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The US government is asking qualified members of the public for help in figuring out how to seize opportunities and overcome challenges associated with generative AI. Gina Raimondo, the US Secretary of Commerce, has announced that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is launching a public working group for AI technologies that can generate content, including text, images, videos, music and code. The group will also help the agency develop key guidance that organizations can follow to address risks brought by generative AI tech.According to the agency, the group will be composed of volunteers with technical expertise from the private and public sectors and will work together via a collaborative online workspace. To start with, the group will gather input on how the NIST AI Risk Management Framework - the framework the agency developed to "better manage risks to individuals, organizations and society associated with artificial intelligence" - may be used to support the development of generative AI tech. Then, the group is expected to support the agency's AI-related tests and evaluations. Its long-term goal, however, is to explore opportunities on how generative AI can be used to solve the most pressing issues of our time, such as problems related to health, climate change and the environment as a whole.Raimondo said in a statement:"President Biden has been clear that we must work to harness the enormous potential while managing the risks posed by AI to our economy, national security and society. The recently released NIST AI Risk Management Framework can help minimize the potential for harm from generative AI technologies. Building on the framework, this new public working group will help provide essential guidance for those organizations that are developing, deploying and using generative AI, and who have a responsibility to ensure its trustworthiness."The government has been scrambling to keep up with the rapidly advancing pace of generative AI technology. In April, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration asked for public comments on possible regulations that would hold AI creators accountable. The White House also invited American workers to share how automated tools are being used in their workplaces. Then in June, Representatives Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Ken Buck (R-CO) introduced legislation that would establish a 20-person commission to study ways to "mitigate the risks and possible harms" of AI while also "protecting" America's position as a global technology power. The legislation came after Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith spoke at Washington, DC and called on the US federal government to establish a new agency that's focused on regulating AI.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-calls-upon-volunteer-experts-to-help-address-generative-ai-risks-063956572.html?src=rss

The Electronic Entertainment Expo hasn't been held in person since 2019. Now, it may not be returning for 2024 or 2025 - at least not at the Los Angeles Convention Center. According to an LA City Tourism Commission planning document shared on ResetEra, the video game trade show has canceled its live event for the next two years. The document's Convention Sales data specifically notes that its data includes E3 cancellations for 2024 & 2025."Although the city document suggests that E3 2024 won't be hosted at the LA Convention Center, the Electronic Software Association itself seems hesitant to confirm the entire event is canceled. "ESA is currently in conversation with ESA members and other stakeholders about E3 2024 (and beyond)," the group told Engadget. "No final decisions about the events have been made at this time."It's unclear what this means for E3 itself. Although the Electronic Software Association hasn't hosted a live trade since the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of E3 2020, the group did put together a digital only event in 2021. Neither the in-person or digital versions of the show returned in 2022.When the show was canceled again in 2023, ESA President and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis told GamesIndustry that the trade show may need to change to survive. "E3 will iterate to ensure it's meeting the needs of companies that want to market on this global platform." Pierre-Louis said. "That means it will iterate in how people engage with E3. We want to meet the needs of players who view this as an important platform and that's going to evolve over time."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/e3-2024-and-2025-arent-canceled-yet-222141813.html?src=rss

A rainy weekend threatened to delay the reopening of a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. But officials called in reinforcements: a giant jet dryer from a nearby race track, according toBillyPenn. The dryer is expected to ensure the highway opens this weekend as promised by PA Governor Josh Shapiro.The jet dryer, used to prevent wet tracks at nearby Pocono Raceway, consists of a modified helicopter turbine attached to the back of a Chevy Silverado. PA Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll, who had worked with racetrack officials when he held office in the area, knew who to call when stormy conditions threatened to delay the reopening. We've known Mr. Carroll for a number of years, he was a representative here in Northeast Pennsylvania," said Ricky Durst, Pocono Raceway senior marketing director. He knew the raceway well, knew that we often had to deal with weather circumstances during our events, and knows that we have the ability and the tools to dry asphalt." The track also reportedly brought a Chevy Camaro pace car to the scene, although its utility during the asphalt drying is less clear.Last night, workers paved the six-lane segment reconnecting the highway around the collapsed section ahead of the planned weekend reopening. The jet dryer's arrival should be welcome news for Shapiro, who said yesterday, I can confidently state right here, right now, that traffic will be flowing here on I-95 this weekend... We have completed every phase of this project safely and way ahead of schedule." A section of the overpass collapsed last weekend when a tanker truck exploded in flames underneath, killing the driver and closing traffic for the entire workweek.Meanwhile, Twitch streamer Brent Schooley saw an opportunity for fun as area residents eyed the I-95 reconstruction progress. The Philadelphia-based software developer began broadcasting a live view of the work - accompanied by LoFi beats. Schooley told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he started his FIX THAT JAWN!" stream to provide a much-needed chatroom for memes" as people check in on the progress. Although some people speculated it was a clever youth-outreach move from the Governor's PR team, the project arose organically. It's another example of how this has truly taken a life of its own," said Manuel Bonder, press secretary for Gov. Shapiro.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pocono-raceways-jet-drier-credited-with-keeping-i-95s-reopening-on-time-211512444.html?src=rss

It's no secret that Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax was bound to affect cross-platform releases, but there are now hints gamers might be missing out on some major releases. Under questioning from a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawyer seeking an injunction against the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, Bethesda VP Pete Hines has revealed that Disney had a deal with ZeniMax to release MachineGames' Indiana Jones title on multiple consoles. After Microsoft bought ZeniMax, however, the deal was amended to make it an Xbox console exclusive.The FTC also believes Bethesda's sci-fi epic Starfield was headed to the PlayStation 5 before the Microsoft buyout. Bloomberg previously reported that Bethesda axed the PlayStation version of Redfall, although that's not as worrisome given the vampire shooter's lousy reception.Indiana Jones was made an exclusive due to the nature of the Disney license, Hines claims. Disney had a "ton of feedback" on the project that limited development time, and an Xbox exclusive would keep the game on track while providing a "degree of clarity," the Bethesda executive says. Games like Starfield and Redfall are originals.We've asked Bethesda for comment. In 2021, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said Microsoft's control of ZeniMax would deliver "great exclusive games." Some titles still in progress at the time, such as Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, were still headed to PlayStation due to contractual obligations.The revelations won't necessarily cement the FTC's effort to block Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard. However, they don't look good - they suggest that some players are losing out on high-profile games that were previously destined for their console of choice. Microsoft has promised to release Call of Duty on multiple platforms for years to come in a bid to secure regulatory approval, but that might not help if officials are still concerned about other exclusives.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-indiana-jones-game-became-an-xbox-exclusive-after-microsoft-bought-zenimax-210157957.html?src=rss

At the start of the month, Facebook's parent company Meta announced via blog post its intent to remove availability of all news content from FB and Instagram in Canada, should the government pass its proposed Online News Act. On Thursday, Canadian Parliament did just that and, within hours, Meta confirmed it will make good on its threat."Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act (Bill C-18) taking effect," the company posted. "We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18, passed today in Parliament, content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada."The Online News Act is designed to address the precipitous drop in advertising revenue Canadian news organizations have experienced over the past two decades. It does so by requiring big tech companies like Google and Meta to negotiate reimbursement plans with those outlets for running said stories on their respective platforms.Earlier in June, Meta announced that it was working to develop a software-based solution to its C-18 issue. As of Thursday, those efforts remain ongoing "and currently impact a small percentage of users in Canada." Aside from the loss of news functionality, Meta assures its users that no other aspects of the Facebook experience will be impacted.This isn't the first time that Meta has picked up its toys and gone home in response to attempted government oversight. In 2021, the company removed its news features from the Australian market after the country passed similar compensation legislation - even going so far as to prevent publishers from linking to their posts on the social media platform. That move negatively impacted the pages of multiple Australian government agencies as well as numerous nonprofit organizations from the region before being reversed."This legislation sets a precedent where the government decides who enters into these news content agreements, and ultimately, how much the party that already receives value from the free service gets paid," William Easton, Facebook's managing director for Australia and New Zealand, wrote in a blog post at the time. "We will now prioritize investments to other countries, as part of our plans to invest in new licensing news programs and experiences."Google, which would also be affected by the bill's implementation, has not yet announced any plans to officially cut service in the nation. It did begin testing a means of blocking news access in Canada in February.Google spokesperson Jenn Crider told Engadget:"We're doing everything we can to avoid an outcome that no-one wants. Every step of the way, we've proposed thoughtful and pragmatic solutions that would have improved the Bill and cleared the path for us to increase our already significant investments in the Canadian news ecosystem. So far, none of our concerns have been addressed. Bill C-18 is about to become law and remains unworkable. We are continuing to urgently seek to work with the government on a path forward."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-pulls-news-content-from-canadian-facebook-and-instagram-204431447.html?src=rss

Google testers now have the chance to check out another new Duet AI feature in Google Workspace. Starting today, they'll see a new sidebar for Google Sheets. They can describe what they want to do and Duet AI can create a custom template to help them get the ball rolling.According to Google, this could come in useful for those looking to carry out tasks that involve complex organization and tracking. The company suggests product roadmaps, company retreats and team budgets as potential use cases. If the feature works as intended, it could help save users a ton of time. It's available in Workspace Labs for the time being.GoogleGoogle has been quickly expanding the AI's toolset since it announced Duet for Workspace at its I/O conference last month. When testers enter a prompt in the web version of Docs, Duet can generate text for them. It can automatically insert smart chips too.In Gmail, the AI can draft emails on both the web and mobile. It can offer contextual suggestions for replies as well. As for Slides, testers can generate images from text prompts.Google plans to bring more generative AI features to Workspace Labs in the coming months. Meanwhile, Google's Bard AI can now export the data that it creates to Sheets, where users can organize and modify it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-duet-ai-can-generate-custom-templates-in-sheets-185527176.html?src=rss

Twitch just announced a chat-pinning feature similar to those found on YouTube and other platforms. Hype Chat, beyond sounding like something from 2006, offers a new revenue stream for both streamers and the platform itself. Here's how it works. You pay $1 to $500 and compose a message that rests atop the chat until someone with deeper pockets comes along and knocks you from the spotlight.The more you pay, the longer the message stays up top and the more characters you can use to compose the missive. Big spenders also get access to various design options to help that notice me senpai" message garner the attention of your favorite streamer.Streamers set the price here and Twitch takes 30 percent of the cut, leaving the remaining 70 percent for the creator. At launch, only high-profile streamers, aka Partners, will have access to the feature. Twitch says this is because pinned chats are meant to allow messages to stand out during fast-moving conversations with plenty of participants. Oddly, these Twitch partners are unable to opt out of the service, according to The Verge.Of course, whenever you mention pinned messages you must contend with the reality of hateful and discriminatory language. This is the Internet, after all. To that end, Twitch is beefing this feature up with safety tools. Just like regular Twitch chat, there's a host of banned words and phrases at the sitewide level and set by individual creators. Also, if you say something nasty and get banned from a chat, your pinned message flies away with you. All messages sent via this feature are screened by the company's AutoMod system and human moderators can delete messages whenever they want.The feature is rolling out right now, but only for approved partners and only on the web app. It'll launch for smartphone and tablet apps in the near future.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitch-announces-chat-pinning-feature-for-those-with-robust-bank-accounts-182356052.html?src=rss

The next version of the prompt-based AI image generator, Stable Diffusion, will produce more photorealistic images and be better at making hands. SDXL 0.9, a follow-up to Stable Diffusion XL, produces massively improved image and composition detail over its predecessor" according to Stability AI. The announcement appeared in a since-deleted blog post and was reported byBloomberg.Stability AI describes the new model as providing a leap in creative use cases for generative AI imagery." Sample images included in the blog post revealed advancements when using the same prompts in Stable Diffusion XL beta and SDXL 0.9. The images generated with the newer model - including aliens, a wolf and a person holding a coffee cup - appear to show finer detail and more convincing hands. Hands were an easy tell" to spot AI-generated art - at least until Midjourney v5, a rival platform that runs on Discord, launched in March.Stability AIDespite its ability to be run on a standard home computer, SDXL 0.9 presents a leap in creative use cases for generative AI imagery," Stability AI said. The ability to generate hyper-realistic creations for films, television, music, and instructional videos, as well as offering advancements for design and industrial use, places SDXL at the forefront of real world applications for AI imagery."Stability AI writes that the new model's significant increase in parameter count (the sum of all the weights and biases in the neural network that the model is trained on)" allows for the improved results. Running SDXL 0.9 locally on a PC will require a minimum of 16GB of RAM and a GeForce RTX 20 (or higher) graphics card with 8GB of VRAM. It supports Windows 11 / 10 and Linux.Left: SDXL Beta, Right: SDXL 0.9Stability AIAccording to the deleted blog post, the model will soon be available on Stability AI's Clipdrop web tool and will be added to the startup's DreamStudio app. The startup says the open-source version of SDXL 1.0 will arrive in mid-July.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-next-version-of-stable-diffusion-wont-produce-spaghetti-hands-171552952.html?src=rss

