Hardware

Perplexity brings its Personal Computer AI assistant to Mac

Perplexity has just released Personal Computer . The software, which is available starting today for Mac, builds on the multi-model orchestration capabilities the company debuted with Perplexity Computer at the end of February . Like Claude Cowork (and, as of today, OpenAI Codex too), it's a suite of computer use agents that can work with your files, apps, connectors and the web to complete complex and even continuous workflows. Perplexity suggests a few different use cases for Personal Computer, starting with the obvious. You can ask Personal Computer to read your to-do list, the company states. In fact, you can ask it to DO your to-do list. It explains you can open the Notes app on your Mac, ask Personal Computer for help and the system will reason how to best assist you. In the process of tackling that task, it can work across all your files, as well as apps like Apple Messages. When needed, it will also employ multiple agents to complete a request. Like Anthropic did with Claude Cowork, Perplexity says you can also use its software to organize messy folders so files feature sensible names and there's an easy-to-understand structure to everything. You can prompt Personal Computer with your voice, and you can even initiate and manage tasks from your phone. Perplexity says the app creates files in a secure sandbox, and any actions it takes are auditable and reversible. A system that acts on your behalf needs to be useful and legible. It should feel like a team you manage, not a rogue employee with keys to your most important data, the company said. Personal Computer for Mac is available starting today, beginning with Max subscribers . Perplexity said it would bring the app to its other users soon, prioritizing those who joined the waitlist for the experience. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexity-brings-its-personal-computer-ai-assistant-to-mac-202045969.html?src=rss

Call of Duty movie arrives on June 30, 2028

A Call of Duty movie is still happening, but don't hold your breath for it to hit screens any time soon. Today, the popular FPS' social media revealed that the movie's theatrical release date will be June 30, 2028. A film adaptation of the game franchise was first revealed last year, and shortly after, we learned that Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg would be serving as the producers. The duo, whose past credits include Friday Night Lights and Yellowstone , will also be co-writing the project under Berg's direction. We still haven't heard anything about the cast, or even what era of the long-running series will be depicted, so it seems like a safe bet that there's still a ways to go before this wraps. But CoD is nothing if not a money-maker, so reimagining it as a summer blockbuster seems pretty expected. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/call-of-duty-movie-arrives-on-june-30-2028-200033481.html?src=rss

Blackmagic Camera for iOS now has a companion Watch app

Blackmagic Camera is one of the more powerful third-party smartphone camera apps available and it's now even more useful for solo creators. Blackmagic Design just announced that the latest iOS version 3.3 now supports Apple Watch, letting you control the app and monitor video remotely from your wrist. It also includes ATEM camera control so you can use your iPhone as a live studio camera. With the new Camera Apple Watch companion app, you can remotely control and monitor your iPhone from anywhere within Wi-Fi range. It lets you start and stop recording, control zoom and adjust settings like frame rate, shutter speed (angle), white balance and ISO with a tap. You can also see a view of your video for framing control, though a Watch screen is probably a bit too small to accurately check focus. The Watch app will benefit solo creators who want to mount their iPhone on a tripod to record standup or vlogging activities. To set it up, you install the Watch app through your iPhone and it will automatically connect and sync to your device. Use your iPhone as a broadcast camera? Sure, why not Blackmagic Design The other key feature is iPhone control from Blackmagic's ATEM Mini switcher used by streamers and broadcasters. To use it, you need the $420 Blackmagic Camera ProDock that gives your iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro Max an HDMI output, timecode, USB-C and other ports. Blackmagic Camera now lets you connect a single HDMI cable from the ProDock to an ATEM Mini switcher, then adjust settings, trigger recording, focus and zoom. It also offers a DaVinci primary color corrector so you can match and create digital film looks during live production. Finally, Camera now supports Blackmagic's Focus and Zoom Demand controls (a knob and handle) designed for broadcast cameras. When those controls and an iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max are connected via USB-C to a ProDock as shown above, you can zoom and focus Camera app video without taking your hands off the tripod handles. Together with the ATEM feature, it lets you use an iPhone as a full broadcast camera, which looks slightly weird but is pretty cool. On top of those features, Blackmagic Design also added ProRes RAW stabilization and general bug fixes and improvements. Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 is available now as afree download from the Apple AppStore. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/blackmagic-camera-for-ios-now-has-a-companion-watch-app-194529980.html?src=rss

