Gadgets

Microsoft's research assistant can now use multiple AI models simultaneously

Microsoft's Copilot is getting even better at research thanks to a new feature that combines the power of both OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude. In a blog post announcing Copilot Cowork 's availability, Microsoft debuted the Critique feature that will be used in Microsoft 356 Copilot's Researcher tool. Unlike the standard Copilot, Researcher is designed to tackle more complex tasks with multiple steps. Now, Researcher is getting even better at that with the Critique feature that uses GPT responses, which are then refined by Claude . In a blog post, Microsoft said that, his architecture creates a powerful feedback loop that delivers higher-quality results across factual accuracy, analytical breadth, and presentation, adding that Researcher's process is similar to what you see in academic and professional research settings. Microsoft claims the upgrade scores somewhat higher (compared to the most recent Perplexity Deep Research models) on the Deep Research Accuracy, Completeness, and Objectivity benchmark. On its own, Anthropic has a Research feature that can use multiple Claude agents to provide a comprehensive response to more complex requests. If you prefer doing research with a little more autonomy, Microsoft also added the Model Council feature that's available as an alternative option for Researcher. With Model Council, you'll get side-by-side responses from both Anthropic and OpenAI, with a report that shows where the models agree and disagree. Both features are currently available in Microsoft 365 Copilot's Frontier program, which acts as a early access space for the company's AI innovations. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsofts-research-assistant-can-now-use-multiple-ai-models-simultaneously-154558628.html?src=rss

At 50, Apple confronts its next big challenge: AI

Steve Jobs, a driven marketing genius, and Steve Wozniak, who invented the Apple computer, revolutionised how people use technology in the internet age

Another PlayStation price hike means the gaming console will cost 30% more than it did last year

The price of a PlayStation is going up by another $100, the second time in less than a year that Sony has upped the price tag on its popular gaming console

Bethesda is shutting down The Elder Scrolls: Blades on June 30

It's a sad day for the dozens of players still grinding The Elder Scrolls: Blades . Bethesda announced that it's permanently shutting down the servers for its free-to-play mobile spinoff on June 30. First spotted on Reddit , The Elder Scrolls: Blades has already been delisted from the App Store and Google Play store, and is currently unavailable on the Nintendo Store . In the meantime, players will receive a free bundle of Gems and Sigils, while all items in the in-game store are available for just one Gem or Sigil each. With a server shutdown imminent, The Elder Scrolls: Blades ' will at least cross its six-year mark since its official release was in 2020 for Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch. The dungeon-crawling spinoff did see early success when more than one million iOS users downloaded the game during the first week of its early access period, but it never amounted to the commercial success of Bethesda's mainline titles. In the end, The Elder Scrolls: Blades ended up with a Generally Unfavorable score on Metacritic, with critics calling it epetitive and filled with microtransactions. The shutdown doesn't come as a total surprise, since Bethesda also killed off its other spinoff, The Elder Scrolls: Legends , by halting development in 2019 and ultimately taking the game's servers offline in January 2025. For anyone who still wants to play a mobile spinoff of Bethesda's fantasy world, there's still The Elder Scrolls: Castles . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bethesda-is-shutting-down-the-elder-scrolls-blades-on-june-30-191016852.html?src=rss

The Avatar fighting game will release on July 2 for PC and consoles

The fighting game community is going to have their hands full this summer between the release of Marvel Tkon: Fighting Souls and Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game . The studio behind the 2D fighting game based in the Avatar universe announced that a July 2 release date with a trailer that shows off new gameplay and a base price of $29.99. The game will launch with 12 characters, encompassing both the heroes and villains from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra . The game's developer, Gameplay Group International, said that there are more than 900 hand-drawn frames for each character, which makes the game look like it came directly out of the beloved TV series . Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game will feature both casual and ranked matches, using a rollback netcode to ensure smooth frame-by-frame action between players, along with crossplay across PS5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. For those more interested in the lore, there will be a single-player story mode and a gallery mode with ever before seen art. Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game is currently available for pre-order, starting at $29.99, but there's a $59.99 deluxe edition that includes a digital art book, music soundtrack, unique HUDs and a Year 1 Pass, which adds five additional characters that will be released in the future. Those who pre-order will also get a Samurai skin for Appa, exclusive character colors and voting privilege for the Year 1 Pass characters. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-avatar-fighting-game-will-release-on-july-2-for-pc-and-consoles-174614552.html?src=rss

Bluesky's next product is an AI assistant that helps build custom social media feeds

Bluesky is the latest social media platform to throw its hat into the AI chatbot ring. Bluesky, but specifically its chief innovation officer Jay Graber and her new Exploration team, built a new AI assistant called Attie that's designed to help users create custom feeds. Graber called Attie an agentic social app that's built on its its open-source framework called the AT Protocol. To use Attie, users can punch in prompts in natural language to generate social feeds without having to know how to code. On the Attie website, examples include prompts like, Show me electronic music and experimental sound from people in my network or Builders working on agent infrastructure and open protocol design. Attie It feels more like having a conversation than configuring software, Graber described Attie in a blog post . You describe the sort of posts you want to see, and the coding agent builds the feed you described. Graber added that Attie is a separate app from Bluesky and users don't have to use the new AI assistant if they don't want to. However, since Attie and Bluesky were built on the same framework, it could mean there will be some cross-app implementation between the two or any other app built on the AT Protocol. Attie is currently available on an invite-only closed beta, but anyone interested can sign up for the waitlist on its website in the meantime. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/blueskys-next-product-is-an-ai-assistant-that-helps-build-custom-social-media-feeds-163140902.html?src=rss

Austria is pursuing a social media ban for kids under 14

Austria is the latest country to prepare a social media ban for its children, but it's going even further than others by including anyone under 14. In a press release , the Austrian government said it has introduced a comprehensive catalogue of measures meant to shield minors from the harms of social media. According to the press release, an official bill will be introduced by the end of June. Andreas Babler, a vice chancellor and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, said the government's efforts would include the new age restriction, improved media literacy and clear rules for social media platforms. Austrian lawmakers didn't detail what the upcoming rules would be, but the country is likely to follow in the footsteps of many others who have or are pursuing similar bans. While Australia was the first to implement a social media ban for anyone under 16, other European countries like Spain and the UK are also looking into comparable restrictions. More recently, Indonesia approved new regulations that would prevent anyone under 16 from using social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Roblox. Indonesia's social media ban just went into effect, but the country only specified that the law's implementation would be carried out gradually until all platforms are in compliance, according to AP . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/austria-is-pursuing-a-social-media-ban-for-kids-under-14-190755295.html?src=rss

