Forza Horizon 5 is officially coming to the PS5 on April 29. We knew the racing sim was going multiplatform, and now we have a legit date when players will be able to race around a digital replica of Mexico.This version does have cross-play support, which has already been a boon for Xbox and PC players. Additionally, the PS5 build allows gamers to purchase all of the same car packs, including the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions. There's a new and free content update for PS5, Xbox and PC players called Horizon Realms that features a set of in-game achievements based on the game's dynamic and evolving world, which arrives on April 25.Horizon 5 comes to PS5 in three flavors. The base game costs $60; the Deluxe Edition, which comes with the game's car pass, costs $80; and the Premium Edition, which comes with all of the game's DLC, costs $100. If you pre-order the Premium Edition you also get early access to the game on April 25, though does it count as early access when the game's been out for over four years on Xbox and PC? That's for you and your wallet to decide. All editions are digital only - theForza HorizonX account confirmed there are currently no plans for a physical release.Developer Playground Games has also run down the various graphics modes available on PlayStation 5. Regular PS5 consoles will have access to a 60 fps performance mode and a 30 fps quality mode. PS5 Pro owners will have the same options, but with "increased fidelity" in the performance mode and ray-traced car reflections in races and free roam. There is no word currently on resolution targets for either console, or how they shape up versus Xbox Series X/S.For the uninitiated, Forza Horizon 5 is a fantastic open-world racing game that we absolutely loved upon its initial release in 2021. The graphics are top notch, with a gorgeous design aesthetic, and the open world is fun to just race around in. The game is so approachable that we said you don't need to be into cars to love it."This is just the latest former Xbox exclusive to bridge the console divide. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle debuted as an Xbox exclusive in December, but is also coming to the PS5 soon. Other former exclusives that have been allowed to roam free include Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment and Grounded.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/forza-horizon-5-careens-onto-ps5-on-april-29-222606043.html?src=rss
In a fitting crossover, Roblox is getting a big speed boost on Chromebooks. Google said on Thursday that a new x86 version of the online game platform and creation system is twice as fast as the Android version, which was previously the only way to play Roblox on ChromeOS.Given the overlap between Chromebooks (popular in education) and Roblox (popular with kids, for better or worse), a better-performing version on ChromeOS seems like a good match. Although there are more ARM-based Chromebooks than before, most still use x86 architecture.Google says the new Roblox build provides smoother gameplay, quicker load times and "an overall better Roblox experience." More specifically, you should see a 99 percent framerate increase in the virtual pet game Adopt Me! and a 67 percent boost in the role-playing sim Brookhaven RP. Load times are up to 29 percent faster when going from a fresh start to the login page.Alongside the x86 launch, Google and Roblox have some speed-themed in-game swag for Chromebook users. You can redeem a jetpack with a Chrome logo (of course!) for your avatar to fly around like a Google-sponsored Buzz Lightyear. You can also redeem a "hoverboard" (which looks suspiciously like a OneWheel) for faster ground travel. You'll find both on Google's perks page.This isn't the first mashup between the two companies. Last year, they teamed up on a weird game that teaches kids about online safety, the, uh, "interestingly" named Be Internet Awesome World.Google told Engadget that you can install the x86 version of Roblox directly through the Play Store. Although that's typically where you find the Android version, the storefront should automatically deliver the right build for your laptop.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/roblox-is-now-much-faster-on-chromebooks-210030799.html?src=rss
At some point in 2025, Twitch plans to offer monetization tools like subscriptions and Bits for all streamers, according to an open letter from Twitch CEO Dan Clancy. Monetizing Twitch streams previously required reaching "Affiliate" status on the platform.Having viewers subscribe to a Twitch channel or cheer with Bits (Twitch's digital currency) during a stream are the two most prominent ways the average streamer can make money from their streams, outside of passive ad revenue or sponsorships. Currently, each subscription earns you a 50/50 split on subscription revenue after processing fees and taxes, while each Bit earned during a stream translates to around $0.01.Opening up subscriptions and Bits to "most streamers, from day one," should serve to make streaming on Twitch more enticing to anyone worried about the long process of becoming a Twitch Affiliate or Partner. Reaching either status on Twitch requires earning a certain amount of followers and streaming a certain amount of hours, on top of other criteria. With at least some monetization tools becoming available to everyone, climbing Twitch's ladder seems like it could become more about unlocking access to tools rather than the ability to earn money at all. (Thought novice streamers should keep in mind they must get a minimum of $50 to withdraw their earnings from Twitch at all.)Alongside these changes, Clancy also announced that Twitch will introduce more ways for streamers to earn money together, new editing tools for creating clips of streams and expanded moderation tools on mobile. Twitch's has been rethinking its approach to moderation and policy violations over the last few months. Earlier in February, the company tweaked how it enforces community guideline violations, making it so violations can "expire" after a certain amount of time.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/twitch-will-open-some-monetization-tools-to-even-first-time-streamers-204805004.html?src=rss
Amazon announced that it has created its own quantum computing chip, joining Microsoft and Google in a push to take this potentially transformative technology from the theoretical to the practical. Ocelot is a prototype that's intended to test the effectiveness of Amazon Web Services' quantum error correction architecture. Compared with other chip methods, the company claims Ocelot can reduce the cost of implementing quantum error correction by up to 90 percent.Quantum computing could solve complicated problems exponentially faster than standard computers by using quantum bits, or qubits, rather than traditional bits that store a computer's information as 1s and 0s. Rather than representing only a 1 or a 0, qubits can represent a proportion of both 1 and 0 at the same time. Ocelot takes this a step farther with its use of "cat qubits," named for the famous Schrodinger's cat thought experiment, which can "intrinsically suppress certain forms of errors," according to Amazon.Error rate is one of the key limitations of current quantum computing, because the qubits are so sensitive to minute changes in their environments. Electromagnetic interference from a WiFi network can be enough to disturb a qubit and cause it to make mistakes. Adding more qubits to a chip means faster calculations, but also more mistakes.Ocelot consists of five data qubits (the cat qubits), five "buffer circuits" to stabilize them and four qubits for detecting errors on the cat qubits. "We selected our qubit and architecture with quantum error correction as the top requirement," said Oskar Painter, director of quantum hardware at AWS. "We believe that if we're going to make practical quantum computers, quantum error correction needs to come first."Google claimed that its Willow chip, announced in December, was able to reduce errors as more qubits were added. Ocelot is another step toward reducing errors and making useful quantum computers a reality.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/amazon-joins-the-quantum-computing-race-with-a-chip-designed-for-error-correction-201501075.html?src=rss
Your keyboard is one of the few pieces of technology you'll use for hours at a time, so why not make it something that brings you joy? Sure, the people who gush over mechanical keyboards can be a bit much, but the enhanced comfort, durability and customizability that comes with the best of them is real. If you're interested in making the switch (ahem), we've tested dozens of mechanical keyboards over the past year and rounded up our favorites below. We've also broken down what to look for as you shop. What to look for in a mechanical keyboard Layout The first thing to decide with any keyboard is what size and layout you want. Full-size layouts have all the keys you'd ever need - a number pad, a full function row, arrow keys, etc. - but they also have the largest physical footprint. A 96-percent or 1800" keyboard is similar, but crunches the navigation cluster (Page Up, Home, etc.), numpad and arrow keys closer together to save space. Tenkeyless (TKL) or 80-percent keyboards omit the number pad entirely; they're often considered the best blend of size and functionality. 75-percent keyboards keep almost all of the buttons of a TKL model but further reduce any dead" space between them - think of them like the TKL versions of a 96 percent layout. It gets more and more minimal from there. The smallest popular layout is the 60 percent keyboard, which removes the arrow keys, function row, numpad and navigation cluster. This kind of design can be particularly useful for gaming, as it opens up a ton of desk space to swing your mouse around. It typically relies on shortcuts to make up for its missing keys, but it comes with a learning curve as a result. Even more compact options exist beyond that. These can be adorable, but they usually involve removing the number row, which is a step too far for most people. There are all sorts of ergonomic keyboards that utilize different shapes to improve your wrist and arm comfort as well, but we have a separate guide for those. Switch type No component has more of an impact on how a mechanical keyboard feels and sounds than the switches beneath its keycaps. The market for these tiny mechanisms is vast and complex but, to keep it simple, you can separate them into three types: linear, tactile and clicky. Which you prefer ultimately comes down to personal preference, so we encourage you to go to a store, try out a friend's keyboard and test switches out to determine what you like best. Linear switches feel smooth and consistent all the way down. Many PC gamers prefer them because they're often light and fast to actuate, so they can register inputs quickly. They tend to be quieter than other switch types as well, but some may find them too sensitive. Tactile switches create a noticeable bump" partway through a press. They generally aren't as fast as their linear counterparts, but many (including yours truly) enjoy the tangible sense of feedback they provide with each keystroke. This bit of resistance can make it a little easier to avoid typos, too. Many tactile switches are neither outright quiet nor disruptively loud. Clicky switches are, well, clicky. They work similarly to tactile switches but use an extra mechanism that makes a sharp click sound when pressed. The exact design of that mechanism can differ depending on the switch. Some people love the audible feedback of clicky switches. The people who work or live with them? Probably not so much. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Remember: These are general buckets. Within them lies an enormous variety of switches with differing actuation points, weights, springs, bump sensations and more. One linear, tactile, or clicky switch can feel and sound noticeably different than another. There are more dramatic variations as well. Low-profile switches, for one, can be linear, tactile or clicky but aren't as tall and have a shorter travel distance. They allow for flatter and more compact designs, with keys that are fast to press but also easy to bottom out. Optical and Hall effect switches rely on different mechanisms entirely. Instead of a physical contact point, the former uses a beam of infrared light to register keystrokes, while the latter uses tiny magnets. Both commonly have a linear feel. They can also enable a few gaming-friendly features: You could set custom actuation points and make any key more or less sensitive, map multiple actions to one keystroke or even use an analog mode" that emulates gamepad controls. (Newer inductive switches are said to offer similar benefits.) These are niche tricks, but they can make a difference for competitive-minded players. Boards that use these analog" switches are frequently more expensive and less customizable than traditional mechanical options, though. Switch modifications It doesn't stop at switch types: Manufacturers (and you!) can make several other tweaks to shape how a mechanical keyboard feels and sounds. Some have layers of different foam inside their case to tamp down noise, for instance. Some have switches that are lubricated out of the box to provide a smoother feel and more muted sound. A few others put plastic, rubber or foam films" between the upper and bottom housing of a switch to keep it from wobbling and further tune its acoustics. Or they stick a layer of tape on their printed circuit board (PCB) to absorb higher-pitched sounds. We think most people will find that some well-applied foam and lubing makes things feel nicer, though this is another matter that comes down to taste. Keycaps Keycaps play a huge role in defining a keyboard's character. First off, they should look nice! There's a huge market for third-party keycaps in all different styles, from the playful to the professional to the proudly impractical. The majority of mechanical keyboards make it easy to swap in new keycaps, so it's usually not a huge deal if you ever get bored with your device's stock set. Most keycaps are made from one of two types of plastic: ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) or PBT (polybutylene terephthalate). Keycaps using the latter tend to be higher-quality. They're often thicker, more durable, deeper-sounding and less prone to developing a shiny or greasy finish over time. Still, premium ABS keycaps do exist, so this is another case where what's best" partly comes down to personal taste. You may prefer an ABS keycap that feels smooth over a PBT model with a rougher texture. Keycap sets are available in several different shapes and sizes. Some are totally uniform; many others are distinctly sculpted to meet your fingers in (ostensibly) more natural positions. Which is most comfortable is something you'll have to figure out for yourself. You can check out keycaps.info to see what the most popular keycap profiles look like. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Keyboard makers have several different methods of printing the letters and symbols (aka legends") that go on a set of keycaps. The two most common are known as double-shot and dye-sublimation. Double-shot caps are typically more durable but cost more to produce - they're made by molding one color of plastic for the keycap around a second color of plastic for the legend. Dye-sub" caps, in contrast, use heat to stain in the legends but are decently durable in their own right. For keyboards with RGB backlighting, it's best if the legends to be shine-through," so those color effects are visible through the keycaps. We don't think it's the end of the world if they aren't - as you'll see below - but the RGB won't be as fun otherwise. Stabilizers Stabilizers (or stabs") are little components that go under large keys like the space bar or backspace to keep them from rattling or wobbling when pressed. These come in different types as well. Many a decent keyboard has been hindered by subpar stabilizers, so it's worth checking your bigger keys first to ensure they aren't distractingly shaky or uneven. Mounting styles and case quality A keyboard's mounting style determines how its PCB and plate - i.e., a common (but not universal) layer that holds the keycaps in place above the PCB - are secured within its case. This, too, comes in varying styles and can have a significant effect on how the board feels and sounds. It's also something that's best explained visually, so we'll point you to this excellent infographic from Thomas Baart instead of running through every possible configuration here. It's hard to say one mounting style is always better than the others, but many enthusiast boards these days use some sort of gasket mount, which puts a gasket material on either side to separate the plate from the main case. Done well, this can make typing feel softer and bouncier than it would on a more traditional, tray-mounted design. Regardless of what's going on under the hood, a good keyboard shouldn't feel cheap on the outside, either. Its case shouldn't flex under pressure or feel hollow as you're clacking away. Higher-end models often have cases made from metal or sturdier plastic - the former may feel more premium but it's typically heavier and pricier. Customizations and software We focused on pre-built models here, but that doesn't mean customization isn't important. Experimenting with different switches and keycaps is half the fun of this hobby, after all. For this guide, we prioritized keyboards that are hot-swappable," which means they let you easily remove and replace switches without having to desolder anything. Permanently attached switches may be more stable, but fixing a broken hot-swappable switch should be relatively painless - and more affordable to boot. We also valued keyboards that are easy to program and customize through software, whether it's a manufacturer-specific app or popular open-source programs like VIA. Not everyone will go through the trouble to set macros, customize backlighting or remap keys, but it's better to have the option if your mindset changes down the road. It's a plus if a keyboard works across multiple operating systems, particularly Windows and macOS, just in case you ever switch allegiances. If the device comes with OS-specific keycaps you can pop on to make the experience less clunky, that's even better. Connectivity Wireless connectivity isn't essential with a device that mostly sits on your desk, but it's always nice to cut down on cables. Though wireless keyboards still cost more than wired ones, today you can get something great for less than $100. If you do go wireless, look for a model that can connect over Bluetooth and a USB wireless dongle. The former is convenient for travel, while the latter can provide a more stable connection. For wired keyboards, you want a detachable USB cable so you don't have to replace your entire device if the cord ever frays or breaks. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Backlight Good backlighting will make any keyboard easier to use in the dark. We gave bonus points to keyboards with fully programmable RGB lights, as they can be particularly fun to mess with, but they're not essential. As noted above, the strength of your backlight will be neutered if your keycaps' legends aren't transparent. Rotary knob Some mechanical keyboards come configured with a rotary knob, which typically controls volume by default but can be customized to control other inputs as well. This is more of a fun bonus than anything else, but we found it hard to give up on devices without one. How we tested To be clear, there isn't one best" mechanical keyboard for everyone. Yes, some are likely to be better for most people than others; that's what we set out to find with this guide. But ultimately, this is one of those categories that'll largely depend on your personal tastes. It's also worth reiterating that we only considered pre-built models for this guide. We still valued keyboards that are configurable with different switches, keycaps and other design tweaks upfront and easy to customize after purchase. However, we recognize that many people just want to pay for a nice thing and enjoy it, without having to do homework on how they can make it better. If you want to get hardcore later on and start building your own custom keyboards, we have a whole separate guide for that. With that said, we started our research by reading a ton of reviews from both professionals and everyday users, trawling enthusiast forums along the way. This helped us whittle down the devices that had a shot of being a top pick and were readily available from reputable brands. From there, we used each keyboard as our daily driver for a few days, typing up thousands of words, playing PC games and paying attention to the key aspects noted above. We fully charged each wireless model and monitored its battery drain to ensure it lined up with their advertised rating. We also ensured any companion software worked as intended. It's worth keeping in mind that new mechanical keyboards are coming out all the time. It's very difficult to get to everything, but we'll continue to monitor the market and update this guide as noteworthy boards arrive. Other mechanical keyboards we tested Just a few of the other mechanical keyboards we tested for this guide. Clockwise from top left: the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (2023), the G.Skill KM250 RGB, the Lofree Block, the NZXT Function 2 and the Lofree Flow. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Lofree Block The wireless Lofree Block feels great and has a fun retro aesthetic that looks like it belongs next to an old Mac. Its keys are wonderfully smooth to the touch and create a nice thocky tone. At $169, it's a good middle ground between the Keychron Q Max and V Max series if you dig the look. However, it doesn't have any software for programming macros, it only has a white backlight and it only comes in a full-size layout. Are those huge issues? No. But there are fine margins separating these things once you get to a certain point. Lofree Flow It's a similar story with the Lofree Flow, a low-profile model. Its full-POM switches are softer and noticeably quieter than the NuPhy Air V2, and its thin aluminum case looks and feels high-quality. It can only work wirelessly using Bluetooth, though, and we noticed a couple of connection hiccups in testing. There's still no software, either, plus its backlight is fairly weak. It also costs $40 or so more than the Air75 V2. Still, it's a great alternative. Keychron K Max The low-profile Keychron K Max series has all the requisite features and costs less than the NuPhy Air75 V2 and Lofree Flow. If you don't like the Air V2's style and want a cheaper low-profile model, it's worth a look. That said, the keycaps on NuPhy's board feel a bit higher-quality, and the tactile Gateron switches in our K Max unit sound thinner. NZXT Function 2 & Function 2 MiniTKL The full-size NZXT Function 2 and tenkeyless NZXT Function 2 MiniTKL are perfectly solid gaming keyboards with fast optical switches, durable PBT keycaps, tasteful RGB lighting, sound-dampening foam and aluminum top plates. They support a fair amount of customization through NZXT's CAM app, including the ability to swap between two different universal actuation settings. The stabilizers on larger keys exhibit some rattle, though, and the Wooting 80HE's magnetic switches are far more versatile for not too much extra cash. The Razer Huntsman V2 TKL. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget MelGeek Modern97 With its fun speckled color scheme, gasket-mounted design and multiple foam layers, the MelGeek Modern97 is a solid value at $139. The linear, pre-lubed Kailh Box Plastic switches in our unit are smooth and enjoyably clacky, while the larger keys are neither hollow nor overly loud. All of the switches are hot-swappable, and the whole thing works over USB-C, Bluetooth or a 2.4GHz dongle. Alas, its ABS keycaps start to feel slicker and greasier with extended use. This model also has a 90 percent layout, which saves a little extra desk space compared to a 96 percent board but can lead to more accidental presses around the arrow keys. Razer Huntsman V2 TKL The Razer Huntsman V2 TKL is a quality gaming keyboard with light optical switches, crisp shine-through keycaps, a sturdy frame and an impressively muffled sound thanks to some internal foam. (If you buy the model with Razer's linear optical switches, that is; another variant with clicky switches isn't nearly as quiet.) It's often available in the $100 range, and at that price it's a solid pick. It's neither wireless nor hot-swappable, though, and its keys wobble more than those on the Keychron V Max. Razer Huntsman V3 Pro The analog Razer Huntsman V3 Pro is a decent alternative to the Wooting 80HE if the latter's shipping delays become too great. It's available in a 60 percent, TKL or full-size layout, and it offers a similar set of gaming features, including an adjustable actuation range and a rapid trigger setting for repeating keystrokes faster. But its optical switches are noisier and more hollow-feeling than Wooting's Hall effect setup, so it's not as pleasant for typing. The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (Gen 3). Jeff Dunn for Engadget SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (Gen 3) We recommend the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless in our guide to the best gaming keyboards, and it remains a good choice if you want the extensive customizability of the Wooting 80HE in a wireless design. It also comes with a wrist rest, unlike Wooting's keyboard, and it offers an impressive typing experience in its own right. SteelSeries' configuration software is clunkier to navigate than Wootility, though, and at $270 it's pricier than Keychron Q Max without having quite as premium a design. G.Skill KM250 The $45 G.Skill KM250 is the top budget pick in our gaming keyboard guide, and it's still a better buy than the Keychron C3 Pro is gaming is your chief concern. Compared to Keychron's board, it adds hot-swappable switches, full RGB backlighting, PBT keycaps and a rotary knob in a smaller 65 percent layout. That said, the C3 Pro's fuller sound and springier keystrokes make it superior for typing, and its tenkeyless design should be more comfortable for a wider swath of people. It's typically available for $10 to $15 less, too. The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid. Jeff Dunn for Engadget Logitech G Pro X TKL & G Pro X 60 The Logitech G Pro X TKL and 60 percent Logitech G Pro X 60 are well-built but far too expensive for gaming keyboards that lack hot-swappable switches and the analog functionality of competitors like the Wooting 80HE. Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid is better, and a fine magnetic-switch alternative to the Wooting 80HE if you must buy from one of the major keyboard brands. It's wired-only, but it looks good, with clear RGB lighting, a built-in volume roller, dedicated media keys and a sturdy metal top plate. Its rapid trigger and adjustable actuation features all work fine, and Logitech's G Hub software is easier to get around than most apps from the big-name manufacturers. All of it costs $30 less than the 80HE as well. Where it falls short is the typing experience: The default switches are pretty noisy, and bottoming out the keys feels stiffer. The ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless The ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless is a wireless 96 percent keyboard that's marketed toward gamers but should feel great to anyone. The pre-lubed, linear ROG NX Snow switches in our test unit are smooth and quiet, while the PBT keycaps feel stable and high-quality. The keycaps let the RGB backlight shine through cleanly, plus there's a clever multi-function key that puts various lighting and media controls in one place. ASUS' Armoury Crate software is sloppy, though, and the board's overall look may be too gamer-y for some. At $180, it's not cheap either. The Keychron Q5 Max costs $40 more but gets you a more premium (if heavier) all-aluminum chassis; here, the housing is plastic. ASUS ROG Azoth The ASUS ROG Azoth is like a 75 percent version of the Strix Scope II 96 Wireless with a few more enthusiast touches. Its gasket-mounted design gives keystrokes a slightly softer landing, it has a programmable OLED display and it even includes a switch lubing kit in the box. Like the Strix, its hardware is very clearly high-grade. But its software is much more aggravating and, with a list price of $250, it's a worse value than the Keychron Q Max. Corsair K70 RGB TKL The Corsair K70 RGB TKL isn't bad in a vacuum, but it lacks wireless functionality and fully hot-swappable switches. It's on the noisy side, too, and Corsair's iCue software is rough. The Logitech G Pro X 60. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Corsair K70 Max The full-size Corsair K70 Max is another high-end gaming keyboard with magnetic Hall effect sensors and Wooting-style features, but trying to program those settings through Corsair's iCue app gave us headaches. The 80HE also feels better for typing, with less rattling on large keys like the space bar. Wooting's HE keyboards support a slightly wider actuation range on top of that, plus they cost $30 to $55 less depending on size. Razer Huntsman Mini The Razer Huntsman Mini is a fine value if you want a no-frills 60 percent keyboard for less than $100, but it's another wired-only model that isn't truly hot-swappable. Logitech G915 TKL The Logitech G915 TKL is a wireless low-profile model with a metal frame and handy media controls. The GL Tactile switches in our test unit are comfortable and not particularly noisy. But the thin ABS keycaps feel way too cheap for something that costs $180, the keys themselves are a little too wobbly and the switches aren't hot-swappable. The NuPhy Air75 V2 is a superior value. Logitech released an upgraded model with PBT keycaps and a USB-C port last year; we'll aim to test that one for our next update, but it's still pretty expensive at $200. Recent notes February 2025: We've updated this guide with a new gaming pick, the Wooting 80HE, and ensured the rest of our recommendations are still accurate. We've also added a few notes on other keyboards we've recently tested. We've put several other gaming-oriented models through their paces since our last update: You can find testing notes for those in our dedicated gaming keyboard buying guide.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-mechanical-keyboard-120050723.html?src=rss
In what has already been a busy past few days for new model releases, OpenAI is capping off the week with a research preview of GPT-4.5. The company is touting the new system as its largest and best model for chat yet. In early testing, OpenAI says people found GPT-4.5 to be a more natural conversationalist, with the ability to convey warmth and display a kind of emotional intelligence.In one example shared by OpenAI, a person tells ChatGPT they're going through a hard time after failing a test. Where the company's previous models, including GPT-4o and o3-mini, might commiserate with the individual before offering a long list of unsolicited advice, GPT-4.5 takes a different tact. "Want to talk about what happened, or do you just need a distraction? I'm here either way," the chatbot says when powered by GPT-4.5.The gains shown by GPT-4.5 are the result of advancements OpenAI made in unsupervised learning. With unsupervised learning, a machine learning algorithm is given an unlabeled data set and left to its own devices to find patterns and insights. GPT-4.5 doesn't "think" like the company's state-of-the-art reasoning models, but in training the new model OpenAI made architectural enhancements and gave it access to more data and compute power. "The result is a model that has broader knowledge and a deeper understanding of the world, leading to reduced hallucinations," the company says.Speaking of reduced hallucinations, OpenAI measured how much better GPT-4.5 in that regard. When put through SimpleQA, an OpenAI-designed benchmark that tests large language models on their ability to answer "straightforward but challenging knowledge questions," GPT-4.5 beat out o3-mini, GPT-4o and even o1 with a hallucination rate of 37.1 percent. Obviously, the new model doesn't solve the problem of AI hallucinations altogether, but it is a step in the right direction.Despite its relative strengths over GPT-4o and o3-mini, GPT-4.5 isn't a direct replacement for those models. Compared to OpenAI's reasoning systems, GPT-4.5 is "a more general-purpose, innately smarter model." Additionally, it's not natively multimodal like GPT-4o, meaning it doesn't work with features like Voice Mode, video or screensharing. It's also "a very large and compute-intensive model."It's best to think of GPT-4.5 as a stepping stone to systems OpenAI plans to offer in the future. In fact, Sam Altman said as much earlier this month when he shared the company's roadmap, noting GPT-4.5 would be "our last non-chain-of-thought model" - referring to the fact that the new system doesn't solve problems by tackling them step by step like OpenAI's reasoning models do. Its successor, GPT-5, will likely integrate many of OpenAI's latest technologies, including its frontier o3 model. OpenAI reiterated that today, saying it plans to bring GPT-4.5's "unique strengths, including broader knowledge, stronger intuition, and greater 'EQ,' to all users in future models."In the meantime, ChatGPT Pro subscribers can begin using GPT-4.5 starting today, with Pro and Team users slated to gain access starting next week.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-new-gpt-45-model-is-a-better-more-natural-conversationalist-200035185.html?src=rss