Meta is giving Threads on web a redesign that finally adds direct messages

Meta is starting to test a long-overdue facelift for Threads on web. The company's head of Threads Connor Hayes showed off a new look for the web version of Threads that finally adds direct messaging and makes it easier to navigate between multiple feeds. The new layout adds a bunch of new shortcuts to the site's left rail, including saved posts, insights, activity, and the ability to move between different feeds. Those features have all been accessible on web before, but many were hard to find. For example, the only way to currently get to insights is to navigate to your own profile or save it as a pinned column. Most importantly, though, the update finally adds the Threads inbox, which has not been available to web users even though the feature was added to the app last June . It's not clear when the new look will roll out, but Hayes said Meta has already started to test it and that the company will be investing more here going forward. The last time the Threads website got a major update was last April , which added some basic functionality. But since then, Meta has focused much of its efforts on the Threads app, rather than the website. Some newer features, like disappearing ghost posts , are able to be viewed on the web but can only be created in the app. Speaking of the Threads app, the web updates come one day after Hayes previewed some tweaks to how replies look on mobile. With the change, replies under a post will be indented slightly to make it easier to follow conversations. That change is rolling out now on iOS and currently testing on Android. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-giving-threads-on-web-a-redesign-that-finally-adds-direct-messages-192903284.html?src=rss

The European Commission wants Google to share search engine data with competitors

The European Commission has proposed new measures for Google aimed at bringing the tech giant's search business into compliance with the Digital Markets Act. In order to allow third-party online search engines to be competitive with Google, the EC has recommended that Google permit those services to access its treasure trove of search engine data. As it stands, the proposal would require Google to let rivals see data points such as ranking, query, click and view data, on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Data is a key input for online search and for developing new services, including AI, said Teresa Ribera, the Commission's executive vice-president for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition. Access to this data should not be restricted in ways that could harm competition. In fast-moving markets, small changes can quickly have a big impact. We will not allow practices that risk closing markets or limiting choice. European regulators have been using the Digital Markets Act to hammer at Google's dominant market position for several years. Beginning in March 2024, Google was required to be in compliance with the DMA and it did plan some changes in accordance with the legislation. A year later, though, the Commission levied preliminary charges against Google arguing that Google Search and the Play Store had not met their obligations for market competition. Google offered some possible adjustments to how search results are displayed in response, but it seems the regulator is going to keep fighting for more robust changes to Google's search business. If you think all that sounds like something Google is unwilling and unlikely to do, you'd be correct. For starters, the actual requirements for Google could change in the coming months. The EC is accepting comments on the proposed measures through May 1, and Google's legal team is certain to have a lot of opinions to share. We've reached out to the company for a comment on these preliminary measures. A final, binding decision on Google's next steps is due by July 27, so we're expecting a lot of back-and-forth between the parties until that date. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-european-commission-wants-google-to-share-search-engine-data-with-competitors-192709530.html?src=rss

