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The National Science Foundation just shared the first images captured by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a sample of the footage it'll capture as part of a planned decade-long survey that's starting later in 2025. The project, dubbed the "Legacy Survey of Time and Space" is predicted to lead to the discovery of "millions of new asteroids within the first two years" the survey is running.In just a 10 hour period, the National Science Foundation says that the Rubin Observatory "discovered 2,104 never-before-seen asteroids in our solar system, including seven near-Earth asteroids." The long-term survey project could lead to even more insights, particularly into larger cosmic unknowns like dark matter and dark energy.The idea is appropriate given the observatory's origins. Jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the Large Synoptic Telescope in Cerro Pachon, Chile was renamed the Vera C. Rubin Observatory after astronomer Vera C. Rubin, who's research into gravitational rotation was used as conclusive evidence of the existence of dark matter.The short video embedded above should give you a good sense of the scale of the Rubin Observatory's operation. That's a stitched together view of about 10 million galaxies captured during 10 hours of photography, "roughly .05 percent of the approximately 20 billion galaxies" the observatory will capture during its survey."The amount of data gathered by Rubin Observatory in its first year alone will be greater than that collected by all other optical observatories combined," the National Science Foundation says. "This treasure trove of data will help scientists make countless discoveries about the universe and will serve as an incomparable resource for scientific exploration for decades to come."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/the-vera-c-rubin-observatory-shares-first-images-from-planned-decade-long-survey-of-the-sky-192557094.html?src=rss

Microsoft is getting ready to make the Xbox PC app your go-to gaming hub, regardless of where you buy your games. The company has announced that Xbox Insiders enrolled in the PC Gaming Preview will get early access to a new aggregated gaming library within the Xbox PC app for Windows 11 PCs as well as handheld devices. The new feature is coming to the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X this holiday season.Gamers' libraries are often split across different platforms like Steam, Xbox, Epic Games, and others. With this new update, Windows aims to aggregate your gaming library entirely within the Xbox app, allowing your Game Pass titles, as well as titles from Battle.net, to all be launched from one place. The announcement did not call out any other launchers or libraries by name but made references to more storefronts being supported in the future.When a player installs a game from a supported PC storefront, it will automatically appear in My library' within the Xbox PC app, as well as the Most recent' list of titles in the sidebar-making it easier than ever to jump back into your games," said Manisha Oza, product manager for Xbox. They added, And this is just the beginning. We'll continue rolling out support for additional PC storefronts over time."Users will be able to curate these combined libraries, while hiding or excluding particular storefronts and including others. The rollout is exclusive to the Xbox Insider Program for now, which is free to join if you're curious to try the new PC Gaming Preview.Microsoft has been making moves recently to bring its gaming services to par with other major players in the space, including a rumored unification of its console, PC, and handheld platforms. With Microsoft having recently announced its ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, it makes sense to strive for a more seamless player experience where all compatible games can be launched from one environment. We have reached out to Microsoft for clarity on what libraries are being included in this new all-in-one launcher model.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/the-xbox-pc-app-will-soon-integrate-your-various-game-libraries-into-one-place-192452664.html?src=rss

Here's a bit of sad news for gamers. Hypixel Studios is shutting down and ending development of Hytale. The game looked pretty nifty, combining action-RPG mechanics with Minecraft. Riot Games purchased the developer back in 2020, though it has been working on Hytale a lot longer than that.Development is ending immediately and the company will be shutting down "over the next few months." Hypixel CEO Aaron "Noxy" Donaghey said the decision was made when it "became clear we couldn't bring Hytale to life in a way that truly delivered on its promise.""Over time, as our vision evolved and the genre matured around us, the bar kept rising," he continued. "Our technical ambitions grew more complex, and even after a major reboot of the game engine, the team found that Hytale still wasn't as far along as it needed to be."Donaghey doesn't blame Riot. He went on to say that the company behind League of Legends and Valorant offered the staff "generous severance" and is helping impacted employees find new opportunities. We contacted Riot Games for a comment and will update this post if we hear back.This is a bummer. The game looked pretty darn cool and recent developer updates teased reworked biomes, improved graphics and a lot more. Now we'll never know what could have been.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/riot-games-shuts-down-hypixel-studios-and-ends-development-of-hytale-190435047.html?src=rss

US congressional staffers have reportedly been told that they're no longer allowed to use WhatsApp on government devices. The House of Representatives' chief administrative officer (CAO) is said to have informed workers on Monday that the app - including the mobile, desktop and web-based versions - is not permitted on House-managed devices."The Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption and potential security risks involved with its use," the CAO wrote in an email, according to Axios. Microsoft Teams, Wickr, Signal (despite how easy it might be to accidentally invite a reporter to a sensitive group chat), iMessage and FaceTime were reportedly cited as acceptable alternatives, and the CAO reminded workers to be vigilant regarding potential phishing scams."We disagree with the House Chief Administrative Officer's characterization in the strongest possible terms," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote on X. "We know members and their staffs regularly use WhatsApp and we look forward to ensuring members of the House can join their Senate counterparts in doing so officially. Messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default, meaning only the recipients and not even WhatsApp can see them. This is a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO's approved list that do not offer that protection."The step follows limitations on congressional staffers' use of other apps (including generative AI ones) that the CAO has deemed to be risky. Those include ChatGPT, TikTok, DeepSeek (which some states and federal departments have also banned from government devices) and Microsoft Copilot.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/us-house-reportedly-bans-whatsapp-on-government-devices-161557444.html?src=rss

In previous years, the Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 probably would have been called an Inspiron. However, after the company revamped its naming scheme earlier this year, all of its consumer PCs now share its name, with a few extra identifiers that call out size, design and status (aka how fancy it is). While I still think Dell's choice to ditch the iconic XPS tag is a mistake, streamlining its portfolio makes a lot of sense, especially for people simply looking to buy a new laptop. The Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 is one of the company's first consumer laptops to feature its updated naming scheme and refreshed styling. And to little surprise, this machine is a solidly competent midrange laptop for everyday productivity with a bit of extra flexibility thanks to its convertible design. But despite all these changes, it feels like something is missing. Design Like it did with its model names, Dell has reworked the design of its laptop family. The 16 Plus 2-in-1 features a solid build consisting of smooth aluminum panels on top and bottom with a matte finish and rounded edges. Its 360-degree hinges are small and subtle while still providing plenty of support for tent and tablet modes. But in some ways, it feels like Dell may have gone a bit too minimalist, as the laptop's only distinguishing characteristic is the classic Dell logo in the center of its lid. Port selection is good, but not outstanding, with two USB-C sockets (one supports Thunderbolt 4 while the other handles DisplayPort 1.4), one USB-A, a HDMI 2.1 slot and a 3.5mm audio jack. However, considering its size, I would have liked to see one more USB-C connector, particularly on the right side of the system. Only being able to charge using the ports on the left can be a bit awkward depending on your setup. The lack of a microSD card reader isn't ideal for content creators either. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The keyboard feels great and includes a full number pad for those who need one. Unfortunately, I don't love the 16 Plus' touchpad. Even though it's rather large, it felt surprisingly unresponsive. At first, nearly a quarter of the time I tried to right-click, I simply got nothing. Granted, I was able to adapt, but no matter what I did, clicking never felt quite right. Dell's speakers are also somewhat disappointing as they are hidden behind two small slits on the bottom of the system. This results in audio that sounds flat, hollow and distant, even when the volume is turned up. Given the choice, I would trade the physical number pad for up- or forward-firing speakers positioned on either side of the keyboard, though I admit that might not be a popular choice for anyone who has to do a lot of data entry. Display Sam Rutherford for Engadget The 16-inch touch display on our review unit is a bright spot as it features Dell's optional 2,560 x 1,600 mini LED screen. Not only can it produce up to 600 nits of brightness, it also has a slightly faster 90Hz refresh rate than the default 300-nit 1,920 x 1,200 FHD+ panel. And after using it for several weeks, this display is definitely one upgrade worth paying for. Colors are richer and more saturated while also providing better brightness, contrast and black levels than a basic LCD panel. Performance Packing either an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V or Ultra 7 258V chip, along with up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, the 16 Plus has more than enough speed for everyday computing tasks. Because these laptops can reach either 40 or 47 TOPS, depending on the processor, they support all of Microsoft's Copilot+ AI features. That said, it doesn't support discrete graphics, so this machine isn't a great choice for anyone who regularly needs to do things like serious video editing, gaming or 3D modeling. Battery life Sam Rutherford for Engadget Thanks to its 64WHr battery, the Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 offers above average longevity. On PCMark10's Modern Office rundown test, it lasted eight hours and 12 minutes. That's significantly better than rivals like HP's Spectre x360 16 (slightly over five hours), but still a far cry from smaller and less powerful models like the ASUS Zenbook A14 (18:16). I also appreciate that Dell's included 65-watt charger is relatively compact. The 16 Plus supports charging over USB-C (with either of its ports), so you can also use a third-party brick if you prefer. Wrap-up The Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 is a perfectly competent hybrid laptop. Its hinge allows the system to transform into various modes to better adapt to your needs. Its chassis is well built even though it's not particularly eye-catching. Performance is solid and battery life is slightly better than average for its class, while Dell's optional mini LED display provides a great viewing experience. And starting at just $750 (or around $1,400 for the fully loaded model review here), this system feels very reasonably priced. Sam Rutherford for Engadget My main issue is that between its revamped name and new streamlined design, the Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 suffers from a complete lack of personality. It's a totally serviceable machine, but it doesn't have a single trait or feature that endears itself to its user. Same goes for its name. At least with Apple, you know you're getting a MacBook or an iPad. With this thing, Dell is the name of the company, but now it's also the name of the laptop too? Or is it just called the 16 Plus 2-in-1? Either way, it's awkward. Now I fully admit that not everyone feels this way about their gadgets, because at the end of the day, a PC is just a tool. But as someone who likes to feel connected to the devices I buy, Dell's PC revamp has produced something that's hard to love.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/dell-16-plus-2-in-1-review-technically-proficient-but-lacking-soul-153003908.html?src=rss

