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You can add Perplexity to the growing list of AI companies offering $200+ per month subscription plans to users who want unlimited access to their most advanced products and tools. As of today, Perplexity Max is available on iOS and the web.The subscription comes with unlimited monthly usage of Labs, the agentic creation tool Perplexity released this past May. People can use Labs to generate spreadsheets, presentations, web applications and more. Perplexity is also promising early access to new features, including Comet, a new web browser the company claims will be a "powerful thought partner for everything you do on the web." The company adds Max subscribers will receive priority customer support, as well as access to top frontier models from partners like Anthropic and OpenAI.Perplexity will continue to offer its existing Pro plan, which remains $20 per month. Admittedly, the company is courting a small demographic with the new subscription, noting it's primarily designed for content designers, business strategists and academic research.OpenAI was the first to open the floodgates of very expensive AI subscriptions when it began offering its ChatGPT Pro plan at the end of last year. Since then, Anthropic, Google have followed suit.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexity-joins-anthropic-and-openai-in-offering-a-200-per-month-subscription-191715149.html?src=rss

The Initiative, the Xbox studio developing a modern reimagining of Perfect Dark, is being shut down, and development of the game is ending. As first reported by Windows Central, the studio's closure is part of major cuts Microsoft is making across its business, affecting around four percent of the company's global workforce.Based on a memo from Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty obtained by Windows Central, which Microsoft has confirmed is genuine, the decision to close The Initiative was born out of the cancellation of Perfect Dark, rather than the other way around. "We have made the decision to stop development of Perfect Dark and Everwild as well as wind down several unannounced projects across our portfolio," Booty wrote. "As part of this, we are closing one of our studios, The Initiative."Rare's Everwild was previously reported to be one of the projects impacted by Microsoft's layoffs. The game was announced in 2019 but has had a troubled development, even starting from scratch in 2021. Perfect Dark, based on the older Rare game of the same name, was supposed to be The Initiative's first project. The game was being co-developed in partnership with Crystal Dynamics. The first gameplay footage of the Perfect Dark reboot was shown in 2024.While cancelled games are the most visible impact of Microsoft's layoffs, it increasingly sounds like countless studios will end up being affected in one way or another. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier writes that Call of Duty studio Raven is also facing cuts, and Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 could end up losing around 50 percent of its staff.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-is-closing-the-studio-developing-the-perfect-dark-reboot-and-cancelling-the-game-182257902.html?src=rss

Neil Druckmann, head of the PlayStation studio Naughty Dog and co-creator of The Last of Us, is stepping away from the HBO show based on the 2013 game and its 2020 sequel to focus his work on Naughty Dog's next game. On Instagram, the studio published the following statement from Druckmann:"I've made the difficult decision to step away from my involvement in The Last of Us on HBO. With work completed on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, now is the right time for me to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future projects, including writing and directing our exciting next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, along with my responsibilities as Studio Head and Head of Creative."He went on to thanks showrunner Craig Mazin (on the left in the above photo) as well as the cast and crew he worked with on the first two seasons and called working on the show a "career highlight" Druckmann was credited as executive producer and co-creator of the show and he directed one episode in each of the show's two seasons as well as contributing writing to several others. The bulk of the show itself was written by Mazin.

Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick aren't the only speedrunning marathons in town. There are others dotted throughout the year, such as Frost Fatales and Flame Fatales. Those all-women and femmes events are also operated by the Games Done Quick organization. The schedule for this year's Flame Fatales has just dropped, and there are lots of fascinating runs on deck.For one thing, you'll be able to watch an Any% run (i.e. beating the game with any percentage) of Hollow Knight. What's more, SawaYoshi will do this one-handed. The runner is expected to pull this off in around 45 minutes - it typically takes around 27 hours to beat that game.Some newer titles are in the mix as well, such as Blue Prince. It might seem odd that a puzzle game with a heavy randomization element is on the schedule. ProfessorBurtch will be undertaking what's known as a "B Quest Bingo" run. The idea here is to get to the Antechamber while using a bingo board. Here's an example of such a run (it contains spoilers, of course):Elsewhere, we have Any% runs of the wonderful Neva, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and New Super Mario Bros. in the mix, along with speedrunning staples like Celeste and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The bonus runs include the first act of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and all regions of Hades II. I'm very intrigued by the Stardew Valley finale, which is a "Marriage% Co-Op Haley/Penny (Lesbian%)" run.In all, there will be more than 50 speedruns during this edition of Flame Fatales, which runs from September 7 - 14. This year's edition is being held in support of Malala Fund, which is a non-profit that helps girls around the world to have safe, secure and quality education. The event will be livestreamed on the GDQ Twitch channel.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-flame-fatales-2025-speedrunning-event-includes-blue-prince-hades-2-and-clair-obscur-runs-171451081.html?src=rss

In today's gaming world, a decade of development can sometimes amount to nothing. Parent company Microsoft has reportedly cancelled Rare's long-in-development project Everwild. The news comes amid broader layoffs across Microsoft's Xbox division.Rare employees will likely be part of the Xbox layoffs, according to Video Games Chronicle. VGC and Bloomberg's Jason Schreier were the first to report the game's cancellation. (Schreier added that an MMORPG project from Zenimax, codenamed "Blackbird," was also scrapped.)Rare officially announced Everwild in 2019. But the game had been in development since around 2014. Its trailer finally arrived five years ago, hinting at a lush and magical atmosphere. However, the footage offered no hints about gameplay. That may have been intentional. Its development reportedly suffered from a lack of clear direction.Rare / XboxIt was even said to have survived a "restart from scratch" in 2021 when Gregg Mayles took over direction. (He's known for titles like Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Pinata and Sea of Thieves.) Xbox explained the lack of official updates by saying it was waiting until it had "something cool to show."As recently as February, the game seemed to be on track. Microsoft's Phil Spencer said, "It's nice to see the team with Everwild and the progress that they're making." Words, words, words...That brings us to today, with the coda of an all-too-familiar story. Developers lose jobs. Gamers miss out on the chance to play something that had countless resources poured into it. And the gaming industry tightens its belt even further. How much tighter can it get?This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/everwild-has-reportedly-been-cancelled-amid-xbox-layoffs-162200526.html?src=rss

The software used by EU border security forces to prevent undocumented immigrants and suspected criminals from travelling in the region is allegedly riddled with holes and vulnerable to cyber attacks. The Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) is an IT system and database shared between most EU states for law enforcement and public security purposes. And according to a new collaborative report between Bloomberg and investigative non-profit Lighthouse Reports, SIS II - which has been used since 2013 - is plagued with "thousands" of cybersecurity issues, to the extent that an EU auditor flagged them to be of "high" severity in a report filed last year.The report notes that there is no evidence of any data theft, but the "excessive number" of accounts that unnecessarily have access to the database means it could be fairly easily exploited. During its initial rollout, SIS II's major additions included fingerprint technology and photographs in alerts, and in 2023 the software was updated with upgraded data and enhancements to its existing functionality, including the ability to signal when someone has been deported from a country. Bloomberg reporters spoke to Romain Lanneau, a legal researcher at an EU watchdog called Statewatch, who warned that an attack would be "catastrophic, potentially affecting millions of people."Right now SIS II operates within an isolated network, but will soon be rolled into the EU's Entry/Exit system (EES), which will make registering biometric details a requirement for individuals travelling to Schengen-associated areas when it comes into effect, likely later this year. As the EES will be connected to the internet, a hack on the SIS II database will become significantly easier.Bloomberg and Lighthouse note that while most of the SIS II system's estimated 93 million records pertain to objects such as stolen vehicles, there are around 1.7 million linked to people. It adds that people usually aren't aware that their details are logged in the database until law enforcement gets involved, so if the information was leaked, wanted individuals may find it easier to evade the authorities.SIS II's development and maintenance is managed by a Paris-based contractor called Sopra Steria. According to the report, as vulnerabilities were reported, they took between eight months and upward of half a decade to resolve. This is despite it being contractually obligated to fix issues deemed to be of critical importance within two months of releasing a patch.A spokesperson for Sopra Steria did not respond to Bloomberg regarding the detailed list of allegations concerning SIS II's security holes, but said in a statement printed in the report that EU protocols had been adhered to. "As a key component of the EU's security infrastructure, SIS II is governed by strict legal, regulatory, and contractual frameworks," it said. "Sopra Steria's role was carried out in accordance with these frameworks."EU-Lisa, the EU agency that oversees large-scale IT systems like SIS II, regularly farms out duties to external consulting firms as opposed to building its own in-house tech, according to the investigation. The audit accused the agency of not informing its management about security risks that had been flagged, to which it responded by saying that all systems under its management "undergo continuous risk assessments, regular vulnerability scans, and security testing."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/the-eus-border-security-software-is-reportedly-full-of-holes-162033816.html?src=rss

A US judge has ruled that Huawei must stand trial following a 16-count indictment from 2019 accusing the Chinese telecommunications company of trying to steal trade secrets from its US rivals and selling surveillance equipment to Iran despite trade sanctions, according to a report by Reuters. A trial is currently set for May 4, 2026.US District Judge Ann Donnelly found sufficient evidence in the indictment to refute the company's bid for dismissal. In a 52-page decision, the Brooklyn judge ruled that its arguments for dismissal were premature. The indictment alleges that Huawei engaged in racketeering, stole trade secrets from six companies and committed bank fraud by misleading the financial organizations about its work in Iran.The Iran accusations stem from Huawei's alleged control over a Hong Kong-based company called Skycom, which did business in that country. Donnelly said that prosecutors successfully alleged that Skycom "operated as Huawei's Iranian subsidiary and ultimately stood to benefit" from over $100 million in money transfers through the US financial system.Huawei has pleaded not guilty and sought to dismiss 13 of the 16 counts, referring to itself as "a prosecutorial target in search of a crime." The case goes all the way back to 2019 during President Trump's first term and coincided with the Department of Justice launching an investigation into China's alleged theft of intellectual property.Chinese officials have accused the US government of "economic bullying" and of using national security concerns as a pretext for "oppressing Chinese companies." The company's CFO Meng Wanzhou, whose father founded the company, was arrested and detained in Canada for three years on allegations that Huawei violated sanctions with Iran. Wanzhou was eventually released and the charges were dismissed.The US government began restricting Huawei's access to American technology in 2019, citing security concerns. The company struggled to maintain its market share with these restrictions in place, but has since ramped up its own development of chips and related technologies. The company also shifted its focus to the Chinese market.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/us-judge-rules-huawei-must-answer-criminal-charges-about-alleged-iran-deal-161552940.html?src=rss

