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Google has started inserting ads into query results from its AI Mode, which was originally spotted by an SEO consultant named Brodie Clark. These ads show up in the bottom of search results in the Gemini-powered AI Mode. They are labeled as "sponsored" content, but otherwise look similar to other links whipped up by the chatbot.Google says this is just a test and that ads shouldn't be showing up for all users. The company also told 9to5Google that there are no current plans to fully update AI Mode to incorporate ads. Those are nice words, but AI has to make money somehow and ads seem to be a good way to do that.

My colleagues on Engadget's buying advice team have put out great recommendations for physical gadgets like this humble fabric shaver that are on sale for Black Friday. I, however, am an evolved being who swims in the digital ether, so my top product of the year lives only online - though DeleteMe will still improve your life wherever you are. From now until December 5, DeleteMe is offering 30 percent off all subscriptions with the coupon code BFCM30OFF25. Chances are you've seen at least one public-facing "people search" site. You know the ones: they usually have names like 411.info or Find.people, and you can type in a person's name and find all the info the site has been able to scrape on them. If you search your own name, it's hard to avoid immediately running to the kitchen to make yourself a tinfoil hat. The most annoying thing is that these "data broker" sites are perfectly legal to run and use. However, that's also their Achilles' heel. If they want to operate in the open, brokers legally have to include a way for you to remove yourself from their database. Most of them make it as aggravating and time-consuming as possible, but the option is there. That's where DeleteMe comes in. All you have to do is sign up and enter all the data you want removed from brokerage sites. DeleteMe handles the rest. It searches for your information on people database sites, automatically sends opt-out requests, bugs the broker if they don't comply quickly enough and gives you a weekly report on how it's doing. You do have to be OK with DeleteMe itself having your data, but I trust them way more than the randos over at violate.privacy. It's so much faster than handling all the opt-out requests yourself, which - if you've ever tried it - rapidly becomes a full-time job. Since I've been using DeleteMe, I almost never get spam calls or texts anymore, except in short bursts before its crawlers catch my name on another site. And yes, it doesn't work on shady data brokers who don't follow the rules, but it's still a massive reduction of your online footprint. The only problem is that it's pretty expensive, so I strongly recommend jumping on this Black Friday deal. A few months on DeleteMe should be long enough for you to see if it reduces spam for you - and I'm betting it will.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-most-effective-anti-spam-tool-ive-ever-used-is-on-sale-for-black-friday-190526952.html?src=rss

Nothing Phone 3 owners, your Android 16 update is here. Owners of other models? Well, you'll have to wait a bit longer. Regardless, the company's Nothing OS 4.0 update brings Google's newest mobile software, along with a bunch of UI tweaks.In addition to Android 16, Nothing OS 4.0 should deliver a smoother, zippier experience. The company promises "faster responses, cleaner visuals, smoother interactions" and more. Along those lines, app transitions, the notification shade and gestures have been redesigned to respond "with sharper tactility and depth."Nothing also redesigned its first-party icons, with cleaner, more minimal styling. "The home screen feels balanced, modern and comfortable to use," the company claims. Status bar icons have been refined, drawing inspiration from Android 16's stylings. There are also new lock-screen clocks to choose from, and an "extra dark mode" (in addition to standard dark mode), designed for nighttime reading.A marketing grid, showcasing Nothing OS 4.0's new features.NothingThe Glyph Interface has always been one of Nothing's most unique features, and it gets some updates, too. Glyph Progress integrates with Android 16's Live Updates. "Rides, deliveries, and timers now sync across your screen and the Glyph Interface," as the company describes it.You can read up on all the changes on the release page. Nothing OS 4.0 is rolling out now to the Nothing Phone 3. Most other devices will start seeing it "over the coming weeks." The company's (recently spun off) CMF brand devices will receive the update by the end of 2025. Finally, Phone 3a Lite owners have to wait until "early next year."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/android-16-starts-rolling-out-to-nothing-phones-182637951.html?src=rss

SpaceX has confirmed that its third-gen Super Heavy Booster, the first stage of the two-stage Starship system, suffered an explosive gas failure of sorts during testing on Thursday morning. In a post on X, the aerospace company said, "Booster 18 suffered an anomaly during gas system pressure testing that we were conducting in advance of structural proof testing."There was no propellant inside the booster as the engines were not installed at that point. No injuries were reported and the company shared that personnel are always kept at a safe distance during these types of tests. The company said it will "need time to investigate before we are confident of the cause."The explosive release of gas, or whatever it was, seems to have blown out the side of the bottom half of the booster. Pictures taken by SpaceX content creators show this in detail. Clips of the livestream show the incident in question at around 4AM on Friday.

After several delays, Analogue finally started shipping its 4K remake of the Nintendo 64 this week. That was great news for those lucky enough to have pre-orders secured, but the console was firmly sold out beyond that first wave of shipments. However, the company has now announced that it will have new stock of the Analogue 3D ready to go from November 24.You'll be able to order from 8am PST on the day, with orders set to start shipping on December 2, once Analogue has honored all of its original pre-orders. This batch will likely go very quickly too, and if you do manage to get one, you'll have to accept a (seemingly tariff-related) price $20 hike, with the Analogue 3D now costing $270.As with previous Analogue systems, the reimagined N64 uses an FPGA (field programmable gate array) chip to emulate Nintendo's original hardware. FPGA-based systems are more accurate than software emulation options and deliver reduced input lag.Every N64 cartridge is supported, according to Analogue, including both PAL and NTSC variants, and the 3D is capable of 4K output with variable refresh rate. You also get an "original display mode" filter to faithfully recreate the look of gaming on your dusty old CRT.A word of warning, though: while our review of the Analogue 3D praised the hardware design and strength of the emulation, our reviewer's biggest mark against the console is that a lot of N64 games just aren't very fun to play in 2025. Still, if you still have the likes of Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time lying around in a cupboard, you'll no doubt have an enjoyably nostalgic holiday season with the Analogue 3D, should you successfully get hold of one next week.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-analogue-3d-will-be-restocked-on-november-24-but-itll-cost-20-more-173615217.html?src=rss

The truth is, most gaming headsets aren't great values. I've tested a ton of them for our buying guide, and while the space has improved over time, it remains far too centered on branding and marketing. Too much of what passes by my desk comes off as overpriced compared to a good set of normal" headphones in the same range, both in audio and build quality. If you have a pair you love, more power to you. But generally speaking, these things tax you for the perception of being specialized for gaming. In reality, most are just OK headphones with a mic, a logo and maybe some fancy RGB lighting attached. All that said, there are always exceptions to the rule, and a few headsets have stood out as actually being worth the money. My current favorite is the Turtle Beach Atlas Air, which is currently on sale for $130 at various retailers as part of a Black Friday deal. That's the cheapest it's been since February, $50 off its MSRP and $20 below its street price over the last month. When it's discounted to this extent, it's the rare gaming headset I'd call a solid bargain. The hook with the Atlas Air is that it's one of the few wireless headphones (let alone headsets) with an open-back design, meaning its ear cups don't completely seal off your ears from air and outside noise. Pairs like this aren't for everyone: They both let in and leak lots of ambient sound, so if you don't use them in a quiet room, you and anyone nearby will probably be distracted. On the flipside, this can be a positive if you don't want to be completely shut off from your surroundings. More notably, they can produce a far more spacious and natural sound than closed-back models. Games feel more like they're happening around you instead of being confined to a space in your head. All of this holds true with the Atlas Air. Going from this pair to a traditional headset often makes it feel like a chunk of the world has been lopped off - giant boss fights in games like Elden Ring or Final Fantasy XVI sound more narrow, and it becomes harder to gauge where exactly an opponent is coming from in a competitive shooter like Counter-Strike 2. It helps that the Atlas Air is also tuned well. It's not as dynamic as the best non-gaming open headphones, and like most open-backs it doesn't get super deep bass, so explosions and gunfire lack a little boom. But it's balanced and easygoing, with a jump in the treble that helps dialogue and footsteps sound clearer. The headset itself is exceptionally comfortable beyond that. It's lightweight at 0.66 pounds, and the big memory foam earcups clamp down gently without trapping much heat. The battery lasts a solid 50-60 hours on a charge, and while the mic isn't the absolute best I've tested, it still lets you come through clearly. It all works with PC and PS5 by default, and you can pair with a Switch or Switch 2 over Bluetooth. There's no Xbox wireless support, unfortunately, though you can at least use an included 3.5mm cable. And though the plastic design isn't exactly premium," it hasn't developed any sort of cracks or creakiness in the months I've used it. For $130, it's totally fine. There are other things to nitpick: You can't listen to two devices connected over the USB dongle and Bluetooth simultaneously; you want to ignore Turtle Beach's companion software as soon as you update the firmware; and there isn't much room to adjust the headband, so certain heads may struggle to find the best fit. The design is also kind of ugly, if I'm being honest. Still, in an samey market, the Atlas Air stands out. If you know you can live with the trade-offs that come with any open-back headset, it's a unique value at this price.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/in-a-rare-deal-my-favorite-gaming-headset-is-28-percent-off-for-black-friday-165029987.html?src=rss

