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Conde Nast, the media conglomerate that owns publications such as The New Yorker, Vogue and Wired, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to AI-powered search startup Perplexity, according to The Information. The letter, which was sent on Monday, demands that Perplexity stop using content from Conde Nast publications in its AI-generated responses and accused the startup of plagiarism.The move makes Conde Nast the latest in a growing list of publishers taking a stand against the unauthorized use of their content by AI companies, and comes a month after similar action taken by Forbes. Perplexity and Conde Nast did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Engadget.Perplexity, a San Francisco-based startup, is valued at $3 billion and backed by high-profile investors including the Jeff Bezos family fund and NVIDIA, has recently come under scrutiny for not respecting copyright and ripping off content to feed its AI-generated responses. The controversy surrounding the company extends beyond copyright concerns.A recent investigation from Wired reveled that the startup's web crawlers do not respect robots.txt, a type of file that website owners can use to block bots from scraping their content. Last month, Amazon Web Services reportedly launched an investigation to determine whether the startup broke its rules around web scraping. Shortly after, a report from Reuters showed that Perplexity was just one of the many AI companies ignoring robots.txt.This practice has sparked concerns about the ethical and legal implications of AI development and its impact on content creators and publishers. In response, Perplexity executives have talked about starting a revenue-sharing program with publishers, although it is still unclear what its terms will be.Conde Nast CEO Roger Lynch has warned that many" media companies could face financial ruin by the time it would take for litigation against generative AI companies to conclude. Lynch has called upon Congress to take immediate action" by asking AI companies to compensate publishers for the use of their content and striking licensing deals in the future. Earlier this month, three senators introduced the COPIED Act, a bill that aims to protect journalists, artists and songwriters from AI companies using their content to train AI models.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/conde-nast-has-reportedly-accused-ai-search-startup-perplexity-of-plagiarism-191639677.html?src=rss

Wireless food probes are some the best grilling gear for keeping tabs on meat and other items while cooking. You don't have to dodge cords when you're flipping a steak or trying to wrap a brisket. Several companies make these, Traeger-owned Meater being one example, but existing products rely solely on Bluetooth and have ambient temperature sensors that may not be the most accurate. ThermoWorks, the company that's known for its Thermapen instant-read thermometers, has officially announced its take on the wireless meat probe: the RFX Meat. Like ThermoWorks' more robust grill and smoker temperature-tracking devices, the RFX Meat uses radio technology to transmit data rather than Bluetooth. The company explains that its "patent-pending sub-GHz RFX wireless technology" provides a more reliable connection with up to 2,132 feet of direct line of sight range. When placed inside a grill or smoker, ThermoWorks promises up to 659 feet of range. Similar to the competition, the RFX Meat has four internal sensors that provide an accurate measure of food temps with 0.9-degree accuracy between 14 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit. This probe is also IP69K rated, so it's safe to use for deep frying and sous vide. Plus, it can withstand temperatures of up 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it well-suited for high-heat searing, and you can stick in in the dishwasher when you're done. Since the RFX Meat utilizes radio frequency and not Bluetooth, you'll need a RFX Gateway receiver to use it. This small device sends cooking data to ThermoWorks Cloud when it's connected to WiFi, or it can be used offline with your phone via Bluetooth. Either way, you get timely updates on your phone to keep tabs on meat and other foods. And when the RFX Gateway is connected to WiFi, you can monitor what's on the grill or smoker from anywhere. The RFX Gateway is also capable of handling readings for up to 70 RFX Meat probes at once. ThermoWorks Most of these wireless probes come with a charging dock that doubles as a Bluetooth transmitter. RFX Meat resides in one of these (minus the Bluetooth), and ThermoWorks says you can get over 50 hours of use with a 10-minute charge. The dock uses a single AAA battery which should be enough for over 175 full charges, according to the company. One thing the RFX Meat doesn't have is a built-in ambient temperature sensor. Meater's products, for example, have one situated at the far end of its wireless probes. But, ThermoWorks argues this component doesn't provide accurate readings. Due to the fact that it's close to cold meat at the start or in an evaporative cooling zone around food, a built-in ambient temperature sensor can't accurately keep tabs on the grill, according to the company. So, ThermoWorks devised a solution that uses a wired Pro-Series Air Probe from its other products that plugs into the RFX Gateway. Since this probe is only monitoring grill or smoker temps and can be placed out of the way, it's not as essential that it be wireless. The RFX Meat starter kit is available for preorder today for $159. That price includes the RFX Meat probe, the RFX Gateway and a Pro-Series Air Probe. The same bundle with four RFX Meat probes is $349 and individual probes are $89. You can also purchase the RFX Gateway for $79, which comes with a Pro-Series Air Probe. ThermoWorks says it will start shipping the grilling devices on September 10th. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/thermoworks-rfx-meat-wireless-probe-uses-radio-waves-instead-of-bluetooth-to-monitor-food-on-the-grill-183446728.html?src=rss

Warner Bros. just announced the acquisition of Player First Games, the developer behind the popular free-to-play platform fighter MultiVersus. This makes a whole lot of sense as the hit Smash Bros-esque brawler pulls its entire roster from WB properties. The game includes characters like Batman, Bugs Bunny, Agent Smith from The Matrix and, of course, both Rick and Morty.It doesn't look like much will change with regard to the day-to-day workings of Player First Games. Co-founders Tony Huynh and Chris White will still lead the company, though the pair will report to Carlos Barbosa, Vice President and Studio Head of Warner Bros. Games.Huynh says the team is excited about the acquisition and that it should be great for MultiVersus overall." There has been no announcement as to what comes next for the fighting game. However, Player First regularly drops new characters into the roster, so this will likely continue. I for one would like to beat up Tom and Jerry as Tony Soprano. Make it happen WB.MultiVersus is available now on just about every platform out there, including PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Even better? There's crossplay between platforms. The game isn't available for the Nintendo Switch just yet, but maybe that'll change whenever the Switch 2 makes its grand entrance.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/warner-bros-has-bought-the-developer-behind-its-multiversus-brawler-180355445.html?src=rss

The European Commission really isn't happy about a Meta business model that gives users in the EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland the generous choice of continuing to use Facebook and Instagram with targeted ads without paying anything, or signing up for a monthly subscription that's said to offer an ad-free experience.Officials from the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network - a group of national authorities that enforce EU consumer protection laws - have suggested that Meta may be violating consumer legislation with the "pay or consent" approach. The Commission, which is the European Union's executive arm, coordinated the group's action against Meta.The CPC Network sent Meta a letter laying out numerous ways in which it believes the company may be violating consumer laws. The company has until September 1 to reply and propose solutions to officials' concerns. If CPC officials find that Meta doesn't take appropriate steps to solve the problems, they could take enforcement actions against the company, which may include sanctions.CPC authorities have suggested that Meta is misleading users by describing its platforms as free to use if they opt not to pay for a subscription, when Meta in fact monetizes their personal data by displaying targeted ads. They further say that Meta is "confusing users" by requiring them to access different areas of the privacy policy and terms of service to see how their data is being used for personalized ads.Officials have also taken aim at Meta's "imprecise terms and language" that suggest subscribers will not see ads at all, even though those still might be displayed "when engaging with content shared via Facebook or Instagram by other members of the platform." Furthermore, they claim Meta is pressuring users who have long used Facebook and Instagram without forking over any payment "to make an immediate choice, without giving them a pre-warning, sufficient time and a real opportunity to assess how that choice might affect their contractual relationship with Meta, by not letting them access their accounts before making their choice."Meta introduced its "pay or consent" options last year in an attempt to comply with the EU's data protection laws while maintaining its advertising model. CPC officials say they are concerned that "many consumers might have been exposed to undue pressure to choose rapidly" between consenting to data collection or paying a monthly fee, "fearing that they would instantly lose access to their accounts and their network of contacts."This action is separate from other investigations the EU is carrying out against Meta over the "pay or consent" model. Earlier this month, the EU said Meta had potentially breached the Digital Markets Act with this approach. If found guilty, Meta could be on the hook for a fine of up to 10 percent of its global annual revenue.In addition, the Commission requested more information from the company in March about the "pay or consent" model under the Digital Services Act, another law the bloc designed to keep the power of major tech companies in check. Not only that, consumer rights groups have filed complaints arguing that the approach violates the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/eu-officials-say-meta-may-be-violating-consumer-laws-with-paid-ad-free-plan-175834177.html?src=rss

Apple has been accused of underreporting the prevalence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platforms. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a child protection charity in the UK, says that Apple reported just 267 worldwide cases of suspected CSAM to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) last year.That pales in comparison to the 1.47 million potential cases that Google reported and 30.6 million reports from Meta. Other platforms that reported more potential CSAM cases than Apple in 2023 include TikTok (590,376), X (597,087), Snapchat (713,055), Xbox (1,537) and PlayStation/Sony Interactive Entertainment (3,974). Every US-based tech company is required to pass along any possible CSAM cases detected on their platforms to NCMEC, which directs cases to relevant law enforcement agencies worldwide.The NSPCC also said Apple was implicated in more CSAM cases (337) in England and Wales between April 2022 and March 2023 than it reported worldwide in one year. The charity used freedom of information requests to gather that data from police forces.As The Guardian, which first reported on the NSPCC's claim, points out, Apple services such as iMessage, FaceTime and iCloud all have end-to-end encryption, which stops the company from viewing the contents of what users share on them. However, WhatsApp has E2EE as well, and that service reported nearly 1.4 million cases of suspected CSAM to NCMEC in 2023.There is a concerning discrepancy between the number of UK child abuse image crimes taking place on Apple's services and the almost negligible number of global reports of abuse content they make to authorities," Richard Collard, the NSPCC's head of child safety online policy, said. Apple is clearly behind many of their peers in tackling child sexual abuse when all tech firms should be investing in safety and preparing for the roll out of the Online Safety Act in the UK."In 2021, Apple announced plans to deploy a system that would scan images before they were uploaded to iCloud and compare them against a database of known CSAM images from NCMEC and other organizations. But following a backlash from privacy and digital rights advocates, Apple delayed the rollout of its CSAM detection tools before ultimately killing the project in 2022.Apple declined to comment on the NSPCC's accusation, instead pointing The Guardian to a statement it made when it shelved the CSAM scanning plan. Apple said it opted for a different strategy that prioritizes the security and privacy of [its] users." The company told Wired in August 2022 that "children can be protected without companies combing through personal data."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-accused-of-underreporting-suspected-csam-on-its-platforms-153637726.html?src=rss

