most likely scenario, the Australian activist group saw these PC gaming audits coming and, in a strange act of stolen puritanical valor, took steps to center itself in the conversation. We can stop helping it do so. Forget its name and, as the IGDA suggests, direct your ire toward the organizations with power in this situation, namely Mastercard and Visa.Still. It's notable that an organization backed by conservative Christian groups that loudly oppose sex work, queer rights and freedom of expression was able to so cleanly align itself with financial companies censoring content on Steam and Itch.io. This uncontested endorsement is especially worrisome in a political and social climate where women, the queer community, people of color and those who don't conform to a traditional conservative lifestyle are under attack. At a time like this, subversive and raw art is more necessary than ever, but it's also in its most vulnerable position. Choosing this moment to activate a censorship campaign is not only dangerous for our most vulnerable communities, it's cowardly.There's been some additional misinformation wrapped up in this censorship mess, of course. Three games were incorrectly reported as delisted or removed from Itch.io or Steam as part of this situation: Mouthwashing, Trials of Innocence and Console Me. One game that was unjustly removed during the chaos was the psychological horror game VILE: Exhumed - read my interview with creator Cara Cadaver right here.The newsBioShock 4 enters a new circle of development hellIn most contexts, I'd be pretty stoked on the thought of a hell-based BioShock, but this is the worst possible iteration of that idea. According to Bloomberg, BioShock 4 failed a recent review with executives at its publisher, 2K Games, and it's heading back to developers at Cloud Chamber for a narrative revamp. Plus, Cloud Chamber studio head Kelley Gilmore is gone and creative director Hogarth de la Plante was moved to a publishing role. Not much is known about the game that's assumed to be BioShock 4, but it was revealed in 2019 alongside the formation of Cloud Chamber, so it's already been in development for quite a while.In related Rapture news, 2K's remake of the original BioShock was canceled earlier this year, Bloomberg reports. Ken Levine, the creator of the BioShock series, is currently working on a familiar-looking FPS called Judasat his own studio, Ghost Story Games.GOG gave away millions of games to protest censorshipGOG partnered with developers to release 13 games with adult themes for free from August 1 to 3, in protest of all the censorship going down on Steam and Itch.io. None of the free titles were specifically banned in the censorship campaign, but they featured sexual, queer or violent content that could easily be targeted by similar efforts. GOG handed out its free games to more than 1 million players.Itch.io is reindexing free NSFW gamesAfter deindexing all of its adult games on July 24 - like, all of them - Itch.io on August 1 relisted all free games in this category. Itch.io is currently auditing thousands of adult and NSFW games that it swept up in the payment processor ban, and it's unclear how the platform will support titles with these themes going forward. One of Itch.io's longstanding partners, Stripe, said it will no longer facilitate transactions of titles "designed for sexual gratification," but there's apparently room for negotiation in the future.Battlefield 6 will land on October 10In a shocking twist, EA also revealed that Battlefield 6 will have multiplayer content.Age verification is coming to an Xbox near youThe video game world is feeling the effects of the UK's Online Safety Act. Platforms including Discord and Xbox are implementing new age-verification methods to comply with the law in the UK, and Microsoft is planning to expand its program to other regions. It's in no rush, though, saying it'll use the UK as a guinea pig for these systems first, and then implement what it learns across the globe.Sony is suing Tencent over its blatant Horizon cloneAt its unveiling in 2024, viewers instantly called out Polaris Quest's Light of Motiram for looking an awful lot like Guerrilla Games' Horizon series - our headline called it a "pretty blatant Horizon ripoff," even. It took the better part of a year, but PlayStation's lawyers have finally kicked into gear. Sony is now suing Tencent, which owns Polaris Quest, over what it calls a "slavish clone" of its IP.Raven finally has a union contract with MicrosoftRecent layoffs at Microsoft have only heightened the importance of proper labor organizing in video games, and one of the industry's first unions is finally making things official. Three years after initiating the process, Call of Duty support studio Raven Software has ratified its union contract with Microsoft. Raven Software initially voted to organize under Activision Blizzard, but after Microsoft completed its acquisition of the studio in October 2023, it continued negotiations with the tech titan.Play VILE: Exhumed, the game that Steam doesn't want you to seeAfter VILE: Exhumed was removed and permanently banned from Steam for reasons that don't actually apply to the game, developer Cara Cadaver and publisher DreadXP have rolled out their own distribution model, and prices start at $0. You can download and play the game right now for free, and there's an option to throw some money Cara's way. A portion of the profits will benefit the Toronto-based charity Red Door Family Shelter.Additional reading

