ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, has debuted a new app designed to make it easier for creators to compose and edit music they could use for their content. The app called Ripple is only available in the US for now, and the company is testing it in a closed beta environment. ByteDance says it can assist creators in the way portable smart digital audio workstations (DAWs) can and is perhaps most useful for beginners and anybody who'd rather not deal with more complex systems. It was also designed to make it easier for creators to add custom soundtracks to their short-form videos for TikTok and other platforms.Ripple can create songs in various genres based on a melody the user hums. The app prompts them into humming into the phone mic and then generates instrumentals they can use, such as drums, bass and piano. The length of the song output will match the length of the input, though - the app can't generate a full soundtrack from just a few seconds of humming. Also, Ripple can only generate instrumental music, leaving the vocal work to creators.ByteDance told us that Ripple's model was trained on music it owns and music that was licensed to the company. The company also said that it's committed to respecting the rights of its artists and its rightsholder partners. To note, there have been concerns about the source of data used to train artificial intelligence systems and algorithms. Just recently, a lawsuit seeking class action status was filed against OpenAI, accusing it of violating the copyrights and privacy of countless individuals by using data scraped from the internet to train the model used for ChatGPT.At the moment, Ripple is invite-only, and ByteDance doesn't have further rollout plans yet. Those who want to check it out before anybody else can visit Ripple.club, where they can find a download link for the app on iOS and from where they can request an invite.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-owner-bytedance-debuts-ripple-music-creation-app-130023602.html?src=rss
This episode, Cherlynn is joined by senior writer Sam Rutherford and senior commerce editor at Wired Julian Chokkattu to talk about our reviews of the Pixel Fold. Will the recent spate of foldables by companies like Motorola and Google give Samsung some real competition and motivation to step up its game? We can only wait to find out. Samsung is holding its next Galaxy Unpacked in late July, and we'll see what it will unveil then. This episode, we also take a look at the latest addition to the Google Graveyard and the state of the podcast industry.Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!Subscribe!
Last year, Twitter sued India over orders to block content within the country, saying the government had applied its 2021 IT laws "arbitrarily and disproportionately." Now, India's Karnataka High Court has dismissed the plea, with a judge saying Twitter had failed to explain why it delayed complying with the new laws in the first place, TechCrunch has reported. The court also imposed a 5 million rupee ($61,000 fine) on the Elon Musk-owned firm."Your client (Twitter) was given notices and your client did not comply. Punishment for non-compliance is seven years imprisonment and unlimited fine. That also did not deter your client," the judge told Twitter's legal representation. "So you have not given any reason why you delayed compliance, more than a year of delay... then all of sudden you comply and approach the Court. You are not a farmer but a billon dollar company."Twitter's relationship with India was fraught for much of 2021. In February, the government threatened to jail Twitter employees unless the company removed content related to protests by farmers held that year. Shortly after that, India ordered Twitter to pull tweets criticizing the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, the government ordered Twitter to block tweets from Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that claimed India was an example of a country where freedom of the press is on the decline.Those incidents put Twitter in a compromising situation. It either had to comply with government orders to block content (and face censorship criticism inside and outside the country), or ignore them and risk losing its legal immunity. In August, it complied with the orders and took down content as ordered.The court order follows recent comments from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, saying that India threatened to raid employees homes if it didn't comply with orders to remove posts and accounts. In a tweet, India's deputy minister for information technique called that "an outright lie" saying Twitter was "in non-compliance with the law."Twitter filed the suit around the same time that Elon Musk started trying to wiggle out of buying Twitter. Since then, Twitter has often complied with government takedown requests - most recently in Turkey, where it limited access to some tweets ahead of a tightly contested election won by incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitters-lawsuit-over-censorship-in-india-has-been-dismissed-114031691.html?src=rss
I've said it before, but I'll say it again here: There aren't many options left when it comes to true compact smartphones. (RIP, iPhone mini). But ASUS is willing to offer something. The new Zenfone 10 looks like a carbon copy of its predecessor, and even its 50-megapixel main camera has remained unchanged. Still, the company claims that it's now powered by a new version of 6-axis gimbal stabilization - a combination of hardware optical stabilization, upgraded electronic stabilization algorithm and fast auto-focus. This apparently lets you capture smoother videos and less blurry photos while on the move. ASUS has extended its "Connex" modular case system once again, which lets you snap either a kickstand or a silicone cardholder into the grid of holes on the back of the case. You can even assign an app - YouTube, by default - to auto-launch whenever the kickstand is flipped out. The Zenfone 10 (all details right here) will be available for pre-order in Europe from June 29, starting from 799 (about $870), with US availability TBC.- Mat SmithYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox, daily. Subscribe right here!The biggest stories you might have missedThe best cheap phones for 2023The Steam Deck is up to $130 off during the Steam Summer SaleRazer's new gaming mouse can seamlessly flip between five profilesApple's Beats Studio Pro could include head-tracking spatial audioAll the big tech layoffs of 2023 Meta explains how its AI decides what you see on Facebook and InstagramVirgin Galactic completes its first commercial spaceflightThe debut is 10 years in the making.VirginVirgin Galactic has completed its first commercial flight. After launching aboard the mothership VMS Eve, the spaceship VSS Unity reached an altitude of around 52 miles, or the edge of space. Itss first client was the Italian government, which had the aim of conducting microgravity research. The company's first fully crewed spaceflight took place in 2021, when Unity hit an altitude of 53.4 miles with founder Richard Branson on board. However, commercial service was delayed multiple times for different reasons, most recently due to issues with upgrading the mothership VMS Eve. From a financial perspective, the launch was crucial for Virgin Galactic. With no paying customers until now, the company has lost money for years, with it burning more than $500 million in 2022 alone.Continue reading.It's a good time to be a fighting-game fanIt's the biggest year for fighting games since the 90s.While fighting games may never have the same mass-market appeal they did in the '90s, 2023 is proving to be a mini-renaissance for the genre. Street Fighter 6 is already on sale, Mortal Kombat 1 is arriving this fall, and there's Tekken 8 still to come. That's without mentioning the upcoming reboot of Dead or Alive or Riot Games' League of Legends spin-off Project L. It's a good time to be a fighting game fan.Continue reading.Google will pull news links in Canada in response to new lawThe search firm is joining Meta in reacting to Bill C-18.Meta isn't the only internet heavyweight removing news content in response to Canada's newly enacted Bill C-18 (aka the Online News Act), which requires that tech companies negotiate compensation with publishers for linked material. Google now says it will pull links to Canadian news stories from its search, News and Discover services in the country. It will also stop operating its News Showcase in Canada when C-18 takes effect in six months. As with Meta, Google is using the threat of blocking news as a bargaining tool, but there's no guarantee of a compromise. Politicians drafted Bill C-18 after concerns about a steep drop in ad revenue for publications over the past two decades.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-asus-attempts-the-flagship-compact-smartphone-again-111527675.html?src=rss
Joby Aviation has been cleared by the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) to start flight tests on its first production prototype air taxi, the company wrote in a press release. It's a large step in the company's aim to start shipping the eVTOL aircraft (electric vertical takeoff and landing) to customers in 2024 and launch an air taxi service by 2025."The aircraft will now undergo initial flight testing before being delivered to Edwards Air Force Base, California, where it will be used to demonstrate a range of potential logistics use cases," Joby wrote.The aircraft can take off and land like a helicopter, then tilt its six rotors horizontally and fly like an airplane at up to 200 MPH. It's designed to carry a pilot and four passengers over a distance up to 100 miles on a charge - enough range for most types of air taxi operations. At the same time, Joby claims it's nearly silent in cruise mode and 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing.Joby's first production prototype recently rolled off the company's assembly line in Marina, California. The plant was built in partnership with Toyota, Joby's largest investor with a $394 million stake. Cementing that relationship, Joby announced that it was appointing Toyota North America CEO Tetsuo (Ted) Ogawa to the board of directors.With the the FAA's special airworthiness certificate in hand, Joby can perform flight tests of full production aircraft, following tests with full-scale prototypes that began in 2017. In May last year, the company received another crucial permit, the FAA's Part 135 air carrier certificate for commercial operations. It recently teamed with Delta Air Lines to offer travel to and from airports, and its website shows a scenario of flying from downtown NYC to JFK airport in just seven minutes compared to 49 minutes in a car.Now, Joby must clear the largest hurdle with full FAA type and production certification in order to take paying passengers on commercial flights. That's likely about 18 months away, aerospace engineer and Vertical Flight Society director Mike Hirschberg told New Scientist. Its first customer would be the US Air Force, as part of a $131 million contract under the military's Agility Prime program, with deliveries set for 2024.Alll that puts the company tantalizingly close to delivering a true air taxi service, something that has eluded numerous other manufacturers to date. Last year, the Kittyhawk aircraft backed by Larry Page shut down, and other companies like Ehang, Archer, Volocopter and even Airbus aren't as far along as Joby. "This first aircraft coming off our pilot manufacturing line is a really, really big deal for the company," Joby CEO JoeBen Bevirt told TechCrunch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/joby-aviations-first-production-air-taxi-cleared-for-flight-tests-093526681.html?src=rss
Meta is gearing up to debut a new type of Facebook ads that will allow users in the European Union to download apps without having to visit their mobile platform's app store, according to The Verge. Yes, it will offer a direct download option for users, though the capability will likely debut only on Android, because the company is reportedly working with Android developers for its pilot launch later this year.Android users can already install APKs and sideload apps they download through their browsers. However, those apps still use Google's billing system. Meta's alternative way to download apps is supposedly completely independent of both Apple's App Store and Google Play. It'll be possible to introduce such a feature in the EU due to a new law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will go into effect in 2024. Under the DMA's rules, consumers must be able to download apps from competing app stores. "When a gatekeeper engages in unfair practices, such as... preventing installation of applications from other sources, consumers are likely to pay more or are effectively deprived of the benefits that alternative services might have brought," the European Commission said.Tom Channick, a spokesperson for Meta, has confirmed the company's plan to introduce app downloads through Facebook ads to The Verge. "We've always been interested in helping developers distribute their apps, and new options would add more competition in this space," he said. "Developers deserve more ways to easily get their apps to the people that want them." We also reached out to Meta for confirmation and more details. Meta reportedly won't be taking a cut from developers' earnings and will allow them to use whatever billing system they want. For now, anyway. That could change as the service evolves, if it ever gets past the pilot testing phase.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/facebook-may-let-eu-users-download-apps-directly-from-ads-084313006.html?src=rss