The White House app is just as weird and unnecessary as you'd expect

President Donald Trump may have a tendency to put his name on everything, but his administration decided to go with the more authoritative The White House App for his latest pursuit. Now available on the App Store and Google Play store, the official White House App claims to gives Americans a direct line to the White House. From the press release, the app provides unfiltered, real-time upgrades straight from the source. In more practical terms, the White House App is a one-stop shop for official communications from the administration and more. On the app, you can find press releases, livestream announcements and even a photo gallery, along with turning on notifications so you get official communications as soon as they happen. However, it only takes a few minutes of digging through the app to question its value. The White House App's News tab features a carousel of about 35 articles that seem suspiciously cherry-picked with articles that favor the Trump administration. In the Affordability window, the app points out year-over-year prices that have dropped for things like eggs, milk and bread, but conveniently omits the recent swell in gas prices. In the Social tab, there's a button to Text President Trump, which auto-populates a new text with Greatest President Ever! before ultimately trying to get you to sign up for a marketing blast. The press release mentioned a way to send your voice and feedback directly to the Administration but the app's functionality doesn't seem to promote that. Most notably, there's even a way to submit a tip to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the app's Get in Touch section. While it's convenient to have all your Trump administration announcements in one place, the White House App is mostly just a portal that ends up opening external websites. Traditionally, official White House accounts on social media platforms are passed on during the transition of presidents. However, it's hard to say what will happen to the app after Trump leaves office, but one only has to look towards the lasting triumph of TrumpRx, Trump Mobile or even Trump University. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-white-house-app-is-just-as-weird-and-unnecessary-as-youd-expect-175354004.html?src=rss

Meta's next AI glasses are reportedly designed with prescription lenses in mind

Two new models of Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses are on the way, and they're going to be catered towards those who use prescription lenses, according to a Bloomberg report. While these are supposed to be announced next week, Bloomberg noted that these won't be a ew generation of Meta's smart glasses. You can already add prescription lenses to Meta Ray-Ban's AI glasses , but the upcoming models will come in rectangular and rounded styles and will be sold through traditional prescription eyewear channels. Bloomberg didn't specify how these new glasses will differ from existing options, but noted that it's the first time Meta and Ray-Ban are releasing a pair of AI glasses specifically designed for this demographic. The two models are likely the codenamed products Scriber and Blazer, which were first spotted by The Verge in filings with the Federal Communications Commission. The filings described the devices as production units, meaning Meta could be close to the actual product launch. Looking at the filings, it's unlikely these upcoming prescription AI glasses will have a display like the Meta Ray-Ban Displays . Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hinted at AI glasses that are meant for prescription glasses wearers in a previous earnings call. As noted by Bloomberg , Zuckerberg previously said that illions of people wear glasses or contacts for vision correction, adding that, it's hard to imagine a world in several years where most glasses that people wear aren't AI glasses. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/metas-next-ai-glasses-are-reportedly-designed-with-prescription-lenses-in-mind-162730768.html?src=rss

NASA pauses its lunar Gateway plan, a comet reverses its spin and more science news

The first crewed mission of NASA's Artemis moon program may take off in a matter of days, with a launch window that opens on April 1, and as preparations are underway for that, the space agency is refocusing its plan to establish a human presence on the moon. NASA announced major changes to its approach for moon landings that are expected to play out over the coming years, including axing its plan to build an orbiting station called Gateway. Read on to learn more about the agencys new vision for the moon, along with other interesting science stories from this week. Gateway out, moon base in Just a few weeks after overhauling its Artemis program , NASA this week announced even more changes to its plans for putting astronauts back on the moon. Most notably, the space agency is abandoning the lunar Gateway project, which was intended to be the first ever space station orbiting the moon. Gateway, an international collaboration, wasn't just going to support exploration of the lunar surface, but deep space missions too. But the writing has been on the wall for some time; in the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts last May , Gateway was among the programs selected for the chopping block. Now, NASA is officially putting it on pause and plans to build a $20 billion moon base instead. NASA is committed to achieving the nearimpossible once again, to return to the moon before the end of President Trumps term, build a moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said at the agency's Ignition event on Tuesday. There are three phases to the moon base plan, according to NASA : first using contractors to send rovers and instruments to the moon through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program; next establishing semi-habitable infrastructure, with astronauts on the ground and collaboration with other space agencies; and finally adding heavier infrastructure to support long-term stays on the lunar surface, including the Italian Space Agency's Multi-purpose Habitats and the Canadian Space Agency's Lunar Utility Vehicle. NASA says it's aiming to start this plan off with crewed moon landings every six months following the Artemis V mission, which is currently planned for 2028. Comet 41P pulls a reverse card A study published this week in The Astronomical Journal describes what's said to be the first observation of a comet reversing its spin. Observations taken several months apart in 2017 show the comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresk starting to spin more slowly after making a close flyby of the sun, before picking up speed again by December of that year. Its spin period, measured using NASAs Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, was about 46-60 hours in May 2017, but later observations by the Hubble Space Telescope showed it was just 14 hours, according to NASA . The researchers say what likely happened is that the heat from the sun caused the comet's ice to sublimate, sending gases spewing off its sides. Jets of gas streaming off the surface can act like small thrusters, author David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles, said in a statement. If those jets are unevenly distributed, they can dramatically change how a comet, especially a small one, rotates. Jewitt compares it to pushing a merry-go-round. If its turning in one direction, and then you push against that, you can slow it and reverse it. Comet 41P is thought to have come from the Kuiper Belt and passes through the inner solar system every 5.4 years. It's small, with a nucleus of just around .6 miles, and the researchers found it's become less active over recent years, indicating that there are changes taking place on the surface. While it's thought to have been in this orbit for about 1,500 years, it now appears to be rapidly evolving, and the rotational changes which could cause structural instability if it continues could mark the beginning of the end for it. I expect this nucleus will very quickly self-destruct, said Jewitt. Saturn in a new light A side-by-side-comparison of photos captured of Saturn from the Webb telescope and the Hubble telescope. NASA/ESA/CSA Stunning images of Saturn released this week by NASA, ESA and CSA provide a more detailed look at the many layers of the ringed planet's busy atmosphere. The images, which show storms, clouds at different depths, Saturn's ribbon wave jet stream and so much more were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope in 2024. Read more about it here . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-pauses-its-lunar-gateway-plan-a-comet-reverses-its-spin-and-more-science-news-160000163.html?src=rss

Wanderstop developer Ivy Road is shutting down

Ivy Road, the video game developer behind Annapurna-published cozy game Wanderstop , is shutting down on March 31. While Wanderstop was well-received and even critically acclaimed, it seems like it wasnt enough of a hit to sustain the studio while it develops a new game without getting investors involved. In its announcement, the Ivy Road team said the company failed to land a funding and publishing deal for its new project, Engine Angel . The studios problems securing funding for its new game first came to light back in January when it laid off five team members. Even though the studio is shutting down soon, the team said it has one last surprise that will help Wanderstop reach new players. It didnt say what the surprise was, but the team said Annapurna Interactive will share more news about it in the future. Wanderstop revolves around a former fighter, Alta, who manages a tea shop in a magical forest. In the game, you can gather ingredients and concoct tea, tidy up, talk to customers and learn their stories or just sit on a bench to think and relax. The game will still be available to play and purchase even after Ivy Road shuts down. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/wanderstop-developer-ivy-road-is-shutting-down-153655278.html?src=rss

Beat-based dungeon crawlers, card-battling soccer sims and other new indie games worth checking out