The iRobot Roomba Combo Essential vacuum and mop hybrid robot is on sale for just $200. That's a discount of $75 and one of the best prices we've seen on this particular model. This version just came out back in April, so a sale this significant (outside of Prime Day) comes as something of a surprise. This is squarely a budget-friendly entry in the company's lineup of robot vacuums, but it's certainly no slouch. As the name suggests, it can handle both vacuuming and mopping duties, which is always nice. The company says this model actually outperforms the popular Roomba 600 Series, with 20 times more suction power. It boasts a similar smart navigation algorithm as other iRobot vacuums and offers a robust battery life of 120 minutes. That's certainly long enough to both vacuum and mop an entire home, with time left over to chase the cats around. Like most of the company's vacuums, there's an affiliated app that lets people customize various settings and set up cleaning schedules. There's one major downside, though this is true of most robovacs in this price range. There's no dedicated waste bin so you'll have to stay on top of emptying and cleaning the vacuum yourself. I own a budget-friendly robot vacuum and have never found this to be a huge deal. The emptying process takes under a minute, though you do have to do it after every cleaning session. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/irobots-roomba-combo-essential-robot-vacuum-and-mop-is-on-sale-for-200-151836301.html?src=rss

We called Google's Pixel 8a the best Android phone for less than $500 upon its release in May, and now it's even cheaper than usual. The handset is down to $449 at Amazon, Target, Best Buy and the Google Store, which is a $50 drop. Though we've technically seen the phone go for less, those deals have required you to trade in an older device or tie yourself to a specific carrier. Another pre-order deal threw in a $100 gift card, but only if you bought the phone at full price. This newest deal, though, marks the largest cash discount we've seen for the unlocked model. This price applies to the base version of the phone, which includes 128GB of storage space. If you need more room, the 256GB model is also $50 off at $509. Again, that's the lowest price we've seen for the unlocked variant. Both of these deals have been available for about a week now, but they still represent good value if you've been waiting for a price drop. Engadget's Sam Rutherford gave the Pixel 8a a score of 90 in his review. Like past A-series devices, it takes most of the headline features from last year's flagship Pixel phone - the Pixel 8 in this case - and puts them in a slightly cheaper design. You still get a bright and vivid OLED display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, superb camera performance and enough battery life for a typical day. It runs on the same Tensor G3 chip and 8GB of RAM, which means it can get warm under heavy load but can handle virtually any task. The stock software is just as clean, and Google promises the same seven years of OS and security updates. The handful of actually useful AI features from the standard Pixel 8 are here as well, including a Magic Eraser tool that lets you remove unwanted objects from photos. If you can afford to step up to the Pixel 8, you still should. That device is a few months older but offers faster wired and wireless charging speeds, thinner bezels and slightly better photo quality, particularly in darker settings and with zoomed-in shots. It has a glass back rather than one made from matte plastic, plus its screen is a tiny bit bigger (6.2 inches versus 6.1 inches). It's currently on sale for $549 for a 128GB model or $609 for a 256GB one. If you really want to save the extra $100, though, the Pixel 8a isn't far behind. And if money is no object, keep in mind that Google has already confirmed that new Pixel 9 devices will arrive next month. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-google-pixel-8a-is-on-sale-for-a-low-of-449-145943989.html?src=rss

A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike caused a global outage last Friday, apparently affecting some 8.5 million Windows devices, according to Microsoft itself.The update triggered a blue screen of death (BSOD), knocking offline systems used by hospitals, airlines, and banks. Only machines running Windows were affected - according to CrowdStrike, the total number of devices affected was less than one percent of all Windows machines."The update was designed to target newly observed, malicious named pipes being used by common C2 frameworks in cyberattacks," according to CrowdStrike. Unfortunately, it included a logic error, crashing the OS. In the blog post on Saturday, Microsoft's VP of enterprise and OS security, David Weston, wrote that the company is working with CrowdStrike to develop a scalable solution" to fix the faulty update. Microsoft has also called for help from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).Unfortunately, not everything is fixed quite yet - just ask Delta flyers over the weekend.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedX is working on a way to block links in replies.45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND is a cyberpunk RPG with a '90s aestheticWhat to read this weekend: The Light Eaters, Paranoid Gardens and I Was a Teenage SlasherSamsung halts Galaxy Buds 3 Pro shipments amid quality control issuesYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 reviewThe foldable king, but for how much longer?EngadgetNo one has been making foldable phones longer than Samsung. But the pace of innovation from the company has slowed while new challengers, like the OnePlus Open and Pixel Fold, have arrived. Now for 2024, Samsung has reinforced the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with a stronger but significantly lighter frame, a new ultra-wide-angle camera and a bunch of AI-powered tools. It's better, sure, but it feels like complacency is eroding Samsung's foldable lead.Read the full review.Kunitsu-Gami review: Demonic delightsCome to defend humanity, stay for the beautifully rendered desserts.Kunitsu-Gami is a game of two halves: frenzied combat and peaceful base building. Demon enemies are often gross (intentionally!), filled with pus, and armed with claws. The game blends real-time combat with tower-defense mechanics, with all of it taking place in a zoomed-out third-person view. With so many samey action RPGs and Soulslikes, Kunitsu-Gami takes a refreshingly different approach. Oh, and so much delicious-looking, hyper-detailed video game food.Continue reading.NASA's Curiosity rover accidentally found pure sulfur crystals on MarsIt shouldn't be there.'NASA scientists say pure sulfur has been found on Mars for the first time after the Curiosity rover inadvertently uncovered a cluster of yellow crystals when it drove over a rock. And it looks like the area is filled with it. While minerals containing sulfur have been observed on the red planet, elemental sulfur has never been seen before. Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist, said: It shouldn't be there, so now we have to explain it."Continue reading.Rivian opens its first Charging Outpost, a not-gas station near YosemiteThere's trail mix and coffee too, for your own refueling.RivianRivian just opened its first EV charging rest stop, 24 miles outside Yosemite National Park. Alongside the five DC fast chargers, only for Rivian owners, there are bathrooms, a lounge with a small library, a water refill station, free coffee, and make-your-own trail mix. These other amenities are open to anyone, and Rivian says it's planning more Charging Outposts around national parks and other high-traffic areas across the country."Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-blue-screen-of-death-outage-affected-around-85-million-devices-112012903.html?src=rss

The CrowdStrike outage that started late on Thursday is still causing havoc as Delta was forced to scrap an additional 1,250 flights yesterday on top of the 3,500 already cancelled, Reuters reported. That has left tens of thousands of Delta fliers stranded waiting for new flights that could take days, forcing many to cancel or postpone trips. The airline has yet to say when it will resume normal operations.Delta has scratched a third of scheduled flights for a total of 5,000 since Friday, and delayed another 1,700. "In particular one of our crew tracking-related tools was affected and unable to effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system shutdown," said Delta CEO Ed Bastian.CrowdStrike's software update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, causing many to go into a boot loop that could only be recovered by technicians with direct access to machines. The problem turned out to be a faulty sensor designed to detect malicious activity that "triggered a logic error that resulted in an operating system crash," according to CrowdStrike.Delta was the worst hit of any US airline, and United Airlines was a distant second with about 266 (9 percent) of flights cancelled on Sunday.At first, United and Delta told stranded travelers that they wouldn't cover bills since the CrowdStrike crash was out of their control. However, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg later stepped in and said that he considered the situation self-inflicted, so carriers would need to cover food, transportation and lodging costs for any delays longer than three hours as required by law.CrowdStrike said today that a "significant" number of devices are back online and the company is reportedly close to rolling out an automatic fix to the issue. Also heavily impacted by the outage are healthcare and other public services in the US and UK, with the NHS warning patients that "there may still be some delays."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/crowdstrike-outage-aftershocks-cause-delta-to-cancel-over-1000-more-flights-120025978.html?src=rss

Somehow in all these years, I've never gotten into visual novels, despite being a person who loves both reading and video games. The idea has always intrigued me in some way, but I've never really felt compelled to actually pick one up. That changed when I first saw the announcement for Echoes of the Emergent a few months ago. Described as a personal journey through a shattered post-apocalyptic world," all it took was a glimpse of Echoes of the Emergent's gritty aesthetic and melancholic atmosphere to get me to preorder it. And now that I've finally gotten around to playing (reading? experiencing?) it, I'm kind of blown away.Echoes of the Emergent is a Playdate-exclusive title from RNG Party Games, the same team that made Bloom. It opens with its main character, Ayumi, on a tense scavenging trip to find any food she can in a ruined city. She's alone, afraid and increasingly concerned about her dwindling resources. As the story progresses, it bounces between Ayumi's bleak new reality and flashbacks to a time when things were normal. Her panicked efforts to stay alive, to keep going, are interwoven with memories of her family and friends - some of them happy, some painful. And there's a cat.RNG Party GamesThe narrative is illustrated with haunting backgrounds of Ayumi's dilapidated surroundings, and these move ever so slightly to create a really unsettling effect. If you press the down arrow on the D-pad, you can collapse the text box to get a full view of the backgrounds. It takes a few hours to get through the entire story, but it's definitely worth carving out some time for. You can save your place by pressing B' to pull up the menu.Echoes of the Emergent is the kind of experience that will stick with you for a little while even after it's over. It's available on the Playdate Catalog for $8, but you can also get it - and its captivating soundtrack - on itch.io.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/echoes-of-the-emergent-a-hauntingly-beautiful-playdate-exclusive-sold-me-on-visual-novels-222033336.html?src=rss

Engineers from Boeing and NASA have spent much of the last month running ground tests on a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster to get a better idea of what went wrong during the active Starliner's flight in early June, and they finally wrapped up this past week. In its latest update, Boeing said the teams were able to replicate the thrust degradation Starliner experienced and are now reviewing all the data. But the date of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams' return is still uncertain - NASA and Boeing said only that they'll be making the trip in the coming weeks."In the tests at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, the teams simulated the conditions from Starliner's recent flight, putting the control system thruster through one of the most stressing launch-to-docking firing sequences with over 1,000 pulses to simulate CFT [Crew Flight Test] conditions," according to Boeing. They also tested undocking and deorbit burn scenarios, which Starliner will experience on its way home. After collecting terabytes of data from those tests, the teams ran additional, more aggressive tests to see if we could more closely simulate the higher thermal conditions the thrusters experienced in-flight," said Dan Niedermaier, Boeing's engineer for the thruster testing.The engineers are in the process of doing engine tear downs and inspections" NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, Steve Stich, said on Thursday. Following their analyses, NASA says there will be an Agency Flight Test Readiness Review to determine whether Starliner is in good shape to bring the astronauts back. NASA and Boeing said they will release more information in a conference in the coming days.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/boeing-and-nasa-engineers-have-wrapped-up-ground-tests-on-the-starliner-thruster-180027494.html?src=rss

NASA scientists say pure sulfur has been found on Mars for the first time after the Curiosity rover inadvertently uncovered a cluster of yellow crystals when it drove over a rock. And it looks like the area is filled with it. It's an unexpected discovery - while minerals containing sulfur have been observed on the Red Planet, elemental sulfur on its own has never been seen there before. It forms in only a narrow range of conditions that scientists haven't associated with the history of this location," according to NASA.Curiosity cracked open the rock on May 30 while driving in a region known as the Gediz Vallis channel, where similar rocks were seen all around. The channel is thought to have been carved by water and debris flows long ago. Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert," said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist. It shouldn't be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting."NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSAfter spotting the yellow crystals, the team later used a camera on Curiosity's robotic arm to take a closer look. The rover then took a sample from a different rock nearby, as the pieces of the rock it had smashed were too brittle for drilling. Curiosity is equipped with instruments that allow it to analyze the composition of rocks and soil, and NASA says its Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) confirmed it had found elemental sulfur.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasas-curiosity-rover-accidentally-uncovered-pure-sulfur-crystals-on-mars-211340580.html?src=rss