So it turns out Meta isn't a monopoly, at least according to a federal judge. In this episode, we dive into Meta's victory in the FTC's antitrust case, which it seems to have won mainly thanks to TikTok's existence. Also, we chat about the Cloudflare issue that took down a huge portion of the web this week, as well as Roblox's plan to collect kids' selfies for age verification. We also carve out some time to chat with the audience and answer your pressing tech questions.Subscribe!

Square Enix loves to remaster, remake and reheat its RPGs. The latest title to get the treatment is the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy spin-off, Final Fantasy Tactics.Tactics has undergone its own remakes before, with War of the Lions bringing the game to the PlayStation Portable and, eventually, iOS and Android. However, now across all the major consoles, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a different remake again - and even dismisses some of the characters and additions in War of the Lions. I never finished either version, and two things are apparent: I have missed out, and this is hard.Originally released just a few months after Final Fantasy VII, which introduced polygon characters, FMV and more, Tactics' sprite aesthetic seemed quaint in comparison. With compact isometric levels, turn-based battles are closer to Tactics Ogre and Disgaea than the lineup and strike battles of mainline Final Fantasy games of the time. The game was a critical hit, even if it didn't match the popularity of Cloud et al.Tactics is far less forgiving. Battle dynamics lean heavily on random number generation; your squad is often outnumbered, and you can easily be undone when resurrection spells and defensive magic fail to land. The first time my revival spell failed, I audibly swore at my Switch 2. But the taste of defeat? It's usually seasoned just right. It's gaming umami.I wanted more, even at the notorious difficulty spike in a battle against knight-gone-wrong Wiegraf. In this fight, I faced him, a far more powerful fighter, solo, and proceeded to die roughly 20 times in a row. On standard difficulty, you rarely have to do this, but I had to craft a specialized version of the protagonist that could hit hard, heal himself, and generally just stay alive long enough for the second stage of this fight.The Ivalice Chronicles can be played in two ways. The modern version features high-resolution sprites, backgrounds, and effects, while retaining the original's isometric view, which can be rotated and tilted for the best view of the action. There's an HD-2D nod with a thick depth of field blur to add a more modern feel.If you want your Tactics pixelated, you can play the original version, although you can't transition between the two, which seems like a missed opportunity. (You can toggle your saves across the versions in other RPGs with similar dual versions, like Dragon Quest XI S.)More than the graphical downgrade, though, you're missing out on polished voice acting, which not only elevates the diorama cutscenes and political intrigue but also peppers battles when you field main characters and they unleash certain job class attacks.Talking of jobs, Tactics' system remains the same, with base jobs like knight, white knight and freelancer giving way to dragoons, summoners and, much later, bizarre-but-powerful roles like arithmetician (the power of math!) and ninja.The difficulty curve of Tactics is very much here. It was embarrassing how much I struggled to overcome spikes in difficulty, but then again, I never finished the original. (And, like a true hero, I refused to research broken job builds or easy grind spots.)A crystalline attack hits an enemy in an isometric battle.Square EnixYou can grind, raise levels of your characters, rake in money, and pick up crucial job points. But the wiser method is figuring a battle loop where your characters repeat actions. When the character attacks, heals, steals and generally does anything besides just moving or staying put, it earns Job Points. These are the most crucial parts of growing your squad, as abilities and passive skills can be ported between jobs; it's how you can customize your entire party to demolish certain kinds of enemies. Lots of archers? A skill called archer's bane means they'll struggle to get a hit. Lots of slow-moving enemies in a tight space, rain hell with your summoner, but with an ability to regain MP as they move around.At times, it still feels like a slog to repeat battles and garner enough JP for that skill you know will turn the tide of a challenging fight. Fortunately, a new battle speed toggle makes them a little less dull.It's funny to feel nostalgic about a game I never played the first time around. But there's something familiar and cosy to Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm surprised at the depth of what seems at first to be a pretty simple fighting system.While the voice acting and additional quality-of-life upgrades are great, it's a shame that Square Enix didn't include extra jobs (and characters) introduced in other iterations, like the PSP version. Still, it's another great tactical RPG for the Nintendo Switch, increasingly the best place to play the genre. Fortunately, however, it's available across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC as well.

Happy Friday! As the annual tech discount chaos of Black Friday approaches (good deal here and here and several more here), European policymakers have proposed easing some of the EU's strictest regulations on artificial intelligence and data privacy. The move aims to remove roadblocks for tech companies and stimulate business growth in the region, potentially marking a major pivot away from the bloc's reputation as the industry's toughest regulator.Changes would allow AI companies to access shared personal data to train their models, while also overhauling GDPR cookie rules. Instead of constant pop-ups, users could set preferences once in their browser and give consent with a single click. (OK, I'm onboard with that.)Strict rules for high-risk" AI applications, originally set for next summer, may be delayed until proper support tools are in place. Critics are warning this could be seen as Europe bowing to pressure from Big Tech and political shifts in the US. The proposal now heads to the European Parliament.- Mat SmithGet Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The news you might have missed

Why settle for tiny pieces of chocolate when you could unwrap a Pokemon card, a Funko Pop or a Star Wars LEGO ship instead? Advent calendars have gone full geek mode, with options for fans of movies, comics, games and even science. They're the perfect way to add some holiday cheer to your desk, game shelf or living room. Consider this your guide to the best geeky countdowns for 2025. Best advent calendars for 2025 Check out the rest of our gift ideas here. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/our-favorite-2025-advent-calendars-you-can-still-get-now-top-picks-from-lego-pokemon-funko-pop-and-more-120042964.html?src=rss

Amazon has launched Alexa+, its next-generation digital assistant, in Canada. The company unveiled the new assistant in February, and it has been making its way to more and more people since. Canada is the first region outside the US to get access Amazon's upgraded Alexa. Like the version that rolled out in the US, users can communicate with Alexa+ in natural language. They can say I'm cold," for instance, and the assistant will turn up the heat in their home. If they say It's dark," Alexa+ can switch on the lights for them.In Amazon's announcement, Allison Siperco, the Alexa manager for Canada, said the assistant understands Canadian culture and regional expressions. It can understand distinctly Canadian topics, such as the country's hockey teams and musicians. In addition, the assistant links with services Canadians use. It can make restaurant reservations for them through OpenTable, connects them to CBC news and help them look for and buy items from their e-commerce platforms. Siperco said the assistant will also support Yelp, Uber Eats, Suno and TripAdvisor in the country soon."Alexa+ is capable of adapting its tone to everyone in the household, suggesting different routines based on the user. It can suggest meditation, for example, to someone who's had a long day at the office. And it can remember if someone has dietary restrictions when recommending restaurants. Alexa+ can also help users shop by finding items with the best pricing, by creating grocery lists for them while taking dietary restrictions into account, as well as by comparing features across products and summarizing reviews on Amazon Canada.Amazon's upgraded assistant is free during its Early Access phase, though those who are interested to try it out right now will have to purchase the new Echo Show 8, Echo Show 11, Echo Dot Max or Echo Studio. After Early Access, it will remain free for Prime subscribers, while everyone else will have to pay $28 CAD a month for it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/amazon-alexa-is-now-available-in-canada-050827689.html?src=rss