YouTube is looking to take a more aggressive approach in preventing viewers from using ad blockers while watching videos on its platform. As BleepingComputer reports, people have been posting screenshots on social networks like Reddit that show a pop-up notice warning them that their player will be blocked after three videos.The warning says YouTube will block their ability to play videos on the platform unless they disable their ad blocker or add the website to their white list. "Ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide," the notice continues. To go ad-free, the company tells users to get a YouTube Premium subscription so "creators can still get paid." Prior to these warnings, YouTube only showed popups to ad blocker users, reminding them that it's against the website's TOS. Eventually, it added a timer to the notices to ensure viewers take the time to read them.The website has confirmed to BleepingComputer that the new alerts are part of an experiment. A spokesperson told the publication that YouTube is "running a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium." They said that YouTube might temporarily disable playback "[i]n extreme cases, where viewers continue their use of ad blockers." The spokesperson added that they will only disable playback "if viewers ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube," though it's unclear if that means YouTube won't automatically block playback after a viewer watches three videos and will give them more opportunities to comply.At the moment, this new approach only affects a small number of users, and YouTube didn't say how many people and regions are part of the test. The website, which makes most of its money from ads, has seen its ad revenue decline over the past three quarters, so we won't be surprised if this test expands to more users around the world should it turn out to be effective.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-test-threatens-to-block-viewers-if-they-continue-using-ad-blockers-053117556.html?src=rss
Activision has employed a string of tactics in its cat-and-mouse battle with Call of Duty cheaters, from making them unable to see targets to simply taking their guns away. The latest measure is one of the first steps that the developers are taking to combat Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0 hackers who use banned tools (for instance, wallhacks) to learn extra information and gain an unfair advantage over others.When Activision's systems detect or suspect a cheater, a "hallucination" may be deployed. These won't impact legitimate players at all and they're designed to disorient hackers. Here's the really clever part: each hallucination is a clone of a real player in the match, according to the Ricochet anti-cheat team. Hallucinations move, look and interact with the world just as a human player would to trick the cheater into thinking they've encountered a genuine opponent.Ricochet says cheaters won't be able to tell the difference between a hallucination and a genuine player at first glance (the team notes that, in the image above, there's one hallucination and one real player). Hallucinations emit the same kinds of hidden information that cheaters receive for legitimate players through their illicit tools. Hallucinations will also be deployed close to suspected cheaters. If a shady-looking player interacts with a hallucination at all, then boom, they'll out themself as a hacker.ActivisionOn the other hand, Ricochet has wound down one of its hacker mitigations. It was called Quicksand and, oddly enough, it would slow down a Call of Duty cheater or freeze them in place. It could mess with their control scheme as well. An updated version of Quicksand may be added in the future, but it's on the shelf for now."While Quicksand was a fun mitigation to deploy against bad actors, it could also be very visually jarring to anyone in the lobby," a Call of Duty blog post reads. "Imagine coming upon an enemy that was moving at a snail's pace in the middle of your rotation out of a hot zone. It could trip you up."Meanwhile, Ricochet provided an update on its efforts to clamp down on the use of XIM-style controller passthrough devices that cheaters use. "Within the first two weeks of launching this detection we saw a 59 percent drop in any use of these devices across Modern Warfare II and Warzone," Team Ricochet wrote. "Of those users, 57 percent of them did not utilize the device again." Persistent users of such devices are penalized, the anti-cheat team noted.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/call-of-duty-is-using-clones-of-real-players-to-mess-with-cheaters-204515183.html?src=rss
Annapurna Interactive is developing a game based on the iconic science fiction film Blade Runner. The game's set between the events of Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, so you can get some closure as to what Deckard was doing before meeting up with Ryan Gosling in an abandoned casino or whatever.Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth follows a Blade Runner - the name on their ID is blanked out in the trailer - as they explore a mysterious location called the land of the dead." You can't tell much from the trailer, but we see footage of what looks like an early version of the memory-crafting technology seen in Blade Runner 2049.Annapurna says this game is actually canon and it takes place just one year after the events of the original film, which would put it directly in the crosshairs of some big events alluded to in the sequel. It's always good to see more Blade Runner in gaming, especially after the criminally underrated and recently remastered 1997 adventure title.It's also important to note that Annapurna Interactive is actually developing this title, and not just publishing it. This is the company's first in-house game, after gaining industry notoriety from publishing titles like Stray, Outer Wilds, Donut County and a whole lot more. Annapurna certainly has great taste, so let's see if this translates to in-house development. There's no release date yet, but it's set to launch on major consoles and PC.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blade-runner-2033-labyrinth-is-a-new-game-set-between-the-two-movies-193828674.html?src=rss
Storyteller is a game about writing, word puzzles and the twisted tales we tell ourselves just to get through the day, and it'll be playable on Android and iOS via Netflix on September 26th. Storyteller is published by Annapurna Interactive and it landed on Switch and PC on March 23rd - after spending more than a decade in development.Solo creator Daniel Benmergui announced Storyteller in 2011, and a prototype of the game actually won the Nuovo award for innovation at the Game Developers Conference in 2012. After that, life happened and Benmergui stopped working on Storytellerfor a few years, but he eventually picked it back up and found a publishing partner in Annapurna.In Storyteller, players compose narrative arcs using comic book-style building blocks, altering the lives, deaths, romances and betrayals of medieval characters in the process. It's a soothing, surprising and often amusing experience that captures the absurdity of the creative writing process.When Storyteller lands on iOS and Android in September, it'll come with free DLC that offers new stories for players to weave. This extra content will come to Switch and PC at the same time, also for free.The Netflix partnership makes sense for Storyteller and plenty of other indie games at the moment. Netflix is rapidly building up its roster of mobile games, all of which are free to play for anyone with a Netflix subscription, and it plans to have nearly 100 titles in its library by the end of the year. Already, Netflix has brought Kentucky Route Zero, Oxenfree, Spiritfarer, Into the Breach, Moonlighter, Laya's Horizon, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, and other notable names to iOS and Android. The company has even purchased a few renowned indie outfits outright, including the home of Oxenfree, Night School Studio.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/storyteller-is-the-latest-hot-indie-game-coming-to-netflix-192701963.html?src=rss
Annapurna Interactive's Thirsty Suitors trailer wraps with the tagline: Battle Your Exes. Disappoint Your Parents. Find Yourself." (If that doesn't proclaim that the upcoming title is venturing off the beaten path, I'm unsure what would.) Annapurna and developer Outerloop Games announced today that the cross-platform RPG about returning home and trying to resolve the disarray of the past arrives on November 2nd.Initially revealed in 2021, Thirsty Suitors places you in the world of Jala, who heads back to the small town of Timber Hills after a brutal breakup." There, she has to face everything she left behind," as narrative lead Meghna Jayanth explains. This includes her immigrant parents' tattered expectations, claustrophobic small-town gossip and a string of messily broken hearts she left in her wake." The action unfolds through cooking with her parents, skating at the local park (but watch out for the no-good punk kids) and stylistically over-the-top turn-based battles against her thirsty ex-suitors."The game's creators say the ex showdowns force Jala to confront each forlorn lover's perspective: You're drawn into a world entirely of their subjective creation. For example, when fighting Sergio, her overconfident, insecure, macho, needy and far far far too thirsty" childhood boyfriend, she sees her immediate environment from his vantage point: a psychic landscape where he's the man he imagines himself to be in reality." In this projection of Sergio's self-aggrandizement, he appears invincible - that is, until you summon his mother (a giant, foreboding appearance in his immature mind) to cut him down to size with a well-timed slipper smash.Annapurna Interactive / Outerloop GamesIf successful, battles end not with the bloody vanquishing of your opponent but with reconciliation: gaining a better understanding of each other's perspective. Although the action appears rather busy in the game's trailers, you can't deny the apparent creativity and freshness of the development team's approach to narrative, gameplay and art style.Thirsty Suitors launches on November 2nd. It will be available on Steam, Switch, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Game Pass.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/thirsty-suitors-pits-you-against-pining-exes-on-november-2nd-192600885.html?src=rss
One of 2022's cutest - and dare I say best - games is heading to Xbox. Annapurna Interactive announced today that Blue Twelve Studio's Stray will arrive on Xbox One and Series X/S on August 10th.Stray, for those who don't know, casts you as an adorable tabby cat in a cyberpunk, post-human world. This short and sweet adventure will take you only about five to 10 hours to complete, but will leave you thinking about its thoughtful and poignant story long after the credits roll.It's also one of the most fun games I played last year. Stray perfectly captures all the charm and mischief of our feline friends. There's a dedicated button for meowing, and all of the environmental puzzles push you to think from the perspective of a cat. Best of all, you can lie down to nap nearly whenever you want. No word yet if Microsoft will offer Stray through Xbox Game Pass, but we'll update this article once we know more.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cyberpunk-cat-adventure-stray-heads-to-xbox-on-august-10th-192407987.html?src=rss
In to a T, players have to navigate the world as a teenager who can't lower their arms from an outstretched, T-shaped position. The character, named Teen, traverses an ordinary coastal town alongside their loyal dog, fending off bullies and discovering the strengths of their unique posture along the way. In the game's reveal trailer, it looks like flying might be the big benefit to T-shaped arms.The game is an episodic 3D adventure with a rounded, cartoon art style that'll be familiar to anyone who's played Katamari Damacy, Wattam or other titles from creator Keita Takahashi. to a T comes from Takahashi's studio, Uvula, which recently released one of the coolest little games on Playdate, Crankin's Time Travel Adventure.There's no release date or confirmed platforms for to a T, though Uvula began teasing it back in 2022 and it's being published by Annapurna Interactive. The project is being created in partnership with AbleGamers, a non-profit organization that advocates for people with disabilities in the video game market, leading inclusion efforts in software and hardware development. AbleGamers collaborated with Xbox as it designed the Adaptive Controller, and it provided input to Sony in the creation of the Access controller, the studio's coming accessibility-focused gamepad.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/to-a-t-is-a-coming-of-age-game-about-a-t-posing-teenager-191135661.html?src=rss
This is shaping up to be a banner year for puzzle games, thanks to the likes of the superb Humanity and the brain-melting Viewfinder. Another one has just emerged on the release calendar in the form of Cocoon, which was perhaps the most exciting game we got to check out at Summer Game Fest earlier this month. Publisher Annapurna Interactive revealed during its summer showcase that Cocoon will hit PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Steam on September 29th. It'll be available on Game Pass as well.This is the first project from Geometric Interactive, which was founded by two former developers at Playdead, the studio behind Limbo and Inside. Cocoon is an adventure game in which you use orbs to solve puzzles. When you place an orb on a socket, you can jump inside it - each orb is its own world with distinct mechanics and a boss to beat.Cocoon is all about recursion. You can take an orb inside another world to make use of its abilities, such as being able to see otherwise-invisible paths or activate switches. You'll have the option to jump back out of an orb as well, which will be key to solving some puzzles and bypassing obstacles. We're looking forward to this one.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/recursive-puzzle-adventure-game-cocoon-will-arrive-on-september-29th-190537652.html?src=rss