The global outage caused by a faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike on Friday affected some 8.5 million Windows devices, Microsoft said in a blog post. The update triggered a blue screen of death, bringing systems used by hospitals, airlines, banks and other major services temporarily to a standstill. Only machines running Windows were affected.While the issue was mostly resolved by Friday afternoon, Microsoft and CrowdStrike are still dealing with the fallout. In the blog post on Saturday, Microsoft's VP of Enterprise and OS Security, David Weston, wrote that the company is working with CrowdStrike to develop a scalable solution that will help Microsoft's Azure infrastructure accelerate a fix for CrowdStrike's faulty update." Microsoft has also called in help from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).CrowdStrike said in its own blog post on Saturday that the update - a sensor configuration update - was designed to target newly observed, malicious named pipes being used by common C2 frameworks in cyberattacks." Unfortunately, for devices running Windows 7.11 and above that use CrowdStrike's Falcon sensor, it instead triggered a logic error that resulted in an operating system crash." The total number of devices affected worked out to be less than one percent of all Windows machines," according to Weston.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/outage-caused-by-crowdstrikes-disastrous-update-affected-85-million-devices-192703245.html?src=rss

Sukeban Games is working on what it describes as a "cyberpunk active time action" game with a battle system that's similar to Parasite Eve. In a blog post, Chris of Sukeban has officially announced .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND, featuring a mercenary named Reila Mikazuchi as its protagonist. Enemies can attack you from anywhere while you're exploring environments in the game, and you'll have to dodge and wait for an action bar to fill before you can launch a counterattack. The action bar fills at a speed based on your character and weapon stats, so the stronger you get, the faster you can fight back.While the announcement doesn't have a in-depth explanation of the game's plot, Chris describes its story as follows: "You play as Reila Mikazuchi; a washed out mercenary whose glory days are long gone. In a last attempt at grabbing life by the horns she decides to go back to the life, only to realize the real enemy isn't in front of her gun."The indie developer is planning to make seven chapters for the game, and five are already done and playable. It has yet to announce a release date, though, so as not to repeat its "N1RV ANN-A situation." Sukeban is the developer behind the cyberpunk bartending "booze-em-up" game VA-11 HALL-A, which is set in a post-dystopian world with a corporate-controlled society.VA-11 HALL-A was wildly successful for an indie title, and Sukeban announced a sequel called N1RV ANN-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action back in 2018 after it hit 200,000 copies sold. The developer hasn't released N1RV ANN-A yet despite announcing a 2020 launch date, and it doesn't look like we're seeing it anytime soon. Chris said .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND is "significantly ahead in development" and that the developer is dedicating its "full attention to it for the foreseeable future."Sukeban has also released the first trailer for .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND, and you can watch it below.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/45-parabellum-bloodhound-is-a-cyberpunk-rpg-by-the-developer-of-va-11-hall-a-180043556.html?src=rss

The workers at Bethesda Game Studios have joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and they say they're the first Microsoft video game studio to form a wall-to-wall union. A total of 241 workers have either signed an authorization card or have indicated that they wanted to join a union through an online portal. The "wall-to-wall" nature of their organization means the CWA will be representing workers across job descriptions and divisions - and not just one type - including artists, engineers, programmers and designers. Bethesda is the developer behind Starfield and the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.Microsoft has already recognized the union, so workers at the studio's Maryland office have officially joined CWA Locals 2108, while those in its Texas office have become members of CWA Locals 6215. "We are so excited to announce our union at Bethesda Game Studio and join the movement sweeping across the video game industry," Mandi Parker, Bethesda Senior System Designer, said. "It is clear that every worker can benefit from bringing democracy into the workplace and securing a protected voice on the job. We're thrilled to get down to brass tacks and win a fair contract, proving that our unity is a source of real power to positively shape our working conditions, our lives, and the company as a whole."Bethesda's workers join the growing number of unionized personnel in video games. In January 2023, quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Studios, the parent company of Bethesda, banded together to form what was then the largest union in the industry with 300 members. It lost the distinction as the largest union in video games when 600 quality assurance workers at Activision, which is also owned by Microsoft, joined the CWA this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-workers-at-bethesda-game-studios-have-fully-unionized-163024914.html?src=rss

Rivian just opened its first EV charging rest stop 24 miles outside of Yosemite National Park, complete with bathrooms, a lounge with a small library, a water refill station, free coffee and (not free) make your own" trail mix. Only Rivian owners will be able to make use of the five DC fast chargers at the Rivian Yosemite Charging Outpost, but the other amenities are open to anyone.The Charging Outpost is located in Groveland, California near the park's west entrance and takes the place of an abandoned gas station. The shop area will be open from 7AM to 7PM, while the bathrooms and chargers will be available 24/7. It's the first time Rivian has ventured into this kind of infrastructure, building on its growing network of regular charging sites - several of which are situated near Yosemite. The EV maker has 58 Waypoint charging sites, which support any electric vehicle that uses the standard J1772 plug, around the Yosemite Valley, and a Rivian-only Adventure charging site near the park's east entrance.Rivian says it has plans for more Charging Outposts around national parks and other high-traffic areas across the country." The first such building was designed with the intention of keeping waste to a minimum, and its retaining wall was made using materials from the old parking lot and sidewalk. It's fitted with solar panels and has a passive cooling design that's meant to reduce the need for AC or heating.Beyond Charging Outposts, Rivian plans to eventually have over 3,500 of its Adventure Network DC fast chargers available in 600 sites across the US and Canada, on top of roughly 10,000 Level 2 chargers that will be open to the public.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rivian-opens-its-first-charging-outpost-a-crunchy-not-gas-station-near-yosemite-152039298.html?src=rss

Rhythm is everything in Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. On a micro scale, the maiden Yoshiro dances through the game with graceful, measured movements, her steps cleansing the black defilement that has consumed her mountain and its people. In combat, Yoshiro's protector, Soh, directs their sword in nimble arcs, landing attacks and parries based on timing and flow. On a grand scale, Kunitsu-Gami employs a soothing cadence of frenzied combat and peaceful base building. Soh's abilities grow into a powerful crescendo as they guide Yoshiro down the mountain, her body deteriorating with each encounter.Amid these crashing waves of tension and tranquility, Kunitsu-Gami also balances beauty and hellish terror with supreme skill. The slopes of Mt. Kafuku are lush, but its plants, animals and people are slathered in caustic pools of defilement, oil-slick and sticky. Yoshiro and Soh wear layers of delicate fabrics and glinting metallic jewelry, their movements mesmerizing. The demons that have taken over the mountain are vile - eyeless and bulging with toxic pus, many of them armed with sharp claws and gaping maws. The creature designs in Kunitsu-Gami are body-horrific and each beast is uniquely, grotesquely gorgeous.CapcomKunitsu-Gami finds harmony in its dichotomies. The game's core loop involves a day-night cycle: During the day, players carve a path for Yoshiro to cleanse a settlement, meanwhile collecting crystals, repairing defenses and freeing villagers from cocoons of defilement. At night, creatures called Seethe pour out of the Torii gates, and Soh must defend Yoshiro with the help of the rescued villagers. Protecting Yoshiro and completing her ritual reverts each region to its pre-defilement form, creating a base where Soh can upgrade their units and abilities.The game blends real-time combat with tower-defense mechanics, and all of it takes place in a zoomed-out third-person view with a fully adjustable camera anchored to Soh's body. It's an effective approach, inviting players to mess around with perspective and investigate every detour in the environment, purging defilement as they go.There are 17 bases to cleanse on the mountain plus 10 boss stages. Defeating a big bad in a challenge stage unlocks a new warrior type for Soh to deploy, including healer, sorcerer, ninja, spearman, cannoneer, marksman, and an aesthetic that can slow down enemies. As night falls on a base battle, the game's music grows louder and more discordant, signaling the imminent Seethe invasion. Players assign roles to villagers using the crystals they've collected during the day, and then place their fighters around Yoshiro on the map. Each battle involves a different number of units - there are even fights that Soh has to complete on their own, and others where they're incapacitated, leaving combat to the villagers entirely. The variety built into these encounters is refreshing.Combat requires preparation and constant attention, as the Seethe attack Yoshiro from multiple sides with a variety of moves, including aerial slashes, suicide bombs and bulbous projectiles that explode in toxic pools. It's often essential to reposition units mid-battle, and thankfully, time freezes during these tactical moments.CapcomSoh mainly attacks with their sword in a smooth, rhythmic form that feels fantastic to control. Attacks are simple - on the DualSense, it's square for smaller strikes and triangle for a large hit. Pressing square before triangle lines up elaborate sequences where Soh twists and swings their body before landing a series of big blows, and their positioning is completely controllable the entire time. This makes combat feel like one elongated dance, the input perfectly predicting Soh's on-screen movements. Soh's abilities evolve steadily with every victory and base repair, eventually adding a ranged bow, an extra form of swordplay, stronger attacks, multiple special moves and other upgrades to their kit.Mandatory boss levels appear after some settlements are successfully cleansed, offering massive fights against gloriously gross creatures. I had to replay most of these bosses at least once, adjusting my unit types and positions according to each demon's unique attack style and vulnerabilities. The enemies are all giant and covered in intricate, iridescent designs, but they're otherwise distinct: There's a skittering centipede that rushes in for rapid hits, a literal cherry tree with stabbing tentacle roots, a vicious floating sorcerer orbited by a ring of rocky spikes, and a juicy larval beast that moves like a petulant toddler and spews lethal sludge. That last one is called Notsugo and it's my favorite because it's so disgustingly adorable.CapcomAfter a fight in a settlement or boss stage, there's time to take a breath and fix up some bases. The bases trail down the side of Mt. Kafuku in the stage-selection screen following a successful purge - once the defilement is cleared from a settlement, players still have to make it habitable by assigning villagers to fix broken buildings and platforms. Repairs take a few in-game days to complete and they unlock extra resources. It's easy, tranquil work. This mechanic provides a soft place to land after a big battle, where players can strategize, upgrade their skills, pet a Shiba Inu or let a deer scream at them. I recommend repairing bases as quickly and thoroughly as possible: Not only does this net necessary resources at the proper pace, but it prevents an uncomfortable base-repair backlog from forming. By mid-game, I generally had three or four bases on the go at all times, and that was with immediate, maxed-out repairs.The bases are also home to some of the most beautiful aspects of the game. Yoshiro sets up a tent in each base where players manage upgrades, and it also contains plates to share food with her. The dessert menu fills up first, offering a variety of mochi treats and crystalline sweets in a fabulous photorealistic viewing mode. I don't know what it is, but I could stare at hyper-detailed video game food all day. Kunitsu-Gami understands this urge and caters to it.CapcomAdditionally, the tent contains scrolls featuring traditional, woodcut-style art pieces relating to completed stages, and the bases have collectable ema plaques that showcase detailed, rotatable 3D images of the demons and villagers players encounter. These are sensational touches that not only expand the game's lore, but shine a brilliant light on Japanese history and culture.Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is perfectly balanced, lovingly crafted, and metal as hell. It's filled with foreboding demons and intense combat, but it's also a peaceful experience that invites players to slow down and recognize the beauty around them - even when it's in the form of a giant, oozing monster. Especially then.Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Game Pass. It's developed and published by Capcom.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/kunitsu-gami-path-of-the-goddess-review-demonic-delights-150004066.html?src=rss

