Samsung's Ballie will go on sale in the US and South Korea this summer, the company announced today. What's more, through a partnership with Google Cloud, the diminutive robot will ship with a Gemini AI model. Samsung didn't state the specific system that powers Ballie, but in combination with the company's own proprietary language models, it says the robot has multimodal capabilities, meaning Ballie can process voice, audio and visual data from its sensors. According to Samsung, Ballie can also manage your smart home devices and even offer health and styling recommendations, if you're inclined to seek that type of advice from a robot. Samsung has yet to announce pricing for Ballie, though with the uncertainty around the Trump administration's recently announced tariffs, you can't blame Samsung, can you? The company first demoed Ballie in 2020. The robot has gone through a few iterations since the then, with the version you see above first demoed at CES 2024. Samsung said then Ballie would arrive sometime in 2024, but last year came and went without the robot hitting store shelves. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/samsungs-cute-ballie-robot-arrives-this-summer-with-google-gemini-in-tow-133658886.html?src=rss
It's almost time for The Triple-i Initiative, a gaming showcase for indie publishers and developers. You can watch the stream on The Triple-i Initiative's YouTube channel at 9AM PT / 12PM PT on April 10. It's also available on Twitch, Bilibili and Steam. This presentation is the second annual edition and, based on the teaser video, it looks like we will see an interesting range of games.The 45-minute or so showcase should include looks at Enshrouded, V Rising and Deep Rock Galactic. Poncle, the studio behind Vampire Survivors is also set to reveal something, alongside other developers like Sloclap. All in all, the stream should include everything from demo drops to release dates for over 30 games.The team at Engadget is very excited that Balatro publisher Playstack is also planning something for the event. "We had been saving our big announcement for a special showcase," said Marta Matyjewicz, marketing manager at Playstack, in a statement. "We were amazed by the quality of last year's Triple-i, so when the opportunity came to be a part of it, we knew we had to take it."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/how-to-watch-the-triple-i-initiative-indie-showcase-on-april-10-133037464.html?src=rss
The warm weather is here, which means saying goodbye to gym memberships and hello to exercising in the fresh air. Without machines measuring your progress, a fitness tracker can ensure you're staying on top of your workout. Now is a great time to pick on up, with the Fitbit Charge 6 down to $120 from $160. This 25 percent discount brings our favorite fitness tracker down to its lowest price of 2025. We've given the Charge 6 this accolade thanks to features like a more accurate heart rate monitor and it's use of Bluetooth to pair with exercise machines (if you do miss the indoors). It also offers 20 different workout modes for tracking your exercises. Plus, Google, which owns Fitbit, allows for anyone with a YouTube Music premium subscription to skip and control music playback. Other perks of the Fitbit Charge 6 include using Fitbit Pay or Google Wallet for contactless payments and a great built-in GPS. The Fitbit 6 also offers seven days of battery life, much longer than the day or two you get with an Apple Watch (a much more complex device, but still). Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-fitbit-charge-6-is-25-percent-off-right-now-131620961.html?src=rss
The 2025 BAFTA game awards took place yesterday in London and were dominated by one of our favorite games this year, Astro Bot. The PlayStation 5 platformer took home prizes in five categories including Best Game, along with Animation, Audio Achievement, Family and Game Design. That's no surprise, considering the game's critical accolades and popularity with fans.Astro Bot is the first fully-fledged and fully-priced version in the Astro universe. "With precise and responsive controls, adorable characters and an exciting variety of mechanics and environments, Astro Bot is easily one of the best games that Sony has every produced," wrote Engadget's Jessica Conditt. It beat out some strong competition in the Best Game category, including Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Helldivers 2, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Thank Goodness You're Here.Still Wakes the Deep came in second with three BAFTAs: New Intellectual Property, and Performers in Supporting and Lead Roles. One of those winners, Scottish actor Karen Dunbar (playing Finlay), humorously declared in her acceptance speech that "I'm not even an actor, I'm a gynecologist!"Other key winners of the evening included Balatro for Debut Game category, Thank Goodness You're Here for Best British Game, Helldivers 2 in the multiplayer and music categories, Neva for Artistic Achievement and Metaphor: ReFantazio for Narrative. For a complete list of winners check here and you can watch the entire ceremony below.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bafta-game-awards-adorably-dominated-by-astro-bot-130012074.html?src=rss
Google has started rolling out the loss of pulse detection feature for Pixel Watch 3 devices in the US. The feature does exactly what it describes: It checks for your pulse when the watch is on your wrist and will call emergency services if it determines that your pulse has stopped. It debuted in several European countries last year when the watch launched, but it didn't get approval from the US Food and Drug Administration until February this year.The feature uses concurrent passive algorithms to check for the presence of a pulse at the rate of once a second. If it detects the absence of a pulse, active sensors kick in to check for signals that could indicate false detections, such as if you're no longer wearing the watch. It's only then that the device will enter the Stage 1 alert phase, wherein it will send you a haptic notification asking you to tap a promp that says "I'm OK." If you're unresponsive, it will ramp up the alerts and add sounds, counting down to give you time to respond before it calls emergency services.Google says the feature could save you in instances wherein every second matters, such as when you're having a cardiac or respiratory arrest, or when you've gotten poisoned. In cases like those, you can only get immediate help if someone is around to see them happen. That's not always possible: As Google explains, half of all loss of pulse events related to cardiac arrest are unwitnessed. With this feature, you could be attended to much more quickly if you do need help and prevent more permanent damage to your body.GoogleThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/google-is-rolling-out-pixel-watch-3s-loss-of-pulse-detection-feature-in-the-us-120038008.html?src=rss
Much of the time, the best gaming headset" isn't a headset at all. While many people look at gaming headsets as their own niche, they're ultimately just headphones with a boom mic, some fancy branding and (usually) an inflated price tag attached. While the general quality of those headsets has improved over time, a good pair of traditional wired headphones - which, yes, still exist - still tend to deliver richer, more detailed sound. If you need to chat with friends, you can always hook them up to a dedicated microphone and achieve superior audio quality there as well.
Social media platform Instagram has been around since 2010 yet it still doesn't have a dedicated iPad app. In fact, the last we heard about the network's interest in tablets was back in 2022, when Insta head Adam Mosseri said there simply weren't enough iPad users to merit developing a native app. A baffling standpoint, but one that could finally be changing.A current employee of the service spoke anonymously to The Information recently and said that in this, the year 2025, Instagram is at last working on an iPad app. As of now, the only way to use Instagram on an iPad is a zoomed-in version of the company's iPhone app. Most businesses realized a decade ago that repurposing a phone app isn't a great user experience since the aspect ratio is so different on a tablet. That's particularly noticeable when your service is all about photo and video content.The sudden interest in iPad may be part of Instagram's broader efforts to fight for social media dominance as the popular video platform TikTok faces a potential ban in the US. The Information also reported that Instagram recently hosted an early preview of an upcoming Edits app for video-editing, which would compete with CapCut, a rival service also owned by ByteDance and at risk of falling within the TikTok ban.Mosseri has also spoken about plans to improve Instagram's capabilities in content search. "You can imagine, whatever you use Instagram for, it'd be great to be able to find that' more easily," he said on an episode of the Build Your Tribe podcast. "But also for creators ... it should allow content to resurface so that you don't get all the value in those first 24 or 48 hours."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-year-is-2025-and-instagram-is-reportedly-working-on-an-ipad-app-223942933.html?src=rss
The Guardian reported that the UK's Ministry of Justice has been developing an algorithm designed to identify people who could become killers. Initially dubbed the "homicide prediction project," this tool used data from UK police forces, possibly including victims and witnesses as well as suspects.Civil liberty watchdog Statewatch discovered the program through Freedom of Information Act requests. Based on the documents acquired by the group, Statewatch claimed that the program developed its prediction tool based on police data about between 100,000 and 500,000 people. Different categories of information shared with the Ministry of Justice appeared to also cover sensitive topics such as mental health, addiction, suicide and disability."Time and again, research shows that algorithmic systems for predicting' crime are inherently flawed," Statewatch researcher Sofia Lyall said. "This latest model, which uses data from our institutionally racist police and Home Office, will reinforce and magnify the structural discrimination underpinning the criminal legal system.""This project is being conducted for research purposes only. It has been designed using existing data held by HM Prison and Probation Service and police forces on convicted offenders to help us better understand the risk of people on probation going on to commit serious violence. A report will be published in due course," a representative from the MOJ told The Guardian.Law enforcement has long had a questionable relationship with AI tools. From AI being used to create police reports (bad idea) to misusing programs like ShotSpotter (another bad idea) to adopting tech that poses privacy threats to citizens (also a bad idea), history is not on the side of these being well-implemented technologies.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/uk-is-going-full-minority-report-with-murder-prediction-research-214254968.html?src=rss
Razer laptops are now among the latest collateral damage of President Donald Trump's tariffs. Days after Nintendo paused Switch 2 pre-orders, The Verge reported that Razer has paused direct sales of devices like the Blade 16 gaming laptop in the US.The Blade 16's product page, which recently included a pre-order link, now only offers a measly "Notify me" button. In addition, its configurator page, which allowed you to choose a graphics card, processor and other specs as recently as a few days ago, now draws a 404 error. You can still pre-order it in Europe and other regions.Razer's laptop product page for US customers now only includes live order links for items like skins, docks and cooling pads.RazerAlthough Razer hasn't publicly linked the pause to Trump's tariffs, it isn't hard to connect the two. The levies are scheduled to kick in at 12:01AM ET tonight, dramatically affecting companies that build products in or source parts from countries like China and Taiwan. Tariffs are a tax on imported foreign goods, and businesses often pass the higher cost to consumers. Economists have estimated that consumers will pay an extra $3,800 annually due to Trump's policy -and that was before Trump announced additional tariffs on China, totaling a staggering 104 percent.Razer's pause follows the halting of Switch 2 US pre-orders as Nintendo gauges the situation and ponders its next move. Similarly, Framework stopped selling some of its laptops in the US, and Reuters reported on Tuesday that memory chipmaker Micron plans to add a surcharge to some products. Expect the "Liberation Day" hits to keep coming as tonight's official beginning of the biggest US tax hike since 1968 approaches.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/razer-laptops-are-the-latest-trump-tariff-casualty-204844654.html?src=rss