Volkwagen's charging network, Electrify America, has pledged to adopt the extremely popular North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector by 2025. This will massively improve access to the NACS connector, which was created by Tesla and originally called the Tesla charging connector.For those tied to the company's CCS-1 plug standard, don't worry. Electrify America says it isn't going anywhere, as the NACS connectors will join the CCS-1 connectors at charging stations, not replace them. Sibling organization Electrify Canada is also adopting the NACS connector by 2025. The company says this move is part of a larger mandate to support industry-wide standards" and streamline public charging" options.The organization boasts 850 charging stations, totaling over 4,000 chargers, throughout the United States and Canada, so this is a big move. Additionally, Electrify America has officially joined consumer advocacy group the National Charging Experience Consortium (ChargeX) to help improve the charging infrastructure for EV owners.Electrify America says it'll share more information on the transition to NACS connectors in the coming months, along with more future plans to update its charging stations. There are rumors, for instance, that parent company Volkswagen may start integrating the NACS standard for its own vehicles, as reported by Reuters. This has been a big couple of months for the Tesla-created charging standard. Polestar just announced implementation of the connectors, and Volvo made the same move. Ford, GM and Rivian have also committed to using Tesla's tech in North America. SAE International, one of the automotive industry's most important standardization bodies, recently announced its support for the plug, officially making NACS connectors the biggest game in town.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/electrify-americas-charging-network-will-support-teslas-nacs-connector-by-2025-185317197.html?src=rss
The Steam Summer Sale is now live, and it includes a solid deal for those who've been on the fence about buying a Steam Deck. Along with thousands of games, the device is on sale until July 13th. The 64GB model has dropped by 10 percent to $359.10, while the variant with 256GB of faster NVMe storage is down to $449.65, 15 percent off the regular price. The 512GB version, which has an anti-glare screen, is 20 percent off at $519.20. The Steam Deck Dock is also 20 percent off, down to $71.20.This is one of Steam's two biggest sales of the year alongside the winter edition, so there are bargains galore. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, one of the biggest games of the year so far, is already on sale for 25 percent off ($52.49). Elden Ringis 30 percent off at $42, while the price of Red Dead Redemption 2 has dropped by two thirds to $19.79. Cyberpunk 2077, No Man's Sky, the Halo Infinite single-player campaign and Forza Horizon 5 are all half off at $30 each. Meanwhile, instead of buying Dying Light 2 for that price, note that there's a $27.88 bundle that includes Payday 2.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare IIis down 45 percent to $38.49 and Amazon's MMORPG New Worldis 60 percent off at $16. Persona 5 Royalhas dropped by 40 percent to $36, while Cities Skylines is currently $9, which is 70 percent less than usual.Sleeper hit Dredge is 20 percent off at $20 and you can save 30 percent off the Dead Space remake, which is down to $42. Civilization VIis a whopping 90 percent off at $6, while you can snap up all three mainline Witcher games for under $17 and Stray for $22.49 (25 percent off).Halo: The Master Chief Collectionis 75 percent off at $10. Several PlayStation Studios titles are on sale too, including Uncharted: A Legacy of Thieves Collectionand God of War($30 each, down 40 percent), along with Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone ($16.49 each, down 67 percent). Both Spider-Man games are 33 percent off with the original dropping to $40.19 and Miles Morales down to $33.49.As ever, we're barely scratching the surface of the mammoth sale. There are hidden gems all over the place. For instance, I'd never heard of Not For Broadcastuntil scouring the list of deals, but was curious enough to pick it up. Therein lies the pitfall of Steam sales. There are always tons of compelling deals that threaten to leave your wallet significantly lighter. But hey, you do need things to play on your new Steam Deck.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-steam-deck-is-up-to-130-off-during-the-steam-summer-sale-183053314.html?src=rss
Niantic is joining the long list of companies laying off employees. The studio published an organizational update" (after the internal memo was leaked toKotaku) announcing that it would let go of 230 employees. In addition, the company is shutting down its Los Angeles studio and canceling two licensed games: NBA All-World and Marvel: World of Heroes. The only good news for fans is that Pokemon Go, still its flagship product, will live to fight another day.I have made the decision to narrow our focus for mobile game investments, concentrating on first party games that most strongly embody our core values of location and local social communities," wrote CEO John Hanke. The mobile gaming market is very mature and only the best and most differentiated titles have a chance to succeed. We also want to increase our focus on building for the emerging class of MR devices and future AR glasses."Although nobody likes hearing about layoffs, Hanke's letter seems forthcoming and candid about the company's challenges and the mistakes he and the leadership team made. He attributes the downsizing to the studio growing its expenses faster than its revenue. In the wake of the revenue surge we saw during Covid, we grew our headcount and related expenses in order to pursue growth more aggressively, expanding existing game teams, our AR platform work, new game projects and roles that support our products and our employees. Post Covid, our revenue returned to pre-Covid levels and new projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments." The CEO expects the reductions to bring expenses and revenue back into line" without shuttering its most valuable property.On that topic, Hanke said, The top priority is to keep Pokemon Go healthy and growing as a forever game. While we made some adjustments to the Pokemon Go team, our investment in the product and team continues to grow." The phone-based AR game launched in the summer of 2016 and instantly became a viral sensation; it also enjoyed a resurgence in popularity during pandemic lockdowns as homebound gamers used the explorative game as an excuse to connect with a world beyond their overly familiar four walls. Just last year, the studio launched a social app for the game that lets players organize and chat.The letter adds that the AR market developing more slowly than anticipated" was another factor. Niantic's games would be ideal for on-the-go AR, which the industry eventually expects to materialize as smart glasses that can pass for standard prescription specs. However, as Apple's Vision Pro made clear, that future is still likely a ways off. Today's wearable AR, also including the Meta Quest Pro, is home-based gear designed for work and entertainment in the comfort of your home or office. Although adaptations of Pokemon Go types of experiences may work there to some degree, the company's trademark approach is tailor-made for AR that isn't yet available. Niantic may well end up waiting five to 10 years to see consumer-friendly versions of that type of augmented reality - and apparently, that required some reconfiguring.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pokemon-go-developer-niantic-is-laying-off-230-employees-180438129.html?src=rss
Annapurna Interactive has a terrific track record, and we'll soon learn more about what's next from the highly regarded publisher. It's running a Summer Game Fest-affiliated showcase today, and you can watch the stream on YouTube and Twitch at 3PM ET.The presentation will include "reveals, spotlights and one of our biggest announcements yet," Annapurna says. The publisher is cooking up a bunch of projects, including Cocoon(the most captivating game we tried at Summer Game Fest earlier this month) and story-driven RPG Thirsty Suitors. My dream of a Sayonara Wild Hearts sequel remains on hold at least for now while Simogo works on murder mystery game Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and perhaps we'll learn more about that today as well.Elsewhere, Neon White is coming to Xbox at some point, so we may learn during the showcase exactly when that'll happen. Rumors suggest the wonderful Stray is bound for Xbox as well.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-annapurna-interactives-showcase-here-at-3pm-et-180020145.html?src=rss
Meta isn't the only internet heavyweight removing news content in response to Canada's newly enacted Bill C-18 (aka the Online News Act), which requires that tech companies negotiate compensation with publishers for linked material. Google now says it will pull links to Canadian news stories from its search, News and Discover services in the country. It will also stop operating its News Showcase in Canada when C-18 takes effect in six months.Google's government affairs VP Cris Turner claims C-18 remains "unworkable legislation," and that Canada's soon-to-be law is unduly harsh. The European Union allows free use of links and short extracts, for example, while the Czech Republic's stricter interpretation of the EU still allowed headlines and links. In Australia, where the law requires that some online services pay for news, Google has negotiated deals that keep its news features available and avoid falling under the law's requirements.The company maintains that it believes a "vibrant journalism industry" is crucial, and has floated policy ideas it believes will help. These include consultation with experts, investing in newsroom progress and support for conventional news outlets as they transition to digital. The approach dictated by C-18 purportedly leads to "uncertainty" for product strategy and "uncapped" financial penalties.The move comes just days after Meta said it would remove access to all news content from Facebook and Instagram in Canada. When it balked at similar moves by Australia and New Zealand, it claimed that such legislation lets the government unfairly decide who has to pay, and how much publishers get paid.As with Meta, Google is using the threat of blocking news as a bargaining tool. Turner says the company still plans to "participate in the regulatory process," and wants the government to develop a "viable path forward." The tech firm is hoping for at least a partial change of heart, to put it simply.There's no guarantee of a compromise. Politicians drafted Bill C-18 after concerns about a steep drop in ad revenue for publications over the past two decades. Google and other companies have invested in newsroom projects, offered free tools and highlighted news in a bid to support publishers, but legislators clearly aren't convinced these efforts go far enough.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-will-pull-news-links-in-canada-in-response-to-new-law-174838196.html?src=rss
Razer just launched a new premium gaming mouse, the Cobra Pro, that's packed with buttons and customization options, all wrapped in an eye-pleasing symmetrical design. There's seven buttons at the top of the device, two on the side and one on the bottom, adding up to ten. As is traditional with modern mice, each button is fully customizable. However, Razer takes this customization to the next level.The Cobra Pro stores five memory profiles that allow you to instantly swap between customization options to suit whatever game you're playing. Additionally, the mouse integrates with Razer's Hypershift feature, which temporarily adds a secondary set of functions to each button.The symmetrical design is nifty, but this is a modern gaming mouse, so there's plenty of customizable RGB lighting. As a matter of fact, the Cobra Pro boasts 11 individually addressable Chroma RGB zones, which Razer says is the most zones available in its class. There's nearly 17 million colors to choose from, so it's highly unlikely your mouse's lighting scheme will match your neighbors.As for regular specs, the Cobra Pro continues some of the traditions present with the company's well-regarded Basilisk V3. There's a Focus Pro 30K optical sensor and next-generation optical mouse switches. The Cobra Pro integrates with the Razer Mouse Dock Pro (sold separately) that amps the polling rate up to 4000 Hz.The built-in battery allows for 100 hours of use when connected via the company's HyperSpeed Wireless technology and 170 hours when using traditional Bluetooth. It ships with a USB-C cable for quick-charging.In addition to the Cobra Pro, the company also launched a bare-bones version for budget-conscious gamers. The standard Cobra mouse is wired and boasts eight customizable buttons. Both options are available now, with the Cobra Pro costing $120 and the standard Cobra coming in at just $40.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/razers-new-gaming-mouse-can-seamlessly-flip-between-five-profiles-174107137.html?src=rss
After building to this point for over a decade, Virgin Galactic has completed its first commercial flight. After launching aboard the mothership VMS Eve, the spaceship VSS Unity reached an altitude of around 52 miles, or the edge of space. It landed nearly 15 minutes later at the company's Spaceport America base near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, completing the Galactic 01 research mission.The company's first client was the Italian government, which had the aim of conducting microgravity research. Aboard were Air Force colonel Walter Villadei, Air Force lieutenant and flight surgeon Colonel Angelo Landolfi, and Pantaleone Carlucci, a research council member acting as flight engineer and payload specialist. Unity was piloted by retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Masucci and Nicola Pecile, with Virgin Galactic trainer Colin Bennett also on board.