Blizzard just made Overwatchs best mode much worse

While I dabble in other Overwatch modes, I spend the vast majority of my time there in Mystery Heroes, a casual mode in which you load in as a random character and automatically switch to another one when you respawn. It's by far my favorite way to play Overwatch (which I do a lot!), since it helps me switch off and relax. Others play it as a warmup for competitive action. It requires a particular skillset, as players need a working knowledge of all 51 heroes to help them coordinate with teammates and know what the opponents have on deck. But with the arrival of the new Overwatch season this week, Blizzard changed Mystery Heroes, and made it much less fun to play. The developers say they modified Mystery Heroes to help keep the mode's casual pace intact while mitigating some of the more extreme pain points it's had in the past. That might have something to do with how the mode handled perks. In other modes, players earn perks (upgrades to their existing tools or entirely new abilities) throughout a match. In Mystery Heroes, they load into a round with random perks already equipped. That's fun! I love the chaos of Mystery Heroes and trying to make things work with whatever hero and perks I have. Now, perks are gone from Mystery Heroes. I kind of get it. Nixing them helps players clock what's going on a bit faster they won't feel the need to quickly check which perks they have when they're racing back to the action when the time is running out. Perks were only added to Overwatch a little over a year ago and they've helped make the game more enjoyable. Removing them from Mystery Heroes diminishes it compared with other modes, especially given that some heroes are now more oriented around their perks. Overwatch Blizzard Entertainment The other major change in Mystery Heroes is a switch from teams of five players to 6v6. I'm fine with 6v6 in other game types, but it makes Mystery Heroes much worse. In other 6v6 formats, you typically have two tanks, two supports and two damage heroes. In Mystery Heroes, the defense might load in with four tanks and two supports (teams are limited to three heroes from any class after respawns). While tanks generally have lower health pools in 6v6 modes, that's still an oppressive composition to run into. Attackers lack the agency to switch to other characters that can counter such a setup. For instance, if the attackers don't spawn in as heroes that can get behind a chokepoint and take out those supports, they might never break through. That doesn't make for a fun round. Trying to keep five other players alive as a solo support isn't exactly a blast either. Im not the only one whos disappointed with these changes. In every single Mystery Heroes game Ive played since the update, other players have lamented the loss of perks (the reaction to the 6v6 switch is more mixed). They're protesting on Reddit and the Overwatch forums too. Its not like Im averse to change. Blizzard has made a ton of updates to greatly improve Overwatch over the last few years. It added the big Stadium mode in 2025 and the game recently had a soft, successful relaunch . Even in this season, there are lots of positive tweaks, including some welcome hero updates (and some that are less welcome) and the return of post-match awards. New damage hero Sierra is rad too. The Mystery Heroes changes, though, are a step in the wrong direction. I dearly hope Blizzard reverses course on those soon. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/blizzard-just-made-overwatchs-best-mode-much-worse-185114683.html?src=rss

A first look at Metro 2039 shows how its Ukrainian developer turned the darkness up to 11

If the real world isnt grim enough for you, Ukranian developer 4A Games has your back: Metro 2039 has been announced and is scheduled to arrive this winter. And based on the developers first look at the title, Metro 2039 looks to be an even darker affair than previous titles in the series. A tall order, but the real-world turmoil that has enveloped 4A Games since Russias invasion of Ukraine sounds like it has turned into a painful inspiration for the developer. The lengthy cinematic reveal, which also contains a brief bit of gameplay at the end, doesnt give much of the story away. But it does serve to place you right in the ruined, terrifying world of the Metro series. Metro 2039 arrives about 25 years after a nuclear apocalypse wiped out most life on the planet. The series focuses on survivors who live in Moscows ruined metro system. 4A says that this time out, the different underground factions have been united by a group known as the Novoreich, complete with a new ruler, the Spartan known as Hunter. Despite Hunter promising salvation and a new life for the survivors left on the surface, things arent exactly rosy underground. As you might expect, this supposedly united society is still a complete disaster, with propaganda, authoritarian rule and violence the hallmark of the regime. Screenshot from Metro 2039. 4A Games The Metro series is based on novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky, a Russian author who has been in exile due to his public denouncement of Russias invasion of Ukraine. 4A Studios says that while this new game isnt based specifically on one of his works, they worked in collaboration with Glukhovsky on the story for Metro 2039 shaped by shared values of freedom and truth, and informed by the harsh realities of the world today. In statements from the studio, 4A directly acknowledges the conditions that Metro 2039 was created under. Many developers continue to work from multiple locations, facing daily challenges never anticipated, the studio says. Through power outages, reliance on generators, and disruptions from missile and drone attacks, development has continued driven by resilience, shared support, and a commitment to the work. It goes on to state that: The war has directly shaped the development of Metro 2039 , with its story focused acutely on choices, actions, consequences, and the cost of securing a future. While told from a distinctly Ukrainian perspective, Metro 2039 remains an authentic Metro story. While the Metro series has been unfailingly bleak, its not hard to imagine how Russias invasion could have influenced the storytelling coming out of a Ukranian studio with an exiled Russian being part of the story team. But the limited bit of the game weve seen so far doesnt make anything too explicit. Screenshot from Metro 2039's reveal trailer. 4A Games The trailer shows off the new player-character known as The Stranger, the first voiced protagonist in the series (though we dont hear him do anything but scream in the preview). The Stranger has apparently been surviving in the above-ground wasteland but is forced to return to the metro. The little bit of gameplay we saw was the standard first-person shooter view of The Stranger heading underground to be immediately ambushed by a pretty horrific monster that he barely escapes from hes then dragged to safety by a group of survivors who just get the doors to their shelter shut before being overrun by a larger horde. Creepy stuff. The rest of the preview largely feels like a dream (or nightmare) sequence but while its hard to put together what is going on, theres no doubt that the detail in the environments and characters is top-notch. Given that the last metro game, Metro Exodus , was released way back in 2019, its fair to say that were getting a more graphically impressive rendering of ruined Moscow and the tunnels beneath it. Theres no exact release date yet, but 4A Games says Metro 2039 will arrive this winter for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-first-look-at-metro-2039-shows-how-its-ukrainian-developer-turned-the-darkness-up-to-11-171500713.html?src=rss

