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Tubi isn't the only service touting its Super Bowl LIX presentation prowess ahead of Sunday's big game. If you have the right setup, the whistles, slamming helmets and quarterback play-calls in this year's matchup could sound a bit more immersive. Comcast said on Wednesday that it will not only offer Dolby Vision, as it did in 2023, for the big game. This year, the showdown between the Chiefs and Eagles will also add Dolby Atmos for the first time.The pairing is part of Comcast's Enhanced 4K programming for X1 customers. The feature, which debuted at last year's Paris Olympics, uses Dolby Vision HDR and Atmos surround sound for crisp quality,brighter colors and immersive audio." Enhanced 4K streams in ultra-low latency" at higher bitrates than traditional 4K.To get in on the jazzy presentation, you'll need to be an Xfinity X1 subscriber with a checklist of required hardware. That starts with a 4K TV, 4K HDR set-top box (Xfinity X1, XG1v4 or Xi6) and a 4K-capable HDMI cord. In addition, your TV, external speakers or soundbar will need to support Dolby Atmos for the virtual surround sound experience. X1 subscribers can also get Enhanced 4K through the Xfinity Stream app.Fox, which has the broadcast rights to this year's Super Bowl, will also show the game for free in 4K on Tubi, which it owns. This will be the first time the streaming service has shown the big game - quite the departure from its usual fare of ad-supported Dog the Bounty Hunter and Duck Dynasty reruns.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-super-bowl-is-being-broadcast-with-dolby-atmos-audio-for-the-first-time-180035421.html?src=rss

Amazon is set to show off some new stuff later this month. The company has scheduled a devices event for February 26 in New York City. The company's hardware chief, Panos Panay, and his devices and services team will be on hand. The event will start at 10AM ET.The event invitation that Amazon sent to the media doesn't give much away. It includes the date, the Amazon smile/arrow logo and a tagline that reads "See what's next." Some swoopy blue lines are in the background.It hasn't been too long since Amazon refreshed the Kindle lineup, so it seems a little unlikely that we'll see new e-readers from the company later this month. Instead, Amazon may finally be ready to spill the beans about the long-gestating next-gen Alexa, which it reportedly planned to reveal last October before a delay. The head of Amazon's artificial general intelligence said in January that the company had been dealing with technical difficulties, such as incorrect or false results that tend to be an issue for generative AIs.If, indeed, the next-gen Alexa is the focal point of the event, Amazon may have new audio gear to show off. As such, new Echo speakers and Echo Buds could be on the agenda. We might also learn just how much Amazon plans to charge for a subscription to this turbocharged version of Alexa.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/amazon-is-holding-a-devices-event-on-february-26-164421400.html?src=rss

Update, February 5, 2025, 10:02AM ET: The USPS swiftly backtracked on its suspension of Chinese packages.In an updated statement published Wednesday morning, the agency said, "Effective February 5, 2025, the Postal Service will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts. The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery."The original story follows...The United States Postal Service has temporarily stopped accepting inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong, and according to Wired, it's already causing huge problems with e-commerce shipments to the US. USPS posted the notice on its website, announcing that the suspension will be in place "until further notice." As Wired notes, the international parcel suspension is a direct result of the Trump administration's order to end import tax exemption for small packages shipped into the US worth less than $800. The administration also imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on goods imported from China.The "de minimis" import tax exemption rule allows e-commerce companies like Shein and Temu to sell to customers in the US while keeping prices on their platforms low. It was originally intended to make it easier to send gifts stateside, but the US government has been considering removing or altering it in recent years due to the rise of e-commerce shipments. Now, the Trump administration has removed it completely, and so quickly, that shipping companies are apparently scrambling to find a way to get packages into the US.A Canadian trucking company owner told Wired that his trucks were turned away at the border because they contained packages from China. The owner said that border control was "actually going through the trucks and randomly checking the packages." He explained that it won't be easy to sort packages to remove everything coming in from China, so this development would most likely cause delivery delays.According to US Customs, there were over 1.36 billion de minimis shipments to the US within the 2024 fiscal year. If the agency decides to hold all de minimis shipments at the border, that means they may have to process around 3.7 million packages a day to check how much import taxes and other additional fees the receiver or buyer has to pay. That could cause a massive backlog in shipments. A customs and trade management business executive told Wired that the government could choose to keep packages moving instead and to charge people for the fees retroactively. In the future, though, China's e-commerce platforms could start adding those fees, along with the 10 percent tariff now required for Chinese goods, to a customer's total amount, making it more expensive to buy from websites like Shein and Temu.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/usps-backtracks-on-suspending-packages-from-china-140013986.html?src=rss

Smart rings have been a niche inside a niche in the wearables world for more than a decade. But in the last few years, they've enjoyed a renaissance as more attention and hype brought bigger names to the category. Finnish company Oura has been around longer than most and is now the class leader despite fierce competition. At the end of last year, Oura released the Ring 4 to address the flaws of its predecessor and keep ahead of its now many imitators. It's easy to say that it remains a technological marvel, but harder to say if it's worth a decent chunk of your hard-earned to get one. Hardware Daniel Cooper for Engadget Oura put a lot of effort into nipping-and-tucking the Ring 4, like ditching the epoxy resin interior for a full titanium body. The Ring 3, especially once it moved beyond its squared-off side, already looked like a fashion ring, and the Ring 4 continues in that vein. I wear my Oura Ring on my left index finger with a Vitaly Grip ring on the right to balance the look. And nobody can tell the difference between the two, which is just how it should be. Unlike a watch strapped in place, rings have a knack of turning on your finger through the day. To combat this drift, Oura's previous rings housed their sensors in raised domes on the inside surface to maintain contact with your flesh. I never found them uncomfortable, but it was an issue for some, which is why Oura has worked to re-package the sensors to fit flush. In lieu of that, there's now an ugly-ass notch on the ring to indicate the side that should be facing your palm at all times. Since it's easy for the sensors to be out of alignment, you're constantly at risk of poor quality data or, worse, gaps. Oura upped the number of signal pathways from eight on the Ring 3 to 18 here in order to maximize data collection. Plus, a new algorithm hunts for the most efficient way to pull data from those sensors to hopefully ensure gaps are a thing of the past. The Ring 4 is available in a wider number of sizes than its predecessor, fitting fingers from size 4 to 15. With a re-engineered ring comes a re-engineered charging dock that's a lot nicer, too. Unfortunately, it's also slightly bigger and heavier, which is a burden when you're taking the ring on a trip lasting longer than seven days. If you already own an Oura Ring 3, then I'd say that while the Ring 4 is nicer, more comfortable and more useful, it's not so compelling to make you ditch an existing unit in good working order. In use Daniel Cooper for Engadget One downside of Oura's iterative update is that much of what I wrote about the Ring 3 remains true about the Ring 4. Once it's on your finger, it should very quickly fade into the background of your day, and it's plenty easy to forget. Naturally, you'll do all of your interacting with the ring via its mobile app, which is one of the best available for a smart ring. You'll get regular notifications telling you how far through your daily activity goal you are, plus advice on when to get ready for bed. It'll also send the occasional reminder to get up and move if the ring feels you've been sitting for too long. Open the app and you'll first be presented with a row of numbers showing your Readiness, Sleep, Activity, Heart Rate and Stress scores. Scroll down and you'll get panes with more information about your activity goals, stress metrics and heart rate. If there's an issue, you'll also get additional commentary about the problem and suggestions on how to improve. For instance, my resting heart rate dropped in the late evening because I'd gone to town on a very big bag of Doritos. The ring knew, and told me that if I kept eating close to my bedtime, I'd ruin the quality of my sleep. Keep scrolling and you'll find your activity timeline, based on what the ring thinks you've been up to that day. Sadly, in my experience the system will frequently assume you're exercising when it sees movement plus an elevated heart rate. It'll often accuse me of doing some form of rigorous workout when, in reality, I'm just going up and down stairs while I get my kids ready for school. If you're doing one type of activity, then it'll pick it up as such but if you're chopping and changing - for instance by doing circuits - then it'll be labeled as other." If, in fact, it gets labeled at all: I have had instances where walking to and from my gym was recognised, but nothing I was doing when I was actually working out counted. The app has a number of hidden depths, including the Explore section which hosts a small library of meditation content. There's also Oura Labs, which is where the company shares its not-ready-for-prime-time features before they're added to the platform proper. At present, the company is testing Oura Advisor, a conversational AI that gives you the same advice the app would anyway, just in a chat box format. It's also testing an AI-based food-tracking algorithm that'll discern what you're eating from a picture of your meal. We'll get into the economics of this down in the Price section, but Oura paywalls a number of key features behind its Membership program. If you don't cough up, you won't get 24/7 heart-rate tracking, temperature monitoring, menstrual cycle insights, SpO2 and VO2 Max analysis. All of these features are essential if you're looking to get even the basic use out of your Ring 4. As for battery life, I wear a size 10 ring and over the last two months I've fairly regularly wrung seven days out of the device before I'm advised to find a charger. Naturally, the bigger rings have a bigger battery, and so your mileage may vary, but the company is promising up to" eight days. Having lost a significant amount of weight in 2024, I would often find my Ring 3 sliding clean off my finger. Thankfully, if your ring is paired with your smartphone, you'll now be able to see its last-known location through the app. Unfortunately, this is just using your phone's GPS, so while you'll be able to know if it's in your home (or further afield), it's no help finding which couch cushion it fell under. Consequently, it'll still be worth picking up third-party developer Andreas Assermark's Find My Ring app, which will use the Bluetooth signal strength to help you pinpoint its location. Tracking activity, sleep and stress Daniel Cooper for Engadget I've never believed wearables, or any consumer-grade health device, can or should be held to the same standard as a clinical model. The smarter approach is to trust the trend and look for patterns rather than obsess if you did 10,000 or 10,001 steps in a day. Especially as, for most people, if you've had a rough night or you're feeling like hell, you probably already know. What Oura offers is a lot of data which, if you're not happy with a single aggregate score, you can drill down into. Thanks to a British Airways snafu, I wasn't able to get my intended flight out to CES on January 4 and was waitlisted for the following day. That was a pretty stressful time given I'd be letting the Engadget team down on a pretty crucial and busy week. Looking at the data now, I can see my resting heart rate spiked on Saturday and didn't settle for a few days. Oura also provides a metric for Daytime Stress, which aggregates your heart rate, HRV, motion and body temperature through the day. What's interesting is that even if the ring is keeping an eye on my heart rate, there are several instances where it stops collecting stress data. For instance, that stressful Saturday, my heart was racing but there's no Stress metric from 7:45 to 11:15. A few days after I had some distressing personal news and while my heart rate spiked to 158bpm, the stress metric disappeared entirely. I've already griped about the issues with automatic activity detection, even if it gets the bulk of its calls correct. I am often vexed, however, that it'll often have a delay between you starting an activity and it beginning to track it. For instance, one of my regular lunchtime walks is to a local landmark 0.8 miles away from my home and back again. But often, the ring won't notice that I'm out for a walk until I'm a way down the road, curtailing my stats, even if it has my phone's GPS to help. These are minor gripes but ones worth knowing if you're thinking about using the ring for more intensive insights. Nobody in their right mind would think about buying a smart ring in place of a smartwatch, but be aware the data you'll get is not perfect. There's one thing that I'm very intrigued by, even if I'm not in a position to test it right now, which is the recent tie-up between Oura and (Diabetes biosensor company) Dexcom. The partnership, announced November 2024, will see the two companies share data between their respective platforms. Plus, Dexcom has put $75 million behind the ring maker, pushing its valuation north of $5 billion. Price and the Competition The Oura Ring 4 is available for $349 if you opt for the default silver or black colorways. Should your taste extend to brushed silver or stealth, then you'll need to pay $399, while the gold or rose gold paint jobs are $499. Before you buy, you'll need to order a sizing kit - the existing sizing kits are not compatible with the Oura 4 - and are available in Size 4 through 15. As explained earlier, key features aren't available for use unless you pay $5.99 a month or $70 a year for Oura Membership. Oura has been charging this fee since the launch of the Ring 3 and is, for now, a key plank of its business model. Now, plenty of companies will sell you their hardware and paywall off additional features for you to subscribe for afterward. I suspect the reason the Membership rankles so many people is that the features held back aren't just nice to have, they're essential. On a pragmatic level, small hardware businesses can't survive without the lifeblood recurring revenue from existing customers brings in. $70 a year is, to be blunt, your insurance ensuring that Oura doesn't go belly-up, turning your smart ring into a dumb one. Oura has been good at regularly adding more features to its platform, and allowing users to beta test them in Labs on the way. Plus, the company has been working with academics to help refine its data collection and prove its methods are sound. But the approach of charging for what should be basic features is always likely to rankle the users. And it gives Oura's rivals, which may not be as well-equipped, an easy stick with which to beat the current market leader. Samsung's Galaxy Ring isn't as good as Oura, but it retails for $400 without any additional monthly charges. Ultrahuman, Circular and RingConn all boast they won't charge you extra to use their ring's hardware and software features. Wrap-up Daniel Cooper for Engadget The Oura Ring 4 is a stellar piece of hardware, an engineering marvel and a useful companion as you go about your day. If I sound like I've been nitpicking, it's because the overall package is so good that it's hard not to focus on the specs of dirt on the otherwise clean plate. The ring and its companion app are well-developed and muscular, offering a useful way to sum up your day. If you're looking to buy a smart ring, then there's little need to explore the wider market unless you are particularly predisposed to buying a Samsung. If there's a downside, it's that Oura remains forever constrained by the limitations a smart ring imposes. As I wrote last year, there's only so much data you can collect reliably from such a small device worn on the finger. Not to mention, they're designed to fade into the background of your life, keeping an eye on your vitals and offering some post-facto tips. If you want something more comprehensive, then it's likely a smartwatch is a better option, but for everything else, there's this.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/oura-ring-4-long-term-review-out-ahead-of-its-rivals-150047874.html?src=rss

Uber app users in Austin can now get on an interest list" for a chance to match with Waymo autonomous cabs, according to The New York Times. The rides aren't available yet, but they're coming to a 37 square miles area of the city in "early 2025" according to Bloomberg.Uber once had self-driving ambitions of its own, but sold off its "Advanced Technologies Group" to Aurora in 2020. Since then, it has slowly deepened its relationship with Waymo. Driverless cabs became available through the app to customers in Phoenix starting in 2023, and driverless deliveries spun up there in early 2024. Waymo, on the other hand, has kept some markets - like San Francisco, where driverless rides can only be booked through the Waymo One app - tightly guarded. This makes it somewhat surprising to see Waymo partnering with Uber exclusively in Austin and Atlanta.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-opens-waitlist-for-driverless-waymo-rides-in-austin-144551425.html?src=rss

There's a reason I didn't pick up my first pair of over-ear headphones until last year: they're expensive. But, that's where nice sales come in handy. And, there's a very nice sale going on right now, with the Beats Studio Pro down to $180 from $350 - a 49 percent discount. It's not as low as Black Friday's $160 deal, but the sale is available on every model except the Earth color. The Beats Studio Pro came out in mid-2023 and got an 81 in our review. We were impressed with its improved sound quality over its predecessor, good transparency mode and solid voice performance. However, they're not the most comfortable option and don't have automatic pausing. If you want over-ear headphones for even less money then check out the Beats Solo 4. They're currently half off at $100 from $200. We gave them a 79 in our review, as they offer a boost in sound quality and up to 50 hours of battery life (10 more than the Beats Studio Pro). But, they're also not the comfiest fit and again don't offer automatic pausing. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-beats-studio-pro-headphones-are-back-on-sale-for-180-142729183.html?src=rss

Microsoft's annual Build developer conference will take place in Seattle and run from May 19 to May 22, the company announced on X. There are no details on what will be announced, but you can be fairly sure it'll match or beat Build 2024 in terms of AI-related products and services.Artificial intelligence played a large part in last year's conference, featuring in areas ranging from Windows search to Copilot+ to Microsoft Paint. In fact, a day before Build 2024, Microsoft unveiled its new Surface Pro PC powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, capable of hitting 45TOPS of neural processing power.

In recent years, the push to ban smartphones in schools has picked up, with advocates citing everything from improving focus to creating a safe environment. Now, a new study out of the UK investigates the effectiveness of these policies on social media use and overall well-being with interesting results. The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health - Europe journal, included 1,227 individuals aged 12 to 15 from 20 schools with restrictive phone policies and 10 that permitted phone use.Researchers didn't find a link between restrictive school policies and lower phone or social media use and improved well-being. Notably, individuals unable to use their phones at school still used their devices the same amount of time on weekdays as their counterparts. So, they still had the same amount of potentially negative time on their phones per day, just at a different time of the day (assuming no sneaky use at school). These results are significant for advocates of school bans to consider, though primarily demonstrate the benefits of a more holistic plan to reduce adolescents' smartphone and social media use throughout the day.The study's authors note their research didn't look at how restrictive phone policies at school can impact instances of bullying or time engaging in face-to-face interactions. It also doesn't examine the difference between varied types of restriction or how long these policies have been in place.The UK government has been a strong proponent of banning smartphones in schools, announcing guidance in February 2024. The guidance called for schools to create policies that worked best for them, but outlined a few options - including banning any smartphones on school premises. Other suggestions involved students handing in their phones upon arrival or storing them in lockers.The US, France and more countries have also taken steps to ban smartphones in schools. New York Governor Kathy Hochul and California Governor Gavin Newsom are among the proponents of smartphone restrictions in schools.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/uk-study-says-school-phone-bans-dont-affect-students-total-screen-time-130048601.html?src=rss

Sonos will start selling a streaming box in the "coming months," according to The Verge. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that the company was working on a streaming device codenamed "Pinewood" back in 2023. He said it was going to cost between $150 and $200, but sources told the publication that it would set buyers back between $200 and $400 instead. To note, the Roku Streambar costs $130, while the Apple TV 4K with Wi-Fi costs $129.During an earnings call last year, Sonos said that it was planning to launch two new products in the fourth quarter of 2024, but it had to push back their release until its app was fixed. Sonos' app broke after the company rolled out a major redesign last April that was supposed to make it easier to find and play different kinds of content. But the app was extremely buggy and was missing basic features, such as sleep timers and alarms. It's not quite clear if one of the delayed products was the streaming box, but the box, The Verge says, is "deep into development."The streaming device will reportedly have an interface that can combine content from multiple services, including Netflix, Max and Disney Plus, in a single unified software experience. It will feature integrated Sonos Voice Control, but it will also come with a physical remote control with shortcuts for popular apps. For those with an expansive home theater setup, the box will apparently have multiple HDMI ports with passthrough capability, allowing users to plug in other devices they want to pair with their TVs, such as gaming consoles.Sonos has also reportedly designed Pinewood to be able to wirelessly transmit TV audio to its own soundbars and other audio devices without lag. Plus, it will allow users to create their own surround system for TV viewing. Users will be able to designate two separate speakers as front left and right channels, for instance. For internet connectivity, The Verge says it will have both a gigabit ethernet port and Wi-Fi 7.After a disastrous few months following its botched app overhaul, Sonos laid out a plan to win back customers' trust. One of the things it promised was to implement "ambitious quality benchmarks" at the beginning of a product development cycle. It also said that it's not going to release products before those standards are met, which presumably means that Pinewood is going through rigorous testing before it becomes available.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/sonos-may-release-its-long-rumored-streaming-box-this-year-130017996.html?src=rss

Google has made one of the most substantive changes to its AI principles since first publishing them in 2018. In a change spotted by The Washington Post, the search giant edited the document to remove pledges it had made promising it would not "design or deploy" AI tools for use in weapons or surveillance technology. Previously, those guidelines included a section titled "applications we will not pursue," which is not present in the current version of the document.Instead, there's now a section titled "responsible development and deployment." There, Google says it will implement "appropriate human oversight, due diligence, and feedback mechanisms to align with user goals, social responsibility, and widely accepted principles of international law and human rights."That's a far broader commitment than the specific ones the company made as recently as the end of last month when the prior version of its AI principles was still live on its website. For instance, as it relates to weapons, the company previously said it would not design AI for use in "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people." As for AI surveillance tools, the company said it would not develop tech that violates "internationally accepted norms."GoogleWhen asked for comment, a Google spokesperson pointed Engadget to a blog post the company published on Thursday. In it, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and James Manyika, senior vice president of research, labs, technology and society at Google, say AI's emergence as a "general-purpose technology" necessitated a policy change."We believe democracies should lead in AI development, guided by core values like freedom, equality, and respect for human rights. And we believe that companies, governments, and organizations sharing these values should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security," the two wrote. "... Guided by our AI Principles, we will continue to focus on AI research and applications that align with our mission, our scientific focus, and our areas of expertise, and stay consistent with widely accepted principles of international law and human rights - always evaluating specific work by carefully assessing whether the benefits substantially outweigh potential risks."When Google first published its AI principles in 2018, it did so in the aftermath of Project Maven. It was a controversial government contract that, had Google decided to renew it, would have seen the company provide AI software to the Department of Defense for analyzing drone footage. Dozens of Google employees quit the company in protest of the contract, with thousands more signing a petition in opposition. When Google eventually published its new guidelines, CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly told staff his hope was they would stand "the test of time."By 2021, however, Google began pursuing military contracts again, with what was reportedly an "aggressive" bid for the Pentagon's Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability cloud contract. At the start of this year, The Washington Post reported that Google employees had repeatedly worked with Israel's Defense Ministry to expand the government's use of AI tools.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-now-thinks-its-ok-to-use-ai-for-weapons-and-surveillance-224824373.html?src=rss

Reddit has temporarily banned the subreddit r/WhitePeopleTwitter after Elon Musk complained about the community. The subreddit is currently inaccessible with a message from Reddit stating that the community has been banned for 72 hours due to a prevalence of violent content."The popular subreddit is known for posting funny tweets and memes from X. On Monday, an X account called Reddit Lies" posted screenshots from a thread on r/WhitePeopleTwitter in which users were discussing the identities of the individuals with ties to Musk who have reportedly played a key role in the takeover of technical systems within the federal government.A Reddit spokesperson pointed to the message in r/WhitePeopleTwitter notifying users about the ban, but declined to comment further. This subreddit has been temporarily banned due to a prevalence of violent content. Inciting and glorifying violence or doxing are against Reddit's platform-wide Rules. It will reopen in 72 hours, during which Reddit will support moderators and provide resources to keep Reddit a healthy place for discussion and debate." The company also permanently banned a subreddit called r/IsElonDeadYet for breaking its rules around violent content, according to a notice posted to the community.RedditMusk has used his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) to enter federal agencies and take control of their systems and install a potentially illegal server at the US Office of Personnel Management. Musk has reportedly been helped by a group of very young engineers with little work experience. Those individuals have been the subject of much speculation online amid reports that they have helped him take control of secure systems within the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Treasury Department.Musk has repeatedly accused people who post the names of his DOGE associates on X of breaking the law (to be clear: doing so absolutely is not a crime). He made a similar claim in response to the screenshots from r/WhitePeopleTwitter posted by Reddit Lies, saying they have broken the law." Engadget was unable to verify the Reddit comments posted by the account, but it included statements like time to hunt" and this nazi stooge needs to be shot."In a letter addressed to Musk, interim US Attorney Ed Martin offered his assistance in protecting the DOGE work" from threats. We will not tolerate threats against DOGE workers or law-breaking by the disgruntled," he wrote on X Monday. Any threats, confrontations, or any actions in any way that impact their work may break numerous laws," he wrote.Many Reddit users have grown increasingly frustrated with Musk, who was once a popular figure on the site. Last month, dozens of subreddits announced that they were banning links to X following Musk's speech at President Donald Trump's inauguration in which he made an apparent Nazi salute.Have a tip about Reddit or other information to share? Get in touch by email at karissa.bell [at] engadget.com or message securely on Signal at karissabe.51.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/reddit-temporarily-bans-rwhitepeopletwitter-after-elon-musk-claimed-it-had-broken-the-law-212131945.html?src=rss

Federal employees are suing to disconnect a server, reportedly operated by associates of Elon Musk, from the US Office of Personnel Management. A motion filed today as part of a class action suit and obtained by Wired claims that the new server connected to OPM systems is a violation of federal laws as well as a privacy risk for government staffers.The OPM is essentially the federal government's human resources department, and it houses sensitive personal information about current and prospective employees. The email server is reportedly harvesting information from OPM's data systems, according to the initial lawsuit that is seeking to block Musk's access to that private information. Government agencies are required to conduct privacy assessments before making substantial changes to IT systems under the 2002 E-Government Act, but today's motion alleges the OPM did not perform that assessment before the server was installed.On Friday, Reuters reported that senior officials at the OPM were locked out of the department's data systems, ostensibly by Musk's allies. "We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," one of the unnamed officials said. "That is creating great concern. There is no oversight. It creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications."Reuters' sources spoke anonymously with the publication out of fear of retaliation. Interim US Attorney Ed Martin has already posted his support for Musk's activities on X. "We will pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people," he wrote, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk spearheads.The OPM isn't the only government agency where Musk may be installing his connections. Wired separately reported that a former employee of the South African billionaire allegedly has direct access to systems in the US Treasury Department. A group of labor unions and retiree advocates has sued the Treasury for granting DOGE permission to access those systems.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/government-workers-sue-over-potentially-illegal-doge-server-201042201.html?src=rss

Autonomous vehicle company Cruise is laying off around half of its workforce, according to reporting by TechCrunch. The cuts even extend to the CEO and other top executives. This is part of a major restructuring effort by parent company GM that will eventually see a total shutdown of operations.These layoffs are expected to impact well over 1,000 people and include CEO Marc Whitten, chief safety officer Steve Kenner and global head of public policy Rob Grant. Chief technologist Mo Elshenawy is also being laid off, but will stay on until the end of April to help with the transition. To that end, some of Cruise's workforce and resources will carry on. They are being shuffled to the Super Cruise team, which is GM's driver assistance system.These layoffs don't come as too much of a surprise, given that GM already announced it was giving up on the development of robotaxis. The company, however, hasn't stopped chasing the dream of autonomous vehicles. GM is still planning on rolling out driverless cars for personal use at some point in the future.Cruise has had a rough last couple of years. The company faced scrutiny after one of its robotaxis struck a pedestrian and dragged them 20 feet. Prior to the crash, the company's algorithm was fairly notorious for being buggy, as it repeatedly failed to recognize children.The ensuing investigation forced Cruise to stop all operations for its manned robotaxi service. GM was fined $1.5 million for omitting key details about the aforementioned crash. There were also serious layoffs. In recent months, Cruise had resumed some limited activity, though only with human drivers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/cruise-lays-off-half-its-staff-after-gm-sunsets-robitaxi-program-191417313.html?src=rss

Netflix has been revamping its games division in recent months, including making adjustments to the library of titles that it offers subscribers at no extra cost. The company has canceled release plans for six games that were previously bound for iOS and Android through its platform.As first reported by What's On Netflix, the company will no longer bring Thirsty Suitors, Compass Point: West and Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game to its library. Nor will it offer three titles from Klei Entertainment: Don't Starve Together, Lab Rat and Rotwood. A Netflix spokesperson confirmed the decision to Engadget, noting that nixing the planned additions was "just a natural part of adjusting our portfolio as we learn more about what our members like."Tales of the Shire, a cozy life sim game featuring hobbits, is still coming to Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S next month. Action RPG Thirsty Suitors received positive reviews when it debuted on PC and consoles in 2023. As for Don't Starve Together, that was a co-op expansion to Don't Starve, a hit survival game from 2013.Netflix has been retooling its games division after bringing in a new leader for the department last summer. It has removed several games from its library and it emerged in October that it had shut its AAA studio, which was dubbed Team Blue. Meanwhile, Leanne Loombe - an executive who helped bring the likes of Hades and Grand Theft Auto to Netflix's library while leading second- and third-party development and publishing efforts - recently became the head of games at Annapurna Interactive following an exodus there.Meanwhile, Netflix aims to add more high-profile mainstream games to its catalog - the WWE 2K series is on the way later this year. Other areas of focus include its well-known franchises, narrative-driven games, party and couch co-op titles and games for kids, per a recent earnings call.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/netflix-scuttles-plans-to-add-six-previously-announced-games-to-its-service-192946233.html?src=rss

Typically when we think of Apple and "invites," it's because the company is about to show off some new gear at a splashy product launch. But this time around, the product in question is a new invites app.The idea behind Apple Invites is that you can create and share custom invitations for any event or occasion. You can use your own photos or backgrounds in the app as an image for the invite. Image Playground is built into Invites and you can use that to generate an images for the invitation instead. Other Apple Intelligence features such as Writing Tools are baked in as well, in case you need a hand to craft the right message for your invitation.It's worth noting that only folks with a paid iCloud (aka iCloud+) plan can create an invite in the app. There are no limits on how many events you can host, but each one is limited to 100 participants. As might expect, events will appear in the Calendar app (to which Apple has made some changes in recent months, including the integration of Reminders, amid the rollout of iOS 18).Anyone can RSVP to invites in the app or on the web. You won't need an Apple Account or device to do so. You can also add photos and photos and videos from the event to a Shared Album (in case you need to feel like it's 2008 and we're all living on Facebook again). Best of all, you can help decide what to listen to during the get-together by collaborating on Apple Music playlists. There's Weather and Maps integration to provide guests with directions and a forecast on the day of the event.Privacy is a factor here. Hosts can choose whether to share their home address in the invite, while guests have control over how their details appear to others.The app seems useful and pretty fun. The Shared Albums and Apple Music collaboration features make it seem more interesting than a boring-ass Outlook invite ever could be.Update, February 4, 1:18PM ET: A previous version of this story indicated that an iPhone and Apple Invites were required to add photos and videos to the Shared Album for the event. This isn't the case, as it's possible to do so via the web on any device.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-invites-is-a-new-iphone-app-to-manage-your-social-life-162125095.html?src=rss

Xbox just announced the new titles that will be available for Game Pass this month, and it's a good list. There's a big day one release, an indie gem and, of course, a newish Madden title. Let's get to it.The big news? Avowed is a day one release for subscribers. We knew Obsidian's upcoming fantasy epic would come out on February 18, but now we know it'll be instantly available for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass users. This is a first-person action RPG from the company that brought us Fallout: New Vegas, so it's a pretty big deal. It's a spinoff of Pillars of Eternity, though set in a new land.Another Crab's Treasure is a unique soulslike that trades in the genre's typical grimdark aesthetic for a bright, cartoon-like color palette. However, it's still tough as nails. You play as a crab trying to get its shell back. The game was already available for Ultimate subscribers, but on February 5 it drops for Standard users.Madden NFL 25, not to be confused with the Madden 25 that actually came out in 2013, is EA's latest football sim. You know the drill here: It's a Madden game. The title will be available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on February 6.Far Cry New Dawn is available right now for all Game Pass tiers. This 2019 FPS fell under the radar a bit, but it's a solid entry in the franchise. It's also set after a nuclear apocalypse, which is always a fun time.There are also some more games coming to Game Pass Standard that used to be locked behind an Ultimate subscription. These include Starfield and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on February 5.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/februarys-game-pass-additions-include-avowed-and-madden-nfl-25-164313670.html?src=rss

Verizon's myPlan wireless and myHome internet subscriptions allow users to choose from a selection of perks, which include Netflix & Max with ads, a Disney bundle, a Walmart+ membership and numerous others. Another one is joining their ranks; this time, it's a Google One AI Premium subscription for $10 monthly instead of $20.The Google One AI Premium perk functions the same as the original one aside from the 50 percent discount. It includes access to Gemini Advanced, which is capable of summarizing more information and performing Deep Research." Google says Deep Research can use Gemini to go through 1,500 pages of information and prepare a report for you within minutes. You can also now use Gemini in Google Docs and Gmail. As the cherry on top, there's 2TB of Google One cloud storage and a handful of other benefits like the ability to share that storage with your family and a recurring 10 percent back from any purchase on the Google Store.Verizon customers can select Google One AI Premium as their perk for their plans starting February 6. This applies to new and existing customers, as perks can be swapped. It's worth noting that if you don't care about Gemini, Google has long offered 2TB of Drive storage for $10 a month or $100 a year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/verizon-is-adding-google-one-ai-premium-as-a-perk-for-some-customers-153943314.html?src=rss

The tech sector's ongoing effort to force-feed generative AI features into widely used services continues with updates to WhatsApp's ChatGPT integration. There are now more ways to interact with the chatbot in the app. To use it there, you have to add 1 (800) CHAT-GPT - or 1 (800) 242-8478 - to your contacts.WhatsApp says users around the world can now upload images to the chatbot, just like they can when using ChatGPT directly. You can also send a voice message to talk to ChatGPT, which will respond using text. In addition, starting today, WhatsApp users can link to their free, Plus or Pro ChatGPT plan to get more usage out of the service in Meta's app.ChatGPT debuted in WhatsApp in December, though text was the only input option at the jump. Meta's own AI chatbot is available in the app too. Meanwhile, if you're trying to avoid that stuff as much as possible, it's not too late to convince your loved ones to switch to Signal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/whatsapp-brings-image-and-voice-inputs-to-its-chatgpt-integration-151540677.html?src=rss

Adobe has updated the Acrobat AI Assistant, giving it the ability to understand contracts and to compare them for you. The company says it can help you make sense of complex terms and spot differences between agreements, such as between old and new ones, so you can understand what you're signing. With the AI Assistant enabled, the Acrobat app will be able to recognize if a document is a contract, even if it's a scanned page. It can identify and list key terms from there, summarize the document's contents and recommend questions you can ask based on what's in it.AdobeThe feature can also compare up to 10 contracts with one another and be able to check for differences and catch discrepancies. When it's done checking, and if you're satisfied that everything's in order, you can sign the document directly or request e-signatures from your colleagues or clients. Adobe listed a few potential uses for the feature and said you can use it to check apartment leases, to verify out-of-country charges for mobile plans and to compare perks or amenities of competing services. It could be even more useful if you regularly have to take a look at multiple contracts for your work or business.Of course, you'd have to trust the AI assistant to actually be able to spot important information and catch both small and significant changes between different contracts. If it works properly, then it could be one of Acrobat AI's most useful features, seeing as users (according to Adobe itself) open billions of contracts each month on the Acrobat app. The Acrobat AI Assistant isn't free, however. It's an add-on that will cost you $5 a month whether or not you're already paying for Adobe's other services and products.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/adobes-acrobat-ai-assistant-can-now-assess-contracts-for-you-140058723.html?src=rss

If you've been waiting for a good deal on an iPad with one of Apple's M-series chips, now seems like a good time to take the plunge. The M2-powered 11-inch iPad Air has dropped back down to $500. That's $100 off the regular price and just a hair above the record low of $498. Most colorways have dropped to either $539 or $559, but you'll get the full discount when you add in the clippable coupon for each. This deal is for the base model with 128GB of storage (double the base storage from the previous gen) and no cellular connectivity, though there is Wi-Fi 6E support. You'll get 8GB of RAM as well. We gave the M2 iPad Air, which debuted less than a year ago, a score of 91 in our review. It's our pick for the best iPad for most people. It hits the sweet spot between performance, features and price - even more so considering this deal. It offers better future proofing compared with the entry-level iPad, as many features and apps only run on M-series chips and newer A-series ones. For basic tasks like web browsing and streaming video, performance shouldn't be an issue at all. The M2 iPad Air supports Apple Intelligence features, as well as demanding games like Death Stranding and the Resident Evil 4 remake. You should get about 10 hours of battery life on a single charge. There's no Face ID here, but a Touch ID fingerprint scanner is built into the power button. One other major positive is that Apple has shunted the front-facing camera to th longer side of the tablet, making FaceTime calls in landscape mode an easier proposition. The M2 iPad Air is compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro, but not the second-gen Pencil. One of our main complaints about the M2 iPad Air is that it has an LCD display with a 60Hz refresh rate. It's not as smooth or vibrant as the 120Hz OLED you'll find on the most recent iPad Pro. Still, it's a bright, sharp screen. However you slice it, the M2 iPad Air is a pretty great tablet. If you'd prefer a larger tablet, the 13-inch M2 iPad Air is on sale now, too. The space gray model is the cheapest at $689, which is more than $100 off, while most other colors are on sale for $700 when you combine their straight discounts with clippable coupons found on the product pages. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-11-inch-ipad-air-m2-is-on-sale-for-100-off-153619945.html?src=rss

Nintendo is caught between its eight-year-old Switch console and the next-gen Switch 2 - a purgatory that usually hits sales. Sure enough, the company announced that it now expects to sell just 11 million consoles this fiscal year instead of the 12.5 million it originally forecast. That's in light of a fairly dismal holiday period that saw sales and profit drop by a third from last year, with consumers likely awaiting the Switch 2 launch sometime next year instead of buying the current lame-duck version.The company hasn't been able to keep sales momentum with new games either, as revenue in that area is down 24.4 percent compared to the same three-month period last year. The company is only releasing a couple of new titles early in 2025 (Donkey Kong Country Returns, Xenoblade Chronicles X), before its reveal of the Switch 2 on April 2.That reveal will be done on a special Nintendo Direct event and will be followed up with first-look experience events in cities around the world. The first ones will take place in New York City and Paris from April 4 to April 6, and more cities around North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia will follow. The company hasn't said much about the new model so far, other than that it will be backwardly compatible with current Switch games.So far, Nintendo investors haven't been too worried about falling sales due to high expectations for the Switch 2. However, Nintendo will have to convince buyers that its next-gen console is a significant upgrade over the current Switch, ensure it has enough stock available to meet demand and keep current Switch owners happy.That's no easy job, given that Nintendo has sold 150.86 million units since launch and boasts 129 million users playing annually. The Switch should become Nintendo's all-time best selling console later this year when it passes the Nintendo DS, which has the company's all-time sales record of 154.02 million units.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-sees-sales-dip-as-switch-2-debut-looms-130047928.html?src=rss

After President Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on nearly all Canadian imported goods (and Canada announced its own 25 percent tariff on American imported goods), Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario - and a former supporter of President Trump - announced the Canadian territory would be ripping up" a $100 million contract with Elon Musk's Starlink. The contract was signed in November last year.Musk, boss of Starlink and the richest man in the world, is a close confidant of Trump and has control over the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE (urgh), tasked with cost-cutting and deregulation in government.Ford believed this was enough to link Musk (and his businesses) to Trump's tariffs. He said Ontario won't do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy" and that Musk wants to take food off the table" of hard-working Canadians. Ford also commanded the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to remove American-made spirits from store shelves. (Oh no, not the Tito's vodka!)It's since de-escalated. After Prime Minister Trudeau and President Trump agreed to pause the tariff standoff for 30 days, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was also pausing the province's cancelation of its Starlink contract.- Mat SmithTrump's tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China could drive up prices of cars, electronics, fuel, food and moreThe biggest tech stories you missed

Opera is introducing Opera Air, a new web browser designed around mindfulness. The app has a minimalist Scandinavian design" and frosted glass accents, which blend well with the mindfulness concept. While pretty, Opera Air has features for relaxation, concentration, resting, and more, which you normally only see in meditation apps.There are four break modes: breathing, neck exercises, meditation and full body scan." Breathing exercises and meditation can help calm you down by lowering stress levels, while neck exercises help loosen sore neck muscles. The full body scan is a different type of meditation that involves focusing your attention on various body parts and the sensations that arise. These breaks can be as short as three minutes or as long as 15. Breaks can be taken voluntarily or by setting a timer.Opera Air also incorporates binaural beats as boosts." Binaural beats are an audio illusion created when two slightly different frequencies are played in each ear, tricking the brain into hearing" a third frequency. Opera Air has several boosts that improve creativity, help with focus and induce relaxation, among others. Opera even claimed that one can help users recall dreams.According to Senior Director of Product at Opera Mohamed Salah, the web is beautiful, but the company wants to look at science-based ways" to help users navigate chaotic (and sometimes hostile) internet content. While mindfulness apps like Headspace exist, Opera Air packs those features in the app many people use most frequently.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/operas-new-air-browser-will-encourage-you-take-breaks-from-the-internet-090040693.html?src=rss

Earlier today, third-party app store AltStore PAL, announced that a porn app called Hot Tub was now available to iOS users in the European Union. The marketplace, which enables people in the EU to sideload apps outside of Apple's App Store, described it as the first Apple-approved porn app."Now, Apple says it's deeply concerned" about Hot Tub, which as TechCrunch noted, is the first time a porn app has been available natively for the iPhone. We are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids," an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. This app and others like it will undermine consumer trust and confidence in our ecosystem that we have worked for more than a decade to make the best in the world. Contrary to the false statements made by the marketplace developer, we certainly do not approve of this app and would never offer it in our App Store."As Apple has pointed out, its notarization guidelines state that app makers shouldn't suggest or imply that Apple is a source or supplier of the App, or that Apple endorses any particular representation regarding quality or functionality." AltStore's statements would seem to go against that guidance.An image shared on AltStore's Mastodon account.AltStoreBut in a statement to Engadget, AltStore creator Riley Testut denied making "any false statements." Hot Tub, he says, was submitted to Apple's own notarization process where it was then approved by Apple employees for distribution with alternative app marketplaces such as AltStore PAL." He said it was this approval that AltStore was referencing in its marketing. The DMA also does not require that Apple approves apps for distribution, they have chosen to do so themselves," he added, referring to the EU's Digital Markets Act.Apple has made little secret of its frustration with the DMA, which requires it to allow third-party app stores in Europe. The truth is that we are required by the European Commission to allow it to be distributed by marketplace operators like AltStore and Epic who may not share our concerns for user safety," the company said in its statement about Hot Tub on Monday.In addition to AltStore, Fortnite maker and longtime Apple foe Epic, recently announced plans to bring third-party mobile games to its Epic Games app in the EU. Though AltStore Pal and Epic aren't officially affiliated, Epic gave the alternative app store a MegaGrant" last year to help fund the core technology fees" third-party app stores are required to pay Apple.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-is-deeply-concerned-about-altstores-porn-app-005013457.html?src=rss

Update, February 3, 5:30PM ET: Following the news that Prime Minister Trudeau and President Trump have agreed to pause their tariff standoff for thirty days, Ontario premier Ford has announced on X that he is similarly pausing the province's cancelation of its Starlink contract:

Nuance Audio, new "hearing glasses" from EssilorLuxottica, have received FDA clearance and "a CE marking under the Medical Devices regulation in the EU," making them officially ready to sell in the US and Europe.The smart glasses are essentially prescription frames with an over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid built-in. Using open-ear speakers and a beamforming microphone array, Nuance Audio can raise the volume of whoever you're speaking to, while attempting to cancel out whatever noise is going on around you. You can control the glasses with a companion app or a dedicated remote.The glasses come in only two shapes, two colors and three sizes, far fewer options than EssilorLuxottica's traditional glasses brands, or the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, but the tech seems like it could be ported to new frames down the road. Engadget deputy editor Cherlynn Low was able to try on Nuance Audio during CES 2025 and found them to be very comfortable and lightweight, though she wasn't able to adequately test their capabilities as a hearing device.Cherlynn Low for EngadgetNuance Audio is just the latest in a wave of new hearing aid-like devices that have been released since the FDA introduced its ruling on OTC hearing aids in 2022. Similar to Nuance Audio, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 now offer software-enabled hearing aid functionality, along with a built-in hearing test and a hearing protection feature for loud environments. While turning every pair of AirPods Pro 2 into a hearing aids is great from a cost-saving perspective, getting a pair of Nuance Audio frames that can also double as your prescription glasses seems potentially even more convenient.EssilorLuxottica says Nuance Audio will be available in the US in Q1. "Certain European countries" will also get the glasses in the first half of 2025, starting with Italy in Q1, and then France, Germany and the UK. The company hasn't shared official pricing for the Nuance Audio.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-fda-and-eu-clear-nuance-audio-smart-glasses-with-built-in-hearing-aids-for-sale-211053856.html?src=rss

Uber rolled out a new set of features on Monday that could remove some friction for people with service animals. The company now lets handlers automatically notify drivers that they ride with a service animal.In a blog post, Chris Yoon, an Uber Product Manager, wrote that he joined Uber with a singular mission: to help expand accessibility in rideshare, including for those who rely on service animals." He says he and other blind travelers often message drivers in advance to let them know about their service animals. Today's new features can automate that for them if they choose.UberDrivers who consider refusing rides will have to think twice - and then some. If the driver requests a cancelation after learning about the service animal, Uber will automatically send an in-app reminder that doing so is against not only company policy but also the law. Uber says drivers refusing rides with service animals may permanently lose access to the platform."Passengers who opt into the new features will automatically receive a message after a driver cancels, asking what happened and offering additional support. Those who don't use the feature can contact the company through the app or over the phone.UberRiders can set up the feature through the Uber app. Go to Account > Settings > Accessibility, and tap Service Animal. It will then prompt you to fill out an eligibility form and pick which parts of the feature (like notifying the driver in advance) you want to turn on.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-wants-to-make-rides-easier-for-people-with-service-animals-210958456.html?src=rss

EA is ready to take the wraps off the next Battlefield early. The publisher shared a brief glimpse of footage from an alpha version of the game as part of an announcement video for Battlefield Labs, a new early access program that will give fans a taste of in-development Battlefield before it launches.Battlefield Labs is designed to let Battlefield's developers "test concepts and experiences" before the next Battlefield game is released, according to a press release announcing the program. Developers hope to collect feedback on what the release describes as a critical part of the game's development. Anyone participating in Battlefield Labs will be under NDA and will "test (almost) everything" in the game. That includes "core combat and destruction," things like "weapons, vehicles and gadgets" and "maps, modes, and squad play."EA is running a similar playtesting program for the next Skate game - appropriately dubbed "Skate Insiders" - ahead of that game's early access release in 2025.Battlefield is currently being developed by a collection of EA studios under the umbrella of "Battlefield Studios," including DICE, the creators of the franchise, Criterion, a former Need for Speed developer that was shifted to Battlefield in 2023, Ripple Effect and Motive, the developer of Star Wars Squadrons and the recent Dead Space remake.There's not a ton to go off of in the footage EA shared, but the game's developers did confirm that the next Battlefield will include a single player campaign, a notable omission from multiplayer-only Battlefield 2042.You can sign-up to participate in Battlefield Labs right now on EA's website if you're in Europe or North America. The test will be limited to "a few thousand participants" to start, but the company plans on expanding the program to other regions and players in the future. Even if you're not playing the early access version of the game, EA says you'll also be able to track Battlefield's development through "work-in-progress public updates" and the game's Discord.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ea-is-giving-fans-a-chance-to-test-the-next-battlefield-early-192527209.html?src=rss

Who hasn't sat up at night, pondering what it would be like to play a musical mobile game about peanut butter and jelly, performed in faux Shakespearean verse and animated in the style of Terry Gilliam's Monty Python shorts? Well, wonder no more: The absurdist PBJ - The Musical (first previewed at Day of the Devs '24) heads to the App Store on March 26.Kamibox's PBJ - The Musical is a collaboration between studio founder Philipp Stollenmayer and English musician and comedian Lorraine Bowen, famous for the delightfully whimsical The Crumble Song." When I saw Lorraine performing on Britain's Got Talent in 2015, getting the Golden Buzzer from David Walliams, I knew I wanted to make something with her," Stollenmayer said. The quirkiness of her songs totally resonated with the vibe of my games," which include Sometimes You Die and the thematically similar Bacon - The Game.KamiboxPBJ - The Musical borrows elements of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, blending it with musical theatre (performed mostly by children!) and animated paper landscapes from actual cutouts. (When he isn't designing deceptively zany games, Stollenmayer is also a papercraft artist.) Peanut Boy, hailing from a black and white post-war America, steps in for Romeo, while Strawberry Girl, from a colorful and sweet world that raves of royalty, tackles the game's equivalent of Juliet. You control characters through simple taps and drags as you push and pull cutout figures through the diorama.The developer says that, unlike the Bard's version, this is no tragic play culminating in dual suicides. (Or, at least, not the kind to be sad about.) Kamibox says the game's happy ending involves - surprise! - the creation of the beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which a modern-day Shakespeare may have called The brightest heaven of invention" as he packed little Susanna's lunchbox.You can catch a snippet of the zany PBJ - The Musical in the trailer below. It arrives for iPhone and iPad on March 26 for $4. You can preorder it now in the App Store.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-weirdly-whimsical-pbj---the-musical-hits-the-app-store-on-march-26-175725209.html?src=rss

The Apple Watch SE is on sale via Amazon for $169. This is a discount of $80, which represents a savings of over 30 percent. If you've been on the fence regarding Apple's entry-level smartwatch, this could be the perfect excuse to, uh, get off that fence. Or climb it. I'm not exactly sure how that idiom works. The Watch SE easily found a place on our list of the best Apple smartwatches. Despite being the company's bare-bones model, it still offers plenty of bang for the buck. It can do crash detection, heart rate monitoring, emergency calling and more. There's a reason why we called it the best smartwatch for the money" in our official review. It uses the same chip as the original Ultra and the Series 8, so the performance is on point. It's covered in durable Ion-X glass and offers 50 meters of water resistance. The screen isn't quite as bright as with the pricier models, but we still found the display to be crisp and easy to read." The watch is also lightweight and comfortable. There are some trade-offs here when compared to Apple's more extravagant smartwatches. The SE doesn't support the new Double Tap feature for Siri requests and it doesn't include a blood oxygen monitor or a temperature sensor. The final caveat? This watch came out in 2022, so a refresh is likely on the horizon. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-apple-watch-se-is-80-off-right-now-162845944.html?src=rss

Middleby Outdoor added smart grilling features to its Kamado Joe ceramic grills in 2023 with the Konnected Joe. Now, the company is introducing a larger model with more cooking space. With the Big Joe Konnected Joe, you get all the features from the Konnected Joe, but with an additional 200 square inches of cooking space. And since this is still a kamado-style grill, you'll get all the benefits of the ceramic construction, including fuel efficiency and heat retention. The Big Joe Konnected Joe is the continuation of the Big Joe line. The dimensions of this new grill match the Big Joe II, but the smart model is 60 pounds lighter. Like the Big Joe II, you can expect a temperature range of 225-700 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the Big Joe Konnected Joe has a digital controller and fan to maintain your desired heat level. The cooking area is also the same as the other Big Joe models at 450 square inches. With the Kamado Joe app, the company offers the ability to monitor and control temperatures from anywhere since the grill has Wi-Fi connectivity. That software also shows food probe temperatures, displays progress graphs, sends cooking notifications and hosts a wealth of recipes. There are multiple cook modes, so you can employ Automatic when you want a hands-off session or Classic when you want to maintain the temperature the old fashioned way. There are also dedicated modes for Kamado Joe's various accessories, like the JoeTisserie. Kamado Joe The so-called Kontrol Board on the front of the Big Joe Konnected Joe houses a digital display where temperature, graphs, alerts and cook modes are viewable. The grill allows you to use up to three wired food probes simultaneously and there's a dedicated button for the Automatic Fire Start (AFS) feature. That latter tool debuted on the Konnected Joe and returns here. It's a heating element in the bottom of the grill that ignites charcoal without the need for lighter fluid or fire starters. Honestly, it's the best feature on the Konnected Joe and I have no doubt it will come in handy on this model too. Since this is a Kamado Joe product, you get a lot of the trademark features from this brand of grills. The Kontrol Tower top vent maintains the correct airflow per guidance from the on-board display and app, while the Air Lift hinge raises the lid with ease. Inside, there's a two-tier cooking setup so you can prepare foods are various temperatures at the same time. A slide-out ash drawer makes clean up a breeze and the whole thing sits on a sturdy powder-coated steel cart with four locking wheels. There are also folding shelves on both sides of the grill. The Big Joe Konnected Joe is available from retailers and the Kamado Joe website for $2,999. That's the same price at the Big Joe III and $1,300 more than the smaller Konnected Joe. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/kamado-joe-debuts-the-big-joe-konnected-joe-a-larger-smart-charcoal-grill-150013634.html?src=rss

Convenience has always been the big promise of robot vacuums. Don't clean your house yourself - instead, push a button and have a little robot putter around your home, sucking up all the dirt and debris in its path. Indeed, they are convenient, but they haven't fully replaced a manually operated cordless vacuum. Chances are, you have either a robot vacuum or a cordless vacuum in your house right now. Anker's home brand Eufy wants us to live in a world where you can have both without spending money on two separate devices that need two separate spots in your home. Announced at CES 2025, Anker's Eufy E20 is a first-of-its-kind robot vacuum that turns into a cordless stick vacuum and comes with all the necessary attachments to do so, plus a self-emptying base. It even comes in at a midrange price of $550 (or $50 less if you pre-order before it comes out on February 10), which made me believe that it has to be too good to be true. Ultimately, it succeeds at all three of its intended jobs, but really shines with only one of them. Design and setup Despite being a 3-in-1 device, the E20 sets up primarily as a robot vacuum. It comes in two main parts: the robot and the self-emptying base. There's really no assembly required - the base is fully put together in the box and only requires you to attach a transparent mat (onto which the vacuum docks) and plug the whole thing into the wall. Sit the robot vacuum on the base and it'll charge up, and it pairs quickly over Wi-Fi with the Eufy Clean mobile app. Two of the three in one" modes come as accessories included in the box. For the cordless stick vacuum, you get a retractable stick and a floor cleaner head, and for the handheld vacuum, you get a smaller, more precise brush attachment that's ideal for couches, chairs, cars and more. The only thing you don't get is a place to store those accessories; Eufy will sell a wall-mounted bracket that you can buy for an additional $30. It's great that it's such an affordable add-on but annoying that it is, in fact, a separate purchase. If you have the space, you may be better off storing the stick-vac accessories in your laundry room or a nearby closet. Yes, this is a smart" device, but all of the smart features of the E20 are limited to its robot-vaccum form. That's not entirely surprising; robovacs literally depend on features like customizable cleaning schedules, auto-docking, self-emptying and home mapping to be valuable. That's not the case for cordless vacuums, which remain manually operated devices. Some of the cordless vacuums I've tested have companion apps, but those typically just tell you when a filter needs to be cleaned and how long until the device is fully charged. Nice, but not necessary. The Eufy E20 as a robot vacuum Valentina Palladino for Engadget Since the E20's default form is robot vacuum, I tried it out as such first. This model supports smart home mapping, so the initial run included creating a map of the main floor of my home. It took around 10 minutes for the robot to scoot around the house and create an accurate map, and then it immediately got to work cleaning. Editing the map in the Eufy Clean app was a breeze, allowing me to match auto-generated rooms" to the rooms in my home, label them properly and set no-go zones around my cat's food and water bowls. Every robot vacuum app will tell you to pick up anything on your floors that shouldn't be there before starting a cleaning job, and Eufy's does this as well. I purposefully do not follow these instructions so I could test out a device's obstacle avoidance features. The E20 impressed me on this front: it avoided a bunch of small boxes on the floor of my family room, shoes in the hallway and my cat's bowls before I even set a no-go zone around them. It only got stuck and called for help (via an error message) once when it got caught on a wonky corner of the mat that sits in front of the door leading out to my deck. Extricating the robovac was easy (with no damage to either it or the mat) and the machine continued to clean after that as if nothing had happened. The E20 has four cleaning modes you can choose from in the app before you start a job: Quiet, Standard, Turbo and Max. There's also a BoostIQ setting you can turn on which will kick up the suction power when the robot vacuum is cleaning long-pile carpets. I kept this setting on at all times, even though the main level of my house has only tile and hardwood floors. Overall, as a robot vacuum, the E20 is great at cleaning and avoiding most objects in its path. It's also one of the most responsive robovacs I've tried in that, within a second of, say, telling it to go home from within the Eufy Clean app, it starts heading to the base station. During a job, it's also smart enough to know when its dustbin is getting full and it will return to its dock to auto-empty before continuing to clean. It did so about four times when it cleaned the main floor of my house, and that was consistent every time I used it. Usually at the end of a job, the E20 had about 40 percent battery left before it went home on its own. The self-emptying bin is a bit smaller than others I've used with competing robovacs, but Eufy claims it can hold up to 75 days worth of debris. The Eufy Clean app has come a long way since I first started testing Anker robot vacuums. It's still not as simple as apps like iRobot's or Shark's, but I mostly chalk that up to the fact that Eufy stuffed a lot of features into the app. You can quickly tell the robovac to start cleaning, return to its dock or change the cleaning mode with a press of a button on the main page, or tap into the device's profile to access the home map and even more settings. Two charming things this app has that most others don't are manual directional controls, so you can treat the robot almost like an RC car, and a little robot avatar that appears on the home map while it's moving, so you can see exactly where it is in your home and where it's already cleaned. Admittedly, the latter is likely more practical for most people than the former, but both are features that aren't as common in robot vacuums - even the high-end ones. The Eufy E20 as a cordless stick vacuum Valentina Palladino for Engadget It's easy to transform the E20 from a robot vacuum into a cordless stick vacuum. Just press the large red button on the robot vacuum to eject its cleaning module (which includes the filtration system, fan motor and dust cup), lift it up and out of the robot shell and attach the stick vacuum arm to its underside. The arm extends and retracts so you can use it to clean your floors with the included roller brush head or to tackle hard-to-reach spots with the precision head. There's an elegance to this that impresses me: it's so simple to do and requires very little tweaking by the user - anyone who's used a regular cordless stick vacuum with multiple attachments will be very familiar with this process. But how good is it as a cordless vacuum? The answer is: just ok. If the E20 were only a stick vacuum, it probably wouldn't be a top pick in our guide. This device is clearly a robot vacuum first, stick-and-hand vac second, and it's just not as powerful or efficient as other cordless vacuums I've tested. It does have four cleaning modes, each with different levels of suction power, and I always found myself using the strongest to get the deepest clean - both on carpets and hard floors. It didn't choke at the first sign of pet hair, though, and it actually captured a lot of my cat's fur hiding in my carpet. But it took at least two passes on carpets in particular to grab the biggest pieces of debris in its path. The E20 as a cordless stick vac does get points for being a single-button start device and having attachments that are easy to swap. While most of these machines are made mostly of plastic, the E20 feels noticeably cheap when compared to a stick vac from Tineco or Dyson. That may have to do with the fact that the overall design is quite small - the guts have to fit into a compact robot vacuum, after all - and it has a small dustbin. Valentina Palladino for Engadget Some might appreciate that, though, since it means you can more easily take it out to your car or somewhere else while it runs on battery power. It's also worth noting that, despite the small dustbin, I never received an alert that the dustbin was too full and needed to be emptied before I could continue vacuuming. I also never had to stop in the middle of a manual cleaning to recharge; most often, the vacuum had around 30 percent battery left after I cleaned all three floors of my home (which usually takes me between 20 to 30 minutes). According to Eufy, the vacuum takes only 2.5 hours to charge up from 0 to 100 percent, too. The machine also has a nifty feature that will auto-empty the dustbin after a cordless-vac cleaning job, which means you don't have to empty it yourself even when you opted to actually clean yourself. Just pop the module back into the robot vacuum and press the Home button for a few seconds and it will auto-empty just as it would if the robot did all the hard work. Wrap-up All told, the Eufy E20 is an impressive machine. While Eufy isn't a stranger to making solid robot vacuums, this device is still a first-gen product in my mind - and a solid one at that. But you have to know what you're buying upfront: an above-average robot vacuum that can turn into a just-average stick and hand vacuum. Ultimately, the convenience that comes from its 3-in-1 design may be enough to overlook the just-average performance of two of the three uses. The E20 isn't the best stick vac on the market, but honestly, I never expected it to be. It's good enough that it handily supplements the robot vacuum portion of the machine, allowing you to buy just one device that can vacuum autonomously for you most of the time and let you clean tricky spots manually when you need to. The price is also quite decent when you consider the machine's convenience mixed with its good performance. Some robot vacuums come in around $550 and provide only a self-emptying base as their main perk. Other similarly priced devices include mopping capabilities and that may be more useful for folks who have a variety of floor types in their home. Also consider this: you'd spend roughly the same amount if you got both our top budget cordless stick vacuum (the $300 Tineco Pure One S11) and our favorite budget robot vacuum (the $250 Roomba Vac), but you'd be missing a self-emptying base and you'd have to house two separate devices in your home.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/anker-eufy-e20-review-a-robot-vacuum-that-transforms-to-do-more-150005198.html?src=rss

With the help of modern machine learning technology, The Beatles were able to release their song Now and Then" in late 2023. The song contains vocals recorded from around 50 years ago and a guitar track from 1995, but technological limitations at the time prevented it from seeing the light of day without serious audio issues. Today, after being nominated in November 2024 for two Grammys, Now and Then" won one for Best Rock Performance.When the demo was first recorded, John Lennon's singing and piano were on the same audio track, and separating them was impossible. Fortunately, AI can now do that without much bleed or loss. The surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, were able to complete the song by recording new bass and drum parts and releasing it almost 30 years later.Sean Ono Lennon, the son of the late Beatle, accepted the trophy in his father's stead. Now and Then" was also nominated for Record of the Year but lost to Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/ai-won-the-beatles-a-grammy-55-years-after-they-broke-up-141743908.html?src=rss

Samsung's executive chairman Jay Y. Lee has been cleared of criminal charges by South Korea's second-highest court, Bloomberg reported. Earlier on Monday, the Seoul High Court upheld an earlier decision acquitting Lee of stock manipulation and accounting fraud charges over a 2015 merger. The ruling will allow Lee to focus on Samsung's mobile and chip businesses, which have seen declining profits over the past couple of years. Yee has consistently denied committing any crimes.The prosecution can still appeal to the Korea's Supreme Court, but that would be unlikely to succeed since no new arguments could be presented, experts say. "It has been a very long time in the investigation and trial of this case," said Samsung lawyer Kim You Jin in a statement. "We hope that with this verdict, the defendants can now focus on their work."Back in 2017, prosecutors accused Lee of manipulating the share price of two Samsung subsidiaries to smooth the way for a merger that allowed him to consolidate his power. In early 2024, however, the court ruled that the prosecutors failed to prove that. "It is hard to say that Lee Jae-yong [aka Jay Y. Lee]... spearheaded the merger, and that the merger was done just for the sake of Lee's succession," a judge stated in the ruling.At the time, the decision was hailed by business groups, but not everyone in the country agreed. "The ruling will free Lee of legal risks, but I am at a loss for words in terms of the country's economic justice," Park Ju-geun, head of corporate thinktank Leaders Index, told The Financial Timesin February 2024. "This goes totally against all previous court rulings on the merger."Lee was originally sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 after being found guilty of bribing public officials over the same merger, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision and ordered the case to be retried. In that retrial, Lee was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of prison time in early 2021, then paroled half a year later (Korea's former president Park Geun-hye also went to jail for her role in the same affair.) In 2022, Lee was pardoned by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was himself recently impeached and charged with insurrection over a martial law attempt.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/samsung-leader-cleared-of-fraud-charges-after-winning-appeal-130056498.html?src=rss

There's no two ways about it, there's a newfound sense of urgency at OpenAI. Two days after releasing o3-mini to the world, the company made a surprise announcement on Sunday evening, revealing Deep Research. The new feature allows ChatGPT to find, analyze and synthesize hundreds of websites and online sources to create reports at the level of a research analyst."On top of the usual text questions, users can upload files, including PDFs and spreadsheets, when prompting ChatGPT in this way. The chatbot will then take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes" to compile an answer, a side panel documenting the agent's progress and citations as it works. It accomplishes in tens of minutes what would take a human many hours," OpenAI says of the new feature.Our ultimate aspiration is a model that can uncover and discover new knowledge for itself," said Mark Chen, chief research officer at OpenAI, during the company's reveal livestream. It's core to our [artificial general intelligence] roadmap."OpenAIAs far as limitations go, OpenAI says ChatGPT can sometimes hallucinate facts or make incorrect inferences when conducting Deep Research, though at a notably lower" rate than other current models. Additionally, the agent may sometimes struggle to differentiate between authoritative information and rumors. Users may also notice some formatting errors. We expect all these issues to quickly improve with more usage and time," the company notes.If all of this sounds familiar, it's because Google's Advanced suite includes its own Deep Research feature, which not only shares the same name but broadly offers the same set of capabilities as well. One significant difference between the two is that Google offers access to Gemini Advanced through its $20 per month One AI Premium plan. By contrast, you'll need a $200 per month ChatGPT Pro plan to start using OpenAI's version of Deep Research today.Deep research in ChatGPT is currently very compute intensive," the company reasons, adding it will limit Pro users to 100 queries per month. The longer it takes to research a query, the more inference compute is required."OpenAI says it's working on a version of Deep Research powered by a smaller, more cost-effective model. In turn, that will allow the company to offer significantly higher rate limits." In the meantime, OpenAI hopes to get the tool in the hands of Plus users in about a month," following a round of safety testing. As with most of the company's other recent releases, European users will need to wait before they can try out the tool for themselves, with Deep Research not yet available to people in the UK, Switzerland and the broader European economic zone.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chatgpts-deep-research-tool-can-create-reports-from-hundreds-of-online-sources-022223298.html?src=rss

OpenAI announced on X that it's hosting a livestream from Tokyo tonight, offering no more context beyond, Deep Research." (Didn't Google already take that name for Gemini?) The stream is scheduled for 7PM ET (4PM PT/ 9AM JST). You can watch it on YouTube below.Just a few days ago, OpenAI released its new reasoning model, o3-mini. The company says it produces more accurate and clearer answers, with stronger reasoning abilities" than its predecessor, and works with search to find up-to-date answers with links to relevant web sources." CEO Sam Altman and other members of the OpenAI team held an AMA on Reddit on Friday to talk about it. And a week before that, OpenAI introduced its new Operator tool, a Computer-Using Agent" that it said can go to the web to perform tasks for you."

The long-awaited Powerbeats Pro 2 could make their official debut in little more than a week from now. In the Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reports that sources have told him the $250 earbuds will arrive on February 11 and boast heart-rate monitoring on top of upgrades like an H2 chip and improvements to noise cancellation. We should also see some new colors, like orange, according to Gurman. Beats first teased the upcoming launch of the Powerbeats Pro 2 back in September, revealing only that they'd drop in 2025, and has since been posting photos on Instagram of athletes rocking them.Apple is also reportedly working on a new event invitation service for iCloud that sounds like it could rival the likes of Partiful and Calendly. The details are scant, but Gurman reports that the iCloud-based service code-named Confetti offers a new way to invite people to parties, functions and meetings." It could be introduced as soon as this week, he notes. Apple recently made some updates to its Calendar app with the rollout of iOS 18, like a new month overview and finally tying in Reminders. Confetti integration could add another convenient planning feature.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/this-month-may-bring-the-powerbeats-pro-2-and-a-new-party-invitation-service-for-icloud-200605528.html?src=rss

On Saturday evening, Trump signed executive orders to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), with a White House fact sheet claiming the move is meant to hold the US' largest trading partners accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country." The orders put 25 percent additional tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, the one exception being that energy products from Canada will be subject to a 10 percent tariff. Imports from China will also face a 10 percent tariff.The broad tariffs are expected to take effect on Tuesday and could have ramifications not only for American businesses, but for consumers too. Mexico, Canada and China are the top suppliers of US goods imports, each accounting for hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of products coming into the country each year, data from the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission show. Those products span a wide range of categories, from agriculture to transportation/automotive, fuel, electronics, wood, furniture, alcohol and more.Mexico and Canada dominate US imports of agricultural goods, with Mexico supplying items like fruits, vegetables and nuts, and the bulk of imported animal products like beef coming from Canada, according to Trading Economics and the US Department of Agriculture. The two countries have also been our top suppliers for transportation equipment, including cars and car parts, and crude oil. Canada is responsible for almost 60 percent of US crude oil imports according to the Congressional Research Service, which noted in a report last month that the new tariffs might affect the U.S. crude oil market and consumer fuel prices."Imports of electronics have largely come from China, and Mexico follows closely behind. Trading Economics data also show machinery, toys and games, furniture and plastics among the top goods imported from China in recent years. The electronics sector could take an additional hit down the line, as Trump has said he also plans to impose tariffs on imported semiconductors, along with pharmaceuticals and steel.Leaders from Canada and Mexico have both responded to the tariffs, saying they would impose their own on US goods in retaliation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday announced a 25 percent tariff on roughly $107 billion (155 billion Canadian dollars) worth of US goods, Reuters reports.In a statement released after the announcement of the tariffs, John Murphy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President and Head of International, warned that Trump's new tariffs could negatively affect both consumers and the supply chains. The President is right to focus on major problems like our broken border and the scourge of fentanyl, but the imposition of tariffs under IEEPA is unprecedented, won't solve these problems, and will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains," Murphy said. The Chamber will consult with our members, including main street businesses across the countryimpacted by this move, to determine next steps to prevent economic harm to Americans."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trumps-tariffs-on-mexico-canada-and-china-could-drive-up-prices-of-cars-electronics-fuel-food-and-more-172823156.html?src=rss

Microsoft is getting rid of the VPN offered through Microsoft Defender. As spotted by Windows Latest, the company updated its support pages for privacy protection, its built-in VPN, to notify users that the service will end on February 28. The VPN was bundled with Microsoft Defender, which is available to anyone with a personal or family Microsoft 365 subscription, and it offered private browsing by routing your internet traffic through Microsoft servers," up to the monthly data limit of 50GB.In a statement about the decision posted on the support page, Microsoft said, Our goal is to ensure you, and your family remain safer online. We routinely evaluate the usage and effectiveness of our features. As such, we are removing the privacy protection feature and will invest in new areas that will better align to customer needs." Android users might still see the Microsoft Defender VPN profile in their settings after the expiration date, which they'll need to remove manually if they want it gone. Action is not required by Windows, iOS, and macOS users," Microsoft notes.The company also says this is the only feature getting killed off for now. According to Microsoft, device protection and identity theft and credit monitoring (US) features will continue."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/microsoft-defenders-vpn-feature-will-be-killed-off-at-the-end-of-february-212313322.html?src=rss

Owners of some early Apple Watch models may be eligible for payment from a $20 million class action settlement. Apple recently agreed to settle a lawsuit that claimed some first generation, Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 Apple Watches had battery swelling issues that could have caused damage to the devices. The company has denied any wrongdoing and in a statement to TechCrunch said it strongly" disagrees with the claims made in the lawsuit, but nonetheless agreed to settle to avoid further litigation." The exact amount of the payments will depend on how many claimants ultimately end up being involved, but it's expected to be between $20 to $50 per eligible device.There's a full breakdown of eligibility and deadlines on the website for the class action lawsuit, but the main thing to know is that in order to receive payment, you must have reported the issue to Apple in the US between April 24, 2015, and February 6, 2024. Settlement Class Members will receive a payment without the need to submit a claim form," the website notes. You just need to submit your payment information through the settlement website (here) by April 10. Notices of eligibility will be sent out by mail and email.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-has-agreed-to-pay-20-million-to-settle-a-class-action-lawsuit-over-apple-watch-battery-swelling-175616623.html?src=rss

New releases to add to your reading list. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-engrossing-literary-horror-and-a-dark-whimsical-new-comic-series-175906806.html?src=rss

Apple was apparently developing augmented reality glasses powered by its Mac computers, but it canceled the project before the company could even announce it. According to Bloomberg, Apple scrapped the program this week because the product didn't perform well when executives tested it and the company kept on changing the features it wanted for the device. The glasses, while still powered by visionOS, weren't supposed to be the direct successor to the Vision Pro. They reportedly weren't a headset, but a pair of normal-looking glasses instead.Bloomberg says Apple originally wanted the AR glasses to be powered by the iPhone, but the smartphone didn't have the processing capacity to sustain the device's features. They also drained the iPhone's battery. The scrapped AR glasses had built-in displays that can project information, images and video into the user's field of view. They were lighter than the Vision Pro and didn't show the wearer's eyes like the headset can, but they had lenses that could change their tint to show if the user is working on a task or isn't busy and can be approached. Bloomberg compared the canceled product to XReal's One glasses and to the Orion prototype Meta revealed last year. While the Orion needs to be paired with a "wireless compute puck" to work, it doesn't need to be connected to a computer or a phone.Apple was developing the glasses as a device people can use every day. One of the issues it's reportedly facing is that people who already own the Vision Pro aren't using it as much as the company expects. However, employees part of the company's vision products group reportedly thought the project suffered from a lack of focus and clear direction. Apple is still working on a successor to the Vision Pro, though, and it's still looking to develop AR glasses in the future. It's also continuing to work on the technologies the scrapped glasses used, such as microLED-type screens, for future projects.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/apple-reportedly-shelved-a-mac-connected-ar-glasses-project-160921712.html?src=rss

The 2025 NAMM Show is over. Every year music gear manufacturers, ranging from iconic synth brands like Korg, to boutique guitar pedal makers like Walrus Audio, and even companies making fog machines and knobs descend on Anaheim to show off their latest wares. It is chaos in all the ways that you'd expect a convention to be - miles-long lines for coffee, hordes of strangers jockeying for position around new products, food options that range from barely edible to instant heart attack. But NAMM is also a special beast. If you've ever wondered what eight out-of-sync drummers, two finger tapping guitar solos, an acoustic slide blues riff and a simple ukulele ditty would all sound like simultaneously vying for your attention, well, this is the only place to experience that particular brand of hell. But, now that my legs and, more importantly, my eardrums have finally started to recover I've had a chance to reflect on some of the best things I saw on the show floor. Here are the 10 things that grabbed my attention the most.Eternal Research Demon BoxTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetEternal Research launched a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign back in September, but this was the first time I was able to see the Demon Box in person. Think of it like a supercharged version of the Soma Labs Ether featured in a handful of our gift guides. The Demon Box doesn't make any sound on its own, instead it features three pickups that turn EMFs (electromagnetic fields) into music - or at least audible noise. Run a cellphone, power drill or a tuning fork across the top and you'll get unique whines, hisses, clicks and beeps that only that device could produce. But where the Ether is basically just a microphone, the Demon Box is an instrument designed for live interaction and controlling other devices. In addition to outputting audio, it can also convert those electro magnetic fields into CV (control voltage) for controlling eurorack synths or MIDI for triggering a visual synthesizer, or all three simultaneously. There are tons of options out there if you want a buzzy sawtooth bass, but if you want to turn the invisible radiation emitted by a TV remote into a centerpiece of a multimedia performance, this is basically your only option.Circle GuitarTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetThe Circle Guitar is impractical. It costs over $12,000 (insert grimacing emoji). But it's also just insane fun. Instead of playing it with a pick or finger plucking the strings (though, you can do that if you want), the strings are strummed by movable plectrums you mount inside a spinning wheel. There are sixteen slots allowing you to design your own strumming rhythm, and then there are six sliders under the pickups for controlling the volume of each string individually. This allows you to create complex, robotic rhythms like a drum machine, but on your guitar. And, what's more, you can sync it to a DAW to make sure you're in lockstep with your backing track, even when it stutters and pauses. It's a completely unique creation that has already drawn the attention of artists like Ed O'Brien of Radiohead.Akai + Native InstrumentsOne of the biggest announcements out of NAMM wasn't really a new product, but two titans of the industry joining forces. Several of Native Instruments (NI) Play Series synths and genre-specific Expansion Pack sound kits are being ported over to Akai's new MPC 3.0 platform. While the availability of some existing soft synths on some existing hardware might not seem like a big deal at first, it greatly expands the sonic palette of the MPC and gives NI another foothold in the world of standalone music hardware after giving it go on its own with the Machine+. The selection of sounds is limited at the moment, with three synths (Analog Dreams, Cloud Supply, and Nacht) and just one expansion (Faded Reels) available. But two more synths and four more expansions will be added soon and, if all goes well, I'm sure more will follow.Korg HandyTraxx PlayTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetThe HandyTraxx Play is the first and only portable turntable that I know of with built-in effects. It has a DJ filter, a delay and even a simple looper which can, in theory, negate the need for a separate mixer and even a second turntable in some cases. While I can not scratch, I've always wanted to learn, and the all-in-one portable nature of the HandyTraxx Play, including a speaker and battery power, is pretty appealing to someone who just wants to dip their toe in and doesn't want invest a ton of money and space in a separate mixer and dual turntable setup. Plus, Korg designed the Play in conjunction with the late Toshihide Nakama, the founder of Vestax and builder of the original Handy Trax (two words, one x), an icon in the world of portablism.Donner Essential L1 SynthesizerTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetOver the last few years Chinese music gear maker Donner has started to really expand its offerings, going from mostly digital pianos and some bargain bin guitar pedals, to shockingly decent DSP effects, drum machines and even a pocketable groovebox. The L1 is the latest in its growing line of synths and it has a lot of promise. It's based in large part on the Roland SH-101, an iconic instrument from the 80s that found particular favor among artists like Aphex Twin, Orbital, Depeche Mode, KMFDM, and Boards of Canada.What makes the L1 particularly intriguing is that it's the first entry in the company's new Snap2Connect (S2C) system. The keyboard attaches to the synth magnetically, allowing you to leave it behind if you want, or use it as a separate MIDI controller with your DAW or another synth. But Donner also says it plans on adding other instruments to the S2C system, so you could buy a module based on, say, a Juno-60 one day and just slap it on to the keyboard you already own.Enjoy Electronics DeFeelTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetThe DeFeel is hard to explain. The company calls it a modular monotony degenerator," which is both extremely accurate and extremely unhelpful. Basically, you stick this thing between your sequencer and your synthesizer and it mangles the incoming CV to generate fills, stutters, and all manner of barely controlled chaos. In short, it takes that rock-solid sequence you've programmed and makes it less monotonous. It can resequence your sequence or add modulation. You can draw modulation curves using the 4.3-inch touchscreen, or even turn it into an X/Y pad for live performance. It's designed mostly with eurorack synths in mind, but it's also available as a standalone unit in a classy wooden case.Melbourne Instruments RotoControlTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetThe RotoControl might not seem like the most exciting device at first. It's a MIDI controller with eight knobs and keys on the right side, and a handful of other buttons on the left for navigating the device. But what makes it special is that those knobs are motorized - if you change a parameter in your DAW or softsynth, that is reflected physically on the controller. That might sound a little gimmicky, but it's actually incredibly useful.See, knobs on a controller or synth generally come in two flavors: pots and encoders. A pot, or potentiometer, has a beginning and end. So, if you change a preset or switch instruments, it may no longer reflect the actual setting in question. Encoders have no beginning or end. Since they don't point to a concrete position in space, there's no need to worry about a disagreement between knob position and an actual parameter value. But they're also less than ideal for live performance. Judging how far you need to turn to get that filter sweep just right is difficult, and encoders generally have a less smooth response than a pot. Melbourne solves this by just moving the pots to where they're supposed to be.Roli Piano & AirwaveTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetI've been saying for a few years that I'm going to finally learn how to play piano. But, I'm a busy dad of two, a part-time bartender and a full-time freelancer. I don't really have the time or disposable income, frankly, to treat myself to piano lessons. And the app-based or video options I've tried have been a bit underwhelming. I don't know that the Roli Piano and Airwave are for sure more effective than Melodics or Duolingo at teaching how to play, but it seems like there's more potential there. Where most music education apps are basically glorified versions of Guitar Hero, Roli uses the Airwave's camera to track your whole hand, letting you know if you're out of position, if your wrists are at the wrong angle or if you're using the wrong fingers. It's probably not as good as having a real professional teaching you the ropes, but it's probably better than a repurposed video game bolted on to some rudimentary music theory lesson.Oh, and once you feel comfortable enough with your playing, the Roli Piano and Airwave combine to create what is probably the most extensive MPE controller on the market.Entropy & Sons Recursion StudioTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetVideo synthesizers are not new, but they're also not the most common things on the planet. And the Recursion Studio from Entropy & Sons is probably one of the most capable I've ever seen. For one, this is not some simple visualizer where a basic clip of animation is manipulated, all of the visuals are generated live, algorithmically. In addition it can process incoming video, distort images and react to incoming audio, it even has multiple oscilloscope modes builtin.For those that like to get their hands dirty there are over 300 modules that can be combined to create custom visual patches. But there are also about a 1,000 presets on board so you can quickly get some visuals up immediately to go with your synth jam. And the company is constantly updating the device and adding new features.SoundToys SpaceBlenderTerrence O'Brien for EngadgetSoundToys is one of the biggest names in effect plugins out there. They're used by everyone from Radiolab's Jad Abumrad to Kenny Beats and Trent Reznor. The company's Decapitator saturation plugin is one of the best things to ever happen to drums and EchoBoy is a must have delay. But, it doesn't introduce new effects terribly often. SuperPlate was added to the roster in mid 2023, but that was the first new addition since Little Plate in November of 2017 - the company takes its time.SpaceBlender is SoundToys' take on an ambient granular reverb. It's not really a straight granular plugin, that chops up your audio and spits it back out in little bits, instead it's a bunch of delays that get combined and smeared into something ethereal. It even has an interactive envelope designer that you can manipulate to not only hone the shape of your reverb, but even has potential as a live performance tool. SpaceBlender isn't quite ready for release just yet, but even in this early sneak peek it sounded phenomenal and seemed pretty stable.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/the-10-best-things-i-saw-at-namm-140044601.html?src=rss

When Wuthering Waves launched about half a year ago on iOS, Android and Windows, there were serious issues on day one. While some can be forgiving when a game launches, especially a live-service game that will get lots of updates, the errors that many experienced were catastrophic. However, developer Kuro Games didn't give up on the title, and it has more than recovered from its launch, even becoming a nominee at The Games Awards last year.For those who aren't familiar with Wuthering Waves, it's an open-world, free-to-play action RPG similar to Genshin Impact in many ways. However, its combat is more focused on spectacular combos, perfectly-timed parries and dodge counters after avoiding attacks at the right moment. Some players say that the combat is inspired by Devil May Cry games. Heck, there's even a reference to Vergil's (modded) chair in the game.Screenshot by @deviltakoyaki on XWuthering Waves suffered from a disastrous launch. Many people had performance issues, experienced crashes and dialog text was often cut off. It wasn't uncommon to see people complaining that they couldn't play at all despite being excited about its graphics. Some also criticized the voice acting, which reminded me of ASMR-style vocals and didn't fit the usual video game voice acting direction. Fortunately, Kuro Games apologized quickly and promised to make things right.In fact, someone took a picture of Kuro Games' Guangdong, China office between 10 and 11PM. The lights were on, and the company seemed to be taking its vow to improve the game seriously.Over the next few months, Kuro Games would work hard at fixing the most pressing issues while also introducing much-needed quality-of-life fixes. The first highlight of this improvement process was giving all players another free standard banner 5-star character and 5-star standard banner weapon box. After that, they even let users get a limited 5-star character, Xiangli Yao, for free when they played an event to a certain point. The game even has 120FPS mode on PC, something all other games made by direct competitor miHoYo don't have, except Zenless Zone Zero.Plus, as of the 2.0 update, it has come to PS5. Limited character Camellya finally became playable during November, much to the delight of many after months of waiting. Wuthering Waves made it to the final rounds of The Game Awards' best mobile game category but didn't win, losing to Balatro.Kuro GamesKuro Games also released the drip marketing for a new area Rinascita early on to build hype, and many gamers were excited to visit it. Kuro Games' early efforts to fix things paid off, as even the latest character teasers looked better and even provided crucial information like character roles, playstyles and materials. These teasers allowed players to farm resources ahead of time if they wanted, instead of relying on leaks.I play the game in Mandarin Chinese dub and text, so I didn't catch this detail. But an upcoming character, Zani, actually speaks in an Italian accent (with some Spanish and Greek influence, apparently) if you choose the English dub. When the game first launched, the English voices sounded incredibly forced since some of the voice actors were British but were forced to adopt American accents. Zani's Italian accent is a major improvement in voice acting direction, and now I'm more willing to give the English dub another chance.(Zani also recommends you eat pineapple pizza, though. But don't judge me, because I like that stuff. Sorry, not sorry.)Now that the 2.0 update is out, I saw some players calling it a wonderful experience. As for me, I'm definitely enjoying the update and have been farming for my characters. I haven't finished the available story missions yet, but I do think Kuro Games has improved its writing compared to the first chapters. I noticed the tendency to show more than what I've experienced playing Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, both games that often utilize black screens with text. Wuthering Waves tends to stay away from those. I admit that the story isn't completely riveting, but I'm still having fun exploring Solaris-3. The word salad from the first chapters has been reduced, allowing me to take in the story without being overloaded by too many new terms.Kuro GamesI also play Genshin Impact and can appreciate the differences between them, as Wuthering Waves's combat system satisfies an itch Genshin Impact's doesn't. Farming is quick, and the story is improving. The events are fun, except for the Tower of Adversity endgame mode and the Pincer Maneuver event series that comes back once in a while. Maybe it's a skill issue, but I find these modes rather challenging if you don't have the latest featured character or a featured recommended element. The Depths of Illusive Realm roguelike mode needs some more variety, but I suspect that's in the works as it rotates back in soon.Despite any faults, I still play Wuthering Waves daily on Windows and look forward to future content; It's good enough that I'm taking any faults in stride. Earlier this month, Kuro Games CEO Solon Lee released a letter in Chinese thanking fans and revealing that Wuthering Waves reached its highest single-day revenue when version 2.0 was released. I felt encouraged by the letter, and I can confidently say I'm glad I gave the game a chance last year. Whatever the company has in store, I'm all for it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/im-glad-i-gave-wuthering-waves-a-chance-even-with-a-disastrous-launch-150051043.html?src=rss

We're so used to seeing virtual reality depicted nefariously in films like The Matrix, Virtuousity (a forgotten '90s classic) and The Lawnmower Man, it's genuinely surprising to see something that treats VR in a potentially positive way. In Flora Lau's Luz, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this week, there's no major downside to VR, it's just another way for humans to connect. And in the case of the film's two lonely leads, art gallery worker Ren (Sandrine Pinna) and pseudo-gangster Wei (Xiaodong Guo), VR serves as a life raft of human connection, something that could help them find peace in a world where they both feel adrift.Set in modern-day Chongqing (a city so neon-filled and futuristic it seems more sci-fi than real) and Paris, the characters in Luz live alongside technology familiar to us. Smartphones and OnlyFans-esque livestreams featuring young girls are commonplace. But the virtual reality hardware in the film - including ski mask-like goggles, pointed finger sensors that resemble a witch's nails - is both a step ahead, and slightly behind, where we are today. Luz, both the name of the film and the VR world people visit, is a fascinating artifact of the immersive reality space from several years ago. That was before we knew finger tracking could be the main input mode in a VR/AR headset like Apple's Vision Pro.Ren and Wei experience the VR world of Luz as an escape from their real-world troubles, though that ultimately proves futile. Ren tries to connect with her stepmother Sabine (the legendary Isabelle Huppert), an emotionally distant Paris gallery owner who is avoiding any help for a potentially fatal illness. Wei, meanwhile, is trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter Fa, who he can only see anonymously via that aforementioned livestream.The lead's storylines intersect during an in-game hunting expedition for a mysterious neon deer, which appears to be the closest thing to "winning" Luz. Wei and Ren reluctantly bond, and eventually they start to find ways to heal their emotional wounds. It's an intriguing concept, though we don't spend enough time with both characters hanging out in VR to truly sell their relationship.Sundance InstituteLuz doesn't attempt to deliver a fully CG VR world like Ready Player One (thank god), instead we see a hyper-stylized version of the real world with an abundance of neon lights, floating particles and characters dressed as if they're about to head to Comic-Con. Obviously, it's an easier way to convey VR, but the film is also portraying a version of the technology that's practically identical to the real world. If VR were truly so immersive, why even bother with real life connections? (Stylistically, it reminds me of Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii's forgotten Polish sci-fi film, Avalon, which also explored how people can redefine themselves in a VR simulation.)While Lau goes to great lengths to craft gorgeous VR imagery, what the film really needs is more time for its two leads to sit down and talk to each other, instead of having us infer emotion as they stare off into the distance. At just an hour and forty two minutes, there's plenty of room for more character exploration. But at least we get some intriguing conversations between Ren and Sabine, with Huppert being her typically charming self. (Perhaps the most unbelievable aspect of the film is that Sabine, a hip presence in the visual arts scene, hadn't tried VR until Ren convinced her. We've been seeing artists adopt VR for installations since 2016, so it's far from a new concept.)Luz is close to being a great film, with its strong performances and confidently composed cinematography. But through either restraint or weak screenwriting, we don't always have a sense of how the leads relate to the world, or even what they think of each other. The overall approach feels too cold and distant for a film that's ultimately about rediscovering human connection.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/sundance-premiere-luz-explores-how-vr-can-help-us-find-connection-in-the-real-world-140005020.html?src=rss

Google has given US employees in the Platforms and Devices team the option to exit voluntarily before it starts cutting jobs. The news was first reported by 9to5Google. Google's Platforms and Devices team has 25,000 employees and was formed when the company merged its Android and hardware teams last year. It's in charge of a bunch of Google products, including Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Pixel, Nest and Fitbit. However, only employees based in the US who are directly reporting to the division's VP, Rick Osterloh, can leave voluntarily with a severance package.Osterloh reportedly told the team in a memo that the "voluntary exit plan" is for those struggling to meet the demands of their role or those unhappy with the company's hybrid work setup. People have until February 20 to sign up for the exit program, and since the memo says they'll find out if they've been accepted on March 25, some people may not be able to leave the company with the severance package it's offering. Google is scheduled to release its earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2024 in a few days, and it'll be interesting to see if it reveals a decline in revenue or any other weakness that could've led to the buyout and impending layoffs."The Platforms & Devices team is offering a voluntary exit program that provides US-based Googlers working on this team the ability to voluntarily leave the company with a severance package," Google said in a statement. "This comes after we brought two large organizations together last year. There's tremendous momentum on this team and with so much important work ahead, we want everyone to be deeply committed to our mission and focused on building great products, with speed and efficiency."According to CNBC, employees were pleased with Google's decision to offer voluntary exits with severance instead of going straight to job cuts. They were apparently aware of Google's future cost-cutting efforts and asked for voluntary buyouts as an option.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-will-let-platforms-and-devices-employees-leave-voluntarily-prior-to-layoffs-130017394.html?src=rss

GoPro is rolling out a software update for its entry-level Hero camera that allows users to shoot 4:3 video in 4K. This is great for the kinds of clips that populate social media sites like TikTok, as the footage is taller. The update is available for free via the company's GoPro Quik app on iOS and Android. Obviously, the new aspect ratio is intended for social media content, but shooting in 4:3 has several use case scenarios. For instance, it can be the perfect choice for capturing video from a first-person perspective. If social media isn't your bag, GoPro says that these 4:3 videos can easily be cropped to 16:9 "for a traditional widescreen look." There's another tool available with this update that adds a bit of pizzazz when converting from 4:3 to 16:9. The app's SuperView Digital Lens option adds a widening effect during the conversion process, which makes captured footage look faster, more immersive and more exciting." This app-based lens has been available for a while, but only worked with GoPro's pricier offerings. Speaking of budgets, the cute lil Hero camera is just $180 right now. It's also incredibly light, at 86 grams. The company's calling it the smallest, lightest and widest angle GoPro, ever." This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/gopro-pushes-update-to-its-entry-level-hero-camera-adding-43-video-for-social-clips-195325285.html?src=rss

OpenAI's latest machine learning mode has arrived. On Friday, the company released o3-mini and it's available to try now. What's more, for the first time OpenAI is making one of its "reasoning" models available to free users of ChatGPT. If you want to try it yourself, select the "Reason" button under the message composer to get started.According to OpenAI, o3-mini is faster and more accurate than its predecessor, o1-mini. In A/B testing, the company found o3-mini was 24 percent faster than o1 at delivering a response. Moreover, set to its "medium" reasoning effort, the new model can come close to the performance of the more expensive o1 system in some math, coding and science benchmarks. Like OpenAI's other reasoning models, o3-mini will show you how it arrived at an answer instead of simply responding to a prompt. Notably, the model works with ChatGPT Search out of box, enabling it to comb the web for the latest information and useful links. OpenAI says it's working on integrating search across all of its reasoning models."The release of OpenAI o3-mini marks another step in OpenAI's mission to push the boundaries of cost-effective intelligence. By optimizing reasoning for STEM domains while keeping costs low, we're making high-quality AI even more accessible," OpenAI said. "This model continues our track record of driving down the cost of intelligence - reducing per-token pricing by 95% since launching GPT-4 - while maintaining top-tier reasoning capabilities. As AI adoption expands, we remain committed to leading at the frontier, building models that balance intelligence, efficiency, and safety at scale."With today's announcement, o3-mini will replace o1-mini in the model picker. Additionally, OpenAI is tripling the rate limit for Plus and Team ChatGPT users from 50 messages per day with o1-mini to 150 messages per day for o3-mini. OpenAI's recently launched $200 per month Pro tier offers unlimited access to the new system.When OpenAI first previewed o3 and o3-mini at the end of last year, CEO Sam Altman said the latter would arrive around the end of January." Altman gave a more concrete timeline on January 17 when he wrote on X that OpenAI was planning to ship in a couple of weeks."Now that it's here, it's safe to say o3-mini arrives with a sense of urgency. On January 20, the same day Altman was attending Donald Trump's inauguration, China's DeepSeek quietly released its R1 chain-of-thought model. By January 27, the company's chatbot surpassed ChatGPT as the most-download free app on the US App Store after going viral. The overnight success of DeepSeek wiped $1 trillion of stock market value, and almost certainly left OpenAI blindsided.In the aftermath of last week, OpenAI said it was working with Microsoft to identify two accounts the company claims may have distilled its models. Distillation is the process of transferring the knowledge of an advanced AI system to a smaller, more efficient one. Distillation is not a controversial practice. DeepSeek has used distillation on its own R1 model to train its smaller algorithms; in fact, OpenAI's terms of service allow for distillation as long users don't train competing models on the outputs of the company's AI.OpenAI did not explicitly name DeepSeek. We know [China]-based companies - and others - are constantly trying to distill the models of leading US AI companies," an OpenAI spokesperson told The Guardian recently. However, David Sacks, President Trump's AI advisor, was more direct, claiming there was substantial evidence" that DeepSeek had "distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI's models."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-o3-mini-is-here-and-available-to-all-users-190918706.html?src=rss

It's time for another edition of Engadget's weekly deals roundup where we bring together worthwhile tech deals from the past week. If you're in the market for home entertainment gear, you're in luck thanks to Super Bowl-adjacent sales. Even if you don't care about the repeat clash between the Eagles and Chiefs, you can still save up to 25 percent on Sonos speakers and get discounts on a number of decent TV sets. You can check those out in our separate TV deals roundup or browse a few highlights below. As for non-sports-related tech deals, a bunch of Apple gear is on sale right now, including AirTags, the Apple Watch and three models of iPads (the Pro, Air and mini). Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.Sonos Era 100Sonos

WhatsApp has claimed that some users were possibly compromised" by spyware, according to a report by The Guardian. The Meta-owned messaging app went on to allege that nearly 100 journalists and activists were targeted in the attack. Additionally, the platform says it has high confidence" that the Graphite spyware came from Paragon Solutions, a company founded in Israel that was recently acquired by a US investment firm.Hacking experts allege that this was a zero-click" attack, meaning that the targeted users wouldn't have had to click on a nefarious link to get infected. This is a similar method to another large-scale WhatsApp hack, in which spyware called Pegasus infected over 1,400 devices. Once a device is infected by something like Pegasus or Graphite, the spyware operator has total access. This even includes the ability to read messages sent via encrypted applications like WhatsApp and Signal.WhatsApp says it has informed the 100 or so users of the potential attack, but has declined to disclose where they are based and who they are. It did say that it disrupted the alleged attacks back in December, though it's unclear how long the targets may have been under threat.This is the latest example of why spyware companies must be held accountable for their unlawful actions. WhatsApp will continue to protect people's ability to communicate privately," a company spokesperson said. WhatsApp has sent Paragon a cease and desist" letter and says that it's exploring legal options.As for Paragon, it recently entered into a controversial $2 million contract with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department. Wired reports that the one-year contract tasks Paragon with providing a fully configured proprietary solution including license, hardware, warranty, maintenance and training." The company has yet to respond to the allegations from WhatsApp.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/whatsapp-claims-that-100-journalists-and-activists-were-the-targets-of-israeli-made-spyware-171701672.html?src=rss