Shark makes some of the best robot vacuums around and you can currently save quite a bit on a self-emptying model. The device is 50 percent off as it has dropped to $300 at Amazon. That's the lowest price we've seen for it to date.Robot vacuums are an excellent quality of life upgrade for many people compared with having to clean floors manually with a standard vacuum. Shark's RV1001AE model has several features that make it a strong option. It has a bagless, self-emptying base that Shark says can hold up to 45 days worth of muck. You won't need to buy disposal bags like you would with other models.The vacuum is able to map out your home. You can schedule cleanings for your entire home or ask the robot to take care of a certain room or area immediately using the SharkClean app, Alexa or Google Assistant.Shark says the vacuum has powerful suction as well as a self-cleaning brushroll that can pull debris and hair from carpets and hardwood floors. The Shark IQ Robot uses a row-by-row cleaning method. When it's done, it returns to its dock to recharge.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-self-emptying-shark-robot-vacuum-is-half-off-right-now-150001668.html?src=rss
You knew it was just a matter of time before Polestar echoed Volvo's adoption of Tesla's charging technology. The EV-oriented brand has confirmed that it will use Tesla's NACS connector in North America. You'll see "convenient" CCS-to-NACS adapters for existing cars in mid-2024, and cars released in 2025 onward will have the standard built-in. An adapter will help those future models charge at CCS stations.The news complicates the expansion of Polestar's lineup. The Polestar 3 SUV and Polestar 4 SUV coupe are expected in 2024, while the Polestar 5 grand tourer and Polestar 6 roadster are coming later. In other words, some models will have as little as one year of CCS-native charging before moving to Tesla's port while others will ship with NACS from the outset. You may have to decide if it's worth dealing with an adapter just to get an EV as soon as it's available.The reasoning behind the switch is the same as for Volvo: using NACS gives Polestar drivers access to Tesla's much larger (not to mention more reliable) Supercharger network in North America, with over 12,000 charge points available so far. This could "greatly increase" EV uptake in the area, Polestar chief Thomas Ingenlath argues. You could buy a Polestar 3 knowing you'd have enough charging stations to complete a long-distance trip.Volvo and Polestar aren't alone. Ford, GM and Rivian have also committed to using Tesla's tech in North America, while Hyundai and Stellantis have said they're evaluating that move. For Polestar, however, the decision may be more symbolically significant than for other marques. It's considered one of the closest competitors to Tesla - the Polestar 2 is an obvious Model 3 alternative. This isn't an outright capitulation to Tesla, but it is an acknowledgment that access to the Supercharger network is a major advantage that sways customers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/polestar-will-join-volvo-in-switching-to-teslas-ev-charging-standard-144653065.html?src=rss
After years of testing and delays, Virgin Galactic's first commercial spaceflight is finally taking off - today, if the company's plan goes as intended. Galactic 01 is scheduled to launch from the company's Spaceport America facility in New Mexico past 11AM Eastern time, and you can stream the event live on Virgin Galactic's website or through the video below.The mission will carry a three-person crew from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy to suborbital space aboard the VSS Unity. That's Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo space plane, which first reached space back in 2018. The flight will last for 90 minutes, during which the crew will conduct 13 scientific experiments. A particular experiment requires one of the passengers, Col. Walter Villadei, to wear a state-of-the-art smart suit to measure his physiological responses and biometric data in space.Virgin Galactic posted a net loss of $159.4 million for the quarter ending in March 31st this year, almost twice the loss it posted for the same period a year ago. Galactic 01's success will lead to more and frequent launches in the future, and that could eventually lead to profitability. If this mission goes off without a hitch, the company plans to launch Galactic 02 with a private crew in early August. After that, the company plans to launch suborbital flights on a monthly basis, charging passengers $450,000 a seat.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-the-launch-of-virgin-galactics-first-commercial-spaceflight-143027267.html?src=rss
Apple's rumored Beats Studio Pro headphones may be more compelling than AirPods for some listeners. 9to5Macclaims to have leaked specs indicating the Studio Pro will be the first Beats earphones to support head-tracking spatial audio. Until now, only more recent AirPods (such as the AirPods Pro, AirPods Max and third-gen base model) offered the feature. If you like the thought of sounds seeming to have fixed positions, these new over-ears may be worth considering.The Beats Studio Pro might also have an edge over the AirPods Max for some of the fundamentals. They'll reportedly last up to 24 hours with active noise cancellation enabled (40 without ANC) versus the 20 hours of the Max. You may also get both a 3.5mm jack and a USB-C port, and the 3.5mm cable could even be included in the box. On top of previously rumored personalized spatial audio, you'd get adaptive, environment-sensitive ANC and microphones that improve call quality versus the Studio 3 Wireless (pictured above).The design is said to be similar to the Studio 3, but with improved ear cushions that promise better comfort and durability. Metal sliders may also deliver a more adjustable fit.While the Studio Pro won't use Apple's self-branded chips, it will supposedly use a custom Beats chip that bolsters support for both Apple devices and Android. Both platforms will apparently support easy pairing, seamless device switching and lost-item tracking. Apple hardware may also support hands-free "hey Siri" voice commands.Leaker Myke Hurley claims the Beats Studio Pro will arrive on July 19th, and 9to5 believes they'll match the $349 price of the Studio 3. If so, they could be a compelling option if you're looking for advanced Apple-made headphones but can't justify a $200 premium to get the design and sound characteristics of the AirPods Max.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-beats-studio-pro-could-include-head-tracking-spatial-audio-134516351.html?src=rss
Unless you count flip foldables, there aren't many options left when it comes to true compact smartphones these days, but somehow, ASUS has remained in this niche market. The freshly announced Zenfone 10 looks like a carbon copy of its predecessor, and even its 50-megapixel main camera has remained unchanged. Still, the company claims that this is now powered by a new version of 6-axis gimbal stabilization - a combination of hardware optical stabilization, upgraded electronic stabilization algorithm and fast auto-focus. This apparently lets you capture smoother videos and less blurry photos while on the move.As you'd expect, the Zenfone 10 is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, and now with faster LPDDR5X ROM of up to 16GB, along with faster UFS 4.0 storage option of up to 512GB - doubling that of the previous gen. While the battery remains at an impressive 4,300mAh, it is now supported by 15W wireless charging in addition to the original 30W wired charging. This does mean a gentle bump in thickness - from the old 9.1mm to 9.4mm, but the footprint remains at 146.5 x 68.1mm. The AMOLED display is again specced at 5.9 inches with a 2,400 x 1,080 resolution, though its top refresh rate has been boosted from 120Hz to 144Hz for slicker gaming.ASUSThe ultra-wide camera has been swapped out with a 13-megapixel sensor, along with a bump in field of view - from 113 degrees to 120 degrees. The old 12-megapixel front punch-hole camera now uses a 32-megapixel RGBW sensor instead, and this apparently gives an 8-megapixel output with vastly improved low light selfies, thanks to the extra white sub-pixels on the sensor.Like before, you still get stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack, along with dual microphones with support for Nokia's OZO Audio spatial capture and wind noise reduction. Other familiar goodies include the ZenTouch customizable unlock button (namely for toggling the camera or scrolling in a browser), NFC and IP68 ruggedness for resistance against dust and liquids.ASUS has extended its "Connex" modular case system to the Zenfone 10, which lets you snap either a kickstand or a silicone cardholder into the grid of holes on the back of the case. You can even assign an app - YouTube, by default - to auto-launch whenever the kickstand is flipped out. If you'd rather go with thicker cases, ASUS has also partnered with Rhinoshield and DevilCase for some more rugged options.ASUSThe Zenfone 10 will be available for pre-order in Europe from June 29, starting from 799 (about $870), with color options including "Aurora Green," "Midnight Black," "Comet White," "Eclipse Red" and "Starry Blue." As before, US availability to follow later, so stay tuned.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/asus-zenfone-10-is-yet-another-compact-flagship-phone-133552687.html?src=rss
Meta's Oversight Board has called for a six month ban on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's Facebook and Instagram accounts for inciting violence, it wrote in a news release. It's the second time in the last week that the Board has reversed a high profile Meta review, after a Brazilian user posted a video asking followers to "besiege" government. However, it's the first time the Oversight Board has asked for a head of state to be banned, a decision that may have ramifications for future policy decisions.Hun Sen, who has led Cambodia since 1985, is facing an election this month. Earlier in the year, he posted a video of a speech telling political opponents he'd "gather CPP (Cambodia People's Party) people to protest and beat you up." Following several user reports and appeals, Meta policy and subject matter experts recommended leaving the post up based on newsworthiness, even though it violated the company's community standards for violence and incitement."Given the severity of the violation, Hun Sen's history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats, the Board calls on Meta to immediately suspend Hun Sen's Facebook page and Instagram account for six months," it wrote. The suspension is non-binding, but Meta must take down the contested video within 60 days.In explaining the decision, the Board said that the "harm caused by allowing the content on the platform outweighs the post's public interest value," particularly given the prime minister's reach on social media. The original moderation decision, it added, "results in Meta's platforms contributing to these harms by amplifying the threats and resulting intimidation."