Google Chrome makes it easier to wrangle different tabs in AI Mode

Love 'em or hate 'em, no modern browser is complete without robust tab support, and so too would it seem Google's AI Mode . Starting today, the company is rolling out an update to users in the US that makes the tool better at interacting and understanding tabs. To start, the next time you use AI Mode on Chrome for desktop and click on a link, the chatbot will open a new side-by-side interface that allows you to both browse the new webpage and ask questions of AI Mode. The connection allows the chatbot to maintain the context of the search that brought you to that website in the first place. For instance, say you're looking for a new coffee maker to buy for your apartment. After AI Mode finds a handful of different models for you to compare, you can click on one to go to the manufacturer's website and ask additional questions of the chatbot like how easy is this to clean? Thanks to the expanded context window, you don't need to refer to the specific name of the model. Meanwhile, if you have an existing tab or group of tabs that you'd like AI Mode to factor into a new search, you can do that now too. From the redesigned Plus menu, just click the new option that's there. While you're in the Plus menu, you can also prompt AI Mode to consider other materials, including images and PDFs, alongside any relevant tabs. In testing, Google says users found the integration translated to less tab switching, and made it easier to focus. Mike Torres, vice-president of product for Chrome, said the new features represent a broader effort by Google to bring practical AI capabilities to its web browser. Torres added the company would soon bring today's updates to more places around the world. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-chrome-makes-it-easier-to-wrangle-different-tabs-in-ai-mode-170000914.html?src=rss

OpenAI's latest Codex update builds the groundwork for its upcoming super app

Last month, following reporting from The Wall Street Journal , OpenAI confirmed it was working on a desktop super app that would combine ChatGPT, its Codex coding agent and Atlas web browser into one cohesive experience. OpenAI is not releasing that application today. Instead, it's pushing out a major update to Codex that significantly expands what that software can do. However, the new release offers a glimpse of what OpenAI hopes to build with its latest effort. We're building the super app out in the open, said Thibault Sottiaux, the head of Codex, during a press briefing held by OpenAI. This release is about developers. In the future, we will broaden it up to a wider audience. Until then, the latest version of Codex offers developers multi-purpose AI agents that can work across a larger surface area, while being more proactive. In practice, that translates to a host of new capabilities, starting with computer use. The agents inside of Codex can interact with other apps on your PC. When prompting one of OpenAI's models, you can name a specific program or let it determine the best application for the job. Computer use is available in competing apps like Claude Cowork , but where OpenAI believes Codex offers an edge in that department is in the secret sauce it built to allow an agent to run an app without bogging down your entire system, so the two of you can work in tandem. At the same time, OpenAI is releasing 111 new plugins for Codex that combine skills, app integrations and model context protocol server connections togive Codex more ways to gather context and use the tools developers depend on for their work. The company has also added a built-in browser, with a commenting system that allows you to prompt Codex to make tweaks to specific parts of a webpage or web app you're building. In the demo OpenAI showed, one member of the Codex team used this tool to instruct Codex to change the margins on a graph so that the y axis wasn't cut off. Complementing this is built-in image generation. Codex can use gpt-image-1.5 to create product concepts, mockups, frontend designs and even assets for simple games. It also allows Codex to use screenshots to verify it's on the right track with a user request. With today's update, OpenAI is also previewing a pair of memory features. The first allows Codex to recall context from previous tasks to inform how it goes about future prompts. According to OpenAI, with time, this will allow Codex to complete requests faster and to a higher standard. The app will also use the context it's gathered to suggest proactive actions. For example, at the start of your day, it might suggest you respond to a comment a coworker left on a Google Doc draft you wrote. If you want to try the updated Codex for yourself, OpenAI is starting to roll out the new version to desktop app users who are logged in with their ChatGPT account. Computer use is available to macOS users first, with availability for people in the EU and UK to follow soon. Similarly, Brits and Europeans will need to wait to try the memory features OpenAI has built into Codex. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-latest-codex-update-builds-the-groundwork-for-its-upcoming-super-app-170000019.html?src=rss