Recent releases in fiction, nonfiction and comics that caught our attention.I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham JonesStephen Graham Jones is something of an expert on slashers. The author has tackled the genre in a slew of his novels (most notably in the Indian Lake Trilogy, with its slasher-movie-obsessed main character) and has an ongoing column in Fangoria dedicated to its impact, so it's not really a surprise to see he's churned out another entry for the canon. But this time around, we're getting a different perspective: the slasher's point of view.I Was a Teenage Slasheris the fictional memoir of Tolly Driver, who in 1989 reluctantly became Lamesa, Texas' very own Michael Meyers at the age of 17 - a transformation that's seemingly driven by powers beyond Tolly's control. It takes the classic slasher formula and injects a whole lot of heart.The Light Eaters by Zoe SchlangerThe Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earthwas released in the spring, but it just popped onto my radar and I was immediately drawn in by both the premise and Schlanger's easy-to-digest writing style. The Light Eaters explores the long-debated concept of plant intelligence" through conversations with scientists and deep dives into the complex processes that underlie plants' survival.There's a fair amount of anthropomorphizing, but The Light Eaters provides a really fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of plants that's accessible to non-scientists and at the very least could inspire you to look at the natural world a little differently.Paranoid Gardens by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, Chris WestonThe digital first issue of Paranoid Gardens, a new six-issue series from Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, dropped this week and it's wonderfully bizarre. We're introduced right away to Loo, a nurse with memory loss and a tragic (but as yet unexplained) backstory who works at a care facility for aliens and paranormal beings. And it's not just the patients that are out of the ordinary - there's something unusual about the building itself, too. Drama quickly unfolds, and Loo must fight her way through corrupt staff members, powerful theme park cults, and her own personal demons and trauma" to understand her role in all of it and discover what secrets the gardens hold."Paranoid Gardens is written by Way (yes, of My Chemical Romance fame but also The Umbrella Academy) and Simon (The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, written with Way), and features art by Chris Weston, colors by Dave Stewart and letters by Nate Piekos.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/what-to-read-this-week-the-light-eaters-paranoid-gardens-and-i-was-a-teenage-slasher-133012961.html?src=rss

X is developing a new feature that could help address spam posts on its website. According to Nima Owji, an independent app researcher who's unearthed several unreleased X features in the past, the platform formerly known as Twitter is working on the ability to disable links in replies. Based on the image Owji posted, users will be able to tick a box for the option if they don't want people to be able to respond with a link to their posts.

A teenage boy may be responsible for a ransomware attack that shut down MGM Resorts in Las Vegas last year. The West Midlands Police Department in England confirmed that they arrested an unidentified 17-year-old on Thursday from the town of Walsall who allegedly shut down the resort and casino on the Las Vegas strip last year.The teenager was arrested on suspicion of blackmail and violating the UK's Computer Misuse Act. He was released on bail, according to a statement from the police department.Police officials tracked the teenage suspect as part of a joint investigation with the UK's National Crime Agency and the FBI. The police department said they recovered evidence at the teenager's address including a number of digital devices which will undergo forensic examination."The statement also said the teenager was part of a global cyber online crime group" but did not specify which group. The ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group announced their responsibility for the MGM Resorts cyber outage. The attack happened on Sep. 12, 2023 allegedly with a simple 10 minute phone call to a Help desk employee using information obtained from LinkedIn. The group has also claimed responsibility for a similar ransomware attack on the beauty brand Estee Lauder."All ALPHV ransomware group did to compromise MGM Resorts was hop on LinkedIn, find an employee, then call the Help Desk," the organization wrote in a post on X.MGM Resorts' system shutdown lasted for nine days and created a massive outage across all of its casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. News later surfaced that other casinos like Caesars were also targeted by a different group but chose to pay the hackers tens of millions of dollars to prevent private company data from being released.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/police-arrest-a-teenage-boy-in-connection-with-the-mgm-resorts-ransomware-attack-223906246.html?src=rss

Twitch has confirmed that former president and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's three-year ban on the gaming stream platform has been reversed. A statement from Twitch confirmed the news about the status of Trump's ban from the platform.We reinstated former President Trump's Twitch channel," the statement read. We believe there is value in hearing from Presidential nominees directly, when possible. Trump is now the official Republican nominee for US President."The Amazon-owned platform first issued a temporary suspension on President Trump's account in 2020 for violating its hateful conduct and harassment policies and restored it two weeks later. Twitch disabled the account following the Jan. 6 riot on the US Capitol in 2021 due to the current extraordinary circumstances and the President's incendiary rhetoric" before issuing an indefinite suspension two weeks later, according to a Twitch spokesperson.Four people died and 174 police officers were injured during the attack. Three more police officers involved in the riot died in the days and weeks following Jan. 6, according to the New York Times.Twitch is the latest Internet platform to lift a ban on one of Trump's accounts. Meta rolled back Trump's restrictions on Facebook and Instagram a week ago.Trump first joined Twitch in 2019 during his presidential campaign against President Joe Biden. His campaign team used the platform to stream his rallies and other events starting with a stump speech in Minneapolis.Since then, politics has carved out a notable corner of Twitch with live broadcasts of moments like the recent Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and even its own official category. Pundits and commentators on both sides of the political aisle also regularly broadcast live streams of political events and speeches and host debates on Twitch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitch-restores-former-president-trumps-twitch-account-204327050.html?src=rss

A massive Microsoft Windows BSOD (blue screen of death) outage has impacted multiple companies worldwide including airlines, broadcasters and others. The problem was caused by a faulty update from security giant CrowdStrike that forced PCs and servers into an unrecoverable boot loop. The change has since been rolled back, and airlines and hospitals were gradually recovering by midday in the US, but many machines are still affected."We have widespread reports of BSODs on windows hosts, occurring on multiple sensor versions," CrowdStrike wrote in a pinned Reddit post. "[We have] identified a content deployment related to this issue and reverted those changes." The company went on to describe a workaround, which involves booting Windows into Safe Mode and deleting a specific driver. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized for the global meltdown on the Today show (via The NY Times), saying, We're deeply sorry for the impact that we've caused."The issue forced Delta, Frontier and other airlines to ground flights, and impacted UK broadcaster Sky and the London Stock Exchange. On a Reddit thread, dozens of commenters stated that their companies were effectively offline due to the problem. Flight-tracking service FlightAware reported in mid-afternoon that over 2,500 US flights had been canceled on Friday. They gradually recovered as the day continued, but the restoration was far from complete.

Samsung has temporarily shut down Galaxy Buds 3 Pro shipments. With memories of its flaming hot (and not in a good way) Galaxy Note fiasco eight years ago, the company is halting the earbuds' launch while urgently assessing and enhancing" the product's quality control, according to a statement shared with Engadget and Android Authority, which first published the news.Some users who received the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro before their July 24 launch reported that their ear tips tore easily. Considering how often they may need to remove and replace tips to find their ideal fit, material prone to ripping could have led to atrocious PR and an expensive recall had the company let the launch proceed as planned.Samsung's website has added a new release date of August 28, although it's unclear if that's a soft placeholder or a new hard target. In addition, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Amazon listing has been pulled altogether.Sam Rutherford for EngadgetTo ensure all products meet our quality standards, we have temporarily suspended deliveries of Galaxy Buds 3 Pro devices to distribution channels to conduct a full quality control evaluation before shipments to consumers take place," Samsung's statement reads. Samsung Korea previously issued a statement apologizing for quality control issues and promising a full inspection. However, that remark didn't mention a delay.The company added that customers who already received the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and are having problems should contact Samsung or visit a Samsung Service Center. Android Authority also published an email sent to a pre-order customer confirming a delay and advising them to request a cancellation if they choose.You can read Samsung's full statement below:There have been reports relating to a limited number of early production Galaxy Buds 3 Pro devices.We are taking this matter very seriously and remain committed to meeting the highest quality standards of our products. We are urgently assessing and enhancing our quality control processes.To ensure all products meet our quality standards, we have temporarily suspended deliveries of Galaxy Buds3 Pro devices to distribution channels to conduct a full quality control evaluation before shipments to consumers take place.We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.For more on the flagship wireless earbuds, you can read Engadget's hands-on coverage.Update, July 19, 2024, 2:48 PM ET: This story has been updated to add Samsung's full statement, which the company shared with Engadget.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-is-freezing-galaxy-buds-3-pro-shipments-amid-quality-control-issues-181407398.html?src=rss

A group of international researchers at the University of Cologne in Germany recently discovered one of the rarest types of black holes in the universe. The researchers were observing a cluster of stars in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole named Sagittarius A (Sgr A) at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. They then discovered signs of an intermediate-mass black hole, a type of black hole that's sometimes referred to as the missing link" of black holes, according to NASA.Black holes range in size from supermassive to primordial and the intermediate sits above primordial in size. They are believed to have formed just after the Big Bang and act as seeds" for creating supermassive black holes.The star cluster believed to be the latest intermediate-mass black hole dubbed IRS 13 moved in an orderly pattern when they expected them to be randomly arranged. The researchers concluded that the star cluster had to be interacting with the supermassive black hole and there must be something inside the cluster for it to be able to maintain its observed compact shape," according to a statement from the University of Cologne.Plans are underway to conduct further observations on the intermediate black hole. They will use the James Webb Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile that's currently under construction (and yes, that is its real name).Scientists discovered the first intermediate-mass black hole in 2020 using the Hubble Space Telescope when they found the waves created by its formation. Until then, intermediate-mass black holes were considered to be a missing link" between stellar-mass and supermassive black holes and could provide more insights on the formation of black holes and the universe.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/another-missing-link-black-hole-discovered-near-the-center-of-the-galaxy-175859313.html?src=rss

Amazon's latest Prime Day sale has been over for a couple of days now, but a surprising number of the event's better offers remain available. If there's a gadget or two you're still hoping to grab at a discount, we've picked through the leftovers and broken down the best tech deals left standing below. While the selection isn't quite as vast as what we saw earlier in the week, there are still larger-than-usual price drops on Apple's 10th-gen iPad and M2 MacBook Air, wireless headphones from Bose and Beats, Samsung's The Frame TV and plenty other devices we recommend in our many buying guides. Just note that some of these discounts are still only available to Amazon Prime subscribers; we've marked the exclusives ones where applicable. Best Prime Day deals you can still get: Engadget top picks