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. As ever, we've got some new games for you to dive into this weekend, and a glimpse at some upcoming titles. But, first, a look at indie studio Albatross Interactive's take on a multiplayer mode from a much-loved blockbuster. Terminal War is a 4v4 third-person shooter and it seems like the small team of developers is trying to keep things grounded. Ammo and supplies are scarce, and there's an emphasis on melee combat with the promise of rutal executions. The action is set in the late '90s, a few years after a global war, with three factions battling for control and survival in a collapsed version of the United States. Albatross Interactive isn't shy about the inspiration behind Terminal War. They canceled The Last of Us Factions 2, the team wrote on X . So we're building it [sic] our version. In September 2019, nine months before the games eventual release, Naughty Dog confirmed The Last of Us Part 2 wouldnt have a multiplayer mode. At the time, it told players you will eventually experience the fruits of our team's online ambition. That still hasnt exactly come to pass. The studio formally announced The Last of Us Online in June 2022 and canceled it 18 months later . As such, the Factions mode in 2014's The Last of Us Remastered for PS4 remains the franchise's only remaining multiplayer mode. Albatross Interactive, which says it's building Terminal War from scratch, plans to reveal more gameplay soon. The game is slated to hit Steam in early access as soon as this summer . The team expects Terminal War to remain in early access for around 12-18 months, though it noted that we're a small studio and we'd rather take the time to get it right than rush to a finish line. The timeline will ultimately be shaped by community feedback, the scope of content we deliver, and the standard of quality we hold ourselves to. The studio plans to bring the game to consoles as well. New releases Im into the current iteration of Acclaim as an indie publisher (albeit one with a plan to revive its own historic franchises ). Its latest title, GridBeat from Ridiculous Games, is a rhythm-based dungeon crawler in which you're trying to escape from a corporate network after pinching a trove of valuable data. Malware and security protocols are on your tail. Navigating the mazes, interacting with objects and boss battles are all synced to a beat. GridBeat is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch . It typically costs $20, but there's a 10 percent discount on Switch until April 2. It's 15 percent off on Steam until April 9. Given how much time I spent playing Football Manager 26 last year, Nutmeg is right up my alley. Getting veteran commentator Jim Rosenthal to pitch the soccer management sim in the launch trailer certainly doesn't hurt. This is a card-battler take on soccer management and its set in the '80s and '90s. You can start out in the lower divisions and can work your way up to the top of the English soccer system. You'll hire and fire staff, and select your team and formation before taking on an opponent. Completing challenges and doing well in training will earn you more card packs. The trailer reminds me of collecting Panini stickers as a kid as well as the smell of my friends Subbuteo figures. I would have said my favorite thing about this is that everything takes place at an era-appropriate desk with a TV that shows results and standings in the style of Teletext and an old computer that has some retro mini-games you can play. However, Sumo Sheffield and Publisher Secret Mode are donating a small portion of every sale of Nutmeg to charity, which is a nice gesture. Nutmeg is out now on Steam . It'll usually cost you $25, but there's a whopping 40 percent discount until April 2. Devil Jam is a metal-themed spin on the roguelite formula that Vampire Survivors popularized with a dash of Hades -esque characterization mixed in. It's been out on Steam since November and it hit consoles this week. It costs $8 on PS5 and Switch , and $7.59 on Xbox Series X/S . You'll wield a cursed guitar as you battle demonic enemies and bosses. As ever with this type of game, it's all about finding fun, powerful builds by synergizing abilities. You can put those together in a 12-slot gear system. I dig the art style and animation in this game from Rogueside too. I especially love that one character dashes by powersliding on their knees. A couple of months after its debut on Steam , Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator landed on Xbox Series X/S for $20 this week. The latest game from prolific studio Strange Scaffold is a stock market simulator in which you speculate on the simulated lives of babies and how successful (or not) said alien sprogs will be in the future. It takes aim at real-life prediction markets where people can gamble on everything from the Time Person of the Year to nuclear tests. Upcoming Here's another game you can actually check out this weekend, as a playtest is taking place on Steam until March 31. Salvation Denied is a co-op construction sim/tower defense game from Firevolt and publisher Digital Vortex Entertainment. You can get together with up to three friends to build experimental structures at the behest of a foreman who looks like he's stepped right out of Team Fortress 2 . You'll have tools like a gravity gun, foam gun and jetpacks on hand to help you form these structures, along with heavy machinery that can move or recycle sections of the build. Coordinating with proximity voice chat could be critical as you and your buds deal with natural disasters like acid rain and meteor showers. I'm almost always going to be on board with a game that's all about chaos, so I'm interested in checking out Salvation Denied . It's set to hit Steam this fall before landing on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2027. Someone has stolen the sun. Reclaiming it is your goal in Light Dude , which is from solo developer Ramy of Dergham Games. It's an action game in which the lights go out when you move, so you'll need to figure out your approach to each level and how to avoid hazards before moving forward. There's a first-person mode here too. Light Dude is slated to hit Steam sometime this spring. A demo is available now. Solo developer Mateo Covic (aka ZoroArts) is looking to follow up on the success of Paddle Paddle Paddle with another friendslop game. Covic said it took just four weeks to create Cool Story Bro. Up to four players each have five minutes to write a short story that includes four words. These are picked at random or taken from a pool of player suggestions. Special items appear throughout each round, such as a revolver, which can take another player out of the game for 10 seconds, and one that swaps everyone's stories. If you're the first player to type an item's name, you can use it. After everyone has finished writing their story, players take turns to read theirs out for the rest of the group. The others vote on whether they liked the tale. If you really hate someone else's short story, you can blow them up with a rocket launcher. If only I had that option at some of the poetry readings Ive been to. This seems fun and silly, and the kind of thing that could easily blow up on Twitch (there's an integration that allows viewers to suggest words). Cool Story Bro is slated to hit Steam sometime in April. Fittingly enough, it's been a long time since Third Shift announced its debut project, Forever Ago . Six years , in fact. The game re-emerged this week during the Xbox Partner Preview showcase . Publisher Annapurna Interactive is bringing it to Xbox Series X/S , PS5 , Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox on PC, Steam and Epic Games Store this fall. It'll be available on Xbox Game Pass (and Xbox Cloud) on day one. This is a road trip adventure in which you take on the role of Alfred. Following a personal tragedy, he ventures north in his minivan to seek redemption. With an instant camera in hand, Alfred will meet new people and explore forests, deserts and mountains. It's another narrative-heavy game from Annapurna, which appears to be leaning heavily into nostalgia this year given that Mixtape is only a few weeks away. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/beat-based-dungeon-crawlers-card-battling-soccer-sims-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110000472.html?src=rss

Verizon waives late fees for federal workers affected by partial DHS shutdown

Verizon will waive late fees and offer flexible payment arrangements for workers affected by the partial government shutdown. The carrier has made similar offers in the past, like during the COVID-19 pandemic when it gave customers extra mobile data at no additional cost. The Department of Homeland Security has been hit the hardest by the partial shutdown, but Verizon's offer covers any federal worker who's able to offer employment verification. Verizon says employees can call 1-800-Verizon (1-800-922-0204) to get their late fees waived and set up a payment plan. The partial government shutdown started in February after Congress failed to pass a new DHS funding bill. The lack of funding has not affected all of DHS' sprawling organizations equally, however. While the Transportation Security Administration is no longer able to pay its employees leading to significant delays in airport security lines over the last week both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection have been spared thanks to a separate funding pool established by a previous bill. Lawmakers continued inability to fund DHS also happens to hinge on both agencies. Democratic senators and congresspeople are demanding ICE agents wear body cams and remove masks before making arrests, among other restrictions , and refusing to fund DHS until those restrictions are worked into the bill. Both Republicans and Democrats have also separately proposed funding the entire department except for ICE and CBP , but while that bill passed in the Senate, it hasn't been taken up in the House. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/verizon-waives-late-fees-for-federal-workers-affected-by-partial-dhs-shutdown-221814382.html?src=rss