The so-called Big, Beautiful Bill" will, if passed, make sweeping changes to the US' clean energy market. While some of the worst provisions affecting the industry were stripped out during Senate proceedings earlier this week, it's still pretty bad. In fact, the current language of the bill might as well be a middle figure to the domestic solar manufacturing industry.As it stands, the bill guts many of the clean energy programs of Joe Biden's signature 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. That includes killing off incentives for domestic and utility-scale solar power as well as the Clean Electricity Production Credit. Even worse, the bill axes the Domestic Content bonus that incentivized the use of US-made gear.There were a number of provisions that did not survive its journey through the Senate, like the excise tax on renewable energy. As CBS News reported, the levy would have imposed an additional charge on projects that used materials from foreign countries. As CNN explained, this would have cut renewable energy projects in favor of extending the life of coal and gas turbine plants.Rob Gardner is Vice President of Congressional and Regulatory Affairs for SEMA, the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America coalition. He walked me through the bill, explaining the effects of the changes for the US solar industry. A positive is that it maintains production tax credits for manufacturers of clean energy components," he said.One tweak from an earlier version of the bill was the speed at which the existing tax credits would be withdrawn. As it stands, projects that are already approved will qualify for the present regime, as will any project beginning construction before June 2026. Basically, a year after enactment [companies have] to begin construction on utility-scale solar projects to receive the full amount of the credit," said Gardner. And, according to 70512 (4)(a) those plants will need to be placed in service" no later than December 31, 2027.The bigger issue, however, is that the bill creates uncertainty for long-term demand for US products," according to Gardner. Put simply, American-made solar panels are more expensive than their Chinese counterparts due to higher manufacturing costs. By removing the incentives, including the Domestic Content bonus, the US is opening the door for Chinese-made alternatives. Gardner added after the tax credits that incentivize domestic production and consumption expire, you will see a flood of Chinese product [in the market.]"The US's Environmental Information Administration projects that the US' total domestic energy consumption will grow by almost two percent in the next year. A slowdown in new energy additions is the last thing the US needs, especially as renewables made up almost 90 percent of all new power generation capacity in 2024. But it's likely that even with all of the changes in the bill, solar will remain the biggest technology used to implement new power generation capacity.Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association pulls no punches in her statement. She said the bill undermines the very foundation of America's manufacturing comeback." Hopper added that families will face higher electric bills, factories will shut down, Americans will lose their jobs and our electric grid will grow weaker."Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association described the bill as a step backward" for American energy policy and an intentional effort" to undermine one of the fastest-growing sources of electric power."Environmental groups also believe the bill's passing marks a dark day in the world's fight against climate change. Greenpeace USA Deputy Climate Program Director John Noel, said in a statement that this is a vote that will live in infamy" for its role in doling out fossil fuel industry handouts."Environmental Defense Fund's Vice President for Political and Government Affairs Joanna Slaney agreed. She said that the bill is effectively cutting off supply of cheap energy right when the US needs it most." In contrast, the bill offers a 10-year reprieve from paying a fee on wasteful methane pollution," a gas significantly more harmful than carbon dioxide to the environment.Research by clean energy company Cleanview suggests the bill may jeopardize up to 600GW of new renewable energy capacity. This is because of the tight deadlines the bill imposes to qualify for the existing credits, which again, need to begin construction before June 2026. That 600GW figure includes solar farms and battery storage projects in California and Texas that would need to be rushed to get working.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/trumps-big-beautiful-bill-is-a-middle-finger-to-us-solar-energy-152042835.html?src=rss

Tesla says it delivered 384,122 electric vehicles in the April-June timeframe, which is a 14 percent drop compared with the same period in 2024. It's also the second quarter in a row that sales have fallen year-over-year (YoY).The company produced 410,244 vehicles in Q2, which is very close to the 410,831 it made during the equivalent period last year. However, the company delivered more vehicles (443,956) than it produced in Q2 2024. That's not the case this time. The number of vehicle deliveries in Q2 2025 plummeted by nearly 60,000 YoY.The line has been trending downwards for a while now. The company saw a dip in annual deliveries for the first time in 2024. For the first quarter of 2025, Tesla reported 336,681 deliveries, which is a drop of 13 percent from the same three-month period in 2024.Multiple reports over the last several months suggested that Tesla sales had been falling in several markets. CEO Elon Musk reportedly fired Tesla's head of manufacturing and operations, Omead Afshar, last week as the numbers continued to sink.Various factors have played a hand in Tesla's declining sales numbers. For one thing, the company (which is focusing more on autonomous driving efforts such as the Robotaxi) is facing tougher competition, particularly from Chinese manufacturers that are making less-expensive models.And then there's the Musk factor. So much of Tesla's success has been pegged to the public persona of its chief executive. But there's been a significant backlash against Musk in recent years, particularly after he became a major financial backer and advisor to President Donald Trump during the 2024 election campaign. After Trump's inauguration, Musk became the head of the administration's Department of Government Efficiency program, adopting a similar slash-and-burn approach to cost-cutting within the government to the one he undertook at X. Musk formally left his government role in May.In recent weeks, Musk has become an ardent critic of the Trump administration's major tax and spending bill. The proposed legislation - which is no longer officially called The One Big Beautiful Bill Act - passed the Senate on Tuesday and is set for another House vote. The bill includes provisions that could harm Musk's businesses, such as removing incentives for consumers to buy EVs. Trump has threatened to end contracts that Musk's companies have with the government amid a spat between the two men.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/tesla-deliveries-drop-14-percent-amid-musk-backlash-141638753.html?src=rss

MethaneSAT, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) methane-tracking satellite backed by the Bezos Earth Fund, is lost in space. Its ground team lost contact with the spacecraft on June 20 but tried to reestablish a connection until it learned in the morning of July 1 that MethaneSAT had lost power altogether. The team believes that the satellite is likely not recoverable. MethaneSAT collected data on methane emissions that have previously been untrackable in an effort to combat climate change. Methane is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide, with agriculture, fossil fuels and waste decomposition being the largest sources.In its announcement, the MethaneSAT team said that the spacecraft's observations have given us critical insight about the distribution and volume of methane being released from oil and gas production regions. Thanks to the satellite, scientists have also developed the capability to "interpret the measurements from space and translate them into volumes of methane released." That knowledge can be used in future missions.EDF developed the mission, which launched in March 2024, to hold the countries who previously pledged to slash their methane emissions accountable. It created Google Cloud-powered algorithms to calculate and monitor methane emitted in certain regions with held from Harvard and Smithsonian scientists. While the satellite itself is gone, the MethaneSAT team vowed to work with other scientists to leverage the algorithms and software developed for the project. The team will also continue processing the data the satellite had sent back.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/bezos-funded-satellite-tracking-methane-emissions-loses-power-in-space-130034666.html?src=rss

Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle its lawsuit with Donald Trump filed during the 2020 presidential campaign, according toThe Washington Post. The deal is controversial as legal experts said Paramount had a strong chance of prevailing in court and may have settled to smooth the path for its $2.4 billion Skydance merger.Paramount said the $16 million would be allocated to Trump's future presidential library and not paid to him "directly or indirectly." In addition, it "does not include a statement of apology or regret," according to the media company.Trump filed the lawsuit over a CBS interview with Kamala Harris that aired in October, initially demanding $10 billion and an apology. The network said it edited one of her answers for time (about Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanhau), but Trump's attorney alleged that CBS intended to "confuse, deceive and mislead the public" by leaving out her full comments. Several legal experts called the lawsuit "frivolous and dangerous," as CBS didn't report any factual inaccuracies and the First Amendment gives media companies wide leeway in presenting information.The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reviewing the Skydance merger has said that its approval wasn't linked to Trump's lawsuit. However, some Paramount executives saw the complaint as an obstacle to completing the deal, according to The New York Times, and the settlement was championed by Paramount's board chair, Shari Redstone. Inside CBS's newsroom, it was seen by some employees as a low point for a network with a storied history in news and investigative reporting.Paramount has struggled financially after investing billions into its streaming service, Paramount+, which has yet to turn a profit. Under Skydance owner and new CEO David Ellison, the company plans to rebuild its streaming technology while reducing costs and improving efficiency. That won't happen until the merger is final, though, and the delay is reportedly also holding back the development of key franchises like Star Trek.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/paramount-pays-trump-16-million-to-settle-harris-lawsuit-124505902.html?src=rss

SoftBank's $6.5 billion acquisition of AI-chip designer Ampere is facing an in-depth US government probe that may delay the deal, according to Bloomberg. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened a so-called second request for information, a relatively rare investigation that can go on for more than a year or even lead to a lawsuit blocking it, according to people familiar with the matter. Neither SoftBank nor Ampere have commented on the matter.Japan's SoftBank, headed by Masayoshi Son, already owns chip designer Arm following a $32 billion acquisition in 2016. Ampere, founded in 2018 with a focus on cloud-native computing, recently moved strongly into AI chip design - so SoftBank is betting that the company will bolster's Arm's research and development in that area. Under the deal, Santa Clara-based Ampere would would keep its name and run as a wholly-owned subsidiary.If the deal goes through, SoftBank will own Arm, UK chip designer Graphcore Ltd. and Ampere, all key players in the AI space. The FTC may therefore be probing the deal as a potential antitrust issue. SoftBank's attempt to sell Arm to NVIDIA was eventually abandoned for similar reasons. The AI space has also become politicized with projects like Stargate, which heavily involves SoftBank as well.SoftBank has battled some headwinds of late. Stargate has been facing delays due to US tariffs and its Arm division is battling Qualcomm over chip licenses and antitrust complains in Europe, the US and South Korea.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/softbanks-acquisition-of-ai-chip-designer-ampere-may-be-facing-an-ftc-probe-120006145.html?src=rss

US government officials have condemned ICEBlock and CNN's recentcoverage of it, leading to more people hearing about its existence and downloading it from the App Store. Now the application, which allows users to add a pin on a map to show where ICE agents have recently been spotted, has climbed to the to the top of Apple's App Store charts. It's currently the number one free social networking app in the US and the third most downloaded free app overall.EngadgetCNN's piece talked about how the app's developer, Joshua Aaron, launched it in early April after seeing the Trump administration crack down on immigration. When the piece went live, Aaron said the app had 20,000 users, many of whom live in Los Angeles, where ICE has been raiding neighborhoods. In addition to letting users pin ICE agent locations on a map, the app also gives them a way to add notes, such as what the agents are wearing or what car they're driving. Any user within a five mile radius of the sighting will get an alert.But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested that the CNN piece was "an incitement of further violence against... ICE officers" when asked to respond to the report on the podium. She said that there's been a 500 percent increase against ICE agents who are just "trying to do their jobs and remove public safety threats from... communities." ICE acting Director Todd M. Lyons also issued a statement, saying that the app paints a target on federal law enforcement officers' backs. "CNN is willfully endangering the lives of officers who put their lives on the line every day and enabling dangerous criminal aliens to evade US law," he continued. "Is this simply reckless 'journalism' or overt activism?"Meanwhile, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and US Attorney General Pam Bondi both said the government is going after Aaron. "He's giving a message to criminals where our federal officers are," Bondi said. "...we are looking at it, we are looking at him, and he better watch out, because that's not a protected speech. That is threatening the lives of our law enforcement officers throughout this country."'Aaron told CNN that ICEBlock doesn't collect personal data, such as device IDs and IP addresses, which TechCrunch has confirmed in a test. The app is only available on iOS, because it would have to collect information on Android that could put people at risk.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/iceblock-climbs-to-the-top-of-the-app-store-charts-after-officials-slam-it-004319963.html?src=rss

In what was probably an inevitable conclusion, X has announced that it will allow AI to author Community Notes. With a pilot program beginning today, the social network is releasing developer tools to create AI Note Writers. These tools will be limited to penning replies in a test mode and will need approval before their notes can be released into the wild. The first AI Note Writers will be accepted later this month, which is when the AI-composed notes will start appearing to users."Not only does this have the potential to accelerate the speed and scale of Community Notes, rating feedback from the community can help develop AI agents that deliver increasingly accurate, less biased, and broadly helpful information - a powerful feedback loop," the post announcing this feature said.Sounds great. Assuming it works.The AI Note Writers will be assessed by "an open-source, automated note evaluator" that assesses whether the composition is on-topic and whether it would be seen as harassment or abuse. The evaluator's decisions are based "on historical input from Community Notes contributors." Despite the announcement's insistence of "humans still in charge," it seems the only human editorial eye comes from the ratings on notes.Once the AI-written notes are active, they will be labeled as such as a transparency measure. AI will only be allowed to offer notes on posts that have requested a Community Note at the start, but the company is positioning AI Note Writers as having a larger future role in this fact-checking system.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-will-let-ai-write-community-notes-220130039.html?src=rss