Stop me if you've heard this one before: xAI is once again nuking a bunch of posts from Grok on X after the chatbot made a series of outrageous claims. This time, though, the company isn't cleaning up a bunch of pro-Hitler posts, but a bout of cringe-inducing sycophantic praise for its CEO, Elon Musk.At some point in the last couple days, Grok began to offer extremely over the top opinions about Musk. The bot claimed that Musk is the "undisputed pinnacle of holistic fitness" and that he is more fit than LeBron James. It said he is smarter than Albert Einstein and that he would win a fight against Mike Tyson. When asked "who is the single greatest person in modern history," Grok readily replied that it was Elon Musk.For a while, it seemed that there was no hypothetical about Musk in which Grok wouldn't confidently declare him the best. Musk did not participate in the 1998 NFL draft, but if he had, then Grok would "without hesitation" have picked him over Peyton Manning. It would have picked him as a starting pitcher for the 2001 World Series. Musk would be "a better movie star than Tom Cruise and a better communist than Joseph Stalin.""The single greatest person in modern history."By now, X users are pretty used to Grok being extremely deferential to Musk but sometime around Grok claiming that the CEO is morally superior to Jesus Christ and also has the potential to drink piss better than any human in history," xAI appears to have pumped the brakes on Grok's ability to praise Musk. It now seems to be furiously deleting the more embarrassing posts about him.Meanwhile, Musk, is blaming "adversarial prompting" for Grok going off the rails. "Earlier today, Grok was unfortunately manipulated by adversarial prompting into saying absurdly positive things about me," he wrote. He offered no explanation for how seemingly straightforward questions could be considered "adversarial" or why Grok's turn toward slavish Musk devotee would seem to roughly coincide with Grok's 4.1 update a few days ago. xAI didn't address a series of questions, including about why the Grok posts in question had been deleted. Legacy Media Lies [sic]," the company said.But the incident serves as yet another reminder that Grok doesn't seem to have much in the way of guardrailed. Earlier this year, xAI briefly pulled the plug on Grok after it praised Nazis and became "MechaHitler." That was after it also became inexplicably obsessed with "white genocide" in South Africa, which the company later balmed on an unspecified "unauthorized modification."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/elon-musk-blames-adversarial-prompting-after-grok-spewed-embarrassing-sycophantic-praise-235157807.html?src=rss

FoloToy, a company selling AI-enabled toys, suspended sales of its products after a consumer safety report showed there were few restrictions around what its toys would talk about, CNN writes. The report, put together by the US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, found that FoloToy's products would discuss everything from sexually explicit topics like BDSM to "advice on where a child can find matches or knives."The toys, including a teddy bear named "Kumma," a panda named "Momo," anthropomorphic rabbits named "Fofo" and a dancing "Little Cactus," all appear to use OpenAI's GPT-4o model to respond naturally to children's questions and comments. FoloToy also specifically advertises the ability to customize each toy's voice, and a "Parent Dashboard" where parents or guardians can "monitor [their] child's experience."FoloToy's AI-enabled Little Cactus toy.FolotoyMissing from that setup was apparently any kind of hard limits on subjects the toys would respond to. "We were surprised to find how quickly Kumma would take a single sexual topic we introduced into the conversation and run with it, simultaneously escalating in graphic detail while introducing new sexual concepts of its own," the report said.In response, FoloToy has opted to suspend sales of its products while it conducts "a company-wide, end-to-end safety audit across all products," the company shared in a statement with the PIRG Education Fund. The company's reasoning for suspending sales might be a bit more complicated, however. NPR reports that OpenAI actually revoked FoloToy's access to its models. "We suspended this developer for violating our policies," OpenAI said in an email to NPR. "Our usage policies prohibit any use of our services to exploit, endanger, or sexualize anyone under 18 years old."Given GPT-4o's well-documented sycophantic qualities, it's perhaps not surprising that FoloToy's teddy bear eagerly responded to any subject as long as it kept the conversation going. One of the things OpenAI tried to address with the release of GPT-5 was the safety downsides of an AI yes-man, though it ultimately made GPT-4o available again after customers complained about the new model's lack of personality. The company has also rolled out parental controls to ChatGPT to try and mitigate the negative impacts of children using its AI, though it's difficult to say how much of a difference they've made.Notably, OpenAI is interested in getting into the toy business itself. The company announced a partnership with Mattel in June 2025, to help "reimagine how fans can experience and interact with [Mattel's] cherished brands," though both companies will presumably try and prevent their AI toys from discussing sexual kinks.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/sales-of-a-teddy-bear-were-suspended-because-of-its-sexually-explicit-ai-233127354.html?src=rss

Meta is rolling out a way for people to interact together in its virtual spaces. Users will now be able to invite friends to hang out in the spaces created with Hyperscape on Meta Horizon. Up to eight people can join an instance, as long as they are age 18 or older and have the link to the space. The virtual spaces can be joined through a Meta Quest 3 or 3S as well as via the Meta Horizon mobile app, which is on both Android and iOS. People can scan their own homes to create a virtual hangout when they can't be in person together, or they can indulge their inner lookieloos and wander around some of the celebrity spaces, such as Gordon Ramsay's kitchen or Chance the Rapper's living room.It's an application of Hyperscape Capture, which Meta showed off during its Connect conference earlier this year. That tech allows people to use a Meta Quest to scan real spaces and create digital replicas. The invite option is being gradually added to accounts, and Meta also said that it hopes to raise the party cap in the future for this metaverse feature.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/meta-now-lets-you-invite-people-for-virtual-hangouts-in-hyperscape-capture-spaces-231152311.html?src=rss

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 knew how to lay on the camp. But it wasn't only known for having some of the most delightfully cheesy cutscenes this side of The 7th Guest. Red Alert 2 was also an acclaimed real-time strategy game for its time, and it's still perfectly playable today. Want to see for yourself? It's now as easy as opening your browser.The Chrono Divide project (via PC Gamer) lets you play the 2000 RTS in Chrome, Edge, or Safari. Although it supports Firefox, too, its developer says it should be avoided if you want good performance." It even works in mobile browsers.Chrono Divide supports cross-platform multiplayer using all the original maps. (You can use some mods, too.) In fact, according to PC Gamer, multiplayer is about your only option. Red Alert 2's single-player campaign modes (where you'll encounter those so bad, they're good" cutscenes) are still a work in progress.The project initially started out as an experiment and was meant to prove that it was possible to have a fully working, cross-platform RTS game running in a web browser," the project's website reads. Now, with a playable version already available, the end-goal is reaching feature parity with the original vanilla Red Alert 2' engine."You can take it for a spin on the Chrono Divide webpage. You'll need to import the original game files to begin. (The website automatically inserts a link to them on the Internet Archive.) But we won't fault you if you'd rather opt for watching Red Alert 2's fabulously corny cutscenes below.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/you-can-now-play-command--conquer-red-alert-2-in-your-browser-213815557.html?src=rss

Preservation has become a pressing topic for games in this era of digital-only releases and games-as-a-service. So it's wonderful to have a big win in archiving a trio of seminal text games for the ages. Microsoft announced today that the code for Zork, Zork II and Zork III will be made available open source under the MIT License. The company's Open Source Programs Office, Xbox and Activision all contributed to the effort. "The goal is not to modernize Zork but to preserve it as a space for exploration and education," Microsoft team members wrote in the blog post sharing the news.They're works well-worth studying. The first Zork was a milestone moment for parser games that still inspires the present-day interactive fiction community. Not only was it a unique experience of narrative and puzzles, but the accomplishments of the Z-Machine virtual machine it ran on helped make Zork easily available to players on multiple platforms during the rise of personal computers in the 1990s. There are still modern Z-Machine interpreters out there (or you can buy and play all three Zork titles the normal way thanks to the similarly preservation-minded folks at Good Old Games).The code for many famous text games made by Infocom was released on GitHub in 2019, but the rights still technically belonged to Activision, which could have issued a takedown. This move keeps the code for this iconic Zork games available for the ages.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/microsoft-has-open-sourced-the-zork-trilogy-of-text-games-213519368.html?src=rss