Game Freak dropped a surprise trailer at today's Pokemon Presents livestream for something called Pokemon Champions. It's a dedicated battle sim, recalling the glory days of Pokemon Stadium for the N64. This means that Champions distills the franchise's formula down to just battling, with a heavy emphasis on multiplayer.To that end, the game is cross-platform, with the developer saying that players on Nintendo Switch and mobile" will be able to duke it out. We don't know what kind of roster the game itself will provide, but it integrates with the cloud-storage service Pokemon Home. People should be able to pull most of their favorite Pokemon from titles like Pokemon Go and recent mainline entries like Pokemon Sword and Shield. It also works with the spin-off Pokemon Legends: Arceus. The official press release, however, does note that there will be some restrictions when it comes to availability.The gameplay should feel instantly familiar to anyone who has ever dabbled in the franchise, as the trailer description touts tried-and-true mechanics such as Pokemon types, abilities and moves." The footage even shows more niche mechanics like Mega Evolution and Terastallization, indicating that players may not be tied to the base-level Pokemon rule set.There's no release window yet. All we know is that it's currently in development. Speaking of release dates, today's livestream did reveal that Pokemon Legends: Z-A will be coming out by the end of the year for the Switch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-champions-is-all-about-the-battles-194527252.html?src=rss
Adult Swim announced that it would air the next anime from Shinichir Watanabe, the creator of Cowboy Bebop, way back in 2023, and as of today, we finally have a release date. Lazarus is set to premiere on April 5 at midnight on Adult Swim, and will be available to stream on Max the day after.Lazarus follows a task force of agents, also called Lazarus, who are hunting a mad scientist that developed a miracle drug called "Hapna." The drug was created to be a painkiller, but was also secretly designed to kill whoever takes it, three years after it's first taken. Lazarus are trying to find the creator of Hapna to create a vaccine that prevents the drug's negative side effects, and save the world in the process.Based on the trailer, the series' sci-fi setting, jazzy music (provided by Bonobo, Floating Points and Kamasi Washington) and shaggy-haired protagonist Axel all recall Watanabe's previous series Cowboy Bebop, but Lazarus looks like it'll have its own charms, too. The series' action sequences are choreographed by by John Wick director Chad Stahelski and the story takes inspiration from the opioid crisis and climate change, according to a Polygon interview with Watanabe from October 2024.Watanabe's last series Carole & Tuesday premiered on Netflix in the US in 2019 and Netflix's less-than-stellar live action remake of Cowboy Bebop came and went in 2021. The world is more than ready for some original strength Shinichir Watanabe anime, and now it won't have to wait much longer to get it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/lazarus-the-new-anime-from-the-creator-of-cowboy-bebop-premieres-april-5-192314801.html?src=rss
As TikTok's fate in the US sits in limbo, the ByteDance-owned company figured now's as good a time as any to spruce up the platform's (previously lackluster) desktop experience. New features include a repositioned navigation bar, an Explore tab, a floating player for Chrome and - in a move that should catch Twitch's attention - live game streaming in landscape orientation.Before Thursday's changes, TikTok's web app layout included a search bar and shortcuts running across the top of the screen alongside links down the left side. Now, all of them have been consolidated into the vertical navigation bar to the left. The idea is to reduce distractions for more immersive viewing as the platform moves to compete with the likes of YouTube and Twitch.Speaking of Twitch, TikTok now supports full-screen live game streaming in portrait and landscape modes. Before today, you could only do the latter using TikTok's Live Studio app. When you stream live in landscape, desktop users will see that view by default, while mobile users can rotate their devices to watch in widescreen (like everyone did before TikTok came along).Meanwhile, a floating player that keeps TikTok visible above your other windows is exclusive to Chrome for desktop.There's also a new Collections feature (similar to YouTube's playlists), where you can organize your favorite videos in custom categories, making it easier to return to them later. Mobile app features moving to the desktop include the For You feed, where you'll find algorithmically chosen content based on your interests, and the Explore page, which shows trending hashtags and popular content.The changes to the desktop browser version are now available globally.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktoks-revamped-desktop-version-lets-you-livestream-games-in-landscape-view-185638187.html?src=rss
Game Freak held a Pokemon Presents livestream today and we finally got a good look at Pokemon Legends: Z-A. The new trailer for the follow-up to the well-received Pokemon Legends: Arceus reveals the massive Lumiose City, which first appeared in Pokemon X and Y all the way back in 2013. It's a bustling metropolis filled with skyscrapers, and a far cry from the serene countryside of Arceus.The trailer spotlighted the three starter Pokemon players will be able to choose from. They include the gen 2 starters Chikorita and Totodile and the gen 5 starter Tepig. We also got a better look at the gameplay elements, and they seem like something of a hybrid between the real-time capture mechanics of Arceus and the old-school turn-based gameplay of traditional Pokemon titles.Pokemon Legends: Z-A will also bring back Mega Evolutions, which turn regular pocket monsters into superpowered monstrosities with temporary stat boosts. This mechanic, just like Z-A's location, was first introduced in Pokemon X and Y.We have a bit longer to wait for this one. The game doesn't come out until the end of the year. It's also being released for the original Switch, despite the fact that the Switch 2 will most likely be on store shelves by that point. However, long-time readers may remember that the Switch 2 is backwards compatible, so it'll run on both machines.Game Freak also showed off a new game called Pokemon Champions, which is a cross-platform battle sim. Today's Pokemon Presents livestream celebrated the 29th birthday of the franchise. Happy birthday, cute pets we force to live inside of tiny balls and fight to the death!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/new-pokemon-legends-z-a-trailer-reveals-an-absolutely-massive-version-of-lumiose-city-180550052.html?src=rss
DirecTV just announced the availability of Genre Packs, which are channel groupings tied to specific interests. The satellite TV provider teased this in January with the introduction of a sports-related bundle, but now there are more to choose from. These new packs include options for news, entertainment and Spanish language content.Just like the MySports subscription, many of these new bundles come with live TV channels and subscriptions to streaming platforms. For instance, the MyEntertainment bundle allows access to around 40 channels, including Bravo and FX, but also includes a subscription to Disney+ with Hulu. That one costs $35 per month, making for a pretty good deal.DirecTVThe MyNews bundle doesn't come with any premium streaming subscriptions, but does allow access to the 24-hour news cycle in all of its brain-melting glory. Purchasers get access to all of the big ones here, including MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and, for some reason, Newsmax. It costs $40 per month, which seems like a lot just to watch a bunch of rich people yell at you, but what do I know.MiEspanol offers access to more than 50 channels, including many Spanish-language stalwarts like Univision and Telemundo. It costs $35 per month. The MySports bundle, introduced in January, is still around, for $70 per month. It provides access to more than 25 sports-related channels and includes a subscription to ESPN+.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/directv-launches-genre-packs-a-more-affordable-way-to-get-channels-you-actually-want-163012043.html?src=rss
On March 3, Mobile World Congress will kick off in Barcelona, Spain. While it's not the premier show it once was, many noteworthy smartphone makers around the world still attend the conference and frequently launch new devices there. Typically, we hear from companies like Lenovo, Arm, Xiaomi, Dell and more at the conference, as well as standards organizations like the GSMA on developments in areas like 5G or SIM technology. Occasionally, bigger players like Samsung and LG join the fray, too, and who can forget the year the Nokia 3310 brought nostalgic joy to MWC.Judging by the event agenda on the MWC website, we will be seeing at least some kind of presence from Meta about WhatsApp, though it's unlikely the company announces anything major at that event. Below, you'll find a list of the more notable devices we expect to be launched at MWC 2025.Nothing Phone 3a seriesAt MWC 2022, Nothing's Carl Pei showed off a prototype of what would become the company's first handset, the Nothing Phone 1, behind closed doors, and at last year's event, Nothing announced the Phone 2(a). This year, we're definitely getting at least one new device from the company at MWC, with Nothing teasing the reveal of the 3a series for March 4, the second day of the show.Since Engadget first published this article, Nothing has gone on to reveal the design of one of the phones it plans to announce next week, the 3a Pro. On Monday, the company posted a nearly 11-minute long video showcasing the design of the upcoming device. Notably, the phone features a prominent camera bump to accommodate a periscope telephoto lens. That's not something we see on many phones in the 3a price range, so it will be interesting to see how it performs.
Sony is permanently reducing the price of the PlayStation VR2. Starting in March, the headset will cost $400, 450 and 400 - down from $550, 600 and 530, respectively. Included in the price cut is the Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle, which, like the standard package, will cost $400, 450 or 400 depending on your region. While it's been possible to buy the PS VR2 for less than $400 during recent sales, the new pricing should give retailers the flexibility to discount the device even more aggressively down the road.It's hard to say what this means for the future of the PS VR2. Arguably, it was too expensive at launch, and at $400, it still costs more than the Meta Quest 3S, a standalone headset that doesn't require a PlayStation 5 or PC to power it. Sony recently added support for low-latency hand tracking, but overall the company doesn't appear keen on investing more time and money into the platform. Major first-party studios haven't made many games for the PS VR2, and those that have, including the creators of Call of the Mountain, have seen layoffs in recent months.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-cuts-the-price-of-ps-vr2-to-400-154138227.html?src=rss
Now's the time to pick up a couple more AirTags. Amazon's having a sale right now that brings a four-pack of AirTags down to $68, which is 31 percent off and a new record low. That brings the price per AirTag down to only $17, which is a far cry from the standard $29 price for one. If you've wanted an extra one of these Bluetooth trackers for your backpack, luggage or wallet, picking up a four pack now will get you the best price we've seen. AirTags are easily one of the best Bluetooth trackers you can buy today, especially if you're an iOS user - setting them up and connecting them to your account is pretty much a one-tap affair. The Find My network is vast, what with all the iPhones and AirTags already out there, helping you find a belonging that you're tracking if you lose it. When you're looking for an item, you can play a sound on the AirTag's built-in speaker from your iPhone to help you find it. If you have a newer phone, the AirTag's Ultra Wideband technology can even lead you right to it if it's nearby. You'll be able to see exactly how far you are from the tag, and you'll get directions on your device's screen. Take note that since AirTags are round, coin-like objects with no way to attach to an item on their own, you'll have to get accessories to be able to use them as keychains or to attach them to your pets' collars. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apple-airtag-four-packs-drop-to-a-new-record-low-price-120018787.html?src=rss
Kia has officially launched the EV4, its first electric sedan and hatchback, at the 2025 Kia EV Day in Tarragona, Spain. The company first unveiled the EV4 as a concept at CES last year, along with several other models. Buyers can choose between the 58.3 kWh standard and the 81.4 kWh long-range battery options, with the long-ranger sedan being able to run for 630 km (391.5 miles) on a single charge. Meanwhile, the standard battery sedan can last for 430 km (267 miles), whereas the hatchback vehicle has a range of 590 km (366.6 miles). The vehicle's 150 kW motor can go from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.4 seconds for the standard battery variant and 7.7 seconds for the long-range variant. Both variations have a top speed of 170 km/h.The EV4 models use Kia's Digital Key 2.0 system that will let owners control certain functions remotely, such as being able to the start the vehicles' engines, through an app across 15 different devices. It even works with Apple Watch. The electric vehicles come with Kia's Highway Driving Assist technology that give owners access to Driver Attention Warning, Forward Collision Avoidance Assist, Lane Following Assist, Intelligent Speed Limit Assist and Remote Parking Assist Entry. There's also an advanced feature called Driving Package F+ that can detect hazardous situations using cameras and radars and can help drivers maneuver their vehicles to safety.Kia will be manufacturing the EV4 sedan in Korea, where it will initially be available starting in March. It will produce the five-door hatchback version, meant for sale in Europe in the second half of the year, in Slovakia. The company has yet to reveal when it will start manufacturing the EV4 for the North American market, but it assured interested buyers that it's releasing the vehicle in the United States.In addition to launching the EV4, Kia has also unveiled the Concept EV2 (pictured below) during the event. It described the EV2 as compact and city-friendly, with an expandable interior that has folding second-row seats. Kia is planning to sell the EV2 in "Europe and other regions" starting in 2026.KiaThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/kias-ev4-its-first-electric-sedan-will-be-available-in-the-us-later-this-year-140039030.html?src=rss
Here's a great deal on one of our favorite power banks. You can pick up the skinny Baseus Blade for $47.59 with the help of our exclusive code. That's 52 percent off the regular price of $100. To get the full discount, you'll need to clip the 10 percent coupon on the product page. Then, at checkout, be sure to use the code BGAEY8HX to get the full discount. The Baseus Blade is our pick for the best budget laptop power bank. Thanks to the slim form factor and light weight (it's just over a pound), it's easy to slip into a bag next to your laptop. It has a decent array of ports, with two USB-C and two USB-A slots. There's support for 100W fast charging via the USB-C ports. You can also track charging speed and time on an LED display. The power bank has a capacity of 20,000mAh, which is enough to charge a fifth-gen iPad Air 1.5 times over or a 14-inch MacBook Pro to 80 percent, per Baseus. In our testing, we found that it could top up a 16-inch MacBook Pro's battery from 10 percent to 62 percent in just over an hour. You can also use it to juice up a portable games console, such as a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck. There's certainly a trade off compared with beefier power banks that have a larger capacity. But in terms of bang for your buck, the Baseus Blade isn't bad at all, especially when you factor in the convenience of the slim, 0.7-inch design. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-baseus-power-banks-is-more-than-50-off-right-now-160430591.html?src=rss
If you've ever tried listening to your favorite playlist only to have it drowned out by chatty commuters, airplane engines or other distracting noises, you might want to consider some headphones with active noise cancelation (ANC). Whether you're working in a bustling coffee shop, catching a flight, or just trying to focus at home, a good pair of headphones with ANC will block out those distracting outside sounds so you can fully immerse yourself in your music, podcasts, or that new audiobook you've been dying to finish.