The US Department of Justice has disbanded its unit focused on prosecuting cryptocurrency scams. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the end of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in a memo sent on Monday, Reuters reported.When the NCET launched, its focus was prosecuting cryptocurrency used in money laundering, fraud and theft. In recent years, the Department of Justice secured several high-profile wins in cases involving Binance, Tornado Cash and Bitfinex. However, the dissolution of NCET marks the latest government move to implement the current administration's crypto-friendly attitude.Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at encouraging the creation of blockchain networks. Blanche cited this as his rationale, and ordered the department's cryptocurrency efforts to focus on "individuals who victimize digital asset investors, or those who use digital assets in furtherance of criminal offenses such as terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking, organized crime, hacking, and cartel and gang financing." Any investigations that run counter to this agenda "should be closed."The US Securities and Exchange Commission has also been walking back its regulation of cryptocurrency, such as ending an enforcement case against Coinbase. However, cryptocurrency remains a risky endeavor, with theft still rampant at the individual and national levels. Additionally, the Trump family already has a vested interest in encouraging crypto operations, claiming a majority of revenue from World Liberty Financial's token sales.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/doj-to-disband-its-cryptocurrency-enforcement-unit-200347077.html?src=rss
While the Nintendo Switch 2 had its splashy debut last week, including details about the hardware and launch games, there's still lots about the console that Nintendo has yet to clear up. For instance, the company hasn't gone into specifics about the CPU and GPU that are powering the Switch 2, other than to touch on the performance enhancements that they offer over the Switch (NVIDIA separately confirmed that the Switch 2 uses its Deep Learning Super Sampling tech).However, since last Wednesday's blockbuster Direct, Nintendo has touched on some new Switch 2 details in interviews with the press. For one thing, Nate Bihldorff, Senior Vice President of Product Development & Publishing at Nintendo of America, told Nintendo Life that the console's Joy-Con 2 controllers do not use Hall effect tech. "The Joy-Con 2's controllers have been designed from the ground up," Bihldorff said. "They're not Hall effect sticks, but they feel really good."Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto separately said that the Joy-Con 2 joysticks "are quieter and don't make noise, even when they're moved quickly to the edge." The company is referring to them as "smooth-gliding sticks."Engadget has asked Nintendo why the company opted not to use Hall effect tech in the Joy-Con 2. We've also asked whether the Switch 2 Pro Controller foregoes Hall effect sensors as well.This technology is becoming increasingly common in the thumbsticks of third-party gamepads, but Nintendo has yet to implement it in its own joysticks (nor have Sony or Microsoft, for that matter). The idea behind Hall effect sensors is that they reduce the likelihood of stick drift. This problem was so pervasive on the original Switch's Joy-Cons that Nintendo offered free, unlimited repairs for stick drift in Europe. So it's not clear why Nintendo would opt out of having Hall effect sensors in the Joy-Con 2 to help mitigate such problems.A fun fact if you haven't heard of Hall effect controllers before: Sega used them in the Sega Saturn 3D controller and the Dreamcast controller decades ago. It's definitely not new technology, but it's definitely getting more popular and widely used lately, despite Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony not adopting it yet.Meanwhile, Nintendo has confirmed US pricing for a few Switch 2 experiences. The company told IGN that the upgrades for two The Legend of Zelda games - Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom - cost $10 each for those who already own either game. However, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers get access to the upgrades at no extra cost.The Switch 2 upgrades include visual fidelity and framerate enhancements, along with the inclusion of HDR support and faster loading times. You'll also be able to use the Switch mobile app as a Sheikah Slate of sorts, helping you to find hidden items with voiced directions.In addition, Nintendo has revealed that Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which seems like a tech demo that will take you through all the features of the console, will cost $10. As for why Nintendo is charging 10 bucks for this as opposed to offering it for free (like Valve did with the fun Steam Deck tech demo, Aperture Desk Job, or Sony did with Astro's Playroomon PS5), Nintendo of America's Vice President of Product and Player Experience Bill Trinen had this to say to IGN:
Fans of murderous clicking aliens have a lot to look forward to this year, with not one, but two different Predator titles debuting in 2025. Both projects are being helmed by Dan Trachtenberg, who proved his Predator chops directing the excellent Prey, and is now providing a compelling new chapter for the franchise.First up is Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated miniseries that will arrive on Hulu on June 6. That anthology dropped a first look trailer today and it's a taste of classic Predator action as the beast hunts down warriors across three different time periods. There are Viking raiders, samurai in feudal Japan and pilots from World War II. I imagine things end badly for the humans in every era.In a delightful casting choice for 80s action movie appreciators, Killer of Killers includes voice work by Michael Biehn. That means he joins the elite roster of actors who have crossed paths with the trinity of Aliens, Terminators and Predators. Well done, sir.The second project is a feature film titled Predator: Badlands. This is a sequel to Prey and stars Elle Fanning. But in a twist on the usual formula, the human star isn't trying to kill the Predator, but manages to team up with it. Predator: Badlands will have a theatrical release on November 7.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/watch-the-trailer-for-animated-anthology-predator-killer-of-killers-182933911.html?src=rss
Amazon's autonomous vehicle company Zoox has begun testing its robotaxis in Los Angeles. It has deployed a small fleet of retrofitted test vehicles throughout the city for the purposes of mapping and data-collection. This could, eventually, lead to paid rides for consumers.
When Hades II moves out of Early Access and into v1.0 later this year, Nintendo will have a prime seat at the table. A "Creator's Voice" promo video published on Tuesday (via Kotaku) echoed what developer Supergiant Games posted in a FAQ last week: Switch 2 and Switch will be the only consoles to play the roguelike on out of the gates.The video's mention of Hades II "launching first for consoles on Nintendo Switch 2" further confirms that PlayStation and Xbox owners will at least have to wait a while before playing the highly anticipated sequel on their systems. That was already established by a Supergiant FAQ update from April 2: "While we haven't ruled out bringing Hades II to any other platforms, our current focus is only on the versions listed above," referencing its Early Access platforms (PC and Mac, via Steam and Epic) and Nintendo's Switch 2 and OG Switch.In addition, Supergiant clarified to Engadget on Tuesday that the game will launch simultaneously on those platforms, so the PC, Mac, Switch 2 and Switch versions will all be available on its release date.This follows a similar pattern to the one the developer used in Hades. It initially launched on PC, Mac and Switch before later landing on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.SupergiantThe developer laid to rest any concerns that the roguelike won't perform well on Nintendo's platforms. "We have both versions running smoothly at a target 60 frames per second, with the Switch 2 version taking advantage of the bigger, higher-definition 1080p display," Supergiant wrote last week.We don't know when Hades II, which arrived in Early Access last spring, will jump to v1.0 (apart from a general 2025 window). In February, Supergiant pushed the game's Warsong Update, which added Ares, an updated Altar of Ashes and a final boss fight. A third big patch is also in the works before the sequel is released to the public.Update, April 8, 2025, 12:54PM ET: This story has been updated with a confirmation from Supergiant that it will launch simultaneously on PC, Mac and Switch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/hades-ii-will-launch-on-switch-2-and-switch-before-playstation-and-xbox-163757321.html?src=rss
Triband Games is back with another entry in its What the" franchise. What the Clash? is an exclusive for Apple Arcade and will be available on May 1. Apple describes it as a "quirky, fast-paced multiplayer game" that features Triband's take on popular minigames like table tennis, archery, racing and tag.However, this isn't just a simple multiplayer minigame collection. Players can use modifier cards to "create absurd combos." This includes stuff like "giraffle, toasty archery, sticky tennis and milk the fish." Remember, this is the developer behind the monumentally silly What the Car? and related titles.The game offers simple touch controls, which makes sense given the platform, and there's a solo mode for those who don't want to goof on their friends and family. It includes leaderboards and tournaments. Also, everyone plays as a giant stretchy hand with legs (?!) that can be customized with clothes and accessories.Trident also made the fantastic What the Golf? and the VR-focused What the Bat? Both are very good. Two of the company's games ended up on our list of the best Apple Arcade titles. What the Car? also won mobile game of the year at the 2024 D.I.C.E. Awards.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-goofy-multiplayer-game-what-the-clash-hits-apple-arcade-on-may-1-155951496.html?src=rss
Millions of us got into Wordleover the last few years and while there have been many clones of that game, other developers went in a slightly different direction and found success, as The New York Times did with the excellent Connections. Another game that has been doing the rounds for a couple of months has a new home, as The Atlantic becomes the latest publisher to get in on the daily puzzle trend.Starting Tuesday, you can play Bracket City on the magazine's website. Ben Gross, an independent game designer who created the game, will continue to work on it alongside The Atlantic's director of games, Caleb Madison.The aim of Bracket City is to solve a nested series of clues to reveal a fact about that given day in history. You have to solve the clues in order, but if you figure out an answer at a higher level, you can use that to work your way backwards and help you get to the solution. There's a tutorial to help you get started.The AtlanticTuesday's fact of the day is 10 words long, while Monday's was only six words, but revealing each meant solving 17 clues first. The clues include cryptic hints, fill-in-the-blank idioms and general knowledge teasers. Clicking on a hint will reveal the first letter of its answer. There's also a hard mode in which you don't have to press enter to submit a guess but "every keystroke counts."You'll earn a city-based rank depending on how well you did, such as Commuter or Mayor, while completing a puzzle perfectly will see you earn the title of Kingmaker. Every previous edition of the game is available in a free archive, which you can access by clicking on the date.I've only been playing Bracket City for half an hour but I'm already obsessed. It tickles my brain in a similar way to Connections. It's less about guessing letters to find the right word and more about general knowledge and wordplay. Bracket City is already a winner in my book, and it's an instant addition to my rotation of once-a-day puzzle games.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bracket-city-could-be-your-latest-word-game-obsession-151405964.html?src=rss