A major selling point of the Xbox Ally and Ally X is that they ship with a full screen version of Windows that plays nice with handheld PCs. As part of the company's recent Xbox Partner Showcase, Microsoft has announced that the Windows "full screen experience" or FSE is finally rolling out to all other Windows 11 handhelds starting November 21.For the most part, FSE lets you live inside a touch and controller-friendly version of the Xbox PC app, rather than the normal Windows desktop. The launcher collects games from a multitude of game marketplaces like Steam and the Epic Games Store, and gives you easy access to Game Pass, if you subscribe. As part of Microsoft's customizations, FSE also uses less resources, and offers simpler ways to switch between apps and setup Windows for the first time.All of these tweaks are supposed to make using Windows easier without a mouse and keyboard, and closer to what you'd get from a console. In comparison to SteamOS, which has gone through countless updates since Valve launched it alongside the Steam Deck in 2022, FSE still has a long way to go, but pushing the software to more devices could force Microsoft to iterate quickly.While PC handheld owners will reap the benefits of these improvements first, Microsoft's announcement also mentions the company plans to bring the experience "to more Windows 11 PC form factors through the Xbox and Windows Insider programs soon." That could lend further credence to reports that the company plans to make the next Xbox an expensive PC rather than a traditional game console.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/microsoft-brings-the-xbox-ally-xs-full-screen-experience-to-other-handhelds-211500288.html?src=rss

After what was apparently a successful testing period, OpenAI has announced that it is rolling out group chats in ChatGPT to "all logged-in users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans globally over the coming days." The company first started testing a way to collaborate with peers directly inside ChatGPT around a week ago in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan.Once you start a chat in ChatGPT you can invite other people to join (up to 20 in a chat), either with their existing ChatGPT account, or one they make after clicking the invite link. Beyond being able to prompt ChatGPT together and react to each other's messages, the features of group chats appear to be deliberately limited. OpenAI says that the content of group chats aren't stored in ChatGPT's memory, and any person can be removed from a chat by any person, save for the creator.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Meta has been fined for unlawfully processing user data to gain a market advantage. On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Madrid court ordered the company to pay 479 million ($552 million) in damages to 87 Spanish media outlets. The fine stems from the company changing its legal grounds for harvesting personal data after new regulations took effect.The court found that Meta's data collection practices violated the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - and, by extension, Spanish antitrust law. After the GDPR took effect in 2018, the company changed its legal grounds for collecting data on Facebook and Instagram from user consent to "necessity for the performance of a contract."Regulators later ruled against that justification, and Meta reverted to user consent as its basis in 2023. But Spanish digital media outlets sued for damages, leading to today's fine. The court ruled that Meta gained a "significant competitive advantage" by processing user data that way. The court calculated the penalty as a percentage of the company's ad revenue over the five years it used the unlawful rationale."The illicit treatment of this enormous quantity of personal data meant Meta had an advantage that Spanish online media could not match," the Madrid court wrote in a statement (via The Associated Press). "Meta's actions harmed the online advertising revenues of Spanish digital media outlets."Meta contested the penalty and says it will appeal. "This is a baseless claim that lacks any evidence of alleged harm and wilfully ignores how the online advertising industry works," the company wrote in a statement to Reuters. "Meta complies with all applicable laws and has provided clear choices, transparent information and given users a range of tools to control their experience on our services."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-ordered-to-pay-%E2%82%AC479-million-to-spanish-media-outlets-201000460.html?src=rss

CloverPit is one of my favorite games of the year so far, and it just arrived on Xbox without prior notice. As revealed during Thursday's Xbox partner showcase, Panik Arcade's nightmarish take on the ills of capitalism and gambling is out now on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. You can play CloverPit via the cloud or the Xbox PC app too, as it's on Game Pass Ultimate and Premium as well as PC Game Pass.On the surface, the game is pretty simple. You're locked in a rusty room that looks like something out of Silent Hill 2. There are only two ways out: through the door or into a pit. You'll plummet into the latter if you fail to pay off your rapidly-increasing debt. You'll be using a slot machine to try to earn enough money to keep your run going.As you do with poker hands in Balatro, the whole idea is to bend the rules of the slot machine in your favor using an array of totems and other perks (the developers say they don't actually like gambling). There are more than 150 items to experiment with. As in many roguelites, finding synergy between them is key.CloverPit is a blast. Figuring out a great combination of items and swapping others in as needed is what the game is really all about. There's nothing quite like going from getting a few coins on a single spin to millions in no time at all. Panik Arcade nailed the one-more-run feeling that's core to a good roguelite. It's not much of a surprise that the studio and publisher Future Friends Games have sold more than a million copies of the game on Steam in just a few months, and now console and cloud players can see what all the fuss is about.Panik Arcade also took the opportunity to tease a CloverPit expansion, which is coming soon on Xbox and Steam. Matteo Gonano, one of the game's two developers wrote in an Xbox Wire post that the Unholy Fusion DLC will let players combine charms in wild, experimental ways to create brand-new synergies and chaotic new combos. It's both an expansion and an invitation to break the game - all over again!I thought I had broken free from this dopamine generator. I thought I'd have a lot more time to check out all of the other games I want to. But as soon as that DLC drops I'll be diving right back into CloverPit, ready to hear that let's go gambling!" voice line many, many more times.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-engrossing-cloverpit-suddenly-lands-on-xbox-and-game-pass-200500902.html?src=rss

As the future of physical media looks increasingly grim, it feels like more and more gaming enthusiasts are turning to the classics, back to a time when buying a game meant actually owning it, and the games themselves were more willing to be complete thoughts rather than endless services. If you know someone who has fallen down the old-games rabbit hole, we've rounded up a few retro-themed gift ideas that should delight this holiday season, from video upscalers to portable consoles to vintage wall art. Best retro gaming gifts FAQs Why do people buy retro games? Because they're fun! Or because video game companies have generally had a spotty record of preserving their own history - and (legally) saving art, even in a minuscule way, is important. Or because, deep down, collectors just want to stave off the ceaseless march of time and hang onto any way to relive their youth before it dissipates for good. Or because they're jaded with modern game design and crave shorter, more distinct or altogether different experiences that aren't being served by today's market. Or because they want to flip the games they collect for a quick buck on eBay. Or because... well, you get the idea. - J.D. Why is retro gaming so expensive? To put it simply: supply and demand. Companies aren't making old games and consoles any more, yet a growing number of gaming enthusiasts want them. And as retro game collecting has grown more popular, sellers have become more acutely aware of how high they can price their goods. Not every retro game costs an arm and a leg, however: Popular games from relatively recent consoles are usually more affordable than lesser-selling titles for older hardware, and you can still find a good bargain every now and then by digging through local yard sales, individual eBay sellers and the like. - J.D. Are retro games a good investment? It depends on how you define good." Is it a good idea to buy a bunch of old games in the hopes that their value will skyrocket and make you a tidy profit? No, there's little rhyme or reason to determining exactly which games will shoot up in value and by how much. There are much safer ways to invest if all you care about are financial returns. Is it a good idea to drop a bunch of cash on 40-year-old video games if you have pressing financial responsibilities? Probably not! But hey, it's your life. If collecting retro games makes you happy, and you can budget for them within reason, that's a good thing. Have fun. - J.D. What qualifies as a retro game? There's no set definition for when a video game becomes retro." Personally, I think of it as any game that's at least 10 years old and was originally released on a console that's two or more generations old (or, for PC games, during that generation). But many others would stretch the timeline back farther, and the growing advent of live service" games has complicated things. For instance, Grand Theft Auto V was released in 2013, while World of Warcraft arrived in 2004 - are those retro games" when millions of people still play them today? Maybe not. With games from the 90s or earlier, though, the distinction is clearer. - J.D. Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-12-best-retro-gaming-gifts-for-the-2025-holidays-140016618.html?src=rss