Video games have been competitive for as long as people could land their three-character initials on a digital scoreboard. The fighting game genre got its start in the 1970s, but it was when Street Fighter 2 hit the arcades in the '90s that the genre would ascend to a whole new level. Since then, many groundbreaking series have graced the genre, such as Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Super Smash Bros. and much more.While fighting games may never have the same mass-market appeal they did in the '90s, 2023 is proving to be a mini-rennaisance for the genre. We've already had Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1 is arriving this fall, and there's Tekken 8 still to come. That's without mentioning the upcoming reboot of Dead or Alive or Riot Games' League of Legends spin-off Project L. It's a good time to be a fighting game fan - watch the video below for the full story.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/its-a-good-time-to-be-a-fighting-game-fan-130037581.html?src=rss
With Google Glass, the company was the major player to push augmented reality wearables into the world. After shelving that early hardware, the company moved onto new internal projects, including Iris AR glasses. These were supposed to look like a pair of ordinary glasses, with early versions reportedly resembling a product called "Focals" by North, a Canadian startup that Google acquired in 2020. Google even demoed a newer version in a video showing a real-time AR translation feature.The company has now reportedly shelved Iris following waves of layoffs and company reshuffles. Another event that factored into Google's decision was the departure of Clay Bavor, the company's former chief of augmented and virtual reality. Now, instead of building its own hardware, Google has apparently chosen to focus on creating an "Android for AR" ecosystem instead. Currently, that includes working on Android XR for Samsung's "extended reality" wearable device.If we take Google's approach to Android as a template, add another five years, and maybe we'll see Pixel XR glasses?- Mat SmithYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest stories you might have missedFilm director Roland Emmerich is creating a shared universe of TV, gaming and Web3 tomfooleryDoorDash will start offering couriers an hourly rate while they're fulfilling orders Final Fantasy XVI' has already sold over 3 million copies The best music streaming services in 2023Shokz OpenFit delivers open-ear audio without bone conduction Bloober Team is done making psychological horror gamesKia EV9 first drive: Adding a third row to the EV marketNorth America's first hydrogen-powered train debuts in CanadaIt's a three-month loaner designed to encourage adoption across the continent.AlstomThis summer, North America's first hydrogen-powered train began traveling across the Canadian countryside. The French passenger train, the Coradia iLint, is a short-term demonstration, running through the end of September, that aims to spark adoption in Canada and the US. The Coradia iLint uses roughly about 50 kilograms of hydrogen a day," says Serge Harnois, CEO of Hanois Energies, the train's hydrogen fuel supplier. The same journey using a standard engine would burn around 500 liters of diesel fuel. It only emits water vapor along its journey as a byproduct of combining hydrogen with oxygen. Sounds good, right? Well, there are caveats. It requires a diesel-powered truck to transport the hydrogen to the train every time it refuels, and let's not forget about the emissions made by the train's trip from Europe to Canada for a mere three-month demo.Continue reading.'The Password Game' might break youA game where you have to jump through hoops to make a new password.AlstomThe goal of the game is to create a password no one hacker could possibly crack, and the experience starts out simple enough. Your password must be at least 5 characters," states rule one, while rule four asks that all the digits in your password add up to 25. Then, things start to become progressively more unhinged. Rule seven demands you include a Roman numeral, only for rule nine to demand that a handful of Roman numerals must multiply to make 35. If you want to test your mental resilience, you can try it out here.Continue reading.Microsoft is already offering a generative AI certification programIt includes free courses from LinkedIn.Microsoft has announced a new program to train workers on generative AI. Microsoft's AI Skills Initiative will include free courses created by (Microsoft-owned) LinkedIn, offering learners the first Professional Certificate on Generative AI in the online learning market." The company says the courses will cover introductory AI concepts and responsible AI frameworks," culminating in certification. Given that generative AI is so simple to use, it'll be interesting to see what the courses entail. They could still provide tips for composing the most effective prompts - and we all know someone at work that struggles with even basic software functions.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-google-stops-plans-to-build-its-own-augmented-reality-glasses-111515325.html?src=rss
Unless you switch to chronological timeline on Facebook, the things you see on your timeline could seem pretty arbitrary at times. Now, Meta has given us pretty comprehensive look at how its AI systems decide on the posts that appear on our Facebook and Instagram feeds. The social networking giant has released 22 card systems for the platforms that explain how its AI systems rank content for its Feed, Stories and Reels. Each card explains how a certain aspect of Meta's platform works - for instance, the company explains that for Facebook Feeds, its AI system starts by gathering all potential posts by friends and Pages you follow.After that, the system considers various input signals, such as who created the post, how you interacted with them and how many of your friends have liked the post, if any. All those aspects will help the AI rank posts based on which you'll find the most relevant and valuable and then show them on your feed in order of the scores they get. The card systems also show how you can customize what you see on the platforms and link to instructions on, say, how to unfollow a person or a group and how to click "show more" or "show less" on a post to indicate if you like or dislike a particular subject.In a post announcing the cards' release, Nick Clegg, Meta's President of Global Affairs, listed the tools you can use to personalize your experience on the company's platforms. In addition to the two aforementioned tools, Facebook and Instagram have centralized menus with customization controls, called Feed Preferences and Suggested Content Control Center, respectively. Clegg also said that Meta is testing a new feature on Instagram allows you to indicate whether you're "Interested" in a recommended reel in the Reels tab, so the app can show you more similar content. At the moment, you can only indicate whether you're "Not Interested" in a specific reel. In addition, he said Meta is working on making the "show more" and "show less" feature more prominent.Meta has lifted the lid on how its algorithms work before the European Union starts enacting the Digital Markets Act in 2024. The new law will require online services like Facebook and Instagram to be more transparent on the technologies behind their recommendation algorithms. It will also require platforms to offer chronological feeds and will ban ads targeting you based on your religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or political affiliation. Earlier this year, Meta also rolled out a new version of its "Why am I seeing this ad?" tool to provide more transparency on how your activities power its ad-matching software.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-explains-how-its-ai-decides-what-you-see-on-facebook-and-instagram-100052305.html?src=rss
Researchers at the University of Maryland have turned eye reflections into (somewhat discernible) 3D scenes. The work builds on Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), an AI technology that can reconstruct environments from 2D photos. Although the eye-reflection approach has a long way to go before it spawns any practical applications, the study (first reported byTech Xplore) provides a fascinating glimpse into a technology that could eventually reveal an environment from a series of simple portrait photos.The team used subtle reflections of light captured in human eyes (using consecutive images shot from a single sensor) to try to discern the person's immediate environment. They began with several high-resolution images from a fixed camera position, capturing a moving individual looking toward the camera. They then zoomed in on the reflections, isolating them and calculating where the eyes were looking in the photos.The results (here's the entire set animated) show a decently discernible environmental reconstruction from human eyes in a controlled setting. A scene captured using a synthetic eye (below) produced a more impressive dreamlike scene. However, an attempt to model eye reflections from Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga music videos only produced vague blobs that the researchers could only guess were an LED grid and a camera on a tripod - illustrating how far the tech is from real-world use.Reconstructions using a synthetic eye were much more vivid and lifelike - with a dreamlike quality.University of MarylandThe team overcame significant obstacles to reconstruct even crude and fuzzy scenes. For example, the cornea introduces inherent noise" that makes it difficult to separate the reflected light from humans' complex iris textures. To address that, they introduced cornea pose optimization (estimating the position and orientation of the cornea) and iris texture decomposition (extracting features unique to an individual's iris) during training. Finally, radial texture regularization loss (a machine-learning technique that simulates smoother textures than the source material) helped further isolate and enhance the reflected scenery.Despite the progress and clever workarounds, significant barriers remain. Our current real-world results are from a laboratory setup,' such as a zoom-in capture of a person's face, area lights to illuminate the scene, and deliberate person's movement," the authors wrote. We believe more unconstrained settings remain challenging (e.g., video conferencing with natural head movement) due to lower sensor resolution, dynamic range, and motion blur." Additionally, the team notes that its universal assumptions about iris texture may be too simplistic to apply broadly, especially when eyes typically rotate more widely than in this kind of controlled setting.Still, the team sees their progress as a milestone that can spur future breakthroughs. With this work, we hope to inspire future explorations that leverage unexpected, accidental visual signals to reveal information about the world around us, broadening the horizons of 3D scene reconstruction." Although more mature versions of this work could spawn some creepy and unwanted privacy intrusions, at least you can rest easy knowing that today's version can only vaguely make out a Kirby doll even under the most ideal of conditions.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/researchers-reconstruct-3d-environments-from-eye-reflections-203949099.html?src=rss
Sports Interactive said back in 2021 that it would bring women's soccer to Football Manager, its long-running simulation franchise. Now, we have a clearer idea of when that will happen. In a blog post that looks at the franchise's future, SI says it will introduce women's teams in Football Manager 2025, which is next year's edition.The studio initially said it would take a while to bring women's soccer into the fold as it wanted to offer the same level of depth that it does for the men's game. Football Manager has an enormous database of tens of thousands of players, each with individual stats, bios, injury history and so on. Not only that, SI had to account for changes to the attribute systems, gender considerations for translations and different league rules when it comes to women's football."The facts are that we've made really good progress in many areas, including research, the match engine and translation," SI studio manager Miles Jacobson wrote. "But there are other areas that haven't made enough advancements, a lot of which are legal issues. The women's game deserves to be the best it possibly can be when it is released."Alongside the addition of women's teams, Football Manager 2025 will herald a fundamental shift for the series as SI is moving to the Unity game engine. Jacobson says this will "give us a lot more power graphically, across all formats, alongside powerful user interface tools." There will be an entirely new UI and "a significantly better looking matchday experience," while animations are making "a big jump" forward. It'll take a little longer to transition to Unity on mobile, however.A project to overhaul the underlying tech of Football Manager has been in the works for several years. The initial aim was to revamp the series with Football Manager 2022, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced SI to take a step back and focus on making sure it could release a new version each year.Elsewhere, Jacobson acknowledged that while FM23 has reached more than 5 million players (by far the most in the series' history after SI introduced Apple Arcade and PS5 versions), some of its features weren't up to scratch. Some of those who play each year's edition may have also been disappointed by having "fewer new features than normal," the studio head noted.However, SI has expanded its team and it's on track to fully implement FM24's new features faster than usual, leaving more time for polish and bug fixes. One of those updates is well overdue: the option to transfer your progress from FM23 and continue where you left off while benefiting from FM24's upgrades. Even though SI will move to a new game engine next year, the studio plans to let players take their FM24 saves into FM25 as well."This is especially good for those playing via Game Pass and Apple Arcade who, by subscribing to those platforms, would lose access to their career shortly after the new game is released," Jacobson wrote. "This has been unavoidable to date due to the expiry of our licenses which require us to remove titles from platforms upon conclusion. We're still working out the finer details with the platform holders, but the idea is that you'll be able to seamlessly move from FM23 to FM24 on those platforms and continue your save or start a new one."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/womens-soccer-teams-are-coming-to-football-manager-in-2024-195653376.html?src=rss
Blizzard is bringing hardcore servers to World of Warcraft Classic. Inspired by the game's popular Death = Delete" community add-on, the mode limits any character you create to exactly one life. If your hero dies, running back to their body as a ghost won't bring them back to life, nor can someone else resurrect your character with a class ability like the Shaman's Ancestral Spirit spell. You also can't use abilities like the Warlock's Soulstone spell to bring your character back to life on their own. Oh, and Paladins won't be able to bubble hearth out of sticky situations.