Schim is one of the games I was most looking forward to this year, and I generally had a pleasant time with it. It's a pretty platformer in which every object and living thing has a soul called a Schim. These frog-like critters live in the shadow of their host but can become lost when its object or creature is neglected, damaged or going through something life-changing.You play as a Schim that gets separated from its person, who is going through a difficult spell in their life. There are no prizes for guessing that the goal is to reconnect with them. You'll have to navigate some treacherous environments to do so, but the catch is that you can only swim through shadows and jump from one inky blob to another. If you miss a jump, you can take one extra little hop to reach it.Developers Ewoud van der Werf and Nils Slijkerman play around with this idea in some joyful ways. You might hop between the shadows of trees and animals one minute and use a bounce house to travel some extra distance the next. None of this was incredibly difficult, though it took me a while to nail down the timing of jumps between conveyor belts in a factory level. I found some other mechanics mildly frustrating, such as getting to grips with how to launch the Schim in the correct direction from a spinning rotary clothesline.The game is at its most creative and compelling when it plays around with inconsistent light sources and distended and disappearing shadows. There are some inventive ideas here, many of which are executed flawlessly. While there's a fundamental joyfulness to Schim (which is styled as SCHiM), there's a surprisingly affecting narrative that touches on mental health concerns and how regular folks struggle to get by.Unfortunately, I felt that Schim was too repetitive overall. It doesn't quite do enough with its core mechanic, and. tThere were too many stages set in urban environments with too similar objects to jump between. This bogged down what could have been a tighter and more rewarding experience. By the halfway point, I was more than ready for the Schim to reconnect with its human - not a great sign for a game that only takes about three hours to finish.My main takeaway will be the impeccable aesthetics. Each stage uses a couple of main colors and various shades of black to denote the shadows, objects and characters. The music, animations and backgrounds combine in gorgeous fashion. It often felt like I was playing a piece of living art. The visuals make for true lockscreen material and speak to the beauty that can emerge from minimalist, stylized renderings.There are a ton of great ideas in Schim, which has a touching and rewarding ending. I just wish the journey to get there was more consistently enjoyable.Schim is out now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. (It runs smoothly on Steam Deck too.)This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/schim-is-an-inventive-beautiful-platformer-thats-just-a-little-too-repetitive-170019349.html?src=rss

Mario and Donkey Kong have been rivals, frenemies, go-kart competitors and tennis partners. The Italian plumber once kidnapped Donkey Kong's son. DK once, uh, took over Mario's toy company (?) and stole a bunch of little figurines for some reason. They have history. What they haven't done, however, is appear as playable characters in one another's platforming adventures. Thanks to a nifty bit of hacking, that just changed.Mario is a playable character in a hacked version of the SNES classic Donkey Kong Country, due to a ROM programmer called RainbowSprinklez. It's appropriately named DKC X Mario and this is not a simple sprite swap. We wouldn't waste your time with that. Mario had to be completely engineered into the game, as his moveset doesn't exist in the original code. Donkey Kong is a lumbering beast. He doesn't spin around, double jump and carry items. Check out the video and prepare to be impressed.This is a Mario that has been pulled from Super Mario World, with regard to both sprites and controls. There are mushrooms to make him grow, fire flowers and, of course, everyone's favorite dino-thingie Yoshi. Otherwise, this is Donkey Kong Country. The levels are the same. The enemies, consisting primarily of King K. Rool and his army of Kremlings, are the same. If you're really familiar with the layout of the original DKC, this could be a way to breathe some new life into the ancient platformer.The music also looks to be altered, replacing the original tracks with songs from Mario, Zelda and Mega Man games. RainbowSprinklez wrote that the hack was "made for no other reason than I like Mario" in a document released alongside the ROM. You can download the whole thing right here to give it a go, and this should probably be done sooner than later. Nintendo isn't shy about sicking lawyers on projects like this.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-nifty-hack-made-mario-a-playable-character-in-1994s-donkey-kong-country-164036806.html?src=rss

NASA and the European Space Agency have released an image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope of a dwarf irregular galaxy that they admit looked "unexciting" at first glance. However, there's more going on than might initially meet the eye. The agencies say that a great deal of research is going into the "complicated structure" of NGC 5238, which is 14.5 million light-years away in the Canes Venatici constellation. In fact, astronomers believe the distribution of stars in NGC 5238 may have been distorted after it swallowed up another galaxy.They reckon that due to NGC 5238's star population (which Hubble is adept at helping to image), it had a "close encounter" with another galaxy perhaps as recently as a billion years ago. But since there isn't a galaxy close enough to have distorted the star distribution in this fashion, it's more likely that NGC 5238 merged with a smaller galaxy. Along with hosting many stars, the galaxy is home to globular clusters, which NASA describes as "glowing, bright spots both inside and around the galaxy swarmed by even more stars."Astronomers plan to dig deep into the data to learn about NGC 5238's past. If they find groups of stars that have different properties from most of the galaxy's other stars, that's a clear indication that a merger has occurred. They'll also try to determine whether there was a "burst of star formation" that suddenly took place after the galaxies would have come together.NASA notes that a dwarf irregular galaxy merging with a smaller satellite galaxy is just the kind of thing that could have spurred galaxy assembly in the early era of our universe. As such, the agency says that the data Hubble captured from NGC 5238 may help researchers to test fundamental ideas about the evolution of the universe.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/why-an-unexciting-galaxy-could-provide-clues-about-the-universes-evolution-144754342.html?src=rss

No one has been making foldable phones longer than Samsung. And for the first few years, the sheer number of improvements we got on the Galaxy Z Fold line meant it didn't really have any competition. But more recently, the pace of innovation has slowed while new challengers like the OnePlus Open and Pixel Fold have arrived. Now for 2024, Samsung has reinforced the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with a stronger but significantly lighter frame, a new ultra-wide-angle camera and a bunch of AI-powered tools. Unfortunately, not much else has changed, leaving us with a very iterative upgrade. So while the Galaxy Z Fold 6 remains the best all-around big foldable on the market, it feels like complacency is eroding Samsung's lead among flagship flexible phones. Design and displays: Tweaked dimensions with even brighter screens After eliminating the gap between the screen (when closed) on last year's phone, Samsung has adjusted the Galaxy Z Fold 6's dimensions again for 2024. But the changes are so small you have to measure them in millimeters. When closed, the phone is just over one millimeter thinner and when you open it up (in portrait), the main screen is 2.7mm wider but one millimeter shorter. It's not a ton, but you do get a little more room for activities. And of course this also affects the exterior Cover Display, which is about 1mm wider as well - just enough to make using its on-screen keyboard more forgiving. Elsewhere, the entire phone is sharper, from its boxier edges to the more squared-off corners on both screens. Samsung also says the Enhanced Armor Aluminium used in the Z Fold 6's chassis is about 10 percent stronger than before, but I hope you'll forgive me for not dropping it on purpose just to find out. Holding everything together is a new dual-rail hinge. And this time, I think Samsung has nailed the perfect balance between something that's easy to open but also holds its position when you want it to. But the biggest design upgrade is a 14-gram weight reduction compared to the previous model. Granted, that might not sound like much, but now the Z Fold 6 only weighs around 4 grams more than its non-foldable cousin, the S24 Ultra. And on an already heavy phone, this change makes a big difference. As for the displays, as someone who's been using the Pixel Fold a lot recently - which has a solid screen in its own right - can I just say, Samsung's panels are so choice. Not only has peak brightness improved to 2,600 nits for both displays just like on the standard S24 family, Samsung has subtly shrunk and flattened the bezels, so the phone looks even more like a magazine come to life. And until I see something better, this is simply the best screen on a big foldable right now. Performance: Expectedly speedy Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget The Z Fold line has never been slow and this year we got the same upgrade to a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip as we saw on the S24, while base RAM is staying pat at 12GB. And as you'd expect, the Z Fold 6's performance is fast and responsive. There's no lag when doing pretty much anything and thanks to the addition of a larger vapor chamber on the inside, the phone stays cooler during longer sessions, which is a nice bonus to all the gamers out there who like playing on a truly big-screen device. Cameras: Mostly unchanged When it comes to photography, I'm a bit disappointed with the Z Fold 6, not because it can't take a decent pic, but because I know Samsung can do better. For this go around, Samsung has stuck with a trio of rear cameras, opting for a new 12-MP sensor for the ultra-wide lens - and it's pretty good. But at the same time, the ultra-wide lens is the one I use the least in daily use, and it's not close. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget The other two cameras - the 50-MP main and 12-MP telephoto with a 3x optical zoom - are solid, but they're the same ones Samsung used on at least the previous two generations. In a photo of some strawberries, the Z Fold 6 produced a delicious pic with deep saturated hues and great details. At the same time, though, you can also see the slightly exaggerated warm tones you often get from Samsung cameras. And at night, the Z Fold produced a beautiful pic of a flower in a very tricky backlit environment. The issue is that after Google released the Pixel Fold, Samsung doesn't really have an excuse for saddling the Z Fold 6 with downgraded photography when compared to the S24 Ultra. The Pixel Fold has a longer 5x optical zoom and an edge in overall photo quality. Just take a look at two zoom shots taken by the Z Fold 6 and the Pixel Fold. In a vacuum, Samsung's photo doesn't look bad. But then take a look at the Pixel's image. It's noticeably sharper and more detailed. And it's the same thing in really low-light situations, like the one I took of some Bluey figurines, where the Pixel Fold captured a less grainy, sharper and more well-exposed pic. And after being pleasantly surprised with the cameras on the S24 Ultra, it's a shame Samsung's most expensive phone sits in second place when it comes to photography. AI features: Fun and occasionally handy, but not essential As we saw back at the beginning of the year, Samsung has brought the Galaxy AI suite it launched on the S24 to the Z Fold 6. And by and large, a lot of the features are the same including things like Chat Assist which you can use to generate social posts or emails while selecting a variety of tones. There's also support for Google's Circle to Search along with translation and summarization tools. A couple new tweaks for the Fold is that now the phone can translate text in place instead of spitting it out into a big unformatted blob, which is nice but kind of situational. And I should mention, Google Lens already offers similar functionality. Perhaps the more important one is the ability to do dual-screen translations, so each person can see text in their language in real-time, depending on what side of the phone they're looking at. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget Some new additions are the Portrait Studio tool that can create an AI-generated drawing of someone based on a photo and a range of styles like comic or watercolor. It's fun and it's good for a laugh or two, but I'm not sure how useful it will be on a regular basis. There's also the Sketch to Image feature that allows you to add a simple drawing to an existing photo and then have the phone generate a more realistic rendition of it in your final image. I still think Samsung's basic AI photo editing tools are the most useful of the bunch, as they make it easy to delete distracting objects or do simple touch ups. But once again, all of this feels more like bonus content rather than core essentials. Battery life: Great longevity but could use some faster charging tech While Samsung didn't increase the size of the 4,400 mAh cell in the Z Fold 6, the phone does have slightly better battery life due to improved energy efficiency from its new chip. On our video rundown test, it lasted 20 hours and seven minutes when using its large main screen and 25 hours and 19 minutes when using its exterior cover display. That first number is even better than we saw from the Pixel Fold (15:22) and OnePlus Open (19:19), so if you need a big-screen phone with ample longevity, the Z Fold 6 is the easy pick. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget Unfortunately, its charging hasn't changed much. You still get 25-watt wired charging and 15-watt wireless charging, which are both pretty mediocre figures in 2024. And while I wasn't expecting to see support for Qi2 magnetic charging on the Z Fold 6 after Samsung opted not to add it to the main S24 line, I'm still a bit miffed that a phone this expensive is cutting important features off the spec sheet. Wrap-up It wasn't long ago when practically every component on the Z Fold line was unmatched by its competitors. But now phones like the Pixel Fold exist, which offers better overall photography. Then there's the OnePlus Open, which weighs the same as the Z Fold 6 even after its recent diet. And let's not forget, both of those rivals are 2023 models. Plus there are Chinese competitors like the Honor Magic V3 and the upcoming Xiaomi Mix Fold 4, which are both thinner and lighter than Samsung's champion. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget Don't get me wrong, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is still a good foldable, a great one even. It's got excellent performance, strong battery life and handy features like native stylus support. But it feels like after all this time sitting fat and happy on its throne, Samsung has a diminished hunger for total domination. Instead of long-awaited features like a built-in S Pen or an improved under-display camera, we got a bunch of AI-powered tools and tricks, which are fun but not true highlight attractions. And at $1,900 - which is $100 more than last year - the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the most expensive it's been since the Z Fold 3. But I guess that's the price you pay Samsung for having such a long reign on top.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-6-review-the-king-but-for-how-much-longer-140129812.html?src=rss