Kash Patel's personal email account was accessed by hackers linked to Iran

A hacking group called Handala has gained access to FBI Director Kash Patel's email account, Reuters reports . The group published content from Patel's email on their website as proof, including photos of Patel sniffing and smoking cigars and making a face while taking a picture of himself in the mirror with a large bottle of rum. TechCrunch was able to independently confirm that at least some of the emails Handala stole were from Patel's account by checking information used by mail delivery systems thats stored in an email's header. Several stolen emails included a cryptographic signature that linked them to Patel's account. The FBI has also separately confirmed that the Director's account was hacked. The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel's personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity, the Bureau told TechCrunch . The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information. The FBI is offering up to $10 million in rewards for more information about the hackers who targeted Patel's account. Handala presents as a pro-Palestinian hacking group online, but is believed to be one of several aliases used by cyberintelligence units working for the Iranian government, Reuters writes. Groups affiliated with Iran have targeted officials in the US before. In August 2024, the FBI shared that a separate group, APT42, was trying to gain access to both the Trump and Harris campaigns. Three men associated with APT42 were later charged that September. Handala has appeared to become more active during the current conflict between the US, Israel and Iran . According to Reuters , the group claimed to be behind a cyber attack on Stryker , a medical devices company, earlier in March. Handala also said it accessed and published personal data from Lockheed Martin employees stationed in the Middle East. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/kash-patels-personal-email-account-was-accessed-by-hackers-linked-to-iran-212618474.html?src=rss

Meta will fund seven new natural gas plants to power its biggest data center yet

Meta will essentially foot the power bill for the $27 billion mega data center it's building in Louisiana. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company struck a deal to fund the energy infrastructure needed for the project. Through a deal with Entergy Louisiana, Meta will fund seven new natural gas power plants, 240 miles of transmission lines and battery energy storage at three locations. The gas plants will have a combined power output of 5,200 megawatts, and the transmission lines will operate at 500 kilovolts. In addition, the company will help fund up to 2,500 MW of new renewable resources. It also agreed to a memorandum of understanding for future nuclear power development. The 4-million-square-foot Richland Parish, LA, data center will be Meta's biggest yet . It's currently under construction. The energy deal follows a pledge by tech companies , including Meta, to offset local residents rising electricity costs from AI data centers. The companies plan to uild, bring or buy the new generation resources and electricity needed to satisfy their new energy demands, paying the full cost of those resources. However, the pledge lacks a binding agreement or any enforcement mechanisms. The shift in tone comes in response to growing anger from local communities over the rise of power-hungry, environmentally damaging AI data centers. A December poll found that 60 percent of Americans including majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents support more AI regulation. Just this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a bill to force a moratorium on data center construction until meaningful regulations are passed. We could easily file this and similar moves as Big Tech's latest attempt to convince voters and officials that it can be trusted to do right without enforceable regulations. We've seen that movie before . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-will-fund-seven-new-natural-gas-plants-to-power-its-biggest-data-center-yet-201000045.html?src=rss

European Commission confirms data breach

The European Commission has announced that it suffered a cyber attack that affected cloud infrastructure hosting the Commission's web presence on the Europea.eu platform. While the attack has been contained, Bleeping Computer reports that the threat actor claiming to be behind it was able to take over 350GB of data before the Commission addressed the issue. Early findings of our ongoing investigation suggest that data have been taken from [Europa] websites, the European Commission says. The Commission is duly notifying the Union entities who might have been affected by the incident. The Commission's investigation is ongoing, and it has yet to disclose how its cloud infrastructure was breached. According to Bleeping Computer , the threat actor was able to access the Europa sites and employee data via one of the Commission's Amazon Web Services accounts. The Commission disclosed a breach that similarly impacted employee data in February. Both breaches appear to be less severe than the Salt Typhoon hack that impacted US telecommunications companies in 2024. Hackers reportedly gained access to data from the smartphones of members of both the Trump and Harris campaigns, and other government officials. In January 2026, the European Commission introduced a new Cybersecurity Package designed to address similar issues, in part by outlining new ways for EU states to deal with potentially risky companies in their telecom supply chains. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/european-commission-confirms-data-breach-200000982.html?src=rss

Crunchyroll is now available as a channel in the Apple TV app

If you're still using Crunchyroll after its AI subtitle fiasco and subsequent price increase, there's a new way to watch. The anime streaming service is now available as a channel in the Apple TV app. That means you can subscribe and stream your favorite anime titles, all within Apple's video app. No need for the Crunchyroll app or a separate login. (Your Apple account handles your subscription using this method.) 9to5Mac notes that this is the first significant new channel added to the TV app in some time. Crunchyroll starts at $10 per month, after the platform raised all of its monthly subscription prices by $2 earlier this year. That may be a hard sell for fans frustrated by the platform's direction. Last year, months after the company president enthused about the potential for AI subtitles, fans noticed something fishy . The German subtitles for Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show included one that began with ChatGPT said Crunchyroll pinned the blame on a third-party vendor and promised it would work to rectify the error. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/crunchyroll-is-now-available-as-a-channel-in-the-apple-tv-app-182500579.html?src=rss

If you live in Georgia, there's a new exhibit you can visit celebrating Apple's 50th anniversary

The Mimms Museum of Technology and Art in Roswell, Georgia is debuting a new exhibit celebrating Apple's 50th anniversary. The exhibit, iNSPIRE: 50 Years of Innovation from Apple , is set to open on April 1, the date the company was founded, and includes more than 2,000 artifacts across 20,000 square feet, making it the largest public display of Apple products in the world. iNSPIRE is supposed to offer a unique look into Apple, by highlighting early computers, rare prototypes, original documentation and immersive installations inspired by Apples most iconic products and campaigns. Based on photos shared from the exhibit's launch event, that includes displays of every model of key products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad, and an interactive installation that inserts you in the company's iconic iPod ads. If you're based on the west coast of the US, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California is also displaying its own Apple@50 exhibit , and running what it calls Mactivations, scheduled demos where you can interact with a reproduction of an original Macintosh. Apple's own celebrations have included a published letter from CEO Tim Cook ruminating on the company's mission, and live music events at the company's stores, offices and select landmarks around the world. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/if-you-live-in-georgia-theres-a-new-exhibit-you-can-visit-celebrating-apples-50th-anniversary-180940846.html?src=rss