The Nintendo Switch Online library just got a bit beefier, thanks to the addition of four classic Sega Genesis titles. The subscription-based classic games platform is now host to Ghouls n Ghosts, The Revenge of Shinobi, Landstalker and Crusader of Centy, joining around 30 pre-existing Genesis titles and many more NES, SNES and Game Boy releases. That's right. Sonic and Mario are friends now.For the uninitiated, Ghouls n Ghosts is a tough-as-nails platformer that still gives nightmares to adults of a certain age. The Rise of Shinobi is a serviceable entry in the OG ninja-simulation franchise. Landstalker is a cult favorite action RPG with an isometric view and Crusader of Centy is a well-reviewed, yet relatively obscure, Zelda clone. Crusader of Centy is tough to find, with physical copies selling for thousands of dollars, so this is a boon for retro gaming enthusiasts. Here's a video of all four games in action, so you can decide if you want to plunk down $50 for a yearly NSO Expansion Pack subscription.As a note, these games are only available with a $50-yearly Expansion Pack subscription, though that also gets you access to N64 and Game Boy Advance titles. If you just want to play from a library of NES, SNES and Game Boy releases, go with the cheaper standard NSO subscription of $20 each year. Nintendo isn't exactly speedy with these releases, with game drops around once a month, so check the full library before handing over your debit card information.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendo-switch-online-gets-four-classic-genesis-games-including-ghouls-n-ghosts-184550953.html?src=rss
Sony announced the PlayStation Plus games lineup for July today. They include Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Alan Wake Remastered and Endling - Extinction is Forever. All three titles will be available on PS5 and PS4 for subscribers on the Essential, Extra and Premium tiers.Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020) is a controversial installment in the long-running military shooter franchise. Set in the early 1980s, its plot borrows from a well-known (and largely baseless) real-world conspiracy theory about a Soviet spy named Perseus who supposedly infiltrated the US atomic weapons program. If you can get past its questionable premise and (arguably tone-deaf) Vietnam War flashback missions, you can enjoy classic Call of Duty shoot-em-up fare as you blast your way across East Berlin, Turkey, Moscow and other Cold War hotspots. In addition to the story mission, it includes the title's Multiplayer and Zombies modes.ActivisionMeanwhile, Alan Wake Remastered is the 2021 remake of the now 13-year-old adventure title that was initially an Xbox 360 exclusive. The game puts you in the shoes of the title character, a successful author on vacation in the (fictional) Washington state town of Bright Falls. But after his wife mysteriously vanishes, he sets out on a nightmarish investigation that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. The remastered version includes the case game and (initially DLC) expansions The Signal" and The Writer."Finally, Endling - Extinction is Forever is a third-person survival-adventure title that puts you in the paws of the last surviving fox. Set in a future reality where humans have exhausted Earth's resources, leaving it in ruin, you must guide your three cubs to safety and save the species. Aside from its obvious thematic commentary about climate change, nature preservation and human excess, it provides fun (and relatively short) stealth gameplay using 2D movement in shifting 3D environments.Herobeat StudiosThe three games will be available for PlayStation Plus subscribers from July 4th through the 31st. In addition, Sony says you'll have until next Monday, July 3rd, to claim June's games, including NBA 2K23, Jurassic World Evolution 2 and Trek to Yomi.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/playstation-plus-free-july-games-include-cod-black-ops-cold-war-and-alan-wake-remastered-183056964.html?src=rss
Film director Roland Emmerich is making a massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game powered by everyone's favorite punching bags, NFTs. The director of Independence Day, Stargateand, uh, Moonfall just announced Space Nation Online, a forthcoming RPG that's going to be part of a larger shared universe encompassing animated shorts, a live-action TV show and plenty of Web3 nonsense.To that end, there's a bile-inducing page detailing the tokenomics surrounding the Web3 Space Opera MMO", if you want to throw away your money on a procedurally-generated picture of a starship or whatever. The developers say the NFT-based framework is designed for the purpose of solving multiple issues and enhancing the potential of Web3 games by means of our observation, investigation and research." Okay.Now on to the good news. Despite the heavy emphasis on non-fungible tokens, there's some decent talent behind the scenes here, beyond Emmerich. Jerome Wu, who worked on World of Warcraft, is on board, as is Tony Tang from Warframe. The shared-universe title has received more than $50 million in financial backing, with more funding rounds to come, as reported by Deadline. There's even a first-look video if you want to see how development is coming along.Space Nation Online, which puts players on an epic journey to unravel the mysteries of the Telikos Cluster", drops an alpha build later this summer, with a full release planned for 2024. Assuming some level of success, animated shorts, TV shows and spinoff games come after that.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/film-director-roland-emmerich-is-creating-a-shared-universe-of-tv-gaming-and-web3-tomfoolery-180028686.html?src=rss
It's Wednesday, which means it's the perfect time to waste away a few minutes attempting to solve the internet's latest obsession. If you're on Twitter, you may have noticed some chatter about The Password Game, a browser experience that will test your creativity, patience and sanity.
This summer, North America's first hydrogen-powered train began traveling across the Canadian countryside. The French passenger train is a short-term demonstration, running through the end of September, that aims to spark adoption in Canada and the US. I think the most important thing that's going to come out of it is people's awareness and comfort with the technology," Robert Stasko, executive director of Ontario's Hydrogen Business Council, toldCBC News.The Canadian loaner runs from Montmorency Falls in Quebec City to Base-Saint-Paul - a two-and-a-half hour trip - on Wednesdays to Sundays through September 30th. The train has a top speed of 140 km/h (87 mph) and can carry up to 120 people in its two passenger cars. The French company Alstom, which makes the train, says its acceleration and braking performance is comparable to standard diesel-engine trains - sans the emissions. While much of Europe uses trains with electric rails or overhead wires, hydrogen trains are ideal for places like the Canadian countryside, with its long distances and relatively low commuter density. (Much of the US would fit that bill as well.)The same model of train, the Coradia iLint, has already made runs in eight European countries. As many as 14 of the same model began running a route in Lower Saxony, Germany, last year. Alstom began testing the trains in 2018 and has additional contracts in Germany, Italy and France. The company says European clients have ordered 41 of the trainsets.The Coradia iLint uses a ballpark of about 50 kilograms of hydrogen a day," says Serge Harnois, CEO of Hanois Energies, the train's hydrogen fuel supplier. The same journey using a standard engine would burn around 500 liters of diesel fuel. It only emits water vapor along its journey as a byproduct of combining hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell to generate its power.There are some asterisks to attach to the three-month demo. First, it requires a diesel-powered truck to transport the hydrogen to the train every time it refuels. (Harnois says that, ideally, the hydrogen would eventually be produced onsite to avoid this step.) We also have to wonder about the emissions produced on its presumed voyage from Europe to Canada for its mere three-month demo. However, the train will move on to other North American cities after its summer residence. The long-term goal is for the tour to help promote widespread hydrogen-train adoption across different North American regions, which - if successful - could more than offset the carbon footprint from its diesel-truck top-offs and journey across the Atlantic.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/north-americas-first-hydrogen-powered-train-debuts-in-canada-173019365.html?src=rss
Your local store might only need a smartphone to accept your payments. PayPal is rolling out tap to pay on Android for Venmo and Zettle businesses in the US. Shops can accept Apple Pay, Google Pay and other contactless services or cards, including digital wallets, without requiring a card reader. You might not have to bring out your wallet, in other words. Setup takes just minutes, PayPal claims.Initial setup is free. Tap to pay will roll out to all Venmo businesses in the country over the "coming months," PayPal says, but would-be clients can sign up for early access now. The approach is already available for all PayPal Zettle users in the US. The company adds that Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available for some American users, and should reach all of them "soon."The incentive for PayPal is clear. TechCrunchnotes Venmo and Zettle take 2.29 percent plus nine cents for every transaction. If a store relies on either brand's tap to pay for many of their sales, they stand to profit even if the customers themselves never use those services. You can already use Venmo as a customer in major stores like Starbucks - this theoretically gives PayPal more of a stake in the entire retail process.As with Square, Apple's Tap to Pay on iPhone and similar offerings, PayPal's approach potentially makes contactless payment more accessible. It lowers the costs of entry, and lets small businesses take your preferred payment method wherever they happen to be, such as outdoors or at a convention. That, in turn, could reduce the need for cash and conventional credit or debit cards. It's just a question of whether or not the tech and its costs gain enough traction among retailers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/venmo-now-supports-tap-to-pay-on-android-phones-164527267.html?src=rss
If Vizio's TV interface has felt stale as of late, don't worry - it's getting a makeover. The company is rolling out a redesigned home screen that it hopes will make it easier to find content. The revamp is meant to be more intuitive, with new navigation features, menus and settings. There's also a reworked on-screen keyboard to help you search faster.Discovery is likewise a major focus. The updated home screen incudes recommendations as well as parental guidance and Rotten Tomatoes scores. Genre pages help you dig into a given category faster. There's more customization, too, with a personalized "app row" that lets you flag favorites with one remote click. You'll get recommendations on a per-app basis, and a My Watchlist section pools together movies and shows from multiple apps.Vizio hasn't detailed just which TV models are receiving the new home screen, or when the rollout will be complete. We've asked the company for more details. There's no guarantee older sets will get the upgrade, then, but you won't necessarily need to buy new hardware.Interface updates aren't new to TVs, but there is a tendency in the industry to limit major revamps to new or very recent TV sets. LG didn't bring 2018's webOS 4 to webOS 3 TVs released just a year earlier, for example. If Vizio delivers the new home screen to more than its latest sets, it's providing better aftermarket support than some of its larger competitors.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vizios-redesigned-tv-interface-helps-you-quickly-find-shows-170037252.html?src=rss
Google has denied "extremely inaccurate claims" that it may have violated its own rules and misled advertisers over ad viewership on third-party websites.Through the Google Video Partners network and TrueView (an ad product that's also used on YouTube), the company handles placement of video ads on external websites and apps. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google tells brands that their ads will be on "high-quality" sites, appear before the main content of a video and run with audio on. It also says that advertisers won't pay if users skip the ads. However, a third-party analytics company suggested in a report that Google fails to live up to these standards around 80 percent of the time.Adalytics said the ads often appear on lower-quality websites, such as those with misinformation or pirated content, and that they can be positioned in small video players on the side or bottom of the screen, away from the main "in-stream" content. Some of the ads run without any audio, according to the report, while in other cases, there were was "little to no video content in between consecutive TrueView ads." Adalytics says other ads autoplayed without the viewer engaging with them.In some instances, the company notes, the skip button that typically appears after five seconds was obscured, forcing viewers to watch the whole ad. That's "a direct violation of Google's quality standards for TrueView ads," Adalytics says, and it may have contributed to artificially inflated ad metrics, leading to advertisers paying more.Adalytics reviewed ad campaigns for more than 1,100 brands between 2020 and this year. It says customers that might have bought "muted, auto-playing, mis-declared TrueView skippable in-stream inventory include" the US government, the European Parliament, Disney+, HP, Samsung, Sephora, TikTok, Microsoft and General Motors. As it happens, some other Google divisions (Google Career Certificates and Google Workspace Domains) are on the list.Media buyers Adalytics shared the report with accused Google of conducting "ad fraud" and suggested brands weren't getting what they paid for. Others have demanded a refund. The "misalignment" could have cost brands billions in advertising dollars, Adalytics said. One "major consumer goods brand" found that 20 percent of a $75,000-plus campaign budget was directed toward YouTube channels, with the remainder spent on ads that ran on third-party destinations such as investing.com and Candy Crush Saga.Google has firmly rejected the report's findings. The company's global video solutions chief, Marvin Renaud, asserted in a blog post that Adalytics "used unreliable sampling and proxy methodologies." An "overwhelming majority of video ad campaigns" run on YouTube, Renaud claimed, with brands having the option to opt out at any time from running their ads on Google Video Partners-affiliated apps and websites.Even so, over 90 percent of Google Video Partners "are visible to people across the web," Renaud argued. "We use real-time ad quality signals to determine if people are present and paying attention that help us decide whether to serve a video ad in a Google Video Partner site or app."In addition, Renaud wrote, Google rigorously enforces policies that prohibit third-party sites from using deceptive or disruptive techniques to generate advertising revenue, such as placing ads in hidden browser windows. Renaud added that, last year, Google stopped running ads on more than 143,000 websites it deemed to violate its rules.The Adalytics claims come as Alphabet faces close scrutiny over its advertising practices. The Department of Justice sued the company earlier this year in an attempt to break up its ad business. This month, the European Union said in a preliminary finding that the only remedy it could see for Google to address its antitrust concerns would be to sell off part of the advertising empire.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-refutes-claims-it-violated-its-own-guidelines-and-misled-advertisers-164550902.html?src=rss