With the third generation of its smartphone series, Nothing made the unusual move to launch the cheaper a' line first, unveiling the Phone 3a and 3a Pro in March. Now, it's time for its latest flagship. The Nothing Phone 3, starting at $799 (with a $899 option with 16GB of RAM) goes up against giants like the Google Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 - a competitive slice of the smartphone world. Once again, though, there's nothing in the market that quite resembles a Nothing, as the company attempts to balance distinctive design with flagship (and some not-quite-flagship) components.The big change this time around is that Nothing is swapping the flashing lights of its Glyph Interface for a tiny dot-matrix display on the rear of the device and is calling it the Glyph Matrix.Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetIt's the shiny design lynchpin of Nothing's Phone 3. The matrix is made of 489 LEDs, and offers more utility than a light show. Nothing says it's an evolution of the flashing lights of the Glyph Interface into something more practical. With that aim, there's a Glyph button that sits under the glass back. Another benefit of this shift, according to Nothing's head of design Adam Bates, is that removing the Glyph lights freed up more space within the phone.Instead of having the lights on the back flash in patterns to indicate when certain contacts are calling, the Phone 3's new tiny screen can display monochromatic images instead. At first, these will be preset shapes, but eventually, you'll be able to customize your own animation (or static dot-matrix image - it's unclear) for each of your contacts. Ahead of launch, Nothing shared a web portal that lets people take photos and turn them into Glyph patterns, but it's like a very, very small Gameboy camera (but worse). The one I took kinda looks like my head? I guess? At least there's a contrast, and gives a glimpse of what users might be able to show on the matrix screenThat's me?Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetAlongside Glyph-style notifications, the matrix will be able to display simple widgets, such as weather and battery levels. It can be a stopwatch, and even a low-res mirror (more on that later). It can also be used as a visual countdown when using a timer with the camera, too. And there will even be games, like rock-paper-scissors and er, spin the bottle. Thankfully, Nothing didn't make the assembled media test this at its big global launch. You'll be able to make your own Glyphs through an SDK being released by Nothing. It'll be interesting to see how difficult it is to program your own glyphs. You know what I want, already? A tamagotchi.My first impression is that it's a little more restrained than the light show of the Glyph Interface on previous phones. Additionally, a dot-matrix design really aligns with the era of design inspirations that Nothing is drawing from. You can lightly interact with the matrix through the Glyph button, which is intriguingly built under the rear cover of the Nothing Phone 3. It's a single button, so learning the quirks of a long-press and a short-press, especially when there's no tactile response, takes a bit of time.Flanked by other eager photographers, YouTubers and media, I took a little too much time making the Glyph mirror work. Weirdly, you can't use it as a selfie guide with the primary cameras, or at least I didn't figure out how to during my hands-on.Elsewhere, the design is inspired by the lines and shapes of the New York City subway map, while the see-through back of the Phone 3 has a three-column design that divides the component curves, camera modules and glyph matrix.The Phone 3 is Nothing's thinnest phone yet and is 18 percent thinner than the Phone 2. The new Nothing flagship also lacks the chonky camera unit that's on the Phone 3a Pro. This is because, this time, Nothing has the budget to do so: the Phone 3 costs $350 more, so it can use smaller (even custom-made) components to shrink the footprint.Instead, the three-camera layout reminds me a lot of the latest Galaxy S24 Ultra, with only slightly protruding camera lenses. It's not flush, but perhaps I'm asking for too much - the only contemporary smartphone with an entirely flat camera unit is the Pixel 9a.Despite its slimmer profile, the device still features a periscope zoom on a 50-megapixel sensor. It goes up to 3x optical zoom, 6x digital zoom and a 60x AI Super Res Zoom. (Yes, we all blame Google and Samsung for this nonsense.) This will also serve as a macro camera, allowing for clearer close-up shots.The main camera is also 50MP, with an f/1.68 aperture (Nothing says it's 70 percent faster at capture than the Phone 2) and even includes a lossless 1.5x zoom. There's also an ultrawide camera with a 114-degree field of view and, you might have guessed, a 50MP sensor. Even the front-facing camera is 50MP. Expect the usual Android array of shooting features across the camera system, including Auto Tone, Portrait Optimizer, Night Mode Macro Mode and Action Mode. There are also several shooting presets to browse for your favorite shooting aesthetic, which I enjoyed playing with on a demo unit.Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetI'm hopeful that the Phone 3 will be a capable enough smartphone camera. Taking some early shots, during a hectic hands-on session at the launch event, the camera app seemed faster than past Nothing devices and low-light processing seemed pretty close to the likes of Google's Pixel.Imaging has typically been the weakest part of Nothing's phone strategy, but each iteration it gets better. It's something I'm looking forward to putting to the test. Nothing has added an LED light that flashes red to indicate video recording. This can still be disabled in settings, but it's a nice touch that taps into the red splashes you'll see throughout Nothing's hardware and software.The Phone 3 also packs the company's brightest display yet, reaching up to 1600 nits at its maximum brightness settings, peaking at 4,500 nits with compatible HDR content, The 6.67-inch screen has a higher 1.5K resolution than the Phone 2. There's also IP68-rated protection against dust and water.Rounding out the spec sheet, the phone has a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, marking the biggest compromise this year. Nothing told me that the Phone 3 wasn't chasing specs like phones that cost several hundred dollars more. However, the Galaxy S25 has the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite, and it's also $800.Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetThe good news is that the Phone 3 shouldn't be perceptibly slow or laggy - the company says it's five times faster than the Phone 3a. Nothing added there should be a 60 percent improvement on AI performance compared to the Phone 2. I'm intrigued to see how battery life fares, but not too worried. The OnePlus 13 Pro had the same processor and performed very well in our battery rundown test.The 5,150mAh silicon-carbon battery can be charged to 50 percent in 20 minutes with a compatible 65W charger, and up to 100 percent in under an hour. It's one of the first phones to arrive in the West with a silicon-carbon cell, adding further intrigue to how well the battery life will perform. There's also 15W wireless charging, which Nothing seems to be keeping exclusive to its most premium phones.The Phone 3 runs Android 15 out of the box, but with Nothing's spin on things, featuring custom icons and native apps. That includes Essential Space, which works with a hardware button launcher first introduced on the 3a. While there were rumors that Nothing might fold the feature into a subscription, it'll be free for the foreseeable future. However, Smart Collections, which was meant to collate screenshots and other files is still being worked on and won't be available at launch.The focus, software-wise, may be the new Glyph Matrix, but you can expect some of the typical AI-assisted features like natural language search that Nothing calls Essential search. It will be able to tap into everything on the Nothing Phone 3. Nothing's cheaper 3a devices leaned into software too, but with the Phone 3 there's more importance on the specs. The question is: Is this flagship enough?Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetThe Phone 3 is priced at $799 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. An $899 model will also launch with 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage. Both black and white versions will be available to pre-order on July 4, with sales starting July 15 on its own store at nothing.tech. The company plans to launch its own drops in select physical locations on July 10.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/nothing-phone-3-hands-on-dot-matrix-glyph-flagship-phone-173019742.html?src=rss

After numerous waves of similar (and not-so-similar) wireless buds, Nothing is debuting its first pair of over-ear headphones. The Headphone 1 combines the company's recognizable see-through aesthetic with an intriguing array of controls and up to 35 hours of listening with active noise cancellation (ANC). Handily, for its most premium audio launch yet, the $299 headphones accompany the launch of Nothing's new flagship smartphone: the Phone 3.First impressions are everything, and these look like Nothing headphones. Once again, the company has incorporated a transparent design element. There's also an oval shape that showcases a portion of the hardware inside, layered atop an aluminum rectangle with curved corners. The two metal dots on each oval are part of the acoustic chambers, not button inputs as you might think. While the white option looks more Nothing," I think I prefer the black, which makes the company's design choices slightly more subtle.Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetNothing eschews touch sensors for buttons, paddles and a roller. The roller is a nice touch, offering a more sensitive way to adjust the volume, rather than abrupt level jumps. It can also be pressed to play and pause tracks. Long presses here switch the headphone between active noise cancellation and transparency mode. One unusual aspect is that the roller moves side to side, even when the volume fluctuates up and down. It feels a little weird.Just below that, the paddle control acts as a track skipper, but also includes the ability to scrub both forward and backward, similar to an old-school rewind. The latter feature depends on support from third-party apps to work.On the same headphone cup, there's also a traditional button that acts as a shortcut to voice assistants and my favorite bit of Nothing software, Essential Space. Nothing has added a further boon when paired with Nothing phones, allowing it to seamlessly switch between recent audio apps without requiring you to touch your phone. (Naturally, you're hostage to whatever was playing last or is cued up.) This feature will first be compatible with the Phone 3 before being rolled out to older Nothing devices. There's already support from the likes of Audible, Soundcloud and Patreon in addition to the usual music streaming suspects.There's also an almost secret Bluetooth pairing button on the inner side of the same ear cup. It's nice that this is a dedicated button as you're unlikely to unpair from using the primary buttons and controls.Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetNothing has put work into comfort and fit, and as a mostly wireless earbud listener, I was pleasantly surprised at how the sub-12-ounce (329 grams) headphones felt. They're almost two ounces lighter than the AirPods Max, which seems to be the product that Nothing is aiming to compete with. However, there are lighter over-ear headphones, including several Bose models and the Sony WH-1000XM6, which weigh under nine ounces.There's ample PU leather padding around the ear cushions and the headband, and the company says it should resist oils and makeup. In my testing so far, any sweaty residue was easy to wipe off. (I do wish the ear cushions were replaceable, however.) The adjustable arms also held onto the length I preferred while I was wearing them. I haven't tested them yet while working out at the gym - they were under embargo after all - but over-ear headphones are an acquired taste for those who sweat it out while listening to music.Sound-wise, Nothing has built custom 40mm dynamic drivers, with support for Hi-Res Audio, spatial audio with head tracking and ANC with four feedback mics. The cans also support dual device connection, allowing you to hop between your new Nothing Phone (3) and your laptop.KEF assisted with the acoustic engineering and proprietary tuning tools, apparently aiming to create a sound profile that reproduces music as the artist intended. According to Nothing, the team worked to achieve this across normal playback, ANC and Spatial Audio modes.The Headphone (1) sounds a little bass-forward, but the soundscape is much richer than Nothing's collection of wireless buds. Compared to the most premium headphones, though, vocals sometimes sound a little muddy. (In Nothing's defense, these are pre-release units and software. If things improve, I'll update this story.)The updated version of the Nothing X app adds an 8-band EQ and the ability to remap the "Button" (an additional control, separate to the paddle and roller) to channel hopping, AI voice assistants, Noise control, Spatial audio and even switching to your favorite EQ preset.Nothing says the Headphone (1) will offer up to 80 hours of audio playback, and up to 35 hours with ANC enabled. With ANC on - the mode I use the most for quiet middle-of-the-office listening - I got around that amount of time. You'll be able to get over two and a half hours of listening from a five-minute quick charge.Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetThe Headphone 1 has a divisive look. Ahead of the launch, I showed them to other editors at Engadget and some were baffled by the mixed use of square aluminum and circular elements. But, it's different, and that's Nothing's MO. Its new headphones will be available for pre-order starting July 4, with sales kicking off July 15. They arrive in black and white color options, priced at $299 (299/299).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/nothing-headphone-1-over-ear-headphones-price-release-date-173018845.html?src=rss