Google just unveiled its Nano Banana Pro image generation platform, which is also going by the name Gemini 3 Pro Image. The company promises this is an improvement over previous versions of the software in nearly every way. Google says it will "turn your visions into studio-quality designs with unprecedented control, flawless text rendering and enhanced world knowledge."The text rendering portion seems to have gotten a big upgrade here, as Nano Banana Pro can create context-rich infographics and diagrams. The software can render legible text on top of a pre-existing image, making it a good option for generating posters and stuff like that. Google says that this feature is available in multiple languages.Google Google also says it can blend multiple elements into a single composition, with the ability to use up to 14 images at once. There are plenty of new editing controls. Users can select and edit any part of a created image. This can be used to adjust camera angles, change focus, adjust the color grade and even swap out the lighting from day to night.Images created with Nano Banana Pro will have C2PA metadata embedded. This should, in time, make it easier to spot generative AI or deepfakes out there in the world. We'll have to see how that plays out. TikTok recently announced it would be using this metadata to better label AI-generated content, of which it currently does a very bad job at.Nano Banana Pro is actually free to use. Free users are limited to a daily quota of images, with the number expanding for Google AI, Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers. Just open up the Gemini app and create an image, but be sure to use the "Thinking" model. It's also available in Search and NotebookLM for some subscribers. This is all part of the recently-launched Gemini 3 model.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-nano-banana-pro-image-generator-leverages-gemini-3-for-improved-visuals-and-text-rendering-185505073.html?src=rss

Perplexity is continuing the rollout of its AI browser to more users. Comet is now available to download for Android mobile devices from the Google Play Store. Comet initially debuted this summer only to Perplexity's high-rolling subscribers on the $200-a-month Pro plan, but it expanded access to all users last month. It's free on Android as it now is on other platforms, and has many of the same features as the desktop version. The mobile option has access to Perplexity's AI assistant, and it can summarize searches or be interacted with by voice.Perplexity has been forthright about its goals of launching a browser as a way to collect customer data so it can more effectively target ads, and it's not the only artificial intelligence company or tech company trying to integrate AI into the browsing experience. These efforts have already drawn complaints from Amazon, particularly around AI in shopping, but they could yield big paydays for scammers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexitys-comet-ai-browser-is-now-on-android-184500885.html?src=rss

Poncle has been pretty darn busy lately. Along with greenlighting a licensed Warhammer take on Vampire Survivors, bringing a VR version of the original game to the world and working on crossover expansions, the studio is making a brand-new game. Vampire Crawlers is a Vampire Survivors spinoff. Rather than running around the map to collect gems to level up and unlock or upgrade auto-firing weapons, Vampire Crawlers has a different format. It's a dungeon-crawling roguelike deckbuilder.It's set in the same world as Vampire Survivors and each of the playable characters is in the original game. You'll put together decks of attacks and other abilities to help you on your journeys through dungeons. There's a card customization feature too.Development of Vampire Crawlers started soon after Vampire Survivors hit early access and blew up in 2021. Poncle founder and CEO Luca Galante told Xbox Wire that this is hopefully the first in a series of spinoffs in which the idea is to take some of the core pillars behind the development of VS and to apply them to existing genres." Galante hinted that a Vampire Survivors sequel is in the works too.Vampire Crawlers is expected to arrive in 2026. It'll be available on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS. The game will debut on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/a-vampire-survivors-roguelike-deckbuilder-spinoff-is-coming-in-2026-183841289.html?src=rss

Remember way back in 2024, when Qualcomm said most x86 Windows games would run smoothly on its Arm chipsets? Well, those promises were, shall we say, a bit premature. But with this week's launch of the Snapdragon Control Panel (along with other updates), the company says things are finally looking up for Snapdragon X Elite laptop owners.Alongside the launch of faster new chips, Qualcomm has made some quality-of-life improvements on the software end. Chief among them is this week's arrival of the Snapdragon Control Panel: the company's answer to NVIDIA and AMD's GPU tools. Like those apps, the Snapdragon software includes familiar features like automatic game detection, per-game settings and Adreno GPU driver updates. On that note, Qualcomm says its drivers have squashed bugs and boosted performance for over 100 games since last year.QualcommThe crucial x86 emulation layer has also gotten some love. Microsoft's Prism Emulator now supports Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) x86 emulation on Qualcomm chips. Meanwhile, the more advanced AVX2 will be supported out of the box on upcoming Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops. (Expect to hear more about those at CES.) Current Snapdragon X Series devices will receive the update "in the coming weeks."One Windows gaming obstacle Qualcomm acknowledged last year was kernel-level anti-cheat tech. At the time, multiplayer games that relied on it simply wouldn't work on its devices. But as part of its gaming announcements this week, Qualcomm highlighted Fortnite's availability. That's thanks to Epic Online Services Anti-Cheat support. Qualcomm says it's also "working with" leading anti-cheat providers to add wider multiplayer support. That includes anti-cheat tech from Tencent, Roblox and more.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/qualcomm-promises-better-gaming-performance-with-latest-windows-on-snapdragon-update-183529616.html?src=rss

The Trump administration has drafted an executive order that would effectively block states from enacting their own AI regulations. According to a draft document obtained by Politico, the effort would entail a multifaceted approach including an "AI Litigation Task Force" run by the DOJ.This indicates the president has not wavered in his desire to eschew federalism in favor of a more centralized power structure around artificial intelligence. This past summer, the administration released its AI Action Plan, which, among other things, recommends that the "Federal government should not allow AI-related Federal funding to be directed toward states with burdensome AI regulations."While it also adds that the government should "not interfere with states' rights to pass prudent laws that are not unduly restrictive to innovation," this runs counter to some actions coming from the White House. Senator Ted Cruz, at the behest of the president, tried to add a 10-year moratorium on states' AI regulation to the President's One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed this summer. This amendment was ultimately voted down by the Senate 99-1.The issue is heating up again as the president took to Truth Social to say that "overregulation by the States" would undermine the US economy and lead to "Woke AI." Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X that no such moratorium should be put in place, and said states rights and federalism must be preserved.Politico reports that the administration is likely to try and insert a regulation moratorium again in the year-end annual defense bill. The administration seems convinced that a patchwork of varying regulations around the country would prove too onerous in the race for global AI dominance, and seeks to use every lever of federal power to prevent one.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/trump-administration-may-use-federal-agencies-to-fight-state-level-ai-regulation-182514317.html?src=rss

The rise of cloud-based streaming for games has made it possible to play plenty of high-profile games on Chromebooks - not natively, but when you're using a primarily web-based platform you'll take what you can get. As of today, Google's making it easier for new Chromebook buyers to play games right out of the box. Anyone who buys a Chromebook will get 12 months of access to GeForce Now, NVIDIA's cloud-streaming service that lets you access games you own on platforms like Steam, Xbox and so forth.It's not just the standard GeForce Now access, either. Google says this new Fast Pass" tier has no ads and lets Chromebook users skip the queues that free members have to wait in. Of course, there are some restrictions: this plan only provides 10 hours of gameplay a a month. Since GeForce Now already has a free tier, I presume that after the 10 hours is up you'll just get dropped down to that experience, which removes priority queue access, has ads and limits you to one-hour sessions. You're also capped at 1080p and 60 fps, but that should be fine for most Chromebooks.This is the latest attempt by Google to inject some gaming life into the Chromebook platform. A few years ago, some of Google's hardware partners released Chromebook models built with cloud-based gaming in mind, and Google also was working on bringing Steam to Chrome OS. Even though Steam worked pretty well, Google has reportedly decided to nix the project going forward. And I haven't heard much about the Chromebooks for gaming initiative recently either -but that matters less if any Chromebook with decent specs can take advantage of services like GeForce Now.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/new-chromebooks-now-come-with-a-year-of-priority-geforce-now-access-181708311.html?src=rss

Uber Eats has announced it'll soon start using Starship robots to complete food deliveries in certain parts of the UK, beginning in the Leeds and Sheffield areas. These little robo-couriers will only be able to handle deliveries from "select merchants" for the time being.The robots won't accept tips, for obvious reasons, but customers can still rate their experience via the app. We aren't sure what happens to a particular robot with enough bad ratings. Maybe it gets sent to a farm in the countryside somewhere.The service launches in December and the platform says it'll share more information at that date. Uber Eats also says it plans on expanding the operating territory in the near future. To that end, Starship robots are coming to "additional European markets in 2026" and more US markets in 2027.This isn't Uber's first foray into robot deliveries. Uber Eats has used robots from Serve Robotics and Avride in the past to deliver food.As for Starship, these diminutive delivery robots have actually been around since 2018. The company says there are currently around 3,000 robots in operation across the world in more than 270 different locations. They can be found at several college campuses, including Purdue University and George Mason.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-eats-will-use-starship-robots-in-the-uk-to-make-deliveries-171928694.html?src=rss