Intel launches new Core Series 3 chips for mainstream laptops

Intel has unveiled its new Core Series 3 chips, the official title for its Wildcat Lake-codenamed series intended for mainstream and value-oriented laptops. Built using the same Intel 18A process as its Core Ultra Series 3 chips, theyre significantly more powerful than the previous generation and promise exceptional battery life and boosted AI-ready performance. Intel says the Core Series 3 offers up to 47 percent better single-thread performance and 41 percent better multi-thread performance, as well as 2.8x better GPU AI performance compared to a five-year-old PC. Stacked up against its last-gen Intel Core 7 150U processors, the new mobile chip uses up to 64 percent lower processor power and is capable of 2.7x AI GPU performance. In other words, expect more grunt and improved efficiency. At the top end of the lineup sits the six-core Intel Core 7 360, which has a P-core Max Turbo frequency of 4.8GHz and NPU TOPS performance of 17. This scales down as you move through the other six-core options, and theres also a five-core Core 3 processor at the entry level with a more modest GPU. Intel promises all-day battery life, rated at 12.5 hours in the office and 18.5 hours for streaming from Netflix. As for connectivity, theres support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. The Core Series 3 chips will be making their way into a variety of laptops throughout 2026, including Acers Aspire Go 14, 15 and 16, the ASUS Vivobook 14/15/17 and ExpertBook B5 Flip, B3 G2 and P3 G2. The likes of Dell, Samsung and Lenovo will announce their own Core Series 3 devices in the near future. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/intel-launches-new-core-series-3-chips-for-mainstream-laptops-164821846.html?src=rss

Gemini can now draw on your Google data to personalize the images it generates

Your Google Photos library could soon influence the kind of images you can generate with Gemini. After letting users personalize the AI assistant's responses with data from Gmail, Search and YouTube, Google says it's bringing that same Personal Intelligence to Nano Banana 2 to make it easier for users to create personalized images with the AI model. The goal is to have the data affiliated with your Google account your YouTube history, emails, Google Photos, etc. provide context to Nano Banana 2 so you don't have to. Rather than prompting Gemini's image generation model with information about you or photos of your belongings, a direction to create a picture of my desert island essentials should produce an image that includes the things you care about without any extra context. Similarly, if you use labels in Google Photos to identify people or pets, you can tell Gemini to create a hand-drawn illustration of mom, and it should be able to use Google Photo's labels to find the right reference photo and create an image of the right person. Google If Gemini creates images that don't look right, you can still send a follow-up prompt to refine the result, or select a new source image from Google Photos with the + button. Google says you can also click the Sources button to view what images the AI referenced in the first place, or ask it directly for the attribution and sources used for a specific image. Personalized user data is one of the unique advantages Google has over companies offering competing AI assistants, so expanding Personal Intelligence to an already popular feature like image generation is a natural way to build on that lead. For now, this more personalized version of Nano Banana 2 is available in the Gemini app for eligible AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers. Google says the feature will come to Gemini in Chrome and other users soon. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-can-now-draw-on-your-google-data-to-personalize-the-images-it-generates-160000269.html?src=rss

The first real trailer for the Street Fighter movie is filled with crowd-pleasing moments

We finally have a real-deal trailer for the upcoming Street Fighter movie, after a short teaser dropped at The Game Awards last year. This is nearly three minutes of fighting, silly dialogue and, of course, Easter eggs from the games. To the latter point, there's a scene of Ken beating up a car like in the bonus stages from Street Fighter II and footage of Ryu powering up one of his famous Hadoken fireballs. There's even a cheeky reference to Chun-Li's notoriously-large and powerful thighs. This is all helped along by the fact that the actors all look very silly and mostly accurate to the games . The plot looks to be fairly standard for this type of adaptation. There's a big, important fighting tournament and Chun-Li is recruiting people from around the globe, acting like the franchise's Nick Fury or something. Ken and Ryu are beefing, M. Bison is involved in a criminal conspiracy (big surprise) and everyone else is punching and/or making snarky asides. It looks campy as hell, which is a good thing. Street Fighter is directed by Kitao Sakurai, who made the film Bad Trip and was heavily involved with The Eric Andre Show . It hits theaters on October 16. The cast is actually stacked. Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji lead the film as Ken and Ryu, but Jason Momoa is playing Blanka and Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson is portraying Balrog. Other actors involved include David Dastmalchian, Callina Liang, Cody Rhodes and Orville Peck. This is the third attempt at a live-action Street Fighter adaptation. The 1994 film is famous for Raul Julia's iconic performance as M. Bison and 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is famous for being very bad . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-first-real-trailer-for-the-street-fighter-movie-is-filled-with-crowd-pleasing-moments-153145868.html?src=rss