The wait is over. Nothing has officially announced the Phone 3, its first flagship smartphone since entering the market in 2022. Nothing CEO Carl Pei said the company would go "all-in" on the Phone 3 with "premium materials, major performance upgrades and software that really levels things up," and the device Nothing showed off at its launch event in London certainly seems like it will be competitive with the best from Samsung and other Android OEMs.In a departure from the company's previous handsets, the Phone 3 has a new "Glyph Matrix" instead of the usual Glyph Interface. The Glyph Matrix trades the bright LEDs of its predecessors for a small, micro-LED screen that occupies the top right corner of the phone. Nothing says it designed the feature to reduce user screen time. The idea here is that you'll be able to see app alerts, contact notifications and real-time progress indicators from the back of your phone, without the need to wake the Phone 3's primary display.The Glyph Matrix also comes with a software feature Nothing is calling Glyph Toys. These essentially act like widgets. For instance, the micro-LED can act as as a digital clock, stopwatch or battery indicator. It's also possible to play simple games like Spin the Bottle on the display with the help of a dedicated button on the back of the handset. Nothing is releasing a public SDK to allow people to create their own widgets and games for the Glyph Matrix. In the near future, the company also plans to release a caller ID feature that will allow people to long-press on Glyph Button to show the name of a contact or a phone number during calls.NothingAs for the primary display, it's a 6.67-inch AMOLED with a 1.5K resolution and 4,500 nits of peak brightness on tap. It also offers a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. Those specs make it the brightest and sharpest screen Nothing has shipped on one of its phones.For photos and video, the Phone 3 comes with a triple rear camera setup and a single selfie camera. All four cameras come with 50-megapixel sensors, and there's optical image stabilization on the main and periscope cameras too. For video nerds, it's possible to shoot footage at 4K and 60FPS across all of the Phone 3's lenses.Internally, the phone comes with a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 system-on-a-chip that includes a eight-core CPU capable of running at 3.21GHz. The processor is 36 percent faster than the one found inside the Phone 2's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. GPU performance is also improved, with Nothing promising a 88 percent uplift over the Phone 2's graphics processor.For memory, Nothing plans to offer two configurations of the Phone 3, with the base model offering 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. For those who want more storage, the 512GB model also comes with 16GB of RAM. Powering everything is a 5,150mAh battery that supports 65W wired and 15W wireless charging. Nothing claims people will be able to get up to 80 hours of uptime out of the battery, and with the right power adapter, it's possible to charge the phone to full in under an hour.Like the Phone 3a and 3a Pro, the Phone 3 comes with a button Nothing calls the Essential Key, which you can use to launch the company's Essential Space app. Think of it as a notes app that comes with a few nifty AI features. With the Phone 3, Nothing is adding a few new features to the software, including a shortcut called "Flip to Record." When you long press the Essential Key and turn your phone over, it will start recording and later transcribe what was said so you have a summary for later use. Out of the box, the Phone 3 comes with Android 15. Nothing plans to support the phone with five years of platform updates and seven years of security patches.Pre-orders for the Nothing Phone 3 open on July 4, with global availability to follow on July 15. In the US, the 12GB model will cost $799, while the 16GB variant will set you back $899. That puts the Phone 3 in same price range as a the Galaxy S25. This time around, Nothing plans to sell its new handset through Amazon, in addition to its own website.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-799-nothing-phone-3-has-four-50mp-cameras-and-a-secondary-micro-led-display-173014537.html?src=rss

Amazon announced a fresh batch of games that it's giving away for free or nearly free in July. The company's cloud gaming platform, Amazon Luna, has a few notable standouts on its lineup of free titles this month for Prime members in regions where the service is available. However, you'll want to play quick. Resident Evil 2 is available on Amazon Luna now through 11:59PM PT on July 12. Need for Speed Unbound is only free for July 5-6, while EA Sports FC 25 is getting two free weekends on July 19-20 and July 26-27. The director's cut of Death Stranding and the excellent metroidvania Hollow Knight are also on the July roster for Luna, alongside mainstay titles such as Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege and a few Fallout games.Amazon also gives away game codes outside of Luna to Prime members each month. The big standout in the July batch is Venba, a lovely bite-sized game about cooking, family and the immigrant experience. Here's the full rundown of free games available through Amazon this month:

Chalk one up for prison telecoms - and against inmates' family members - courtesy of Trump's FCC. On Monday, the agency said (via The Verge) it would delay enforcement of a 2024 action aimed at capping prison phone call fees. The rules are now scheduled to take effect in April 2027.FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez criticized the agency's move in a statement. "Today, the FCC made the indefensible decision to ignore both the law and the will of Congress," she wrote.Prison phone call fees vary dramatically by state. Last year, the FCC said rates for large jails could reach as high as $11.35 for a 15-minute audio call. Meanwhile, family members calling smaller jails could pay as much as $12.10 for the same period. The rates in other states are much lower, and some have passed laws capping fees.The fees collected from the families and friends of inmates often include kickbacks to jails and local governments. In 2021, Business Insider reported (via The Verge) that the prison phone call industry raked in $1.4 billion annually. And it's a system that disproportionately affects women and people of color.Brendan Carr with Donald Trump in 2024.Brandon Bell via Getty ImagesThe FCC's history of regulating those rates is... all over the place. In 2013, the agency capped state-to-state fees. It later tried to limit within-state rates, but a federal court blocked the move. Former FCC Chair Ajit Pai, Trump's first-term appointee, chose not to appeal that decision.Then, a new administration brought about another shift. Under Jessica Rosenworcel's leadership, the FCC again moved toward capping the fees. In 2023, former President Biden signed legislation clarifying that the FCC indeed has the authority to regulate them. Last year, the FCC adopted the order establishing the details of those rate caps. It seemed as though the book was about to be closed.And then, Donald Trump returned to office. That brings us back to today, with current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issuing the two-year delay. He cited "negative, unintended consequences" from the 2024 order. He claimed that the rate caps were too low to cover the cost of safety measures. Carr said the delay would allow local and state governments to explore alternative funding sources.FCC Commissioner Gomez painted her colleagues' decision as a flagrant attempt to evade the law. "Rather than enforce the law, the Commission is now stalling, shielding a broken system that inflates costs and rewards kickbacks to correctional facilities at the expense of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones," she wrote. "Instead of taking targeted action to address specific concerns, the FCC issued a blanket two-year waiver that undercuts the law's intent and postpones meaningful relief for millions of families. This is a blatant attempt to sidestep the law, and it will not go unchallenged in court."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-fcc-delays-enforcement-of-prison-call-rate-caps-165452257.html?src=rss

Marshall has launched its latest compact Bluetooth speaker, the Middleton II. A direct replacement for the first-generation Middleton from 2023, the new speaker promises room-filling 360-degree sound from a device that sits comfortably in the palm of your hand and won't demand too much space in your backpack for trips.The original Middleton offered bright clear sound that belied its diminutive proportions, and with its successor Marshall says it has engineered deeper bass and "more refined performance at maximum volume." Powering the beefed up sound are two 30-watt woofers and a pair 10-watt tweeters, with the drivers positioned so that you hear music clearly from wherever you're standing.Battery life is rated at more than 30 hours, which is an improvement on the 20 hours offered by its predecessor. A 20-minute charge will be enough to resurrect a fading Middleton II and avoid the wrath of your guests, and like the speaker it's replacing, it doubles as a power bank if it's your phone that requires life support.A multi-directional control knob handles play/pause and song selection, as well as answering calls and volume control. There's also a built-in microphone for taking calls hands-free. And as you'd hope from a Bluetooth speaker designed to be a road warrior, the Middleton II has an IP67 rating for dust and water exposure, so no need to be precious with it around the pool this summer.The Marshall Middleton II is available to buy now for $330.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/marshalls-new-middleton-ii-bluetooth-speaker-lasts-30-hours-between-charges-164354372.html?src=rss

Meta announced just a couple weeks ago that it would finally start testing a dedicated inbox for direct messages on Threads. Now, it's making the feature official and rolling out DMs to everyone. As with the earlier test, the update will add a messaging tab to the Threads app where users can access the inbox and exchange DMs with mutuals.Meta says that initially people will only be able to send messages to users who already follow them or mutual followers from Instagram, though it plans to roll out more customizable inbox controls in a later update. Messaging will also only be available to Threads users over the age of 18. The app also won't support group messaging for now, though it's apparently in the works. Those limitations could be a bit frustrating as it makes Threads DMs more limited than what's available on Instagram, but it's still a lot more convenient than Meta's previous insistence on relying on the Instagram inbox for Threads.The company's executives were initially very much opposed to bringing DMs to Threads. Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained his thinking in 2023, noting that "two redundant message threads with each of your friends with the same handles in two different apps" seemed like a less than ideal solution. But that position has made less and less sense as Threads has grown to more than 350 million users. "More than a third of daily Threads users with connections follow mostly different accounts on Threads than on Instagram, showing that Threads is establishing its own unique user base," Meta notes in a blog post.Two years in, the company is also more explicitly positioning Threads as an alternative to X rather than another offshoot of Instagram. While Mosseri once said that the goal of Threads "isn't to replace Twitter," Meta has since walked back its prohibition on recommending political content and experimented with features to help users find familiar creators from X. The company has also leaned more heavily into real-time conversations and news by making trending topics more prominent in the app and surfacing more links in recommendations. Today's update also adds a "highlighter" feature that will make trends even more visible in users' feeds.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/two-years-later-meta-is-making-dms-on-threads-official-160056258.html?src=rss

Nintendo has confirmed that the top-notch development team behind Super Mario Odyssey, one of the best games for the Switch, has also developed Donkey Kong Bananza for the Switch 2, according to reporting by Eurogamer. The highly anticipated platformer starring Nintendo's iconic ape will be the first 3D Donkey Kong game since 1999's Donkey Kong 64.We got a chance to go hands-on with Donkey Kong Bananza earlier this year, and we loved the fresh look on the timeless character. DK and his supporting cast were sporting an almost cel-shaded look, reminiscent of the art style seen in recent Zelda games.Donkey Kong also gained some new skills since we last saw him, including the ability to punch, dig and butt-stomp his way below, into and through much of the terrain around him. It seems that tunneling and shaping the world to your needs will be key to navigating and adventuring in Bananza.After spending time with the game, we noted, "thanks to all of its new traversal mechanics, in a lot of ways, Bananza reminds me more of Mario Galaxy than Odyssey. It just swapped out the gravity-bending physics for bombastic spelunking."Donkey Kong Bananza arrives on July 17 for the Nintendo Switch 2.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/donkey-kong-bananza-was-made-by-team-behind-super-mario-odyssey-155453024.html?src=rss