Over 100 music artists, including Tom Morello and Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, have banded together to announce they are boycotting concert venues that use facial recognition technology, as originally reported by Rolling Stone. The artists cite a number of concerns, including privacy infringement and increased discrimination.The boycott was organized by a digital rights advocacy group called Fight for the Future and its ultimate goal is the elimination of face-scanning technology at all live events. Beyond the two founding members of Rage Against the Machine, other participating artists include Speedy Ortiz, Anti-Flag, Boots Riley and Deerhoof, among more than 80 others. The full list is available right here.In addition to artists, some venues are getting in on the action, pledging to not use this type of technology for their events. These include House of Yes in Brooklyn, the Lyric Hyperion in Los Angeles and the infamous Black Cat in Washington D.C. In recent months, over 40 big-time music festivals, like Coachella and SXSW, also vowed to stop using facial recognition technology.Fight for the Future said in a statement that facial scanning companies are morally corrupt" and that facial recognition tools are so inaccurate" that they actually create more harm and problems than they solve." While the organization says this tech is rife with inaccuracies, for now, it dreads a future world in which privacy is non-existent, where we are identified, watched and surveilled everywhere we go."Nobody wants a Minority Report-esque police state, but proponents of facial recognition tech tout some of the positives. For instance, Taylor Swift recently employed this technology to root out potential stalkers during concerts. However, it's already being used to do some pretty foul stuff. Madison Square Garden has begun employing the technology to identify and ban lawyers involved with suits against the venue and affiliated companies.Several attorneys have been forcibly removed from both MSG and Radio City Music Hall in recent months, prompting New York Attorney General Letitia James to issue a formal inquiry. The New York State Liquor Authority also recently initiated proceedings to strip the parent company, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, of its liquor licenses, as reported by the New York Post. MSG sued the state over this decision and doubled down, saying we understand this policy is disappointing to some, but we cannot ignore the fact that litigation creates an inherently adversarial environment."MSG has received the lion's share of scrutiny here, but other large venues throughout the country have also gotten their Orwell on, from New York's Citi Field to Cleveland's FirstEnergy Stadium and Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, among many others. So this is definitely a thing.Fight for the Future, along with Morello and artists like Speedy Ortiz, have found success with similar boycotts in the past. In 2022, Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver stopped using Amazon's palm-reading technology following a protest from the organization.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/over-100-artists-boycott-venues-that-employ-face-scanning-tech-164554404.html?src=rss

If you think your kids should have a smart display of their very own, this might be a good time to grab two of them from Amazon. In advance of Prime Day, you can get two Echo Show 5 Kids for the price of one. The displays came out in 2023 and typically go for $100 each. By using the code SHOW5KIDS at checkout, you'll get two for a total of $99.98. You can also press the "Redeem" button on the product page and the discount will automatically show up.We covered the standard version of the Echo Show 5 in our smart display guide. We said it would work well on a nightstand as a display-enabled alarm clock, given that the 5-inch screen is on the smaller side. That diminutive size might work well for kids. The kid version of the display has a space-themed exterior and includes a number of software differences that makes it more kid-friendly, particularly with the offered parental controls.Like other Alexa-enabled devices, kids can use their Echo Show to control connected smart home devices, like smart bulbs or plugs in their room. Kids can also ask Alexa questions and get audio and visual answers or play music from Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Music just by asking. Unlike a regular smart display, however, this one is designed to give kid-friendly responses and filter out explicit lyrics. The connected parent dashboard gives you control over time limits and which contacts can be called, while letting you see what your kids are up to by reviewing their activity. If you, understandably, don't feel comfortable sticking a live camera in your kids' rooms, the physical camera shutter on the device can be shut off whenever they're not actively video calling grandma.Recently, Amazon and Disney partnered up to bring character voices such as Olaf from Frozen or C3PO from Star Wars to Echo devices. Saying, "hey, Disney" can do things like having Mickey read the weather or launching interactive trivia games. The feature comes with an Amazon Kids+ subscription, which also grants access to kid-focused shows, movies, audiobooks, games and ebooks that kids can access from their display. A year of the subscription comes with the purchase of the kid's Echo Show, after that it's $8 per month or $5 monthly if you're a Prime member.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/amazon-is-selling-two-echo-show-5-kids-smart-displays-for-the-price-of-one-163034320.html?src=rss

Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, Google, Xiaomi... Those are names that likely spring to mind when you think about smartphones. Sony perhaps won't be the first company that most people consider in that regard. However, the company is still beavering away on its own phones and it plans to keep doing so for the foreseeable future.Sony has struck a multi-year deal with Qualcomm to use Snapdragon platforms to power its handsets. This is an extension of an existing agreement between the two sides. Qualcomm chipsets will be used in Sony's upcoming premium devices, along with high- and mid-tier smartphones.Sony revealed the awkwardly named Xperia 1 V just last month. The smartphone runs on the Snapdragon 8 Gen2 Mobile Platform and it's geared toward photographers and vloggers. Those are relatively niche use cases, though Sony is able to tap into its camera technology in the aim of helping users capture high-quality photos and video. The Xperia 1 V can be used as a monitor for compatible Sony Alpha cameras, for one thing. Still, Sony continues to command a premium for its high-end Xperia smartphones - the 1 V starts at $1,400.The company also showed off the mid-range Xperia 10 V for the first time in May. It boasts a Snapdragon 695 chipset and a 60Hz, 1080p OLED display. Sony started selling the phone in Europe this month for 399 or 449 (around $500).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-plans-to-keep-making-smartphones-for-at-least-a-few-more-years-160051473.html?src=rss

Google will soon make it easier to interact with PDFs if you have low vision. The company is adding OCR (optical character recognition) technology to Chrome that can convert PDFs to text that makes them more accessible, particularly if you want a screen reader to read them aloud. The tool will also provide image descriptions.The feature will be available in the "coming months," Google says. The company also plans to expand the functionality beyond Chrome later this year, although it hasn't said which platforms might receive the upgrade. We've asked Google for more details and will let you know if we hear back.GoogleThe introduction comes as part of a broader education push that includes app licensing for school Chromebooks and free access to Adobe Express in the US. Administrators will also have tighter control over what students and faculty can access on their Chromebooks - they can ban students from copying and pasting text from certain websites, such as generative AI tools that could help them cheat on tests. Users, meanwhile, will have an easier time turning off their camera or microphone regardless of where they are in Chrome OS.The read-aloud PDF feature is mainly intended for classrooms, where students with vision issues will have an easier time reading scanned class material or necessary research articles. However, this will also make the internet more accessible for the public at large. It's not uncommon for websites to put terms of service or other important information into PDFs. The upgrade puts that info within reach of more people.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/chrome-can-soon-convert-pdfs-into-text-it-can-read-aloud-154428591.html?src=rss

This is a good time to buy a tablet for summer reading or road trip entertainment. Amazon is once more selling Apple's 10.2-inch iPad at a record low price of $250 (normally $329) after an instant $20 discount at checkout. You'll need to buy a 64GB WiFi model to get the full savings, but there are also price drops for some 256GB and cellular variants.The 10.2-inch iPad may be nearing two years old at this point, but it's still our pick for the best budget Apple tablet even at its official price. It's still reasonably speedy for games and casual tasks, and it's the device to get if you still want a headphone jack or a physical home button. On sale, it's an easy choice - you're getting the core iPad experience at a much lower cost. That could make it a great option for reading in bed, and you might not worry quite so much if your kids are less than gentle with it.There are reasons you might want to spend more, of course. The 10.9-inch iPad from 2022 offers more screen real estate, brisker performance and a USB-C port, not to mention a front camera better-suited to video calls. With a price gap as large as $200, though, it's harder to justify the newer version unless you absolutely insist on its updated design.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/apples-102-inch-ipad-drops-back-to-a-record-low-of-250-141931820.html?src=rss

Bandai Namco knows what to do when it turns anime or manga series into video games. Revealed at Summer Game Fest last week, Sand Land is the latest addition, with a big punchy poster on the show floor in Los Angeles, conveniently right next to an established hitmaker for the publisher, its Naruto (now Boruto) Ultimate Storm fighting series.Sand Land, though? You may never have heard of it, but don't let that put you off, because it's a 2000s comic penned by legendary manga artist, Akira Toriyama. Yes, Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama. The man who created the character designs for Chrono Trigger, Blue Dragon and the Dragon Quest series. And Toriyama's creations have never looked better.Sand Land is an action-adventure game where you'll play as the rambunctious prince of the Devil, capital d', Beelzebub, as he explores a desert-themed world where water is a rare and costly resource. Demons and humans coexist in this world, with the human Sheriff Rao and the demon Thief accompanying Beelzebub on his adventure to solve the water crisis.At SGF 2023 last week, I played a 15-minute demo that showcased a few parts of the game, including melee combat, exploration and two vehicles: a tank and, er, a golf cart. The demo kicked off with the trio fleeing a desert dragon, and after having steered the cart away from relentless attacks, the gang eventually had to cast off their supplies of water to escape.Apparently, this is a beat-for-beat replication of how Sand Land plays out in the manga, and you can expect the game to follow the same storyline beats. That's sometimes frustrating for games where you already know the story. For example, I know who dies in Dragon Ball's Frieza saga, so it's not a surprise when it happens in one of the several Dragon Ball video games. With Sand Land, however, many of us will be hearing the tale for the first time.During my demo, the game split into two play styles. You'll explore the desert, outposts, and towns with your vehicles but also set out on foot when you need to brawl with someone or interact with things appropriately. Bandai Namco has teased that you can customize vehicles within the game, adding different weaponry and components to improve performance or offer tactical advantages. I loved using the armor-piercing rounds. Sure, they had a low fire rate, but they obliterated almost anything. Vehicle controls are simple enough but vary depending on the type and whether they feature weapons or not. Don't forget: my first Sand Land vehicle was a golf cart. There was no artillery option.Bandai NamcoWhen not rolling around in a tank (which can be repaired if it takes damage), Beelzebub himself can go toe-to-toe with enemies in melee combat. He has a mix of weak attacks, dodge rolls and super attacks that will charge up as you battle enemies. If it sounds a bit... simple, well, it is. Bandai Namco isn't reinventing the wheel here. More moves and support characters could help deepen the combat sections, so I'll hold judgment for now, but it's also worth remembering that this game is likely aimed at gamers younger than I. You will only ever control Beelzebub himself, but both of his aforementioned companions will eventually be able to assist in fights, although this wasn't apparent in my demo.The highlight of this early demo was confronting a gang of bandits. They gave off a mild Ginew Force vibe, which I wasn't mad about. Each wielded different weapons and attacked differently, offering a nice opportunity to test out little devil's combos, sending enemies high with a punch, only to jump up and slam them back to the ground.Ensuring even these secondary characters are interesting is proof that, hopefully, the developers are ensuring Toriyama's characters, and his offbeat humor and charm, make it onto consoles.While there are some questionable lip-sync moments (at this point, all the voiceovers are Japanese), this generation of consoles and PCs offer more than enough power to replicate Toriyama's detailed drawings. I gawped at the tank during my playthrough just because it looked so good. Imagine how long I'd stare at a tank I customized myself.Sand Land will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sand-land-first-impressions-an-akira-toriyama-manga-brought-to-life-140023184.html?src=rss

Owlet and its baby monitoring devices are back in the good graces of the FDA. The company received clearance from the US regulator for its product BabySat, a medical-grade pulse-ox monitor designed as a wireless sock" for newborns and babies. The win comes after the FDA ordered the Utah-based biotech company to stop selling its smart sock almost 18 months ago.The FDA objection was based on the fact that the wearable had the capacity to relay a live display of a baby's heart rate and oxygen levels, which is critical data that a doctor should interpret, especially in vulnerable populations. The tumultuous approval demonstrates our technology is medical-grade," Kurt Workman, Owlet CEO and co-founder said of the company's path to getting FDA approval. We conducted several side-by-side accuracy comparisons to hospital monitors and that demonstrated Owlet is accurate." The device can alert a provider if any metrics are out of range, which can help to diagnose and prevent complications.Owlet stripped out the blood oxygen tracking feature and returned to the market just a few months later with the Dream Sock. It later added in an average oxygen level' readout through a software update. The $299 wearable is available direct from the company and through a number of other retailers without a prescription, but it lacks the advanced features that set it apart from the rest of its rivals. Instead, it's a pretty straightforward sleep tracker.BabySat, on the other hand, is a prescription device. It integrates medical-grade pulse oximetry technology into a discreet wearable. It's a noninvasive tool to measure how well oxygen is circulating to extremities in babies from 1 to 18 months.

