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As if you needed reminding, next week is March 10, or MAR10 Day, as the marketing wizards at Nintendo have been calling it for the last decade or so. You can usually rely on Mario Day for some plumber-related goodies, and Nintendo has announced that three retro games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online next week. Those games are Marios Tennis and Mario Clash for the newly launched Virtual Boy app, and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong for the Game Boy Advance. Both the GBA and Virtual Boy emulators are par

If youve ever wondered if TikTok would ever offer a more secure messaging experience, you now have an answer. TikTok has told the BBC that it will not protect direct messages sent in the app with end-to-end encryption, because it believes it will make users less safe. In a briefing about security at its London office, TikTok said that implementing the technology would prevent its safety teams or law enforcement from being able to read messages if needed. The ByteDance-owned app framed it as a de

Rhythm games never really went away after the decline of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but it feels like theyre having a bit of a moment again. From projects like Clone Hero and YARG , to Fortnite Festival and Stage Tour (an upcoming title from Guitar Hero veterans at RedOctane), to indies with rhythm elements like Ratatan and People of Note , music games are still very much around. You can now add Beat Weaver to the mix. This upcoming game from Echolox Interactive solo developer Christopher Lerch

Vinyl records are firmly back in rotation , but getting started does not have to mean spending a fortune or building a complicated hi-fi stack from day one. Whether you want a simple, all-in-one setup with built-in speakers or you are piecing together a more traditional system with a separate amplifier, the best record player is the one that fits how you listen at home. For this guide, we focused on high-quality turntables under $600 that deliver a satisfying listening experience without unneces

If you're looking to pre-order Apple's new Studio Display XDR monitor today but have an older Mac, beware of some potential issues. According to the compatibility list spotted by Apple Insider , the new display will only work at 60Hz and not at its full 120Hz refresh rate on some older and less powerful Silicon models. Moreover, support for older Intel Macs isn't mentioned at all for either the Studio Display XDR or cheaper Studio Display . All Apple Silicon Macs will work with both monitors, in

Meta has signed an AI licensing deal with News Corp that will allow the Meta AI maker to use content from The Wall Street Journal and other brands in its chatbot responses and for training of its AI models. News Corp confirmed to Engadget that it had struck a deal with Meta, but didn't provide specifics on the terms of the arrangement. According to The Wall Street Journal , Meta will pay News Corp. up to $50 million a year for a three-year deal that covers content from The Journal, as well as th

Highguard , the live-service multiplayer shooter that was announced at the Game Awards 2025 , is shutting down on March 12. Developer Wildlight Studios shared that the game would be winding down alongside details of its final update, which include a new character, weapon and skill trees. Today were sharing difficult news. We have made the decision to permanently shut down Highguard on March 12, Wildlight Studios shared via a statement on the Highguard X account . Since launch, more than two mill

The indie gaming news has been flying out of Nintendo's event today at a rapid-fire pace. One of the announcements came from rhythm game Ratatan , which will release on July 16. The title will be arriving that day on the Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. It's already been available on PC since September as an early access game. Unfortunately, readers may notice that the original Switch isn't on that list, which is not an oversight. At this time, we have determined that the mu

Denshattack! , the skateboarding game that manages to mix an anime-inspired narrative with Tony Hawk Pro Skater -style grinding and wall-riding, is coming out on June 17. The game's publisher Fireshine Games announced its launch date alongside a new trailer at Nintendo's recent Indie World event . If it wasn't clear from previous trailers, Denshattack! remains stylish as hell, filled to the brim with bright colors and over-the-top animation. The new trailer doesn't offer much more in terms of wh

During today's Nintendo Indie World presentation , we got a narrower time frame for when and where we'll be able to play the next project from Drinkbox Studios. The team announced that Blighted will be coming out in this fall for both the Nintendo Switch 2 and for PC.Itll arrive on the same date for both platforms, but we dont have any more specific timeline than the season. We first heard about Blighted during last year's Summer Games Fest. With past credits such as Guacamelee! , Guacamelee! 2