Starting on August 23 this year, when someone clicks on a goo.gl link, it could first take them to a page with a warning that says the link "will no longer work in the near future" before taking them to the website they want to visit. Google shut down its goo.gl URL shortening service way back in 2018 and stopped users from being able to create new links. Now, the company has announced that it will stop supporting all existing goo.gl links altogether: The URLs will return a "404 page not found" result by August 25, 2025.Google is giving developers ample time to move to other shorteners by displaying the aforementioned warning page to visitors over the next year. It will only show up for a percentage of existing links at first, but that percentage will keep growing until it appears for most, if not all, goo.gl links by their shutdown date. The company warns that the interstitial warning pages could cause disruptions and prevent users from getting to the URL they actually want to go to, so it's advising developers to change their shortened links as soon as possible.The goo.gl link shortener service joins quite a large number of old features and services in Google's ever-growing product graveyard. They include the Hangouts chat app, the Stadia cloud gaming service and Google+, which once tried to take on Facebook.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-turning-off-its-googl-shortener-links-next-year-130030435.html?src=rss

Microsoft has made changes to its Xbox Game Pass service that are "exactly the sort of consumer harm" from its Activision acquisition that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was worried about, the agency wrote in a letter addressed to the US Appeals Court. The FTC's letter focused on a recent price hike for the Xbox Game Pass and pointed out that the Game Pass Ultimate now costs $20 a month, which is $3 more per month than before and represents a 17 percent year-over-year increase.In addition, the agency called attention to Microsoft's decision to discontinue the $11 Console Game Pass plan. The agency added a new Game Pass Standard tier, but it costs more at $15 a month. While it's a step up from the barebones Core plan, it doesn't include access to day-one releases, leading the FTC to call it a "degraded product." Microsoft will fully discontinue the Console tier just before the launch of the next Call of Duty game, the FTC said. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be playable via Game Pass from its release date on October 25, which means subscribers who want to access it on day one will have to pay for the $20-a-month tier.The company promised that the "acquisition would benefit consumers by making [CoD] available on Microsoft's Game Pass on the day it is released on console (with no price increase for the service based on the acquisition)," the FTC wrote. But Microsoft's actions show a firm that's "exercising market power post-merger," it noted.The FTC repeatedly challenged Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard, but a judge rejected its request for an injunction. At the time, the judge ruled that the FTC failed to demonstrate how the merger would lessen competition and even said that there was "record evidence" pointing to "more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content."Microsoft, which officially closed the $69 billion deal in October 2023 after that ruling and after the blessing of regulators in the EU and the UK, now officially owns Activision Blizzard. But the FTC still isn't done opposing the merger and filed an appeal in an attempt to the block the already-closed deal, telling the court that it can prove its case by showing that Microsoft has the ability and incentive to withhold Activision's games. Back in February, the agency also accused Microsoft of going against its pledge to allow Activision Blizzard to operate independently post-acquisition after the company laid off nearly 2,000 employees in its gaming division.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ftc-is-as-mad-about-the-xbox-game-pass-price-increase-as-you-are-120031248.html?src=rss

The mining of technology nostalgia is unrelenting. Earlier this week, we had an unofficial return of the iPod, not to mention Tamagotchis and now Discman. Well, not an actual Discman, which is a Sony brand, but the portable CD player is back.Audiophile brand FiiO has launched the DM13, a portable CD player with modern touches, like high-fidelity wireless and a built-in battery. No more AAs! The CD Player will go on sale in September for $179 (179 in the UK). It begins shipping only in a silver finish, but FiiO says red, blue, titanium and black variants will arrive later in the year - enough time to find my folder of NOW compilation CDs.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedBangladesh is experiencing a near-total' internet shutdown amid student protestsNetflix will drop a new multiplayer game when Squid Game season 2 premieres this yearHow to install the iOS 18 public betaYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Microsoft suffers Azure outage and faulty cybersecurity update takes out companies worldwideIt's a massive Microsoft Windows BSOD (blue screen of death) outage.Unable to get into Outlook this morning? You're not the only one. Microsoft has also suffered an outage with its Azure services and Microsoft 365 app suite. Then, a faulty update from security giant CrowdStrike forced PCs and servers into an unrecoverable boot loop. The issue forced Delta, Frontier and other airlines to ground flights and impacted the UK's London Stock Exchange and Sky broadcaster.We have widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts, occurring on multiple sensor versions," CrowdStrike wrote in a pinned Reddit post. [We have] identified a content deployment related to this issue and reverted those changes." It's a great Friday morning for all involved.Continue reading.Previewing iOS 18Waiting on Apple Intelligence for the true upgrade.Apple launched public betas across all its platforms, and while you'll have to wait for the official release in fall, lots of features are stable enough for most folks to play with. While I got to grips with everything out there on iOS 18, there was a big missing piece: Apple Intelligence.Arguably the most interesting things Apple showed off at WWDC hinged on AI, but none of those features are available for testing yet. Read on for what we like so far.Continue reading.That huge camera bump on the Pixel 9 Pro is very realGoogle just confirmed it.GoogleIt's not a Pixel leak without Google following up with fewer images and less information. Following a couple of leaks on four Pixel 9 phones apparently coming up, Google revealed the camera unit on the Pixel 9 Pro, and it is chonky.Continue reading.Halo, the TV show, has been canceledNot everything is Fallout.Back in 2013, Microsoft decided to create a live-action Halo television series - back when Halo was one of the biggest gaming properties in the world. It took about ten years to happen, but only two years - and series - for Paramount+ to cancel it. According to an unnamed Variety source, the show creators plan to shop the project around and search for a new home for Master Chief.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-age-of-the-retro-cd-player-is-here-111606809.html?src=rss

Google has confirmed in a teaser video that its upcoming line of smartphones includes a new foldable model. The company called the Pixel 9 Pro Fold a "foldable phone built for the Gemini era" in its promo tweet, and it even focused on its gen AI chatbot in the video. Similar to the non-foldable Pixel 9 Pro, this model also has a prominent camera bump. Its lenses are arranged vertically near one side of the phone, so the camera bump is mostly there and doesn't take up the whole width of the folded device.

Bangladesh is experiencing a complete internet shutdown as its government attempts to clamp down on widespread student protests that have resulted in the deaths of at least 32 people, according to AFP. The unrest is centered around the country's quota system that requires a third of government jobs to be reserved for relatives of veterans who had fought for Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971.On Thursday, several thousand protestors in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, had reportedly stormed state broadcaster BTV, smashed windows and furniture and set offices on fire, trapping many" people inside, according to a post on BTV's official Facebook page. 17 people died on Thursday amid clashes with police, reported Al Jazeera. To control the situation, Bangladeshi authorities shut down internet and phone access throughout the country, a common practice in South Asia to prevent the spread of rumors and misinformation and exercise state control. NetBlocks, a global internet monitor that works on digital rights analyzed live network data that showed that Bangladesh was in the middle of a near-total national internet shutdown."

Many moons ago, back in 2013, we learned that Hollywood royalty Steven Spielberg had teamed up with Microsoft to create a live-action Halo television series. It took about ten years for the vision to finally come to fruition, but the show has now been canceled by the Paramount+ streaming service after a mere seventeen episodes. The first season aired in 2022 and the second earlier this year. We had mixed feelings about the show's debut, but it's still a sad conclusion for the big-budget project.According to an unnamed Variety source, the show creators plan to shop the project around and search for a new home for the chronicles of Master Chief and Cortana. "We deeply appreciate the millions of fans who propelled the Halo series to be a global success and we remain committed to broadening the Halo universe in different ways in the future," 343 Industries said. "We are grateful to Amblin and Paramount for their partnership in bringing our expansive sci-fi universe to viewers around the world."This is the latest hurdle for fans of the UNSC to get more Halo action. Not only is the TV show gone, but last year's rounds of layoffs at Microsoft didn't leave 343 Industries unscathed. The studio reportedly had to restart its development of the series' next chapter, and we haven't heard much about the games since.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-live-action-halo-show-has-been-canceled-at-paramount-230612472.html?src=rss

Meta has decided to not offer its upcoming multimodal AI model and future versions to customers in the European Union citing a lack of clarity from European regulators, according to a statement given by Meta to Axios. The models in question are designed to process not only text but also images and audio, and power AI capabilities in Meta platforms as well as the company's Ray-Ban smart glasses."We will release a multimodal Llama model over the coming months, but not in the EU due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment," Meta said in a statement to Axios.Meta's move follows a similar decision by Apple, which recently announced it would not release its Apple Intelligence features in Europe due to regulatory concerns. Margrethe Vesteger, the EU's competition commissioner, had slammed Apple's move, saying that the company's decision was a stunning, open declaration that they know 100 percent that this is another way of disabling competition where they have a stronghold already." Withholding Meta's multimodal AI models from the EU could have far-reaching implications - it means that any companies that use them to build their products and services would be unable to offer them in Europe.Thomas Regnier, an EU spokesperson, told Engadget that the regulator does not comment on individual decisions of companies. "It is the companies' responsibility to ensure that their services comply with our legislation," Regnier said in a statement and added that all companies are welcome to offer service in Europe as long as they comply with the bloc's laws, including the upcoming Artificial Intelligence Act.Meta told Axios that it still plans to release Llama 3, the company's upcoming text-only model in the EU. The company's primary concern stems from the challenges of training AI models using data from European customers while complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU's existing data protection law. In May, Meta announced that it planned to use publicly available posts from Facebook and Instagram users to train future AI models but was forced to stop doing so in the EU after receiving pushback from data privacy regulators in the region. At the time, Meta defended its actions, saying that being able to train its models on the data of European users was necessary to reflect local culture and terminology."If we don't train our models on the public content that Europeans share on our services and others, such as public posts or comments, then models and the AI features they power won't accurately understand important regional languages, cultures or trending topics on social media," the company said in a blog post. "We believe that Europeans will be ill-served by AI models that are not informed by Europe's rich cultural, social and historical contributions."Despite its reservations about releasing its multimodal models in the EU, Meta still plans to launch them in the UK, which has similar data protection laws to the EU. The company argued that European regulators are taking longer to interpret existing laws compared to their counterparts in other regions.Update, July 18 2024, 6:40 PM ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from an EU spokesperson.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-will-reportedly-withhold-multimodal-ai-models-from-the-eu-amid-regulatory-uncertainty-215543292.html?src=rss