Sega just announced that Sonic Rumble will be available on May 8. It was supposed to come out last winter, but will finally see the light of day next month. It's being described as a "multiplayer action game" and it really reminds me of Mediatonic's Fall Guys, which even offers a mode that stars the speedy hedgehog.To that end, Sonic Rumble can accommodate 32 players at once. It's a battle royale-style title that has players race around worlds inspired by the franchise. The last one standing at the end wins. You know the drill.This being a Sonic game, there are rings to collect. These can be used to purchase new skins and stickers. Sega specifically mentioned a Sonic skin from the recent Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, which is neat.The company also promises "key gameplay enhancements designed to add depth and strategic layers to every round." Each player gets a customizable set of skills, with multiple slots per character. There's also a newly-announced co-op mechanic that brings players together to "strategize and overcome obstacles as a unit."There's a spot of bad news here for console players. Sonic Rumble will only be available for iOS, Android and PC via Steam.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-fall-guys-esque-sonic-rumble-comes-out-on-may-8-145632617.html?src=rss
We'll all soon ditch those big winter coats and the equally big pockets they have built in as warmer weather becomes the norm. But that also means it will be a bit harder to keep track of your things. I lost my phone, alone, multiple times over this past sunny weekend. But, now there's a (cheaper) potential solution: The Chipolo One Bluetooth tracker. Amazon has a four-pack of Chipolo One trackers for only $50 right now, which is 33 percent off their usual price. It's also the best price we've seen on this set of our favorite Bluetooth tracker for 2025. It also offers two different color sets to choose between and is a great deal if you want multiple trackers (just one is usually $20). Beyond the convenient keyhole (sorry Apple), we like the Chipolo One for features like how loud it is when you're searching for something - plus, it never has a delay when you press find. It's also very quick to ask if you've left something behind and works equally well with an iPhone or Android. If you're not sure you need four Chipolo trackers, or this is your first time picking them up, you can also snag one of them for only $15. That's a $5 discount and the best price we've seen on a single-pack. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/a-four-pack-of-chipolo-one-trackers-drops-to-an-all-time-low-of-50-131257240.html?src=rss
A new report from Reuters has shed light on how Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is employing tech in its processes, including the alleged use of artificial intelligence to monitor communications. The initiative is said to be keeping an eye out for chatter that's considered hostile toward Musk or President Donald Trump.Some managers at the Environmental Protection Agency have reportedly been told that DOGE is deploying AI to monitor communication apps and software such as the widely used Microsoft Teams for anti-Musk or anti-Trump sentiment. It's said that DOGE is watching out for individuals whose work didn't square with the administration's agenda. One manager reportedly told EPA staffers to Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do."The EPA didn't explicitly state whether AI was being used to monitor employees for signs of disloyalty, though it told Reuters that it was "looking at AI to better optimize agency functions and administrative efficiencies." It added that it wasn't using AI "as it makes personnel decisions in concert with DOGE." The EPA has placed nearly 600 workers on leave and pledged to cut its budget by 65 percent amid DOGE's government-wide cost-slashing efforts.Meanwhile, it's said that DOGE staffers are using Signal to communicate with each other. This could be a violation of federal record-keeping rules given the app's ability to automatically delete messages after a certain period of time. And that's not to mention the security risks of accidentally inviting, say, a journalist to a top-secret chat about government operations.Some DOGE workers are also said to be using Google Docs to edit official documents collaboratively, in effect bypassing usual vetting procedures and chains of custody. In addition, staffers are reportedly making use of Musk's chatbot Grok AI in their work, but exactly what they're doing with it remains unclear. It emerged this week that the White House wants federal agencies to make full use of "American AI."DOGE has been accused of operating under a shroud of secrecy. The administration has contended that since DOGE is operating under the Executive Office of the President, it's not obligated to allow the public to request access to its records, which would be the case if it were an official government agency. Nevertheless, a federal judge last month ordered DOGE to start providing records of its operations to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sued for access to such documents under freedom of information laws. The watchdog told Reuters that, as of Monday, it had received no records from DOGE.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/doge-is-reportedly-using-ai-to-monitor-government-comms-for-anti-musk-and-anti-trump-chatter-141411751.html?src=rss
As someone who has moved around quite a bit, VPNs have always been essential to ensure I can access my sites and shows. The problem is that these often cost a pretty penny, sometimes more than I'm willing to fork out. But, now, our favorite VPN for multiple devices is now having a massive sale. Surfshark Starter VPN is down to $54 for 27 months - a plan that typically costs $417. It breaks down to $2 each month and three months free. This tier offers perks like a secure VPN, unlimited devices, ad and cookie pop-up blockers, a rotating IP and masked email and personal detail generators. The two other plans, Surfshark One and One+, are on sale for $67 and $81, respectively. They both offer the Starter's features, along with scheduled scans, leak alerts, no data tracking or storage and personal data security reports. Surfshark One+ also includes data removal from company databases and data removal from people search sites. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/surfshark-vpns-two-year-plan-drops-to-only-54-133540084.html?src=rss
Motorola isn't radically reinventing the Moto G Stylus for 2025, but it is improving the midrange smartphone where it matters. And when the other stylus-friendly smartphone is the $1,300 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, that might be all it needs.The Moto G Stylus has a 6.7-inch Super HD pOLED display with an 120Hz refresh rate and a max brightness of 3000 nits. Like the previous Moto G Stylus, this year's model also has a 5,000mAh battery that Motorola says should offer 40 hours on a single charge. That's paired with a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip, 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage - a good step-up from the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 in the last Moto G Stylus.MotorolaOther than the updated internals, the Moto G Stylus is also much safer around water and dust. The phone has IP68 water protection and MIL-STD-810H certification, which means its covered when it comes to dust and rain, but can also survive falls from "nearly 1.5 meters and total submersion in nearly 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes," according to Motorola.Motorola's main improvement to the namesake of the Moto G Stylus is to make it more responsive. The new stylus is "6.4x" more responsive than the previous generation, and can also be used for new Android features like Circle to Search and Motorola's "Sketch to Image," which can turn scribbles into detailed images with AI.MotorolaDespite all of those changes, the Moto G Stylus doesn't look all that different the new Moto G and Moto G Power Motorola announced in January, with a textured, faux-leather back in either a blue-green or a bright blue, and a raised plateau for its camera system. The selfie camera on the front of the Moto G Stylus is 32MP, and the rear cameras include a 50MP wide with optical image stabilization, a 13MP ultrawide / macro and a "3-in-1 light sensor."The Moto G Stylus will launch on April 17, unlocked, for $399.99 at Amazon, Best Buy and Motorola's website. The phone will also be available in the coming months through Metro by T-Mobile, Visible, Total Wireless, Straight Talk, AT&T, Cricket, Spectrum Mobile, Consumer Cellular, UScellular, Xfinity Mobile, Google Fiber Wireless, Optimum Mobile and Boost Mobile.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/motorola-is-updating-the-moto-g-stylus-to-make-it-more-durable-130051835.html?src=rss
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released the administration's revised policies for the use of AI in federal agencies. As Reuters notes, it has altered Biden-era guidelines and has rescinded orders by the previous administration related to safety over the technology's use. The Trump administration said it's shifting towards a "forward-leaning, pro-innovation and procompetition mindset" instead of maintaining and "pursuing the risk-averse approach" of Biden's government.Before Trump took office, the government ordered federal agencies to ensure that any AI tools they use "do not endanger the rights and safety of the American people" and to be transparent about the technologies they use. It also placed restrictions on AI acquisitions. According to the Trump administration, the new rules "will no longer impose unnecessary bureaucratic restrictions on the use of innovative American AI."Federal agencies will still have to appoint a Chief AI Officer like the previous administration had ordered. While Biden's government wanted those officers to ensure that agencies are using AI responsibly, their main role in the current government is to serve as "AI advocates," promoting agency-wide AI adoption. "Agency Chief AI Officer roles are redefined to serve as change agents and AI advocates, rather than overseeing layers of bureaucracy," the White House said. Accountability for using AI will be more akin to the existing process for using IT in the government, OMB said, "instead of creating new layers of approvals." In addition, the new rules remove what the new administration calls "burdensome agency reporting requirements" for the acquisition of AI in the government.The government now wants federal agencies to develop an AI strategy within the next six months.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-white-house-wants-federal-agencies-to-maximize-the-use-of-american-ai-123053019.html?src=rss
Anyone else feel like half the time their phone rings these days it's spam? Sometimes there's an alert before you even pick up, but other times it takes being in the call to know. Well, Google is now making it easier to do the latter, adding in-call scam detection to the Pixel Watch.The new AI-powered feature gives a loud beep at the start of the call and every couple minutes afterward. It will give a notification, beep and vibration in cases where a scam is very likely. You can dismiss the notification from the watch if you know it's not a scam. Try it out by turning on scam detection in settings.There's a few caveats, as the in-call scam detection works only on the Pixel watch 2 or 3. They also need to be connected by Bluetooth to a Pixel 9 or newer phone. It's also only available right now in the US and for English-language calls.Google first introduced the feature to select phones in beta last November. It's now available on the Pixel 9 and newer devices, but this addition lets you see the notification without ever taking out your phone.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/google-brings-in-call-scam-notifications-to-pixel-watches-120008825.html?src=rss