UK broadcaster Sky has unveiled a webcam device called Sky Live designed to add features like watch parties with friends, fitness and gaming features, the company announced. It attaches magnetically to the top of the company's Sky Glass smart TVs via USB-C and HDMI, and supports motion tracking for games and workouts, along with video calls, group chats and more."Sky Live makes your TV much more than just a TV, by introducing new entertainment experiences for the heart of your home," said Sky global chief product officer Fraser Stirling in a statement. "Get active with motion control games, work out with body tracking technology, video call on the big screen and watch TV with loved ones - even from afar. And [with] our powerful Entertainment OS ecosystem, it will keep getting better with every update."The 12-megapixel webcam looks a bit like a mini Xbox One Kinect, with a rectangular design and lens on the right. Video is captured at up to 4K with an ultrawide 106-degree field of view (equivalent to a 14mm lens in 35mm camera terms). It has a white status LED, four microphones on top and a privacy button that turns it off (but no privacy shutter). There's an auto-framing feature to keep you in the center of the shot, along with background noise suppression to ensure you're heard during noisy broadcasts.A key feature pitched by Sky (owned by Comcast since 2018) is called "Watch Together," letting you do watch parties with up to 11 other households remotely. Friends' video feeds appear to the right of the main feed and it works with all live channels and Sky's own on-demand programs - but not Netflix or other third-party streaming services. Playback is supposed to be synchronized among all call participants, so you shouldn't hear your friends cheering before you actually see a goal scored.On top of looking like one, Sky Live also acts like a Kinect. It comes with a Mvmnt fitness app offering 130 interactive workouts, with the motion control tech tracking and your form, reps and more. It also supports motion-controlled games like Fruit Ninja and an multiplayer version of Monopoly controlled with the TV's remote. You can make Zoom calls, with participants shown in full HD and centered in the frame thanks to the auto-tracking feature.Sky Live requires a Sky Glass smart TV to work and costs 290 ($370) as a standalone purchase, 6 per month over 48 months, or 12 per month on a 24-month contract. Sky is also offering introductory discounts if purchased with a Smart Glass TV. Th latter, launched back in 2021, comes in 43-, 55- and 65-inch version and starts at around 14 per month.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sky-uk-releases-a-motion-tracking-webcam-for-tv-watch-parties-131458526.html?src=rss

The following article contains spoilers for Ad Astra per Aspera."Prequels, especially for well-known properties, are straightjackets which limit their own storytelling possibilities. Dramatic license is hampered by the fact the audience often knows where these characters (and storylines) end up. And any violence to the extant narrative can jar viewers who likely know what's going on now contradicts what they've already seen. Until now, Strange New Worlds has navigated this issue well, making a virtue of its well-known conclusion.A Quality of Mercy" deftly played with the fact Pike will eventually get his near-fatal dose of radiation. The episode served to make the tragic nature of his character both a benefit and a burden, making it compelling in the process. In comparison, Ad Astra per Aspera," serves as an indictment of prequels, exposing the limits of what it can say, and do. Much as it presents a world that's hopeful of change, long-term viewers know that optimism is misplaced.That's not to say the episode is bad, because it's another confidently told, if lightweight, tale in a series that knows it works in that register. It helps that Star Trek wears the tropes of courtroom drama so well, since they're both prone to a melodramatic exploration of The Big Issues(TM). The subtext here is sufficiently broad that there's a multitude of readings it'll accept without too much stretching. And there's at least one actually funny comedy moment where we, once again, see how much more fun Spock is when he's played as a goofball.Michael Gibson/Paramount+Number One is preparing to stand trial for fraudulently entering Starfleet despite its ban on genetic modification. She's thinking about her childhood, where her parents worry about taking her to a doctor and therefore exposing her status. Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano) - who for some reason is now a member of Starfleet's legal corps - offers a plea bargain with a dishonorable discharge, something Number One recoils at.Pike, refusing to passively accept his friend's fate, jets off to meet Neera (Yetide Badaki), an Illyrian lawyer and former friend of Number One, who has until now refused their pleas for help. His refusal to take no for an answer, and the lure of a high-profile case with which to stick it to the Federation, is enough to convince her to sign up. What follows is the usual courtroom drama, focusing on what prompted Number One to sign up to an organization that hates her.We learn Number One was inspired to sign up to Starfleet because of the visible diversity of its crews. But that isn't enough to win until Neera finds the contradiction between the Federation's fine words, its goals, and its laws. It's a subtle, pointed, critique of what Darren Franich dubbed the California liberal paradox" in his essay on Star Trek: Insurrection. (And Star Trek is nothing if not a creature of Californian values.) He says that those people may wish everyone to live comfortably, but would secretly prefer that most people live comfortably someplace else."But the court finds Number One not guilty, and she's allowed to return to active duty on the Enterprise. At the happy ever after reunion in the transporter room, Neera says that while the case affected just one person, it's a start." She adds that Number One's visibility as an Illyrian (second) in command of a starship will help turn people's hearts and minds toward her cause. It's a hopeful ending, and one that suggests Number One's story will kickstart a process of change and growth that will eventually see these prejudices and legal blocks go away.Michael Gibson/Paramount+The issue with that ending, and how hopefully it's portrayed, is that long-time Star Trek viewers know it doesn't happen. Any hearts and minds that would be changed in this process would be a minority given that - from this point in Trek history - things won't change. Chronologically, we have Space Seed," The Wrath of Khan, Dr. Bashir, I Presume" and Statistical Probabilities" as affirmations of the status quo. At least a century later, people with genetic modifications remain - in Trek's narrative - unable to serve in its premier military, scientific and exploratory branch.It lends the episode a tragic quality that isn't reflected in its presentation, but one that adds a layer of depth for dedicated viewers. Perhaps what I'm describing as a limit of its storytelling is really a smart commentary on how hard it is to bend the arc of history toward justice. In fact, I think I've just talked myself around, this is a wonderfully pointed exploration of this stuff, bravo Dana Horgan and Valerie Weiss.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-finds-the-limit-of-what-a-prequel-can-say-130027427.html?src=rss

A new decision from Meta's Oversight Board reiterates Facebook's continual role as a platform for dangerous election rhetoric. The Board reversed Meta's initial decision to leave public a video posted in January that called for insurrectionist actions in Brazil following the inauguration of its new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.Lula took office on January 1st, and two days later, a user posted the video of a prominent Brazilian general - and supporter of the former president Jair Bolsonaro - telling people to "hit the streets" and "go to the National Congress ... [and the] Supreme Court." Portugese text overlaid the video stating, "Come to Brasilia! Let's Storm it! Let's besiege the three powers." Three Powers Plaza sits in the Brazilian capital and is home to the Congress, Supreme Court and the presidential offices.Meta had previously acknowledged the risk of civil and election-centric unrest in Brazil, first labeling the country a "Temporary High-Risk Location" in September 2022 and then extending it to late February of this year. Yet, when an initial user reported the video, a moderator didn't find it in violation of Meta's policies - a second moderator agreed following an appeal. Seven moderators in total reviewed reports from four individuals between January 3rd and 4th, but none found an issue with the video. An accompanying caption for the video called for a "besiege" of Brazil's Congress as a last-ditch effort. Five days after the video arrived on Facebook, hundreds of protesters broke into the three governmental buildings and set fires, broke windows and assaulted police officers.The next day Meta called the riots a "violating event" and claimed to have "been removing content calling for people to take up arms or forcibly invade Congress, the Presidential palace and other federal buildings." Yet, the video remained on Facebook until January 20th, when Meta removed the post following the Oversight Board's choice to shortlist its review into it. Moderators should categorize a post as violating Meta's rules when it calls for forced entry into a high-risk place (like a government building) in a temporary high-risk location (as Brazil was at the time). Meta stated that leaving up the video with a military official calling for an insurrection was an "error."In its decision, the Oversight Board said it was "deeply concerned" that Meta's moderators had continually found the video not to violate its policies. The Board recommended that Meta finally "develop a framework for evaluating its election integrity efforts. This includes creating and sharing metrics for successful election integrity efforts, including those related to Meta's enforcement of its content policies and its approach to ads." It also called on the company to expand its protocols when evaluating if content causes harm in high-risk events.The Oversight Board has operated since 2020 as an independently funded entity to which individuals can appeal content visibility decisions. It has the power to permit or remove Facebook and Instagram content with statements outlining its rationale accompanying each decision. The Board currently has 22 members (a report claims it will eventually be 40), including Nighat Dad, founder of the Digital Rights Foundation, and Ronaldo Lemos, a Rio De Janiero State University's Law School professor.Meta has served as a home for right-wing conspiracy theorists and organizers, with at least 650,000 posts arguing against Joe Biden's victory shared on Facebook between Election Day 2020 in the US and the January 6th, 2021 insurrection. The social media platform had enacted some safety features after misinformation spread had spread across it around the 2016 Election, but it continued to do so, and ahead of the 2022 midterms and Brazil's general election, Meta quietly rolled back many of its safeguards.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/oversight-board-criticizes-meta-for-refusing-to-take-down-brazilian-pro-insurrection-video-124533251.html?src=rss

As the unromantic name implies, TP-Link's Deco XE75 AXE5400 is one of the company's many, many routers. A trio of plain cylinders standing 6.7-inches tall, they mirror the lack of excitement in its name, but as the saying goes, let's not judge a book by its deeply unsexy cover. Hiding inside is a mesh of extreme quality that, despite a few rough edges, offers a great mix of power and affordability. If you're confident in your ability to work your way through an admin panel or two, then this might be the mesh for you.HardwareI've already mentioned that the XE75 comprises a series of nondescript-looking cylinders which aren't the prettiest mesh units. They certainly look like WiFi equipment, unlike many of the others on the market, which look like paperweights designed by Henry Moore. Unless you're living in a minimalist's paradise, they'll hopefully blend into your decor with no fuss.On the back of each node are three gigabit ethernet ports, one of which you'll need to hook the primary mode up to your modem. You can also use the ports to run ethernet backhaul, if your house is (or will be) suitably-equipped. In 2023, when it can sometimes feel like wired ethernet is becoming a niche proposition, having three ports per node feels like luxury. And I don't think many users will gripe over a lack of a 2.5 Gbps port which is a bit excessive, even these days.One of the first choices you'll need to make is how you'll use the 6GHz band, which is reserved as backhaul by default. You can leave it like this or, if you have a plethora of WiFi 6-enabled devices already, you can run it dynamically. Like I said in the mesh WiFi buyer's guide, using the 6GHz band for backhaul makes sense for now since so few phones, laptops and tablets can access that band directly at the moment.TP-Link says its AI-driven mesh" will learn which devices get faster speed from which nodes and prioritize those connections accordingly. Once each of your devices is connected to the mesh, you should hope to see your speed and reliability improve as it learns your usage.InstallationDeco XE75 was easy to get set up, taking just 16 minutes from when I pulled the plastic film from the box to finish. Download the Deco companion app, set up a TP-Link account and you'll then be guided through the short setup process. You just need to plug the first node in, tell the app if you have any ISP-specific needs, give your network a name and password and you're off at the races.Once done, the app will tell you to turn on the other nodes in the set and wait as they connect to the existing mesh. You'll also need to assign each node a name based on their locations in your home. My phone pinged several times in quick succession after this as all the gadgets in my home joined the network. The degree of seamlessness and ease of setup was more or less perfect.That is, except for one minor real-world annoyance that I feel compelled to flag - the length of the power cables for the UK models I've been testing. A lot of mesh products ask users to place nodes in visible, prominent locations, rather than hidden behind furniture, to avoid interference. That's harder to do, however, if your power cable is just 57 inches long, a small but noticeable bit shorter than the other products I'm testing. To the point where I couldn't put one module in my usual location at the top of a bookcase because the cable didn't stretch that far. In this case, that module had to go on my top shelf, rather than above it. It's a specific and possibly niche complaint but worth mentioning in case you have an unforgiving room layout.PerformancePhoto by Daniel Cooper / EngadgetAfter setting up the modules in the usual places in my home, I found that it took about 10 minutes for the connection to stabilize. I had to run a firmware update that caused things to drop out for a further five minutes afterward, but after that, the connection was very stable. A lot of more affordable 6E routers use the 6GHz band as backhaul, and this worked well in my home.Close to the primary node, speeds hit an average of 270 Mbps down, and in my office two floors away, I was still getting 260 Mbps. Even in my back bedroom with its dreaded signal dead spot, SpeedTest download benchmarks fell to around 220 Mbps. Ping times were similarly consistent, to the point where I reckon a two-point mesh might have sufficed.The Deco app very clearly shows your network topography, enabling you to quickly see which devices connect to which node. What surprised me is that the hardware in my office preferred the primary node rather than the one that was nearer. I suspect, over time, those connections would shift, but the fact I saw such good performance despite being two floors away was great.App and controlsThe Deco app lays everything out in a friendly, easy-to-parse manner that shouldn't deter novice users from upgrading. The home screen shows you the network topography, and what devices are connected to each node by default, helping you to feel in control of what's going on.If there's a downside, it's that the level of control available to you inside each submenu isn't that deep. View your WiFi settings, for instance, and you'll be able to change your network name and password or share those details to someone else. But the only other option is to decide if the 6GHz network is used for dedicated backhaul or if you can share it with devices on the network. You can activate a Guest Network on the homescreen, letting you set one up with one press, although I'm less of a fan that it's password-free by default.You can scroll the list of what's connected to the network to see its signal strength, as well as how much data it's up-and-down-loading at the time. Each device can be assigned to a family member for parental controls, and you can single out a unit for priority on the network. The one downside to this is that TP-Link really struggles to identify each piece of equipment on your network compared to, say, a product from Netgear. So many units were named iot_device" in the list, that you'll probably need to take the time to rename them all manually.In the More sub-menu, you can run tests to optimize your network, set up an IPv6 connection, as well as tweak IP settings. One feature I appreciated was the choice to get a push notification every time a new device joins the network, which appeals to my paranoia.You can also access your settings through a browser-based client but, as far as I could see, the only difference is it lets you force a firmware upgrade with a local file rather than handling the system online. That's a fairly niche use, though.Additional featuresDeco does offer smart home integrations, but it's limited to TP-Link's own gear and Philips Hue. The only other thing that the company offers is Homeshield, which offers a suite of security features to help keep your WiFi secure. The free Basic tier will scan your network for security threats and offers robust" parental controls. That includes the ability to block specific websites, set daily usage limits and time-out zones to stop your kids accessing the internet in the middle of the night.You can also activate content filtering, which will lock down swathes of the web that TP-Link deems unsuitable. That includes Adult Content, Gambling, and Download sites, amongst many others. More problematically, you can block access to sites offering sex and relationship education information, which feels like TP-Link is enabling more harm than good there.What I will say, despite my objections, is that the suite of options available for free here is a very good mix. Plenty of companies have taken to putting even the most basic parental controls, like time limits and access control, behind their paywalls. The fact the essentials are available here, for free, means the company gets plenty of extra points here.TP-Link also offers a paid version of Homeshield, which includes more protection against hacks, greater data about what websites users are visiting. This, it says, will guard against teenager internet addiction (sic)," IoT Devices Attacks (sic)" and Cyber Virus Intrusion (sic)." Homeshield Pro costs $5.99 a month, or $55 for a year, although I'm not sure I see enough value in it to encourage anyone to sign up for the extras on offer.Wrap-upThere's no single glitzy, attention-grabbing feature that makes the Deco XE75 a must-buy, but what puts it ahead of the competition is its brawn. Nestled inside those cylinders is powerful, reliable hardware that generates a fast and far-reaching network which is reason enough to pick up TP-Link's system. The app and services offered at no additional cost, squarely tick the good enough" box.The one thing the Deco XE75 lacks is polish, both in its app and its services. I wouldn't suggest this to anyone who would freeze up at the very thought of having to make a decision about something like a backhaul channel. But, if you are prepared to make the effort, then this is certainly the mesh WiFi system for you. It's fast, reliable, fairly easy to use and I reckon the (cheaper) two-pack will cover all but the biggest of homes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tp-link-deco-xe75-review-a-solid-wifi-6e-router-system-that-delivers-more-for-less-123033332.html?src=rss

DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused alternative to Google, has been working on its own browser. First available on the Mac in open beta late last year, the DuckDuckGo browser is rolling out in beta for Windows starting today. DuckDuckGo says this is our most requested product for years."Naturally, DuckDuckGo is the default search engine here. But the browser has some additional features such as the Duck Player, which will prevent YouTube from serving targeted ads and prevent user-tracked recommendations. YouTube will still see this as a new view, but the browser will prevent any sort of tracking or information that would contribute to your advertising profile.DuckDuckGo also claims a superior ad-blocking experience. It says that in addition to blocking ads and cookies, the browser will also clean up the white space that's typically still there with traditional ad blockers. Users familiar with the Mac beta will be familiar with other features including password management, automatic cookie pop-up handling and email protection.DuckDuckGo first previewed its desktop web browser in late 2021 and released an initial Mac beta in late 2022. Windows is the latest platform to get an official app. But if you don't use Mac or Windows, DuckDuckGo is available in search engine support on Google Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox. It's also available as an app for iOS and Android.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/duckduckgos-privacy-focused-browser-is-now-available-for-windows-120039393.html?src=rss

The battle over Reddit's API changes continues, even after coming into effect. Reddit's decision to charge for access to its API was supposedly aimed at companies scraping the website to train Large Language Models for generative AI, but the decision also affects thousands of third-party clients and apps that tie into the platform, including ones with powerful moderation tools not available on the main site and app. Thousands of communities protested the move by setting their subreddits private and making them inaccessible.Following the API changes, several popular subreddits that historically prohibited porn have started allowing users to post NSFW - Not Safe For Work - content. These communities include r/mildlyinteresting and r/videos. In r/TIHI's (Thanks, I Hate It) case, a stickied post says the subreddit is removing a rule that forbids extreme NSFW content and will now welcome it, as long as it's legal under US law. By allowing their subreddits to be filled with posts deemed not safe for work, the moderators have made sure Reddit can't monetize them. The site's response to the situation has been swift - administrators have reportedly removed whole moderating teams for communities that labeled themselves NSFW.So far, these protests have had little effect on Reddit CEO Steve Huffman. He told NPR: "It's a small group that's very upset, and there's no way around that. We made a business decision that upset them."- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedOtter's AI chatbot pays attention during meetings, so you don't have to EVE Online's spreadsheets in space now integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Excel Everything you need to know about Amazon Prime Day 2023 Texas says state-funded EV charging stations need to include Tesla connector Play as Elephant Mario in 'Super Mario Bros. Wonder' on October 20thApple's union-busting practices violated employee rights at NYC store, judge rulesThe Morning After isn't just a newsletter - it's also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.Final Fantasy XV' reviewA welcome dramatic turn for the series.Square EnixIt's back again. This time, it's real-time. With Final Fantasy XVI, the series' creators have decided the franchise's future is action-centric and storyline driven. And it's heavily inspired by epic TV fantasy series. Until now, the Final Fantasy games have never quite had their angry, moody dark moment. With nuanced, occasionally horny characters and often a lot of violence, is this the series' moody teenager era? The tale of FFXVI is achingly Game of Thrones-y, but sometimes the inspiration is a little on the nose: Dad dies early on? Check. Mysterious wolves? Check. Creepy mother-son relations? Check. While this is a very different kind of game for the series, for those looking for a fantasy adventure with a plot that's kept me hooked, the 16th Final Fantasy delivers.Continue reading.Google Nest WiFi Pro reviewThis mesh network is more approachable than the rest.EngadgetGoogle's WiFi products have always offered an acceptable blend of power, price and performance. The Nest WiFi Pro, the company's latest flagship, builds on that existing formula by adding WiFi 6E. Part of its appeal is the Google brand, plus the promise of regular free software updates and tight integrations with most of the world's smart home players. You won't get into the fundamentals of running a network, but it should appeal to people who want to set up a guest network quickly. Something like the TP-Link XE75 might run faster and offer more features, but for this price, Google's made the right compromises.Continue reading.A 'Super Mario RPG' remake is coming to Nintendo Switch on November 17thAnd Nintendo's remastering 'Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon' for the Switch.An unusual SNES classic is getting the remake treatment. Super Mario RPG is back with "brand-new graphics" and it's coming to Nintendo Switch on November 17th. The 1996 original was the very first Mario RPG, made in collaboration with Squaresoft (now Square Enix). It tasks Mario, Bowser, Peach and friends with taking down a mechanical enemy named Smithy and recovering stolen pieces of the Star Road. The remake uses the same art style as modern Mario games. Nintendo is also working on an updated version of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - perhaps not a huge surprise given the success of Luigi's Mansion 3.Continue reading.The best wireless headphones for 2023And not all of these over-ear models will break the bank.For Engadget's best wireless headphones guide, we tested several models with a variety of features, including noise cancellation and sound quality. Plus, our favorites span a range of prices, so you can decide how much you're comfortable spending and, ultimately, get the best buy for you. That includes a set for a mere $79.Continue reading.Twitch replaces its mature content mode with more granular 'labels'Categories include sexual themes, gambling and significant profanity or vulgarity.Twitch has overhauled its mature content policies, switching from a general toggle to specific categories describing what viewers can expect. The new Content Classification Labels are myriad, including mature-rated games, sexual themes, significant profanity or vulgarity, gambling, violent and graphic depictions and, lastly, drugs, intoxication or excessive tobacco use. The ratings apply to both the game and you. For example, if you're playing a mature-rated game, Twitch will automatically label it as such. But, if you're playing an E-rated game and you're excessively swearing, you must mark your stream as having significant profanity or vulgarity.Continue reading.Cellular satellite test successfully beams 4G data from space to a regular phoneAST SpaceMobile recently completed a two-way voice call.Earlier this year, AST SpaceMobile, with the help of AT&T, connected an off-the-shelf Samsung Galaxy S22 to a satellite in low-Earth orbit to complete a two-way voice call. Now the company says it's one step closer to bringing the technology to consumers. AST recently completed multiple tests in Hawaii where its engineers saw download speeds of 10Mbps from the company's BlueWalker 3 satellite to unmodified phones on the ground.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-popular-subreddits-welcomed-adult-content-to-protest-reddit-changes-111510310.html?src=rss

Instead of pen and paper, many students are now carrying a laptop with them, using it for everything from taking notes to doing research. Companies are responding with programs designed for tech-centric learning, including Figma, a cloud-based design tool. The company has announced that Figma is now free for all US students in K-12, in partnership with Google for Education. The initiative started in beta last year, with 50 high schools across the country getting free access to Figma and FigJam, a collaborative whiteboard.While Figma offers a free version, it only allows users to have three files for each program. Instead, schools can access the company's most advanced tier, Figma Enterprise, for free (typically $75 per person monthly). It includes unlimited files, individual and shared project options, dedicated workspaces and more sophisticated design features, among other perks. Schools will need Chromebooks to utilize the program, but they can apply for access if they have non-Google systems. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 94 percent of schools provided devices like laptops and tablets to students who needed them for the 2022 to 2023 school year.Figma's fate is a bit up in the air after Adobe entered into an agreement to buy the competitor in September 2022 for $20 billion in cash and shares. Regulators across the US, UK and EU are investigating whether the deal violates antitrust policies, with the first barrier emerging in February with reports that the US Justice Department was preparing an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. The UK followed in May with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announcing it was launching an inquiry into the agreement. Most recently came reports that European antitrust regulators plan to initiate an investigation into the merger later this year.As for free Figma access for students, the initiative holds promise, with the company sharing positive reviews from educators involved in the beta program. Educators can now sign up to bring Figma to their schools in the US - plus, the company is taking its Chromebook partnership global, starting with Google schools in Japan.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/figma-is-now-free-for-all-us-school-students-105514037.html?src=rss

I haven't watched a fight since Manny Pacquiao fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. way back in 2015, but I'd totally tune in if Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg duke it out in front of the camera. And I'm not the only one who would, based on the attention the idea of a fight between the two tech billionaires is getting on social media.It all started when Musk reacted to a report about Meta's Twitter rival. Apparently, Meta chief product officer Chris Cox said the company has "been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run." Someone told him to be careful, because Zuckerberg does jiu jitsu now. "I'm up for a cage match if he is," Musk responded. As The Verge reports, Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of the exchange as a story on his Instagram account with the note: "Send Me Location."

A new report has revealed alarming statistics about Discord's issues with child safety. Over the past six years, NBC News identified 35 cases of adults being prosecuted on charges of "kidnapping, grooming or sexual assault" that allegedly involved Discord communication. At least 15 of those have resulted in guilty pleas or verdicts, with "many others" still pending.Reporters also discovered 165 more cases, including four crime rings, in which adults were prosecuted for sharing CSAM (child sexual exploitation material) via Discord or allegedly using the site to extort children into sending sexually graphic images of themselves, a practice known as sextortion. The illegal acts often take place in hidden communities and chat rooms, according to the report.A simple Google search of "site:justice.gov Discord" yields a large number of hits, many of a disturbing nature. In one case identified by NBC News, "a teen was taken across state lines, raped and found locked in a backyard shed, according to police, after she was groomed on Discord for months.""What we see is only the tip of the iceberg," the Canadian Center for Child Protection's Stephen Sauer told NBC News. And it's not the first time Discord has been under fire for its handling of child abuse complaints. Last year, CNN also identified numerous incidents of CSAM, with some parents claiming that Discord offered little help.Earlier this year, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) issued a statement titled "Discord Dishonestly Responds to How it Handles Child Sexual Abuse Material After Being Named to 2023 Dirty Dozen List." Among other things, it noted that CSAM links were identified and reported, but still available on Discord's servers "over two weeks later." It added that Discord's actions in responding to the issues are "far too passive, failing to proactively search for and remove exploitation." It recommended that the site, which currently has over 150 million users, ban minors "until it is radically transformed."In a recent transparency report, Discord said its "investment and prioritization in child safety has never been more robust," adding that it disabled 37,102 accounts and removed 17,425 servers for child safety violations. The company's VP of trust and safety, John Redgrave, told NBC News that he believes the platform's approach to the issue has improved since Discord bought the AI moderation company Sentropy in 2021. It uses several systems to proactively detect CSAM and analyze user behavior, and Redgrave said that he thinks the company now proactively detects most materials that already "identified, verified and indexed."However, the systems can't currently detect child sexual abuse materials or messages that have yet to be indexed. In a review of Discord servers created over the past month, NBC News found 242 that use thinly disguised terms to market CSAM.Discord isn't the only social media company with CSAM problems. A recent report found that Instagram helped "connect and promote a vast network of accounts" devoted to underage-sex content. However, Discord has reportedly made it particularly difficult for law enforcement at times, in one case asking for payment after the Ontario Police asked it to preserve records, according to the report. Engadget as reached out to Discord for comment.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/discord-still-has-a-child-safety-issue-085304790.html?src=rss

YouTube TV has expanded its multiview feature's scope so that even non-sports fans can enjoy it. When the service launched multiview, it could show up to four sports streams on the screen at once. But now users will be able to choose from streams with news, business news and weather content, in addition to sports streams. Viewers will still have to pick from preselected videos and can't choose whatever stream they want to watch in multiview, but at least they now have more choices and don't have to stick to having all four screens tuned into sporting events.The service first rolled out multiview in March with a focus on sports, just in time for NCAA's March Madness. Multiview is supported on all smart TVs and media players that can run YouTube TV, because the processing is done on the service's servers. While viewers can keep an eye on all four streams at once, they can jump to a full-screen view for each one and switch the audio and the captioning to whatever event they want to focus on at the moment.In addition to expanding multiview's repertoire, YouTube TV is also adding Spanish-language sports channels to the preselected stream options for members with a Spanish or Spanish Plus plan. Some members might not have access to the expanded multiview options yet, but they will soon enough - YouTube TV says it gradually roll out these updates to all users over the summer.