Meta has admitted to CNBC that Instagram is experiencing an error that's flooding users' accounts with Reels videos that aren't typically surfaced by its algorithms. "We are fixing an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended," the company told news organization. "We apologize for the mistake." Users have taken to social media platforms to ask other people whether they've also recently been flooded with Reels that contain violent and sexual themes. One user on Reddit said that their Reels pages was inundated with school shootings and murder.Others said they're getting back-to-back gore videos, such as stabbings, beheadings and castration, nudity, uncensored porn and straight-up rape. Some said they still see similar videos even if they had enabled their Sensitive Content Control. Social media algorithms are designed to show you videos and other content similar to ones you usually watch, read, like or interact with. In this case, though, Instagram has been showing graphic videos even to those who haven't been interacting with similar Reels, and sometimes even after the user has taken the time to click "Not Interested" on a Reel with violent or sexual content.The Meta spokesperson didn't tell CNBC what exactly the error was, but some of the videos people have reported seeing shouldn't have been on Instagram in the first place, based on the company's own policies. "To protect users... we remove the most graphic content and add warning labels to other graphic content so that people are aware it may be sensitive or disturbing before they click through," the company's policy reads. Meta's rules also state that it removes "real photographs and videos of nudity and sexual activity."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/meta-confirms-instagram-issue-thats-flooding-users-with-violent-and-sexual-reels-051631670.html?src=rss
I've been traveling through time this week. Reviewing the iPhone 16e feels at once like I'm visiting my younger self and also forced to live in olden times, especially since I've been using an iPhone 16 Pro for months. No matter the device you're currently using, getting the iPhone 16e necessitates embracing change. Sure, that's part and parcel of getting any new phone (and any transition in life), but when it comes to the iPhone 16e, not all change is good. And when you consider the $599 starting price, many of the omissions, ostensibly made in an effort to squeeze Apple Intelligence into the most affordable iPhone, become harder to swallow. It isn't surprising that Apple had to make compromises with the iPhone 16e to offer a more affordable entry-level device; what's unexpected is the decision to not add a second camera or MagSafe. Just the fact that it insists on calling the iPhone 16e's 48-megapixel camera a 2-in-1 camera system," makes it clear the company knows two sensors is something people want. Instead, the iPhone 16e comes with an A18 chip that powers Apple Intelligence, as well as the C1 modem, which is the first designed by the company. You'll need to be extremely meticulous when poring over the list of similarities and differences between all the currently available iPhones, since there are many tiny factors to consider. What wireless charging speed or standard of Wi-Fi would you need? Do you care about cameras? Sure, you can compare these specs yourself, but I'm here to tell you exactly what these differences mean in the real world. In my week or so with the iPhone 16e, I felt the drawbacks of the camera the most - I can live without MagSafe and the Dynamic Island. But what the iPhone 16e does offer is fast performance, a clean design, long battery life and, most crucially, cheaper access to Apple's ecosystem. Design and display Let's be real: Apple was never going to launch another iPhone SE in 2025 with a dated design and no AI support. The iPhone 16e, like its name suggests, is visually very similar to the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup. That is, until you turn the screen on. Once you can see the bezels and the notch up top, the device has a stronger resemblance to an iPhone 14. I was only temporarily distracted by the relatively thick borders, though. Anyone coming to the iPhone 16e from an older iPhone is unlikely to be bothered by this. More importantly, the display is protected by the Ceramic Shield material that was introduced on the iPhone 12. The previous iPhone SE did not have this same protection. On its back, the iPhone 16e has a plain white (or black) matte surface with a single camera at the top left corner. It was hard to differentiate between the three iPhone 16 models I carried around for testing unless I looked at their rears - that's how similar they are. In fact, their dimensions are almost identical, with less than a millimeter and 3 grams separating the iPhone 16e and the iPhone 16. iPhone 16e iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Pro 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8 mm 5.78 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm 5.81 x 2.82 x. 0.31 inches 149.6 x 71.5 x 8.25 mm 5.89 x 2.81 x 0.32 inches 5.88 ounces / 167 grams 6.00 ounces / 170 grams 7.03 ounces / 189 grams In real life, the only thing I really noticed was the weight. All these phones fit in my pockets and purses, and for once Apple's cheapest phone doesn't immediately appear drastically out of place. The iPhone 16e even has the Action Button that debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which I'll talk more about later. Even the most discerning reviewer will have a hard time complaining about the iPhone 16e's 6.1-inch display. Not only does it finally feel like something you can use in 2025 thanks to its size (compared to the 4.7-inch anachronism that is the iPhone SE's screen), the fact that it's an OLED panel means it's brighter and more vibrant. All the better to watch Instagram and TikTok videos on, right? It's worth noting, though, that the iPhone 16 gets significantly brighter. Even the iPhone 15, which costs $100 more than the 16e, hits the same numbers as the iPhone 16, though only the latter can get down to 1 nit of brightness. I'll also point out that many Android phones at this price offer faster refresh rates, which would make doomscrolling a lot smoother. The iPhone 16e is stuck at the same slow 60Hz as the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, while the Pro models get ProMotion speeds of up to 120Hz. Neither the iPhone 16 nor the 16e support Apple's Always On Display, either. One final difference on the iPhone 16e is that it's the last remaining handset across Apple's lineup to have a notch on its display. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 both have the company's pill-shaped Dynamic Island, which has functional benefits as well as looking better. It lets you keep an eye on live activities, like a timer, sports event ticker, ongoing media playback and more. It's funny how dependent I've become on this feature in the years since it was introduced. On the iPhone 16e, I was slightly confused and annoyed that I couldn't access quick controls for Spotify in the notch, for example, or that voice recordings wouldn't appear in the notch as animated waveforms. Still, people considering the iPhone 16e are more likely to have never encountered Dynamic Island in their daily lives, so it won't be a jarring change. It's unlikely to factor into your consideration when buying a new phone, but this experience certainly shed light on my feelings for a recent feature I'd grown to take for granted. Camera experience and performance Since reviewing the iPhone 16e has felt like traveling back in time, I took it to the Met museum to photograph some ancient artifacts, with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro as testing companions. For the most part, the iPhone 16e and iPhone 16 delivered about the same level of detail, saturation and vibrancy. It was even hard to tell which of the two devices did better with my low-light shots of a beautiful chandelier suspended above a room from an 18th-century Parisian hotel. Although they have similar 48MP sensors, the iPhone 16's is larger, which makes the closeness in performance here slightly surprising. Cherlynn Low for Engadget The same goes for selfies, which largely looked almost identical whether I shot them on the iPhone 16 or the 16e. Though both devices pack 12MP TrueDepth cameras up front, each packs a custom sensor and lens that integrate with the software and Apple Silicon. It's unclear what exactly the differences lie, but suffice it to say that regardless, they took photos of comparable quality. It'd be nice if I could say the iPhone 16e delivered basically the same camera experience as the iPhone 16 for $200 less. But the lack of a second lens on the rear is limiting in a few key ways. First, there's the fact that an ultrawide camera is just more versatile. Not having one presented challenges quite quickly, like when I entered a small room in the British art hall and wanted to capture the entirety of a pair of tall display cases containing dozens of ornate plates. With the iPhone 16e, I had to back up so much that I almost had to leave the space to get the two cases to fit in the frame. On the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro, switching over to the 0.5x zoom option enabled me to take the shot without moving much at all. You'll also find an older version of Portrait mode on the iPhone 16e, and this is where the majority of my grievances with the camera lie. If you don't care about pictures with blurred backgrounds and a faux depth of field effect, you'll be a lot less bothered. But for those like me, it might be frustrating to learn that the iPhone 16e's Portrait mode only works when it detects a face in the scene. This harkens back to the days of the iPhone 7 Plus, when Portrait Camera was first rolled out. Even then, Apple was able to apply the effect to non-human faces and objects like plants as the dual-camera system enabled the iPhone to calculate depth and add blur based on that. Setting aside the annoyance I felt at not being able to use Portrait mode on food, animals or other subjects, the fact that the iPhone 16e is using data from one camera for this effect also impacts its results. This was noticeable in my portraits taken of a bust in the museum's European Sculpture Court. With the pricier phone and its two cameras, Apple delivered more accurate blur, keeping the visage, hair and neck looking crisp. On the iPhone 16e, the sculpture's neck and chest were blurry upon closer inspection. Cherlynn Low for Engadget I ended up playing a game of Will it Portrait or Will it Not Portrait" in the museum, pointing the iPhone 16e at random faces in faded tapestries, softly outlined sculptures and oh so many busts. Frequently, even when a face was clearly visible to me, the iPhone 16e wouldn't recognize that one was in frame and did not allow me to snap a Portrait. Again, this is frustrating only if you take a lot of pictures in that mode. You might be able to live with a single camera if you don't mind inferior Portraits compared to higher-end iPhones. However, bear in mind that the solo sensor setup also means you won't get things like the latest generation of Photographic Styles, the company's sophisticated color and tone filters which I raved about when I first tested it for my iPhone 16 Pro review. While that's a more recent feature, it's hard to ignore that anyone coming from an iPhone 11 or later already has a dual-camera setup and will have to give up an ultrawide camera and a faceless Portrait mode. The iPhone 16e is also missing camera features like Spatial, Action and Cinematic modes, which are omissions that actually matter less at this price. Though I think having Macro support would be nice, I can understand its absence since it's for more niche use cases than portraits. It's also reasonable that the iPhone 16e doesn't have Camera Control, which is the dedicated side button that debuted on the rest of the iPhone 16 family last year. I've grown to appreciate it as a quick, tactile way to launch the camera app (though I don't care as much for the touch-sensitive slider controls). I thought I'd miss it when having to test the iPhone 16e, since I was going to be repeatedly opening its camera all day. But I managed to mostly substitute that by configuring the Action button to launch the camera. The Action button's location near the top of the right edge isn't ideal, since it's more of a reach, but it's better than having to pull out the iPhone, tap its screen and long press or swipe the camera shortcut. Brian Oh for Engadget The Action Button as a gateway to Apple Intelligence You can also set the Action button to switch between audio profiles or focus modes, turn on the Flashlight or even start any app or series of actions you can customize via Apple's Shortcuts. Crucially, you can set the button to launch Visual Intelligence, as well. This represents the first time Visual Intelligence has been accessible via something other than Camera Control since its introduction with the iPhone 16 series last year. The capability is also coming to iPhone 15 Pro models via an iOS 18.4 update. At the moment, without long-pressing a physical button, you can't use your iPhone's camera to look up things around you. When I set the iPhone 16e's Action button to launch Visual Intelligence, I got basically the same experience as I did on the iPhone 16 Pro. I pointed it at nearby plants and the very fashionable and hip sneakers I had on. Though Siri (with ChatGPT's help) did not correctly identify the brand of my shoes, it did suggest some similar styles. Google's image search, which is the other of the two built-in options to get answers from your iPhone's camera, delivered slightly more helpful results for the wooden table I was looking at and where I could buy something similar. Apple Intelligence Visual Intelligence is just one part of the entire Apple Intelligence package, which permeates the iPhone 16 lineup. I won't dwell too long on the individual features here, since we've already covered them fairly extensively since the company started rolling them out last year. I will just say that I was able to fairly smoothly use Image Playground to create a background for an event I was coordinating in Apple Invites, get my haphazardly written notes proofread and summarize a Wikipedia entry on Zero Day TV series via Writing Tools. The iPhone 16e is a capable Apple Intelligence machine, if AI is your thing. Performance, the Apple C1 modem and battery life All of that is powered by the A18 chip sitting inside the iPhone 16e, and the fact that it's in a phone that doesn't cost $700 to start is surprising. It may have one less GPU core than the iPhone 16, but that didn't hinder my escape from the hordes of ghouls chasing me down in Vampire Survivor. That's a fairly simple game to run, computationally speaking, and I've yet to really push the iPhone 16e with more demanding options. But if you're looking for a phone that will handle titles like Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile or League of Legends: Wild Rift without hiccups, you'll have to spend hundreds more. In daily use, the iPhone 16e was smooth and zippy, and the only slowdowns I encountered were in situations that also challenged powerhouses like the iPhone 16 Pro. That included waiting for Apple Intelligence to make a Genmoji of a video shoot," for example, or for Image Playground to return results based on the same prompt. Sometimes Cleanup in the Photos app would not respond despite my repeated drawing on things I wanted to erase from an image, but that feels more like an Apple Intelligence issue than a slow processor. I noticed the slightest delay compared to the iPhone 16 when waiting for Night mode to complete capturing a photo in