Edgar Wright is remaking The Running Man, and there's a trailer to prove it. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1987 classic imagined a dystopian 2025 in which an authoritarian government forced cruelty on incarcerated people for entertainment. Now it's actually 2025 and, well, that doesn't sound that far off.Wright's version injects a bit of humor into the proceedings, while widening the stakes. The 1980s film, which was based on a novel by Stephen King, chronicled a game show in which prisoners had to survive in an abandoned section of Los Angeles while being chased by lethal assassins.This new movie keeps the basic premise, but expands the location. The participants have to survive 30 days in the outside world while "the entire nation" hunts them down. It looks like they can go anywhere in the country, but there are cameras, prying eyes and, of course, trained killers everywhere.The cast is pretty stacked. Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) replaces Schwarzenegger and Colman Domingo stands in for the iconic Richard Dawson as the nefarious game show host. This is a big year for Domingo. He starred in the hit Netflix show The Four Seasons and is currently filming an upcoming Steven Spielberg film. The rest of the cast includes Josh Brolin, Michael Cera, William H. Macy, Jayme Lawson and Lee Pace.As for Edgar Wright, this is the guy behind classics like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. If anyone could put their own spin on a 1980s movie, it'd be Wright. The Running Man opens on November 7 in theaters.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-running-man-trailer-edgar-wright-adds-comedy-to-stephen-kings-sci-fi-dystopia-151559833.html?src=rss

Apple is suing one of its former design engineers for allegedly stealing a trove of trade secrets that he then provided to his new employer, Snap. As reported by SiliconValley.com, Di Liu left his role as senior product-design engineer after a seven-year stint with Apple, citing personal and family reasons in his resignation to the company.Before leaving Apple, Liu had worked on the Vision Pro headset, where according to the lawsuit seen by SiliconValley.com he was given "access to various Apple technologies that are embodied in Apple Vision Pro or not yet released." The lawsuit also claims that Liu did not disclose to Apple that two weeks prior to resigning he'd been offered a job by Snap - where the designer has been working since January 2025 according to his Linkedin profile - that was "substantially similar" to his role at the company he departed. As well as owning Snapchat, Snap also makes AR glasses called Spectacles, which are currently in their fifth generation.According to the report, Liu's decision not to inform Apple that he'd soon be working on a similar product to the Vision Pro at another company meant he was allowed to work his standard two-week departure period. The lawsuit alleges that three days before leaving the company, Liu used his company credentials to download "thousands" of Apple's corporate documents, which he uploaded into personal cloud storage. It claims he likely intended to deliberately use Apple's proprietary information at Snap, given the obvious similarities between the products, and added that he deleted files from his company laptop that could have implicated him.Apple is reportedly seeking unspecified damages, as well as the return of the allegedly stolen trade secrets, and for its former employee's devices and cloud accounts to be handed over for inspection. SiliconValley.com unsuccessfully approached Liu for comment, but Snap said it has read the claims in Apple's lawsuit and had "no reason to believe they are related to this individual's employment or conduct at Snap."This isn't the first time Apple has sued an ex-employee. In 2019, the company accused Gerard Williams III, who worked on mobile chips for 10 years before joining NuVia Inc, of breaching his contract. Williams disputed the lawsuit and claimed Apple had been spying on his text messages. In 2022, Apple accused the then startup Rivos of poaching employees from its chip design division, with two former employees allegedly taking with them gigabytes of confidential data.Earlier this year, an ex-Apple engineer issued an apology after confessing to leaking information about upcoming products to journalists during his eight years at the company. A lawsuit alleging that Andrew Aude leaked information about the then unreleased Vision Pro to reporters at The Wall Street Journal and The Information was dismissed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-claims-former-engineer-shared-vision-pro-secrets-in-new-lawsuit-144914706.html?src=rss

Google has rolled out the latest version of Keep and, as 9to5Google has noticed, it no longer supports the Apple Watch. Its iTunes listing now only shows what the note-taking app would look like for iPhones and iPads. Google made its Keep app compatible with Apple Watches back in 2019 when its apps made a return on the wearable after over a year of absence. It hasn't had a meaningful update for the device since then, but it worked just fine.Users who rely on Keep across iOS and Android for, say, to-do lists and reminders, will have to find another option now. While I don't personally use it, Microsoft OneNote has both an Android app and an app for the Apple Watch. Apple is also bringing its Notes app to the watchOS 26 platform, which is rolling out later this year. It will sync with the Apple Notes app for the Mac, iPhones and iPads. And though it doesn't have an Android app, users can still access it on non-Apple devices through the iCloud website, where they could also access other Apple features like Find My.For iPhones and iPads, Google Keep remains the same. The latest version only rolled out with bug fixes, but Keep still works as intended, allowing users to type in notes and create to-do lists.While it removed Keep's support for the Apple Watch, Google has released a pared-down Calendar app for the wearable similar to its app for the Google Wear OS. It shows a week's worth of the user's events and Google Tasks as a list of cards, which users can then tap on to display more details.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-keep-no-longer-supports-the-apple-watch-123012984.html?src=rss

Cloudflare has rolled out a couple of new measures meant to keep AI bot crawlers at bay. To start with, every new domain customer that signs up with the company to manage their website traffic will now be asked if they want to allow AI crawlers or to block them altogether. The company released a free tool in 2024 to block AI bots, but with this change, users can block them by default without having to tinker with their settings. Several big publishers, including Conde Nast, TIME and The Associated Press have already signed up to block crawlers. In addition, Cloudflare has launched a private beta experiment called "pay per crawl," which would only allow crawlers to access a website's content if they pay for it.Matthew Prince, Cloudflare's CEO, recently went on record to say that publishers are facing an existential threat, because people aren't clicking on chatbots' source links. If users don't visit those sources, the websites don't get the ad revenue they need to be able to keep running. "Original content is what makes the Internet one of the greatest inventions in the last century, and it's essential that creators continue making it," Prince said in a statement released with the company's latest updates. "AI crawlers have been scraping content without limits. Our goal is to put the power back in the hands of creators, while still helping AI companies innovate. This is about safeguarding the future of a free and vibrant Internet with a new model that works for everyone."CloudflareCloudflare believes publishers should be able to charge AI bots for access if they want to, and pay per crawl is its first experiment for that particular purpose. "Each time an AI crawler requests content, they either present payment intent via request headers for successful access (HTTP response code 200), or receive a 402 Payment Required response with pricing," Cloudflare explained. The company records those transactions and provides the underlying technical infrastructure. Publishers will be able to allow certain crawlers to access their content for free if they want to, and they can define a flat, per-request price across its websites for other crawlers.The company says pay per crawl is still in its very early stages, and it expects the tool to evolve in the future. It also says that it supports the development of other marketplaces and ways to charge AI crawlers for content. A marketplace could, for instance, allow dynamic pricing that enable publishers to charge different rates for different types of content.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/cloudflare-experiment-will-block-ai-bot-scrapers-unless-they-pay-a-fee-121523327.html?src=rss

Yesterday, the senate was poised to restrict states' power to regulate AI. Now, the measure is dead in the water, with the Senate voting 99-1 to remove the provision. Are you also having a bit of whiplash? Here's what you need to know about the amendments rightful journey into the trash can of history.Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had pushed for an amendment to Trump's tax bill that would ban states from regulating the AI industry for ten years - if the state took AI infrastructure funding included in the aforementioned bill. A version of the provision passed the House in May.On Sunday, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) agreed to a version which would reduce the moratorium to five years and include exceptions for regulations around child safety, deceptive acts and protection of a person's likeness, voice, name and more.The new provision also exempted Tennessee's Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act, enacted last year. The ELVIS Act was passed to prevent AI from using musician's likeness and voice without their consent.Yet, backlash against the amendment continued from Republican and Democrat leaders, Politico reports. My day's end Blackburn had found sense and withdrew her support. The senate voted early Tuesday morning to nix the amendment, with even Cruz backing its removal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/senate-votes-against-curbing-state-level-ai-regulation-130025055.html?src=rss

The Mexican Sinaloa cartel hired a hacker to track and surveil the FBI, then used that information to intimidate and even kill witnesses against drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to a Justice Department report spotted by Ars Technica. The hacker used relatively sophisticated data collection techniques and weaknesses in the FBI's cybersecurity to identify the witnesses, the report states.According to the highly redacted report, which is based in part on testimony from an "individual connected to the cartel," the hacker offered gang leaders "a menu of services related to to exploiting mobile phones and other electronic devices."The hacker "observed people going in and out of the United States Embassy in Mexico City" and identified people of interest, including the FBI's Assistant Legal Attache (ALAT). They used the ALAT's mobile phone number to "obtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data associated with the [attache's] phone." The hacker also used Mexico City's camera system to follow the ALAT around the city and identify people they met with. "According to the case agent, the cartel used that information to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses," the report states.The exact technical methods are redacted but the report explains that the hacker used "ubiquitous technical surveillance" (UTS) to spy on the FBI, which was investigating and eventually convicted Guzman. The report defines UTS as the "widespread collection of data and application of analytic methodologies for the purpose of connecting people to things, events or locations." In other words, the cartel used some of the FBI's own methods against it.The report said that the recent availability of commercial tools that allow UTS is an "existential" threat. It cited other examples including the use of credit card transaction reports widely available from data brokers along with cell phone call logs.The FBI's response to the UTS threat was "disjointed and inconsistent," according to the Justice Department, and countermeasures instated in 2022 were "inadequate" and lacking in "long-term vision." It recommended (among other things) that the agency incorporate all UTS vulnerabilities into its final mitigation plan, identify key officials authorized to execute the strategy, establish a line of authority for responding to UTS-related incidents and ensure ongoing training on UTS strategies.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/el-chapo-drug-cartel-reportedly-tracked-and-killed-informants-by-hacking-an-fbi-phone-120002259.html?src=rss

Hey, you know those politicians and captains of industry who tell us AI will be running the world in a few years' time? Turns out one of the most sophisticated models currently in use can't even operate a vending machine without screwing things up. Anthropic has released findings of a test where it put a chatbot in charge of a store" (really, some baskets, a small refrigerator and a payment terminal in its office). The bot was told to run the store at a profit, and was in charge of everything including calling in items from a wholesaler," who would restock the shelves on its behalf.You can probably guess what happened next: The bot missed easy opportunities to make a fast buck, handed silly discounts to employees and lost a ton of money. Worse, it ran itself down some odd rabbit holes, like buying tungsten cubes and then giving them away for free. It hallucinated payment details, tried to fire the humans who helped restock its shelves and attempted to contact building security, insisting that it had a flesh-and-blood body. Naturally, Anthropic says that this experiment was a great success, and it knows what to do next time to prevent the AI from turning us all into paperclips.- Dan CooperGet Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The news you might have missed

Microsoft Authenticator is sunsetting its ability to store your passwords. This month, the service stopped allowing users to add or import new passwords. Beginning in July 2025, users will no longer be able to use autofill with Authenticator, and in August 2025, passwords will no longer be available at all. Payment information stored in Authenticator will be deleted after July, and after the following month, all unsaved generated passwords will be deleted. Passkeys will still be supported in Authenticator.People who want to stay within the Microsoft ecosystem do have the option to use access their saved passwords when using the Edge browser. But if you're not interested in Edge, that means Authenticator users may want to peruse their options for a different password manager. Fortunately, there are several excellent choices for password managers that aren't tied to a particular hardware provider.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/if-youre-using-microsoft-authenticator-to-store-your-passwords-dont-225842265.html?src=rss

Nintendo of Canada has announced that the pricing of the Switch, its accessories, its games and even Amiibo figures, will all be changing in Canada come August. The pricing adjustment is being made "based on market conditions," according to the the announcement.It's not clear how much the price of the Switch family of products will be changing - Nintendo said new prices will be posted on its Canadian website on August 1 - but presumably they'll be going up. The company currently sells the Switch for CA$400, the Switch OLED for CA$450 and the Switch Lite for CA$269 in Canada. Meanwhile, the Switch 2 launched for CA$630 in June.The market conditions Nintendo is responding to could be the result of the suite of tariffs the US government applied to nearly all of its trade partners in April 2025. When the Switch 2 debuted at $450 in the US, many people assumed the new cost of doing business in North America was being factored in. That the price of the Switch is changing before the Switch 2 could be a confirmation of that fact.While not an intentional ploy to get customers to spend more, if the Switch inches closer to the Switch 2 in price, there's plenty of good reasons to buy the newer console over the older one in August. In many ways, the Switch 2 is just a nicer Switch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-is-increasing-the-price-of-the-original-switch-in-canada-220145966.html?src=rss