Meta isn't setting its Oversight Board free just yet

The Oversight Board the policy body Meta created to weigh its most impactful moderation rulings has seen its role within Mark Zuckerberg's empire come into question due to shifting content policy priorities and dwindling investment. The Oversight Board has taken steps to formalize its long-contemplated desire to work with other companies, but Engadget has learned Meta has thus far declined to move forward with that process. Over the last year, board members have become increasingly interested in artificial intelligence policy and how their experience shaping Meta's content rules could translate into advising companies in the generative AI space. That interest has intensified as some AI companies have privately signaled they would be open to working with the board, according to a source familiar with the organization who was not permitted to speak publicly. The board began talks with Meta last fall about the possibility, which would require the company to sign off on changes to the legal documents that govern the board's operations. But Meta officials have not indicated whether the company is willing to make those changes, which would likely require approval from top executives. Platformer, which first reported on Meta's budget negotiations with the Oversight Board, noted that the company has long encouraged the board to seek additional funding sources. So far, no other company has publicly shown interest in working with the group, though the board has had conversations with other firms behind the scenes. Oversight Board co-chair Paolo Carozza told Engadget in December that there had been eally preliminary discussions between the board and AI companies, though he declined to name which ones in particular. It feels like quite a different moment now, largely because of generative AI, LLMs, chatbots [and] the way that a variety of retail-level users of these technologies are facing a whole new set of challenges and harms that's attracting a lot of scrutiny, he said at the time. Meta has readily agreed to amend the board's governing documents in the past like when the trust that controls the Oversight Board's budget funded a new organization to mediate content moderation disputes in Europe. While Meta executives once promoted the idea of its ostensibly independent Oversight Board working with other social media platforms, the prospect of the group working with a competitor as it pursues AI superintelligence is apparently more complicated. Over the last five years, board members have received briefings from officials at Meta about the inner workings of its moderation systems and other non-public details as part of their work with the company. That raises practical questions about how the board would safeguard Meta's proprietary information, as well as larger strategic questions about whether Meta would want its Oversight Board to work with some of the companies it's now fiercely competing with, the source said. It's not clear how invested Meta's current leadership is in ensuring a future for the board. Former president of global affairs Nick Clegg, who was one of the most vocal champions of the board's work, left the company last year. Meanwhile, other board members have publicly made the case that the group, which consists of free speech and human rights experts from around the world, is well-positioned to guide AI companies grappling with an increasing number of real-world harms. When Anthropic published a Claude Constitution earlier this year, the board published a lengthy analysis from member Suzanne Nossel arguing that Claude also needed the kind of oversight the board has provided for Meta. She made a similar argument for the wider AI industry in an op-ed in The Guardian last month. While Nossel denied that she was directly pitching the Oversight Board to Anthropic, she said that AI companies face many of the same dilemmas as social media platforms. When the board was first created, there was the notion that we might work across the industry, she told Engadget. Now, as the world shifts toward an AI-centric paradigm, we're very interested in what our experience can bring to that conversation. Oversight Board members, who naturally have a vested interest in expanding their purview, aren't the only members of the industry who have warned that generative AI platforms are essentially speed-running social media companies' playbook. A former OpenAI researcher recently wrote that OpenAI Is Making the Mistakes Facebook Made, citing the AI company's moves toward optimizing for engagement and its plans for in-app advertising . The researcher cited Meta's Oversight Board as an example of the kind of independent governance that's needed in the AI industry. The question of working with other companies has taken on new urgency as the Oversight Board faces the possibility that it will lose its backing from Meta. In a statement, a Meta spokesperson pointed to previous reports that Meta has committed to funding the board through 2028 and said that othing has changed. But a source familiar with the board tells Engadget that Meta has so far only handed over half of the smaller tranche of 2028 funds to the board amid ongoing discussions about its future, including whether it will expand its purview beyond Meta. There are also very real questions about how the Oversight Board fits into Meta's current strategy around content moderation. Zuckerberg announced last year that Meta was shifting away from most proactive moderation, ending fact-checking in the United States and rolling back hate speech rules. Zuckerberg himself reportedly led the push for these changes following a meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump. The Oversight Board, which Meta has sometimes asked to advise on major policy changes, was not consulted. The company recently said it plans to reduce the number of human moderators in favor of AI-based systems . The Oversight Board is currently engaged in meaningful discussions with Meta regarding its future and the evolution of its model to ensure the organization can address the most urgent emerging challenges in AI governance, standards, and accountability, an Oversight Board spokesperson said in a statement. At this time, no decisions have been made about the Boards future, and the organizations day-to-day work and mandate remain unchanged. Critics have long said that the board, which has received more than $280 million from Meta, moves far too slowly. In a little more than five years of operation, the board has published more than 200 decisions about specific moderation issues, which Meta is required to uphold. Those decisions a tiny fraction of the millions of requests it receives can take months, though the board can opt to move more quickly . The board has also made hundreds of policy recommendations, which Meta has to respond to but isn't required to implement. The company has agreed to at least some changes in response to 75 percent of recommendations, according to the board. For the Oversight Board, working with a company besides Meta would begin to address some of the challenges it now faces. It would boost the group's credibility at a time when Meta seems to be re-evaluating its relationship with the board, and it would open up the possibility of new sources of funding. But the situation underscores another long-simmering tension when it comes to the role of the independent oversight organization. Meta has always been in control of how much influence the group can actually have. And it's not clear that the company is ready to let the board, which has spent the last five years learning the minutiae of Meta's content moderation and policy processes, advise the companies it's now competing with. During its work with Meta, the Oversight Board has weighed in on its rules for AI several times. The board has criticized the company's manipulated media policy that governs deepfakes and other content, which led to Meta adopting new rules around AI labeling. In its most recent decision dealing with AI, the board urged Meta to invest in better AI detection tools and to collaborate more closely with other platforms. The company has not yet formally responded to those recommendations. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-isnt-setting-its-oversight-board-free-just-yet-153000172.html?src=rss