The first thing in F1 the Movie, before a single word of dialog is uttered, is a pair of AirPods Max. They're so comfortable, Brad Pitt's lovable loser protagonist Sonny Hayes is able to sleep with them all night, then hop up and begin his day of driving fancy race cars. If you paid $550 for the AirPods Max, you too could be like Brad Pitt!It's hard to ignore the blatant commercialism of F1 the Movie; you might as well call it a $300 million ad for Formula One everything Apple. The film is produced by Pitt and F1 darling Lewis Hamilton, and it's Apple's first stab at producing a big budget summer blockbuster for theaters. In the hands of Joseph Kosinski, the director behind the thematically similar Top Gun: Maverick, F1 the Movie is undoubtedly thrilling, delivering an unparalleled sense of speed that more than rises to the occasion of "big, dumb, fun summer flick." As a connoisseur of action films and just about anything that features wildly fast cars, I'd go as far to say that F1 is one of the best racing films ever made.AppleSure, you've seen this movie before - one where absurdly beautiful people devote their lives to their sport, all for the love of the game. In many ways, Kosinski and writer Ehren Kreuger are just repeating what they did for the Top Gun sequel. F1 the Movie swaps Tom Cruise with Brad Pitt as a talented-but-washed up lead (who is always right about everything, of course), and replaces fighter jets with Formula One racers. Kosinski even replicates part of the magic of that previous film by placing cameras within the cars (powered by iPhone sensors and Apple's A-series chips, Wired reports, as well as unreleased Sony 6K cameras) to accurately capture the experience of driving at speeds of 200 miles per hour.If you can get past the generic characters and formulaic nature of the film - Pitt's Sonny Hayes is a fallen racing star recruited by an old friend (Javier Bardem) to save his struggling F1 team, all the while butting heads with a young publicity-obsessed teammate (Damson Idris) - F1 the Movie'ssheer technical prowess makes it a must-watch Summer blockbuster on the biggest screen you can find. On IMAX screens, it'll be presented in that format's extra-tall 1.90:1 aspect ratio for its entire duration, instead of switching between aspect ratios like other IMAX films. (I saw it on a local theater chain's premium screen and it looked great, but I also plan to get a full IMAX viewing soon.)While Apple would probably want us to focus on the novelty of using iPhone cameras in Formula One cars, it's the Sony cameras that truly make F1 more than your typical racing film. As you can see in behind the scenes footage, those cameras can rotate quickly in the middle of the race. That helps Kosinski capture the hectic nature of driving at incredibly fast speeds - we instantly go from seeing the point of view of the road to the driver's struggle to keep pace with the action. They're reacting to extreme G-force and struggling to hold onto the wheel,and we're right there with them.F1 is one of those films where you might find yourself unconsciously holding your breath during its most extreme set pieces. But it's also one of those movies where you'll probably have to turn off your brain a bit to truly enjoy it. Ignore the uncritical adoration for Formula One racing, the fact that Pitt's character is almost a total cipher or the stereotypical romance.AppleThe riskiest thing F1 does is place Sonny Hayes' AirPods Max - which aren't waterproof or water resistant in any way - perilously close to his ice bath after a brutal race. (I could easily see Apple executives giving Kosinski a note to make sure the AirPods Max never touches water. We wouldn't want to have unrealistic expectations for Apple products, after all.)Some sports films are transcendent explorations of the nature of human endurance (Chariots of Fire), or character dramas where winning isn't really the point at all (Rocky.) And sometimes car go fast. That's still perfectly enjoyable..This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/f1-the-movie-review-a-shameless-apple-ad-that-will-blow-your-socks-off-144808364.html?src=rss

For years now, most Chromebooks have run some variety of Intel or AMD processor. The occasional device used a MediaTek chip, but they were often underpowered and cheap devices that were hard to recommend. ARM-based processors have worked tremendously well for Apple on the Mac, and they're being used in more and more Windows PCs as well. Now, Lenovo (makers of my favorite Chromebook) and Google are giving ARM a real shot with the $649 Chromebook Plus 14. The companies say the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 chip and its AI NPU can handle up to 50 TOPS - but more intriguing to me, Lenovo is also promising up to 17 hours of battery life. I'll believe that claim when I see it; mediocre at best battery life has plagued nearly every Chromebook I've used in recent years. But switching to ARM could improve on what Intel-powered Chromebooks have delivered, both in terms of battery life and overall performance. Time for the nitty-gritty specs. Lenovo's Chromebook Plus 14 is, as you'd expect, a 14-inch laptop that looks quite similar to a silver MacBook Pro. It's certainly more stylish and sleek than Lenovo's more utilitarian (and awkwardly-named) IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus. It weighs only 2.58 pounds (about a pound less than the Flex 5i) and is just over .62 inches thick. In addition to the Kompanio Ultra 910 chip, Lenovo is including either 12GB or 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. Lenovo isn't skimping on the screen, either. The 14-inch OLED panel can be outfitted with a touchscreen and has a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. The resolution is relatively modest, but totally in line with what you'd expect for the price. Lenovo There are a few other nice touches throughout. Lenovo's latest is the first Chromebook with Dolby Atmos sound via a quad-speaker system that includes two downward-firing woofers. Audio quality on laptops has increased significantly in recent years, so I'm looking forward to hearing what Lenovo can deliver. The 5-megapixel webcam has a much higher resolution than most other Chromebooks, and there's also a fingerprint reader for secure logins. All told, this Chromebook is on the more expensive side compared to many other options. But when you compare its specs and design with other Chromebooks in this price range, Lenovo's latest comes out looking pretty good. Of course, we'll need to make sure the MediaTek chip is powerful enough and also see what battery life is like, but Lenovo's track record is strong enough that I'm looking forward to seeing if we have a new king of the Chromebooks. New AI features Given that Google is relentlessly focused on adding AI features everywhere you turn, it's no surprise that there are a handful of new AI tricks here. First are two that are currently exclusive to Lenovo's Chromebook Plus 14: Smart Grouping and AI image editing in the Chromebook's Gallery app. Google has been teasing Smart Grouping for a while now; it'll look at your open tabs and documents and ask if you want to organize them into a separate virtual desk. And the Gallery app now has some AI-powered editing features like removing backgrounds or turning your images into stickers. Beyond these are a bunch of AI features that are coming to all Chromebook Plus laptops, many of which will feel familiar if you've paid attention to what Google has released to other platforms in recent months. For example, you can now long-press the launcher and select an area of the screen to run a search. As usual, the default example is shopping - see a pair of shoes you want, highlight it and let Google find them for you. The integration does look nice, though, with a pop-over window showing you results so you don't have to leave the app you're using. Similarly, Text Capture analyzes text in an image and suggests things like calendar appointments based on what it reads. Or highlighting an image of a recipe can pull all of the items you need for it into a Google Docs list. Lenovo The Quick Insert key, which was first introduced last year on Samsung's Galaxy Chromebook Plus, can now be used to generate and insert AI images into anywhere your text cursor is pointing - it's not just limited to Google apps. Finally, Google's help me read" tool has a new simplify" option that can take complex language (think scientific explanations) and put it in plain language to make it easier to understand. Anyone buying a Chromebook Plus this year will get a solid perk that Google first introduced last year: a full 12 months of the Google One AI Pro plan, which includes 2TB of Google Drive storage and access to more advanced Gemini features (you can find all the exact details here). Given that this is a $20 per month plan, it's a solid additional value - at the very least for the storage, if you're not all that interested in Gemini. As for Lenovo's new hardware, I'm looking forward to trying it soon to see if the ARM architecture can deliver the massive battery life and performance improvements that the company is promising. But if you want to throw down your cash now, Lenovo's Chromebook Plus 14 is available at Best Buy and on Lenovo's site to order as of today. (Note that, at least for now, only the more expensive version of the Chromebook Plus 14, with a touchscreen at 16GB of RAM, is available at Best Buy.) This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/lenovo-promises-17-hours-of-battery-life-on-its-new-chromebook-plus-14-130018894.html?src=rss

Noise-cancelling headphones are a must-have for anyone who travels often and wants to drown out airplane noise, commuters who want some peace and quiet amongst the crowds and anyone else looking to dull the daily chaos of life. Sony's 1000X line has had our favorite noise-cancelling headphones for a long time, and it remains the same now with the latest edition to that family. Sony released the WH-1000XM6 edition of its wireless noise canceling headphones in May, and really the only downside about them is their new, higher price tag. But if you're on the market for a new pair of cans right now, Amazon will throw you a bone if you opt for the XM6. Right now, you can get the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones plus a free $30 Amazon gift card for $448. While you're not saving much on the price of the headphones (a whopping $2), you're getting a $30 gift card for free on top of it, which you can use towards anything else you want to buy on Amazon. Sony released the WH-1000XM6 headphones three years after their predecessor, but the new model quickly proved to be worth the wait. We gave the M6s a 94 in our review thanks to features like improved sound and better active noise cancelation. One of the best things about this model compared to the M5s is the return to a folding design - I love my M5s but it's very annoying that they don't shrink at all. The M6s are also very comfy and have a wider headband for easy wear.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-a-free-30-amazon-gift-card-when-you-buy-the-new-sony-wh-1000xm6-headphones-144511198.html?src=rss

The June 22 launch of Tesla's robotaxis in Austin, Texas, actually occurred. It's a tentative first step for the company, however: a human "Tesla Safety Monitor" is accompanying the first riders. There are also only ten cars and rides are limited to certain Tesla users. Those early riders and influencers have been sharing their experiences on social media, mostly (surprise) on X.Most of the early riders appear to be pro-Tesla users, with a company mention in their social media bio or a Tesla cap in their profile picture (or both), so consider these initial reactions within that context. Having said that, an autonomous car ride is... an autonomous car ride. Many livestreams show the safety monitor gripping a handle on the right side of the passenger seat, possibly with emergency controls. However, that hasn't yet been confirmed. Many passengers attempted to talk with their safety monitors, with, er, limited success.

A good keyboard can make all the difference for your work setup. If you primarily work on a laptop, switching from the built-in keyboard to a wired or wireless keyboard can be more comfortable and ergonomic while adding functionality like extra keys and shortcuts into the mix. If your daily driver is a desktop, a keyboard will be an essential accessory that can elevate your rig whether you're using it to work a 9-to-5 with it or play AAA games in your free time.