After her game was banned from sale on Steam in a baffling decision with no appeal option, solo developer Cara Cadaver has made VILE: Exhumed available as shareware under a Creative Commons license. The project can be downloaded for free, but players can opt to donate in support of the solo developer's work. Both Cara and publisher DreadXP will pay forward those donations, with 50 percent of the game's profits being given to the Toronto-based charity Red Door Family Shelter. The group aids families, refugees and women who are escaping violence.Both Steam and Itch.io have recently adopted sweeping and vague policies regarding their approach to projects with adult content due to pressure from payment processors. Itch.io has begun re-indexing some projects, but only free ones.These changes have disproportionately impacted projects by underrepresented and queer creators, according to a statement from the International Game Developers Association that condemned the broad delisting of adult games. In her post announcing the new distribution plan for VILE: Exhumed, Cara summed up the situation pretty aptly: "What this actually results in is taking power and storytelling away from women, other marginalized artists, and ultimately, from everyone."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/banned-steam-game-vile-exhumed-is-back-as-a-free-shareware-title-225220847.html?src=rss

Sonos is having overheating issues with a "very low" number of its Roam speakers. Bloomberg reports that some users' portable Bluetooth speakers are overheating around the device's USB-C port. The company has not recalled any products as a result but it aware of the issue happening."We've closely tracked a limited number of reports involving the USB-C charging connection on some first-generation Sonos Roam speakers," Sonos said in a statement shared with Engadget. "While the overall incidence rate is very low, and environmental conditions appear to play a role, we've taken several proactive steps to even further reduce the likelihood of this issue, including software updates and accessory improvements."The issue appears to be centered on the original model of the Sonos Roam that debuted in 2021; the Sonos Roam 2 offered some upgrades over that version when it rolled out last spring.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/a-very-low-number-of-original-sonos-roam-speakers-are-overheating-205722779.html?src=rss

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has sued multiple pornography platforms on allegations that they fall afoul of age verification laws. The state passed HB 3 in March 2024 and the law took effect in January 2025. HB 3 placed new requirements on services to confirm the ages of their users if they contain "material harmful to minors" and to ensure nobody younger than 18 accesses their content.The lawsuit today targets the companies behind several porn sites, including XVideos, XNXX, BangBros and Girls Gone Wild, as well as adult advertising network Traffic Factory. "We are taking legal action against these online pornographers who are willfully preying on the innocence of children for their financial gain," Uthmeier said.Although today's lawsuit focuses on pornography providers, many of the provisions in HB 3 also center on teen use of social media. In June, a judge temporarily blocked the law after NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association - groups representing several social media platforms - sought a preliminary injunction. Uthmeier has appealed that injunction to the Eleventh Circuit.Yahoo, the parent company of Engadget, is a member of NetChoice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/florida-is-suing-several-porn-companies-over-age-verification-190251850.html?src=rss

Intel is reportedly still struggling with a chipmaking process crucial to its future. Reuters reports that the company's 18A process is still producing low yields and high defect rates. Intel has invested billions of dollars in the manufacturing process, on which it's pinned its hopes of gaining ground on TSMC.This isn't the first concerning news about 18A. Last year, a report stated that Broadcom was unhappy with the results of a test run for a potential order. However, Intel insisted at the time that 18A was on track to make its upcoming Panther Lake chips at volume later this year. "Our performance and yield trajectory gives us confidence this will be a successful launch that further strengthens Intel's position in the notebook market," Intel said last month.Intel has typically aimed for a yield of at least 50 percent of usable chips before scaling up production. The company is said to make the bulk of its profit after reaching 70 to 80 percent. Last year, 18A's usable Panther Lake chips had reportedly only reached a five percent threshold. Intel had aimed for 10 percent by this summer. Tuesday's report doesn't state 18A's current yield, only describing it as a small percentage.In a statement sent to Engadget, an Intel spokesperson said it is pleased with 18A's current state. "We feel very good about our trajectory on Intel 18A, and it will be the foundation of multiple generations of client and server products in the coming years," the spokesperson wrote. "Panther Lake is going to be a great product for Intel and our partners," the company continued, adding that its launch is still on track for later this year.In a July interview with Reuters, Intel's Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner suggested that 18A's yields were better than reports claimed. He added that yields tend to "start off low and improve over time."The company's 18A process is a risky bet, combining manufacturing changes with a next-gen transistor design. Intel embraced the challenge with an aggressive timeline that one of Reuters' sources called a hail mary. 18A going well would also help attract business for its upcoming 14A process. Last month, Intel warned investors that it may have to leave chip manufacturing altogether if it doesn't land 14A contracts.The company needs all the help it can get. It recently confirmed that it would cut around 20 percent of its workforce by the end of this year. That follows 20,000 job cuts from June 2024 to July 2025. Earlier this year, it took on a new CEO to try to right the ship.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intels-next-gen-manufacturing-process-is-reportedly-still-struggling-184146350.html?src=rss