The next time you check your internet speed or whether your favorite site is down, another company may be profiting. On Tuesday, Ziff Davis announced that it sold its Connectivity division, which includes Ookla's Speedtest and Downdetector, to Accenture. The deal is worth $1.2 billion in cash. According to Reuters , the deal will allow Ziff Davis to focus on its core brands, including IGN , Mashable and Everyday Health . Brand consolidation appears to be the name of the game, as the company rece

Time to dust off your boomboxes and your walkmans: musical coming-of-age game Mixtape is due out this spring. At its reveal , this next title from game developer Beethoven and Dinosaur was targeting a 2025 release, but as happens to the best laid plans, the game's arrival got pushed back. Today's trailer announced that the new launch date for the narrative- and music-focused adventure game is May 7, 2026. Despite the new date, Mixtape will still be coming to the usual array of current gaming pla

Elgato's Stream Deck helped popularize using a macro pad among aspiring livestreamers and regular desk jockeys, so it's only natural for the brand to continue to expand on its lineup. After announcing a suite of new Stream Deck devices last year, Elgato is kicking off 2026 with the Stream Deck + XL , a larger version of the already big Stream Deck XL , and a collection of new audio accessories that should help improve sound mixing in and out of livestreams. The Stream Deck + XL not only expands

Ubisoft is finally releasing The Division Resurgence on March 31 for both iOS and Android. This game was first announced all the way back in 2021 and has suffered from delays in recent years. This is a free-to-play mobile game set in the universe of The Division, complete with an MMO-style shared open world and both co-op and solo gameplay. It also features an original story that's set during the early days of the pandemic in NYC, making it a sequel to the first game but a prequel to the second

Google unveiled its new features coming both to the Pixel line of devices and to the broader Android ecosystem this spring. Two of the more exciting additions for all Android devices are coming through the Find Hub. This can now be used to share real-time locations within Google Messages conversations or to send tracking information to airlines in instances of lost luggage. With both of those features, users can turn off their sharing any time. Specific to the luggage issue, Google has partnered

Apple unveiled a new MacBook Air today, and apart from the new M5 chip, things dont look remarkably different. Sure, its getting a mild refresh, but maybe not in the way most people would want. Namely, its more expensive a $100 price bump across all models. In exchange, the MacBook Air M5 does get faster performance and double the storage. If you placed the MacBook Air M4 and the M5 in front of me, I wouldnt be able to tell which was which. The M5 offers an overall CPU/GPU performance boost, al

X will suspend creators from its revenue sharing program if they post AI-generated videos depicting armed conflicts without disclosing they were made with AI. Head of product Nikita Bier announced the policy change on March 3, saying first-time violators will be cut off for 90 days and repeat offenders would be permanently removed from the program. Today we are revising our Creator Revenue Sharing policies to maintain authenticity of content on Timeline and prevent manipulation of the program. D

Sure, Blue Prince has the most name recognition among the indie games that had a surprise debut on Nintendo Switch 2 today. However, I implore you not to overlook two other wonderful indies that hit Nintendos consoles in the wake of this mornings Indie World showcase. Minishoot Adventures from SoulGame Studio and co-publisher IndieArk is a game I absolutely loved when it first emerged on Steam in 2024. Its an RPG that adopts the format of top-down Legend of Zelda games. At the same time, its a

Apparently, AI data centers are capable of sucking less (power, that is). A recent UK trial demonstrated that they can adjust their energy demands dynamically without disrupting critical workloads. This contrasts with data centers' current approach of always-on power draw, which can strain grids and drive up prices for everyone . Over five days in December 2025, more than 200 simulated grid events tested a London data centers ability to adjust its energy use on the fly. The trial used software f

Audible just launched a new budget-friendly Standard plan that costs $9 each month. Despite the lower price, this plan still includes a monthly audiobook credit. These credits allow users to download pretty much any audiobook from the library, including most brand-new releases. This was a perk previously locked to the Premium Plus plan, which is $15 per month. Subscribers also get access to a curated library of content sourced from the Audible Originals library and Wondery+. All of this will be