low light, with the iPhone 16e taking a second or so longer. With its bigger battery and new C1 modem, the iPhone 16e is supposed to last a few hours longer than the iPhone 16 when playing video. Though I was unable to run a full-on battery test, in general the iPhone 16e had no problem lasting well longer than 24 hours. I pulled it off the charger on Sunday at about 10am and on Tuesday morning I still had 60 percent left after a day of camera testing. Granted, this is still a very new device that I've been using as a secondary phone, so runtimes will likely drop a bit with greater use. But compared to my experience with a brand new review unit of the iPhone 16 Pro, the iPhone 16e certainly gave me far less battery anxiety. As for that custom modem, it's hard to tell after just one week of use whether people will run into any significant issues or interference. But during my time with the iPhone 16e on an AT&T eSIM, I've found little problems with the network. I'm a T-Mobile user, and often lose signal when I'm at places like underground train stations or Moynihan Train Hall in Penn Station. When I couldn't send a message on my iPhone 16 Pro with T-Mobile, I was able to connect over AT&T with the iPhone 16e. This has less to do with Apple's hardware and more to do with each carrier's coverage, of course. The same goes for the modem's general performance - I consistently saw the iPhone 16e (with C1) significantly outperform my iPhone 16 Pro on Speedtest and Fast.com tests, but much of that has to do with individual network speeds. It also depends on whether you're using a phone that supports ultrawideband 5G, which would see huge boosts to performance. The C1 modem doesn't support that, so if you've been relying on mmWave 5G (mostly via Verizon in the US), you'll have to sacrifice it if you buy the iPhone 16e. Brian Oh for Engadget How does the iPhone 16e compare to the iPhone 16 and the iPhone SE? There are numerous other little differences between the iPhone 16e and the iPhone 16, and I'll list some of the more significant ones here. Probably the most noteworthy is that it doesn't support Apple's MagSafe, which would let it magnetically attach to stands, grips and other accessories. As someone who plops her iPhone on a MagSafe charging stand only when there is no other USB cable available, the lack of MagSafe didn't actually meaningfully impact my experience. But if you rely on such an accessory, the iPhone 16e isn't for you. While you could add MagSafe compatibility to the 16e with cases or adapters, you'll still be stuck with pokey, last-generation 7.5W wireless charging speeds (per the Qi standard). Other iPhones support faster speeds - the iPhone 15 goes up to 15W while the iPhone 16 can hit 25W. If we're going to get down to the nitty gritty, I should also point out that the iPhone 16e supports Wi-Fi 6, not Wi-Fi 7 like the iPhone 16. The iPhone 16e is also lacking compatibility with the Thread smart home networking standard and while its camera does offer optical image stabilization, it's not the Sensor-shift" OIS that the iPhone 16 (and the iPhone 15) provide. Finally, and this is far from the last omission from the iPhone 16e, the device doesn't support ultra-wideband, meaning if you're locating your devices via Find My, you will rely on Bluetooth and won't get the more precise tracking on AirTags and phones that have UWB. All this spec-sheet scrutiny is getting at is that as an investment, the iPhone 16e is likely to get outdated again sooner than the iPhone 16. Still, it's a nice upgrade from the iPhone SE (2022), thanks to the addition of USB-C charging, a sharper camera, an actual zoom option, a beefier processor, satellite communications for emergencies and a bigger, better screen. Regardless of how you (or I) feel about Apple Intelligence, there's no denying that its inclusion makes for a phone that's more modern, too. Also, Genmoji is just fun. Considering how far behind the iPhone SE was compared to the iPhone 13, the fact that the iPhone 16e is so close to the rest of the iPhone 16 portfolio is impressive. I guess I would have preferred a cheaper entry-level iPhone with a few other compromises, rather than one that's so similar (in both specs and price) to the next version up. And as much as I'd like to compare the iPhone 16e to its peers on the Android side of the smartphone market, I have to acknowledge that most people considering an iPhone are likely already happily stuck in the Apple walled garden. They probably don't want an Android phone, no matter how many cameras it has, how quickly its screen refreshes or how fast it can charge. When you can be a blue bubble texter, who cares about how much smoother a game plays or how rapidly Instagram posts zoom past my eyes, right? (Sarcasm, in case it wasn't obvious.) If you did want to learn more though, check out our post on how the iPhone 16e compares to the competition. Wrap-up It's easy for me to get caught up in outrage, ranting at Apple's decisions to exclude MagSafe or raise prices. But for people who don't use magnetic accessories or who finance their smartphones over a two-year period, those might be non-issues. What bothered me most as I was reviewing the iPhone 16e wasn't its slow wireless charging speed or the notch atop the display - it was ultimately the solo camera sensor. Anyone coming from the iPhone 11 and up will likely miss the ultrawide option, even if the iPhone 16e's 48MP sensor is a genuine improvement. Whether the iPhone 16e is a good purchase for you ultimately depends on how much those limitations bother you. If you don't care about MagSafe, taking photos or the principle that you could save hundreds of dollars on a better Android phone, the iPhone 16e makes sense. In fact, for people who want to buy their first iPhone or someone who's less tech-enthusiastic, the iPhone 16e is a capable, good-looking handset. Those who, like me, can't do without a second camera, can consider the iPhone 15, which costs just $100 more. You won't get Apple Intelligence or the Action button, but I doubt many will miss those features. Ultimately, though, unless you really can't fork over the $200 difference (which works out to a few dollars a month over two years), the iPhone 16 is a better buy for most people.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-16e-review-whats-your-acceptable-compromise-020016288.html?src=rss
It sometimes feels like everybody and their dog has a podcast. (Engadget does!) But why not jump on the trend when the interest in this type of content has grown for years? Video platform YouTube may not seem like the most obvious choice for tuning in to an audio-driven format, but the company has actually become a major player for podcast consumption. Today, YouTube announced that as of January 2025, it has surpassed 1 billion monthly active viewers of podcasts.People aren't just playing YouTube podcasts to their headphones, either. The company's year-in-review showed that more than 400 million hours of podcast content was played on "living room devices" during 2024. Data from Edison Research found that YouTube was the most-used platform for nearly a third of weekly podcast listeners age 13 and up.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube-passes-1-billion-monthly-active-podcast-viewers-225223309.html?src=rss
There's a new M4 MacBook Air reportedly on the way soon, but if you can't wait or don't need the extra power of Apple's M4 chip, you can get a M3 MacBook Air for $200 off on Amazon right now. That lowers the current MacBook Air's price from $1,099 to $899 - not the $850 low we've seen before for the Air, but pretty close. Engadget picked the M3 MacBook Air as the best MacBook overall because of its lightweight design, bright screen and the reliable performance of the M3 chip. Besides support for Wi-Fi 6E, Apple's custom silicon allows the MacBook Air to power two external displays at once, something sorely missing from the previous generation Air. The current deal only covers the Air model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in Apple's "Midnight" blue finish, but that should be more than enough storage and memory for most people. If you'd still like a deal but with a few more colors to choose from, several other MacBooks are also on sale. For example, you can get an M2 MacBook Air for $200 off when you use a coupon, lowering the price from an already discounted $950 to $800. That deal applies to the Air with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and covers multiple different colors. The M2 chip is technically less powerful than the M3, but for day-to-day computer tasks you'll get more than enough performance and battery life from an M2 MacBook Air. If you're willing to pay more and you want one of the most capable laptops Apple currently sells, you can could instead opt for a new M4 MacBook Pro for $1,399, $200 off its usual $1,599 price. Apple introduced the M4 MacBook Pros near the end of 2024 with a focus on improving graphical performance. The new MacBook Pro is the closest Apple has gotten to a gaming laptop, and it includes other upgrades, like a brighter screen and an improved webcam. The model on sale includes 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, a healthy amount to start with if you plan on using the MacBook Pro for work. All of the MacBooks on sale on Amazon also support Apple Intelligence, if you're interested in exploring Apple's approach to AI features like summarization and text generation. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-m3-macbook-air-is-200-off-at-amazon-right-now-210927500.html?src=rss
The FDA has granted clearance to a potentially lifesaving feature for Google's Pixel Watch 3. The smartwatch will start offering "loss of pulse detection" for US customers at the end of March. Once this aspect of the watch is enabled, the Pixel Watch 3 can automatically place a call to emergency services if it detects that the wearer's pulse has stopped. That could help a user receive critical medical attention even if they are responsive in situations such as cardiac arrest, respiratory or circulatory failure, overdose or poisoning.Loss of pulse detection was announced last year and is already available to Pixel Watch 3 owners in select EU markets. We luckily didn't have cause to put the feature through its paces in our positive review of the wearable, which particularly impressed on battery life, brightness options and workout detection.Smartwatch manufacturers have been developing a suite of tools designed to assist wearers in different kinds of potentially life-threatening situations. For instance, the Pixel Watch 3 also offers features such as a safety check that shares your location with a chosen contact, fall detection that alerts first responders and car crash detection that notifies emergency services. Apple also introduced similar features for the iPhone and Apple Watch a few years ago.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/pixel-watch-3-receives-fda-clearance-for-loss-of-pulse-detection-210458883.html?src=rss
Riot Games is hitting "undo" on its recent massively unpopular changes to League of Legends that essentially made everything in the game harder for players to unlock without spending money. After the company saw negative comments spammed across social media, widespread talk of a player boycott and over 32,000 signatures gathered on a petition to fire CEO Dylan Jadeja, the company acknowledged that the recent updates "didn't hit the mark for everyone." As a result, Riot is (among other changes) bringing back Hextech Chests and cutting in half the Blue Essence cost of all champions to win back disgruntled players.For a master class in the corporate art of selling opposing messages with equal gusto, watch Riot Games' last two League Of Legends dev update videos back-to-back. Less than three weeks ago, studio head Andrei van Roon and executive producer Paul Bellezza put on their best Ward Cleaver faces to matter-of-factly explain why too much free stuff for players wasn't good for Riot's long-term finances:Fast-forward to Wednesday's video, and the same pair can be seen hustling to backpedal as hard as possible, acknowledging that "some of you are frustrated, even questioning if Riot is still the company you've always known" while promising they "get it." (I almost expected a crisis hotline number to flash across the screen.) "When our decisions don't land the way we intended, it can damage your trust," Bellezza somberly admits:Setting aside the amusing nature of corporate attempts to personalize business decisions, today's changes should help inspire more confidence from the fanbase.Hextech Chests aren't just returning - you'll find more of them. Starting with next week's patch (25.05), you'll be able to earn up to 10 Chests and Keys per Act. Eight will be spread throughout the free Pass (in place of the Seasonal skin and Mystery Epic or Lower Skin); another two will be learnable through Honor (the game's system to encourage good sportsmanship). Riot stressed that these will be identical to the Chests previously earned through Champ Mastery.Other changes include a 50 percent reduction in Blue Essence cost for all champions. In addition, Riot is delaying the widely panned Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser Exalted skin "to take more time to make sure it better delivers on its core fantasy." It also plans to take more time improving future Exalted skins, which means "you likely won't see one in every Act this year as originally planned." Finally, Clash is returning to a monthly schedule, Your Shop will be back in Patch 25.06 and the Blue Essence Emporium will reappear in 25.07.The community is (understandably) pleased with itself in forcing the pivot. "Holy shit, bullying works," u/DirtyChickenBones (an all-time handle if ever there was one) posted in the League subreddit. "NEVER STOP BULLYING CORPORATIONS," u/HunniePopKing yelled triumphantly - as if perched on the bow of the Titanic - in the same thread.Others retained a grounded realism about the reversal. "Don't think for one second this changes their approach," u/eBay_Riven_GG wrote. "They will keep limit-testing what they can get away with. Keep complaining if you want improvements." Reacting to Bellezza's comment about the changes not resonating with players, u/350 wrote, "'Didn't hit the mark for everyone,' bruh, it didn't hit the mark for anyone except the CEO."You can check out Riot's dev blog post for more details on Riot's reversal on all those changes that "didn't hit the mark."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/riot-is-reversing-its-unpopular-league-of-legends-changes-203925763.html?src=rss
Warner Bros Discovery recently shut down a trio of game studios, including the well-regarded Monolith Productions. This has put one of the coolest game mechanics of the 2010s in limbo. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's excellent Nemesis system is locked behind a patent owned by Warner Bros all the way until 2036, according to reporting by Eurogamer.The Nemesis system was featured in both 2014's Shadow of Mordor and the follow-up Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Simply put, it's a gameplay mechanic in which enemies remember previous encounters with the protagonist. These antagonists, typically orcs in the LOTR games, would use these humiliating memories to fuel their thirst for revenge as they rose through the ranks. This mechanic also worked both ways, so enemies would remember besting you in a previous encounter.It was the best part of those two titles and Monolith had planned on bringing back the mechanic for a now-cancelled Wonder Woman game. Now the system is lying unused, locked behind a patent vault in David Zaslav's mega-yacht or whatever. Gigantic multinational corporations are awesome!