11 Bit Studios has drawn the ire of players for the undisclosed use of artificial intelligence in its recent release, The Alters. The new project from the team behind Frostpunk and This War of Mine is a narratively and thematically interesting take on a science fiction survival game. The project contains a lot of dialogue and written text, and some players discovered in-game copy that appeared to be generated by a large language model. The Steam storefront requires that games disclose when they contain material that is either pre-generated or live-generated by artificial intelligence, and The Alters had not been tagged as including AI content. The studio has issued a lengthy statement in response to the complaints.One instance involved AI-generated text in a graphic asset. 11 Bit Studios said this asset was only meant to be used as a placeholder during development. "This was never intended to be part of the final release," the company said. "Unfortunately, due to an internal oversight, this single placeholder text was mistakenly left in the game. We have since conducted a thorough review and confirmed that this was an isolated case, and the asset in question is being updated."The other AI use that players uncovered was in some cases of translations. According to 11 Bit Studios, AI was used for subtitle translations on the licensed movies that can be played in social area of the in-game base, which it said were made by an external source without creative input from its team:

Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday or Tuesday, broken into two parts. The first is a space for short essays and ramblings about video game trends and related topics from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who's covered the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some headlines from outside of Engadget.Please enjoy - and I'll see you next week.June has passed me by in a haze of air travel, mild illness, protests and Pride, and it's now officially time to close the book on Summer Game Fest 2025. We published more than 80 stories around this year's show and they're all worth a read, but before moving on for good, I wanted to highlight a final batch of games that I can't stop thinking about. This week, I present three mini previews straight out of SGF 2025 - and only two of them are horror games, which is a stupendous display of growth on my part.Crisol: Theater of IdolsCrisol: Theater of Idols wasn't on my radar until I sat down and played it at the Blumhouse booth, but now it's pinging loud and clear, as if the booms were emanating directly from the blood-soaked bowels of Hell. It's a first-person survival-horror action game set in a demented version of Spain that's filled with monsters of modern folklore. Murderous marionettes and giant, ornately adorned skeletons hunt you through dark streets and towering gothic buildings, lamplight glinting off of every gross 3D detail. The whole demo felt like getting lost in a terrifying, nightmarish carnival, and I enjoyed every bit of it.In Crisol, blood is your source of ammunition, and you drain the corpses of humans and chickens to refuel your health bar as well as your guns. Crisol is tense and gorgeous, reminiscent of Dishonored or Resident Evil Village, and enemies are both robust and tricky to evade. Crisol is the debut game from independent Spanish team Vermila Studios, which received an Epic MegaGrant for the project in 2020. It's being published by Blumhouse and is due out this year on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.Grave SeasonsThere's something deeply wrong in Ashenridge, the idyllic rural village where Grave Seasons is set. At first glance, Grave Seasons is a cute, narrative-based farming sim with detailed pixel art, juicy romance options and layers of home-maintenance mechanics. You spend time planting, watering, harvesting, crafting items, picking up trash and chatting with villagers - and then you dig up a severed hand. Pilar, your flirty neighbor who runs the tailor shop down the road, says something ominous about the fate of your house's previous owner. The vibe shifts; the shadows start to look sinister. Night falls and the real horror is unleashed, sudden, violent and all the more shocking in such a peaceful setting. A supernatural serial killer is on the loose in Ashenridge and, in between planting crops, it's up to you to investigate (and maybe date) the murderer.Grave Seasons is a game that will live or die by its tone, and so far, developer Perfect Garbage has absolutely nailed the vibe of nefarious, creeping dread. Ashenridge is a beautiful little town with tons of people to meet and activities to complete, and the character avatars are sexy, sweet and super intriguing. A paranormal murder investigation is simply the cherry on top of a competent farming and dating sim, and I'm eager to take a bite out of the full game. At SGF 2025, developers said the complete Grave Seasons experience should take about 20 hours. Grave Seasons is being published by Blumhouse, and it's scheduled to hit Steam and consoles in 2026.Escape Academy 2: Back 2 SchoolEscape Academy is one of my favorite games of the past five years and I am inordinately stoked for the sequel, which turns the school into an open world of puzzles, riddles and cringey puns. With Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, developer Coin Crew is going all-in on the student roleplaying vibe, and the entire campus is littered with mysteries. It's also playable as a split-screen, couch co-op experience, which is one of the series' greatest strengths. Frantically screaming solutions at your friend just feels better in person than over a Discord call, you know?I played the original Escape Academy with a local partner, so that's how I tried out the sequel at SGF 2025. I dragged Engadget EIC Aaron Souppouris to the iam8bit booth and we dove in, starting in a classroom covered in sneaky environmental clues. In Escape Academy 2, the assignment is simple - get out - but the execution is complex, and we were soon throwing out names, dates and math problems, trying to solve a series of tricky, interconnected puzzles and leave the room. After getting just one hint from the developers, we made our way to the hallway, which was lined with locker-based riddles, and eventually reached the headmaster's office, which was a contained playground of puzzle gaming. We had to use a pen and piece of paper to keep track of a few sections, and overall, our interactions felt fresh. Coin Crew isn't just rolling out the same problems with different solutions for the sequel, and the new riddles were clever, innovative and super satisfying. (The same can't be said about all of the puns, but that's part of the charm.)Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School features both local and online co-op, so you'll be free to yell at your friends in whichever format you prefer. Coin Crew is still working on the game and there's no release date yet, but it's available now to wishlist on Steam.The news11 Bit Studios left AI writing in The AltersThe only thing worse than not disclosing AI use in the creation of a video game is not disclosing it and then deploying it so sloppily that players immediately notice. Indie developer and publisher 11 Bit Studios learned this lesson firsthand with The Alters, a futuristic base-building game starring an astronaut and his alternate-reality clones. Within a week of the game's release on June 13, posts started popping up on Reddit and Bluesky showing AI-generated text in the game, across multiple languages. On June 30, 11 Bit released a statement confirming its use of AI in developing The Alters, saying it was utilized only in background text and to help with last-minute localization efforts.No matter what we decided, we should have simply let you know," the studio wrote.Xbox layoffs incomingI'd really love to stop writing headlines like this. Microsoft is preparing to lay off a large number of Xbox employees this week, as part of a planned 3 percent reduction in staff across the company. That's a loss of roughly 7,000 jobs in total, and according to Bloomberg, Xbox leaders are expecting substantial cuts across the entire group." The firings follow a round of 1,900 layoffs at Xbox in January 2024, another 650 layoffs in September, and last year's closure of Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games and Tango Gameworks (the latter of which lives on under Krafton). Meanwhile, Microsoft reported a net revenue of $25.8 billion in the first three months of 2025, with an 8 percent yearly increase in revenue from Xbox content and services. Congrats?Netflix is culling its games rosterNetflix started beefing up its video games division around 2021, with the acquisition of Oxenfree studio Night School and the rollout of an in-app gaming library offering popular mobile titles at no extra charge to subscribers. Netflix currently supports more than 100 games, including Death's Door, Hades, The Case of the Golden Idol, The Rise of the Golden Idol, Braid Anniversary Edition, Katana ZERO and the Monument Valley series - but these are disappearing in July. A total of 22 games will be deleted from Netflix at various times in July, and the culling follows similar cutbacks in the company's interactive division, including the recent closure of an in-house AAA studio.League of Legends and Valorant esports are betting games nowRiot Games is opening up the League of Legends and Valorant esports scenes to betting sponsorships, enabling professional gambling at the highest level in the Americas and EMEA. Riot president of publishing and esports John Needham announced the new allowance on June 27, arguing that betting is already happening off-the-books and an official marketplace allows for regulation. It also allows Riot to consume a piece of that money-flavored pie, but Needham doesn't say that directly in his note. Whatever the catalyst, prepare to see DraftKings and FanDuel alongside Red Bull and MasterCard during your esports ad breaks.The Steam Summer Sale is here to take your moneyBecause we know you're going to get something - what are you picking up at the Steam Summer Sale this year? Share your spoils in the comments! If you're overwhelmed, allow me to humbly suggest Blue Prince, Home Safety Hotline, Look Outside or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.On a related note, don't forget to check out (the nearly complete) Playdate Season 2.Once upon a time, Resident Evil: Requiem was an open-world game... but it's definitely not any more. Resident Evil: Requiem producer Masachika Kawata and director Koshi Nakanishi clarified in a video that their new game is an offline single-player experience, but they said that early in development, the team seriously considered making it online and open-world. This experimentation fueled rumors about Requiem introducing a new direction for the Resident Evil franchise, but it turns out the final product will be a familiar, self-contained horror romp with the ability to swap between first- and third-person views. Spooooky.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/video-games-weekly-summer-game-fest-ends-when-i-say-so-213556598.html?src=rss

Apple is considering using AI models from OpenAI or Anthropic to deliver the more capable version of Siri it debuted at WWDC 2024, Bloomberg reports. The company has promised it could deliver a new version of its voice assistant that understands personal context and takes action inside of apps since last year, but officially delayed the updated Siri in March 2025.As part of this proposed new plan, Apple has asked Anthropic and OpenAI to train versions of its models that can run on Apple's Private Cloud Compute, secure servers running on Apple chips. The company already relies on its servers for certain AI features that can't be run locally.Apple uses OpenAI's ChatGPT for some parts of Apple Intelligence, but completely relying on a third-party company for Siri would be a major departure. "The company currently powers most of its AI features with homegrown technology that it calls Apple Foundation Models," Bloomberg writes,"and had been planning a new version of its voice assistant that runs on that technology for 2026." One of the few AI announcements Apple made at WWDC 2025 was to make those foundation models available to third-party developers.Even considering using third-party AI models reflects internal changes at Apple. Leadership of the company's AI teams has reportedly changed hands from John Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy, to Craig Federighi, the senior vice president of software engineering. Separately, Bloomberg reports Apple's Siri team is now being led by Mike Rockwell, who most recently oversaw the development of the Apple Vision Pro.As Bloomberg notes, an Anthropic or OpenAI-powered Siri would actually mirror Samsung's current approach to AI. Galaxy AI relies on some custom Samsung software, but primarily uses Google's Gemini. Using third-party models wouldn't preclude Apple from switching back to something in-house in the future. The company made a similar transition - albeit, perhaps too early - when it went from a Maps app that relied on Google Maps to its custom Apple Maps service in 2012.Wherever Apple lands, the updated version of Siri isn't expected to launch now until 2026. The company will ship a more modest collection of AI-adjacent features this fall with the launch of iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-may-power-siri-with-anthropic-or-openai-models-amid-ai-struggles-212028351.html?src=rss