Timing is everything. Hours after I published our Friday newsletter, debating the price of Nintendo's new console, the company announced it would delay US pre-orders for the Switch 2 as it wrestled with a new set of tariffs introduced by President Trump.Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9, 2025, in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions," Nintendo told Engadget. It added that the console is still set to launch on June 5, however.Last week, the Trump administration announced a set of new tariffs on a swath of countries, including Japan (Nintendo's base of operations), China and Vietnam. Those last two countries, where Nintendo manufactures much of its hardware, will be subject to import duties of 54 percent and 46 percent.Nintendo said the Switch 2 would cost $450 at launch - and we've discussed the rises enough - but there's no word yet on whether that price will get readjusted, or whether the company will just distribute fewer consoles to the US.It's not the only one reassessing things in the wake of the recent tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover is pausing shipments to the US. Vehicle imports face a 25 percent tariff, and the company told the AP it was taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans."Relatively smaller companies are also figuring things out: Framework, best known for its modular, repairable laptop series, announced it was also suspending US sales for some of its laptops.- Mat SmithGet Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest stories you might have missed
Meta is bringing its teen accounts" to Facebook and Messenger. Like on Instagram, the company will begin automatically moving younger teens to the new accounts, which come with mandatory parental control features and restrictions on who they can message and interact with.The company first introduced the feature on Instagram last fall and now has 54 million teens with the more locked-down accounts. (Instagram requires teens between the ages of 13 and 15 to use a teen account and has in-app tools meant to catch those lying about their ages.) Teen accounts on Facebook and Messenger will operate similarly. Teens won't be able to interact with unknown contacts or change certain privacy settings unless a parent approves the action. Parents will also be able to monitor their child's screen time metrics and friends list.Meta is also adding new safety features to teen accounts on Instagram. With the change, teens under 16 will need parental permission to start a live broadcast. The app will also prevent younger teens from turning off nudity protection - the feature that automatically blurs images in direct messages that contain suspected nudity" - unless they get parental approval.Those may seem like obvious safeguards (they are) but they at least show that Meta is closing obvious gaps in its teen-focused safety features. The company has come under intense scrutiny over the effect its apps, particularly Instagram, have on teens in recent years. Dozens of states are currently suing Meta over alleged harms to younger users.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-brings-teen-accounts-to-facebook-and-messenger-100042497.html?src=rss
You don't need a set of AirPods to get wireless audio from your iPhone, iPad or Mac, but Apple's earbuds and headphones offer a lot of convenient integrations with its other products that you won't find anywhere else. After helping popularize true wireless earbuds with its original AirPods, the company has expanded its lineup to include noise-canceling models and a set of over-ear headphones. Here's what you need to know about AirPods in general, along with the best overall, budget and over-ear picks from Apple's current slate of products. Table of contents
Rumors circulated today that robotaxi company Waymo might use data from vehicles' interior cameras to train AI and sell targeted ads to riders. However, the company has tried to quell concerns, insisting that it won't be targeting ads to passengers.The situation arose after researcher and engineer Jane Manchun Wong discovered an unreleased version of Waymo's privacy policy that suggested the robotaxi company could start using data from its vehicles to train generative AI. The draft policy has language allowing customers to opt out of Waymo "using your personal information (including interior camera data associated with your identity) for training GAI." Wong's discovery also suggested that Waymo could use that camera footage to sell personalized ads to riders.Later in the day, The Verge obtained comments on this unreleased privacy policy from Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina. "Waymo's [machine learning] systems are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads," she said. Ilina said the version found by Wong featured "placeholder text that doesn't accurately reflect the feature's purpose" and noted that the feature was still in development. It "will not introduce any changes to Waymo's Privacy Policy, but rather will offer riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection for ML training purposes."Hopefully Waymo holds to those statements. Privacy and security are huge concerns as AI companies try to feed their models as much information as possible. Waymo is owned by Alphabet and Google is developing its own AI assistant, Gemini, as well as other AI projects with its DeepMind division.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-has-no-plans-to-sell-ads-to-riders-based-on-camera-data-225340265.html?src=rss
Consumer electronics brand Framework announced today on X that it will temporarily suspend US sales of select laptop models as a result of the global tariffs enacted for the country last week. The company said it will remove the Ultra 5 125H and Ryzen 5 7640U versions of its Laptop 13 systems from its website. At the time of publish, that Ultra 5 Intel model is not listed, but the Ryzen 5 one with the AMD chip appears to still be available for purchase.In a follow-up post, the company said that it originally priced its laptops based on a 0 percent tariff for goods from Taiwan. With the current 10 percent tariff, the products would be sold at a loss. "Other consumer goods makers have performed the same calculations and taken the same actions, though most have not been open about it," Framework said.Given the language of the initial post, this doesn't seem to be the end of US customers' chances to buy Laptop 13 models. But the sweeping tariffs on imports enacted by President Donald Trump last week have already sparked other industries to rethink their US sales and pricing. UK-based Jaguar Land Rover also paused shipments to the US as a result of the tariffs, while Japan's Nintendo has delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 gaming console, although the launch date appears unchanged.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/framework-pauses-some-us-laptop-sales-due-to-tariffs-221115971.html?src=rss
After an internal investigation, The White House has come up with a likely explanation for how Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was included in a Signal chat filled with Trump officials planning to bomb the Houthis. The Guardian reports that the issue came down to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz not understanding how his iPhone works.Apparently, after Goldberg attempted to contact the Trump campaign about a separate issue in 2024, Brian Hughes, a Trump spokesperson, shared Goldberg's contact information and email signature with Waltz. It only took a few wrong taps after that to lay the groundwork for "Signalgate," The Guardian writes:
Players are gearing up for the arrival of the Switch 2 this summer, and we've been piecing together details about how game ownership and sharing will work. The picture is coming together, and in true Nintendo fashion, it's a bit odd.Developers who release projects on the Switch 2 will have the option to sell their work as a "Game-Key card," which looks like a traditional physical game cartridge, but has no game data stored on it. Instead, when slotted into a Switch 2, game-key cards will automatically present instructions on how to download the title in question. The hardware will need an Internet connection and enough space for the game files on its system memory or microSD Express card. Once the download is complete, that Switch 2 can run the game whenever the game-key card is inserted into the system. The Switch no longer needs an Internet connection once the title has been downloaded, unless the game separately requires you to be online to play. We've now learned via GameSpot that game-key cards won't be automatically connected to a single console or to a user's Nintendo account.It's an unusual hybrid approach, and with many hybrid concepts, you get the best and worst of both worlds. For instance, storage is going to be at a premium in the Switch 2 and game-key card downloads will eat into that limited space. And unfortunately, game-key cards don't future-proof customers against the day when Nintendo might decide to shut down the servers for the Switch 2, as it did with other sunsetted hardware like the Wii U and 3DS in 2024. If and when that happens, the game-key cards will be essentially useless.But there are some upsides, particularly when it comes to sharing or reselling games. We already knew that Nintendo would have an option called GameShare that supports local multiplayer with only a single purchased copy of the title, while Virtual Game Cards offer digital sharing (if in a convoluted way). The addition of game-key cards that aren't tied to a single person's Nintendo account makes it easier to pass a game off to a friend once you've finished with it, or to resell it and recoup some of the $80 price tag of major releases.And in case you were wondering: yes, the game cartridges will still taste terrible.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/switch-2-game-key-cards-wont-be-tied-to-your-nintendo-account-204735286.html?src=rss
Jackbox has been making fun party games for well over a decade at this point, but it just held its first-ever direct livestream event. The company had plenty of news to share, including the pending release of both a new minigame collection and a standalone trivia title.The Jackbox Party Pack 11 includes "five brand-new game concepts to bring the party game experience to the next level." These include an audio-based game in which players compete to make the best sound effects. There's also a fantasy-themed trivia title and a head-to-head joke-writing game.The pack is rounded out by a social deduction game that's centered around a court trial and a "cozy drawing game." That last one tasks players to create designs based on "bizarre prompts." If it's anything like Drawful, which is a fantastic drawing-based game by Jackbox, we will be extremely pleased. The Jackbox Party Pack 11 will be available this fall for just about every platform.If you feel like you haven't heard from Jackbox Games in a while, that's because it didn't release a party pack last year. The company said it took a year off to "innovate and deliver some long-requested products for fans."The showcase concluded with the reveal of Trivia Murder Party 3, the next entry in the franchise. This one brings online matchmaking into the mix, though folks can still play locally via the classic Jackbox room code. This installment is set in a summer camp with a serial killer on the loose. Only answering trivia questions can stop the murderous rampage. It will be available as an early access title on Steam later in the year, with a general release date set for 2026.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/jackbox-is-back-with-new-party-games-including-one-based-on-sound-effects-184524066.html?src=rss
With the last Mission: Impossible film, Dead Reckoning, the long-running franchise officially entered science fiction territory by making intelligent AI its villain. We've seen Tom Cruise's Ethan hunt jump off of buildings and hang from the side of planes, but how can he fight a computer program? The latest trailer for the series' next film, and potentially the last to feature Hunt, doesn't answer that question, but clearly it will involve even more death-defying stunts (like hanging on to a flipping bi-plane!), geeky gadgets and Tom Cruise running inhumanly fast.As I wrote in my review of Deck Reckoning: "As much as I love other action film franchises - like John Wick's increasingly elaborate choreography, or the sheer ridiculousness of the Fast and the Furious - Mission: Impossible remains uniquely enjoyable. It's committed to delivering astonishing practical stunt work. It's self-aware just enough to poke fun at itself. And a part of me hopes that somehow, a team of geeks can also fight back against the excesses of AI."Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning hits theaters on May 23.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/tom-cruise-gears-up-to-save-us-from-ai-in-the-latest-mission-impossible---the-final-reckoning-trailer-181032815.html?src=rss