One of the games that really caught my eye during the Xbox Games Showcase at the beginning of June was The Blood of Dawnwalker, a dark fantasy action-RPG from Rebel Wolves, the studio co-founded by Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz. First teased earlier this year, The Blood of Dawnwalker is a single-player open-world game set in a version of 14th-century Europe that's crawling with vampires.The first two trailers gave us a bit of a glimpse at what the gameplay will be like, but the developer has now shared an in-depth look in a 21-minute video, which you can watch below. It looks pretty sick - but keep in mind that this footage is from the "pre-beta" game, so there's still a lot of polishing to be done.In The Blood of Dawnwalker, "You play as Coen, a young man turned into a Dawnwalker, forever treading the line between the world of day and the realm of night. Fight for your humanity or embrace the cursed powers to save your family." It's slated to hit PC, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-blood-of-dawnwalker-developers-share-a-look-at-gameplay-from-the-upcoming-vampire-fantasy-rpg-185720914.html?src=rss

Perplexity is planning to open up its Comet browser that's powered by "agentic search" to Windows users, according to the company's CEO. Aravind Srinivas posted on X that the Windows build of Comet is ready and has sent out invites to early testers already. Perplexity's CEO also hinted at a potential release for Android devices, adding that it was "moving at a crazy pace and moving ahead of schedule."In May, Perplexity launched a beta version of its AI-powered Comet browser, only available to Mac users running Apple Silicon. The intelligent browser comes with AI features baked in, like the ability to ask it questions, check shopping carts for discounts and dig up unanswered emails. The beta version even showcases a "Try on" feature where users can upload a photo of themselves and Comet will generate an image of them wearing a selected piece of clothing.There's still no official debut set, but Srinivas previously hinted at an upcoming release in an X post earlier this month. Comet is still only offering a waitlist for those interested, but the browser has already stirred up controversy. The company's CEO previously made comments during a podcast interview that Perplexity would use Comet "to get data even outside the app to better understand you." Srinivas later clarified on X that the comment was taken out of context, adding that "every user will be given the option to not be part of the personalization" when it comes to targeted ads. When Comet is released, the agentic browser will face competition from Opera Neon and similar offerings from Google and OpenAI.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexitys-ai-powered-browser-opens-up-to-select-windows-users-180629870.html?src=rss

Starting September 1, fully autonomous cars will require a permit to operate in Texas. This new restriction comes after the state's governor, Greg Abbott, signed into law the SB 2807 bill that requires authorization from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles for self-driving cars on public streets without human interaction.The signing of the new law coincides with Tesla's launch of its robotaxi service in Austin today where invited guests got to ride in fully autonomous Model Ys. While the law doesn't go into effect until a few months later, Tesla's robotaxi launch could have skirted this new regulation since all rides are accompanied by a human "safety monitor" in the front passenger seat.

I didn't really need an excuse to begin another playthrough of Look Outside, but the developer just dropped an update that provides plenty of reasons to dip back into the survival horror RPG if you were looking for any. Update 1.5 brings new crafting recipes, new interactions with people in the apartment building - some familiar, some not - and big changes to the flooded basement area, along with a slew of other tweaks and bug fixes. You can take a look through the update notes to see everything that's been added, or just jump right in and let yourself be surprised. Look Outside is a survival horror game with turn-based combat that was released on Steam in March. The game sees the player character Sam trapped in an apartment building for two weeks to ride out some strange, apocalyptic event happening outside. The weirdness, of course, makes its way inside too, and you'll find yourself up against all sorts of body horror monstrosities and trying to figure out who you can trust. Between the art, the music and the story, it's an all-around masterpiece that I haven't been able to stop yapping about since playing it for the first time back in April. It's really cool to see the developer is continuing to add to it because this is one of those games that's just made to be played over and over. If you haven't picked it up yet, there's no time like the present. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/look-outside-just-got-a-big-update-bringing-a-bunch-of-new-creepy-experiences-162541662.html?src=rss

Xbox has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a chunky console. It's recently taken on the form of an Asus gaming handheld, and it might even be packaged as a VR headset soon. According to an image leaked on X and Game Sandwich, Xbox is reportedly teaming up with Meta to release an Xbox-branded Quest 3S headset in the coming days. The rumored specs show a very similar build to the base model Quest 3S with 128GB of storage, but will reportedly be bundled with an Xbox wireless controller, a Meta Quest Elite strap and three months of Xbox Game Pass.There's been no official announcement from Xbox or Meta yet, but a blog post from 2024 noted that the two companies were working together to "create a limited-edition Meta Quest, inspired by Xbox." While it's important to take this rumor with a grain of salt, Xbox seems interested in opening up its hardware for collaboration with other companies, as indicated by the recent release of the ROG Xbox Ally.As for the rumored Xbox version of the Meta Quest 3S, those who already own the base model headset might not be the target demographic since you can already run Xbox Game Pass on it. Instead, this VR headset could be marketed as a convincing entry point for anyone looking to get into VR and is already familiar with the Xbox ecosystem. According to Game Sandwich's sources, this Xbox-branded VR headset will cost $399 and is set to drop on June 24.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xboxs-vr-headset-with-meta-could-release-sooner-than-we-thought-180512994.html?src=rss

NetEase, the Chinese video game company that published Marvel Rivals and Bungie's Destiny: Rising, has announced its first single-player AAA game. It's a story-driven third-person action-adventure game called Blood Message, and as Polygon notes, it's in the vein of Uncharted and Assassin's Creed. The story is set in the final years of the Tang Dynasty, which ruled imperial China from 618 to 907. In Blood Message, players take control of a nameless messenger and his son "to deliver a message that holds the fate of their war-torn homeland."Players will have to journey through desolate deserts and the vast wilderness of East and Central Asia. The trailer shows the messenger and his son fighting enemies in the desert, surviving avalanches, working with mysterious characters and discovering ancient artifacts. It also shows the game's cinematic cutscenes, stealth and survival mechanics, as well as the landscapes players can expect to see."We are ushering players into a new generation of high adventure with Blood Message," said Zhipeng Hu, the Lead Producer and NetEase Executive Vice President. "As our first completely single-player focused experience from NetEase Games, after two decades of deep dedication to the gaming industry, we are prepared to deliver a truly epic and cinematic experience for players around the world."NetEase has yet to announce a release date, but Blood Message will be available for consoles and the PC. The game's announcement shows that Chinese developers are increasingly making more inroads into the AAA space. Black Myth: Wukong, which is widely considered as the first AAA game from China, was originally released last year and will be available on the Xbox in August.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/chinese-company-netease-is-making-an-aaa-action-adventure-game-called-blood-message-170052713.html?src=rss

A select few will soon get to experience Tesla's robotaxi service for the first time, but they won't be alone in the car. The company plans to launch its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas tomorrow, but a "Tesla Safety Monitor" will accompany the first riders, according to email invitations sent out to "Early Access Riders." It's unclear what capabilities the safety monitor will have, but they will sit in the front passenger seat of a self-driving Model Y.The email outlined several parameters, including that users were limited to a geofenced area that excludes airports, could run into unavailability due to bad weather and can only hail a robotaxi between 6 am and midnight. This restrictive launch will reportedly only offer 10 cars and comes after a delay from an initial launch date on June 12.With the official date set, Tesla will only offer its robotaxi service with its Model Y for now. This robotaxi service will lay the groundwork for an eventual Cybercab release, which isn't expected to start production until at least 2026, according to the company. For now, Tesla's robotaxi service will face competition from Waymo, which started offering its competiting services in March to Austin residents.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/tesla-inaugural-robotaxi-rides-will-have-a-human-safety-monitor-on-board-161307639.html?src=rss

Apple's executives are thinking of acquiring Perplexity AI both to get more talent and to be able to offer an AI-based search engine in the future, according to Bloomberg. Adrian Perica, Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, has reportedly already talked about the idea with services SVP Eddy Cue and the company's top decision-makers with it comes to its AI efforts. It's early stages, however: Apple has yet to talk to Perplexity about a bid, and the internal talks may not even lead to a formal offer.The executives also reportedly discussed an alternative, wherein instead of buying Perplexity outright, it'll team up with the AI company instead. Either way, the idea is to develop an AI search engine powered by Perplexity and to integrate Perplexity's technology into Siri. While Apple has yet to make a formal offer, Bloomberg says it met several times with Perplexity over the past few months.In May, Cue revealed that Apple discussed a possible Safari-integration with Perplexity while on the stand for Google's ongoing Search antitrust case. Cue took the stand due to Apple's long-standing deal with Google to make its search engine the default on the iPhone. (In turn, Apple gets billions of dollars a year - $18 billion in 2021 - from the arrangement.) Cue didn't share any definitive plans, however, including the possibility of an acquisition.If regulators order Apple to end its partnership with Google, purchasing Perplexity would make it easier for the company to develop an AI-based search engine. In addition, it would allow the company to acquire talent needed to be able to catch up with other companies when it comes to artificial intelligence. Apple, like Meta, has been scouting for new AI talent. Bloomberg says it's even competing against the Facebook owner to hire Daniel Gross, the founder of AI company Safe Superintelligence Inc. The company does seem to need help to be able to release the AI features it wants to provide its users. A few months ago, for instance, Apple delayed the rollout of a more powerful Siri that was a key component of its original pitch for Apple Intelligence.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-is-reportedly-considering-the-acquisition-of-perplexity-ai-150012746.html?src=rss