Netflix is expanding its games roster with an intriguing (and probably gruesome) new tie-in. During the company's quarterly earnings announcement, Netflix shared that it plans to launch a multiplayer game inspired by Squid Game. Its release date will be timed to coincide with the second season of the South Korean TV sensation. We have no other information about what style of game it will be, but we can guess that it will echo the children's games contestants play for survival on the series.The program has already spawned several spinoffs for the streaming service. After season 1 became an international sensation in 2021, Netflix created a virtual reality version as well as an in-person pop-up experience in Los Angeles based on the fictional reality show. The company also teamed with a British production company to create Squid Game: The Challenge, an actual reality TV show that is fortunately a lot less lethal than its source material.Another insight from the quarterly report is how much advertisements have grown in importance for Netflix. The ad-supported tier is responsible for 45 percent of new sign-ups in markets where the subscription option is available. The plan has only been available for about 18 months, and its audience has already grown 34 percent sequentially in the second quarter of 2024. Part of that shift is happening because the basic plan option is being phased out; it left Canada and the UK already, and the US and France are next up.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-will-drop-a-new-multiplayer-game-when-squid-game-season-2-premieres-this-year-220338938.html?src=rss

One of the founders of the movie ticketing service Fandango has died following an apparent suicide in New York City.J. Michael Cline, the co-founder of the movie ticket website and service Fandango, died Tuesday after falling from the balcony of a Manhattan hotel in what the medical examiner's office ruled as a suicide, according to The New York Times.Cline co-founded Fandango in 2000 with former chief operating officer Art Levitt during the dot-com boom and became one of the biggest online retailers. Fandango launched with seven movie theater chains, according to Variety.Fandango found success by completely changing the way people went to the movies. Moviegoers didn't have to wait in long ticket lines only to find out that the 6 PM showing of Battlefield Earth was already sold out. They could purchase their tickets before they even left home and still have time to buy an overpriced box of Milk Duds and a watered down Shasta.The company's flashy orange F" logo also made it one of the most recognizable online brands in the industry. Cline described his company's whimsical sounding name to Variety as fast and fun" and a perfect match to a service designed to make going to the movies easier and more enjoyable than ever before."Five years after its launch, online movie ticket sites like Fandango and its competitor Movietickets.com sold tickets worth over $30 million in one year. Comcast bought the Fandango brand in 2007 for an undisclosed sum. Fandango also bought some of the Internet's hottest movie properties such as the aggregated movie review website Rotten Tomatoes in 2017. The movie ticket brand went through subsequent parent sales until it landed with its current owners NBCUniveral and Warner Bros., which expanded the Fandango brand to a streaming service called Fandango at Home as a replacement for Vudu.Fandango continues to thrive as an online ticket retailer even at a time when movie theaters are seeing a huge slump in sales. During the Barbenheimer craze last summer, Fandango sold 3.5 million tickets alone just to the Oscar nominated and winning films Barbie and Oppenheimer.Cline left Fandango in 2011 and went on to become the executive chairman of the tech investment firm Juxtapose that helped launch health and wellness companies like Care/of and Corduroy, according to the firm's website.Levitt described his former business partner to the New York Times as a formidable entrepreneur who was a bit of an adventurer" and someone who saw an opportunity in the market" with Fandango.In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 or you can simply dial 988. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fandango-co-founder-j-michael-cline-dead-at-64-214725046.html?src=rss

After a teaser at last year's BlizzCon, Blizzard today revealed more details about the new character class that will be coming to Diablo IV this fall. The Spiritborn looks like a fun, powerful mix of several characters from past Diablo entries. Imagine the martial arts combat of the Diablo 3 Monk paired with the animal abilities of the same game's Witch Doctor plus the aesthetics of the Amazon in Diablo 2. This sounds like a pretty darn tasty recipe to me.The Spiritborn is a dexterity-driven class with four Spirit Guardians whose powers you can draw on in combat. The jaguar grants fire damage and the eagle offers lightning damage abilities. With the gorilla, players get defensive power and survivability. And the centipede provides poison and fear skills for damage over time and crowd control. During the livestream, Class Designer Bjorn Mikkelson said the Spiritborn is "probably our fastest, most aggressive class." Think leaping into groups of enemies to deliver big burst damage with glaives, quarterstaffs, and polearms.A typical rotation will see players using those short cooldown skills infused with an element of a spirit's power. But the real payoff with Spiritborn is the ultimate ability, which brings one of the Spirit Guardians to fight by the player's side. "Summoning the god into battle is the power fantasy for this class," said Diablo IV's Game Designer Brent Gibson.Part of what has always made Diablo games compelling is the ability to personalize and specialize your playstyle within the broad character concept. And some of the other Diablo 4 class designs encourage players to specialize in a single ability tree, such as picking one elemental power to use for a Sorcerer. With the Spiritborn, players will have the flexibility to specialize in a single Spirit Guardian's skill tree if they want, or to mix and match at will without any loss of stats. Things will get even more personalized with the Spirit Hall class mechanic and a whole new set of legendary and ancient gear for the Spiritborn to further fine-tune your preferred playstyle for demon-smashing.Today's livestream also had some good nuggets for the lore nerds, and hardcore fans will likely find it worth rewatching the video to see all the details about the worldbuilding that the Blizzard teams put into developing this character. Diablo IV's Vessel of Hatred expansion, aka 'Neyrelle and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,' will launch on October 8 and the standard edition will cost $40.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blizzard-reveals-gameplay-for-the-new-diablo-iv-class-spiritborn-205945475.html?src=rss

CD players are back, baby. As Gen Z absorbs the 90s it never experienced through retro nostalgia like Nirvana, Tamagotchi and wired headphones, audiophile brand FiiO is here to capitalize. The company's new portable CD player, the DM13, builds on the blueprint of icons like the Discman. But it adds modern touches like high-fidelity wireless and a built-in battery, so Gen Zers are spared the pain of lugging around a small arsenal of AA cells to change at the top of every hour.The FiiO DM13 follows the company's retro reboots of the vinyl turntable and (for unfathomable reasons) the cassette player. The upcoming CD player has a sleek design with a digital display across its front, making for a much sharper-looking modern aesthetic than the trash we Gen X old farts used when jamming out to timeless musical legends like Candlebox, Right Said Fred and the Squirrel Nut Zippers.FiiO / Starscream CommunicationsThe DM13 supports 3.5mm single-ended 4.4mm balanced outputs for analog line-out listening. For those who prefer wireless, it supports high-quality aptX HD and is compatible with many Android phones and portable media players. (Apple uses its lower-bitrate AAC codec, so iPhone owners get less impressive wireless audio without an adapter.)FiiO says the DM13 supports eight hours of playback per charge. It also has a USB output and a dedicated desktop mode that bypasses the battery and uses its main power at home.The bad news for 90s retrophiles is the DM13 isn't available just yet. After its official unveiling at this weekend's CanJam event in London, the CD Player will go on sale in September for $179 (179 in the UK). It begins shipping only in a silver finish, but FiiO says red, blue, titanium and black variants will arrive later in the year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fiio-reboots-the-old-school-portable-cd-player-minus-the-aa-batteries-202334462.html?src=rss

The last couple of Alien movies have been good for the most part but it feels like they've been missing the raw, skin-shredding tension of the first few films. The latest trailer for Alien: Romulus looks like the series is headed back to its dark, claustrophobic roots.Alien: Romulus features a whole new crew of doomed space-trekking souls who encounter the deadly Xenomorph on a derelict spacecraft. This time, it's a crew of space colonizers who are scavenging for resources from abandoned ships and stations.This Alienfilm was co-written and directed by Fede Alvarez, the filmmaker behind cult horror flicks such as the two Don't Breathe movies and the Evil Dead remake. So, yes, Alien: Romulus is gonna be very tense and very, very bloody. Where the original Alien merely strapped a parasitoid xenomorph to a crew member's face, the trailer for Romulus is willing to show a facehugger penetrating some poor guy's head. Yikes.Alien: Romulus hits theaters on Friday, Aug. 16.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-final-trailer-for-alien-romulus-looks-tense-bloody-and-awesome-191908758.html?src=rss

Nintendo just announced its own first-party Joy-Con controller charging station, which releases on October 17. This is an obvious boon for couch co-op addicts, as you can have two Joy-Cons charging on the dock and another two charging via the console at the same time. Nintendo's charging station also integrates with the company's retro wireless NES gamepads, which are primarily used with Nintendo Switch Online games.The Joy-Con Charging Stand (Two-Way) accessory draws power from the Switch's dock, via the USB-C port, or any other power adapter. The vertical support can also be removed to make it more portable, another bonus for those couch co-op sleepovers. Nintendo hasn't released any pricing information yet to go along with the October release date. It's currently set for a launch in the US, Europe and Japan. October 17 is the same day that Super Mario Party Jamboree launches, so that would make for some good accessory-based synergy.