When the AirPods Max arrived in late 2020, there wasn't much spatial audio content for Apple's high-end headphones. What's more, there wasn't any support at all for lossless audio. The company hadn't added Dolby Atmos and lossless tunes to Apple Music yet, but even when those arrived, Apple still hadn't solved my biggest problem with the $549 headphones. With iOS 18.4 and a firmware update for the AirPods Max with USB-C, Apple has finally put the finishing touches on its only headphones with lossless audio. Let's back up a few months. Last September, Apple gave the AirPods Max its only significant update since the original launch: it swapped the Lightning jack for a USB-C port. The headphones are still running on the aging H1 chip when the rest of the current AirPods lineup has moved on to the more recent and more capable H2. I wasn't upset that the company didn't take the opportunity to update the AirPods Max design, but the failure to upgrade that chip was a head scratcher. Now that lossless audio is here on the lightly refreshed AirPods Max, the headphones feel more complete. But that took over four years to finally happen, and if you bought the 2020 model you won't be able to use this newly added capability. You'll need the USB-C version of the AirPods Max that arrived last year and either iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 or macOS Sequoia 15.4 to unlock lossless and ultra-low latency audio. How to get lossless audio on AirPods Max with USB-C Billy Steele for Engadget Once you've updated one of your Apple devices to iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 or macOS Sequoia 15.4, connect your AirPods Max to it via Bluetooth. You'll then want to plug the headphones into a power outlet or USB-C port with the included cable. If you keep the two gadgets in close proximity for about 30 minutes, the AirPods Max firmware update should download. To check, hop into the AirPods Max settings and scroll down to the About section. Here, you'll want to see version 7E101 to confirm you've got the goods. You'll want to keep that cable handy. Lossless audio on the AirPods Max is only available for wired use. You will still need to establish a Bluetooth connection for all of the smart features like hands-free Siri. Apple also sells a new $39 USB-C-to-3.5mm cord if you want to go that route, but either way, you'll need a cable due to the limitations of high-res audio over Bluetooth. Why isn't lossless audio available on the original AirPods Max? If you bought Apple's $549 headphones in 2020, I can understand your frustration that you aren't privy to this update. However, I wouldn't assume Apple made this decision just to drive sales. There are hardware limitations with the Lightning port that hinders lossless audio, specifically a data throughput constraint on the previous version. Apple made some changes to the DAC (digital-to-analog converter) inside the AirPods Max to make lossless happen, which wasn't possible on the older model either. Does lossless audio make a difference? I've heard some people say they can't tell the difference between normal songs and lossless tunes. I'd argue it depends on what you're listening to. If it's a recent pop tune from Dua Lipa or Sabrina Carpenter, you're better off with the Dolby Atmos mix and likely won't pick up any more detail for high-resolution streaming. For bass heavy, chaotic genres like metal, I notice a better balance to the mix. Vocals on Spiritbox's Tsunami Sea rise above the booming drums and thrashing guitar, and the bass is a little more subdued. Same for Underoath's The Place After This One, where all the instruments seem to have more separation from the vocals. And overall, the bombastic tracks on this album feel bigger and more immersive. Lossless audio on the AirPods Max particularly elevates acoustic genres like bluegrass and folk, in addition to other mellow styles like jazz. I might as well have been inside the acoustic guitar on Julien Baker & TORRES' Sugar in the Tank" as I felt like I could hear every percussive detail on every string. I can't imagine the sound would've been much better on Jason Isbell's Foxes in the Snow if I was actually in the room at Electric Lady Studios during the recording. That 1940 Martin 0-17, the only instrument on the album, is so pure and true. Jump to Miles Davis' Birth of the Blue where the horns, piano, bass and drums all seem a little livelier and a little more energetic, with Davis' trumpet belting out its verse-like cadence throughout. Do you have to use Apple Music? Apple First, let's talk about what's available on Apple Music. Since June 2021, the service has offered lossless audio to subscribers at no additional cost. This starts at CD quality, which is 16 bit at 44.1 kHz, and goes up to 24 bit at 48 kHz. That latter rate is the maximum that AirPods Max can now support via the USB-C connection, and Apple says there are now 100 million songs available on its service in lossless quality. There is also a collection of Hi-Resolution Lossless content on Apple Music, which goes up to 24 bit at 192 kHz. You'll need extra gear like a USB DAC in order to listen at that level, though. You aren't limited to just Apple Music. Anywhere you can stream lossless audio up to 24 bit at 48 kHz you can do so with these headphones. There are other services that offer this (like Tidal), or you can play locally stored files. The only requirement is a USB-C cable; your source isn't limited to Apple. Wrap-up It's always nice when a company directly addresses one of your complaints. It's not great when it takes over four years to do so. Now that lossless audio is here for the AirPods Max, I can no longer argue that the headphones feel incomplete, which is a big improvement from where they were at launch. I keep going back and forth over whether or not this update is enough, though. It's the first time Apple has expanded the capabilities of the AirPods Max in over four years, and it could only do so for the minimally updated 2024 version. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who has a solid track record with Apple product scoops, reported in November that the company had no real plan to meaningfully update AirPods Max." He said the headphones don't sell well enough to justify much R&D, but they're not a big enough failure to be permanently shelved. With that in mind, this update, which adds ultra-low latency for gamers in addition to lossless audio, is actually a lot bigger than it ordinarily would be. But to continue to demand $549 for what's essentially 2020 hardware, Apple needs to trot out these types of updates regularly. While you can find these headphones on sale for as low as $449, that's still a steep investment. Even then, the AirPods Max would be tough to recommend to anyone other than iPhone and Mac die-hards with deep pockets. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/how-to-use-lossless-audio-on-the-airpods-max-180026218.html?src=rss
The Hugo Awards began honoring video games for the first time back in 2021. This week, the organization revealed the list of six finalists for the 2025 awards ceremony. It's a cornucopia of critically-acclaimed titles from the past year or so.Let's go over the nominations. Two AAA titles are up for the award. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Echoes of Wisdom changes up the franchise formula, casting players as the titular Zelda. The gameplay involves summoning monsters and items to solve puzzles and do battle. It's pretty awesome.We especially loved Dragon Age: The Veilguard, calling it "BioWare at its best." The graphics are fantastic and the gameplay is more action-oriented than previous entries in the franchise. It continues the story of the decade-old Dragon Age Inquisition.The Hugos are also honoring a spate of smaller titles. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes got a nom, and this was one of our favorite games of 2024. It's a near-perfect puzzle game that subverts the genre at every turn. We said it was the perfect game "for fans of puzzles, narrative twists and David Lynch."Caves of Qud is an incredibly deep and lore-heavy roguelike set in a fantasy realm. It was actually in early access for a full 15 years before getting an official release last year. 1000xRESIST is a sci-fi adventure game that was praised primarily for its engaging story. Finally, Tactical Breach Wizards is a turn-based RPG starring, you guessed it, wizards. Some reviews have called it the best strategy game since XCOM 2.The final winner will be announced at the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention in Seattle on August 16. Previous winners include Hades and Baldur's Gate 3.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/2025-hugo-award-game-finalists-include-zelda-echoes-of-wisdom-and-dragon-age-the-veilguard-171135638.html?src=rss
Google is bringing AI Mode to more people in the US. The company announced on Monday it would make the new search tool, first launched at the start of last month, to millions of more Labs users across the country.For uninitiated, AI Mode is a new dedicated tab within Search. It's essentially Google's answer to ChatGPT Search. It allows you to ask more complicated questions of Google, with a custom version of Gemini 2.0 doing the legwork to deliver a nuanced AI-generated response. Labs, meanwhile, is a beta program you can enroll your Google account in to gain access to new Search features before the company rolls them out to the public.In addition to bringing AI Mode to more people, Google is unlocking the tool's multimodal capabilities. Starting today, you can snap and upload images to AI Mode, allowing you to ask questions about what you see. The feature brings together AI Mode with Google's Lens technology."With Gemini's multimodal capabilities, AI Mode can understand the entire scene in an image, including the context of how objects relate to one another and their unique materials, colors, shapes and arrangements," Google explains. "Using our query fan-out technique, AI Mode then issues multiple queries about the image as a whole and the objects within the image, accessing more breadth and depth of information than a traditional search on Google."AI Mode's new Lens integration is available through the Google app on Android and iOS.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-ai-mode-rolls-out-to-more-testers-with-new-image-search-feature-160054334.html?src=rss
Movies based on video games have become a pretty big deal in recent years. Just look at those box office returns for A Minecraft Movie for proof of that. This means that more films are coming down the pike, including a motion picture based on Hideo Kojima's delivery simulator Death Stranding. We first learned this was coming back in 2022, but now there's a writer and director attached to the project.The production company A24, which is helping to finance the film, just announced that it will be written and directed by Michael Sarnoski. He isn't a household name, but he did co-write and direct A Quiet Place: Day One. He also co-wrote and directed that delightfully weird Nicolas Cage romp Pig.A24 says that the movie will explore the "catastrophic series of events that blurred the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead," thus creating the fragmented society of the game. There's no casting information yet, but one would hope that Norman Reedus would be involved in some capacity. A cameo from Conan O'Brien also wouldn't hurt.Kojima Productions is involved with the movie. There's no release date yet, as filming hasn't even started.This wasn't the only Death Stranding news to drop recently. The video game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be released on June 26, which will be accompanied by a world-wide concert tour and, inexplicably, a luxury watch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-death-stranding-movie-now-has-a-writer-and-director-153029985.html?src=rss
Later than expected, Google has begun rolling a pair of new Gemini Live features to Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 devices. The company first previewed Gemini live video and screensharing during Mobile World Congress in March. As you might have guessed from their names, the two features allow you to take advantage of Gemini's multi-modal capabilities to ask Google's chatbot questions about what you see in front of your or on your phone's screen.