It looks like we're finally getting an Ocarina of Time remake

After years of rumors and countless fan-made Unreal Engine tech demos of varying quality, it sounds like we might finally be getting a ground-up remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time . Thats according to Nintendo insider NatetheHate, who said in the latest edition of his podcast that a remake of the seminal Nintendo 64 game would be coming to Switch 2 in the second half of 2026. The reliable tipster said he doesnt know whether Nintendo is making a 1:1 remake of the original 3D Zelda entry, or something thats a little more free to explore design choices, adding that he was initially reluctant to share the information hed received in case we ended up getting little more than an HD remaster. But it sounds like this is a more ambitious undertaking than that. Ocarina of Time has of course been remastered before, with 2011s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS generally considered to be the best version of the game you can play today. The original 1998 game is also easily accessible via emulation through Nintendo Switch Online, but a modern remake for Switch 2 does make some sense. For one, 2026 marks the series 40th anniversary, and if you asked every Zelda fan alive what their favorite entry is, you can bet that OoT would feature pretty high in the final rankings. Were also getting that live-action Zelda movie next year, and Nintendo will no doubt want to make sure audiences have done their homework on the games that inspired it. Of course, none of this is official, so have those grains of salt at the ready, but NatetheHate did also claim that anyone hoping for a new 3D Mario game to arrive in 2026 is going to be disappointed. Thats more likely to arrive in 2027. In better news, were apparently also getting a brand new classic-style Star Fox game this summer, which would mark the return of the spacefaring Fox McCloud after a decade spent in Nintendos unloved mascot closet. This rumor seems logical after Nintendos surprise announcement that the anthropomorphic red fox is going to feature in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie , which arrives next week. Hes being voiced by Glen Powell , because of course he is. NatetheHates information on all of the above has been corroborated by VGC , which says it lines up with what it's heard from its own sources. And in the case of the Ocarina of Time remake, that recent Lego set suddenly makes a lot of sense. If indeed we do get the remake of Metacritic s highest-rated game of all time later this year, physical collectors could have a difficult choice to make, after Nintendo announced that physical versions of first-party Switch 2 games are about to become more expensive than their digital counterparts. This adjusted pricing will come into effect when Yoshi and the Mysterious Book launches on May 21. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/it-looks-like-were-finally-getting-an-ocarina-of-time-remake-175546356.html?src=rss

The original Hollow Knight just got an update to fix a glitch with a final boss

Team Cherry just fixed a bug with the original Hollow Knight , according to a report by GamesRadar . That game came out a full nine years ago, so it's pretty impressive that the dev team is still cranking out updates. Spoilers follow, but it's been nine years so whatever. The update involves a glitch regarding an attack from The Radiance, one of the final bosses of the game. At later stages, she tosses out these honing balls of light. These are difficult to avoid on their own, but a glitch made it so the balls of light occasionally lingered in the air after finishing. This added yet another way for the player to take some damage and led to numerous unnecessary deaths. This has now been fixed. The patch notes say the developers fixed Radiance's orb attack hitbox lingering slightly longer than intended if the orb expires in the air. This is great news for brand-new players and frustrating news to people who have been trying to avoid those lingering orbs for the better part of a decade. Better late than never, right? We don't know why the company tackled this particular issue right now. It could be that the success of the long-awaited sequel , Hollow Knight: Silksong , has been driving new players to the original release. It's also possible they just now got around to it. Today's patch includes other stuff, like raising the volume when navigating the inventory and adding more journal notification icons. Team Cherry isn't Ubisoft or Nintendo. It's a relatively small team. The team has been pumping out updates for Silksong as well. Team Cherry recently added traditional Chinese and German language options, which had become a sticking point for some. It's also busy working on the game's first major DLC expansion, called Sea of Sorrow . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-original-hollow-knight-just-got-an-update-to-fix-a-glitch-with-a-final-boss-173533993.html?src=rss

The AI Doc explores how we can survive an uncertain AI future

Anxiety, more so than technological rigor, sits at the heart of The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. Director Daniel Roher is anxious about the future he's bringing a child into will it be an AI-driven utopia? Or does it spell certain doom, something explored in countless sci-fi stories. To figure it all out, he interviewed some of the most well known AI proponents and critics, including The Empire of AI author Karen Hao, AI researcher Emily Bender and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. The AI Doc , which hits theaters this weekend, doesn't really shed new light. For that, I'd recommend reading Hao's industry-defining book, which chronicles the rise of OpenAI and the precarious nature of its business. But I don't think tech-heads are the main audience for this film. Instead, Roher is trying to break down the state of AI for mainstream audiences, the folks who may occasionally use ChatGPT or Google's Gemini, but aren't aware of why they're controversial. In particular, the film exposes the near-religious devotion many in the tech world have around AI. It's not a spoiler to say that Roher ultimately adopts an apocaloptimist viewpoint. He's aware of the potential dangers of AI, and that it will likely have some serious societal impact. But, he also thinks humans have the ability to shape where it's headed. AI proponents have a near-religious belief in the eventuality of artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI that can match and surpass human capabilities. But AGI isnt inevitable, and Roher argues theres room for critics and the public to push back. Were seeing small examples of AI resistance already. Just look at the viscerally negative response to NVIDIA's DLSS 5 AI upscaling ; Microsoft's recent plans to pull back on Copilot AI features in Windows 11 ; or OpenAI shutting down its Sora AI video generation app . (The latter may be due to the sheer expense, but Sora has certainly seen plenty of criticism.) If enough people say no to various implementations of AI, tech companies will be likely to respond. Daniel Roher in The AI Doc. Focus Features The AI Doc splits its narrative between true believers like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and prominent AI critics like Tristan Harris, the co-founder and president of the Center of Humane Technology, as well as linguistics professor Emily M. Bender. It's easy to feel a bit of whiplash when the film moves from people who genuinely think AI will lead to some sort of utopia (and who will also become insanely rich in the process), and the extreme critics who think it will mean the end of humanity. At one point, Harris mentions that some of his friends working in AI risk assessment believe that their kids won't see high school. There's that anxiety again. While The AI Doc squeezes an impressive amount of notable interviews in its hour-and-43-minute runtime, I would have liked to hear more from critics like Timnit Gebru, a former Google AI researcher who also ties the development of AI into a rise of techno-fascism in Silicon Valley. She appears briefly in the film, but her perspective isn't fully fleshed out. The AI Doc doesn't dig very deeply into the driving forces behind AI, whereas Ghost in the Machine , this year's other major AI documentary, draws a direct line between the rise of eugenics and Silicon Valley. ( Ghost in the Machine is headed to theaters this summer, and will air on PBS in the fall.) It's the sort of energetic, animation-heavy documentary that wants to make sure the audience is never bored. But the threat of AI deserves more nuance and critical scrutiny. At worst, The AI Doc may make more people question the value of AI as the tech industry becomes more desperate to make it a success. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-ai-doc-explores-how-we-can-survive-an-uncertain-ai-future-154341735.html?src=rss