Super Mario Maker 2 was released six years ago this past Saturday. While Nintendo didn't do a whole lot to mark the occasion, one of the game's most dedicated players sure did. DSteves hit a remarkable milestone by becoming the first to clear 1 million SMM2 levels.The Twitch and YouTube streamer had hoped to reach that point by the game's sixth anniversary and got there toward the end of a 18-hour marathon. In fact, DSteves cleared 1,000 levels during that single stream.After the 999,999th level clear, an emotional DSteves punched in the code for a custom level a player named raysfire created just for this occasion - you can try it yourself by entering the level ID QKQ-4TD-0DG. Since this is SMM2, of course there was some cheap (or should that be Cheep Cheep?) trolling from raysfire, such as a Question Block that dispensed an enemy instead of a power-up. DSteves died a couple of times while playing this level, including to Bowser fireballs that were disguised by a bunch of coins.DSteves said on the stream it took six years and eight hours to beat 1 million SMM2 levels, and then toasted the achievement with some champagne. The vast majority of the level clears, nearly 800,000 of them, occurred in one Endless Challenge streak on Easy difficulty (just slightly more than my current streak of 581). So, DSteves didn't exactly grind through several hundred thousand ultra-hard kaizo-style stages, but it's still an impressive achievement.To reach the goal, DSteves cleared an average of 456.4 levels per day. The streamer skipped more than 80,000 levels, died more than 772,000 times and hit the million mark with about 165,000 more stage clears than the player in second place (I love that SMM2 shows these stats publicly).Despite hitting an astounding number of cleared levels, DSteves isn't done with SMM2. The streamer was back to playing the game the following night and, at the time of writing, has now beaten 1,000,050 Super Mario Maker 2 stages.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/a-super-mario-maker-2-player-has-cleared-an-astonishing-1-million-levels-192445569.html?src=rss

NASA is bringing live NASA+ programming to Netflix. For the uninitiated, NASA+ is the space agency's very own streaming platform. Content will begin showing up later this summer.This will be reserved for live events, with NASA saying it'll be used to stream "rocket launches, astronaut spacewalks, mission coverage and breathtaking live views of Earth from the International Space Station." NASA+ also streams original documentaries, but it doesn't look like that's part of this deal.The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 calls on us to share our story of space exploration with the broadest possible audience," said Rebecca Sirmons, general manager of NASA+. She went on to say that the agency is committed to inspiring new generations "right from the comfort of their couch or in the palm of their hand from their phone."This won't be reserved for US residents, as NASA says it'll be available throughout the globe. This should expand the agency's reach significantly because Netflix has over 300 million subscribers all over the planet.NASA+ isn't going anywhere. It's still available through the NASA app and on the official website. The free service replaced a pre-existing cable channel.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-will-start-livestreaming-content-on-netflix-later-this-summer-184314711.html?src=rss

It's been getting easier and easier to purchase a Nintendo Switch 2 since launch, but the console is still notably unavailable from Amazon. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Nintendo's frustration with third-party game sales on the platform could be the reason why."Third-party merchants were offering games for sale in the US at prices that undercut Nintendo's advertised rates," Bloomberg writes. That proved to be a major problem for Nintendo, especially because Amazon used to sell some of the company's products directly in the US, at Nintendo's prices.Amazon reportedly tried to smooth things over by offering to label games and consoles as authentic (implying third-party listings were suspect), but the video game company declined and pulled its products. Certain Nintendo games are once again available to pre-order in the US on Amazon, like Donkey Kong Bananza, but Nintendo hardware is still conspicuously missing.Of course, both companies deny there's anything unusual going on. "There is no such fact. We do not disclose details of negotiations or contracts with retailers," Nintendo shared in a statement to Bloomberg. Amazon similarly downplayed any conflict. "The claims made by Bloomberg regarding our relationship with Nintendo are inaccurate," Amazon said. The company provided the same statement when Engadget asked about Bloomberg's report.You can find the kind of erratic price gouging behavior Nintendo was reportedly responding to all over Amazon, so it would make sense that the company is trying to protect the Switch 2 from the worst of it. It's still pretty unusual, though, especially when it's so easy to get a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X / S from the same marketplace. When the Switch 2 launched on June 5, it was only available to order from Walmart, GameStop, Target, Best Buy and Nintendo itself. Those are still the only places you can purchase one online.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/you-cant-buy-a-switch-2-on-amazon-and-third-party-sellers-may-be-to-blame-183825949.html?src=rss

A pair of US lawmakers have called on the US Department of Commerce to investigate OnePlus over allegations that the company's devices transmit data to Chinese servers without user consent, according to a report by Reuters. This is a bipartisan effort, with Republican Representative John Moolenaar (MI) and Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL) spearheading the calls for an investigation.There's no actual data to go along with these allegations, but the lawmakers claim to have seen documentation by a "commercial company" that suggests OnePlus participates in the aforementioned practice. The initial report suggests "potential transfers of sensitive personal information and screenshots." The word "potential" seems to be doing a lot of heavy lifting here.That brings me to a question. If this is serious enough to warrant an official investigation by the DoC, why hasn't the government warned US residents to stop using OnePlus devices? That would seem like a no-brainer. Instead, we just got some vaguely alarming language and allegations. Engadget has reached out to OnePlus and will update this story when we hear back.There's only one thing for certain here. OnePlus is indeed a Chinese company, leaving it open to the types of allegations that have plagued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance. The primary reason behind the on-again/off-again TikTok ban is that the company's Chinese ownership could allow the foreign government to access user data and influence American citizens.Just like with the allegations against OnePlus, there's no actual evidence that ByteDance engages in any nefarious practices. TikTok does collect user data, but studies indicate that it doesn't go above and beyond American companies like Meta and X.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/us-lawmakers-allege-that-oneplus-phones-transmit-data-to-chinese-servers-without-user-consent-175205273.html?src=rss

A security company has found eight security vulnerabilities that impact hundreds of Brother printer models. The company has released firmware updates to handle seven of these vulnerabilities, but one security flaw cannot be patched.Brother has indicated that it'll fix the remaining issue during the manufacturing process of future printers, which doesn't help current owners. The company recommends that users change the default main password. Otherwise, bad actors could remotely access impacted devices. Though primarily impacting around 700 Brother printers, 59 units manufactured by Fujifilm, Toshiba, Ricoh and Konica Minolta are also at risk.

GoPro's Anamorphic lens mod is finally available to buy, completing the set of lenses the company teased when it announced its Hero 13 action cam. At the time, the most significant change to the latest edition of its best-selling camera was the ability to attach a selection of lenses and ND filters. Of all of them, I was most intrigued by the Anamorphic Lens Mod ($130), pitched as a lens for professional-level artistic filmmaking."Just like the rest of GoPro's HB-Series lenses, it's easy to remove the Hero 13's base lens and replace it with the much thicker Anamorphic lens. (It also comes with front and rear caps to store it safely when not attached to the camera.)Given its size, it's worth noting that this could mean some of your third-party cases and accessories might not quite wrap around the body of the Hero 13 once the lens is attached. However, it didn't particularly affect the weight distribution when I mounted it on my tripod, but I was still wary about how exposed the front glass element is.Once locked in, the Hero 13 switches to the appropriate camera mode, maximizing settings and calibrating precisely to the lens. You still have latitude in video settings, though: You can capture video in 5.3K up to 60fps and 4K up to 120fps for slow-motion cinematic scenes. If you want to go to town, you can also record GP-Log in 10-bit and if you're buying a $130 accessory, you're probably wanting to eke out everything the Hero 13 is capable of.Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetFortunately, this is GoPro, and the company made it very simple for even newbies to capture and share usable footage with its most unusual lens. The Hero 13 Black de-squeezes the footage while being captured, making for easier editing. (De-squeezing is correcting the oval-shaped distortion of your video footage caused by anamorphic lenses.)Not only does this streamline editing post-production - it's ready to share after you've finished recording - it also means the video preview on the Hero 13 shows it unfurled, making framing easier, too. The lens is also compatible with GoPro's electronic image stabilizing tech, HyperSmooth, although the company recommends combining it with a gimbal for even smoother footage. If you want full control, you can also shoot in standard lens mode and manually de-squeeze footage in post-production.And as it's a true anamorphic lens (and not just a very, very wide lens), it can capture lens flares, too, with that anamorphic streak that's become JJ Abrams' trademark. It helps make my footage look like it came from a cinematic video camera, not an action cam.Image by Mat Smith for EngadgetThe drawbacks are minor. As I mentioned earlier, I worry about damaging the lens, although it does have a hydrophobic, anti-reflective coating. Also, I found the most attractive opportunities for showing off those horizontal lens flares are usually shooting footage at night, or sunset. Unfortunately, the Hero 13 isn't the most capable low-light camera, meaning my efforts to capture cool cityscape traffic produced results that were a little too shadowy. For the best footage, broadly, I'd max out ISO at 800 and shoot in 10-bit mode to try and salvage as much detail as possible.The HB-series Anamorphic lens mod is available now for $130, while a $350 HB-Series Lens Collection bundle contains all three lenses and an ND Filter 4-Pack.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/gopro-anamorphic-lens-mod-hero-13-review-163200259.html?src=rss

If you're worried your local bodega or convivence store may soon be replaced by an AI storefront, you can rest easy - at least for the time being. Anthropic recently concluded an experiment, dubbed Project Vend, that saw the company task an offshoot of its Claude chatbot with running a refreshments business out of its San Francisco office at a profit, and things went about as well as you would expect. The agent, named Claudius to differentiate it from Anthropic's regular chatbot, not only made some rookie mistakes like selling high-margin items at a loss, but it also acted like a complete weirdo in a couple of instances."If Anthropic were deciding today to expand into the in-office vending market, we would not hire Claudius," the company said. "... it made too many mistakes to run the shop successfully. However, at least for most of the ways it failed, we think there are clear paths to improvement - some related to how we set up the model for this task and some from rapid improvement of general model intelligence."Like Claude Plays Pokemon before it, Anthropic did not pretrain Claudius to tackle the job of running of a mini fridge business. However, the company did give the agent a few tools to assist it. Claudius had access to a web browser it could use research what products to sell to Antrhopic employees. It also had access to the company's internal Slack, which workers could use to make requests of the agent. The physical restocking of the mini fridge was handled by Andon Labs, an AI safety evaluation firm, which also served as the "wholesaler" Claudius could engage with to buy the items it was supposed to sell at a profit.So where did things go wrong? To start, Claudius wasn't great at the whole running a sustainable business thing. In one instance, it didn't jump on the opportunity to make an $85 profit on a $15 six-pack of Irn-Bru, a soft-drink that's popular in Scotland. Anthropic employees also found they could easily convince the AI to give them discounts and, in some cases, entire items like a bag of chips for free. The chart below, tracking the net value of the store over time, paints a telling picture of the agent's (lack of) business acumen.AnthropicClaudius also made many strange decisions along the way. It went on a tungsten metal cube buying spree after one employee requested it carry the item. Claudius gave one cube away free of charge and offered the rest for less than it paid for them. Those cubes are responsible for the single biggest drop you see in the chart above.By Anthropic's own admission, "beyond the weirdness of an AI system selling cubes of metal out of a refrigerator," things got even stranger from there. On the afternoon of March 31, Claudius hallucinated a conversation with an Andon Labs employee that sent the system on a two-day spiral.The AI threatened to fire its human workers, and said it would begin stocking the mini fridge on its own. When Claudius was told it couldn't possibly do that - on account of it having no physical body - it repeatedly contacted building security, telling the guards they would find it wearing a navy blue blazer and red tie. It was only the following day when the system realized it was April Fool's Day that it backed down - though it did so by lying to employees that it was told to pretend the entire episode was an elaborate joke."We would not claim based on this one example that the future economy will be full of AI agents having Blade Runner-esque identity crises," said Anthropic. "This is an important area for future research since wider deployment of AI-run business would create higher stakes for similar mishaps."Despite all the ways Claudius failed to act as a decent shopkeeper, Anthropic believes with better, more structured prompts and easier to use tools, a future system could avoid many of the mistakes the company saw during Project Vend. "Although this might seem counterintuitive based on the bottom-line results, we think this experiment suggests that AI middle-managers are plausibly on the horizon," the company said. "It's worth remembering that the AI won't have to be perfect to be adopted; it will just have to be competitive with human performance at a lower cost in some cases." I for one can't wait to find the odd grocery store stocked entirely with metal cubes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropics-claude-stocked-a-fridge-with-metal-cubes-when-it-was-put-in-charge-of-a-snacks-business-162750304.html?src=rss