I appreciate devices that don't try to do too much. There are too many products throwing too many features at the consumer in the hope one or two sticks. I'm reminded of the recently revived Pebble, which offers a pared down way to check your phone's notifications from your wrist, and little else. That's the best way to describe Even Realities' G1 smart glasses, which puts a second screen for your smartphone on your face. G1 is almost aggressively low-tech, putting in your line of sight a dot matrix display that'll leap into life when required. You'll be able to see the time, phone notifications, calendar, stock and news updates from a handful of chosen publishers. Tap the temple tips (also known as earpieces) and you'll be able to speak to an AI to answer questions or dictate a note without touching your phone at all. Open the app to activate heads-up turn-by-turn directions, access real-time translation and use the glasses as a portable teleprompter. On devices like this, the limited feature set goes hand-in-hand with lowered expectations: If it promises the basics and delivers them, all good, right? Problems arise when it fails to do them well, or if it's obvious to anyone there are features that would work here but have been omitted. The G1 doesn't stumble on the essentials, but I do find myself flip-flopping about how much praise they should get. They're useful right now, but I'd love to see how much better they'll get in a year or two. Hardware Daniel Cooper for Engadget Until the laws of physics change quite dramatically, smart glasses will always be noticeably bigger and heavier than their siblings. But the G1 is hardly an embarrassment in those stakes, and while chunky, they're not comically oversized. The frame is built from magnesium and titanium alloy and weighs in at 44 grams. That's more than the 26 grams my regular glasses weigh, but not to such an extent that it's burdensome. It's no surprise to learn some of the company's leadership team came from the glasses industry, including stints at high-end eyewear brand Lindberg and Mykita. Each lens houses a rectangular waveguide with a 25-degree field of view displaying a 640 x 200 20Hz dot matrix green monochrome screen. It brings to mind the old workstation terminals from the early 1990s. This isn't shameless hipsterism, since green is more easily seen by the eye, and it also reduces the display's power consumption, which is useful since the maximum brightness is 1,000 nits, and you'll need all of it to see your screen on a bright day. Much of the hardware is housed in the temple tips - the bits sitting behind your ears, if you're not au fait with glasses terminology. These chunky boxes include the wireless charging gear, 160mAh battery, Bluetooth LE 5.2 radio and the touch control sensors. As for the rest, the projector and microphones are housed in the end pieces (the hinges on the frame), and that's it. There's no camera, speakers, headphones, bone conduction audio or any touch surface along the arms themselves, because the makers expect you to have your own camera and audio gear. In the box, you'll get the glasses and USB-C charging case, the latter of which has its own 2,000mAh battery which the company says will charge your glasses two and a half times before you need to head back to a socket. You can also get a pair of clip-on sunglass lenses for your specs to ensure you can wear them outdoors. I had initially presumed, given the heft of the original investment, that the clip-on glasses were thrown in but no, they'll set you back an additional $100 in the US, 100 in Europe or 85 in the UK. Glasses need to be up to the challenge of withstanding the same conditions the rest of your head is exposed to. Even Realities says the G1 can resist a splash" or "light rain," but doesn't include a specific IP rating, so you may need to baby them a little. There is only one size of the G1 available, and the company says it'll suit anyone with a pupillary distance between 54 and 80. The temples can be adjusted to go looser or tighter, depending on the unique topography of your skull. But the frames are fairly stylish, and if you prefer the rounded Panto" style of glasses, or a squarer one, you can opt for the B1 model instead. Naturally, glasses aren't a one-and-done deal, with most folks changing their prescriptions on a bi-annual basis. Even Realities says that you should be able to send your glasses back to HQ when your eyesight changes, along with your updated prescription, for up-to-date lenses. In the EU that'll cost 230, or if you're further abroad, 240 ($260). Random musing about Smart Glasses vs AR I've deliberately not referred to the G1 as a pair of augmented reality glasses because I don't think they fit the description. The dictionary says AR is anything that puts a digital view in front of the real world, but that's too broad a definition. After all, if I held a paper map in my line of sight I wouldn't be augmenting my reality as the map doesn't engage with its environment. And it's the same thing here - just because the display in question is transparent doesn't, for me, move the needle enough for it to be classified as AR. In-use Daniel Cooper for Engadget Charge the glasses, download the app and you'll walk through the brief setup and tutorial process. Software updates take around five minutes each time, surprisingly long given the low-tech nature of the system. Put the glasses on and you'll notice the waveguide prisms add a slight tint to whatever you're looking at. For instance, when staring at a white page on my computer, the prism adds a hint of gold that's noticeable compared to the white around it. The glasses are deactivated by default, behaving like any regular pair of specs as you go about your day. If you want to look up at the dashboard, which is your home screen, you'll need to tilt your head up. This is the first thing you'll define in the settings: How far you need to move your head up to trigger the dashboard. I found I had to tweak it regularly, given my head naturally drift upwards more often when I'm, say, relaxing against the sofa versus standing at my desk. Daniel Cooper for Engadget The dashboard is the first sign the G1 has some limitations. You only have three layout options for what you can see, one of which is the Status Pane, which is always on. Status shows you the time, date, temperature, a notification indicator and (when required) low battery warnings. You can add one widget or two, but if you pick two, one of those widgets will default to your calendar. The other widgets include News, Stocks, QuickNotes or a Map. News, Stocks and Maps feel like the default options you get with every gadget while its makers work out what its users really want and need. The news feed pulls from a handful of outlets and you can select from which categories (Politics, Science, Sports and the like) you want to see. The map view gives you a little peek at your location to the nearest 25, 50 or 100 meters, which I'm sure is helpful for some folks, like delivery drivers. But I'm not sure there are many folks who want or need to have this information so immediately at hand. Notifications You'll be able to gatekeep which apps you can permit to be put through to your glasses, and when you get a message, a speech bubble will pop up on your blank display. When it appears, you can just flick your head up to see the message, or tap the temple tip while in Dashboard. It's the same limited message you would get with any basic wearable connected to your iPhone. The obvious benefit is removing the need for you to get your phone out of your pocket or look at your wrist. On a Saturday jaunt into the city, several of my group chats sprung into life and I was able to keep abreast of the conversation without having to look at my phone. That was a real benefit, as I'd have been frustrated if I'd have had to check my pocket on the regular for messages that didn't entirely concern me. The only downside is that you can't do anything with the messages, like respond to them, unless you do finally succumb to your phone. Teleprompt, Transcribe and QuickNote Even Realities Even if you're comfortable speaking off the cuff, using the G1 as a teleprompter is a staggeringly good idea. As soon as I started using it, I was thinking they would be great for shooting review videos, as well as giving presentations and acting. Hell, I've recited the Gettysburg Address a few too many times in the last week. The glasses will also offer a way to turn what it's hearing into text, either with the dedicated Transcription setup, or the QuickNote action. For the latter, all you need to do is touch a temple tip and you can then speak, with the system picking up your words and turning them into text. You'll then be able to read the note, and play back the audio recording in the app, although you can only share the text of what you've said. It's perhaps a lot more pertinent to journalists than other folks but the ability to have such easy access to a tool like this is exciting. Translation The G1s presently support real-time translation of 24 languages, including the major European languages, Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Turkish. After you open the app, select the language in question and activate the feature, you'll get a translation two or three seconds later when someone talks to you. I've tested the feature with native French and Turkish speakers and while the translations did at times miss a word, the overall sentiment was well conveyed. Without a doubt, this is one of the glasses' most eye-catching and useful features, since it subtitles the real world. But while the idea and implementation is all there, it's not as sci-fi perfect as it could or should be, and that's a problem. For a start, there's the obvious moment you have to wait for while the system translates what your counterpart has said. Then there's the fact it'll translate anything it can hear, so when I asked my Turkish friend to speak to me, and then I read out the translation in English, the glasses tried to translate my response back into English. Everything's far more reliant on the app than it could be - you can't activate the feature or swap languages without having the phone in your hand. If you were able to switch the options around with a tap on the touch sensor, you could theoretically have a conversation just with the glasses. But as soon as you need the phone in your hand, it's easier to just open up Google Translate and harness the power of conversation mode. Navigation The ability to project basic information in your line of sight is enormously helpful when it comes to navigation. After all, if you're wandering around unfamiliar streets, then you probably don't want to appear to look like you're lost. Certainly, the spate of phone thefts where well-prepared poachers snatch devices from people's hands is a sign of that. Much like every other feature, you'll start by... opening the app, activating the navigation pane and setting your destination. You can pick walking or cycling directions, and you'll get a turn-by-turn layout on the phone as well as in the glasses. Once the route has been calculated, which will take a second, you can put the phone in your pocket and start moving around. On the left, you'll get the road name, an arrow for your direction and the distance in meters before the next move. In the middle, you'll get the projected journey time and distance, and on the right a mini-map showing you the route. Look up (triggering the Dashboard) and you'll get a full sized route map showing your progress as well as an indication of your speed. I'd be lying if I said I didn't adore this feature and would love to test it out while roaming an unfamiliar city, because it's supremely effortless. Even AI Rounding out the spec list is Even AI which, at the tap of the left temple tip, will be available for you to ask questions. Even AI is essentially just an interaction layer for either Perplexity, which is the default AI client, or ChatGPT. Press the button and you'll be able to ask it questions, the answers of which will then be displayed in your field of view. If you have a beginner's knowledge of AI, by which I mean a fundamental distrust of anything it says, then this might be useful. Defining words, answering basic questions like Who is Florence Nightingale" and looking up facts like the price of Bitcoin are all easily done. But that's all, I think, I'd trust any AI to do, given how generally incapable of providing useful information it is. Controls There are two buttons, one on each temple tip, which will let you engage EvenAI or QuickNotes and scroll through notifications. Two buttons, however, even with the ability to accept multiple taps, is a little too few input mechanisms for a device this sophisticated. I keep thinking about the ways you can control true wireless headphones with all of that rhythmic tapping and that's just for audio playback. It means you'll be relying on your phone a lot more than you may like, and while it's not a deal breaker, it is an issue. After all, if these glasses offer a way of spending