The Nintendo DS' stylus-based messaging app PictoChat wasn't the first place I instant-messaged (that would be my friend's AIM account) but it was absolutely the least overwhelming and most pleasant place it happened. PicoChat, an iMessage app from developer Idrees Hassan that you can download right now, attempts to recapture some of that peer-to-peer messaging magic on your iPhone.PicoChat looks like a version of PictoChat that's been squeezed into the lower-third of your iPhone, complete with alphanumeric and emoji keyboards, and controls to change the line weight of your drawings. It wouldn't be PictoChat without the ability to draw and write with a stylus, so PicoChat also goes the extra mile and displays an onscreen stylus when you doodle with your finger.ian Carlos Campbell for EngadgetNintendo debuted PictoChat alongside the original Nintendo DS in 2004 as more of a curiosity than a play at messaging dominance. The app required both messengers to connect their handhelds over the same Wi-Fi network, which naturally limited its reach as a communication tool. Still, Nintendo included the software on the DS Lite and the DSi in 2006 and 2009, respectively, and the 3DS' optional Swapnote app was considered a spiritual successor of sorts when it came out in 2011.PicoChat can't fully recreate the small, personal feeling of PictoChat while strapped on top of iMessage, but if you miss the cumbersome, but considered messaging of your DS days, it's a pretty great hit of nostalgia.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-dream-of-pictochat-on-the-nintendo-ds-lives-on-in-this-imessage-app-194040764.html?src=rss
A new month is almost upon us, which means Sony is about to refresh the lineup of games that all PlayStation Plus members can claim and keep in their collection as long as they maintain their subscription. Between March 4 and March 31, you'll be able to snag Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Sonic Colors: Ultimate and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection.Dragon Age: The Veilguard (PS5)is the clear headliner this time around. Fans had to wait a decade between new installments in BioWare's series, partly because the studio rebooted its work on the latest title several times. Veilguard, an action RPG, is a direct sequel to 2014's Dragon Age Inquisition. It garnered generally positive reviews and we appreciated the visuals and BioWare's attention to detail with the game's characters.However, Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet BioWare parent EA's sales expectations. In its first two months, the game brought in 1.5 million players, which is about half of what EA expected in that timeframe. That player count includes those who checked out the game on the EA Play Pro subscription service, so it's not clear how many copies of the game EA has actually sold so far. That disappointing sales performance is perhaps one reason why Dragon Age: The Veilguard is joining the PS Plus Monthly Games lineup a hair over four months after it was released.Sonic Colors: Ultimate (PS4) is a remaster of a platformer that was originally released on the Wii back in 2010. As for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection(PS4 and PS5), that includes 13 classic TMNT games Konami released between 1989 and 1994, such as the all-time great Turtles in Time. The collection has a number of quality of life features, including online and local multiplayer, a rewind option, the ability to save at any point and button remapping. There's also concept art and "historic TMNT media content."Until this trio joins the PS Plus Essential lineup on March 4, you can still snag February's games. Those are Payday 3, High on Life and Pac-Man World Re-Pac.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps-plus-monthly-games-for-march-include-dragon-age-the-veilguard-181028013.html?src=rss
The DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo bundle is on sale via Amazon for $369. This is 18 percent off and represents a record low price, as the normal cost is $449. The bundle includes the well-regarded Action 5 Pro camera, a trio of rechargeable batteries, a protective frame, a lens cover, an extension rod and more. We heaped praise on the Osmo Action 5 Pro camera in our official review, calling it a worthy GoPro rival." The battery life here is next-level, allowing for over two hours of use when shooting 4K 60p video and four hours when shooting in 1080p. Again, this bundle comes with three batteries, which means twelve full hours of continuous shooting in 1080p. That's a whole lot of ski jumps or whatever. There's also 47GB of internal storage, in addition to a microSD slot. Most action cameras don't even have internal storage, so this is a much-appreciated upgrade. The Action 5 Pro is lightweight and waterproof down to 66 feet. There's a waterproof case that extends this limit to 200 feet, but that doesn't ship with this particular bundle. As for the actual footage, we found it to be serviceable, but thought the color was slightly oversaturated. The video is also a bit less sharp than what's produced with rival cameras. Other than these minor nitpicks, however, this is a near-perfect action camera, and those accessories sure sound useful. The Adventure Combo isn't the only bundle on sale right now, though it is the best value. The Essential and Standard bundles are also on sale, at $319 and $329 respectively. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/this-dji-osmo-action-5-pro-bundle-is-cheaper-than-ever-175747696.html?src=rss
In an utterly shocking, consumer-friendly move, Max won't charge for something previously offered for free. Warner Bros. Discovery said on Wednesday that it's shelving its previously announced plan to charge an extra $10 monthly for sports and news content. Instead, it's cutting the content from the ad-supported tier next month, which sounds reasonable enough. In 2023, Max said its Bleacher Report (B/R) Sports Add-On tier would only be free until February 2024, when it would become a $10 add-on for all tiers. But that date came and went (and then went some more) without news of the extra fees. Viewers waited silently like students who hoped their teacher would forget their homework assignment. Then, last September, Bloomberg reported that the $10 fee was still in the works - and could arrive as soon as that month. Uh oh. But today's news puts those concerns to rest, at least for paying subscribers. Ad-supported members will lose access to B/R Sports and CNN Max (the news network's streaming redo) on March 30. Warner says those on that tier who want to retain access to sports and news can visit the Max Help Center for more info. So far, that page says nothing about it, so you'll probably want to check back closer to the cutoff date. B/R Sports streams more than 1,700 live games and events annually across leagues like the NBA (although it loses those rights after this season), MLB, NHL, NCAA, NASCAR and more. Meanwhile, CNN Max is Warner CEO David Zaslav's latest attempt to turn a CNN streaming service into a revenue stream -something the debt-ridden company direly needs. This month alone, it made sweeping cuts to its games division and began offering some of its movies on YouTube. Although Max subscribers will welcome today's announcement, there's reason to question whether the free integration will be permanent. In its press release, where you have to assume words were chosen carefully and pored over by layers of management, Max only said it won't pursue that path... "for now." This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/max-reverses-course-wont-charge-extra-for-live-sports-and-news-175010512.html?src=rss
Less than two weeks before Donald Trump's inauguration, Meta announced sweeping changes to its content moderation procedures, reportedly at the behest of Mark Zuckerberg and a small group of advisors. Among those caught off guard was the company's own Oversight Board, the independent organization created by Meta to help shape its most sensitive policy decisions. The group is now looking to examine those changes, and in doing so, will test the enforceability of its own powers.The changes Meta has enacted drastically reshape how the company polices content across Facebook, Instagram and Threads. It ended its fact-checking program in the US, and rolled back hate speech rules that protected immigrants and LGBTQ users on its apps. Unlike its previously proactive approach, it also reoriented its content moderation procedures so that many types of rule-breaking posts will only be removed if other users reported them.The changes have raised questions about the role of the Oversight Board, which was created, Zuckerberg once said, because Facebook should not make so many important decisions about free expression and safety on our own." If that's what Meta is now doing, critics have asked, what exactly is the point of an ostensibly independent Oversight Board?But the Oversight Board is already working to address Meta's rewritten hateful conduct" policy, according to board member Paolo Carozza, who spoke to Engadget. When Zuckerberg announced the changes in early January, the board already had four open cases involving Meta's hate speech rules. The board now plans to use those cases to examine the new policies, which were rewritten to allow people to use dehumanizing language to describe immigrants and accuse LGBTQ people of being mentally ill.We deliberately delayed the decision of those cases after January 7, precisely so that we could go back to Meta again and ask a new round of questions," Carozza, a law professor at Notre Dame who joined the Oversight Board in 2022, told Engadget. We're trying as much as possible to use the tools that we have to find out more information, bring more transparency and more certainty to how it's going to play out in practice."The board, according to Carozza, has already had briefings with Meta as it pushes for more details about the new hate speech policies. But it could still be some time before its findings are made public. The open cases deal with several aspects of Meta's hate speech rules, including immigration, gender identity, hateful symbols and incitement of violence.In addition to the questions surrounding each case, Carozza said that the board is also grappling with how to prioritize the case decisions given the renewed importance of the underlying policies. There are competing concerns about being quick and efficient versus being more thoughtful and deliberative," he said.But while the board may hope to provide more transparency about Meta's decision-making, it's unclear how much influence the board will ultimately end up having. Under its rules, Meta is only required to comply with the group's decisions surrounding individual posts. The board's policy recommendations are non-binding and Meta has a mixed track record at implementing its suggestions.It's also unclear how the board might be able to weigh in on Meta's other changes, like the shuttering of fact-checking programs or shift away from proactive content moderation. We were quite critical of the fact checking program in general, but our ordinary cases make it a little bit hard to get at that problem because it doesn't come up through an appeals process within the scope of the kinds of cases that we get," Carozza says. The board, he notes, could write a policy advisory opinion as it has with rules around COVID-19 misinformation and Meta's cross-check rules for celebrities. But the board is only empowered to make those kinds of non-binding recommendations at Meta's request.That gets at one of the fundamental tensions of the Oversight Board: it may operate independently, but Meta ultimately dictates how much influence it can wield. It would be unrealistic to expect that the standard for value and success of the board is that Meta, 100% of the time, does everything we ever tell them to do," Carozza says, We're one piece of a complicated jigsaw puzzle of accountability and oversight."Still, the fact that the group wasn't consulted on such major policy moves has raised some uncomfortable questions for the board. Dozens of civil society groups recently signed an open letter urging board members to resign in protest. In a letter to Zuckerberg, some members of Congress said the board is rendered toothless" when Meta refuses to follow its own principles.Carozzo acknowledges the Oversight Board's limitations, but says that the billions of people on Meta's apps are ultimately better off with the board intervening where it can. If everybody were to resign en masse ... the only people who would lose are Meta's end users, especially those who are in especially vulnerable situations [and] communities around the world."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-oversight-board-will-weigh-in-on-metas-new-hate-speech-policies-174044682.html?src=rss
Amazon just held an event in New York City to reveal the long-awaited revamp of its Alexa chatbot. This refreshed assistant can perform many new tasks, thanks to some AI wizardry, and there are a few different ways for consumers to access the digital companion. There's voice activation with Echo devices, of course, but the company has also built a dedicated web portal for Alexa+.This portal will allow Amazon customers to interact with Alexa+ without having to boot up the app or interact with a smart speaker or smart display. This could be handy for making adjustments while at work or for those who feel comfortable drafting lengthy queries with a traditional keyboard. Consumers will also be able to continue using the app, but Amazon promises a redesign in the near future to accommodate the new features offered by Alexa+.AmazonFor the uninitiated, Alexa+ is a juiced up version of the long-standing chatbot. It leverages conversational AI and integration with Amazon services to assist users in a number of new ways. It has contextual awareness, so it can remember earlier parts of a conversation, and can complete relatively complex tasks. The company showed off demos of the assistant finding recipes, booking dinner reservations, searching for the correct part of a movie and a whole lot more.It looks pretty cool, but it's also fairly expensive. Alexa+ begins rolling out over the next few weeks to select Echo Show devices and costs $20 per month. However, it's free for Prime subscribers. Prime currently costs $15 per month in the US. Hopefully that price won't be rising with the inclusion of Alexa+.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/amazons-ai-heavy-alexa-will-be-accessible-on-the-web-164724844.html?src=rss
Amazon held its first major product event of the year on Wednesday and, as expected, it was largely (okay, entirely) about Alexa. The company first announced its next-gen, AI-powered voice assistant back in 2023, but technical issues forced Amazon to delay its formal unveiling and rollout. Amazon's hardware chief, Panos Panay, and his devices and services team were at the event to show off Alexa+.Here's a rundown of everything Amazon announced at its first product event of 2025:Alexa+Sam Rutherford for EngadgetAfter lots (and lots) of boring rambling about generative AI from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy at Wednesday's event, Panay took the mic to start sharing the actual news. Alexa+ is the name of the company's upgraded voice assistant. The company will start to roll it out next month, beginning with Echo Show devices. Alexa+ costs $20 per month, but Prime members get access at no extra cost. Prime currently costs $15 per month, so we have to wonder if a price increase is coming there.Alexa+ is designed to be more conversational and useful across compatible devices. It can remember your preferences, such as the types of food you like and dislike, and it factors those into your recipe requests. Alexa+ can detect your tone and mood. In a live demo, it appeared to try to help Panay remain calm during his presentation.Panay claimed that, among other things, smart home management "has transformed with Alexa+." You can use the voice assistant to, for instance, move music from an Echo device to another speaker or a TV, or jump to a certain scene in a movie that's on Prime Video.Amazon claims the upgraded voice assistant can answer questions about footage captured with Ring cameras, photos taken with an Echo Show, emails, files such as PDFs, hand-written notes, your calendar, upcoming sports games and much more. Alexa+ can use a service called Suno (which record labels have sued for scraping their music to train its AI modes) to generate custom songs on the fly.Much like OpenAI has for ChatGPT, Amazon has partnered with a number of news organizations with the aim of answering questions about a variety of topics with current information. Other partners include Uber for ordering rides, OpenTable for booking a restaurant reservation, Spotify, Sonos, Samsung, Xbox, Tidal, Dyson, NASA and "tens of thousands" more. There's Amazon Fresh integration for grocery ordering, and you can see what's in your cart on your screen.Elsewhere, Alexa+ has some features that are apparently kid-friendly. The voice assistant can use genAI to tell kids customized stories based on what they want to hear about. It can also answer questions they have (hopefully without any of those incorrect or false results that delayed Alexa+).Panay led into the announcement and demos by noting that Alexa, as it stands, can be frustrating to use but genAI can help to mitigate those annoyances. He added that an AI chatbot wouldn't be sufficient for Amazon's vision for Alexa and that people need something easy to use that allows them to "actually take action." With Alexa+, Panay claimed that the "intimidation factor" of genAI is no more. Sure!Alexa.com and new phone appsAmazonThere are other ways to access Alexa+ other than on an Echo device. Amazon revealed that you'll be able to use the upgraded voice assistant via alexa.com, which looks very basic at the time of writing. Seriously, the screenshot above is all that's on the website, which looks like it was knocked together in five minutes. That'll surely change soon, as a demo at the event indicated that you'll be able to type in queries. Amazon is also revamping the Alexa iOS and Android apps to include access to the upgraded assistant.New devicesThere was diddly squat on this front. It was widely expected that Amazon would introduce new hardware to go along with Alexa+, such as fresh Echo Buds, Echo speakers, smart displays and so on.But nope! The event was all about the upgraded voice assistant which, at least to start with, requires a screen like an Echo Show, smartphone or computer to use. However, the company says Alexa+ will run on nearly every Alexa-compatible device it has released.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/everything-announced-at-amazons-alexa-ai-event-164613305.html?src=rss
Following years of development, Amazon's next-generation digital assistant is nearly ready for public use. Panos Panay, senior vice president of devices and services, demoed Alexa+ at the company's 2025 devices event, and it gave a glimpse of how generative AI could supercharge a product millions of people use.The model powering Alexa+ can detect tone and mood and respond accordingly, with a completely new voice - one that sounds more natural. Moreover, it's only necessary to say "Alexa" once to wake the assistant, and it will then follow the conversation. Panay said Alexa+ has contextual awareness, with the ability to "remember" earlier parts of a conversation. "You can have almost any conversation - that intimidation factor of AI is gone."In one of the more impressive demos Amazon showed off, Panay asked Alexa+ to play a song without actually naming it properly. "What's the song Bradley Cooper sings.. it's like a duet?" Alexa+ correctly answered "Shallow," and said Cooper sings it with Lady Gaga in A Star is Born.Panay then asked Alexa to "move" the music to the "right side of the room," and the assistant properly identified the correct speaker and played the music there. According to Panay, it will even understand requests like "play the music everywhere but don't wake the baby." In that case, Alexa+ will be able to reason that it shouldn't cast music to the nursery.AmazonOn first glance, Alexa+ also offers much deeper (and smarter) integration with Amazon's disparate services. For instance, when watching Prime Video it's possible to jump to a specific scene using details like the name of an actor or character, with no need to manually fast forward or rewind through the footage. It's possible to search through Ring footage in much the same way. During his demo, Panay asked Alexa+ to help him remember if someone walked the family dog recently, and the assistant correctly jumped to the correct clip.That level of integration should extend to third-party apps with Amazon offering new tools to companies like Uber, Grubhub and OpenTable to allow Alexa+ to access information from their platforms intelligently. In one demo, Amazon showed how Alexa+ was able to make a reservation on OpenTable and then add a reminder to the user's calendar. Moments later, the assistant booked an Uber ride for a person and sent them a text message notifying them of the upcoming ride. It will be interesting to see how this capability works in real life; the demo involved a hypothetical pickup at JFK in New York, and if you've ever been to that airport, you know finding the correct Uber can involve complicated pickup zones and even a shuttle train along the way.Multi-modality with Alexa+ extends to documents, and this is where Amazon's demo didn't go quite according to plan. When Mara Segal, director of Alexa, asked Alexa+ a question about a HOA document she shared with the assistant, Alexa talked over Mara before correctly responding after a second request. Amazon says Alexa+ will be able to act on information from documents to provide helpful summaries and add events to your calendar.Alexa+ will come included with Amazon Prime. Amazon will also offer the enhanced digital assistant separately for $20 per month. For context, Prime currently costs $15 per month in the US. The company will begin rolling out early access to Alexa+ starting next month, with availability expanding over the coming months in waves. Initially, Amazon is bringing Alexa+ to devices with screens. If you don't own an Echo Show 8, 10, 15 or 21, you can buy one of those smart displays now and you'll be among the first to get early access as Amazon rolls out Alexa+ to more people.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-is-a-smarter-more-conversational-ai-version-of-amazons-digital-assistant-154349563.html?src=rss
The UK's Climate Change Committee (CCC) has advised the government to ensure half of all homes in the UK have heat pumps - electric replacements for gas boilers - by 2040 as part of its Seventh Carbon Budget to reach net zero by 2050. It also recommended making four out of five cars electric.The UK's carbon budgets are intended to help it achieve a balance between the greenhouse gasses it produces and how much is taken out of the atmosphere. Besides switching to electric cars and heat pumps and moving away from fossil fuels, the CCC added that reducing consumption of meat and dairy would also help. Although the UK government isn't bound to accept the CCC's guidance, doing so makes the carbon target legally binding. The government can decide how it wants to hit the goal.The UK has been pushing for heat pumps since 2021, especially ones powered by hydrogen. Engadget senior editor Dan Cooper also broke down how difficult it was for him to completely eschew natural gas in 2022, citing how expensive it was to install a heat pump even with government discounts. While technology is rapidly becoming more efficient, the CCC's plans aren't guaranteed to work.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/half-of-uk-homes-will-need-heat-pumps-by-2040-to-hit-climate-goals-151406654.html?src=rss
Google has been offering the Results About You tool since 2022 and updated it once in 2023. A part of Google Search, the tool looks for your personal information online and lets you request its removal. Today, the tech giant is announcing the latest changes, including a redesigned hub and the ability to update outdated search results to reflect the latest changes.The redesign isn't only for show. You can now submit removal requests directly from Search with fewer actions by clicking or tapping the three dots beside a search result. If you manage to have content about you deleted or changed from a website but Google Search hasn't caught up, you can refresh the search, which will "recrawl the page and obtain the latest information." In other words, you can always see the most up-to-date results about you.While these updates are helpful, they don't introduce any major changes. The 2023 update to Results About You was more substantial, introducing proactive searches containing your info and the ability to remove consensual explicit images of yourself.While Google didn't introduce any significant changes to results about you" last year, it did become available in Australia and South Africa last May. However, this helpful privacy feature remains inaccessible in many countries, including Malaysia, where I'm from. Google also doesn't say where it's available, so you'll have to check your Google account to see if it works for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/google-is-making-it-even-easier-to-remove-your-personal-information-on-search-145326075.html?src=rss
Apparently almost all undergraduate students are using AI now, in one way or another. A new report from the UK's Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) found that 92 percent of students have used generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, for their studies. At the same time, 88 percent of these students have used it for exams. These numbers are a tremendous increase from HEPI's February 2024 report in which 66 percent and 53 percent participants relayed use, respectively.The top reasons students reported using AI include saving time, improved quality of their work and getting instant support. Wealthier, STEM-focused and male respondents were more enthusiastic about AI in the survey. Students' main arguments against utilizing AI included cheating accusations, being given fake results or hallucinations and getting biased results. Women and younger students were more likely to voice concerns. HEPI surveyed 1,041 British and international students in the UK during December 2024.Meanwhile, universities tended to score well with students on the integrity of their AI policies. Four-fifths of respondents stated that their school had a clear AI policy and, notably, 76 percent believe their university would spot AI use for assessed work (yes, despite that 88 percent that have done it). Staff are also better prepared to help with AI, with 42 percent of students responding that the staff is "well-equipped," up from 18 percent last year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nearly-all-uk-undergrads-use-ai-in-their-studies-according-to-a-new-report-144221715.html?src=rss
Those looking to turn their iPad into a note-taking or doodling machine need look no further than the Apple Pencil Pro. The iPhone maker's flagship stylus works with the newest iPads and is on sale for close to a record-low price at the moment. Amazon has it for just $99, or $30 off its regular price. The Apple Pencil Pro is the company's latest and greatest stylus. It allows for a number of squeeze-based gestures that can be adjusted via a drop-down menu during use. It also includes a gyroscope to detect when the stylus is rolled, which makes it easier to change the orientation of shaped pen and brush tools. Of course, it supports pressure sensitivity. There's even a haptic engine to deliver vibration-based feedback when the pen is being used. And, maybe most conveniently, it works with Apple's Find My network. After all, stylus pens are small and easy to lose. All of this new tech has been squeezed into a package that's actually lighter than the second-gen Apple Pencil. The primary downside here is the price, which has been mostly alleviated by this sale. Before making a purchase, double-check to ensure that your iPad supports the Pencil Pro. It's only compatible with some of the company's latest tablets, including the 11- and 13-inch iPad Air (M2), and the 11- and 13-inch iPad Pro (M4). It also works with the newest iPad Mini. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-apple-pencil-pro-drops-to-99-at-amazon-162456343.html?src=rss
Alibaba is giving people free access to its generative artificial intelligence models that can produce highly realistic videos and images from both text and image input. The company has announced that four variants of its Wan 2.1 series, the latest version of its generative AI technology, are now open source and can be downloaded and modified by users. Researchers, academics and commercial entities can all get them from Alibaba Cloud's ModelScope and Hugging Face platforms, both of which give people access to open-source AI models. As Reuters said, the models Alibaba has open sourced are called T2V-1.3B, T2V-14B, I2V-14B-720P and I2V-14B-480P, with the 14B indicating that the model can accept 14 billion parameters.Last month, Chinese company DeepSeek made its R1 reasoning model free to download and use, creating a clamor for more open-source AI technologies. DeepSeek even expanded its commitment to the open-source community and is in the process of releasing five code repositories behind its service.Alibaba was one of the companies that joined the fray to develop generative AI tech following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT two years ago. Just recently, Alibaba Group's Chairman, Joe Tsai, said that the company's generative AI technology will power artificial intelligence features for iPhones meant for sale in the Chinese market. Apple couldn't use the same AI tech for phones released in China due to strict regulations surrounding AI products, so it has to look for local partners, Alibaba being one of them.