Earlier in this Playdate season, I commented in a review that I "love a game that pisses me off a little." Well, I may have shot myself in the foot with that one. Week four of Playdate Season Two brings us not one game that got my blood boiling, but two. CatchaDiablos is a roguelike with a unique movement mechanic that is both pretty cool and absolutely infuriating: running in circles with the crank. Shadowgate PD, on the other hand, is a remade-for-Playdate version of the classic point-and-click adventure that's filled with tricky puzzles and hidden death traps.This week is not for the faint of heart. Am I having fun? Yes. Am I suffering? Also yes. I haven't yet had a chance to check out the latest update to Blippo+ because I've been fighting for my life with these two titles, but I sure am looking forward to turning my brain off soon and getting lost in that strange, strange world as a treat after all this.CatchaDiablosAmanoAmano, the developer behind CatchaDiablos, kind of has a knack for games featuring unusual methods of movement. Amano previously gave us Pullfrog Deluxe, a Tetris-like (that I highly recommend checking out) in which you rearrange falling blocks as a frog that pulls stuff around using its tongue. In CatchaDiablos, things are a bit more complicated. You play as something of a demon wrangler on an unnamed moon, rounding up "Diablos" that are scattered all over the place. Of course, as any witch knows, the way to do this is by drawing a chalk circle around the entity, so that's exactly what you do. But, following the chalk line is also the only way you can move.CatchaDiablos basically throws you right into the deep end. There is a very brief tutorial at the beginning to introduce you to the idea of traveling along an arc of pre-determined length, but then you're on your own to take on swarms of the little devils. To make a circle, you aim using the crank and, once you've got the outline placed where you want it, you hold the A button to draw. You have to draw a complete circle around a monster (or a group of monsters, for more points) in order to catch it, but when it comes to moving, you can stop the drawing at any point and you'll only move as far as the chalk extends.Doing this while trying not to run into any Diablos - you take damage every time one touches you - is hard. It gets even harder when some of those Diablos start firing projectiles at you, and they're surrounding you in greater and greater numbers. Everything descends into chaos and it becomes really difficult to try and think fast enough to outmaneuver the Diablos while also trying to run in haphazard half-circles by swinging the crank. And after some time has passed (three eyes at the top of the screen will open), a boss will show up to make things even worse. This is a roguelike, so once your health is depleted, you're dead for good and have to start it all over.I want to be clear: I really, really like this game. I found it hard to put down once I got going, and it's another fun example of how the crank can be used in unexpected ways. It's just kicking my ass. A lot. CatchaDiablos isn't entirely unforgiving, though. As you catch monsters, a status bar on the right side of the screen will start to fill up, and you'll eventually be rewarded with power-ups that can dramatically improve your odds. These come in the form of discs that will pop up in random places and bring perks like extra health spaces, the ability to draw a wider chalk circle and faster movement.Roguelikes aren't for everyone, but if you are into them, this is a great one for the Playdate. As a plus, there's a "Diablory" bestiary of sorts where you can see drawings of every type of creature you've encountered so far. You can access this from the title menu, and it's really worth flipping through after you've sunk a good deal of time into the game.Shadowgate PDPixel Ghost"You seem to be wasting your time." It wasn't exactly a good sign for me when Shadowgate hit me with this message repeatedly in the first room of the damn game, where I found myself stuck for much longer than I'd like to admit and clicking on literally everything in my desperation. Anyone familiar with Shadowgate (1987) or the NES version (or the several other versions beyond that) might already have been braced for the difficult path forward from the get-go, but as someone who never played the original... let's just say we got off to a rougher start than expected. Such a rough start that I was forced to do something I generally avoid at all costs: look for a guide online.So, I must concede that while I have navigated the treacherous castle halls, I had a good amount of help in doing so, which makes it feel like much less of an accomplishment. Bruised ego aside, though, Shadowgate makes for a really cool game on the Playdate. You must explore the castle room by room, solving puzzles, picking up keys and items to access locked areas along the way, defeating enemies and generally just trying not to die. It's a lesson in persistence, really.There are many different ways to die, and much of the fun in games like these for me lies in keeping track of all those that I succumb to. There are the classic deaths, like plummeting after a floor suddenly drops away or getting incinerated by a dragon, and then the silly, unexpected ones, like tripping in the dark and falling flat on my face... fatally. (You really need to pay attention to your torch use). Thankfully, you'll be revived in the room where you died so you don't lose too much progress every time. The art and music really elevate the whole experience. The atmosphere is just right.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playdate-season-2-review-shadowgate-pd-and-catchadiablos-130020943.html?src=rss

The Nintendo Switch 2 has been all the rage around the Engadget HQ for the last few weeks. Even the editors who didn't write the official review have had their hands glued to their new toys. Of course, we've been testing other things too, mainly a repairable laptop that's design for student use. Read on to catch up on the reviews you might've missed over the last two weeks. Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Switch 2 finally made its way to gamers this month and several of us have been putting the portable console through its paces. Senior reviews reporter Sam Rutherford wrote our full review, noting that the company managed to take everything that make the original model so good and make it better. However, there's still room for improvement, especially with regards to battery life. "The Switch 2 has everything that made the original so great, but now there's more of it to enjoy," he said. "Granted, Nintendo's latest console commands a higher price, but as the successor to the iconic system that revived handheld gaming, this thing is worth it." Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller A new Switch means a new Pro Controller, so senior reviews reporter Devindra Hardawar took a deep dive on Nintendo's new accessory. Despite being "the most refined gampad" the company has ever made, he took offense to the price and the lack of advanced design features. "As much as I like the Switch 2 Pro Controller, it's undoubtedly an extravagance at $85 when 8Bitdo's Ultimate gamepad offers even more features for $50," he explained. "But if you're a dedicated Nintendo fan, or you just can't accept third-party controllers, it's also one of the best gamepads you can buy today." Framework Laptop 12 The Framework Laptop 12 takes the company's familiar spin on modular, repairable machines and puts it in a smaller body with students in mind. However, the price is an issue and overall performance isn't good enough. "The limited performance and battery life here gives me pause and I'm not sure a machine that, right now, needs a stretch to run Fortnite would be too popular," senior reporter Dan Cooper wrote. "My gut tells me Framework had intended to sell this for less before tariffs pushed the prices up beyond what made sense." A Playdate Season 2 update Weekend editor Cheyenne Macdonald recently proclaimed that there haven't been any flops at the halfway point of Playdate Season Two. The two newest additions are Long Puppy and Otto's Galactic Groove!!, two games that are fun but still offer a challenge. You can also revisit her thoughts on The Whiteout and Wheelsprung or the initial column on Fulcrum Defender and Blippo+.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-switch-2-playdate-games-and-a-framework-laptop-130056621.html?src=rss

Summer is finally here - at least for those of us north of the equator - and you might be planning to spend more time outdoors. Thanks to a swathe of great handheld devices, it's never been easier to play some fantastic indie games wherever you might be, so you can soak up the sun while unlocking achievements.There are a bunch of intriguing new indies you can check out right now, as well as a significant update for a certain thirst-inducing roguelite that's still in early access. I've also a few upcoming titles in this, the latest edition of our indie roundup. One of them has a Steam demo that you might end up spending several enjoyable hours with.Before we get started, a quick word of warning: Your wishlist and resolve are about to be tested as the Steam Summer Sale starts next week. I mean, good luck in advance with the bargain hunting!New releasesI have to hold my hands up, I was skeptical about Rematch. When it was revealed that Sloclap - the team behind martial arts games Absolver and Sifu - was making an action-focused soccer game, I had some doubts that it would work. Rematch looked like the studio had taken Rocket League and retrofitted it with human characters. And with both that car soccer game and EA Sports FC 25 as competition, Sloclap was really going to have to do something special to break through. I think the studio might have just pulled that off.Rematch is entirely skill-based with no stat upgrades for your character. You control one player throughout the match, and you'll transition between attacking and defending while rotating the goalkeeper role with teammates. The action is very fluid and fast, and the controls are responsive (they'd have to be). Like in Rocket League, the ball doesn't go out of bounds. There are no fouls or offsides either.I've really enjoyed my first dozen or so games of Rematch. I came to realize that I'm more effective in a midfield/playmaker role or even as the goalkeeper than as an attacker. I haven't been able to get the hang of using the twin-stick controls to aim and shoot at the goal well enough as yet, but I've figured out a way to both help my team and have fun.There are some bugs that the developers are racing to fix and the lack of cross-play at the jump is a bit disappointing (Sloclap says it ran into some technical issues there, but getting that sorted is a top priority for the team). Still, Rematch feels like a very sticky game that I imagine many folks are going to sink dozens of hours into. It's already off to a strong start - it surpassed a million players on its first day.Rematch is out now on Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It's on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.After some delays, it's finally time to date everything in Date Everything!As the title of this dating sim from Sassy Chap Games and publisher Team17 suggests, you can romance anthropomorphized versions of things around your home. There are more than 100 voice-acted characters you can woo, from the doors and wall, to a mouse trap and dust bunny behind a couch, to fire and air. Things get pretty meta, as you can also date the devs, the game itself and "your overwhelming sense of existential dread."There are multiple endings for each character and around 70,000 lines of dialogue, so there's plenty to explore here. Reviews have been generally positive, with praise for the writing and design. I can't wait to see the reactions of my seatmate when I'm playing it on my next flight.Date Everything! is out now on Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.Lost in Randomwas received fairly well a few years back and now a roguelite spinoff has arrived. Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is out on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.This is a run-based action game with an isometric perspective and some permanent progression. So, it's very much Hades-coded, though it gives the genre a gothic storybook spin with a dice-rolling element.Speaking of which (and in case you missed it), the third major early access update for Hades II arrived this week. Oh, sure, there are new bosses and combat options and so on. All of that's great.But for many fans, the biggest addition this time is proper character art for Narcissus. Unsurprisingly, he's hot and he knows it.UpcomingFrom time to time, I'll start playing a demo and very quickly feel that GIF of Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons pop into my head. You know, the one where he goes "Haha, I'm in danger!" (the GIF is actually from a crossover Family Guy episode in which characters from that show visited Springfield, fact fans). Such is the case with Ball x Pit, a game that I am already certain is going to absorb many, many hours of my life.I didn't get to the Ball x Pit demo until after Steam Next Fest ended, but it's still available until the full game goes live later this year (it's coming to Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch too). After playing the demo, it's easy to see why publisher Devolver Digital dedicated the entire Summer Game Fest edition of its Devolver Direct showcase to this project from indie developer Kenny Sun and half-a-dozen collaborators.Ball x Pit is a blend of Breakout and Vampire Survivors with base-building elements. As you play the brick-breaking survival levels, you'll earn resources you can use to build out your homestead, which feeds back into the projectile chaos. It's an absorbing loop, but the real fun for me comes in the pit.Here, your character will (either manually or automatically) fire magic-infused balls at enemy tiles while avoiding their attacks and making sure the bad guys don't reach the bottom of the screen. You'll collect more projectiles and passive upgrades throughout your run. The real magic happens when you're able to fuse together a pair of balls to combine their effects. So, a ghost ball that passes through enemies instead of bouncing between them might also deliver a laser attack to other baddies in the same row or column.It's already apparent that the gameplay here will run deep. There will be a host of levels, characters and upgrades to unlock. I really can't wait for Ball x Pit to entirely ruin my productivity.I loved the Goosebumps books and TV show as a kid, so a stealth game based on the series caught my eye. In Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek (from PHL Collective and publisher GameMill Entertainment), you'll try to avoid monsters in a nightmarish town but if you run into any, you can defend yourself with your slingshot.This game includes puzzles and an original story with multiple endings, while the art style looks charmingly old-school. It's coming to Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Steam on August 29.Let's close things out for this week with the latest look at PowerWash Simulator 2. I enjoyed the first game immensely, and the new trailer shows off some more fresh features that are coming to the sequel, which is slated to hit PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S later this year.This time around, you'll be able to abseil or use a scissor lift to get to grimy, hard-to-reach spots. Multi-stage jobs are also new in PowerWash Simulator 2, and there will be a public restroom (ick) to make pristine. In addition, you'll be able to buy and restore antique furniture for your home base, while your pet kitties can join you on cleaning jobs. Cute!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/silky-soccer-romancing-everything-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110055973.html?src=rss