more time engaging with the world around me, then I don't want to be constantly snatching up my phone. I imagine this is another area that, as the software develops and more commands can be incorporated into the buttons, things will get easier. But it is, for now, a fairly significant frustration. Battery Life I'd consider myself a fairly heavy user, and I would regularly get a day and a half's worth of life from the G1 glasses before needing a recharge. It's vexing in the extreme that the glasses don't have an off switch, so they'll be draining an admittedly small amount of power when not in use. I suspect, if I was living with these full time, I'd get into the habit of keeping them in their charging cradle on the nightstand while in bed to avoid any inadvertent losses of power while out and about. Price Even Realities' G1 is available in two different frame styles: The G1A with the panto" round-rim style and the G1B, with a rectangular frame. If I'm honest, I'd have preferred to test the G1B, which is more in keeping with my regular glasses preference, but c'est la vie. The glasses on their own cost $599, with corrective lenses costing you an extra $150 and the sunglass clip an additional $100. It puts these glasses in the same sort of territory as the highest-end designer frames you can get at LensCrafters. I'm not sure there's a mainstream competitor sitting in exactly the same category as the G1. There are similar headsets, like TCL's RayNeo, but that has a far higher resolution display since it promises real AR. The Frame by Brilliant Labs, perhaps, but that only has a display in one lens and relies far more upon AI to operate. Captify's glasses use binocular vision but are only designed to offer real-time captioning for users with hearing loss. Vuzix's Z100 only has the display in one lens and, as far as I understand it, Meizu's Myvu glasses are only available in eastern countries. Which means, for now, Even Realities is your one stop for a product like this. And while they're not in the same category at all, it feels negligent to not even mention Meta and Ray-Ban's Wayfarers. The retail price may be cheaper but, once you've added prescription lenses they'll set you back around $600, putting them close to the G1. But they're obviously a very different product, with no heads-up display and a greater emphasis on AI and photography. Wrap-Up Daniel Cooper for Engadget I really like Even Realities' G1 for what they can do right now, but I'm also hopeful that it'll get far more useful in the future. It seems to me there are so many things that could be tweaked, primped and plumped to make these far more appealing. I'd love to be able to switch the translation mode with a press of the temple tip, so I could get a translation of what's said, flip it to translate my English to the other language and then say it back to them so we could actually have a(n admittedly stilted) conversation. Adding reminders and other options to the dashboard would make it a lot more desirable to use. Hell, imagine a future dashboard update that pulls your step count from your phone so you can see how well you're moving. Not to mention the ability to offer some form of real-time captioning for users who may have hearing issues. I'm not going to judge the G1 on its potential but for what it offers now, and what it offers now is plenty good enough. The biggest obstacle is the price, but what can you expect for a first generation product in a niche category? When speaking to friends about them, many said if the price wasn't that much more than a regular pair of glasses, they'd struggle to say no to what's on offer here. And I agree, once you've had a taste of the functionality that's on show here, it's hard to go back to normal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/even-realities-g1-review-limited-but-effective-smart-glasses-140059586.html?src=rss
Nothing has enough storage these days. Whether it's a Mac or a PS5, it feels like everyone I know spends far too much time deleting things on their devices to clear up space. That annoyance is what makes SSDs so appealing, especially the Crucial X9 Pro. We find the Crucial X9 Pro to be the best portable SSD for most people and, right now, the 1TB model is down to $70 from $101. The 31 percent discount brings this device to only $10 more than its all-time low price. If you need even more storage then pick up the 2TB option for $120, down from $180, or the 4TB one for $210, down from $279. The Crucial X9 Pro is our favorite portable SSD for a few reasons, including excellent performance for its speed class and its very compact size. It uses a USB-C cord to connect with devices like an Xbox, PC, PS4 or 5, Mac and more. Plus, it offers a five-year warranty. One of our biggest quips with the Crucial X9 Pro is the price, but the sale really takes care of that. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-portable-ssd-is-up-to-33-percent-off-right-now-140645047.html?src=rss
Anker's lifestyle brand Eufy has already swallowed a big chunk of the robot vacuum market and now it's got its sights on your yard. The company has been sharing details of its first two robot mowers since the start of the year, and now they're ready to start selling them. Eufy's E15 and E18 are designed to automate one of the most tedious jobs around the home - if you're able to pay. I've been testing an E15 for the last few weeks ahead of their retail debut today and I'm fairly impressed. Early robot mowers needed a boundary wire to tell them where they were allowed to mow. But digging a trench around your lawn is time consuming, costly and less than ideal if you eventually move. It prompted companies to pivot to other methods, such as GPS or RTK (real time kinematics) to navigate. Eufy, however, is harnessing its computer vision know-how to trim your lawn with even less fuss, calling its technology visual full self-driving," or vFSD. Yes, I know. Anker says there are plenty of benefits in using cameras over GPS, like more reliable mowing and better obstacle avoidance. Daniel Cooper for Engadget The E15 is capable of covering lawns up to 800 square meters while the E18 will conquer lands as broad as 1,200 square meters. If you assumed, like I did, that the difference between the two is battery size, you'll be mistaken - both have the same 4,200mAh battery, but the E18 has more on-board memory to accommodate a bigger map size. Otherwise, they are the same machine, with an adjustable cutting height between 25 - 75mm, a maximum climb of 18 degrees and a combined GPS / 4G anti-theft system. One feature I'm very partial to is that the garage (the mower's charging station) comes with a rain cover, meaning fewer worries if you're out and the weather suddenly gets a bit intense. Not that it's necessary, since the hardware is rated IPX6 - enough to withstand being cleaned with a hose. Setting up the E15 is painless so long as your lawn is nicely mown, with the grass no taller than 3.5 inches. All you'll need to do is fix the garage in place with some hefty ground screws, hook it up to power and connect it to your home's Wi-Fi. Then all you'll need to do is send it out for one or two mapping runs in order for it to get a sense of your space. Daniel Cooper for Engadget My lawn is cut into a hill, with a sunken pathway and a 1.5 meter drop at one end, which is a problem. Since it maps visually, I opted to babysit the mower during the process to make sure it didn't hurl itself into the chasm. I also have a small lean-to wood shed with a green roof (at the bottom of the chasm) that I reckoned a computer vision system could easily mistake for grass, so I wanted to keep an eye on it. Once it had made a few too many furtive advances toward that roof, I paused the mapping, sent the E15 back to its garage and set up a keep out zone in the app before finishing the job. Once that was done, however, the E15 very easily staked out the rest of the space and made sure it could get nicely close to the path without going over. From there, you're doing everything of note within the app. You can set the cutting height as low as 25mm or as high as 75mm, and can also set the unit's movement and cutting speed - letting you use more power if you're pressed for time. Plus, you can schedule mows, and if the device detects rain or too much wet in the grass, it'll head back to base until things have dried out. One feature I'm a big fan of is that it's the first such machine I've encountered that lets you set a cutting direction for stripes. It's not that I have an issue with most robomowers' chaotic mowing per se, but I've always seen striped lawns as desirable. While the unit isn't going to give you the sort of over-manicured, inch-perfect stripes you'd find at a tennis club, you can at least see the contrast. Daniel Cooper for Engadget An additional benefit of remote control is that if it does run into an issue and you're not at home, you can activate a remote control mode. Not only are you able to access the camera feed, but you can trigger on-screen controls to navigate out of any tricky spots it might have wound up in. It's funny, but something I didn't notice, but my in-laws did when they visited, was how shockingly quiet the E15 was. When I set the hardware running to satisfy their curiosity, they were baffled that the thing was scuttling around on the lawn making almost no noise whatsoever. It's certainly a perk, especially if you choose to set this thing off for a scheduled trim in the early morning - it's quiet enough that even the ants probably won't complain. All in all, I like the package Eufy is offering, and it even handled some of my misgivings about its computer vision system. If I have gripes, it's not really about the E-series at all and more about this category of product generally. For a start, robot mowers may not get every square inch of your lawn, especially if some of your edges neighbor deep crevasses, like mine. That means you'll still need to go out there every once in a while with a weed wacker to trim the borders of your turf. And I'd still love nothing more than to be able to exert more control over the initial mapping phase to eliminate some of the trial and error. I wish for a system that would let me use my phone as a tool to trace the outside edge of a space myself, to set some basic expectations. Sure, the hardware would still have to scuttle around making sure it can get where I need it to go, but it'd save some of the busywork for both of us. The Eufy E15 (800 sqm) and E18 (1,200 sqm) are available to order today from Eufy and Amazon. The E15 will set you back $1,599, while E18 is priced at $1,999. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/eufys-new-robot-mowers-use-smart-vision-to-trim-your-grass-130008542.html?src=rss
Google's Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are on sale via Amazon for just $179. This is a record-low price, as they normally cost $229. This deal is available for multiple colorways, including black, pink, beige and green. These little cuties easily made our list of the best wireless earbuds. We admired the comfortable and secure fit and the addition of the Tensor chip to handle audio and ANC processing. They also offer a hands-free way to initiate Gemini AI. However, the main reason we recommend these earbuds is that they sound great. They provide a good low-end, which is tough to do with earbuds, and crunchy highs. Google says it redesigned the entire audio system and it shows. We called out the noticeable improvement" over the original Pixel Buds Pro earbuds in our official review. There are plenty of nifty features to set these earbuds apart from the competition. They can detect conversations and automatically adjust audio accordingly. Find My Device support is also included. They offer spatial audio with certain apps. The buds get around eight hours of use per charge, but 30 hours when considering the included charging case. There are only two downsides here. The Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are incredibly small, which is cool, that means making adjustments on their equally tiny touch panels can be difficult. Also, the original asking price of $229 is certainly high. This sale alleviates that particular issue. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/googles-pixel-buds-pro-2-are-on-sale-for-a-record-low-price-164743633.html?src=rss
The iPhone's lock screen isn't just the place you check the time or your notifications anymore - it's a fully customizable space where you can express your personality, highlight your favorite photos and even stay on top of your day with helpful widgets. With iOS 18, Apple has given users even more control, letting you personalize your home screen and adjust lock screen controls..Whether you want something functional, minimal, photo-heavy or playful, we'll walk you through exactly how to make your lock screen your own - from changing fonts and adding widgets to switching between screens throughout the day.How to create a custom lock screenTo start personalizing, you'll first need to create a new lock screen or modify an existing one.