Apple is far from saintly, but, compared to its fellow tech giants, it did something right. The company's shareholders have voted to keep its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, following a push by conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), to remove them, Reuters reports. The Center's proposal, Request to Cease DEI Efforts, failed 8.84 billion votes to 210.45 million votes - or about 2.3 percent of the vote.Many of these programs emerged or expanded when the Black Lives Matter movement exploded onto the global stage in 2020. However, President Trump's criticisms and threats that DEIs could violate the law - along with spineless greed from executives - has seen companies like Meta and Google reduce or even fully remove these programs. Those in favor of the proposal at Apple argued that the company could face an uptick in discrimination cases if current policies remain.At the meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that "strength has always come from hiring the very best people and then providing a culture of collaboration, one where people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives come together to innovate."Now, none of this is to say that Apple has incredible DEI efforts. Previously, its shareholders rejected greater transparency about its racial and gender gaps. They also voted down a measure that would require Apple to further investigate the risks of its AI efforts.Cook is also doing plenty of appeasing when it comes to Trump. The pair reportedly met last week and Apple has announced $500 billion in US-based spending over the next four years. He also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and attended it alongside Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and other tech executives.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-is-keeping-its-dei-program-130033491.html?src=rss
by Cherlynn Low,Jeff Dunn,Sam Rutherford on (#6VGAP)
It's sort of out of character for Amazon to be hosting a devices event in February, as opposed to its usual Fall launch. But this morning (February 26) at 10am ET, the company is holding a presentation in New York City. As it's done in the past, Amazon won't be livestreaming this event, and you won't be able to watch Panos Panay and his colleagues present to members of the media. Don't worry about FOMO, though. Engadget will be attending and liveblogging the event, so if you follow our updates it'll almost feel like you're right there with us!We'll have commentary and contextualization on the announcements, as well as the in-person vibes and quality of snacks. Our Sam Rutherford will be sharing pictures, too, so you won't miss a thing. Scroll down to see what we've posted so far, and keep this page open all day for the latest updates! I recommend having drinks or snacks handy while you follow along with us.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-follow-the-amazons-alexa-event-today-200022694.html?src=rss
If you know you want an Apple Watch, but aren't sure which one to get, this guide is here to explain the differences between the three models. The company's flagship Apple Watch Series 10 has robust fitness tracking and health monitoring, as well as helpful iPhone integrations. We named it the best smartwatch overall. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 packs a few extra features and is geared towards serious athletes and outdoor adventurers - and it's also the most expensive. The oldest model of the bunch is the budget Apple Watch SE from 2022, which you can often find on sale for under $200. It gives you a surprising number of features for the price. Check out the buying advice below to get the full story on the chips, sensors, features, battery life and price to help you pick the best Apple Watch for your wrist. Table of contents
Microsoft announced that it is making some features available for free in its Copilot AI assistant. Everyone now has unlimited access to Voice and Think Deeper, which is powered by OpenAI's o1 model.Copilot got the Voice feature, which allows users to have conversations with the AI assistant, in October 2024. Think Deeper is intended to parse complicated queries, such as assessing the pros and cons of major home purchases, taking cost and long-term value into account."We are working hard to scale unlimited access to advanced features to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible," the blog post noted. Microsoft noted that users could experience delays or interruptions during times of high usage for these newly free Copilot applications. Members of the Copilot Pro subscription will still have preferred access to the company's latest AI models at those peak usage times, as well as to new features that are still in the experimental stage.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-copilot-offers-voice-and-o1-powered-think-deeper-for-free-232723768.html?src=rss
A bizarre bug is causing iPhones to automatically change the word racist" to Trump" when using the built-in dictation feature in iOS. The issue, which seems to have been discovered by TikTok users, crops up when using the voice-to-text feature in Apple apps like Messages.When speaking the word racist," iOS briefly transcribes the text as Trump" before changing it back to the intended word. It's not clear what could cause this behavior. Engadget was able to replicate the issue, as you can see in the GIF below.Apple told The New York Timesit was due to phonetic overlap between the two words," despite the fact that the two words do not sound similar. That also doesn't explain why "racist," with a lowercase "r" would transcribe as "Trump" - seemingly a reference to our current president - and not "trump," the noun. An AI expert who once worked on Siri told the paper it could be a serious prank" on the part of an Apple employee.Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.Whether it's a bug or prank, it surfaced at a particularly embarrassing time for the iPhone maker, which announced on Monday that it planned to invest $500 billion in manufacturing facilities for AI servers. The investment, most of which was already planned, came after Apple CEO Tim Cook met with President Donald Trump at the White House last week.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/iphones-are-briefly-changing-racist-to-trump-due-to-an-ios-dictation-issue-230712021.html?src=rss
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is one of my favorite games of the year, so you'll forgive me if I spend the next 300 words or so writing about a limited-edition plush the game's creator, Gareth Damian Martin, is producing with the help of crowdfunding platform Makeship. Starting today, you can pledge $30 to support Martin's campaign, and if enough other people do as well, everyone will get a cute cat plush sometime later this year. The toy was designed by French illustrator Guillaume Singelin, who also did the character designs for the game. Right now, the campaign is sitting at 45 percent funded with 90 toys sold, and the better part of 22 days to go. And I mean look at the plush, isn't it one of the cutest things you've seen? For the uninitiated, the Stray, not to be confused with another cyberpunk cat, is one of the characters Citizen Sleeper 2's protagonist can encounter during their journey. As far as I'm aware, they only appear in one scene throughout the entire runtime of the game (how very cat-like of them, I know), but it's a moment that's emblematic of so many of Citizen Sleeper 2's strengths. "This cat, the one on your ship, was born here. That much is obvious," writes Martin in the scene. "It is a creature of zero-gravity, a being that orbits and glides, not one that leaps and stalks." Without spoiling anything, what follows is a touching and thoughtful meditation on memory, and how we can choose whether our memories define us. If you haven't played Citizen Sleeper 2 yet, consider this a recommendation. It is easily worth your time and more. You can play the game on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. As for the Stray, they're expected to start shipping on June 12, 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/im-writing-about-this-cute-cat-plush-so-you-play-one-of-2025s-best-games-223325680.html?src=rss
The Federal Aviation Agency has started testing Starlink terminals for upgrades to the networks that manage airspace, creating the latest conflict of interest between the US government and Elon Musk. The FAA posted (fittingly on the social network Musk also owns) that it is testing a Starlink terminal in Atlantic City, NJ, and two terminals in Alaska. The post claims that the department had been considering using the SpaceX tech since the prior presidential administration.The agency, which oversees all areas of civil aviation, has levied fines and required reviews over the years related to various SpaceX operations. Most recently, the agency ordered SpaceX to investigate what caused a mid-flight explosion with its Starship rocket last month.A source told Bloomberg that Musk had approved a shipment of 4,000 Starlink terminals to the FAA last week. The agency has an existing contract with Verizon Communications, worth $2 billion, for supporting and maintaining its infrastructure. Bloomberg's sources were unsure how the Starlink tests would impact the Verizon deal.This isn't the first time a Musk-owned business has benefited since the South African billionaire inserted himself into the US political landscape. He and his so-called DOGE group has been leading cuts within the federal ranks, including at the FAA and at other departments that oversee his companies. For instance, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration saw about a 10 percent reduction to its staff this month, including cuts to the small division overseeing autonomous vehicles such as those from Tesla.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/amid-a-musk-led-overhaul-the-faa-starts-doing-business-with-spacex-221900620.html?src=rss
Samsung's new 9100 PRO Series solid-state drives (SSDs) include the company's first consumer-grade 8TB NVMe SSD. The latest models use the speedy PCIe 5.0 standard, which - unless you train AI models for a living - is almost certainly overkill for your PC needs.The Samsung 9100 PRO series offers up to double the storage of its predecessor, the 990 PRO line. It launches in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB models, with the 8TB ones not arriving until later this year. Each tier ships in models with and without a heatsink (whether you need that will depend on whether your motherboard includes one for NVMe drives).SamsungThe company says the 9100 PRO SSDs have sequential read speeds of up to 14,800 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 13,400 MB/s. Their random read speeds are as fast as 2,200K IOPS (input-output per second), with random write speeds up to 2,600K IOPS. The company says the 9100 PRO SSDs are up to 49 percent more power-efficient than the 990 PRO line and have a profile as slim as 0.35 inches (around 8.9mm).But as Engadget's Igor Bonifacic wrote in our SSD buying guide, very few real-world use cases demand those speeds. (Think people training large-scale AI models and the like.) As it stands, PCIe 4.0 drives already benchmark far beyond what most gamers and other consumer uses require. They also cost about half as much.The first 9100 PRO SSDs arrive in March: 1TB ($200), 2TB ($300) and 4TB ($550). Variants with a heatsink tack an extra $20 onto those prices. As for the 8TB tier, which Samsung hasn't announced pricing for, it doesn't arrive until the second half of the year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/samsungs-9100-pro-ssd-line-includes-its-first-8tb-nvme-model-for-consumers-205727818.html?src=rss
Warner Bros Discovery made sweeping cuts to its games division today, closing three studios and ending development on its planned Wonder Woman project. Monolith Productions, Player First Games and WB Games San Diego will be shuttered due to a disappointing 2024" for WB's gaming business, according to an internal memo from JB Perrette, the company's CEO and president of global streaming and games. Bloomberg broke the news of the restructuring.Monolith Productions made two well-regarded Lord of the Rings games, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. The studio was going to apply its popular Nemesis system from those titles to a Wonder Woman game, which was announced back in 2021.WB acquired Player First Games last year. The team was responsible for MultiVersus, a platform fighting game that reached 20 million players in its early days before dwindling to a planned shutdown of the online services when its fifth season ends this May.WB Games San Diego was working on AAA free-to-play gaming. In December, Warner Bros Games also announced that it would lay off employees at WB Games Montreal as well as pulling back on the studio's game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.According to the internal email from Perrette, WB's gaming efforts will be focused on four of its properties: Harry Potter (including Hogwarts Legacy), Mortal Kombat, the DC universe and Game of Thrones. "We need to make some substantial changes to our portfolio/team structure if we are to commit the necessary resources to get back to a fewer but bigger franchises' strategy," Perette said.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/warner-bros-discovery-slashes-gaming-business-closing-three-studios-204344213.html?src=rss
Razer just announced a refresh to the popular Blade 18 gaming laptop. This model uses those newly-released Intel Core Ultra 200HX series processors and can be purchased with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. As the name suggests, it also boasts a ginormous display, which Razer describes as the world's first 18-inch dual mode display." This means that users can instantly switch between UHD+ at 240Hz for appreciating the finer details of AAA games and FHD+ at 440Hz for absolute speed. The keyboard has been fully redesigned, with a new scissor switch that allows for 35 percent more travel distance versus the previous generation, along with a 63g actuation force. There's a 10-key numeric keypad and dual-LED backlighting per key. Otherwise, the design remains mostly unchanged since the first Razer Blade 18 hit store shelves back in 2023. Razer Razer also promises desktop levels of connectivity." To that end, there are a pair of Thunderbolt ports, including a Thunderbolt 5 port. It supports Wi-Fi 7, HDMI 2.1, Bluetooth 5.4 and Gigabit LAN. Each Blade 18 includes a six-speaker virtual surround sound system that supports THX Spatial Audio and a 5MP camera with a privacy shutter. The good news? Pre-orders are open right now. The bad news? This is a Razer Blade 18, so it's a real wallet-buster. Pricing starts at $3,200, but can shoot all the way up to $4,900 depending on RAM and storage configurations. Early adopters do get a free skin and a laptop stand. The company has also opened up pre-orders for the slightly smaller Razer Blade 16. This ultra-thin laptop starts at $2,800, which is a $100 bump over its predecessor. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/razer-announced-a-refreshed-blade-18-laptop-with-a-dual-mode-display-200943604.html?src=rss
When OpenAI announced Deep Research at start of February, the company promised to bring the tool to Plus users "in about a month," and now it's doing exactly that. Starting today, the feature, which you can use to prompt ChatGPT to create in-depth reports on nearly any subject, is rolling out to Plus, Team, Edu and Enterprise users. Previously, you needed a $200 per month Pro plan to try out Deep Research.For the time being, Plus users will get 10 Deep Research queries per month included with their plan. For Pro subscribers, OpenAI is increasing the monthly limit to 120, up from 100 previously. Additionally, the company has made a couple of improvements to how the tool works. ChatGPT will now embed images alongside citations to provide "richer insights." The system also has a better understanding of file types, which should translate to better document analysis.OpenAIIf you want to give the new feature a try, write a prompt as you normally would but then tap the Deep Research icon before sending your request through to OpenAI. Depending on the complexity of question, it can take ChatGPT anywhere between five and 30 minutes to compile an answer. OpenAI has said Deep Research is currently "very compute intensive," so it be a while before Free users get to try the capability out for themselves.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-expands-deep-research-to-all-paying-chatgpt-users-200045108.html?src=rss
Upheavals within the US government continued today as a group of technology experts announced their resignations. These federal employees had originally worked for the United States Digital Service, a tech-focused department created under the Obama administration. About 40 people from the original Digital Service staff were fired by the Elon Musk-led team known as DOGE earlier this year, and the remaining 65 employees were incorporated into his unit. Today, 21 of those people resigned."We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services," the former employees wrote in a resignation letter obtained by the Associated Press. "We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE's actions."The Digital Services director, Anne Marshall, also resigned from her post last week, stating in a public letter that "This is not the mission I came to serve."Both Marshall and the participants in today's group resignation raised concerns that people from Musk's outfit do not have the knowledge or desire to continue Digital Services' mission of developing and maintaining digital resources for Americans.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/doge-workers-quit-rather-than-help-musk-dismantle-critical-public-services-194237479.html?src=rss
Framework, the company making an ever-wider range of modular, endlessly repairable machines is showing off its next big project. Today, it previewed the Laptop 12, an affordable 12.2-inch touchscreen convertible built with the same ethos as its bigger siblings. Laptop 12 is targeted as an entry-level machine for young people, students and folks on low incomes. But, rather than the usual compromises inherent in such a machine, it will be just as repairable, modular and crucially upgradeable as the rest of the Framework lineup.FrameworkFew categories are as emblematic of the problems with consumer electronics as entry-level laptops," explained founder Nirav Patel, they tend to be janky, locked-down, disposable, underpowered and frankly, boring." Laptop 12 takes the general design language of the Laptop 13, but trimmed to suit the smaller footprint and screen. It ships in five colors, with an optional color matched stylus, each one clad in TPU with a metal skeleton for rigidity. Patel said if users are able to break it, repairs are even easier than on the Laptop 13.FrameworkThe company emphasized the Laptop 12 won't use the same sort of no-name bargain-bin parts you often find on entry-level machines. It hasn't released a full spec list yet, but said you will see options for a 13th-generation i3 or i5 Core Processor supporting up to 48GB DDR5 RAM. You can also opt for an NVMe SSD up to 2TB and Wi-Fi 6E, with the usual pick of Windows 11 or Linux. Patel added the 1,920 x 1,200 display has been customized to push out 400 nits of peak brightness with touch and stylus support.Framework says we're likely to see all of the gory details arriving at some point in April, which is also when pre-orders will open. Shipments are expected to begin at some point in the summer, and we're looking forward to seeing how this operates out in the real world.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/framework-teases-a-low-cost-2-in-1-convertible-version-of-its-modular-laptop-191231244.html?src=rss
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