The PS5 is getting more expensive... again

It was only last August that Sony raised PS5 console prices in the US, blaming a challenging economic environment at the time. Today it has slightly tweaked the phrasing to continued pressures in the global economic landscape, but the outcome is the same: price rises across the board, this time even affecting the PS Portal handheld. Starting April 2, the price of the standard PS5 (thats the one with the disc drive) is going up to $650. Thats a whopping $100 hike, or $150 if you go back to before the August price increases. The Digital Edition is getting the same increase, up to $600 from $500 since August. But the most eye-wateringly huge bump goes to the PS5 Pro , which will now cost you $900, $150 more than its (already very high) previous $750 MSRP. If you managed to pick up a Pro during last years Black Friday sale, when its price was slashed to $650, then youre probably feeling pretty smug right now. Even the PlayStation Portal is getting a $50 increase, up from $199 to $250. The Portal has gotten a lot more capable in the last 12 months, but $250 for a device that cant run any games natively might make a purchase harder to justify for a lot of people. In a blog post, Sony acknowledged the impact of prices increases on its audience, but said after careful evaluation that it was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide. Global economic turbulence is affecting the entire games industry right now. Valve has already pushed back the launch date for the Steam Machine, while the ongoing RAM crisis could also be to blame for Steam Deck stock shortages. Microsoft also raised Xbox prices twice last year, and earlier this week Nintendo announced that some of its physical first-party Switch 2 games will soon be more expensive than purchasing the game digitally. While Nintendo has experimented with this kind of pricing structure before, it might point to the increasingly prohibitive costs of making and shipping products right now. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps5-is-getting-more-expensive-again-133141514.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Sony and Hondas debut EV is dead before it even arrived

Honda and Sony announced that they are discontinuing both the Afeela 1 and 2, their electric cars. The company is reviewing its business direction, but it's hard to expect much from a car company thats cancelled all of its cars. The Afeela 1, casually called the PlayStation Car, was meant to be a fusion of a modern EV and your own digital media bubble. (You could have a God of War -themed dash if you wanted that.) Engadget Theres a wider pressure on Honda, beyond this risky collaboration with Sony. It expects to take a $15.7 billion loss after writing off a large portion of its EV investment. The USs removal of federal EV tax credits and the imposition of tariffs have hit everything hard. The Afeela was exciting on paper, but in person, it was a pretty unassuming sedan. And expensive! Rival EV makers were offering more for less. Also: dont tease a car for six full years. Its never a good sign. Check out Tim Stevens editorial on how it all fell apart. Mat Smith The other big stories (and deals) this morning Ugh, Netflix is raising prices again Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez introduce a bill to pause US data center construction . OpenAI is shutting down its Sora video generation app Hades 2 is coming to Xbox Series X/S and PS5 on April 14 Meta and YouTube lose social media addiction case TikTok and Snap settled ahead of the trial. Smart. A jury in Los Angeles has found that Meta and YouTube were negligent in a closely watched trial over social media addiction. The two companies were ordered to pay $6 million in damages to a woman who said their addictive features harmed her. For Meta, it's the second legal setback in recent weeks, after a New Mexico jury ruled against it on child safety issues. Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in penalties, making this settlement seem small in comparison. The companies are planning to appeal. Continue reading. Sonos Play review The company's best portable speaker so far. Engadget The Sonos Play could be the companys reset button, a way to remind people what the company does well and move on from busted updates, expensive gambits and fussy apps. The $299 Play is a portable speaker that sits between the $499 Sonos Move 2 and the $179 Roam 2. The new speaker sounds great, has a wide and versatile feature set and wont break the bank. We particularly like the inclusion of Bluetooth grouping. Continue reading. DJI Avata 360 drone review Theres a new 360-degree drone in town. Engadget DJI responded quickly to Insta360s debut drone, the Antigravity A1, with the Avata 360. Its drawn from years of drone experience (and tech from its new Osmo 360 action cam). Compared to the A1, its safer to fly around people and offers single-camera OIS 4K footage in addition to 8K 360 video. The 360 video it shoots offers incredible editing flexibility, but overall quality is lower than that of DJIs other drones. Its cheaper than its 360 drone rival, too, though US availability remains unclear. Continue reading. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121539576.html?src=rss

MLB The Show 26 is turning me into more of a baseball fan

There were two questions I was looking to answer as I fired up MLB The Show 26 . First, how much does the game cater to a baseball newbie like me? Second, will it keep me hooked enough to keep playing after my first few games? I think it's important to share some personal context. I have very limited experience with baseball. I have been to one MLB game, which was on my first visit to Canada as a teen. The lead-off Toronto Blue Jays hitter scored a home run on his first at-bat. Fireworks went off and everyone was going wild. Fun! But that was the only score of the whole game. My dad and I (both lifelong soccer fans, for what its worth) were bored lifeless for the rest of the three hours. An incredible run of a dog playing a baseball game at Games Done Quick aside, I had no real interest in the sport for the next couple of decades until the Blue Jays made a deep run into the 2025 playoffs. This time, now as a Canadian citizen, I bought into the excitement and watched all of the World Series last year. I was enthralled. I slowly started to appreciate the nuances of pitching, the skill of trying to make every pitch look identical at the time the ball is thrown to hopefully hoodwink the batter. Friends who are in-the-know tolerated my most basic of questions about how everything works as the postseason wore on. Now, Im planning to watch a lot more games this year and MLB The Show 26 arrived at just the right time to get me ready for the new season. Sony's San Diego Studio seemed to be speaking to me, personally, when the first thing the game asked me to do was select my preferred playstyle. The Competitive track was definitely out for now. The Simulation option offers an authentic MLB experience that plays true to player and team ratings. I wasn't quite feeling that either. As a newcomer to all of this, I had to select the Casual style. Thats billed as an easier, fun, pick up and play experience with an emphasis on learning the game. Exactly what I needed. I was immediately impressed with how deeply you can customize the gameplay, even if the vast array of batting and pitching options in particular felt a little overwhelming. Using both a thumbstick to aim and button to swing at the ball seemed too much for someone who has no idea as yet how to read pitches. Dipping my toes in slowly was surely going to help me avoid getting too frustrated too quickly and uninstalling the game, so I chose to keep everything as simple as possible. Im not switching off options like automated bullpen warm ups for a long time, if ever. Finally, after about 20 minutes of fine-tuning some settings in the tutorial, it was game time. The Dodgers didn't know what hit 'em as I won my first game 38-0. I thought this Shohei guy was supposed to be good? Pffft, he didn't even register a hit. His team only got a measly two players on base, while I had 46 hits. That blowout was a fun intro to MLB The Show 26 , but I had to bump up the difficulty and make it a little more challenging if there was any chance of me sticking with it. Instead of jumping into the Road to the Show career mode, an online match or another exhibition game to get my feet a tad wetter, I next tried the Storylines feature. This is what really drew me into MLB The Show 26. San Diego Studio has been sharing the stories of several notable players from the Negro Leagues in the last few editions of the series. I know very little about baseball history outside of household names. So I was fascinated to learn about the likes of Roy Campanella, who debuted in the league as a 15-year-old catcher, and Mamie Peanut Johnson, the league's first female pitcher. The developers did a fantastic job of connecting these athletes' stories to playable moments from their playing careers. Cutscene insights from Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, tied everything together quite beautifully. Great stories are such an effective way to pull you into a sport and to start learning about it. Stories connect us more than just about anything else. The default difficulty in the Storylines mode was much higher than I dealt with in my first washout game. Still, that gave me a chance to practice the Competitive playstyle without having to play a full game or the stop-start nature of the tutorial. My pitching was less accurate, so figuring out how to compensate for that made for an interesting challenge. Batting was a lot tougher too, with balls travelling faster and pitchers trying to trick me. At first, I was swinging at every ball, but that clearly was the wrong idea. I tried to be more judicious and wait to see if a ball was breaking, but that meant I was swinging too late and fouling or giving the fielders an easy catch. That's a tricky conundrum to solve, and I'll need a lot more practice before I dream of playing online. I'm not even going to get started on how woeful I am at catching. And yet all of this deepened my appreciation for baseball. There's so much more nuance and complexity to the sport than I realized until a few months ago. And even as someone who doesn't typically enjoy turn-based games, I found myself getting into the swing of it... so to speak. I'm never going to care about Diamond Dynasty, MLB The Show's take on Ultimate Team modes in EA Sports games. I can't see myself diving into the team management-focused Franchise mode, in large part because I don't yet have a strong enough understanding of stats to have a decent handle on what makes a specific player great in their role. And as much as I like the idea of the Road to the Show career mode in which you can stick with a player from their high school days all the way to a Hall of Fame induction I don't think I can invest enough time into that to make it worth the effort. I did find the answers to the two main questions I had about MLB The Show 26. It does a bang-up job of easing a baseball newbie like me into the fray. I'm eager to keep playing as well. I don't think MLB The Show has quite enough pull to keep me away from my actual forever game, Overwatch , for too long. But I can absolutely see myself playing it on a second screen while streaming some MLB games this season. After all, I'm always on the lookout for a great story. MLB The Show 26 is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/mlb-the-show-26-is-turning-me-into-more-of-a-baseball-fan-120000724.html?src=rss