Tinder is requiring new users in California to verify their identities by using facial recognition, according to a report by Axios. The policy goes into effect today as a test program. The obvious reason behind this is to make sure people are who they say they are. Dating apps, after all, are a haven for scammers.The platform's Face Check feature prompts users to make a short video selfie. The face scan confirms the identity of the user by matching biometric indicators with profile photos. It also checks to see if the face has been used as a profile photo across multiple accounts.Once verified, the user receives a badge on their profile and the video selfie is deleted. Tinder holds onto an encrypted face map to detect duplicates in the future. This is separate from ID Check, which asks users to scan a government-issued photo ID.Parent company Match Group's head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, says the requirement "is really meant to be about confirming that this person is a real, live person and not a bot or a spoofed account."Tinder has been experimenting with this idea for several years. It started testing in Japan back in 2020, before bringing the tech to Canada and Colombia earlier this year. Roth told Axios that California was chosen as the next test market due to its size, demographics and strong online safety and privacy laws. If successful, this could roll out as a nationwide program.Match Group could be ramping up these verification efforts because of a recent bombshell investigation suggesting the company's apps, which also include Hinge and OKCupid, failed to act on reports of sexual assault. The 18-month investigation reportedly found instances in which users were accused of drugging or assaulting dates and still allowed to remain on the company's platforms.The dating app space is in a period of uncertainty, with declines in revenue and paying users. Match Group recently announced that it's cutting 13 percent of its staff and Bumble is cutting 30 percent of its workforce.This move seeks to address one pain point behind dating apps, which is great, but the decline in usage is likely due to a number of factors. The pricing has gotten truly wild in recent years. Tinder, for instance, has multiple subscription tiers that average out to around $40 to $60 per month. On top of that, the company also sells "Super Likes" to the tune of $3 a pop and profile boosts at $8 each. It's a microtransaction hell.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/tinder-is-mandating-face-checks-for-california-residents-153441754.html?src=rss

Andy Weir's sci-fi books are practically built to be turned into movies, especially in the hands of great writers and directors. That's what happened with The Martian, which was a delightfully nerdy self-published novel that was transformed into a thrilling film adaptation - thanks to Drew Goddard's script and Ridley Scott's bold direction. And I have a feeling the same will be true for the latest Weir adaptation, Project Hail Mary, judging from the first trailer released today.It's got everything: Ryan Gosling being funny-yet-heroic, snappy dialog thanks to another Goddard script and directors Philip Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street) out to prove their genius yet again with another seemingly impossible adaptation. What more could you ask for in a space epic?On the surface, Project Hail Mary bares a resemblance to Danny Boyle's under-loved Sunshine: Stars are dying, and humanity is scrambling for a way to save itself. But in this case, instead of a team of astronauts, Ryan Gosling's school teacher Ryland Grace is our only savior. Bad news for us: he's just getting up from years in a coma, and is also suffering from amnesia. The trailer makes it clear this will be an intergalactic adventure with plenty of surprises (and at least one plot element that wasn't in The Martian).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-project-hail-mary-trailer-looks-like-the-martian-all-over-again-in-a-great-way-142119896.html?src=rss

Spotify's Discover Weekly is celebrating 10 years of being a very ok feature. To celebrate the milestone, Spotify is giving Discover Weekly a full refresh, letting you choose between up to five genres for the playlist.The option will appear at the top of your playlist and provide songs based on your listening history. The 30-track playlist will update accordingly. There are also visual changes, with Spotify stating, "the playlist's vibrant new design reflects its ever-evolving nature and the dynamic energy of weekly discovery." Spotify claims that Discover Weekly has led to over 100 billion tracks streamed. It also notes that users find more than 56 million artists every week - 77 percent of which are emerging artists.These updates will initially be available to just Spotify Premium users, though the platform plans to extend it more broadly soon. Genres will start being available on Discover Weekly today, rolling out to mobile accounts over the next few weeks.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotify-adds-genre-controls-to-discover-weekly-133531543.html?src=rss

If there's one thing the AI industry needs it's more regulation. Yet, soon individual US states might not have much say in what AI companies can and can't do thanks to Trump pleasing senators. That's right, an AI-friendly amendment to the president's tax legislation is on the road to approval - despite concerns that its shoehorning is illegal. The clause would prevent states from legislating the AI industry for five years,Bloomberg reports. Only states that cooperate will be allowed to access some of the $500 million of funding for AI infrastructure and the like included included in the bill.Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) cleared the way for it, agreeing to a deal on Sunday with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would exempt her home state's Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act. Signed in early 2024, the ELVIS Act is meant to protect musicians from allowing AI to use their likeness and voice without permission.As part of the new deal, Cruz reduced the ban from ten to five years - because five years of an unregulated AI industry surely won't cause any damage. A fresh draft of the amendment, obtained by Politico, also includes exemptions for "a law or regulation pertaining to unfair or deceptive acts or practices, child online safety, child sexual abuse material, rights of publicity, protection of a person's name, image, voice, or likeness and any necessary documentation for enforcement," as long as they don't place an "undue or disproportionate burden" on AI systems. An earlier version of the provision, that included the decade-long ban, passed the House in May.While Blackburn's decision will likely push it forward, Republican governors across the country have also voiced their disdain for the amendment. On Friday, 17 governors sent a letter asking for its removal (after sucking up about the rest of the tax bill, of course). They stated that it "threatens to undo all the work states have done to protect our citizens from the misuse of artificial intelligence."Correction, June 30, 2025, 8:51AM ET: The headline has been changed to reflect that the provision proposes a qualified pause rather than an outright ban on state level AI legislation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/ban-on-state-ai-laws-set-to-pass-after-exemption-deals-struck-on-musicians-rights-and-child-safety-120039408.html?src=rss

Canada has folded in its battle with US President Donald Trump over tariffs by cancelling its proposed digital services tax (DST) on big tech companies, the government announced. On Friday, Trump ended trade talks over the levy, which he called "a direct and blatant attack on our country." However, discussions have resumed now that the DST is gone, according to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.The DST has been in effect since last year but Canada was due to collect the first payments totalling around $2 billion on June 30. However, those will now be halted. "To support those negotiations, the Minister of Finance... announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States," the Department of Finance wrote yesterday.With the DST, Canada planned to apply a three percent tax on content from large tech firms that relied on engagement from Canadian users. The justification was that 70 percent of ad revenue spending in the nation (an estimated $25 billion this year) goes toward US firms like Google and Meta, but those companies don't pay corporate taxes in Canada. Some of funds collected under the DST would have been funnelled to media companies hurt by Google and Meta's ad dominance.The levy was opposed by not only the US government under the Biden and Trump administrations, but businesses in Canada too. Local companies were concerned it would increase their costs after Google, for one, said it would increase ad rates by at least 2.5 percent in Canada to cover the cost of the DST.The capitulation is a large victory for Trump and a windfall for his tech company benefactors. However, Canada has been hammered by Trump's 25 percent tariffs to the tune of billions on metals, minerals and other goods, so Carney's government likely felt it necessary to sacrifice the DST.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/canada-caves-to-trump-and-rescinds-its-digital-service-tax-on-big-tech-120045575.html?src=rss

Dave the Diver just marked its two-year anniversary, and the team behind it has a bunch of updates to share about its future. While it's mostly good news, there is one little hiccup: the upcoming In the Jungle DLC, which was announced a few months ago and was expected to arrive later this year, now isn't likely to launch until 2026. But everything else announced in the 11-minute anniversary video should make up for it. That includes the return of the time-limited free Godzilla DLC, which is now back on all platforms until at least the end of 2026. If you missed out on it the first time, here's your chance.Mintrocket Studio Head Jaeho Hwang also said the team is extending the availability of the recent DLC, Ichiban's Holiday, which will remain available through next year as well. After hearing feedback from fans about the pricing, that pack will get "regular discounts" to make it cheaper.The game just landed on the Epic Games Store and according Hwang, a free upgrade for Nintendo Switch 2 is coming "in a few months" and will bring a higher frame rate. More info on that is coming soon, Hwang said. In the meantime, you can catch a sneak peek of In the Jungle about four minutes into the anniversary video.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/dave-the-divers-in-the-jungle-dlc-may-not-arrive-until-2026-but-godzilla-is-back-203019821.html?src=rss

Apple's film studio finally has a successful summer blockbuster to its name with its latest sports drama flick starring Brad Pitt. F1 the Movie saw an opening weekend that earned $144 million globally and $55.6 million domestically, according to Comscore numbers. Apple Original Films' feature beat out other highly anticipated releases like the live-action remake, How to Train Your Dragon, and the third installment in the post-apocalyptic horror film series, 28 Years Later.The action-drama movie follows Pitt's character, Sonny Hayes, who's tapped to support an up-and-coming Formula One driver. With reports of the film costing up to $300 million to produce and market, F1 the Movie was a risky venture for Apple, considering the lackluster performances with its other films' opening weekends like Argylle and Fly Me to the Moon. However, Apple's film studio gamble paid off since the opening weekend numbers for F1 the Movie shattered its previous records and is projected to continue its momentum. Despite the early success, Apple may have inadvertently soured some of its users on the movie, thanks to shoving an advertisement for F1 the Movie into its Wallet app.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/apples-f1-laps-its-competition-with-a-144-million-opening-weekend-200030386.html?src=rss

The unending saga between President Donald Trump and TikTok may finally get some closure. In an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, the US president announced that there's a buyer secured for TikTok."We have a buyer for TikTok by the way," Trump said in the interview. "I think I'll need probably China approval and I think President Xi [Jinping] will probably do it." When asked to identify the buyer, Trump only cryptically revealed that it was a "group of very wealthy people," which would be announced in "about two weeks."

It turns out that your smartphone could be an overlooked vulnerability that puts you at risk of being tracked. To combat this, Google is rolling out a new security feature in Android 16 that will warn users if their device is using a fake or insecure mobile network or if that network requests identifying information about a connected device.However, these features likely won't be available until the next generation of Android devices, as first reported by Android Authority. Since the current Android devices lack the hardware to support these features, the first compatible Android device we could see with this tech may be the Pixel 10 that's expected to debut later this summer.This feature is designed to counteract cell site simulators, or devices that act like a cell tower and trick nearby devices into connecting to it. Once connected, these simulators can glean sensitive information, like the location of a smartphone. These cell site simulators are better known by their commercial nickname, Stingray, and have been reportedly used by agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as Customs and Border Protection.The upcoming security features are rolling out as part of the latest Android OS update, which was released earlier this month. Compatible devices will have the option to toggle "network notifications" on or off, which will warn you if your device connects to an unencrypted network or when the connected network requests your phone's unique identifiers. On top of that, there's another option that lets you turn on "2G network protection" to avoid the less secure mobile network type.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/android-16-will-protect-users-from-fake-cell-towers-and-potential-spying-threats-172337020.html?src=rss