The human hand is a marvel of evolutionary development, offering 27 degrees of freedom and unrivaled touch sensitivity. But it's the same aspects that make our hands so, well, handy, that also make them an absolute nightmare to recreate robotically. That's why one team of researchers has abandoned human-derived gripper design in favor of woodlice.Look, at least they're not the desiccated and re-inflated tarantula corpses that a team of Rice University researchers created in 2022. Those manipulators were a novel proof of concept in that they exploited the natural mechanisms spiders use for locomotion - specifically that their limbs move through a combination of fluid pressure and flexor muscles, rather than the antagonistic pairs that mammals have - though the system was really only good for as long as the corpses held together.Tohoku University via NewScientistThe new system designed by Dr. Josephine Galipon and her team at Japan's Tohoku University builds on the earlier work with "necrobotic" spiders but relies on bugs that are still alive. "To our knowledge, there is no prior example of whole living organisms being used as end effectors for robotic arms, which we propose here," Galipon points out in Biological Organisms as End Effectors. The team relies on both captured woodlice (aka rolly-pollies) and captive chitons (small marine mollusks) to temporarily serve as a robot's hands.They first 3D printed tiny seats for the animals to sit on at the end of the robot's manipulator arm, then set the woodlice and chitons to task, picking up tufts of cotton and submerged cork, respectively. The results were about as promising as one could really hope for: the woodlice futzed around with the cotton for about two minutes before losing interest, while the chiton's grabbed hold of their prizes and had to be actively separated from them. Still, the fact that the chiton got a grip at all was promising, given existing difficulties in using suction cups and similar mechanical methods underwater. Granted, much more work needs to be completed before these early concepts can even potentially be adapted into functional and efficient robotics systems.The team's work also raises ethical questions about the test animals' welfare, such as whether they are being forced to perform against their will and how such motivations are delivered. Especially for sentient animals, we would like to establish a kind of mutual interaction with a cooperative relationship," Galipon told New Scintist. It's a little bit different from domestication, but just a cooperation, where the animal can then go about its day." To be fair, it's certainly less invasive than your average cyborg cockroach research.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/researchers-give-robots-roly-polies-for-hands-231510900.html?src=rss

Twitter has resumed paying its Google Cloud contract, according to Bloomberg. If you missed the initial news of the impending showdown, Platformer reported on June 10th that Twitter had been refusing to pay Google for its cloud services ahead of their contract's June 30th renewal date. The possibility of losing access to Google's infrastructure led to a frantic rush at Twitter to migrate as many of its services off of Google's servers. However, that effort was reportedly running behind schedule," opening the door for some of the company's in-house tools to go offline come the end of the month.Now it appears Twitter has found a way to avoid that scenario. Bloomberg reports Linda Yaccarino, the company's newly appointed CEO, helped get the relationship back on track." In fact, the two companies are reportedly negotiating a broader partnership that could include advertising and Google's use of Twitter's paid API. Twitter does not operate a public relations department Engadget could contact for comment.Twitter's Google Cloud contract dates back to 2018. According to Bloomberg, the contract has cost the company between $200 million and $300 million annually and was one of the early targets of Elon Musk's cost-cutting. Google reportedly struggled" to get in touch with the billionaire to talk about Twitter's unpaid bills, and at one point attempted to reach him through SpaceX, which also does business with the tech giant.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-has-supposedly-started-paying-its-google-cloud-bill-again-213824844.html?src=rss

Earlier this year, AST SpaceMobile, with the help of AT&T, managed to connect an off-the-shelf Samsung Galaxy S22 to a satellite in low-Earth orbit to complete a two-way voice call. The announcement marked a major milestone for satellite-based cellular communication. Now the company says it's one step closer to bringing the technology to consumers.On Wednesday, AST shared it recently completed multiple tests in Hawaii where its engineers saw download speeds of 10Mbps from the company's BlueWalker 3 satellite to unmodified phones on the ground. Successfully reaching double-digit download speeds during satellite-to-smartphone testing takes us one step closer to ensuring people across the United States will be able to stay connected no matter their location," said Chris Sambar, AT&T network head.As a next step, AST hopes to connect a phone to BW3 over a 5G signal. A SpaceX Falcon 9 carried the prototype satellite to low-Earth orbit in September. At 693 square feet in size, BW3 features the largest antenna of any commercial satellite to date and is easily one of the brightest objects in the night sky, making it difficult for astronomers to carry out their research.AT&T is one of a few US carriers looking to use satellites to service underserved rural communities. In 2021, Verizon partnered with Amazon to use the company's Project Kuiper satellite network for wireless access. More recently, T-Mobile said it would work with SpaceX to test Starlink-capable devices. Like AT&T, the carrier has said existing phones should work with its satellite offering.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cellular-satellite-test-successfully-beams-4g-data-from-space-to-a-regular-phone-200318927.html?src=rss

EVE Online has finally embraced its destiny. The game, often jokingly called a spreadsheet simulator" due to the competitive advantages its most dedicated players can gain by tracking in-game data, now has a Microsoft Excel add-in. Gain a competitive edge by harnessing the power of data, as access to and the understanding of data can spell the difference between victory and defeat," developer CCP Games wrote Tuesday in a blog post. The free extension, first announced last year at EVE Fanfest, is available now.Besides serving as crossover marketing for CCP Games and Microsoft, the add-in could help level the playing field and make it easier for new players to enjoy the long-running MMO. You can now quickly and efficiently arm yourself with the information and knowledge to reach your goals and aspirations," the development team said. Easy access to in-game data facilitates decision making and brings added fairness and accessibility to everyone, without requiring coding knowledge or dependence on player-developed third-party tools." CCP Games collaborated with Microsoft's Excel team to create the add-in.Available data includes your assets with location and item value, market orders, item market prices, wallet transactions, skills, as well as an overview of corporation finances (if you have required roles) to make informed decisions." After importing your in-game information, you can generate custom reports or visualization tools like graphs and charts. The developer describes it as the first and only" video game to offer official Excel-based data integration.CCP Games has extensive experience in the MMO space, so it's only natural that we collaborate with them to launch the first-ever native Microsoft Excel add-in for a video game," said Catherine Pidgeon, Microsoft's Head of Product, Excel. With the add-in, the EVE Online player base can seamlessly export and manage data without third-party tools. Through this collaboration, we're excited to see how players of EVE Online of all skill levels can use Excel to streamline data management and take their in-game experience to new heights."To try out the tool, select the Insert" tab in Excel (desktop or web) and then the Get Add-ins" button, and look for EVE Online. Alternatively, you can find the add-in in the Microsoft Store. Finally, CCP Games launched a sample workbook to help you get started.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/eve-onlines-spreadsheets-in-space-now-integrate-seamlessly-with-microsoft-excel-194719853.html?src=rss

News gatherers in the US may soon have safeguards against government attempts to comb through their data. Bipartisan House and Senate groups have reintroduced legislation, the PRESS Act (Protect Reporters from Exploitive State Spying), that limits the government's ability to compel data disclosures that might identify journalists' sources. The Senate bill, would extend disclosure exemptions and standards to cover email, phone records, and other info third parties hold.The PRESS Act would also require that the federal government gives journalists a chance to respond to data requests. Courts could still demand disclosure if it's necessary to prevent terrorism, identify terrorists or prevent serious "imminent" violence. The Senate bill is the work of Richard Durbin, Mike Lee and Ron Wyden, while the House equivalent comes from representatives Kevin Kiley and Jamie Raskin.Sponsors characterize the bill as vital to protecting First Amendment press freedoms. Anonymous source leaks help keep the government accountable, Wyden says. He adds that surveillance like this can deter reporters and sources worried about retaliation. Lee, meanwhile, says the Act will also maintain the public's "right to access information" and help it participate in a representative democracy.The senators point to instances from both Democratic and Republican administrations where law enforcement subpoenaed data in a bid to catch sources. Most notably, the Justice Department under Trump is known to have seized call records and email logs from major media outlets like CNN and The New York Times following an April 2017 report on how former FBI director James Comey handled investigations during the 2016 presidential election.Journalist shield laws exist in 48 states and the District of Columbia, but there's no federal law. That void lets the Justice Department and other government bodies quietly grab data from telecoms and other providers. The PRESS Act theoretically patches that hole and minimizes the chances of abuse.There's no guarantee the PRESS Act will reach President Biden's desk and become law. However, both Congress camps are betting that bipartisan support will help. The House version passed "unanimously" in the previous session of Congress, Wyden's office says.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/house-and-senate-bills-aim-to-protect-journalists-data-from-government-surveillance-192907280.html?src=rss

If you've been interested in picking up an Xbox Series X, it may be wise to do so by the end of July unless you're in the US, Japan, Chile, Brazil or Colombia. Microsoft confirmed to Engadget that it's increasing the price of the console in most other countries.Starting on August 1st, the Xbox Series X will cost $650 CAD in Canada, 480 in the UK, 550 in most European countries and $800 AUD in Australia. The increases are roughly in line with the PS5 price changes Sony made in most markets last year.We've held on our prices for consoles for many years and have adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market," Xbox communications chief Kari Perez told The Verge. These Game Pass price adjustments are not related to the Activision Blizzard deal and are intended to match local market conditions."The Xbox Series S pricing is staying the same in all markets at $250 (or the local equivalent). Microsoft will soon introduce a black model with 1TB of storage for $349.Microsoft's own studios are no longer making games for the Xbox One. If you don't want to buy a Series X or S, you can still stream upcoming games like Starfield and Fable to the older console through Game Pass Ultimate. But guess what? That service is getting a price hike too, including in the US.Xbox Game Pass will soon cost $11 per month, an increase of $1. Game Pass Ultimate is getting a bigger jump, from $15 per month to $17. The Verge has a list of the price increases for other markets. The price of PC Game Pass (which doubled from $5 to $10 per month in 2020) is not changing, while Xbox Game Pass won't be going up in Norway, Chile, Denmark, Switzerland or Saudi Arabia.The price changes will take effect for new Xbox Game Pass members on July 6th. It won't apply for existing subscribers until August 13th (September 13th in Germany). If you happen to have access to Game Pass through an annual code, the price changes won't affect you until it's time for you to renew.This is the first time that Microsoft has increased Game Pass pricing since it introduced the service in 2017 as part of a transition away from Xbox Live Gold. Still, it was inevitable that the prices would go up at some point. The importance of Game Pass to Xbox's business model was undoubtedly a factor in the decision.Conversely, you might have expected the price of the Xbox Series X to drop at this point in its lifecycle, not to increase. Microsoft can't pin the blame on a console shortage - Xbox head Phil Spencer recently said the company had increased the supply of Xbox Series X/S. Instead, Microsoft suggested the Series X increase is due to market conditions such as inflation and currency fluctuations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-increasing-xbox-series-x-and-game-pass-prices-in-most-countries-182635680.html?src=rss

Otter.ai just announced Otter Chat, an AI chatbot specifically designed for work meetings. This collaborative AI intelligence" acts as a help center for anyone participating in the meeting, transcribing meeting data and winnowing it down into an actual conversation. This allows it to accurately answer questions about the meeting that just transpired, in case you were busy doing important work stuff like, uh, playing the new Zelda just out of frame.The cheekily-named OtterPilot chatbot does more than just summarize meetings. It collaborates with everyone involved to generate content based on meeting data, like blog posts and follow-up emails. It's sort of like an unpaid intern, but without the ability to go out and fetch coffee (for now.) The company says this is a major step up from platforms like ChatGPT, as they source information from public data, whereas Otter AI Chat sources information from actual team meetings. The toolset is collaborative in nature, so the chatbot communicates with every team member simultaneously or on a one-on-one basis. You can even have a related bot attend the meeting in your stead. Work/life balance, baby!This little bot also does the standard stuff that has made Otter.ai a popular destination for remote workers. It transcribes entire meetings, summarizes contents into easily digestible formats, creates lists of actionable items and much more.Otter says its AI systems are already used to transcribe over one million words every minute and over one billion words since launching last year. Otter AI Chat rolls out to all users in the coming days, so check your update field. The company also says no information will be stored by third parties when using the service, which is always nice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/otters-ai-chatbot-pays-attention-during-meetings-so-you-dont-have-to-174103036.html?src=rss