New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) have settled on new minimum-wage rules for rideshare drivers, Bloomberg reports. Drivers will receive a five percent raise under the new proposal, a compromise to keep Uber and Lyft from locking drivers out of their apps.The proposal needs to be voted on by the TLC's board of commissioners before it goes into effect, but assuming it does, it'll end months of uncertainty for drivers working in the city. Uber began sporadically locking drivers out of its app in May 2024, preventing them taking rides and earning money. The company was blocking access to its app to avoid having to pay drivers who were working but not actively taking rides. Besides introducing a minimum wage for drivers that started around $18 per hour in 2022, New York also included stipulations in its law that required drivers be paid for the downtime between rides, something Uber and Lyft naturally had a problem with.Bloomberg writes that the TLC initially proposed a 6.1 percent raise in an attempt to disincentivize Uber and Lyft from locking drivers out. The proposal would adjust how driver pay is calculated, in exchange for an upfront raise and a guarantee that drivers are warned before they lose access to a rideshare app. Settling on a five percent raise and a commitment to not raise wages yearly and instead based "changing industry dynamics," is a further capitulation. One that's still not enough for Lyft, apparently. The company told Bloomberg that, "while these changes are a step in the right direction, we still have concerns that the underlying pay formula will still deprive drivers of earning opportunities, drive up prices for riders and reduce ride availability."Uber and Lyft have long had a contentious relationship with city and state governments over driver protections. In comparison to the passing of Prop 22 in California, which reclassified gig workers as contractors after another law did the opposite, even a diminished minimum wage law in New York is better than nothing.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/nyc-proposes-5-percent-raise-for-rideshare-drivers-in-a-bid-to-appease-uber-and-lyft-220011937.html?src=rss

Remedy has shared its plans to improve FBC: Firebreak, the new multiplayer Control spinoff, following a string of less-than-stellar reviews that criticized the game's rough early hours. FBC: Firebreak was announced in October 2024 as the first online multiplayer game from Remedy, and another pitstop on the way to an eventual Control 2.The full patch notes for Remedy's first update are available to view on Steam, but in brief, the biggest change the developer is making is to how missions are unlocked. Previously, Firebreak required players to play a simpler, shorter version of the game's missions (like dealing with multiplying post-it notes or pink goo, for example), before a more complex version of the mission became available. Now those full-fat missions are available from the start, and completing one unlocks the next type. Remedy's update also rebalances the cost of cosmetics and makes it easier to see and find in-game collectibles, among other tweaks.The developer is planning to make larger changes to how FBC: Firebreak explains the synergies of in-game weapons and abilities, but those onboarding improvements will take longer to implement. Future updates adding new missions and cosmetics where already planned for the game, so fixes will presumably be worked into the existing roadmap.We enjoyed our hands-on time with FBC: Firebreak, but reviewers report a less rosy picture after playing the game over a longer period of time. Eurogamer found Firebreak charming in Remedy's typical oddball way, but also inconsistent in terms of difficulty. GameSpot noted similar messiness in the game's mission design, and also the general lack of explanation for weapons and abilities. The more damning and existential problem highlighted by TechRadar is the dearth of story in the game, something that Control generally excelled at. Remedy doesn't appear to have a plan to address any perceived narrative shortcomings in FBC: Firebreak, and since it's a multiplayer game, the company may just have different goals.FBC: Firebreak is available now for $40 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. If you pay for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, you can play the game at no additional cost.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/remedy-is-trying-to-fix-fbc-firebreak-in-response-to-middling-reviews-and-player-feedback-203805921.html?src=rss

If anyone was holding out hope that the Oversight Board would provide some kind of check on Meta's rewritten hate speech policy, Meta has just made it clear exactly where it stands. The company published its formal response to the board's criticism, and has declined to commit to any substantive steps to change its rules.The Oversight Board previously criticized Meta's January policy changes as "hastily announced" and wrote that it was "concerned" about the company's decision to use the term "transgenderism" in its rewritten community standards. The company's policy, announced by Mark Zuckerberg in January shortly before President Donald Trump took office, now permits people to claim that LGBTQ people are mentally ill."We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words such as 'weird,'" the policy now states. In a decision related to two videos depicting public harassment of transgender women, the Oversight Board had sided with Meta on its decision to leave the videos up. But the board recommended that Meta remove the word "transgenderism" from its policy. "For its rules to have legitimacy, Meta must seek to frame its content policies neutrally," the board said.The word has a long association with discrimination and dehumanization, human rights groups have said. Human Rights Campaign noted that the term is "socially and scientifically invalid" and "often wielded by anti-trans activists to delegitimize transgender people." GLAAD has likewise noted that "framing a person's transgender identity as a 'concept' or 'ideology' reduces a core identity to an opinion that can be debated, and therefore justifies dehumanization, discrimination, and real-world violence against transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people."In its formal response, Meta officials said they were still "assessing feasibility" of removing the word from its policies. The company said it would "consider ways to update the terminology" but added that "achieving clarity and transparency in our public explanations may sometimes require including language considered offensive to some."Meta also declined to commit to the board's three other recommendations in the case. The board had recommended that Meta "identify how the policy and enforcement updates may adversely impact the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, including minors, especially where these populations are at heightened risk," take steps to mitigate those risks and issue regular reports to the board and the public about its work.It had also recommended that Meta allow users to designate other individuals who are able to report bullying and harassment on their behalf, and that the company make improvements to reduce errors when people report bullying and harassment. Meta said it was "assessing feasibility" of these suggestions.Meta's response raises uncomfortable questions about just how much influence the ostensibly independent Oversight Board can have. Zuckerberg said that Meta created the Oversight Board so that it wouldn't have to make consequential policy decisions on its own. Previously, the social network has asked the board for help in major decisions, like Donald Trump's suspension and its rules for celebrities and politicians. But Zuckerberg's decision to roll back hate speech protections and ditch third-party fact checking took the board by surprise.Meta has always been free to ignore the Oversight Board's recommendations, but it has allowed it to influence some of its more controversial policies. That seems like it could be changing, however. Zuckerberg's decision to roll back hate speech protections and ditch third-party fact checking took the board by surprise. And the company now seems to have little interest in engaging with the board's criticism of those changes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-tells-the-oversight-board-it-isnt-removing-the-word-transgenderism-from-its-hate-speech-rules-180438796.html?src=rss

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Microsoft is making it harder to use Chrome on Windows. The culprit? This time, it's Windows' Family Safety feature. Since early this month, the parental control measure has prevented users from opening Chrome. Strangely, no other apps or browsers appear to be affected.Redditors first reported the issue on June 3 (via The Verge). u/Witty-Discount-2906 posted that Chrome crashed on Windows 11. "Just flashes quickly, unable to open with no error message," they wrote. Another user chimed in with a correct guess. "This may be related to Parental Controls," u/duk242 surmised. "I've had nine students come see the IT Desk in the last hour saying Chrome won't open."A Google spokesperson pointed Engadget to a statement in its community forum. "Our team has investigated these reports and determined the cause of this behavior," Community Manager Ellen T. wrote. "For some users, Chrome is unable to run when Microsoft Family Safety is enabled."Curiously, Microsoft hasn't fixed the bug after 17 days. (Go figure!)MicrosoftWindows Family Safety is an optional parental control feature for families and schools. It lets them manage children's screen time, filter their web browsing and monitor their activity.There are a couple of workarounds while we wait for the company to take action. One is to turn off the "Filter Inappropriate Websites" setting in Family Safety. However, that removes the security feature, letting the kids run wild on the World Wide Web. (Weeee!!) A simpler fix is to navigate to your Chrome folder and rename chrome.exe to something like chrome1.exe.Engadget emailed Microsoft for a comment. We haven't heard back, but we'll update this story if we do.If you've ever installed Chrome on Windows, this bug may trigger deja vu. Microsoft has a long history of desperate tricks to keep you on its default products. That has included obnoxious prompts, pop-up ads for Bing and begging users to stick with Edge. At least European users will get some relief. Microsoft is scaling back its cheap tactics there to comply with EU regulations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/windows-parental-controls-are-blocking-chrome-170247515.html?src=rss

Members of the ZeniMax Workers United-CWA union have ratified the contract agreement with parent company Microsoft. This agreement with the union representing the video game studio's quality assurance employees marks the first time Microsoft has entered into any union contract in the US. ZeniMax Studios is probably best known for its work on The Elder Scrolls Online. Stephen Totilo first reported on this news; we've reached out to Microsoft and the Communications Workers of America for additional comment.As with many organizing efforts, this step has been a long time coming. The group of employees voted to unionize in 2023, and Microsoft immediately recognized ZeniMax Workers United-CWA following the vote results. Microsoft also made its policy of neutrality toward union organizing at ZeniMax official in 2024. The QA workers from ZeniMax and Microsoft reached a tentative contract this May.The contract includes provisions for wage increases and minimum salaries, as well as industry-specific content such as a clearer crediting policy recognizing the role of QA and protections for the employees regarding use of AI.Update, June 20 2025, 12:18PM ET: Microsoft provided Engadget with the following statement, attributed to the company's Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Amy Pannoni: This agreement reflects our ongoing commitment to employee voice and collaborative labor relations. Reaching this milestone with the ZeniMax quality assurance team and CWA is another step toward helping everyone here do their best work."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/zenimax-and-microsoft-ratify-union-agreement-224148192.html?src=rss

Snap has acquired Saturn, a calendar app for high school and college students. The company didn't disclose the terms of the deal but said that close to 30 of Saturn's full-time employees will be joining Snap as part of the acquisition.It's not clear what exactly Snap has planned for Saturn, but the company confirmed to Engadget that the calendar app will continue to operate as a standalone service. It also suggested that the acquisition could help Snap bring calendar-focused features into Snapchat.A calendar app may seem like an odd choice for Snap, but there's clearly a lot of overlap between the two services' users. According to Snap, about 80 percent of US high schoolers attend schools that support Saturn (its App Store page says it's available at more than 17,000 high schools). Snap is used by more than half of US teens, per Pew Research.Saturn is also much more social than the typical calendar app. It has a Snapchat-like design that allows teens to easily share and compare their schedules with friends. It also supports features specific to many high school students' routines, like block schedules, rotation calendars and extracurricular activities. Saturn also has features for college students, though it doesn't seem to be as widely used among that slightly older demographic.The startup, founded by Dylan Diamond (Saturn's CEO) and Max Baron (COO) has previously raised money from a number of high-profile investors, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions. Forbes reported in 2021 the startup had raised $44 million.Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Engadget's parent company Yahoo, joined the board of directors at Snap on September 12, 2024. No one outside of Engadget's editorial team has any say in our coverage of the company.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/snap-is-acquiring-saturn-a-calendar-app-used-at-thousands-of-high-schools-160046915.html?src=rss

Nothing has probably made its biggest impression in the tech world with its distinctive mid-range Android phones (like the 3a Pro pictured above). But the UK-based brand's first product was actually wireless earbuds, and now it's preparing to unveil its first over-ear headphones on July 1. As is often the way, though, we don't have to wait until then to get our first look at the upcoming cans, as pictures have leaked online ahead of the London launch event.As you'd expect from a Nothing product, the Headphone 1 - if these leaked images are indeed legitimate - looks like nothing else on the market. A number of photos uploaded to Instagram by Nothing Fan Blog show off a typical transparent design, which looks a bit like someone has glued a cassette tape to a slab of smooth metal. It looks like the headphones will be available in black/gray and silver/white colorways.

Companies that develop generative AI always make it a point to say that they include links to websites in the answers that their chatbots generate for users. But Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has revealed to Axios that search traffic referrals keep plummeting. Publishers are facing an existential threat, he said, because people aren't clicking through those chatbot links and are relying more and more on AI summaries without digging deeper.Prince told Axios that 10 years ago, Google sent a publisher one visitor for every two pages it had crawled. Six months ago, the ratio was one visitor for every six pages, and now it's one for every 18. OpenAI sent one visitor to a publisher for every 250 pages it crawled six months ago, while Anthropic sent one visitor for every 6,000 pages. These days, OpenAI sends one visitor to a publisher for every 1,500 pages, whereas Anthropic sends one visitor for every 60,000 pages.People have come to trust AI chatbots more over the past few months. The problem for publishers is that they don't earn from advertisements if people don't click through links leading to their websites, and that's why Prince is encouraging them to take action to make sure they're fairly compensated. Prince said Cloudflare is currently working on a tool to block bots that scrape content for large language models even if a web page already has a "no crawl" instruction. If you'll recall, several outlets had reported in 2024 that AI companies have been ignoring websites' Robots Exclusion Protocol, or robots.txt, files and taking their content anyway to train their technologies.Cloudflare has been looking for ways to block scrapers since last year. But it was only in March when Cloudflare officially introduced AI Labyrinth, which uses AI-generated content to "slow down, confuse, and waste the resources of AI Crawlers and other bots that don't respect 'no crawl' directives." It works by linking an unauthorized crawler a series of AI-generated pages that are convincing enough but don't actually have the contents of the site the tool it's protecting. That way, the crawler ends up wasting time and resources."I go to war every single day with the Chinese government, the Russian government, the Iranians, the North Koreans, probably Americans, the Israelis, all of them who are trying to hack into our customer sites," Prince said. "And you're telling me, I can't stop some nerd with a C-corporation in Palo Alto?"This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/cloudflare-ceo-says-people-arent-checking-ai-chatbots-source-links-120016921.html?src=rss

When the Trump family announced its debut into the glitzy world of phone carriers with Trump Mobile, it came with a phone, too: a not-gold slab called the T1. The biggest heady claim (beyond the fact that its sole $47.25 plan would be true value") is: how can any modern smartphone claim to be made in the US?Alex Cranz takes Trump Mobile's sales pitch to task. While we know a lot of the specs, there's no reference to a processor - and that's because practically all smartphone processors are not made in the US. That's just the start.- Mat SmithGet Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The news you might have missed

Whether you're chasing cinematic landscapes or just want to snap the ultimate selfie from above, finding the best drone comes down to knowing what kind of flying experience you're after. From compact options you can slip into a backpack to advanced models that shoot silky-smooth 4K footage, today's drones come packed with features that cater to everyone - from total beginners to seasoned pilots.

The long-promised launch of Tesla's robotaxi service in Austin is scheduled for June 22, and it sounds like the company's initial offering will be modest at best. The Financial Times writes that Tesla will only have around 10 cars available for rides and that the company plans to make them "avoid the city's most challenging intersections." If issues arise, remote operators will also reportedly be able to take control of the cars to make sure they reach their final destination.Tesla CEO Elon Musk told CNBC in May that the robotaxi service might launch with less than a dozen cars, so that's not necessarily a surprise, but the actual scope may be even smaller. Analysts The New York Timesspoke to believe rides in Tesla's robotaxi will only be available to "company employees or invited guests." It could take months before the service is made available to the wider public.Musk formally introduced the company's robotaxi service and its self-driving Cybercab at an event in October 2024, but the idea has been a promised feature for Tesla owners for even longer. The pitch goes that since all Teslas are equipped with the cameras necessary for the company's self-driving system, any of them can be converted into a cab while not in use. Musk believes autonomous transport could be so widespread that it becomes as cheap as mass transit, while being safer than relying on a human driver.Whether the company's Full Self Driving system can pull that off is an open question. Tesla is currently being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for autonomous driving-related crashes. The company has also reportedly blocked the city of Austin from handing over its robotaxi records, which suggests it's at least somewhat self-conscious about how it will perform.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/teslas-robotaxi-debut-will-reportedly-be-limited-to-only-10-cars-in-very-specific-areas-205802818.html?src=rss

AI company Midjourney has released its first video model. This initial take on AI-generated video will allow users to animate their images, either ones made in Midjourney or uploaded from a different source. The initial results will be five-second clips that a user can opt to extend by four seconds up to four times. Videos can be generated on web only for now and require at least a $10 a month subscription to access.

Steam has introduced a new batch of features for improved accessibility in the latest beta of the gaming client. The platform is adding a sliding scale for adjusting UI size, a high contrast mode to make text and buttons more distinct from the background, and a reduce motion setting to disable select animations and page transitions. These three features are available for devices running SteamOS and in Steam's Big Picture Mode, which displays a full-screen user interface for easier legibility.In addition, SteamOS devices are getting support for a screen reader. This feature has adjustments for the volume, rate and pitch of the audio output. The new beta also offers color filters for SteamOS devices, allowing the user to choose modes of grayscale, invert brightness or invert colors. This change to visual output with colors applies to both the Steam client and to games. For now, only the Steam Deck and the Lenovo Legion Go S run Valve's gaming-focused operating system, but the company is clearly planning to add more devices in the future."These new settings are only the first available of the accessibility features we're working on, and we're excited to put even more tools in the hands of our players," the company said in the blog post announcing the new updates.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/steam-adds-more-accessibility-features-181606704.html?src=rss

Not content with a real estate empire and the presidency of the United States, the Trump family is wading into the phone wars like it's 2011 with a shiny gold monstrosity called the T1, the marketing of which leans extensively on the narrowest idea of patriotism. Beyond the immediate question - why do this, like, at all? - the T1 invites a question that's perhaps easier to interrogate: How can any modern smartphone claim to be made in the US?Over the last 40 years America has led a massive globalization effort that allows companies to pick and choose where they develop and build hardware that finds its way back to the US. The best chips to run your phone are built in Taiwan - regardless of the phone maker. The best phones are built in China, India or Vietnam. The displays are often produced in Korea. The glass is actually made in America. The sand that will eventually become the silicon wafers chips are made of is sourced here too. But most phones, and virtually all smartphones found in America, are globally produced devices. An all-American golden Trump phone is about as fantastical as the big, beautiful bill's promise to make all Americans rich.The phone has reasonable specs for the $499 price tag. There's a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a punch hole for the 16MP front camera, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage. Its rear array of cameras includes a 50MP main camera, a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens. Notably lacking in the spec list is the processor. Perhaps that's a typo, or perhaps that's because nearly all smartphone processors are made overseas.Multiple analysts have suggested the Trump T1 is actually a reskinned Revvl 7. That's a $200 Android phone currently offered by T-Mobile in the US and manufactured by Wingtech, a (partially) state-owned Chinese phone maker and semiconductor manufacturer. However the specs and outer appearance better align with the 180 (also about $200) Coolpad X100, which is mentioned as a related phone" to the T1 on the smartphone database GSMArena. Similarly, that phone has a 6.8-inch AMOLED display, 256GB of internal storage and up to 12GB of RAM, but its cameras are significantly higher resolution and it has a flash built into its camera module. It, like the Revvl 7, is manufactured in China by a Chinese company.Don Jr and Eric Trump haven't said if the T1 is a reskin of the Revvl 7 - or any other existing phone for that matter - instead insisting their device will eventually be made in the US. (Note that word eventually." It is doing a lot of work.) The Trump brothers have chosen their words like lawyers are watching, likely because the Made in America claim they're making isn't just marketing, it's enforceable by the Federal Trade Commission. You can't just slap it on a crummy Chinese phone and call it a day.The FTC actually has very strict regulations on how you label products and country of origin," Todd Weaver, CEO and Founder of Purism, told me. Purism is an American company that produces its own operating system to compete with iOS and Android and is the only company in the US which can actually use any part of the Made in America" claim for its phones. In our call he sounded a little irritated about the T1's claims, but was eager to explain how the labeling works.The Purism Liberty Phone.PurismI don't make that claim and I manufacture all the electronics in the US," Weaver said. Purism had to go with a non-phone processor for the Liberty phone because no company based in America makes phone processors (yet). Even with a non-standard chip, Purism's processor comes from its supplier's fabrication in South Korea. He found it financially challenging to source a chassis in the US as well. An unqualified Made in America claim would mean that a phone was not just assembled here, but every single part of the device was manufactured here as well. That's an essentially impossible task for phone makers. It's why Purism's phone has the label Made in America Electronics instead. Weaver could get a lot, but not all of the parts manufactured in the US.While it's certainly theoretically possible the Trump brothers could take all the wealth they've been amassing since their father reentered the Oval Office to brute force a more American phone, it isn't happening any time soon. The Trump T1, which they claim will be sold in September, cannot carry that label, at least not legally. (Whether the current FTC would prosecute the president's sons for misrepresenting the T1 is another story entirely.) We've reached out to the FTC for comment and as of publishing have not heard back.So what about other pro-American manufacturing labels? The Trump Brothers have hinted that the phones will be assembled here - even if the Revvl 7 (or Coolpad X100) is currently not. Those labels are also governed by the FTC and they're not easy to get around. A simple "screwdriver" operation (importing almost entirely foreign parts and fitting them together in the States) is even provided by the FTC as a straightforward example of consumer deception.That's a lesson we all learned when Apple promised to start building computers domestically again. In 2019 it announced a big factory in Texas under pressure from the Trump administration to bring more manufacturing jobs to America. But even though people are putting screws into Mac Pros stateside, those can't carry the label Assembled in America." Instead they're Designed in America" and a Product of Thailand" with Final Assembly in America." It's a global device.Electronics are global devices and no amount of gold gilding or misleading claims from the sons of American presidents can change that. The best estimates from manufacturing experts claim it will be half a decade, minimum, before Apple or Samsung could be building phones in the US.Weaver has already mused about reporting the Trump brothers for claiming their gold-gilded T1 is Made in America, and noted that anyone (even you, dear reader) could do the same.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/the-golden-trump-phone-is-almost-certainly-not-made-in-the-us-174536590.html?src=rss