Microsoft has revealed the first wave of Xbox Game Pass additions for March. Cyberpunk 2077 and F1 25 headline the batch; the former is coming to both Ultimate and Premium tiers. Hollow Knight: Silksong, which launched about six months ago, is also on the way to Premium. Final Fantasy III and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II had been previously announced and are both available starting today. Both games can be played straight from the cloud or downloaded to the Xbox Series X/S as well as PC across a

The unique and highly addictive roguelike Blue Prince is now available for Switch 2 , as announced at today's Nintendo Indie World Showcase . This version allows for mouse control, via the underutilized Joy-Con feature . This is a wonderfully designed puzzle game that oozes atmosphere . The game tasks players with exploring a gigantic mansion, but there's a twist. You actually build this mansion as you explore, room by room. This is done by placing what can only be described as magical blueprint

MacBook Neo appears to be the name of Apples long-rumored cheap MacBook, based on a regulatory posting on Apples website, MacRumors reports . The gaffe was quickly removed from Apples site (pour one out for the poor soul who posted it). Previous rumors didnt attach a name to the low-cost MacBook I figured Apple would just revive the clean and simple MacBook branding. The name MacBook Neo sounds like something wed see from ASUS or Acer, its just trying a bit too hard to seem cool. To recap, Appl

There's more waffling going on about the future of electric vehicles in America right now than you might expect at a Belgian breakfast buffet. Some brands like Hyundai are staying committed, some brands like Honda are dialing back , and everyone else is simply doing their damndest to provide as many propulsion options as possible Count Audi in that last category. On the EV side, it recently launched the new Q6 E-Tron and refreshed the ballistic E-Tron GT . On the internal combustion side, it has

Apple has promised a big week for the company, which includes an in-person event for press and creators on March 4. But it didnt exactly wait until Wednesday to get things started. The news started on Monday with the announcements of the iPhone 17e and M4-powered iPad Air . The company followed up on Tuesday with the reveal of the M5 MacBook Air , the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips , MacBook Pro models that use said chips, a refreshed Studio Display and a brand-new 27-inch Studio Display XDR . Heres ou

Reports had suggested that Apple wasnt going to reveal a refreshed MacBook Air with an M5 chip during its week of announcements , but whaddyaknow? Apple just went ahead and did that exact thing . Lets deal with the bad news first: Apple is reverting a price cut from last year. It dropped the M4-powered MBAs starting price down to $999 , but for the M5-equipped model, youll need to shell out at least $1,099. The company claimed the M5 MacBook Air will be able to deliver four times faster performa

As part of its big week of announcements, Apple has unveiled a new pair of M5 chips alongside two new MacBooks. The new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips will power the new MacBook Pro that was just announced today, while the new MacBook Air comes with the base M5 . According to the companys press release , the M5 Pro and M5 Max come with an advanced GPU with Neural Accelerators and higher unified memory bandwidth for a massive increase in AI compute. At the heart of the M5 Pro and M5 Max are what Apple i

It happened much later than we expected, but Apple's announcement of MacBook Pros with its M5 Pro and M5 Max chips has finally arrived. These more powerful variants on Apple's silicon will be available in the 14-inch and 16-inch models of the laptops. Pre-orders will open on March 4 with an expected ship date of March 11.Youll want to save some extra coin this time, though, as prices have gone up compared to the prior generation. The new 14-inch MacBook Pro can be kitted out with either an M5 Pr

Apple continues its gradual unveiling of new products this week with the launch of the Studio Display and an all-new 27-inch Studio Display XDR. The latter is a higher-end model aimed at content creators with a 27-inch 5K Retina XDR display that features a mini-LED display with 2,000-plus dimming zones, up to 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness and a wider color gamut for improved accuracy. It looks like a replacement for the expensive, nearly seven-year-old 32-inch 6K Pro XDR Display , which is n

XLR microphone owners, rejoice: Shure's successor to the MVX2U Digital Audio Interface (DAI) brings the adapter into the mobile era. The compact MVX2U Gen 2 adds more advanced onboard audio processing. But its most notable upgrade is mobile device compatibility, so you're no longer limited to desktop use. The single-channel MVX2U Gen 2 provides up to +60dB of gain and 48V phantom power. On the processing front, the adapter includes an auto-level mode. Theres also a real-time denoiser to minimize