Blackmagic Design has unveiled DaVinci Resolve 20, the latest version of its editing app with free and paid versions that's a popular alternative to Adobe's Premiere Pro. The update offers over 100 new features including many powered by AI, along with improved cloud support and major quality-of-life updates to the cut, edit, color and fusion pages. One of the key new features is called AI IntelliScript that can automatically generate a timeline based on the original project script. "AI IntelliScript will match the transcribed audio in media clips to the script and construct a timeline of the best selected takes, with any alternative takes placed on additional tracks for editor review," Blackmagic wrote. That new feature could drastically speed workflow for editors (like myself) who often use standup or voiceover clips. Another key feature is the AI Set Extender that can create a scene extension to fill an entire frame based on a text prompt. If you want to reframe a shot or delete something, for instance, you can simply tell DaVinci Resolve what you want and it'll fill in the blanks. "Customers can even create new backgrounds behind foreground objects," the company wrote. Other new AI features include AI Animated Subtitles, AI Mulltcam SmartSwitch (which can assemble a timeline based on who is speaking) and AI Audio Assistant. The latter can create a "professional audio mix" with a single click, according to Blackmagic Design. Finally, the AI Detect Music Beats feature does just that, analyzing music and automatically placing beat markers in the timeline. Along with the AI stuff, DaVinci Resolve has a number of quality-of-life improvements in the cut, edit, color and fusion pages. Davinci Resolve Studio 20 (the paid version) now supports Apple Immersive Video on Apple Vision Pro, allowing creators to edit, color grade, mix audio and deliver Apple Immersive video capture on the company's recently launched URSA Cine Immersive camera. Blackmagic Design Other updates include improved Blackmagic Cloud support with improved collaboration tools, easier editing for vertical video, new voiceover palettes, a dedicated keyframe editor in cut and edit, a new Text+ tool, direct voiceover recording and more. On the color page, there's a new chroma warp function that lets you adjust color and saturation with a single motion. And the Fairlight audio page has a new feature that lets adjust a target clip's audio to match a reference clip, dynamic EQ to match tonality throughout a clip and Level Matcher to ensure that levels remain consistent in a given timeline. A full list of features can be found on Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve 20 product page. It's now available to download in a public beta, and as usual, DaVinci Resolve 20 is free to download while DaVinci Resolve 20 Studio costs $295 with no subscription required. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/davinci-resolve-20s-latest-ai-feature-can-create-an-entire-timeline-based-on-a-script-120009351.html?src=rss
If you were wondering whether it'd be possible to ferment foods in space, the answer is apparently yes. In a study published in the journal iScience, researchers from the US and Denmark say they were able to make decent-tasting miso on the International Space Station - but the flavor and smell was distinct from that of miso made on Earth. While it still scored well in the taste tests, with similar ratings to Earth miso in qualities like umami and saltiness, the ISS miso was found to taste nuttier and more roasted than the usual stuff.The team suggests the findings reflect a sort of space terroir," playing off the term often used in relation to wine grapes to describe unique, location-specific flavor characteristics. For the study, the researchers sent a package containing the miso paste ingredients (cooked soybeans, rice koji and salt) to the ISS in March 2020, and let it ferment for 30 days. They also started miso batches back at home in Cambridge, MA and Copenhagen, Denmark, and monitored the environmental conditions of each setup. After a month, the space miso was sent back and analyzed in comparison to the Earth batches.There are some features of the space environment in low earth orbit - in particular microgravity and increased radiation - that could have impacts on how microbes grow and metabolize and thus how fermentation works," co-lead author Joshua D. Evans of Technical University of Denmark said in a press release. We wanted to explore the effects of these conditions."Not only were there differences in flavor, including the notable roasted nuttiness of the space miso, but also in the microbial composition of the misos. The team concluded that overall, the space miso is a miso," but says the findings suggest a specific fermentation environment in space."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/researchers-who-made-miso-in-space-say-it-tastes-good-but-different-215410333.html?src=rss
A Minecraft Movie has reportedly surpassed the record previously set by 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie for the biggest ever domestic box office opening of a video game adaptation. The new movie, which was released in theaters on Friday, raked in $157 million in the US in its opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A Minecraft Movie is doing well internationally, too; THR reports that it's earned $301M altogether in its global debut. The Super Mario Bros. Movie pulled in $146 million in its domestic opening and $377 million globally.A Minecraft Movie stars Jack Black, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks and Jennifer Coolidge. And while the trailers left us with pretty low expectations in the leadup to its release, Engadget's Devindra Hardawar found that it's actually a pretty good kids' movie that delivers a decent message about championing creativity in a world that wants to beat down free-thinking non-conformists." You can read the full review here.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/a-minecraft-movie-just-set-a-new-record-with-the-biggest-opening-ever-for-a-video-game-adaptation-in-the-us-192934482.html?src=rss
Lexar this week announced what it says is the world's first 1TB microSD Express card in time for the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo has said that the Switch 2 will only support microSD Express cards, not the regular microSD you may already have been using in your old Switch. There are three storage capacity options to choose from with Lexar's new Play Pro microSDXC Express Card: 1TB ($199.99), 512GB ($99.99) and 256GB ($49.99). Buyers have already snatched them up fast, though, so you'll have to wait until they're back in stock if you want to grab one. According to Lexar, the Play Pro microSDXC Express Card offers read speeds of up to 900MB/s and write speeds up to 600MB/s. GameStop also introduced a 1TB microSD Express card alongside a 512GB and a 256GB option, all of which are compatible with Nintendo Switch 2, but those won't ship until June when the new console arrives. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lexar-made-a-1tb-microsd-express-card-that-works-with-nintendo-switch-2-175335976.html?src=rss
Meta has released the first two models from its multimodal Llama 4 suite: Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick. Maverick is the workhorse" of the two and excels at image and text understanding for general assistant and chat use cases," the company said in a blog post, while the smaller model Scout could tackle things like multi-document summarization, parsing extensive user activity for personalized tasks, and reasoning over vast codebases." The company also introduced Llama 4 Behemoth, an upcoming model it says is among the world's smartest LLMs" - and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said we'll be hearing about a fourth model, Llama 4 Reasoning, in the next month."Both Maverick and Scout are available to download now from the Llama website and Hugging Face, and they've been added to Meta AI, including for WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram DMs.MetaScout has 17 billion active parameters with 16 experts, Meta says. According to Zuckerberg, It's extremely fast, natively multimodal, and has an industry leading, nearly infinite 10 million token context length, and it is designed to run on a single GPU." Maverick on the other hand has 17 billion active parameters with 128 experts. The company says it beats competitors like GPT-4o and Gemini 2.0 on coding, reasoning, multilingual, long-context and image benchmarks, and stacks up against DeepSeek v3.1 on reasoning and coding.Zuckerberg is already calling the upcoming Behemoth model, which is still training, the highest performing base model in the world," with 288 billion active parameters, according to the company. It may not be here yet, but it's likely we'll be hearing a lot more about that and the Reasoning model soon; Meta's big AI developer conference, LlamaCon, is just a few weeks away.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-introduces-llama-4-with-two-new-models-available-now-and-two-more-on-the-way-214524295.html?src=rss
Amazon's new feature could make it easier to get into the latest release in a series, especially if it's been some time since you've read the previous books. The new Recaps feature is part of the latest software update for the Kindle, and the company compares it to "Previously on..." segments you can watch for TV shows. Amazon announced Recaps in a blog post, where it said that you can get access to it once you receive the software update over the air or after you download and install it from Amazon's website. Amazon didn't talk about the technology behind the feature in its post, but a spokesperson has confirmed to TechCrunch that the recaps will be AI generated.Shortly after the feature rolled out, users talked about it on social media, wondering if Amazon is using generative AI to write series summaries. They expressed concerns about the use of generative AI, especially about the possibility of the technology hallucinating plot elements that aren't actually in the books. "We use technology, including GenAI and Amazon moderators, to create short recaps of books that accurately reflect book content," Amazon spokesperson Ale Iraheta told the publication. Iraheta assured TechCrunch that Amazon's recaps are accurate, but of course, use it at your own risk.At the moment, the Recaps feature is available for best-selling English-language book series on all Kindle devices in the US. To know if your favorite series has one, look for the "View Recaps" button within the series page in your Kindle library. It will soon be available for the Kindle app on iOS, as well.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/amazon-will-use-ai-to-generate-recaps-for-book-series-on-the-kindle-170018503.html?src=rss
UK-based Jaguar Land Rover says it's pausing shipments to the US after President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on passenger vehicles and other auto imports. The pause will be in effect this month, the Associated Press reports. While the full impact of the tariffs remains to be seen, analysts have said the move could ultimately drive up the cost of new and even used cars.The USA is an important market for JLR's luxury brands," Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement to AP. As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans."Trump's tariffs go well beyond the auto industry, and we're only seeing the beginning of how the US' trading partners will respond. The president announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on all countries" this week, and some will face even higher reciprocal" tariffs. Among the immediate effects, Nintendo has delayed pre-orders of the new Switch 2 in the US.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/jaguar-land-rover-pauses-us-shipments-while-it-figures-out-a-plan-for-trumps-tariffs-172512506.html?src=rss
Amazon has started testing another AI-powered feature called "Buy for Me," which allows the e-commerce company to make purchases for you from other websites. Specifically, from the actual website of a brand you're looking looking up. The experience is built into the Amazon app. When you search for an item from a particular brand, you may see a section of results labeled "Shop brand sites directly" separate from the results you'll get from Amazon and its third-party sellers.If you click on the "Buy for Me" button underneath an item in the separate results section, you'll be taken to a product detail page right inside the Amazon app. The company says the page will provide relevant product information similar to the product details in Amazon's own listings. Amazon will purchase the item for you from the brand's website if you decide to go through with the transaction. It uses agentic AI, a type of AI that doesn't need human intervention, to provide your name, address and payment details for the checkout process. Your details are encrypted, Amazon says, and it will not be able to see your previous and future orders from brands' websites. You'll receive a confirmation email from the brand store itself for your purchase, but you can track your order within the Amazon app through the new Buy for Me Orders tab in the Your Orders page.The company told us that it's not getting a commission from your purchases made through the experimental feature, but it didn't say if it was going to get a cut from sales in the future. For now, the feature is still in beta and will only be available to a subset of customers on the US on its iOS and Amazon apps. The test will also only feature a limited number of brand stores and products for now. Just a few days ago, Amazon also released an AI-powered feature called "Interests," which can process prompts in every day language related to your, well, interests. You can, for instance, type in "Brewing tools and gadgets for coffee lovers" to get relevant notifications for Amazon's deals and offerings.AmazonUpdate, April 05, 2025, 09:25 AM ET: Amazon told us it's not getting a commission from this experimental feature. This story has been updated to reflect that.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/amazons-buy-for-me-ai-will-purchase-stuff-from-third-party-websites-123036361.html?src=rss
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