Layers of Fear was Bloober Team's final psychological horror game. The studio didn't advertise this fact, but behind the scenes, a switch flipped weeks ago: When the remastered and expanded Layers of Fear collection came out on June 15th, it marked the end of a phase that was known internally as Bloober Team 2.0.This year is like closing the era of making psychological horror games," studio co-founder Piotr Babieno told Engadget. Right now we are going into Bloober Team 3.0, making mass-market horror."Bloober is not abandoning horror as a whole, but it is shifting focus. Over the past decade, the studio cemented itself as a powerhouse in the realm of psychological horror games, releasing the Layers of Fear franchise, Observer, Blair Witch and The Medium, all of which generated terror through narrative and environmental cues (otherwise known as vibes"). Because of these design choices, Bloober games have jokingly been called walking simulators," a description that Babieno didn't deny.We focused on the story, we focused on the mood, we focused on the quality of graphics and music, but we didn't put a lot of attention on the gameplay mechanics," Babieno said. It wasn't our target. But we decided that there was a ceiling that we couldn't break if we did not deliver something fresh, something new."Going forward, developers at Bloober will rely on action and player input to generate disquiet, and they hope that this nudge in creative direction will drastically expand the studio's audience. This mechanics-first ethos was actually implemented internally in 2019, when Bloober began building the remake of Silent Hill 2 for Konami.We decided that our next titles should be much more mass-market oriented," Babieno said. We'd like to talk with more people. We'd like to deliver our ideas, with our DNA, not by environment or storytelling, but by action. So all of our future titles will have a lot of gameplay mechanics. They will be much bigger."Silent Hill 2 will be the public's first taste of Bloober's redirection - but we're getting ahead of ourselves. Before considering the implications of fresh design philosophies, let's take a look at how Bloober Team 2.0 became a major name on the global horror scene in just a few years.Babieno co-founded the studio that would become Bloober Team in 2006, after selling his marketing research company in Poland. His ultimate goal was to be a storyteller: He initially considered entering the film industry, but it was too expensive, so he pivoted to games. The studio started with around 15 employees,and they focused on building contract games and other quasi-soulless experiences.We crafted some smaller titles on our end, but we never were really good," Babieno said. We tried to catch everything on the market and we were just following the crowd. And you know, if you're following trends, if you're following what's fashionable, you can't be good."Everything changed for Bloober Team in 2015. Though many of us may have blocked this fact from our memories, Bloober is the studio that built Basement Crawl, the worst-reviewed launch game on PlayStation 4. Basement Crawl was essentially a busted Bomberman clone when it came out in 2014, and it was shredded in reviews, settling at a rating of 27 on Metacritic. However, since it was one of just a few games to launch alongside the PS4, it sold well enough.Bloober tried to make things right by releasing Brawl in 2015, a free game that addressed many of the complaints players had with Basement Crawl.Bloober TeamAfter the release of Brawl, Bloober underwent an internal reckoning. Babieno sat down with his team and had an honest conversation about the studio's identity and future.It looks like we still don't know how to make something good, and we have a game which has 27 percent on Metacritic, so maybe we should change," Babieno remembered thinking. Our decision was, OK, we need to focus on creating something we will be proud of. So that's why we went back to the roots and decided we would like to deliver horror games."Horror has a special, blood-soaked place in Babieno's heart. He grew up devouring books, films and games with unsettling themes, including works from Stephen King, Graham Masterton and the Silent Hill team at Konami. Fear spoke to him, and as a creator, he saw how it functioned as a shortcut to deep human emotion and universal experiences.Babieno took his team's plan to their investors and laid it all out: We sat with our funders and told them, guys, we need some money, but we have a pretty good idea for the next 10 years. We would like to become one of the really good psychological horror game developers." The investors said yes. Bloober Team 2.0 was born.Layers of Fear came out in 2016 and was a breakout hit, followed by a succession of well-received psychological horror games, including Observer and Blair Witch. But that was just the public side of things: As Bloober was rebranding and cementing itself as a pillar of psychological horror, Babieno was secretly trying to convince Konami to let Bloober make a Silent Hill game.Babieno first approached Konami in 2015 with a proposal to make a Silent Hill spin-off game, something completely new in the series. The conversation stayed alive for four years, and finally in 2019, Konami invited Babieno to Japan for a meeting.Almost the whole management board came to the meeting, and they requested us to prepare a pitch for a Silent Hill 2 remake," Babieno said. And whoa. We were so afraid to touch it. We understood from the first day of the conversation that we will have half of the world which will love us and half of the world which will hate us. We are touching something sacred."Other studios were in the running to handle Konami's secret Silent Hill 2 remake, but Bloober got the gig. Konami made the official announcement in October 2022.Which brings us back to today. The studio just released Layers of Fear, a complete series remastering done in Unreal Engine 5. With this collection, it's closing the door early on the 10-year plan it laid out for Bloober 2.0 in 2015. A hard pivot worked out well for Bloober once before; it makes some sense to try that again.Silent Hill 2 will be the first title out of Bloober Team 3.0, the studio focused on action-first, mass-market horror games. This is a small but significant shift in Babieno's direction, but he - and Bloober as a whole - is still obsessed with fear.We are in a very specific moment in history because we have a lot of crises," Babieno said. He described horror games as a type of catharsis for everyday terror, a safe place where people can dissect their own reactions to intense stimuli and reckon with real-world emotions. He mentioned the pervasive threat of climate change and global economic crises; he pointed out that Bloober is based in Poland, which has a front-row seat to the carnage of the war in Ukraine.He continued, As human beings, we would like to be prepared for something that is unexpected. Those fears are around us ... we would like to deliver games that allow us to deal with our fears."Meanwhile, Bloober Team has grown to roughly 230 employees, and one of Babieno's greatest personal fears is letting them down or having to lay anyone off. As of 2023, Bloober doesn't do layoffs; in the past three years, he said just five people have left the company. Babieno isn't actively growing Bloober at the moment and he isn't looking for a buyer, even as the industry's biggest publishers are buying talented indie studios left and right. From Babieno's perspective, Bloober works best as an independent company building AAA-quality games - horror games, to be exact.I would like to stay independent because only then will we be able to make something new, something fresh and creative," he said. I don't want to create games by watching an Excel spreadsheet. I would like to deliver some new milestones of horror, our niche."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bloober-team-is-done-making-psychological-horror-games-163039512.html?src=rss
It seems a whole lot of people still enjoy the dulcet mews of chocobos and the ever-present Cid, as Final Fantasy XVIhas sold over three million units since launching on June 22. This new darker take on the series is a PS5 console exclusive, making these sales figures even more impressive. For comparison's sake, Final Fantasy XVsold five million copies during its launch week back in 2016, but that was a multi-platform title available for both PS4 and Xbox One.Square Enix says that this three million figure represents both digital and physical sales throughout the globe. This falls slightly short of the recent FF7 remake, which sold 3.5 million units during its first three days of availability. Again, the remake was available on multiple consoles. It's also worth noting that the PS4 never had availability issues like the PS5, so the install base was much highers (though that's slowly changing.)
Although Big Tech is still (sometimes clumsily) figuring out generative AI's ethics and implications, the genie is out of the bottle, and the technology is already integrating into the workforce. From that perspective, Microsoft announced a new program today to train workers on AI. The initiative will offer free coursework through LinkedIn, including certification. It's somewhat ironic since the appeal of generative AI is that it's dead simple to use: It automates content creation using everyday language. But the courses could still provide tips for composing the most effective prompts while showing beginners the ropes, giving them a chance to keep pace with our rapidly changing world.Microsoft's AI Skills Initiative, part of the company's Skills for Jobs program, will include free courses created by (Microsoft subsidiary) LinkedIn, offering learners the first Professional Certificate on Generative AI in the online learning market." Microsoft says the courses will cover introductory AI concepts and responsible AI frameworks," culminating in certification. It's launching in English only, but the company says it will add Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese and Japanese over the coming months."In addition, the company is launching a trainer toolkit for educators with downloadable, bite-sized content for trainers" and a separate AI course for teachers and other trainers.Microsoft also announced an open grant program for AI with an eye on boosting historically marginalized populations. The Generative AI Skills Grant Challenge is a collaboration between data.org, Microsoft's AI for Good Lab and GitHub. It aims to explore, develop, and implement how nonprofit, social enterprise and research or academic institutions can train and empower the workforce to use generative AI." Grant recipients will receive financial support, group learning opportunities, data training / guidance and access to Microsoft events and cloud-computing resources. The grant program is accepting applications now with an August 15th deadline. You can learn more and apply here.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-already-offering-a-generative-ai-certification-program-160023724.html?src=rss
Google is about to make it a lot easier for you to buy and rent movies across streamers - for better or worse for your wallet. The company has announced it's adding a Shop tab on Android TV, where you can browse, purchase and store movies.Though it looks a bit similar, the Shop tab differs from the Android TV's Discover tab in a few ways. Both pages show content from a variety of streaming platforms, but the Discover tab displays recommendations based on your viewing habits, whether or not the titles cost anything to watch. On the other hand, the Shop tab only features content you can, well, shop. Instead of having to click through each app individually, you can see all the movies that are available to rent or buy across the streamers you subscribe to.The Shop Tab also has a Library section that displays every title you've purchased with your Google account on Google TV devices and its mobile app, Android TV devices and YouTube. Speaking of the Google TV mobile app, you can log in to it on your phone or tablet to download content from your Library for offline access later on. The wait to access this new feature shouldn't be long, as Google reports that the Shop tab will roll out across the US and 23 other countries over the next few weeks.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/android-tvs-new-shop-tab-lets-you-buy-movies-from-different-providers-160012505.html?src=rss
A Samsung Galaxy S23 FE may be on the way after the company declined to offer a mid-range entry point for its previous-gen flagship smartphone lineup. Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka @OnLeaks), who has a solid track record, has provided a first look at renders of the Galaxy S23 FE.The leaked images suggest Samsung's device will have a triple-camera array. Unusually for a mid-range smartphone, the sensors may include a telephoto lens. The Galaxy S23 FE is said to have a screen size of around 6.4 inches, with a 120Hz AMOLED panel and an under-display fingerprint reader.