Fender Mix review: Well-designed headphones that just fall short of greatness

I know what youre thinking: Isnt Fender a guitar company? It sure is, and has been one of the most iconic names in guitars and amplifiers since 1946. So what is the company doing making headphones and speakers? Well, it isnt, exactly. Like Zound Industries used to do with Marshall (before buying the amp business), another company is licensing the Fender name for its consumer audio products. Fender Audio , the brand thats on the headphones Im reviewing, is owned by the Fender Corporation, but Riffsound oversees the design and production of portable audio gear. The first products from Fender Audio are the Mix headphones and the Elie speaker (in two sizes). The company revealed these in January before properly showing them off at CES . Ill get to those speakers in a few weeks, but the Mix headphones are first up on the review docket. With the Mix, Fender Audio seeks to offer a set of premium over-ear, noise-canceling headphones at a lower price than the likes of Sony, Bose and Sennheiser. Theres also marathon battery life, several smart design touches, a lossless Bluetooth transmitter and swappable parts that combine for a unique formula to take on those big names. Im honestly impressed that Fender Audio could cram all of that in a more affordable package, but the final verdict on the Mix isnt so straightforward. Whats good about the Fender Mix headphones? Fender Audio made numerous smart design decisions on the Mix headphones, and they resulted in my favorite things about using them. To start, you can swap out the ear pads, ear cups and headband as you see fit. The ear cups attach to the headband via USB-C ports, so theyre easy to snap on and off. Obviously, this allows you to change the look of the Mix over time, within the bounds of Fenders available colors. Underneath the ear pads, Fender put a storage slot for the lossless dongle on the left side and gives you access to the removable battery on the right. Im thrilled that I can enjoy higher quality Bluetooth connectivity without having to remember to bring along such a small accessory. Plus, its nice to know that users will be able to install a fresh battery, provided the company sells those at some point. I also enjoy how Fender Audio designed the onboard controls. First, theyre physical buttons, which are always my preference over touch- or gesture-based options. Second, the main one is a five-way joystick, so theyre very simple. Press it to play/pause, press and hold for pairing mode or press longer to power on or off. If you push the joystick up or down, you can adjust the volume, while moving it left and right skips the track forward or backward. You can also push down twice to enable Auracast pairing right on the headphones. A second button, which is just the regular kind, is used to cycle through noise canceling modes: ANC, transparency and both off. The lossless Bluetooth dongle inside the left ear cup Billy Steele for Engadget Sonically, the Mix headphones are at the height of their powers in lossless mode, which is enabled by the Bluetooth dongle hidden inside the ear cup. Bass tuning thats otherwise overpowering in most cases is restrained, and you can pick up finer details in the more balanced mix. When listening to Watchhouses Rituals, I got the sense that I was surrounded by the band, with strings, drums and vocals enveloping my ears with sound rather than it simply being projected from the left and right channels. Theres more nuance with the lossless mode, and it kept calling me back to the Mix headphones at the times when Id probably opt for the conveniences of earbuds or a speaker. ANC performance is respectable, although its not on the level of Bose. Its good enough to block out mild-to-moderate distractions, but it struggles with louder human voices and sudden jolts of noise. It will certainly do the job in the office or coffee shop, but you may notice some sounds invade your ears during a commute. For calls, transparency mode provides natural sound and it picks up enough of my voice that I never felt the need to shout. Call quality, though, is a different matter (more on that in a bit). Another big perk of the Mix is its long battery life. Fender Audio says youll get up to 52 hours with ANC on or a whopping 100 hours with it off. The company is forthcoming with the fact that the latter number is achieved at 50 percent volume, which will be too low for most regular use. Still, with noise canceling enabled and the volume around 70 percent, I had 52 percent battery left after nearly 30 hours of use. I spent most of that time with either ANC or transparency mode on. Whats not so good about the Fender Mix? The five-way joystick and ANC button on the Fender Mix Billy Steele for Engadget Out of the box, Fender Mixs tuning is too bass heavy. I realize a lot of people prefer a thundering low-end tone out of their headphones, but I found it to be too overpowering here. The stock sound profile is my biggest issue with this model, although its somewhat alleviated by using the lossless Bluetooth dongle. In that mode, the bass is slightly subdued, but its still quite prominent at times when it shouldnt be. On that Watchhouse album, the kick drum starts to drive the sound, rather than the guitars, mandolin and other instruments. When I listen to the same songs on other headphones, Ive noticed a better blend of drums and strings. With more intense genres, like the hardcore riffs and breakdowns of Incendiarys Product of New York, the booming bass isnt as much of an issue. The distorted guitars still cut through, and theres plenty of texture in their tone. And when each song hits its climax, the cranked up lows offer extra oomph. It works for metal, but it isnt always nice for bluegrass, jazz and synth-laiden electronic tunes where the extra bass can muddy the mix. The Fender Mix also lacks many of the smart features that are present in premium headphones today, which is probably how the company is able to sell them for $299. Things like automatic EQ tweaks and adaptive ANC are missing, as is automatic pausing when you speak or things like head gestures. These headphones dont have wear detection either, so they dont pause the audio when you take them off. Theres also no app available to dial in the EQ or adjust other settings (its coming soon). These headphones only have two microphones for calls, and you can tell almost instantly that those are insufficient. Despite claims of crystal clear calls, your voice will just sound okay to the person on the other end. Honestly, I wouldve sounded better just using my iPhone with no headphones. The Mix works to get your voice across, but dont dream of dialing into a podcast recording with them. Whats more, the Mix isnt good at blocking background noise, so youll need to use them in a quiet location to have a chance at sounding decent. Which, again, is about the best these headphones can muster. While the modular design allows for a decent degree of customization, the extra parts youll need arent on sale yet. Whats more, only two colors white, which is really more of a light gray, and black are currently available. So, for now, one of the perks of the Mix remains untapped. Wrap-up The Fender Mix headphones Billy Steele for Engadget Theres a lot to like about the Fender Mix, from the clever design choices to the crisp, detailed sound. The lack of finesse with the bass tuning and the omission of advanced features, particularly the absence of an app for settings changes, keeps these headphones firmly planted in the midrange category. Clearly thats not what the company is aiming for with tools like the lossless Bluetooth dongle, but thats where it lands for me at the end of the day. So, at $299, the Mix is a tough call when a $250 price tag would make these an easier sell. Sure, theres enough here to make these a capable daily audio accessory, but not everything Id need to call them a must buy. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/fender-mix-review-well-designed-headphones-that-just-fall-short-of-greatness-120000974.html?src=rss