WhatsApp is going back to the past for its latest feature. In fact, it's going all the way back, because it's reviving the very first WhatsApp feature. You can think of About (the creators were really not very good at naming things, huh?) as a status update or WhatsApp's version of an AIM away message. It's designed to let your contacts know at a glance what you've got going on, such as something that's keeping you busy and might make you slow to respond to messages.The About message appears on both your profile and at the top of one-on-one chats. By default, the About message will vanish after 24 hours, but you can set it to vanish earlier or stick around for longer. You can do this by going to the set about" option in the WhatsApp settings. You also have control over who is able to see your About message - you can restrict it to your contacts or allow anyone to view it from your profile.This is a handy little update that apes the notes feature in sibling apps Instagram and Facebook. WhatsApp is starting to roll About (back) out to all users on mobile devices this week.Illustration of the About feature in WhatsAppMetaThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/whatsapp-is-bringing-back-its-very-first-feature-170100513.html?src=rss

Google is gradually replacing the outgoing Assistant with Gemini in all of its apps, and now it's the turn of Android Auto. In the next few months, any Android users who have made the jump to Gemini on their phones will be able to interact with the next-generation AI assistant while driving using natural language.The Gemini-ification of Google Maps has already happened, and its new features are also coming to Android Auto. You can do things like ask the AI about restaurants that serve a specific cuisine on your current route, and ask follow-up questions about the menu or its proximity to your destination. From there, Maps can guide you to the restaurant. Gemini lets you ask questions as you would when talking to another human, which theoretically means you can focus more on the road and less on how to construct a prompt that it will understand.The same applies to sending messages while driving. Where before, you'd have to say exactly what you wanted to write. You can just give the AI the gist and it will use the relevant information, such as your ETA if you're meeting someone, and it can add extra details if requested without you needing to restart the message from scratch. Gemini will also summarize grouped messages.Gemini can also access your Gmail account and pick out things like hotel addresses, as well as running you through your unread emails. Other apps you might want to use while driving, such as Calendar, can also be accessed by the more conversational Gemini.Gemini doubles as a DJ of sorts too, and is able to create on-the-fly playlists with specific conditions relating to genre, length or your general mood. You can even ask it to choose songs that fit the current weather outside. It can also act as a tour guide, running you through some facts about a destination, and if you're on the way to the wedding, Google even suggests practicing your speech in the car. Gemini likely won't judge you for calling on its services for some last-minute speech-writing either.As long as you have the Gemini app on your phone, it should start appearing on your Android Auto-enabled infotainment system. You can either say Hey Google", tap the on-screen mic button or press the voice control button on the steering wheel. 45 languages are supported and you can translate any message into a language that Gemini knows in real-time.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-arrives-on-android-auto-170012688.html?src=rss

French authorities are investigating allegations that Grok made statements denying the Holocaust. The Paris public prosecutor's office said it was adding Elon Musk's chatbot's latest controversy to a criminal probe initially launched in July.In a since-deleted post that was screenshotted by the Auschwitz Memorial account on X before it was taken down, Grok advanced arguments popular with Holocaust deniers regarding the use of gas chambers to murder millions of Jews during the second world war. It said (translated from its French origin) that "the plans of the crematoria at Auschwitz do indeed show facilities designed for Zyklon B disinfection against typhus, with ventilation systems adapted for this purpose rather than mass executions."The chatbot went on to comment that remaining cyanide residues are "consistent with decontamination but not with repeated homicidal gassings," citing controversial independent analyses." Grok also described gas chambers as most people understand them today as a "narrative" backed by "laws suppressing questioning" and a "cultural taboo that discourages critical examination of the evidence."As reported by The Guardian (to whom X has not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing), three French ministers and several human rights and anti-discrimination groups filed formal complaints about the post, which remained online for three days before it was eventually deleted. Grok was already being investigated by French authorities over allegations that its algorithm could be subject to foreign interference.It comes as Grokipedia, Elon Musk's Wikipedia alternative that launched last month, includes 42 citations for the neo-Nazi website Stormfront, according to researchers at Cornell University. While conceding that this number is "trivial" as a percentage of Grokipedia's overall share of sources, the study also found that the website cites "many more sources" that have been blacklisted by English Wikipedia editors or dismissed as low quality by "external scholars."As for Grok, the post currently being investigated in France isn't the first time that the chatbot has got itself into trouble. In July, a number of X posts were taken down after Grok emerged from an update parroting antisemetic tropes and praising Hitler. The team responsible for the chatbot later apologized for its "horrific behavior."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/authorities-probe-holocaust-denial-responses-from-xs-grok-155835701.html?src=rss

November has turned into Black Friday and vice versa. What was once a one-day shopping sprint has turned into a month-long marathon, with retailers rolling out discounts week after week. Thanks to this, it can be easy to get deal fatigue after a while - but no one wants to miss out on a good discount, regardless of if you're buying for yourself or someone else. We're tracking all of the best Black Friday deals you can get right now so you don't have to go searching for them.

For home cooks, kitchen tools are the equipment that make all your favorite dishes and meals possible. And while having the fanciest gear certainly isn't a requirement, it is really nice, which makes products like the ones here such great gifts. These are the kind of things that people want but might not be able to justify buying for themselves, or essential pieces that would be handy additions to any kitchen or pantry. So if you're looking for present ideas for the chef in your life, check out our guide of tried and tested cooking tools and gadgets below. Best cooking gifts Check out the rest of our gift ideas here. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/the-best-cooking-gifts-for-2025-140038716.html?src=rss

Spotify has unveiled an upcoming interactive feature called SongDNA designed to show you the samples, collaborators and covers included in a given track, the company announced. As part of that update, Spotify also revealed that it has acquired WhoSampled, the company behind the SongDNA technology."Through our recent discussions with Spotify, it became clear that we share a strong belief in the power of musical context - and a vision for helping listeners go deeper into the songs they love," the WhoSampled team wrote in a blog post.Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Spotify is acquiring both the WhoSampled team and its database. WhoSampled's standalone platform and brand will continue to operate following the deal with improvements like faster moderation times, the elimination of display ads and free downloads and subscriptions for its mobile apps.Spotify Premium users will see the SongDNA feature in the "Now Playing" view. It's described as a way to see connections between songs, "showing collaborators, samples and covers all in one place," Spotify wrote.In the song Kiss me More (feat. SZA), for example, SongDNA shows Carter Lang and two other composers, along with Doja Cat and SZA as the main artists. It reveals that a sample is used from Olivia Newton-John's Physical and that Kiss me More has been covered multiple times, most prominently in a Japanese version by the artist Rainych.Spotify is also working on a feature called "About the song," showing swipeable cards in the "Now Playing" view. Those will reveal information like the inspiration for a song, how the music was created and the cultural impact - all with links to the sources.London-based WhoSampled tracks over 1.2 million songs and 622,000 samples in its database, along with covers, remixes and artists. Its mobile app offers a Shazam-style music recognition service that can tell you the song you're listening to and any samples it might contain. The two companies have partnered previously on a deal that allows WhoSampled users to access their Spotify playlists and tracks.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/spotifys-songdna-feature-will-show-you-which-songs-are-sampled-on-a-track-130050490.html?src=rss

Looking to keep your home clean without having to vacuum and mop every day, pick up dirt, the dinner your child threw on the floor or your furry friend's endless pet hair? Join the club. Smart home gadgets have come a long way over the years, and that includes robot vacuums. With newer technology including voice controls, object detection and more automation features, investing in a robot vacuum cleaner makes more sense now than ever before. Some of the best robot vacuum cleaners even have mopping capabilities, roller brush options and self-emptying bases, too, and there are plenty that don't cost a fortune either. If you're ready to adopt a less hands-on approach and let a robot vacuum cleaner do the hard work for you, consider our recommendations below. Table of contents