OnePlus might be the next company to jump into the foldable phone space, and it could have a few ways to stand out. Well-known tipster OnLeaks and MySmartPriceclaim to have specs for the OnePlus Fold (aka OnePlus V Fold), a book-style foldable, and it will apparently deliver top-end performance. It will reportedly revolve around a 7.8-inch "2K" folding screen as well as a 6.3-inch external display (both 120Hz), and would come with a speedy Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip as well as 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. You'd see 48-megapixel regular and ultra-wide cameras on the back, a 64MP telephoto sensor, a 32MP front cam for the external screen and a 20MP selfie shooter when the phone is open.The 4,800mAh battery wouldn't be exceptional, and you'd have to be content with 'just' 67W fast wired charging instead of the 100W from the OnePlus 11. And yes, the brand's signature alert slider would make the cut despite the relatively novel form factor.OnePlus is rumored to be launching the Fold this August, or about a month after Samsung is unofficially expected to debut the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. There's no word on pricing, but the claimed hardware could make it expensive.The foldable phone category is still relatively small, with North Americans largely having to choose between the Galaxy Z line, Google's Pixel Fold and Motorola's Razr+. With OnePlus entering the arena, though, there are signs the field is heating up. That's good news for customers, as it might lead to more aggressive pricing and new entrants that were previously content to sit on the sidelines.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/oneplus-first-foldable-phone-will-reportedly-feature-a-2k-screen-140426945.html?src=rss
It makes sense that a majority of EVs are crossovers. It's a market segment that does well. Sure, they're essentially raised hatchbacks, but they offer enough cargo space and seating for a couple or small family. On the other hand, if you have a large brood or need to transport a lot of supplies, gear, or groceries, the electrification of a three-row vehicle has been slow. Fortunately, the Kia EV9 is here with seating for up to seven and a cavernous cargo space.We had a chance to take the Korean-spec EV9 for a first drive in Korea and while the suspension was a bit softer than what we're used to in the United States and there's a good chance that the acceleration will be tweaked to deliver more zip, it delivered the electric vehicle experience we expect from the automaker.With a targeted range of up to 300 miles and DC fast charging that Kia says will take the 99.8kWh capacity battery from 10 percent to 80 percent in about 24 minutes, the automaker has something that should appeal to families looking for a road trip SUV. For more details on the EV9 and how it fared on the road, check out the video below.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/kia-ev9-first-drive-adding-a-third-row-to-the-ev-market-134533948.html?src=rss
The team at Shokz has made a name for itself in the bone conduction headset market over the past several years and they've decided to change things up a bit this time around. Today, the company announced its newest headphones and while it's still an open-ear design, it's not bone conduction. The Shokz OpenFit Bluetooth earbuds ($179.95) are called air conduction" in a twist on the brand's bone conduction brethren. Like many open-ear buds before them, they are positioned just outside of your ear with an over-the-ear hook to keep them in place. As a lifestyle headset, they work well, keeping your hearing open (to some degree), staying in place when you move about and are easy to wear for long periods of time.The OpenFit seems to bridge the gap between the audio quality of in-ear buds and the situational awareness of bone conduction. They definitely deliver better audio (including bass) than the bone conduction models and still let you hear some of what's going on around you. Sure, they're not quite a replacement for in-ear buds, but that wasn't really the goal. All that said, I found that they can be hit or miss with dance music, since there's an issue with handling hard hits on some low frequency sounds.Externally, these start off on the same page as most similarly designed earbuds. They come with a charging case, fit over your ear with dolphin arc hooks and to the passer-by, won't appear unusual. They're matte black (or beige), made with a soft silicone exterior and feel very lightweight. It's not outlandish to say you could forget you're wearing them. They're definitely lighter and more comfortable than the single-unit bone conduction models Shokz sells, and it's nice not to have a band around the back.Photo by Jon Turi / EngadgetLike many earbuds, Shokz has graciously included touch controls including double-tap and long-press interactions. They respond well to your touches and taps, plus you can customize the functionality in the iOS or Android apps, although the latter won't be ready at launch. You can use a single bud if you want and keep the other inside the charging case without issue, although you will be limited to that choice's touch-control setting.While Shokz's previous offerings were primarily geared toward fitness (the OpenComm series aside), the OpenFit is pitched as more of a lifestyle product. They're something you can wear as you go about your day without leaning on digital transparency modes to hear the world. The earbuds themselves are IP54 rated so you're good if you do work out in them, but the charging case is not. You'll want to try to remember to wipe them off before stowing them to keep everything in good working order.The OpenFit and its ear hook seem to work well at keeping them in place, too. I wouldn't worry about them falling off if you're running around, lifting weights, stretching or doing physical activities. It may seem like they could, since they're not wedged into your ear, but so far I've found them to stay put.Photo by Jon Turi / EngadgetAs for specs, the Shokz OpenFit earbuds run Bluetooth 5.2, have a frequency response of 50Hz - 16kHz, support AAC and SBC codecs and there are 18 x 11mm customized dynamic drivers inside for the output. The battery life of the buds are rated at up to 7 hours of listening on a charge, with the case said to expand that up to 28 hours of playback. As with previous Shokz headsets, you get an hour's worth of juice with just 5-minutes of charging. That's great if you notice a low charge before heading out on a run with just OpenFit and a smartwatch or phone.One of the frequent issues with bone conduction headsets has been the lack of bass. Shokz came a long way towards cracking the case with their latest OpeRun Pro headset. The OpenFit aren't bone conduction, so it was easier for the company to deliver a pumped up low-end profile.If you're a Shokz fan, you'll probably enjoy these, especially for casual daily use at lower volumes. They work well for music and spoken word, and unlike the bone conduction models you'll have better luck hearing your music if you're in a busier environment. Although, keep in mind these are still open-ear models, so your listening experience isn't totally isolated.I've worn these while going to the store and doing other errands. If you keep music playing at normal or low volumes, you can enjoy tunes while also listening to and conversing with cashiers and other people around you. While you can take phone calls with a double tap, I chose to ditch them with a long press when interacting as a courtesy.Photo by Jon Turi / EngadgetYou caneven ride your bike while wearing these and still hear what's going on around you if you're careful with the volume. Bone conduction headphones (the Shokz OpenRun Pro specifically) are a more optimized situational awareness headset though, and visibly leave both ears open in case local laws have restrictions.If you're the type of person who enjoys cranking up your tunes, there are some caveats. The overall listening experience does offer rich bass, along with good mids and highs for this form factor. But if you tend to listen to dance music or hip hop, you may notice an issue with the handling of some very low-end kick drums. On some songs, mostly with hard hitting bits at low frequencies, you may notice a crunchy edge to those beats. If you get the opportunity to test them first, I'd bring something along these lines to check your experience.Listening to The Dave Brubeck Quartet's Three to Get Ready" was clear and pleasant, with a natural sound and smooth basslines. The UMC's Some Sepak Ill Thoughts" generally sounded good with a slight crunchiness on a specific ultra-low bassline section. Listening to both D.I.T.C.'s bass-heavy Thick (Environmentally Friendly Version)" and the 4/4 techno of Ryan Elliot's Fermi II" both surfaced the kick-drum crunch a bit. Radiohead's Reckoner" was a pleasant listen throughout. Obviously it depends on the music and only seems noticeable on certain punchy and low frequencies.Photo by Jon Turi / EngadgetThe app that Shokz released for OpenRun Pro in 2022 will now also work with your OpenFit earbuds and it's relatively essential, since there are touch controls that you'll want to customize. The iOS version will be available at launch, with the Android version arriving at a later date. Using the app, you can select from EQ presets or create your own, customize the touch controls, control playback and view battery levels for each earbud as well as the charging case.There are two types of touch controls available, which are double tap and press-and-hold. You can select from pre-set combinations, which seem to cover enough options to satisfy most people. They're a mix of play/pause, previous/next, voice assistant and lastly volume control (which is only available for the press-and-hold interaction).The standard EQ preset seems to be the most common choice for most listening. Vocal and treble boost are similar, while the bass boost just increases the prevalence of low-end but not its power necessarily. Obviously you can use the custom option to find your own sweet spot.Photo by Jon Turi / EngadgetOverall, these sound good for the form factor and Shokz fans that enjoy an open-ear experience may appreciate the move away from bone conduction for a change. For casual everyday use, the fit and audio experience is much improved, while still offering a degree of situational awareness. The issue with certain low-end frequencies and drum kicks is my only quibble with an otherwise solid listening experience.Shokz OpenFit earbuds are available starting today at the company's website, as well as Amazon for $179.95 in both black and beige options.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/shokz-openfit-delivers-open-ear-audio-without-bone-conduction-130058496.html?src=rss
For nearly eight years, Joe Tung was responsible for leading development on Riot's hit MOBA, League of Legends. At the end of 2020, he left the company to cofound Theorycraft Games. Since then, the studio, which employs people who contributed to League, Valorant, Overwatch, the Halo series, Destiny and Apex Legends, has been quietly working away on its first project, a game codenamed Project Loki. Before today, only a handful of content creators and pro-gamers have had the chance to play Loki. That's about to change, with Theorycraft announcing a two-day PC playtest that will start tomorrow, June 29th.Theorycraft describes Project Loki as a squad-based hero battleground. Imagine a game that has MOBA-like heroes who need to nail skill shots to perform their best. Now, instead of pitting those characters against one another on a map with minion lanes and towers, you force them to fight on a large, Fortnite-inspired battleground. That's the pitch of Project Loki, andthe studio hopes it turns out to be the next game you decide to spend 10,000 hours playing with your friends. One thing Tung, whose past credits also include Halo: Reach, says is a core part of Project Loki is player creativity. Each session starts with you and your teammates choosing a group of heroes you think will win you the match, and will need to adapt your strategies on the fly.Tung says Theorycraft Games is a small and very independent game studio," but it has the backing of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which took part in the company's $50 million series B fundraising round last year. In other words, there's a lot of money riding on the bet that Theorycraft can create the next LoL or Apex Legends. Expect to hear more about the game in the weeks and months ahead. You can sign up to playtest Project Loki on Theorycraft's website.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/project-loki-looks-like-a-rad-mix-of-league-of-legends-and-fortnite-130053005.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics