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Meta is testing out a premium version of its messaging app, called WhatsApp Plus, that will include several paywalled features. As first spotted by WABetaInfo , Meta is currently rolling out a paid version of WhatsApp, which features mostly cosmetic upgrades. According to the Help Center page , WhatsApp Plus subscribers will get access to premium stickers that can have special effects and the ability to personalize the app's themes and icons. Beyond the decorative elements, WhatsApp Plus users c

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket following an incident during Sunday's launch from Cape Canaveral, according to reporting by Orlando Sentinel and others. The rocket looked good on the way up but was ultimately unable to put its payload into the correct orbit . The FAA is calling the incident a mishap and is beginning an investigation to enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event and identify corrective actions to avoid it fro

It's been a whole month since I've played some Ball x Pit after the mobile versions went live in March , but I'll surely be jumping back in again next week. The latest update will arrive on April 27, bringing a host of goodies to the wonderful brick-busting roguelite, which was one of Engadget's favorite games of 2025 . Designer Kenny Sun spilled most of the beans about the update on the PlayStation Blog , revealing that it will add two new characters, 11 more balls with special powers, four pas

AI-generated music is spreading like wildfire, according to Deezer, who reported receiving nearly 75,000 uploads of AI-made tracks a day on its platform. The alternative music streaming service based in Paris published a report revealing that 44 percent of its daily uploads are AI-generated songs, accumulating to around 2 million flagged songs a month. If that figure doesn't alarm you, Deezer said that more than 13.4 million songs were detected and flagged as AI-generated across 2025. Those stat

Blackmagic Designs DaVinci Resolve is a highly capable free color grading tool with a history dating way back to the 80s, but it has never been thought of as a rival to Adobes Lightroom due to its video origins. Now, Blackmagic Design has released a new version in beta that may change peoples minds about that. The new Photo page lets you import RAW images then adjust them using Resolves powerful color grading tools. You even get access to advanced VFX and AI features not found in Lightroom. When

The big deal with Dysons new vacuum is how small it is. While pencil is certainly an ambitious noun to compare a floor vacuum to, the slender body of the PencilVac Fluffycones ($600) brings to mind mops and brooms rather than hulking cyclone-suction tech and connected cleaning. As we described it last year, its the company's most stick-like stick vacuum yet. Dyson has been repurposing its engine tech into smaller form factors for years, such as its hair dryers. However, this is the first time it

Bandai Namco and A24 have announced that the Elden Ring movie will hit theaters on March 3, 2028 . Filming is set to begin in the next several weeks. The movie was first revealed over a year ago , so this is a welcome update. We also got a full cast announcement, though the companies haven't said who or what everyone is portraying. The cast includes Kit Connor from Heartstopper , Ben Whishaw from the beloved Paddington movies and Cailee Spaeny from Alien: Romulus . Peter Serafinowicz, Jonathan P

Weve seen some astonishing photos of an Earthset the Earth setting behind the Moon from the Artemis II crews history-making trip around our planets closest neighbor. Now, Reid Wiseman, the missions commander, has shared a remarkable video of that same phenomenon. While mission specialist Christina Koch was using a Nikon camera to snap stunning still images of the Earthset, Wiseman used an iPhone 17 Pro Max to film the moment. I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the

Apple's refusal to provide financial data to an Indian regulatory agency as part of an antitrust case will culminate in a final hearing on May 21, as first reported by Reuters . According to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Apple still hasn't submitted information about its financials and its views on an antitrust investigation that started in October 2024. The case revolves around the CCI accusing Apple of exploiting its dominant position with the App Store , arguing that developers a

Director Jon Favreau ( Iron Man , The Jungle Book ) hasn't been shy about embracing new technology for filmmaking. While producing The Mandalorian for Disney+, he was one of the first filmmakers to use ILM's massive LED screens , AKA The Volume, to produce more realistic lighting and backgrounds on studio sets. For the feature film The Mandalorian and Grogu , which hits theaters May 22, Favreau recently revealed that he had Disney build an Apple Vision Pro app to preview its full IMAX scope duri

We heard all about GoPro's new action camera series last week, but the company is now unveiling the pricing across its Mission 1, Mission 1 Pro and Mission 1 Pro ILS cameras. The entry-level Mission 1 ($600) features GoPro's new 50-megapixel 1-inch sensor, which the company says will offer a major leap in image quality and low-light performance over the Hero 13 line. While largely looking the same as the Hero series (and still waterproof), the Mission 1 can record 8K video at 30fps and 4K at 120

Blue Origin has successfully reused its first-stage New Glenn booster for the first time after it landed in a cloud of smoke and fire on a recovery ship. It marks the second flight and reuse of Never Tell me the Odds , after the booster was recovered from New Glenn's previous launch in November last year . However, the rocket company's first commercial mission was marred by a failure to place the communications satellite payload into orbit. The launch went smoothly to start with, with the first-

Despite the months-long feud between Anthropic and the Pentagon, the National Security Agency is using the AI company's new Mythos Preview, according to Axios , which spoke to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic announced Mythos Preview at the beginning of April, describing it as a general-purpose language model that is strikingly capable at computer security tasks. But back in February, Trump ordered all government agencies to stop using Anthropic's services after the company re

To make up for an incredibly laughable inaugural event , Beijing is running back its humanoid robot half-marathon. Fortunately, the event that pits humanoid robots made by Chinese companies against each other across 13 miles went a lot smoother this year. This year's half-marathon hosted more than 100 competitors, with first place going to Honor, better known for its smartphones , and its red-clad robot named Lightning. Living up to the name, the gold medalist finished the race in 50 minutes and

In case you haven't gotten around to reading Palantir CEO Alex Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska's 2025 book, The Technological Republic, (because why would you do that to yourself?), the company best known for supplying AI-driven defense and surveillance software to the likes of the US Army, ICE and NYPD shared a 1,000-word X post this weekend covering its main points. The entire thing is both bizarre and deeply concerning.The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something mo

Anyone looking to upgrade to the next Mac Studio or MacBook Pro might have to wait a little longer, thanks to the ongoing global memory shortage . As reported by Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman, at least two of the company's upcoming machines ... could debut a little later than the company initially planned, referencing the refreshes to Apple's desktop and its laptop that's expected to get a touchscreen . Bloomberg reported that the upcoming Mac Studio, which follows up the current lineup in the M4 Max

Tesla is expanding its Robotaxi footprint across Texas by introducing availability in both Dallas and Houston. As announced in a post on X , the EV maker is rolling out its Robotaxis to small sections of the Texas cities, as detailed by two maps of its new service areas. The first Robotaxi rides started in Austin, Texas where Tesla is headquartered, but the service's launch was paired with a Tesla Safety Monitor, or a supervising human in the passenger seat. Earlier this year, Tesla began to tra

Not everyone had the money for the original Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System when it released in the '90s, but there's still a chance to experience it as an adult with disposable income. SNK and Plaion Replai, who is also behind the all-black remake of the Commodore 64 , announced a faithful remake of the high-end retro console, called the Neo Geo AES+ . To bring the original console into the modern day, the collaborating companies added HDMI compatibility for resolutions up to 1080p and DI

A judge has granted the makers of the ICE Sightings - Chicagoland Facebook group and the Eyes Up app a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump administration from coercing platforms to take these projects down. Judge Jorge L. Alonso of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois found that the plaintiffs, Kassandra Rosado and Kreisau Group, are likely to succeed in their case, which alleges that the government suppressed protected speech under the First Amendment by s

Apple has secured a major victory for its redesigned smartwatches as per the latest decision from the US International Trade Commission. The federal agency ruled against reinstating an import ban on Apple Watches, allowing the tech giant to continue selling its devices with a reworked blood-oxygen monitoring technology. The ITC decided to terminate the case and refer to a preliminary ruling from one of its judges in March that claimed that Apple's redesigned smartwatches don't infringe on patent

The Artemis II astronauts are settling back into life on Earth, but we're not quite tired yet of hearing about their amazing journey. There's a new PBS documentary now streaming on YouTube that dives into the Artemis program and the latest efforts to send humans to the moon again. Also this week, NASA shared some awesome images of a comet flying into the sun, the nonprofit American Rivers released its annual report on the most endangered rivers in the US and ESA posted a throwback image of Mars

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. Once again, there are some neat new games for you to check out this weekend. We've got a bunch of updates and announcements for upcoming titles to tell you about too. There have been a bunch of solid indie showcases lately (and highlights from another one to tell you about below). If you want to learn about a ton of other games ASAP, you might want to set your alarm pretty early on April 25. Starting at 5AM ET that day, th

The James Bond franchise has a long history of getting pop stars to record its theme songs (perhaps most memorably with Live and Let Die ), and it looks like that tradition will now extend to video game adaptations about the fictional spy. IO Interactive has announced that Lana Del Rey co-wrote and performed the theme for 007 First Light , the developer's playable James Bond origin story. First Light is written and performed by Lana Del Rey and composer David Arnold, and like the moody and abstr

The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission have safely returned to Earth , but if your Moon fever has yet to break, or you're curious to get a big picture view of how the second of a planned five Moon missions was pulled off, PBS has a new documentary you'll want to watch. The hour-long Return to the Moon was produced for PBS' NOVA and aired on TV on April 15, but you can view the episode in its entirety on YouTube right now. Return to the Moon covers the history of NASA's Artemis program, and specif

The specter of price hikes caused by the current AI-driven demand for memory and storage appears to have convinced a fair share of people to buy a new computer. According to data analyzed by Counterpoint Research , global PC shipments grew around 3.2 percent year-over-year in Q1 2026, driven by pre-emptive buying before memory-led price increases hit the retail level and Microsoft forcing some customers to upgrade by ending support for Windows 10 last year . Sales hit 63.3 million units during t

,Among them, is a new tool called Concert Kit that could help bands and artists fight back against ticket scalping bots. The new feature relies on the revamped World ID, the orb-based verification system that scans users eyeballs and faces to create a proof of human signature that lives on users' mobile devices. It's basically like a little human passport for the internet that lets you prove on apps and websites that you are a real and unique human without revealing anything about yourself, Tool

NASA has confirmed the pending launch of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosalind Franklin rover, which is being sent to Mars. The current plan is to launch via a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center. The timing is still being worked out, but the space agency says this won't happen until at least 2028. This is a partnership between NASA and the ESA, with the European agency providing the rover, the spacecraft and the lander. The US will provide braking engines for the lander, h

Panic, the company behind the tiny and excellent Playdate console, is taking a stand on generative AI. The company has published an AI disclosure that says as of this month, the Playdate Catalog will no longer accept titles that use Generative AI for art, audio, music, text, or dialog. Panic does allow for developers to use AI assistance for coding, but also says that we will flag any title as such and specify the extent that it was used (for example, Lua debugging) so the customer can decide wh

The rules of Exit 8 , both the cult indie game and the recent film adaptation, are simple: You're stuck in a subway station that loops around endlessly. If you notice any anomalies on your current loop, you turn around. If everything is the same, you keep going forward. Each successful guess takes you to a new entrance where the loop recurs, until you reach the end of the labyrinth, Exit 8 itself. It's a setup that perfectly suits a first-person video game, where you can fully control where your

In hindsight, I suppose it was only a matter of time after Anthropic made Claude capable of generating charts and diagrams that the company would then begin offering a more robust image editor. Now, a little more than a month after that release, Anthropic has announced Claude Design, a new research preview that allows subscribers to use Claude to generate designs, prototypes, slides and more. Claude Design gives designers room to explore widely and everyone else a way to produce visual work, Ant

Startup Donut Lab made a splash at the start of the year with some astonishing and suspicious claims about its solid state batteries. Now Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports an individual has filed a criminal whistleblower complaint against the company over those claims. Until recently , Lauri Peltola was listed as the Chief Commercial Officer at Nordic Nano the firm reportedly contracted to handle portions of the manufacturing on Donut's behalf, and which Donut Lab has invested in .

TCL introduced its new flagship X11L SQD-Mini LED TV at CES 2026, and now a few months later, the company is ready to expand its lineup with more SQD-Mini LED models and its first RGB-Mini LED TV. All sizes of the TCL QM8L SQD-Mini LED TV are available now. Meanwhile, both the TCL QM7L SQD-Mini LED TVs and the RM9L RGB-Mini LED TVs are available to pre-order. SQD-Mini LED panels are TCL's latest iteration of its Mini LED display technology, where SQD stands for Super Quantum Dot, a layer of tiny

So a shoe company turned into an AI company. Thats it, thats the joke. In this episode, Devindra chats with Engadgets Daniel Cooper about Allbirds sudden transformation and what it says about the AI economy. Also, they chat about the Artemis II moon mission, Meta being warned about the dangers of facial recognition (again) and how teens think social media is really shaping them. Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Google Podcasts Topic Near-dead shoe company Allbirds is doing AI now

Youve probably seen DJIs stick vlogging cameras everywhere. At trade shows and tech events Ive attended, its often the de facto video camera used by reporters and influencers alike. The Osmo Pocket 3 was easy to use, had sharp focus, potent image stabilization and handled vertical and horizontal video recording with minimal compromises. That was two years ago, so naturally its time for an update. According to our review by James Trew, the Osmo Pocket 4 is the one to beat. Its still incredibly ea

Casely has reannounced a recall of its Power Pods 5,000mAh MagSafe E33A charger after dozens of people were injured and one even killed by the defective devices, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) announced . It's recommended that you stop using the devices immediately, dispose of them safely and seek a replacement from the manufacturer. A year ago, Casely and the USPSC published a recall of 429,000 units of the power bank with the model number E33A. That followed 51 incidents of