Users of Meta's AI smart glasses in Europe may be unknowingly sharing intimate video and sensitive financial information with moderators outside of the bloc, according to a report from Sweden's Svenska Dagbladet released last week. Employees in Kenya doing AI annotation told the journalists that they've seen people nude, using the toilet and engaging in sexual activity, along with credit card numbers and other sensitive information. With Meta's Ray-Ban Display and other glasses with AI capabili

Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Sony Pictures Entertainment now officially own 80 percent of the Peanuts franchise. The companies have closed the deal, which was officially announced in December 2025 when it was still subject to regulatory approvals, for $460 million. Sony Music Japan has owned 39 percent of Peanuts since 2018, so the Sony subsidiaries are essentially buying 41 percent of the franchise from Canadian firm WildBrain with this transaction. Now that the acquisition is done, Peanu

Were at the start of another one of those weeks where Apple announces one or two of its lesser products each day. The first pair to break cover is the iPhone 17e and iPad Air M4 , with more due to drop as the calendar rolls forward. The iPhone 17e is by far the more interesting gadget, especially as the price remained the same as for the iPhone 16e. Apple is charging $599 for the 17e, even though the base model storage has doubled to a very welcome 256GB. The 17e also gains several features that

Meta has started rolling out an experimental AI shopping tool to some users in the US, according to Bloomberg . At the moment, its reportedly only showing up on desktop browsers when select users visit Meta AI on the web . Theyll know if they have access to the feature if they see the Shopping research button inside the query text box. The company has confirmed that it was testing the feature, Bloomberg said, but it didnt say when a wider release will happen. When users ask for product suggestio

Google Home has some significant new quality-of-life updates and a new AI-powered feature, the division's head honcho Anish Katturkan announced on X . Many of them, including a function called Live Search, are powered by the company's Gemini for Home service launched in October 2025 as the official replacement for Google Assistant on smart devices. We launched Gemini for Home in Early Access specifically to learn from real-world usage, Katturkaran said. With millions of you now testing and shapi

This isnt a Galaxy Note 7 debacle . Oukitel's WP63 is a ruggedized smartphone thats meant to set things alight. It has a built-in electric igniter, aimed at emergency response and camping, helping to start fires when you forgot matches, but you brought this beastly phone along for the adventure. Its got several other notable features, like a 20,000mAH battery, a loudspeaker, and even its own built-in USB-C cable for charging other devices. Still, the igniter was why I was here. The WP63 has an e

A keyboard is one of those pieces of gear you interact with constantly, yet its easy to overlook how much it affects your day-to-day comfort. From firing off emails to long coding sessions or late-night gaming , the right keyboard can make everything feel smoother, faster and less fatiguing. Some setups call for slim, quiet boards that disappear into a workspace, while others benefit from chunky mechanical keyboards with satisfying switches and durable frames. Youll also find wireless models tha

OpenAIs Sam Altman said the company will amend its deal with the Defense Department (or the Department of War) to explicitly prohibit the use of its AI system on mass surveillance against Americans. Altman has published an internal memo previously sent to employees on X, telling them that the company will tweak the agreement to add language to make that point especially clear. Specifically, it says: Consistent with applicable laws, including the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Australia's government may take a strict stance on ensuring younger users cannot access AI chatbots. Reuters reports that Australian regulators may require app storefronts to block AI services that do not implement age verification for restricting mature content by March 9. eSafety will use the full range of our powers where there is non-compliance, a representative for the commissioner said in a statement to the publication. Those paths could include action in respect of gatekeeper services suc

Anthropic is bringing another paid feature to Claude's free tier. The next time you chat with Claude, you'll have the option to have it reference your previous conversation to inform its outputs. Anthropic first made its chatbot capable of remembering past interactions last August , before giving it the ability to compartmentalize memories in the fall . Making memory a free feature is well-timed; earlier today Anthropic made it easier for users to import their past conversations with a competing