Dropbox announced two new products today that (not quite shockingly) shift the company's focus to AI. Dropbox AI scans your documents, providing summaries and answers, while the more ambitious Dropbox Dash serves as a unified search bar for your life.Dropbox AI is the simpler of the two new offerings. It applies artificial intelligence to file previews, offering summaries and a natural language Q&A about your docs. With the click of a button, you can summarize your content, like contracts and meeting recordings, into a concise explanation," the company explained. Or, ask Dropbox AI questions about the content of a specific file, and it can answer. With Dropbox AI, now you can pull up a file, ask it anything, and Dropbox will read the document for you and give you an answer," CEO Drew Houston said in a promotional video.Meanwhile, Dropbox Dash has a much broader scope, essentially serving as a souped-up and AI-powered version of Apple Spotlight search, Windows Search or third-party launcher apps like Alfred. Dropbox wants Dash to be your one-stop shop for anything you need to know - locally or online. Dropbox Dash is AI-powered universal search that connects all of your tools, content, and apps in a single search bar," the company wrote. With connectors to major platforms like Google Workspace, Microsoft Outlook, Salesforce, and more, you can find everything in one place, fast." The idea is to provide customers with a ChatGPT-like dialog box that answers questions about all the personal and work-related content in your digital universe.DropboxIn addition to being a universal search bar, Dropbox Dash is also a browser extension. The company organizes URLs into Stacks, described as Smart collections for your links that offer a quick way to save, organize, and retrieve URLs" - similar to how playlists store songs. The extension also adds a start-page dashboard showing search, Stacks, shortcuts and other suggested contextual items. Finally, Dropbox says Dash will eventually pull from your information and your company's information to answer questions and surface relevant content using generative AI." (For example, you could skip searching your business's internal links and pages and ask Dash when the next company holiday is.)Trusting a company with all that data is a tall order. Dropbox wants to assure customers that it's prepared for that responsibility - pledging to be transparent and not sell your data to advertisers. In this next era of AI, it's more important than ever that we protect our customers' privacy, act transparently, and limit bias in our AI technologies so they're built as fairly and reliably as possible," the company said.As lofty as Dropbox's ambitions are with Dash, I can't help but see an AI-powered search box for everything" as a logical extension of modern operating systems. I'd be surprised if Apple, Microsoft and Google haven't already been working on their versions of an AI-infused universal search bar to eventually bake into their products on the OS level. If those suspicions are correct, that could leave Dropbox with a brief window to establish Dash before the heavy hitters step in and make a third-party variant redundant for most customers.Dropbox AI for file previews is available in alpha today for Dropbox Pro customers in the US. In addition, it will start rolling out" for select Dropbox Teams." Finally, you can sign up to join the waitlist for Dropbox Dash.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dropboxs-new-tools-reimagine-the-cloud-service-as-your-ai-sidekick-171544676.html?src=rss

Konami has finally shared a release date for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1. In case you missed the publisher's original announcement, Konami announced the compilation alongside Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater during Sony's recent PlayStation Showcase. At the time, the company provided precious few details about the Master Collection, a fact it remedied during the most recent Nintendo Direct.During Wednesday's livestream, Konami said the Master Collection would arrive on October 24th and include Metal Gear Solid, MGS 2: Sons of Liberty and MGS 3: Snake Eater as previously announced, plus Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake as well as the NES versions of Metal Gear and 1990's Snake's Revenge. Additionally, the bundle will come with a wealth of bonus content, including strategy guides for each game and a digital soundtrack. It also comes with the Metal Gear Solid graphic novel and screenplay books that delve into the stories of Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater.In other words, the Master Collection is shaping up to be the best way to play the Metal Gear series on modern platforms. Many of the games, including Sons of Liberty, aren't available to purchase on platforms like GOG and the Microsoft Store after Konami ran into licensing issues for some of the content in those titles. Of course, whether you should buy the compilation will depend on how you feel about Konami's treatment of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima. Since their public split in 2015, the company has gone out of its way to minimize - and, in many cases, erase - Kojima's name from the series he gave three decades of his life to. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam and Nintendo Switch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metal-gear-solid-master-collection-vol-1-heads-to-consoles-and-pc-on-october-24th-170009937.html?src=rss

Amazon just revealed a deeply-discounted bundle that includes a Ring Video Doorbell and an Echo Pop speaker for just $40, though this deal is exclusive to Prime members. All told, that's $65 off the regular price, as the Ring Video Doorbell typically costs $65 and the Echo Pop usually comes in at $40. In other words, you're basically getting the Echo Pop for free.There's only one caveat here. This deal is only good for the wired doorbell, so put those dreams of a wireless video doorbell out of your head. There are other deals available for the wired doorbell as part of this early Prime Day celebration. You can purchase it outright for $35 or pair it with a Ring Chime notification device for $60. These discounted bundles are live right now, but only until June 26th. Prime Day officially starts on July 11th, continuing until July 12th.The Ring Video Doorbell is widely praised for being easy to use, with a high-definition camera perfect for inspecting visitors, despite requiring a wired connection. The Echo Pop is Amazon's newest entry-level smart speaker, with a half-globe design that's great for smaller living spaces. It also pairs with mesh routers and features the company's proprietary AZ2 Neural Edge processor for machine learning.This is just an opening salvo in the coming onslaught of Prime Day deals, but it's certainly a fantastic start for those looking to save a few bucks on gadgets.Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In the Know, and hear from Autoblog's car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/get-a-ring-video-doorbell-with-an-echo-pop-for-40-as-an-early-prime-day-deal-164553569.html?src=rss

You'll soon have a way to revisit Rocksteady's best-known games on a Nintendo handheld. Warner Bros. Games has revealed that Batman: Arkham Trilogy will release on the Switch sometime this fall. The bundle will include Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham Knight as well as all the previously-released DLC for the trio. There's no mention of Switch-specific features, but Turn Me Up Games (involved in Switch ports for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 and It Takes Two) is responsible for the adaptation.Arkham Asylum revolves around Batman's fight against The Joker and allies as they take over the game's namesake asylum. Arkham City expands the battle to Gotham and includes more classic villains, such as Mr. Freeze and The Penguin. Arkham Knight adds its titular supervillain and introduces more open-world gameplay that includes a drivable Batmobile.For the most part, all three games earned a reputation for an engaging story and varied gameplay that included combat, stealth and puzzle solving. The brawls were a particular highlight - you were rewarded for performing seamless combos while dodging opponents that can come from multiple directions at once. The series arguably popularized a fight formula that has surfaced in games ranging from Spider-Man to Shadow of Mordor. Throw in the animated Batman' series voice cast (such as Mark Hamill and the late Kevin Conroy) and it's easy to see the appeal for fans of the caped hero.This won't thrill Switch fans who were hoping for a version of Rocksteady's upcoming Suicide Squad game. This is more a bid to reach an untapped audience than to set the stage for the studio's first new game in nearly eight years. Still, you might not mind if you're either new to the franchise or want to revisit the series. If nothing else, it may serve as a palate cleanser for those who thought Gotham Knights missed the mark.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/batman-arkham-trilogy-comes-to-switch-this-fall-163027577.html?src=rss

As expected, Nintendo announced a bevy of new games for the Switch during today's Direct. Among them is another entry in the WarioWare series. This time around, you'll need to use your entire body to succeed at the various microgames.There are more than 200 microgames in WarioWare: Move It!. It will ask you to hold a pair of Joy-Cons and "move your body to take on a flurry of lightning-fast microgames," according to Nintendo. You'll need to sync your movements with what you see on the screen to win.The games include ones in which you swing your arms to skate faster, wriggle to free your character from being tied up and pretend to use a towel to clean your back. There's also one that appears to use a sliding section from Super Mario 64. There's local co-op for up to four players as well. WarioWare: Move It! will land on Switch on November 3rd.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendos-new-warioware-game-wants-you-to-move-your-whole-body-161551788.html?src=rss

Qualcomm expanded its S3 Gen 2 Sound platform today with an eye on gamers. The new chip, designed for dongles and adapters, can deliver sub-20ms latency while supplying an additional backchannel for voice chat.The expansion to Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 Sound combines Snapdragon Sound and LE Audio for ultra-low latency of less than 20ms for lag-free wireless audio with voice back-channel for in-game chat." The chip-maker notes that it reduces latency even more when skipping the voice chat and delivering game audio only. Additionally, a Qualcomm representative tells Engadget that it could also work with wireless charging cases with audio-transmission features (handy for wireless listening to in-flight entertainment).It also supports the latest version of Auracast, a broadcast standard based on Bluetooth LE Audio. Dongles and adapters using Qualcomm's platform can cast from devices like TVs, phones, PCs and consoles to a virtually unlimited number of nearby listeners. The tech can be used for assistive listening at public events, broadcasting announcements or simply sharing your music with nearby friends.<20ms,"="" "advanced="" user="" experiences="" with="" le="" audio"="" and="" "audiophile-quality="" music="" streaming.""="" data-uuid="904ee333-776d-34e1-b2e2-927216f49faa">QualcommWith every generation of Snapdragon Sound, we have driven down latencies and improved audio quality, and with this latest addition to our Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 Sound portfolio, we are providing our best wireless gaming experience yet," said Qualcomm marketing director Mike Canevaro. We know from our annual State of Sound survey that consumers want lag-free audio for gaming, but until now this immersive wireless audio experience has been reserved for proprietary gaming solutions."Qualcomm hasn't yet announced specific devices where we'll see the extended platform, but the reveal could mean compatible accessories aren't far behind.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/qualcomms-new-chip-could-reduce-lag-for-connected-audio-devices-160042914.html?src=rss

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) isn't done with Amazon despite two recentsettlements. The agency has sued Amazon over claims the company fooled customers into signing up for Prime while simultaneously thwarting attempts to cancel. The online retailer allegedly violated the FTC Act and Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act through misleading designs that got users to register for Prime without true consent. Leaders even "slowed or rejected" design changes that would have made it easier to cancel Prime, the FTC argues.We've asked Amazon for comment. In a statement, FTC chair Lina Khan maintains that Amazon "tricked and trapped" customers. This both angered users and cost them "significant money," she says. The FTC also asserts that Amazon made multiple attempts to "delay and hinder" the investigation.As CNBCnotes, the FTC has been investigating Amazon Prime sign-up and cancel systems since March 2021. The investigation deepened in 2022 after Insider said it obtained internal documents purportedly showing that Amazon was aware of customer objections as early as 2017. Shoppers were encouraged to sign up for a 30-day trial with a single click during checkout, but had to wade through multiple pages to cancel service before the trial ended. Amazon even used the term "Iliad" to describe the cancellation process, alluding to the sheer length of Homer's epic poem.The FTC under Khan has closely scrutinized Amazon's practices. Officials have examined the internet giant's acquisitions of MGM and One Medical as well as privacy issues with Alexa and Ring doorbells. Khan was a notable critic of Big Tech before her nomination as FTC chair, and Amazon even called for her recusal in antitrust cases over claimed bias.The concept of deceptive design, also known as "dark patterns," isn't new. In 2020, the European Union said that many websites made it unnecessarily difficult to reject tracking cookies. However, the lawsuit against Amazon represents a significant test of those patterns' legality in the US.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ftc-sues-amazon-for-allegedly-tricking-customers-into-prime-subscriptions-151528914.html?src=rss

The terrific Vampire Survivors is on the way to the Nintendo Switch. You'll have another way to play the game on the go or on your TV when Poncle's hit game lands on Switch on August 17th. The base game will cost $5 and the two expansions will each cost $2.Best of all, couch co-op is coming to all platforms, meaning you can slay thousands of enemies with the help of up to three friends. This new mode will be available on August 17th as well. While there won't be official support for online co-op, Poncle noted in an FAQ that you'll be able to use workarounds such as Steam Remote Play Together.Vampire Survivors debuted on Steam in late 2021 and it later came to Xbox and mobile devices. For the uninitiated, the game asks you to pick a character with a unique starter weapon and perk. Your weapon fires automatically. The only agency you have during runs is your movement and the choice of an upgrade or a new weapon or perk when you level up.Runs last for up to 30 minutes - or longer if you can figure out how to survive Death. That makes Vampire Survivors a great game to play while commuting (or at any other time, if we're being honest).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vampire-survivors-is-getting-four-player-couch-co-op-150809332.html?src=rss

Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a new but classic adventure featuring Mario and friends, is coming to Nintendo Switch on October 20th, 2023. The new game is a 2D sidescroller with busy, bright environments and plenty of secrets to uncover, starring Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy and Yoshi as playable characters. It also introduces Mario's newest power-up, which transforms him into Elephant Mario. Why not, you know?Nintendo describes Super Mario Bros. Wonder as the next evolution of the series' traditional 2D sidescrolling mechanics."When you touch a Wonder Flower in the game, the wonders of the world unlock - pipes could come alive, hordes of enemies may appear, characters might change their looks, for example - transforming the gameplay in unpredictable ways," Nintendo says in a press release.Pre-orders are live now for Super Mario Bros. Wonder.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/play-as-elephant-mario-in-super-mario-bros-wonder-on-october-20th-145814400.html?src=rss

A rumor suggested that today's Nintendo Direct would include a remake of a SNES classic, and that looks to have held up. Super Mario RPG is back with "brand-new graphics" and it's coming to Nintendo Switch on November 17th.The 1996 original was the very first Mario RPG. It tasks Mario, Bowser, Peach and friends with taking down a mechanical enemy named Smithy and recovering stolen pieces of the Star Road. The remake uses the same art style as modern Mario games. Although there's still some platforming involved, you'll need to engage in turn-based combat to overcome opponents.That's not the only new version of an older game Nintendo announced during the Direct. The company is also working on an updated version of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon. That's perhaps not a huge surprise given the success of Luigi's Mansion 3. Remastering a decade-old 3DS title for the Switch will introduce it to a new audience. The Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon remake will arrive next year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-super-mario-rpg-remake-is-coming-to-nintendo-switch-on-november-17th-143909496.html?src=rss

Detective Pikachu Returns is due to hit Nintendo Switch on October 6th, 2023, and it's available to wishlist today. Nintendo announced a new entry in the franchise back in 2019, hot on the heels of the Detective Pikachu movie, which was an overall, adorable success.Detective Pikachu, the original game, came out worldwide in 2018. It gave Pikachu a new friend and a voice, transforming him into a gruff private investigator and infusing the game with Ace Attorney vibes. It's more of a narrative adventure than traditional Pokemon games - which makes sense, considering the film that followed.The new installment reunites Pikachu with his pal Tim Goodman, and as the debut trailer shows, hijinks ensue. Regardless of the game's plot, it's always a treat to see Pikachu in a little hat, holding a cup of coffee and contemplating life's mysteries.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/detective-pikachu-returns-lands-on-switch-october-6th-143306630.html?src=rss

Texas says it will require state-funded electric vehicle charging stations to have a connector for Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS). The news comes as automakers such as Ford, GM and Rivian shift to adopting the NACS and away from the Combined Charging System (CCS).The Texas Department of Transportation told Reuters that the automakers' move to NACS prompted the requirement for EV charging companies to install NACS connectors if they want to be included in a state program that involves federal funding. DC fast chargers in the state will still need to have a CCS connector to obtain federal dollars through the program.The US Department of Transportation has earmarked up to $7.5 billion in funding for high-speed charging stations along highways. It said EV charging companies would need to include a CCS connector, and now Texas is adding another requirement. States are free to add extra provisons as long as they abide by the federal rules.Tesla said last year it would open source the NACS in the hopes of getting other automakers to adopt it. Tesla has the largest slice of EV charging infrastructure in the US - it claims its more than 21,000 Supercharger points account for around 60 percent of the country's fast-charging stations.In the last several weeks, GM and Ford announced they would offer owners of their vehicles (which currently use CCS) an NACS adapter before fully embracing that standard in future models. Rivian followed suit with a similar announcement this week. EV charging companies such as ChargePoint and EVgo have said they're looking into adding NACS to their charging points.As Reuters notes, Texas' move may prompt other states to push EV charging companies to include an NACS connector. The report suggests that states including California, Michigan and Iowa are reviewing the state of the charging market, while at least one other is said to be considering an incentive for companies to include an NACS port.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/texas-says-state-funded-ev-charging-stations-need-to-include-teslas-nacs-connector-141517283.html?src=rss

It's back again. This time, it's real-time. With Final Fantasy XVI, the series' creators have decided that the future of the franchise is action-centric and storyline driven. And it's been inspired by epic fantasy series from television. Until now, the Final Fantasy games have never quite had their angry, moody dark moment. With nuanced, occasionally horny characters and often a lot of violence, is this the series' moody teenager era?FFXVI is the first game in the series made for the PS5, expanding the detail of both character models and environments. While the significant characters move and emote realistically, Square Enix has kept an artistic touch to character design. The most impressive parts are the environments, with gorgeous forests, medieval fortresses and major landmarks towering over the usual fields and cliffs you'll be exploring and fighting at. The quality isn't consistent enough in an era of games like Horizon: Forbidden West, Dead Space andElden Ring, though. I noticed when character models and environments weren't given the same attention as key scenes and chapters.Unlike previous Final Fantasy games, while there's still an ensemble cast, you'll only ever control the protagonist Clive - yes, an interesting choice in hero name, one that even some in-game characters are... surprised by. You'll eventually be able to offer simple commands to your faithful wolf, Torgal, and you'll be joined by other companions that will fight entirely independently of you. These include your childhood friend Jill, the mysterious daddy of thunder, Cid, and several more spoiler(ish) additions.Fortunately, and unlike an awful lot of non-playable battle allies in RPGs, they can usually attract the attention of a monster or two and even finish off enemies by themselves. Still, there's no escaping the fact that it's an even looser party battle dynamic than its predecessor Final Fantasy XV, let alone older titles.The tale of FFXVI is achingly Game Of Thrones-y. It starts out as a battle of warring states, of religion versus monarchy, wars for the sake of controlling resources - or escaping inhospitable land. Sometimes the inspiration is a little on the nose: Dad dies early on? Check. Mysterious wolves? Check. Creepy mother-son relations? Check. However, the series has always drawn on pop-culture inspiration over the years: Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings have all been tugged at for monster names, storylines and more.Within the opening hours, we meet Clive, his sickly (but chosen') younger brother Joshua and their childhood friend, Jill. Clive and Joshua's mother, the Cersei-styled Anabella Rosfield, swiftly betrays her family and the entire nation. The leader, her husband, is slaughtered in front of Joshua, whose latent powers as a dominant fully awakened due to this trauma. Arguably even more harrowing, a chocobo (the game series' giant bird mounts) gets bricked in the head and someone kills an owl. This all happens in the span of a couple of minutes.In the form of the giant fire Eikon (elemental deity), Phoenix, Joshua burns enemies and allies alike to ash, and as Clive watches, horrified, he somehow unleashes a new, never-before-seen Eikon of his own, Ifrit, who has a surprisingly grisly encounter with Phoenix. Clive wakes up with no memory of this, however, while a foreboding figure in a hood watches all of this unfold, So yeah, the perfect pilot episode of a fantasy series on HBO. The superb voice acting and writing really helps sell the melodrama and seriousness of the story. For a series often criticized for cliche or awkward translations, this is all so much better. The voice actor for Cid is Ralph Ineson - who was even in GoT. Get ready for lots of Yorkshire accents: It's time for all to learn what ta-ra" means. Square Enix notes that, even if you pick the Japanese language setting, the game's lip sync is set to the English version.Square EnixIf you haven't played a Final Fantasy title before - and Square Enix is positioning this as an action game for that kind of player - Ifrit is usually a run-of-the-mill summonable demon. He's rarely a crucial plot pivot, so it's cool to see the series subvert expectations and pay tribute to the games of the past. There are lots of Easter eggs like this, both subtle and obvious.The crystal theme, originally penned for the first Final Fantasy game on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is remixed and dropped in during multiple points of the game, while Cid (a character found in every FF game, either as a non-playable character or party member) has a daughter called Mid - a reference to the grandson of Final Fantasy V's version of Cid.While other games, including spin-offs and Final Fantasy XV, have touched on real-time combat, Final Fantasy XVI goes all in. It's dangerous new territory for a series with some die-hard fans, but possibly a necessary move to attract a new audience.But it's not Devil May Fantasy. It doesn't appear to be a particularly deep system on either the default or story-centric difficulties. I found myself leaning on abilities I knew could do sustained damage, doing well-timed dodges and countering.There are layers to battles - but they're easy to ignore. Mid-game skills like the ability to jump and then kick-off an enemy, or launch yourself into the air with a pull attack normally used to sling smaller enemies toward you, offer some more vertical approaches to combat. However, I rarely needed to figure this out during battles, and it was more about relentlessly attacking and paying attention to incoming attacks that enemies usually signposted. Clive will bolster his initial fire attacks, courtesy of Phoenix, with skills from other Eikons, adding new forms of attack or counters. If there's some kind of elemental scissors-paper-rock dynamic, I didn't notice it, or missed an explanation.The major difference between action- and story-focus modes is the inclusion of several accessories that make FFXVI one of the most accessible (and forgiving) action RPGs I've ever played. You'll start the game with a handful of accessories like the Ring of Timely Focus which slows down when an evadable attack approaches, giving you ample time to dodge. The Ring of Timely Strikes will unleash a barrage of complex attacks just by spamming the square button. I played with the Ring of Timely Focus occasionally equipped, helping me to hold my own in more difficult scenes filled with enemies, but tried to fight the bigger enemies (and bosses) with only my own skills. There is a new game plus mode that offers hardier enemies and challenges, but I haven't had time to play it yet.The bosses, while spectacular, have a tendency towards being damage sponges - especially the Eikon-on-Eikon fights that typically include three or more transitions in a single battle. Once you've figured out the timing of dodges to attacks, it's often repeated to boredom. But hey, they always look cool. Some of these boss fights are.. incredibly epic - and I mean Bayonetta-level of ridiculous. There aren't many boss battles in video games that reach the level of Clive's duel against Bahamut...Final Fantasy XVI also has a wonderful hidden weapon: Its own built-in wiki. Active Time Lore, a play on active time battles from the series' arguable heyday of the late-'90s, not only fills in the narrative gaps plaguing FF but plenty of other politically tilted RPGs.Both FFXII and FFXIII suffered from lots of fictional terminology and complicated back-story. With the latter, developers relegated anything close to a glossary to menus that were difficult to navigate and consequently rarely investigated.Square EnixActive Time Lore, which can be summoned from the touchpad during almost any scene or area, brings a convenient shortcut to that tip-of-the-tongue, which-warring-state-is-he-from-again quandary. It's an elegant solution, inspired by Amazon Prime Video's X-Ray feature. It also ensures gamers don't come undone when there are so many political maneuverings, time skips, false deaths and hooded strangers.All of this is augmented by Vivian, a character whose sole purpose appears to be educating Clive about the wider political implications of his fight to dismantle the political structure around huge magical crystals (by destroying them), dominants (by besting them, usually) and freeing indentured magic-wielding slaves. All while seeking vengeance for his brother.Talking with her at your base of operations will open a handy personnel chart of all the main characters, their associates, and the rest. It also comes with a chronological slider, so you can guess who'll betray who next. If you came undone during a season of Game of Thrones, you might understand why this could be needed.Square EnixFinal Fantasy XVI is different - perhaps due to the producer, Naoki Yoshida, who worked on the online MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV as both producer and director. But with Final Fantasy VII Remake (including the next chapter) offering the party battles I want, I don't see a problem in Square Enix taking the series in this direction. I miss the party battle dynamics, but I didn't feel hamstrung by my own mediocre action game reflexes or skills. If you are looking for challenging battles, the game comes with post-game content aimed at completionists and the muscular of thumb. But for those looking for a fantasy adventure with a plot that's kept me hooked - so far - the sixteenth Final Fantasy delivers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/final-fantasy-xvi-review-ps5-140058789.html?src=rss