RGG's Stranger Than Heaven game will span five time periods

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has revealed more details about its upcoming title, Stranger Than Heaven , at the Xbox Partner Preview stream . While previous teasers showed that it was going to be set in the 1910s and 1940s, it turns out its gameplay will span five different time periods: 1915, 1929, 1943, 1951 and 1965. The games events will also take place in five different cities. Ryu Ga Gotoku has yet to reveal what the locations will be based on, but the setting for 1965 seems to be Kamurocho. Thats the fictionalized version of Tokyos Kabukicho entertainment district in the studios games, the Yakuza and Judgment series. One time period seems to be set during winter, while another focuses on a hot spring town. Its clear from teasers and the new trailer RGG released that new title will share Yakuzas aesthetics and maybe even its fighting mechanics. The studio has yet to say whether it will be connected to the Yakuza series, but fans believe Stranger Than Heaven could focus on the beginnings of the yakuza clans that appeared throughout the franchise. RGG Studio will reveal more details about the game on another stream with Xbox on May 6 at 7PM Eastern time. For now, you can watch the trailer below for a preview. Take note that while the studio has teamed up with Xbox for these reveals, the game will also be available on Steam and the PS5. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/rggs-stranger-than-heaven-game-will-span-five-time-periods-114554699.html?src=rss

Court temporarily blocks US government from labeling Anthropic as a 'supply chain risk'

The court has granted Anthropics request for a preliminary injunction, preventing the government from banning its products for federal use and from formally labeling it as a supply chain risk, at least for now. If youll recall, things turned sour between the company and the Trump administration when Anthropic refused to change the terms of its contract that would allow the government to use its technology for mass surveillance and the development of autonomous weapons. In response to Anthropics refusal, the president ordered federal agencies to stop using Claude and the companys other services. The Defense Department also officially labeled it as a supply chain risk, which is typically reserved for entities typically based in US adversaries like China that threaten national security. In addition, department secretary Pete Hegseth warned companies that if they want to work with the government, they must sever ties with Anthropic. The AI company challenged the designation in court, calling it unlawful and in violation of free speech and its rights to due process. It asked the court to put a pause on the ban while the lawsuit is ongoing, as well. In a court filing, the Defense Department said giving Anthropic continued access to its warfighting infrastructure would introduce unacceptable risk to its supply chains. But Judge Rita F. Lin of the District Court for the Northern District of California said the measures the government took appear designed to punish Anthropic. Lin wrote in her decision that it seems Anthropic is being punished for criticizing the government in the press. Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the governments contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation, she continued. The judge also said that the supply chain risk designation is contrary to law, arbitrary and capricious. She added that the government argued that Anthropic showed its subversive tendencies by questioning the use of its technology. Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the US for expressing disagreement with the government, she wrote. Anthropic told The New York Times that its grateful to the court for moving swiftly and that its now focused on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI. The companys lawsuit is still ongoing, and the court has yet to issue its final decision. Judge Lin said, however, that Anthropic has shown a likelihood of success on its First Amendment claim. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/court-temporarily-blocks-us-government-from-labeling-anthropic-as-a-supply-chain-risk-083857528.html?src=rss

Samsung launches Galaxy Book 6, Galaxy Book 6 Pro and Galaxy Book 6 Ultra AI PCs in India

Samsungs Galaxy Book 6 series uses Intel Core Ultra series 3 processors with an integrated NPU supports up to 50 TOPS for AI-driven tasks

Xiaomi launches Redmi 15A 5G for budget buyers in India

Redmi 15A 5G ships with a 6,300 mAh battery, and supports 15W charging

ASICS GEL-Kayano 32 Review: Has Kaizen Caught Up with Indian Roads?

The ASICS GEL-Kayano isnt just a shoe, but something that has become a symbol of dependable performance

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Review | A refinement-driven flagship rather than a radical one

Samsungs Galaxy S26 Ultra, the flag-bearer for the South Korean brand in 2026, has been launched with upgrades that seem necessary and natural

OnePlus Nord 6 with 9,000 mAh battery launches on April 7 in India

Nord 6 also claims to support sustained 165 FPS in titles such as BGMI, Call of Duty Mobile and Free Fire

Instax Mini Evo Cinema Review | Less of a practical upgrade, more of a lifestyle choice

If you are someone who values aesthetics, nostalgia, and the joy of physical photos, this camera makes sense

Amazon Plans Smartphone Comeback More Than a Decade After Fire Phone Flop

The phone is seen as a potential mobile personalization device that can sync with home voice assistant Alexa and serve as a conduit to Amazon customers throughout the day, the people said.

OnePlus launches Nord Buds 4 Pro with spatial audio and ANC

OnePlus Nord Buds 4 Pro also supports slide controls for volume

Realme launches P4 Lite 5G smartphone with 7,000 mAh battery

Realme has used MediaTek Dimensity 6300 5G chipset in the P4 Lite 5G with up to 6GB RAM and 128GB storage

Poco X8 Pro Max, Poco X8 Pro and Poco X8 Pro Iron Man Edition launched in India

Both devices feature a metal frame, and racetrack-inspired camera modules paired with dynamic RGB lighting

Apple unveils second-generation AirPods Max at $549

Live translation, first introduced on the AirPods Pro 3 in September, enables users to translate in-person conversations across languages using Apple Intelligence

Apple MacBook Neo Emerges As Companys Most Repairable Laptop in More Than a Decade

Apple is widely believed to be targeting the same education markets with its MacBook Neo that Google targets with its low-cost Chromebooks

Ai+ Smartphone partners Optiemus to make phones, tablets and IoT devices

Together, they plan to invest 125 crore in India-based manufacturing for over 5 years with a claim of creating around 1,200 direct and indirect jobs

iQOO launches Z11x with MediaTek processor and Sony sensor

iQOO has used a 7200 mAh battery in iQOO Z11x, paired with 44W charger inside the box

Xiaomi Pad 8 launched in India with HyperOS 3 and Snapdragon processor

Xiaomi will offer four years of Android OS updates and six years of security updates to Pad 8

Motorola Edge 70 Fusion launched in India with Sony sensor and Qualcomm chip

The phone features dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res Audio support

Nothing Phone 4a and Phone 4a Pro launched: Price, features and availability

Nothing also unveiled a new over-head headphones, Headphone a, at more accessible price point, claiming around 135 hours of playtime.

Apple launches new MacBooks with M5 chips, bigger base storage

The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,099 and now comes with 512 gigabytes of storage as standard, double the base storage of the previous generation

Samsung rolls out more AI, new privacy shield mode with the new Galaxy S26 lineup

Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its latest Galaxy smartphones, which boast an even bigger toolbox of artificial intelligence technology