Meta Quest headset prices are going up on April 19

The RAM crisis has prompted another company to jack up hardware prices. Meta says it will be increasing the price of Quest headsets on April 19.The Meta Quest 3 will get a $100 hike to $599, while the Quest 3S will be $50 more expensive at $350 (for a version with 128GB of storage) and $450 (256GB). Meta is blaming the increases on the rising costs of RAM, which has skyrocketed in price due to a shortage of chips as AI companies gobble up as much memory as they can for their data centers. Sony recently bumped up the prices of PS5 consoles and the PlayStation Portal handheld for similar reasons. Microsoft made its Surface PCs more expensive this week too. Meta Quest accessories are staying at the same prices, but refurbished Quest units are somehow getting more expensive as well.Refurbished Quest 3S units will be also be $50 more at $320 (128GB) and $410 (256GB). Meta is increasing the price of a refurbished Quest 3 by $100 to $550. Im not exactly sure how the company can pin those changes on increased manufacturing costs. Meanwhile, Meta told The Verge that it doesnt expect to increase the prices of its smart glasses anytime soon. Correction April 16, 2026, 11:28AM ET: This story initially stated that the price of a refurbished Quest 3 is increasing by $170. Its going up by $100. We regret the error. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/meta-quest-headset-prices-are-going-up-on-april-19-143259031.html?src=rss

Bluesky is having some issues in one of its 'reginos'

Bluesky is once again having a wobble. The platform says some of its systems are down and that its investigating an incident with service in one of our reginos (thats Blueskys typo, not mine). The issue appears to have started at 1:42AM ET and was still persisting as of 11AM. According to Blueskys status page , three servers were down, including one based in the US East region. The outages appear to be due to connection timeout issues. It seems that only certain users are being affected. Bluesky has been mostly working fine for me this morning, though there were a couple of occasions when I had to refresh the page to get my feed to load. The social media service had another brief outage earlier this month. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-is-having-some-issues-in-one-of-its-reginos-150515987.html?src=rss