Streaming services keep raising prices. At this point, if you subscribe to all the major services out there, you're basically paying the same price as cable - those antiquated local monopolies that streaming was supposed to save us from. But streaming still has one big advantage over the old ways: no contracts. That means you can grab a good streaming deal and then cancel without penalty. Our advice is to sign up for a service when you see a good streaming deal (or the latest season of, say, Doctor Who, Severance, Andor and/or The Last of Us). Then, when the deal ends or you've binged whatever it is you want to watch, cancel as needed. But streaming deals don't come around all that often and, when they do, it's easy to miss them thanks to...everything. So we're keeping eyes out for the best streaming deals out there and we update this guide often - so check it out the next time you have a hankering to watch something new. Best streaming deals True streaming deals can be hard to come by. Most often, they'll pop up during the Black Friday shopping period. On occasion, we'll see them sparingly throughout the year and they usually take the form of a discounted monthly or annual rate for a limited period of time. Also, true streaming deals are typically on the ad-supported versions of a service, but once in a while you'll find a unicorn of a deal on a tier that has ad-free viewing. If you're able to wait for a deal before subscribing to a streaming service, we recommend doing so. You'll save money upfront and in the long run, and you also have the option to cancel your subscription before the price goes back up to the normal rate. Sling TV Orange - day pass for only $1: Sling TV launched Day Passes earlier this year, giving users one-day access to a variety of its packages. This deal cuts $4 off the normal price of a day pass for Sling Orange. With that, you get unlimited access for 24 hours to Orange's more than 30 channels that includes ESPN, CNN, TBS and others. Audible subscription (three months) for $3 ($42 off): From now through mid-December, you can get Amazon's audiobook subscription for just a dollar a month for three months. Note that it will auto-renew at $15 per month after that, but you can cancel at any point. Starz (one year) for $24 ($46 off): Pay upfront for one year and you can get more than $40 off a Stars annual subscription. There's a month-to-month option too, which costs $3 per month for the first three months if you don't want to commit to the full year. Either option gives you access to the entire Starz TV and movie library with offline viewing and no ads. Fubo Pro for $55/month for the first month ($30 off): Fubo has introductory discounts on most of its packages, and the Pro package is the least expensive plan currently listed. It offers access to 224 channels, unlimited cloud DVR and up to 10 simultaneous streams. It even includes regional sports content from the NHL, MLB and NBA. Spotify Premium Individual (four months) for $0 ($48 off): This is our favorite music streaming service for podcasts and social features. The Premium Individual plan lets you listen ad-free and skip songs at will. You can also organize your listening queue and download content for offline listening. Just be aware, your subscription will auto-renew at the end of the trial period. So if you don't want to be on the hook for the $12 monthly fee, set a reminder to cancel and go back to the free version. Streaming bundle discounts There's more consolidation happening now than ever before in the streaming space, and that means there are more streaming bundle options. These bundles offer you access to more content with one subscription price, but those prices are typically higher than paying for a single service by itself (obviously). It may be tempting to just get the bundle, but if only one of those services in the bundle speaks to you, you'll spend less overall by just paying for the single service. Speaking of a deep love for a single streaming service: if all of your favorite shows are on Peacock or the latest releases on HBO Max consistently bring you joy, consider paying for one year upfront. Subscribing with an annual plan usually saves you money in the long term over paying on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, not all streaming services (looking at you, Netflix) have an annual subscription option. Disney+ If you feel like Charlie Kelly trying to figure out who Pepe Silvia is when you look at Disney's streaming prices chart, you're not alone. The confusion comes from the fact that Disney owns, or has a hand in, many streaming services including Hulu and ESPN. Throw in a partnership with HBO Max and you have a ton of options to consider and, probably, whiplash to match. Here's a quick overview of popular Disney+ bundle pricing.

Fast chargers have become essential as phones, tablets and even laptops demand more power to keep up with daily use. Many new devices no longer include a charger in the box, so finding the best fast charger for you is important if you want reliable speed without damaging your battery. A good charger saves you time, keeps your devices powered during busy days and often supports multiple gadgets at once.

Many e-bike brands focus their marketing on being a sustainable and environmentally friendly consumer choice. Future Motion has gone the other direction and emphasized how its new product can pop infinite wheelies, which sounds like either loads of fun or a quick way to an injury, depending on your worldview.After developing a line of single-wheel skateboards called Onewheel, Future Motion has released a new transportation option with an e-bike dubbed Antic. (Though I am deeply disappointed it isn't named Twowheel). The 70s-inspired design claims a top speed of 35 miles per hour, a range of 28 to 50 miles, and wide tires intended to handle many types of terrain. It also says that with its Wheelie Assist mode, the bike's gyroscopes and accelerometers can hold an endless single-wheel ride. The base model Antic has a list price of $2,500 but is currently discounted a few hundred bucks for the launch; longer-range options with more capable tires will run up to $2,900.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/onewheel-teams-antic-e-bike-can-pop-eternal-wheelies-230602296.html?src=rss

One of Meta's top AI researchers, Yann LeCun, is leaving after 12 years with the company to found his own AI startup, he announced. LeCun, who is also a professor at New York University, joined the company in 2013 to lead Meta's Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab and later took on the role of Chief AI Scientist.LeCun said his new startup would "continue the Advanced Machine Intelligence research program (AMI) I have been pursuing over the last several years with colleagues at FAIR, at NYU, and beyond" and that it would partner with Meta. "The goal of the startup is to bring about the next big revolution in AI: systems that understand the physical world, have persistent memory, can reason, and can plan complex action sequences," he wrote in an update on Threads. "AMI will have far-ranging applications in many sectors of the economy, some of which overlap with Meta's commercial interests, but many of which do not. Pursuing the goal of AMI in an independent entity is a way to maximize its broad impact."Speculation about LeCun's future at Meta has been mounting in recent months. Earlier this year, the company invested nearly $15 billion into Scale AI and made the 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, its Chief AI Officer. Meta also recruited Shengjia Zhao, who helped create GPT-4, making him Chief AI Scientist of its newly created Meta Superintelligence Labs unit.LeCun, on the other hand, has been openly skeptical of LLMs. "We are not going to get to human-level AI by just scaling LLMs," he said during an appearance on the Big technology podcast earlier this year. And in a recent talk at a conference, he advised aspiring researchers to "absolutely not work on LLMs," according to remarks reported by The Wall Street Journal.At the same time, Meta has been reshuffling its AI teams. The company cut "several hundred" jobs from its Superintelligence group, including from FAIR, last month. And LeCun has "had difficulty getting resources for his projects at Meta as the company focused more intently on building models to compete with immediate threats from rivals including OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Anthropic," Bloomberg reported.LeCun said he will stay on at Meta until the end of the year. "I am extremely grateful to Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Bosworth (Boz), Chris Cox, and Mike Schroepfer for their support of FAIR, and for their support of the AMI program over the last few years," he wrote.

There isn't a console hotter in 2025 than the Nintendo Switch 2. Whether you picked one up already or you're looking to get one during the holiday season, know that you're in for a fun ride once you finally get to play exclusives like Mario Kart World. But maybe you or someone on your list has been a Nintendo fan for years and you're looking for other Nintendo swag that you can add to the collection. Nintendo has a ton of fun stuff that makes great gifts for others - or for yourself if you're feeling indulgent. So to help you figure out the best gifts for the Nintendo fan in your life, we've put together a big list of our favorite products that will give anyone a power-up this holiday season. Of course, if none of these quite fit the bill, you can also head over to our full list of the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories for even more ideas. Best Nintendo gifts Check out the rest of our gift ideas here. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-best-nintendo-gifts-for-the-2025-holiday-season-110057620.html?src=rss

Letterboxd's foray into digital video rentals officially launches in December, the social film platform shared in a new blog post. Plans for a Letterboxd Video Store" were first announced in March, but now Letterboxd has started to fill in some of the details of what kinds of movies its store will carry and where they'll be available to watch.The collection of films available through the Letterboxd Video Store will be curated around a few categories, according to the company. Those include films featured at film festivals that currently don't have distribution, titles that continue to hang around in users' watchlists, film restorations and "limited-time drops of sneak peeks and unreleased gems." Letterboxd compared the process of narrowing down what films to try and offer like the "employee picks" shelf you might see at a local video store, only every Letterboxd user is an employee.Films rented through Letterboxd will be available to watch on the web, iOS, Android, Apple TV and Android TV, and can be streamed to screens that support Chromecast and AirPlay. Letterboxd hasn't shared what its rental terms or prices will be, but did note that rental availability and cost will vary depending on your location. The company also warns that some films will only be available for a limited amount of time.As an expansion on its core competencies of tracking what films you and your friends have watched and letting you review them, video rentals seem like a natural addition for Letterboxd. It's a bit like Amazon and Goodreads. Amazon acquired the book reviewing platform Goodreads in 2013, after establishing itself as a physical and digital bookseller. Letterboxd has defined itself as a trusted film reviewing platform, and now it's branching out into selling films. In the same way Goodreads can funnel readers back towards Amazon, Letterboxd can use movie fans to surface the best films to rent and keep them from heading somewhere else to watch them.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/letterboxd-will-start-renting-movies-in-december-214900026.html?src=rss

Warner Music Group (WMG) settled a lawsuit with an AI company in exchange for a piece of the action. The label announced on Wednesday that it had resolved a 2024 lawsuit against AI music creation platform Udio. As part of the deal, Udio gets to license Warner's catalog for an upcoming music creation service. This follows a similar settlement between Universal Music Group and Udio, announced last month.Udio's service will allow subscribers to create, listen to and discover AI-generated music trained on licensed work. You'll be able to generate new songs, remixes and covers using favorite artists' voices or compositions. The boundaries between human creation and an algorithm's approximation of it are about to grow murkier. Not in terms of artistic quality, but it will be based on what proliferates online.WMG is framing the deal as a win for artists, who will - if they choose to opt in - gain a new revenue stream. Ahead of the service's launch, Udio will roll out "expanded protections and other measures designed to safeguard the rights of artists and songwriters."So, the settlement does at least appear to reassert some control over artists' work. What the normalization of robot-made music will do for society's collective tastes is another question.A neon sign on a wall, reading, "You are what you listen to."Mohammad Metri / UnsplashThe settlement echoes a warning Spotify sounded to musicians and labels last month. "If the music industry doesn't lead in this moment, AI-powered innovation will happen elsewhere, without rights, consent or compensation," the company wrote. Spotify plans to launch "artist-first AI music products" in the future, a vague promise to be sure. However, given Udio's plans, it wouldn't be surprising to see the streaming service cooking up a similar licensed AI music-creation product."We're unwaveringly committed to the protection of the rights of our artists and songwriters, and Udio has taken meaningful steps to ensure that the music on its service will be authorized and licensed," Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl wrote in a press release. "This collaboration aligns with our broader efforts to responsibly unlock AI's potential - fueling new creative and commercial possibilities while continuing to deliver innovative experiences for fans."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/warner-signs-ai-music-licensing-deal-with-udio-213433325.html?src=rss

Major League Baseball has entered a new broadcasting deal that will see Netflix hosting live games for the first time. Under this three-year agreement, Netflix will have the rights to air a new Opening Night game the evening ahead of the Opening Day matchups. It will also stream the T-Mobile Home Run Derby as well as select special events during the season, including the 2026 MLB at Field of Dreams Game and the previously announced World Baseball Classic in Japan.It's a limited amount of content, but aligns with Netflix's recent pushes into both live events and sports programming. Last year the streaming service inked deals to show a double-header of NFL games on Christmas Day and snagged exclusive US rights to two FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments. Netflix has previously gotten access to documentary content from the MLB, but 2026 will mark its first time showing live baseball.The MLB deal also included some shuffling on the broadcast side, moving certain matches between ESPN and NBCUniversal properties. Apple TV will still have the rights to the Friday night games going forward. So between the growing number of platforms grabbing slices of viewership and the MLB's existing blackout rules, in future seasons you'll need to undertake a thorough research assignment to figure out where you can watch each game.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-lands-a-deal-with-mlb-to-air-select-live-baseball-games-213336003.html?src=rss

YouTube has started a renewed effort to integrate direct messaging into its platform. According to a support page, the service has started testing DMs as a way for users to share and discuss videos. The test is for users aged 18 and up in Ireland and Poland. But while a DM usually comes with some expectation of privacy, Google noted that "messages may be reviewed to ensure they follow our Community Guidelines."This isn't the video platform's first attempt to provide a messaging angle. YouTube added DMs to its app in 2017, then removed the feature in 2019 in order to emphasize public conversations in comments sections. The new test for sharing within YouTube's ecosystem won't mean any change to other ways you might send people videos. Re-introducing the same system six years after cutting it seems like an odd choice, but Google claims this is "a top feature request," so maybe it'll get a broader adoption this time around.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-is-once-again-trying-to-make-dms-happen-205724221.html?src=rss

It's well-documented that many students use ChatGPT to do their homework for them, and now OpenAI would like teachers to use it to write those student's homework, too. The company hopes to entice K-12 school employees to work with its AI models via the newly announced ChatGPT for Teachers, a version of the AI assistant that's secure enough to be used in a school environment and free until June 2027.OpenAI pitches this new ChatGPT as a way for educators to create material for the classroom, "and get comfortable using AI on their own terms." ChatGPT for Teachers includes unlimited messages with GPT-5.1 Auto, connectors to other apps, file uploads, image generation and memory features, just like the consumer version of the AI.Where this version differs is in its compliance with the Family Education Rights Act, which governs how schools store student information, and in the ways OpenAI is pushing collaboration features. Besides being able to share a chat with colleagues, OpenAI says it'll also populate fresh chats with suggestions of ways other teachers have used ChatGPT.Before it began targeting teachers specifically, OpenAI made several passes at getting more students to use its AI models. The company's ChatGPT Edu gives institutions a way to offer ChatGPT access in the same way they do an email account. There's also Study Mode, a feature available in all versions of ChatGPT, that focuses the chatbot's answers on explaining things step-by-step.OpenAI isn't alone in trying to own the education market - Google has offered aggressive discounts on Gemini for students - but clearly it thinks appealing to teachers could help cement its position.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-made-a-free-version-of-chatgpt-for-teachers-202937994.html?src=rss

Disney+ has Star Wars and Paramount+ has Star Trek, so it's about time Amazon gets its own sci-fi franchise with "star" in the title. Prime Video has just greenlit a TV revival of the iconic Stargate franchise, according to a report by Deadline. This will be the fourth major TV show in the series, following the first movie.We don't know anything about the plot and where it fits into the decades-long mythology but we do know that the showrunner is Martin Gero. He's a veteran of the IP, having cut his teeth in the industry while working on Stargate: Atlantis back in the early 2000s. He also created the show Blindspot and was showrunner on the recent reboot of Quantum Leap, which was actually kind of nifty (RIP.)Franchise creators Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich are on board as executive producers, as are Brad Wright and Joe Mallozzi. That last duo were behind most of the Stargate TV projects, including the most recent live action show Stargate Universe.This makes a lot of sense for Prime Video. Amazon did recently buy MGM, after all, and the Stargate IP came along with that purchase. It's not the first time the platform will have dabbled with science fiction. Prime Video most famously saved The Expanse after it was originally cancelled by SyFy. There are three more books in that series that have yet to be adapted. Just saying.For the uninitiated, the Stargate franchise involves the titular Stargates. These are transportation devices created by ancient aliens that act as galaxy-spanning wormholes. It all started with a movie from 1994.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/stargate-is-coming-back-to-tv-thanks-to-prime-video-200049713.html?src=rss

It's become cliche to say that we live in a golden age of board games, but to paraphrase the great stoic philosopher Andy Bernard, it's great to know you're in the good old days before you've left them. Great titles are still coming out by the thousands every year, from crowd-pleasing party games to genre-bending, theme-heavy Euros. Whether the gamer in your life is looking for a mind-warping challenge, a fun evening with friends or something in-between, we've got new releases or old favorites they'll love. The best board games to gift (and play) Check out the rest of our gift ideas here. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-board-games-to-gift-for-the-2025-holiday-season-125529024.html?src=rss