The Fairphone 6 is widely expected to get an official unveiling in the next week but the leadup to the repairable smartphone's launch has been leakier than a bad tap. In a new report from WinFuture, purported images of the Fairphone 6 show that it'll feature two back covers: one for the main body covering the cameras, and a lower panel that can be easily removed by loosening a few visible screws.Doing so grants access to the battery, which WinFuture notes is not glued down, though swapping it out will require you to remove a few additional screws. The back plates are available in three different colors - black green and white - which you're free to mix and match with to give the phone a more personalized look.This being a Fairphone product, the battery unsurprisingly isn't the only removable component. If you know what you're doing, you can also replace the 50- and 13-megapixel main cameras and the 32-megapixel front-facing camera, as well as the display, speaker and USB-C charging port.In terms of specs, the Fairphone 6 is fairly unremarkable, but you'd expect it to be at the rumored 550 (around $630) price point it'll reportedly retail at. As well as the aforementioned trio of lenses, it'll reportedly have a 6.31-inch 120Hz display, 256GB of internal storage (expandable via a MicroSDXC slot), 8GB of RAM and a 4,415mAh battery. Under the hood is a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, so we're firmly in mid-range territory. The Fairphone 6's expected IP55 rating for water and dust resistance means it'll comfortably withstand a bit of rain, but likely won't take well to a dunk in the bath.Of its predecessor, the Fairphone 5, released (though not in the US) in 2023, Engadget's Daniel Cooper said: "If you're looking to pick up a mid-range handset that you can keep going for twice as long as any other phone on the market, and you want to do a bit of good in the process, this is probably the phone for you. It's not often the view from the moral high ground is this comfortable."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-fairphone-6-leaks-ahead-of-its-rumored-late-june-launch-163630181.html?src=rss

Everything old is new again. Netflix just inked a deal to air live television broadcasts in France, turning the streaming giant into, well, regular TV. The platform will host five traditional broadcast channels from French TV behemoth TF1. Subscribers in the region will have access to live programming and on-demand content.The partnership officially begins next summer. The channels underneath TF1's umbrella air everything from reality shows like The Voice to live sports, including the French national football team's matches.The deal brings a whole lot of content to Netflix, as TF1 has a massive back catalog. This includes popular local dramas like Broceliande and reality shows like Koh-Lanta. Greg Peters, co-chief executive of Netflix, told Financial Times that TF1 is a producer of great, premium content." This move could help the platform with customer retention in the region.TF1 gets access to a large pool of potential viewers, as Netflix's subscriber base in France passed 10 million in 2022. That's around 13 percent of the country's total population.This isn't the first time the two companies have teamed up. TF1 and Netflix have collaborated on scripted shows like Les Combattantes and Tout le bleu du ciel. This is likely due to a mandate in France that requires streaming services to reinvest in local content. It's also not the first time Netflix has experimented with live TV in the region. The platform tested a live TV channel called Direct back in 2020.This is fascinating because Netflix began as an alternative to live TV and now it's becoming live TV. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/netflix-signs-deal-to-host-live-tv-channels-in-france-153852590.html?src=rss

Summer Game Fest might be in the rear-view mirror, but the gaming showcases are still coming. Capcom has announced that its next Spotlight livestream will take place on June 26. Planned to last around 40 minutes, the showcase will focus on upcoming titles Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem, which was announced during Summer Game Fest proper earlier this month. As well as news, the event will include developer interviews.Capcom is also promoting Monster Hunter Wilds and Street Fighter 6 as featured games, so expect new information on updates or fresh content for those existing titles in the showcase. We already know that the Title 2 Update for Monster Hunter Wilds is due at the end of the month, which will add new monsters and a new seasonal event.The last Capcom Spotlight took place in February, where Capcom announced the remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. We wouldn't expect any new game announcements this time, but it could happen. More exciting is the possibility of new footage of Resident Evil Requiem, which was arguably the biggest announcement of SGF 2025. We know we'll be playing as a new character, named Grace Ashcroft, and that you'll be able to choose between a first and third-person perspective throughout the game.Engadget's Mat Smith got to play Pragmataat SGF, where he called it a satisfying sci-fi shooter" and came away impressed by the elegance of its dual-protagonist gameplay. Capcom first announced the game way back in 2020, so it's a long time coming.The next Capcom Spotlight livestream will kick off on June 26 at 6pm ET.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/resident-evil-requiem-headlines-the-next-capcom-spotlight-livestream-143001469.html?src=rss

A SpaceX Starship vehicle has exploded yet again, and this time, it happened before it even took off. NASASpaceflight has captured the event in a livestream, wherein you can see the spacecraft (Ship 36) suddenly explode into a fireball after the company tested its forward flap and just before it was supposed to conduct a static fire test. The company said on X that on June 19 at approximately 12AM Eastern time, the Starship it was preparing for its 10th flight test "experienced a major anomaly" while it was on a stand in its Starbase, Texas facility.Since SpaceX maintained a safety clear area around the vehicle, all its personnel were safe and accounted for. It also said that there's no danger to nearby residents, but it's asking people not to approach the area. According to local authorities, the explosion happened due to a "catastrophic failure." No injuries have been reported, and investigation is already underway to determine the root cause of the incident.Starship is the super-heavy-lift launch vehicle SpaceX is developing for bigger launches with more payload and for missions heading farther than low Earth orbit, such as to the moon and to Mars. Based on its most recent tests, however, it's far from ready. During its seventh and eighth flights, its second stage, which is known as the "Ship," exploded during ascent. It was the Ship that exploded on Wednesday night. The second stage managed to reach space during its ninth test flight in May, but SpaceX lost contact with it and wasn't able to achieve a controlled splashdown into the ocean. SpaceX also lost contact with its Super Heavy booster stage upon re-entry, and it went through a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" six minutes after launch.

DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused web browser and search engine, has expanded the scope of its Scam Blocker tool. In addition to being able to protect you from standard phishing and malware attempts, Scam Blocker now also covers fake e-commerce storefronts, survey sites and cyptocurrency exchanges, as well as "scareware" pages falsely claiming that your device is infected and want you to click a button or a link to clean it.If the tool determines that you've clicked on a link leading to one of those websites, it blocks the page from loading altogether. Instead, it shows you a warning message telling you that the website may be a security risk and that it has been flagged for "trying to manipulate people into transferring money, buying counterfeit goods, or installing malware." The warning also lets you safely navigate away from the scam website without loading it.DuckDuckGo built Scam Blocker itself, and it doesn't rely on any Google technology like other browsers do. The company said it means it doesn't send data to any third parties and it doesn't track your activities. It constantly refreshes its list of malicious URLs from independent internet services provider Netcraft and passes the updates to its browser every 20 minutes. That list of dangerous sites lives locally on your device, and the tool checks URLs you're visiting against it to determine whether to show you a warning message.Scam Blocker is completely free on desktop and the web, and it's switched on by default. If you're paying for DuckDuckGo's $10-a-month Privacy Pro subscription service, Scam Blocker will even protect you while using other browsers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/duckduckgos-browser-now-protects-you-from-fake-crypto-exchanges-and-scareware-120024473.html?src=rss

Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday or Tuesday (or Thursday?), 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.I've been playing the Switch 2 alongside 3.5 million of my closest friends since Nintendo's new console came out on June 5, and I'm having an excellent time. Although to be perfectly transparent, a vast majority of my play has been dedicated to Mario Kart World, a game I've been looking forward to for months and that perfectly scratches the couch co-op itch I've been meaning to ask my doctor about. Mario Kart World is colorful, bright and infinitely replayable, and one feature that's getting a lot of attention is its elevated skill ceiling. This installment introduces new mechanics like wall riding and rail grinds, which significantly alter how the game is played at its highest levels, where shortcuts and strategic pathing are a must. There's too much variability in Mario Kart for it to be a professionally competitive franchise, but that doesn't stop people from getting extremely good at it, and players are already trying to milk the most milliseconds out of the new moves in Mario Kart World. It's going to take a while, since these mechanics are surprisingly complex, and I'm excited to see what secrets the community uncovers in the near future.While that's happening, I'd like to highlight something on the opposite side of the skill spectrum. Mario Kart World is far less frustrating in moment-to-moment gameplay than Mario Kart 8, and I think this is one of its greatest strengths. I don't have empirical data here, but it's a distinct feeling I have every time I play: Getting hit with shells, running over banana peels and bouncing into obstacles is more forgiving than ever. These moments are less jarring than they were in Mario Kart 8 specifically, and it takes noticeably less time to recover and get back into the race after taking a red shell to the behind. Either the stun time is shorter, the post-collision acceleration is faster or there's some witchy combination of these factors happening, but whatever the cause, I deeply appreciate the effect.Mario Kart World is flow-friendly and accessible, and these subtle tweaks diminish some of the series' most annoying aspects, like resetting after a barrage of explosive bullshit gets hurled into your bumper. The only item in Mario Kart World that feels like a true hard stop is the lightning bolt, but at least that one affects every character around you with the same momentum-jamming force.Meanwhile, the tracks in Mario Kart World are so very, very pretty - looking at you, Starview Peak and Rainbow Road - the character roster is stacked with super adorable fresh faces, motorcycles are more stable than previous games, and the 24-player Knockout Tour is a fun test of skill. With the potential for 23 items to be aimed at your back, it makes sense that Nintendo would try to make recovery more seamless this time, and I just wanted to say that I notice it and appreciate it.Now, to figure out this wall riding thing.The newsXbox is preparing for a post-console worldXbox president Sarah Bond announced that the company's next generation of hardware will be powered by AMD, just like the Xbox Series X/S and the coming ROG Xbox Ally handhelds. That's cool, but it also offers some clues about the future of Microsoft's gaming division, and things are looking more decentralized with each new morsel. Xbox appears to be positioning itself as a platform-agnostic software provider, leaning into PC and handheld play, and running an all-inclusive storefront that follows you across devices. It really sounds like the next Xbox could be more of a PC that lives under your TV, rather than a dedicated, closed-system video game machine. Ouya was just 12 years too soon, it seems.The SAG-AFTRA video game strike is overDid you hear that sonorous, well-articulated sigh of relief? SAG-AFTRA suspended its strike against 10 major video game studios, following nearly a year of negotiations over AI use and actor compensation. The union and the studios signed a deal that includes wage increases for more than 24 percent of performers and protections around the deployment of AI and digital replicas.Bungie hits pause on MarathonMaybe this is for the best. Bungie has indefinitely delayed Marathon, citing a need to overhaul the game as it currently stands. The delay follows a slew of bad news out of Bungie, starting in July 2024, when the studio laid off 220 employees, or 17 percent of its workforce. In May 2025, Bungie was caught using stolen artwork in the Marathon alpha and several former employees accused the studio of fostering a toxic environment. Whether Marathon really requires a revamp or Bungie just needs a moment to breathe, a delay feels like the right move.EVERYONE CALM DOWN, Borderlands 4 will not cost $80It will cost $70.Bloober Team is the Silent Hill studio nowIt's official - Bloober Team is remaking the original Silent Hill for Konami. The project follows Bloober's highly successful reimagining of Silent Hill 2, which landed in October 2024 and garnered oodles of acclaim from critics and players alike. There's no word on a release date for the new remake, but it's joining a trio of other in-development projects in the Silent Hill universe: Silent Hill Townfall from Annapurna Interactive and No Code, Silent Hill: Ascension from Bad Robot and Genvid, and Silent Hill f from author Rykishi07.Read our Switch 2 reviewSenior reviews writer Sam Rutherford is a beast for collecting all of his thoughts on the Switch 2 so quickly and with such fabulous insight, and it'd be a shame if you didn't get to absorb all of that delicious knowledge for yourself. This has been my review of Sam's review of the Switch 2 - a console that is also pretty fantastic, by the way.Summer Game Fest never endsSummer Game Fest 2025 officially wrapped up on June 9, but the embargoed stories, interviews and our hands-on impressions from the show just keep on coming. Since we last spoke, Engadget's SGF 2025 crew has published articles about Resident Evil: Requiem, Mixtape, Mouse: PI for Hire, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Grounded 2, End of Abyss and Pragmata.Cool games out now: FBC: Firebreak, Tron: Catalyst, Playdate and the Kris listEvery Saturday morning on Engadget, contributing reporter Kris Holt publishes a roundup of fantastic-sounding and freshly available indie games, so be sure to check for that regularly. This week, the Kris list features The Alters, Dune: Awakening and Instants, among other shout-outs. In related new-game news, Remedy's extraction shooter FBC: Firebreak and Bithell Games' isometric action experience Tron: Catalyst are also available now. And finally, we're halfway through Playdate Season Two, which has already provided a firehose of oddball experiences - all lovingly parsed through each week by Engadget weekend editor Cheyenne Macdonald.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/video-games-weekly-mario-kart-world-is-the-opposite-of-punishing-110039837.html?src=rss