Google has officially confirmed the existence of the Pixel 9 Pro smartphone ahead of August's Made By Google livestream event. This follows a leak earlier this week in which images and videos of the handset started popping up everywhere.The company confirmed the smartphone via an announcement video, one that could have been waiting for August 13. The video isn't big on details, but there is some footage of the phone in action that confirms one major suspicion about the Pixel 9 Pro. The absolutely gigantic camera bump is real and is ready to make obvious indentations in pockets everywhere.Just look at that glorious thing. The bump looks like a 3D approximation of Bender from Futurama's head. One thing is for sure. If you buy the Pixel 9 Pro later this year, be sure to also buy a newly-designed case. There's no way previous cases will fit around that monstrosity.Beyond the camera bump, Google's video teases heavy integration with the company's Gemini family of AI models. Affiliated marketing copy simply states oh hi, AI" and the video shows a chatbot answering a query. This emphasis on AI should surprise absolutely nobody. It's 2024.You can sign up for information about the phone directly from Google. While we don't have any actual specs, it's likely that ginormous bump exists for a reason (a really good camera system.)There have been other leaks ahead of next month's event, though this is the only one proven to be real. These leaks do indicate, however, that the Pixel Pro 9 will be joined by the garden variety Pixel 9, the Pixel 9 Pro XL and a foldable called the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. As always, we'll be on the scene August 13 to report on whatever Google announces.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-just-confirmed-the-pixel-9-pros-outrageous-camera-bump-185301609.html?src=rss

Ubisoft has released its latest earnings report and while there wasn't a ton of major news, there's a disappointing update for those who have been waiting on mobile versions of the Rainbow Six and The Division franchises. The company says that the Rainbow Six Mobile and The Division Resurgence development teams need more time to "deliver on expectations" amid "a demanding yet very large market."As such, both titles are no longer expected to debut in the publisher's current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2025. That means yet another delay for Rainbow Six Mobile, which was initially supposed to arrive in 2022. The Division Resurgence had been expected to debut last year.On an earnings call with investors, Ubisoft noted that "it's very difficult to define a set date" when asked why it was delaying the games now, with over eight months of the fiscal year to go. Executives said that Ubisoft wants the two titles to last forever and that the developers are "putting in the necessary work to make sure the games are perfect when they launch."Elsewhere, Ubisoft said its free-to-play competitive shooter XDefiant "is off to an encouraging start," having roped in 10 million players in its first two weeks after debuting in May. Aside from updates for live-service games such as Rainbow Six Siege, The Crew Motorfest and Skull and Bones (all of which the company says are performing well), Ubisoft has a couple of exciting projects lined up for the rest of the year in Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows.Meanwhile, on its earnings call, Ubisift was asked about the status of bringing Call of Duty games to cloud gaming services. The publisher holds the cloud gaming rights to Activision Blizzard games. Microsoft sold those rights to help appease competition regulators and get its Activision Blizzard merger over the line.You can expect Call of Duty titles to start hitting Ubisoft+ by the end of this year. That lines up with Microsoft's plan to release Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 via (the now-more-expensive) Game Pass in October and to bring other CoD titles to that service.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ubisoft-delays-its-rainbow-six-and-division-mobile-games-until-at-least-april-2025-174035060.html?src=rss

Cash App Pay has integrated with Google Play to give consumers another option when buying stuff online. This will be especially useful for Android users, as Google Play is baked right into the OS. Cash App says this partnership will give next gen consumers more choice" and the company specifically called out the gaming space.Cash App users will be able to pull money from a pre-existing balance or via a linked debit card to pay for stuff on Google Play. Cash App currently has four million monthly active users and the company claims to have added one million new users each quarter for the last year. That's a lot of new people flowing into Google's ecosystem.To use Cash App on an Android device, just select the payment method when checking out on Google Play. Obviously, new users should download the app and make an account before all of that.The Cash App integration, however, extends beyond Europe and Google already allows PayPal as an option in most countries. Also, Android developers who distribute apps on the Google Play store Google's parent company Alphabet is considered a gatekeeper under the DMA and one of the mandates of the legislation is that these organizations must allow for alternative payment methods.The Cash App integration, however, extends beyond Europe and Google already allowed PayPal as an option in most countries. Also, Android developers who distribute apps on the Google Play store can already use an array of third-party payment systems in Europe, to comply with the DMA.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cash-app-pay-integrates-with-google-play-to-offer-next-gen-consumers-more-choice-172310452.html?src=rss

OpenAI on Thursday released a smaller and more affordable version of its flagship large language model that powers ChatGPT. The new model, called GPT-4o mini, will cost developers 60 percent less to build AI-powered apps and services with as compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo, Open's smallest model until today. But the big news here is for consumers. GPT-4o mini will replace GPT-3.5 Turbo for free users of ChatGPT starting today - which means that your baseline ChatGPT experience will improve significantly.OpenAI claimed that GPT-4o mini achieved an 82 percent score on an industry benchmark called the MMLU, which stands for Measuring Massive Multitask Language Understanding, and includes 16,000 multiple-choice questions across 57 academic subjects. That's slightly lower than GPT-4o, which scored 88.7 percent, but higher than GPT-3.5 Turbo, which scored just 70 percent. AI experts have warned against relying on these kinds of benchmarks to measure how smart AI systems are, but so far, they're the only way to measure the performance of large language models.Smaller versions of flagship models give developers more flexibility when it comes to building AI-powered apps. After all, not everyone needs or can afford access to the largest, most powerful models for every use case. In May, Google announced Gemini 1.5 Flash, its own lightweight model that the company said was optimized for speed and efficiency. Other AI companies like Anthropic, too, have smaller versions of their full-scale models.GPT-4o mini can currently take in and generate text and images, but the model will eventually be able to process other types of content like audio and video. And even though GPT-3.5 Turbo is going away from ChatGPT, developers can still access it via OpenAI's API to build apps and services with it for now - until it eventually goes away too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-lightweight-gpt-4o-mini-model-promises-an-improved-chatgpt-experience-170143382.html?src=rss

US college students can shave half off a Max subscription. As long as you can confirm your active student status, you'll get a 50 percent discount on the Max With Ads monthly plan. Usually $10, you'll only pay $5 each month to stream classic and current HBO series (and more). The promotion is through a partnership with UNiDAYS, a (strangely capitalized) service that verifies college and university student status. The company has also partnered with Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Uber Eats, Nike and more. After successfully verifying your status, the promotion will last for 12 months. But you'll have the chance to re-verify your student status every year as long as you're eligible to keep the discount. Once you're in your last year with no plans to head to another school, you'll graduate to the hard-knock life of $10 ad-supported streaming plans. Max lets you stream classic HBO series like The Sopranos, The Wire, Sex and The City, Game Of Thrones, Six Feet Under and more. You also get current-run content from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, HGTV and Food Network. These include series and films like The Last of Us, Dune: Part Two, House of the Dragon, Barbie and Euphoria. You'll also be able to stream the upcoming The Batman spinoff The Penguin, costarring Colin Farrell with his fat suit and a bunch of prosthetics. Once you're verified through UNiDAYS, you'll receive a promotional code. Just follow the instructions you get with the code to begin your subscription.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-college-students-can-take-half-off-a-max-subscription-163906242.html?src=rss

Overwatch 2 fans who are already jonesing for something new after the recent Transformers crossover won't have to wait long. Blizzard has spilled the beans about the next hero that's coming to the game, and you'll be able to try her out as soon as this weekend.Her name is Juno and she's a support. The publisher teased this hero back at BlizzCon 2023 (when she was referred to only as Space Ranger) and in-game over the last few weeks. Now, her spacecraft has landed on this colorful version of near-future Earth - Juno is the game's first playable Martian character.A gameplay trailer gives a sense of Juno's abilities and how they work. Her primary weapon is called the Mediblaster. It appears to work in a similar way to Ana's Biotic Rifle in that it can heal allies and damage enemies, though it's not clear whether there's a different fire mode for each. One of her abilities, the Pulsar Torpedoes, can lock onto multiple targets to dish out healing and damage too.Unlike Ana, though, Juno has traversal abilities. With Glide Boost, she can soar through the air. She can also temporarily provide herself and her teammates with a speed boost - and perhaps the ability to jump higher -thanks to her Hyper Ring.As for Juno's ultimate, that's called Orbital Ray. It's a beam emanating from a satellite that moves across the map that heals allies and boosts damage. The specifics of how exactly all the abilities work haven't been announced, so we'll likely have to hold on until Juno arrives in the game for the full lowdown.Fortunately, that will be a short wait. Juno will be available in all modes except Competitive for a trial weekend that runs from July 19 until July 21. The No Limits mode will be in the Arcade, so chances are likely that we'll see two teams of five Junos fighting each other as players get to grips with the newcomer.On the rare occasions I play anything other than Mystery Heroes, I usually play the support role, so I can't wait to try out Juno. She has a great look and the makings of an excellent kit, as long as it's smartly balanced. Juno will join the lineup permanently when season 12 of Overwatch 2 starts on August 20.Blizzard EntertainmentThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-try-new-overwatch-2-support-hero-juno-this-weekend-160006353.html?src=rss

Proton Mail has a new AI-powered feature that could help it keep pace with the artificial intelligence tools Google and Microsoft offer for their email services. Proton Scribe is an AI writing assistant that can help you compose and clean up your drafts. Scribe was designed with privacy in mind - the assistant can't train on your inbox data, as Proton Mail has a zero-access approach to encryption. Proton doesn't save or log anything from your email drafts either.According to Proton, a writing assistant was one of the most-requested features in a recent user survey. The company designed it as a secure alternative to other generative AI options. Scribe can be run locally if your system is compatible. Otherwise, you can run it on Proton's no-log servers. The assistant is powered by open-source models and code. As such, Proton says the tool itself is open-source and that independent researchers are free to carry out privacy and security audits.Scribe can be accessed by clicking the pencil icon in the Proton Mail composer. After telling the tool what you want to say in an email, it will create a draft for you. You'll be able to use the Shorten and Proofread options to condense and clean up your draft. There's also the option to make the tone of your email more formal with the click of a button. You can review and tweak your drafts before sending them.Proton says Scribe only fully supports English for now and it's rolling the assistant out to eligible users. Visionary and Lifetime subscribers will have access at no extra cost. Those on a Proton Business plan - Mail Essentials, Mail Professional or Proton Business Suite - can try Proton Scribe for free for 14 days. After that, the tool costs $3 per month per user.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/proton-mail-now-has-a-privacy-focused-ai-writing-assistant-155816223.html?src=rss

Amazon's Prime Day sale is officially over and done with, but a handful of the event's better discounts remain available. If you're in the market for a new TV, here's one standout: Samsung's 55-inch Frame TV is still on sale for $998. While that's not the absolute lowest price we've ever seen, it's roughly $400 off the set's average street price. This Prime Day TV deal also comes bundled with your choice of a colored bezel cover, which you can attach to the edges of the set to make it look more like a piece of art. This Samsung 55-inch The Frame TV model offers a QLED 4K screen with an anti-reflective, matte finish that reduces glare and helps artwork blend in with other framed pictures you may have nearby. (The last thing you want is to spend all this money and have it be immediately apparent that the art is on a screen rather than looking like a permanent fixture.) Its picture quality can't match the best TVs in this price range - there's no local dimming or mini-LED backlight to boost contrast - but it's still decently bright and colorful, and you'd buy it for its design first anyway. You can access over 1,400 new and established works of art with a subscription to Samsung's Art Store, though a few pieces come bundled with the set for free. It also supports a fast 120Hz refresh rate, so it's not bad for gaming. Then there's the bezel, which gives your digital artwork an extra degree of authenticity. This deal is available with a white, "teak" or brown bezel - all of which have a modern design. The bezels are also magnetic, so if you change your mind down the line, you can snap them off. Note that this price applies to the 2022 version of the Frame TV. Samsung has released updated models for 2024 that reportedly offer better brightness but don't appear to be vastly different overall. Those sets are similarly discounted on Amazon right now, but since they cost a couple hundred dollars extra, the older variant should be a better value while it's still in stock. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-prime-day-tv-deal-still-offers-39-percent-off-the-samsung-frame-tv-090511791.html?src=rss