Google's pitch for its own mesh networking products has been to focus on clever trade-offs to keep the cost down, making it accessible to the masses. The Nest WiFi Pro, the company's latest flagship, builds upon that existing (and winning) formula with the addition of WiFi 6E. Part of its appeal is the Google brand, plus the promise of regular free software updates and tight integrations with most of the world's smart home players. In a head-to-head race, the Nest WiFi Pro will be bested by plenty of its competitors, but Google's user-friendliness means it's the default option for pretty much everyone.HardwareAs I said in our main mesh WiFi buyer's guide, I've been using Google's first-generation version for years, and also reviewed the second-generation Nest WiFi, so I feel like this is my turf. The Nest WiFi Pro is Google's first to harness WiFi 6/6E, which was irritatingly omitted from the last model on cost grounds. Because of this, they can't integrate with your existing Google / Nest WiFi hardware, meaning that any upgrade will require you to start fresh.In terms of looks, the Pros are ovoid bumps that stand taller than their predecessors and demand more space. Round back, you'll find the jack for the barrel power cable and two ethernet ports which Google says support 1 Gbps wired speeds per router." Inside, it packs a Cortex A35 dual-core 64-bit ARM CPU paired with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of storage like its predecessor. It is available in four colors: Snow, Linen, Fog and Lemongrass.The Nest WiFi Pro doesn't reserve a chunk of its spectrum for dedicated backhaul. Instead, it dynamically shunts traffic around the available space for optimal performance, which will primarily take place on the 6GHz band, since plenty of devices in our homes don't have the components necessary to access it. Google adds that using 6GHz as backhaul frees up lots of space in the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, improving performance for all the other devices on the network.One interesting tweak from the last model is that you can't get the Pro with a built-in smart speaker. This is good, since I never liked the idea of having a speaker inside my WiFi apparatus. But I will concede that I did like being able to use Spotify Connect on the original Nest WiFi in my kitchen without buying another speaker.InstallationSince it's a Google product, expect the Nest WiFi Pro to be relatively easy to install through your phone - for most of the process. If you, like me in this instance, already had a Google mesh in place, you'll need to factory reset, wipe and deactivate everything. Once done, you can just connect the first node to your modem with an ethernet cable (supplied) and let the app do the rest for you.The Google Home app will almost instantly find the new product waiting to be installed and get you started. It took me ten minutes to get the first one running, and that included an unrelated issue with my cable modem that forced me to restart. It took another ten minutes to install the other nodes, but all I had to do was scan the QR code and follow the on-screen instructions.The app doesn't offer any advice about optimum node placement or identifying potential weak spots. Google's website offers the stock line that you should put a node halfway between the primary and wherever in your home you need WiFi. That's fine, but I suspect novice users might appreciate more guidance, especially if they're struggling with structural issues that mean adjoining rooms aren't getting a good signal.PerformancePhoto by Daniel Cooper / EngadgetI don't have many WiFi 6E-compatible devices at home, and there was a fair distance between the nearest node and my office, so I didn't have high hopes that switching to the new system would deliver great gains. Yet, compared to the WiFi module in my office, which is connected via Ethernet to my modem, I saw my speed jump from around 120 Mbps to an average of 240 Mbps.The only place where the Nest WiFi Pro's connection was anything other than eye-wateringly fast was in my notorious back bedroom. The room, surrounded by Victorian (and modern) plumbing, was previously barren territory for my older system, but it was now joined up here. And while speeds fell to 63 Mbps, I never saw a dropout or stutter in performance. In fact, WiFi performance in that room is more than sufficient to work and take video calls.Despite the fewer modules, connectivity was stable and I never noticed a drop when I ran between rooms. Armed with all the devices I could muster, me and my kids scuttled around the house walking to the furthest points of the house watching plenty of streamed video, and none reported an issue. My average speed tests shook down to close to 250 Mbps, and the connection was smooth enough for my purposes.Additional featuresThe Nest WiFi Pro supports Matter and Thread, so you can control your smart home from the Google Home app. When I opened the app after installing the new hardware, it asked if I wanted to connect to my Philips Hue and iRobot products. You'll still need to have your Hue Bridge connected, however, so you're not saving a plug on your Ethernet switch. That's unfortunate compared to, say, some Eero models which have built-in Zigbee units that allow you to ditch the bridge entirely. But if you're all-in on Google's Assistant then you'll benefit from having everything hooked up inside one app.A key selling point of Google's network products is the promise to keep them up to date with software and security updates. The company has rolled out fairly regular updates over the last seven years and there's no indication yet that it's going to stop. I've been fairly happy with the work done for my first-generation Google WiFi pucks. If I do have a concern, it's that Google sometimes axes products not long after launch, so you do run the risk of investing in the company only for its impatience to get the better of it.App and controlsI preferred when you could control your Google WiFi through the standalone app, but these days it's all rolled into the company's Home app. That's great as a one-stop shop for any compatible smart home gadgets you might have, but it's less comprehensive. When managing your network, you can look at per-device traffic, set priority access (or pause connection to) any device on the network. You'll also be able to run speed and mesh connection tests to ensure that your network performance is optimal.Some of these features aren't standard on other routers, and some you need to pay extra to access. Others may offer you a good deal more, too. If you're looking for more fine-grain control, you probably won't find it on the Nest. As much as Google calls this a Pro" router, it's more to gesture toward being more premium, rather than for actual professionals. There's no access to some of the harder-core settings or browser-based controls page for power users. Instead, this is a locked-down, curated experience for people who want their WiFi to work without much .For parental controls, you can set up groups within the Family WiFi menu to pause multiple devices at once. You can also schedule access times, a feature that several other mesh products expect you to pay to use. And while there's no specific way to filter individual websites, you can designate some hardware to be routed via Google's SafeSearch to block a broad swathe of content online. What this system lacks is any fine-grain control for concerned parents or the ability to monitor a specific device's browsing history. But I've always been of the opinion that overzealous parenting just creates kids who learn at a young age to hide what they've been up to.Wrap-upWhat Google's WiFi products have always offered is a fairly acceptable blend of power, price and performance. You won't be getting into the nitty-gritty parts of running a network, but you're also not paying a huge amount of cash. It should appeal to people who really don't want to worry about doing much more than running the odd speed test and quickly setting up a guest network without any stress. Something like the TP-Link XE75 might run faster and offer more features, but for this price, Google's remained true to its ethos of making the right compromises.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nest-wifi-pro-review-googles-wifi-6e-mesh-is-more-approachable-than-the-rest-130029818.html?src=rss

Apple has updated its Podcasts app on iOS, iPadOS and macOS with features that make it easier to find content in your favorite genres. It now includes nine new subcategories: Mental Health, Relationships, Self-Improvement, Personal Journals, Entrepreneurship, Documentary, Parenting, Books and Language learning. Those come on top of existing subcategories like True Crime, Sports and others.Apple has been focused on mental health over the past few years, and recently introduced the Journal app that lets you document how you're feeling. In addition, the company recently introduced a mood tracking feature as part of Health in iOS 17. The addition of the Mental Health subcategory in Podcasts, along with others like Relationships, Self-Improvement and Personal Journals, appears to be part of that.AppleEach subcategory has its own charts showing top shows and episodes in your particular market. "For example, a listener in the U.S. can browse the charts for Mental Health, which display the top 200 shows and top 200 episodes available in the U.S. based on a mix of listening, follows, and completion rate," Apple wrote in its Podcasts for Creators blog.As a point of comparison, Spotify has eight main podcast categories and no less than 54 subcategories. YouTube offers 14 main podcast categories and PocketCast 19, but neither offer subcategories. With the new additions, Apple appears to offer a good selection without overwhelming users.The nine new subcategories, along with the 19 primary categories, have been updated with new artwork and recommendations as well. The latter includes New & Noteworthy shows, Shows of the Month, Feature Channels and Creators and global Highlights.With the upcoming release of iOS 17, Apple is adding some new Podcasts features like a refreshed Now Play experience and Queue, episode art, search filters and more. Podcasts updates have been relatively sparse, though, with the last major one coming a year ago with new Podcasts Charts. Apple's major rival Spotify, which spent big on podcasts back in 2019, recently laid off 200 employees from that division.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-podcasts-update-makes-it-easier-to-find-content-in-your-favorite-genres-125458706.html?src=rss

Apple is once again in trouble for its union-busting practices. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge ruled Apple interfered with employees' organizing efforts at its World Trade Center store in New York City after workers, Bloomberg reported. Managers were found to have taken away pro-union flyers in the break room and attempted to dissuade employees from joining unions, which prosecutors argued had led employees to end the organizing campaign. A judge ordered Apple "cease and desist from coercively interrogating employees regarding their protected concerning activities and Union sympathies."The news broke in early 2022 that Apple store workers nationwide were quietly organizing in response to concerns that their wages didn't reflect the rising cost of living. However, Apple soon hired the anti-union law firm Littler Mendelson, which also represents Starbucks and McDonalds, among others. The company also instructed store managers to share anti-union sentiments, such as warning employees that joining a union could bring reduced pay, career opportunities and time off. That May, the Communications Workers of America filed Unfair Labor Practice charges for the Apple stores in the World Trade Center and Atlanta's Cumberland Mall.Union efforts are slowly gaining ground at Apple stores across the country. The NLRB previously found Apple had violated federal law in Atlanta, including daily mandatory anti-union meetings for employees and interrogating workers. Last year, employees at an Apple store in Maryland and another in Oklahoma voted to unionize. Yet, other locations like the St. Louis branch abandoned plans to unionize, blaming similar tactics by Apple.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-union-busting-practices-violated-employee-rights-at-nyc-store-judge-rules-115036323.html?src=rss

Amazon has announced the dates for its next annual shopping event. Prime Day 2023 will be on July 11th and 12th this year, beginning at 12AM PT/ 3AM ET on Tuesday, July 11th, and concluding at the end of Wednesday, July 12th.Prime Day isn't necessarily a perk of Amazon's subscription service, like access to Prime Video content, but most deals on Amazon during the two-day event are exclusively available to Prime members. The cost of Prime has increased quite a bit since its launch in 2005, and even in the past few years. An annual membership will set you back $139 right now, $20 more than its previous price. (Then again, maybe free phone service could soon sweeten the deal?).Prime Day is typically the best time of the year to get Amazon devices - I'm keeping an eye out for the Kindle Scribe - but we also expect to see worthwhile sales on headphones, robot vacuums, laptops, SSDs and much more. I suggest following Engadget Deals on Twitter for the latest news during Prime Day and sign up for the new Engadget Deals newsletter to get the best deals delivered right to your inbox.- Mat SmithThe Morning After isn't just a newsletter - it's also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.The biggest stories you might have missedEA's 'Immortals of Aveum' is delayed until August 22nd The best immersion blenders you can buyPresident Biden meets with AI tech leaders in San Francisco The best sleep apps and gadgets for a better night's sleep Panasonic S5 IIX camera reviewPower and value in one vlogging packageEngadgetPanasonic launched the S5 II and S5 IIX full-frame cameras, finally embracing phase-detect autofocus to put it on par with rivals. We've already tested the S5 II but now we're looking at what I think is the more interesting model, the S5 IIX. It has an identical design and many of the same features as its sibling, like the new autofocus system and highly effective in-body stabilization. However, it adds a key function: the ability to record high-quality, easy-to-edit ProRes video internally. The new autofocus is good but not quite up to the Sony A7 IV, and it lacks the full-frame 4K 60p video of the Canon R6 II, but it's far better for video than both models, thanks to the ProRes option and other features not in either rival model. Engadget's Steve Dent tests it out.Continue reading.AI-generated music won't win a Grammy anytime soonBut human-written songs with some AI-generated elements might.The Recording Academy CEO, Harvey Mason Jr., said this week that although the organization will consider music with limited AI-generated voices or instrumentation for award recognition, it will only honor songs written and performed mostly by a human."At this point, we are going to allow AI music and content to be submitted, but the Grammys will only be allowed to go to human creators who have contributed creatively in the appropriate categories," Mason said in an interview with Grammy.com. On the other hand, it raises questions about artists like Holly Herndon, who used an AI version of her voice to cover Dolly Parton's Jolene." Or, for that matter, there's the upcoming final" Beatles track that Paul McCartney says will use AI to isolate a garbled recording of John Lennon's voice.Mason acknowledged AI would upend the music industry. AI is going to absolutely, unequivocally have a hand in shaping the future of our industry," Mason said. So, we have to start planning around that and thinking about what that means for us."Continue reading.Apple's expanded self-repair program covers the iPhone 14 and newer MacBooksAnd you won't have to call Apple to finish repairs.Apple is widening its Self Service Repair program to cover its more recent devices. From June 21st, you can get the parts, tools and manuals to fix the iPhone 14 range and the M2 versions of the 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Apple has even expanded component repairs on older models: You can fix the TrueDepth camera and top speaker on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models in the US, UK and seven European countries. Crucially, you won't have to call Apple to finish your repairs. The System Configuration tool, which verifies and authenticates fixes with official parts, now works simply by putting a device into Diagnostics mode and following instructions.Continue reading.The best midrange smartphones for 2023Who says greatness has to be expensive?A great smartphone doesn't have to cost a fortune. Features once exclusive to high-end devices - including big batteries, multi-camera arrays and high refresh rate displays - are moving down to their more affordable siblings. While there are still some things you'll only find on flagship smartphones, you don't have to compromise as much anymore. If you have less than $600 to spend, you still have some decent options.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-amazon-prime-day-kicks-off-july-11th-111557870.html?src=rss

You can get your kid a new e-reader or tablet at a discount from Amazon right now if you're looking to stoke their love of reading or just simply want to get them a new toy. The 8GB Kindle Paperwhite Kids is currently on sale for $90 for Prime members, which is 44 percent off its list price of $160. That's a new all-time low for the e-reader that only sold for as low as $100 in the past. Paperwhite for Kids is simply just the ordinary version of the e-reader that comes bundled with a cover, a screen protector and a year-long subscription to Amazon Kids+. The company's subscription service for children gives them access to thousands of child-friendly books, including the complete Harry Potter series.If you want a multi-purpose device instead, Amazon's Fire tablets for kids are also on sale for Prime members for up to 50 percent off. You can get the Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro tablet for only $75 instead of $150 and the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Tablet for $55 instead of $110. The 8-inch Pro tablet comes with 32 GB of internal storage, while the latter comes with 16GB. All the Fire tablets ship with sturdy covers, and all of them come bundled with a year-long subscription to the Amazon Kids+ service, where children could find age-appropriate apps, videos, books and games. They also have parental controls you can use to filter content based on your kid's age.Finally, you can also pick up an Echo Dot with a cool dragon or owl design for $28. That's also the lowest we've seen the smart speaker go for on the website, where it usually sells for $60. Alexa will automatically switch to kid-friendly responses on this speaker, though your children could choose to customize the assistant so that it speaks in pretend dragon or owl voices. The device also comes with a year-long subscription to Amazon Kids+, giving your children access to age-appropriate Audible books, interactive games and educational Alexa skills. All the devices on sale ship with a two-year worry-free guarantee - simply put, if it breaks within two years, Amazon will replace it.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/amazon-sale-drops-the-kindle-paperwhite-echo-dot-and-fire-tablets-for-kids-to-all-time-lows-105536967.html?src=rss