Photo modes are a pretty common feature for video games where players go bounding around an interesting open world. Today, Minecraft joined their ranks, making an in-game camera available in the Minecraft Marketplace as a free add-on called Vibrant Memories. The feature requires a copy of Minecraft's Bedrock Edition on any platform; the Java version doesn't appear to support the camera.As well as capturing the moment as-is and saving particular camera angles to reuse later, Vibrant Memories will let a player decide whether or not to appear in the image. It will also let them set whether the weather is sunny or rainy and if the time is sunrise, sunset, day or night.That's a pared-back take on photo mode, but then in many ways, Minecraft is a pared-back game. Sure, it's gotten loads of new features and creatures over the past 15 years, but at heart, it's just about mining and crafting.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/minecraft-now-has-a-photo-mode-with-vibrant-memories-215948221.html?src=rss

Adobe launched its own take on how smartphone cameras should work this week with Project Indigo, a new iPhone camera app from some of the team behind the Pixel camera. The project combines the computational photography techniques that engineers Marc Levoy and Florian Kainz popularized at Google, with pro controls and new AI-powered features.In their announcement of the new app, Levoy and Kainz style Project Indigo as the better answer to typical smartphone camera complaints of limited controls and over-processing. Rather than using aggressive tone mapping and sharpening, Project Indigo is supposed to use "only mild tone mapping, boosting of color saturation, and sharpening." That's intentionally not the same as the "zero-processing" approach some third-party apps are taking. "Based on our conversations with photographers, what they really want is not zero-process but a more natural look - more like what an SLR might produce," Levoy and Kainz write.AdobeThe new app also has fully manual controls, "and the highest image quality that computational photography can provide," whether you want a JPEG or a RAW file at the end. Project Indigo achieves that by dramatically under-exposing the shots it combines together, and relying on a larger number of shots to combine - up to 32 frames, according to Levoy and Kainz. The app also includes some of Adobe's more experimental photo features, like "Remove Reflections," which uses AI to eliminate reflections from photos.Levoy left Google in 2020, and joined Adobe a few months later to form a team with the express goal of building a "universal camera app". Based on his LinkedIn, Kainz joined Adobe that same year. At Google, Kainz and Levoy were often credited with popularizing the concept of computational photography, where camera apps rely more on software than hardware to produce quality smartphone photos. Google's success in that arena kicked off a camera arms race that's raised the bar everywhere, but also led to some pretty over-the-top photos. Project Indigo is a bit of a corrective, and also an interesting test whether a third-party app that might produce better photos is enough to beat the default.Project Indigo is available to download for free now, and runs on either the iPhone 12 Pro and up, or the iPhone 14 and up. An Android version of the app is coming at some point in the future.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/adobe-project-indigo-is-a-new-photo-app-from-former-pixel-camera-engineers-213453207.html?src=rss

Hideo Kojima said in an interview with Vogue Japan earlier this year that an anime based on his game Death Stranding was in the works. Today, Deadline reports that Aaron Guzikowski will write the screenplay for the upcoming animated feature based on the game world. His most recent credit is the sci-fi series Raised By Wolves, but Guzikowski has also worked on movies including Prisoners and Papillon. The animated film will tell "an original story" from the same universe as the already quite cinematic Death Stranding.Kojima Productions will be involved with this adaptation and Line Mileage is the animation company attached to the project. The executive team at Line Mileage has previous experience making animated series and adaptations. Their bios mention shows such as Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft and Castlevania that have reimagined popular games as animated projects squarely targeting adult viewers.This film is a separate project from the live-action adaptation that's being helmed by writer-director Michael Sarnoski with production company A24 (and of course Kojima Productions). And if you can't wait for either of these movies to wrap to get more Kojima, the release date for Death Stranding 2 is just around the corner.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/animated-death-stranding-movie-gets-its-screenwriter-200537247.html?src=rss

Waymo's autonomous cars are heading back to New York City in July, the company announced today. Cars will be manually driven for now, not unlike the mapping tests Waymo ran in 2021, but the company says it ultimately wants to bring the same autonomous ride-hailing service it offers in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles to NYC.New York state law currently doesn't allow for the operation of a vehicle without a human driver, an obvious obstacle for a company like Waymo. As a bridge to offering its full service, Waymo says it's applied for a permit with the New York Department of Transportation to operate vehicles autonomously with a trained specialist behind the wheel. If NYC DOT approves the permit, the company says this will be the first "testing deployment" of autonomous vehicles in New York City.

Meta is finally adding passkey support for Facebook and Messenger on mobile devices. This should make for more seamless logins, as a passkey lets people sign in by using the same data they already use to verify their identities on a smartphone. This includes stuff like a PIN code, a fingerprint or a quick face scan.This is not only convenient, but more secure than traditional passwords. Passkeys are resistant to many types of malicious attacks, as they can't be easily guessed or stolen. This will vary depending on the type of passkey you use, as a four-digit PIN is easier to fake than a full face scan or a fingerprint.Meta says this feature will be rolling out soon for Facebook on iOS and Android devices, but Messenger users will have to wait a bit longer. The company says that's headed our way "in the coming months." However, the same passkey will work with both Facebook and Messenger.MetaFacebook has been slow to adopt this login method. Google has offered this feature for years, and X jumped on board last year. Microsoft uses passkeys, as does Amazon, eBay, PayPal and many others. Even Meta's other chat platform Whatsapp has started allowing passkey logins. Instagram is still a holdout.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/meta-is-finally-adding-passkey-support-for-facebook-and-messenger-182549616.html?src=rss

Wyze, the Seattle-based tech company that specializes in smart home products and wireless cameras, has released a major security update that it hopes will rebuild some lost trust. The company has been plagued by numerous security failures over the past few years, most notably when an AWS outage led to thousands of users gaining access to recorded videos from other people's homes. That incident, paired with the company's history of lackluster responses to security flaws, even led The New York Times to explicitly stop recommending Wyze products more than a year ago.Now, in a YouTube video announcement that cheekily mentions the AWS outage, Wyze is introducing a new layer of security that the company is calling Wyze VerifiedView. The added layer of security works by embedding a unique user ID into the firmware of a Wyze camera upon setup. The camera in turn stamps that ID onto every photo, video and livestream. Before any device can access that footage, the Wyze software will check that the embedded ID matches the one for the user before it allows the footage or images to be seen.Wyze is adamant that this new layer is simply building upon its already robust security structure, which the company somewhat meaninglessly says is akin to barbed wire fencing, booby traps, security guards, acid sharks, laser scanners, and AI robot guard dogs." While it's not mentioned in the press release, the announcement video clarified that VerifiedView may never come to older models like the Wyze Cam Pan V1 and V2 due to hardware limitations.Wyze says it has been pushing this update to its most popular models since the beginning of April, and that users of those models just need to update their firmware and app to receive the update. Which models exactly remains unclear, as Wyze also mentioned that some other models will receive the updates over the coming weeks and months, but again did not specify which models they were referring to.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/wyze-adds-major-security-update-to-its-security-cameras-after-numerous-security-lapses-181735619.html?src=rss

Nintendo just dropped a ton of details about the next major Switch 2 first-party game. Donkey Kong Bananza was the star of a Nintendo Direct livestream this morning and it was filled to the brim with nifty tidbits to get fans excited about the 3D platformer.The biggest news is the addition of Pauline as DK's sidekick. She goes all the way back to the original Donkey Kong arcade game. Nintendo really pulled a fast one here, as the first trailer showed the sidekick as an anthropomorphic rock of some kind. This would be in line with Mario's various partners in his 3D platformers, as he's teamed up with hats, stars and other inanimate objects.However, it was all a ruse. Pauline is the sidekick, as she was trapped inside of that rock. Nintendo really went all in with this prank. Even the original box art showed the little rock character, which has now been replaced by Pauline. There's even a two-player co-op mode in which one person controls Pauline. This will work on GameShare, so it only requires one copy of the game.

It's the end of the line for Beat Saber on PS VR and PS VR2. While you'll still be able to buy and play the base game on both platforms, as well as any songs and music packs that were released before today (June 18), Beat Games is winding down support for those versions. They won't get any new songs or music packs. As such, the final song that became available for Beat Saber on PS VR and PS VR2 was Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra."Moreover, the PlayStation versions of Beat Saber will lose their multiplayer features on January 21 next year. Beat Games says that it will still provide customer support to players on those platforms."As we look to the future and plan the next big leap for Beat Saber, we have made the decision to no longer release updates for PS4 and PS5 starting in June 2025," Beat Games wrote in a statement on X and its website. "Our passion for VR remains unwavering. We are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead and what we can bring to Beat Saber fans who have been on this journey with us over the past seven years."