Call of Duty is getting a new battle royale mode later this month. The popular first-person shooter will introduce Black Ops Royale as a free game mode on March 13. Black Ops Royale pays homage to Blackout, the series' first foray into a battle royale game mode back in CoD: Black Ops 4 . Matches will have 100 players dropping in as four-person teams. The mode takes place on the massive Avalon map, but there will be no familiar Warzone features like loadouts, the gulag, or buy stations. Instead,

Starlink is getting ready to launch its second generation of satellites, and it's expected to match the speeds of a traditional terrestrial network. During a keynote at Mobile World Congress, Starlink execs detailed the roadmap for the company's upgrade towards the next generation of satellites called V2. The goal of Starlink Mobile ... is to provide a terrestrial-like connectivity when you're connected to the satellite system, Michael Nicolls, SpaceX's senior vice president of Starlink engineer

X is rolling out a built-in Paid Partnership label that creators can apply to sponsored posts, replacing the hashtag workarounds theyve had to rely on until now. The feature, announced by the platforms head of product Nikita Bier, adds a toggle that places a disclosure label directly below a posts content. It can also be applied retroactively. The label is meant to help creators comply with years-old FTC regulations requiring clear disclosure of sponsored content. The agency sent out letters rem

The iPad Air, the middle child in Apples tablet lineup, has been upgraded to the M4 chip with increased RAM and Well, theres not a whole lot else if Im being honest. At the very least, the new iPad Air M4 models remain at the same price as the iPad Air M3 , with the 11-inch version starting at $599 and the 13-inch at $799. I would give Apple more credit if it had increased the starting storage or added literally anything else. If you put them side by side, you might not be able to tell the diffe

The Analogue Pocket handheld retro console has proven to be extremely popular, as initial runs have sold out. The company just announced the system will be back in stock this week , along with the dock accessory. Preorders open up on March 4 at 11AM ET, with shipments going out this June. Analogue Pocket & Analogue Dock - restock. A tribute to portable gaming. Out of the box, Pocket is compatible with the 2,780+ Game Boy, Game Boy Color & Game Boy Advance game cartridge library and more. Availab

As AI-generated artwork becomes more commonplace, it still won't be able to be copyrighted, according to US courts. On Monday, the US Supreme Court declined to hear a case about whether an artwork generated with the help of AI can be copyrighted. The refusal means that a lower court's decision to reject the copyright request will stand. The case dates back to 2018 when Stephen Thaler applied for a copyright of an artwork called A Recent Entrance to Paradise . Unlike using ChatGPT or Midjourney ,

Nintendo has scheduled an Indie World Showcase livestream for tomorrow, March 3, at 9AM ET. The company says this event will include roughly 15 minutes of news and updates on indie games coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch. That's not a whole lot of time, but indie trailers tend to be on the shorter side. We really don't know anything about what Nintendo and its partners could reveal tomorrow. It's entirely possible we'll see something big, like the previously announced Sea of Sorrow

Paramount Skydance plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into a single streaming service following the completion of its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. CEO David Ellison confirmed the plan on an investor call Monday, saying the combined platform would serve over 200 million subscribers and position the company to compete with the biggest players in the streaming space. We think the combined offering, and given the amount of content and what we can do from the tech side, really will put us

Apples most affordable iPhone just got an upgrade, but how does the new iPhone 17e compare to the iPhone 16e ? Well, thankfully the price remains the same at $599, which is good news in our current economic climate. An immediate difference you might notice is that one of them now comes in a third color: pink. Thats at least one win for me because I am all for putting more color into tech. There are a few differences under the hood as well, namely that the iPhone 17e is arriving with the A19 chip

Apple has promised a big week for the company, which includes an in-person event for press and creators on March 4. But it didnt exactly wait until Wednesday to get things started. The news started on Monday with the announcements of the iPhone 17e and M4-powered iPad Air . Well be updating this roundup throughout the week as we learn exactly what Apple has in store for everyone (though we have a decent idea of what to expect , such as new MacBooks). For now, though, heres our recap of everythin