Spotify debuts a new UI just for tablets

Spotify has a new look today for listeners on tablets. The streaming services updated tablet UI now provides adaptive orientation, switching between portrait and landscape layouts rather than simply resizing the interface when changing how the device is held. Spotify's tablet app now sports a collapsible sidebar so listeners can take advantage of their larger screen space when watching a music video or podcast. Parallel browsing lets you continue to scroll through the app while a video or lyrics are in the sidebar, and the switch to video toggle has been made more prominent. The new design had appeared for some users earlier this year during tests. The final version is rolling out today for both iPad and Android devices. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotify-debuts-a-new-ui-just-for-tablets-130000533.html?src=rss

Canva starts previewing a more powerful version of its AI assistant

Adobe isn't the only company releasing a new AI assistant this week . Ahead of its Create event in Los Angeles today, Canva announced Canva AI 2.0. Building on its existing AI assistant , the company is billing the release as its most significant update since the platform first launched in 2013, and the culmination of years of investment to build its own foundational design models. As you might imagine, it all starts with a conversational interface that allows you to describe an idea or goal and the system will start generating a design to match. Under the hood, there's a new orchestration layer that allows the model to use all of Canva's disparate tools to accomplish complex, multi-step tasks. For instance, the company suggests you could use Canva AI to create a multi-channel advertising campaign, and the software will generate everything you need to get that off the ground. For brands, Canva AI 2.0 can adapt to their design needs. Canva If edits are required, the company says Canva AI avoids one of the pitfalls of many other image generation models. It's possible to edit every visual element the system generates, just like if they were created with a traditional image editor. As a result, you can do things like swap out images and tweak fonts without affecting any other part of a design. To bring everything together, Canva has built persistent memory into the tool. The more you use Canva AI, the better the system will get at applying your personal taste and style to future generations. According to the company, it also has a context window that is long enough to maintain coherence until you arrive at a final design. Alongside those enhancements, Canva is adding support for new workflows that expand what you can do with its software, starting with connections that allow its models to pull data from other apps, including Notion, Slack, Zoom, Gmail, Google Calendar and more. Users can also schedule tasks for Canva AI to complete in the background, and the company has even baked in deep research capabilities into the tool. The coding function Canva previously offered has been upgraded to include support for HTML imports, allowing users to bring any HTML file or AI-generated experience into Canva's visual editor to tweak the design of it without breaking things. For brands, the company is also offering a tool that can process their visual identity and apply it to new and existing designs. Canva's updated coding agent now support HTML imports. Canva As a casual observer, it might seem like Canva is trend chasing, but Danny Wu, the company's head of AI, argues the new AI tools represent a natural evolution for Canva. This is something we've been dreaming of and working towards for quite a while, he tells Engadget. Even before ChatGPT was a thing, we were thinking, 'what if we don't have a template that matches your needs?' So I wouldn't describe this as a pivot or shift, we've been wanting to offer these kinds of capabilities all along as part of our mission to make design simple. If you want to give Canva's new tools a try for yourself, Canva AI 2.0 is available as a research preview starting today. The first 1 million people who visit the Canva website will get first access, with availability graduallyexpanding to more users over the coming weeks. As before, access to Canvas AI features remains included in the companys free offering, though its also introducing a new AI Pass add-on that significantly increases rate limits for users. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/canva-starts-previewing-a-more-powerful-version-of-its-ai-assistant-130000966.html?src=rss

DJI Osmo Pocket 4 review: The only vlogging camera you'll ever need

DJIs Osmo Pocket 3 gimbal-camera was a category-defining camera. Two years since its launch , everyone from vloggers to pro film makers continue to upload how-to guides and gushing reviews to YouTube. When the Osmo Pocket 4 landed at the FCC at the end of 2025 (followed by a credible leak ), creator forums and Reddit threads started to chatter with excitement. Over the following months the Pocket 4 leaked again and again , to the point where theres very little that someone with a passing interest and an internet connection doesnt already know about the camera. But DJI chose today to give us the official reveal , so were here with the full review which, remarkably, does contain some surprises. Whats new For those who were waiting for official, confirmed specs and information, heres a rundown of the headline new features of the Osmo Pocket 4. The camera is still 4K, but comes with an updated 1-inch CMOS sensor that DJI says is good for another two stops of low light performance (for a total of 14). The camera retains the 20mm equivalent, f/2.0 lens but squeezes in an improved max framerate of 240 fps (up from 120 fps) for up to 10x slow-mo. The Pocket 4 can also shoot in full, high dynamic range 10-Bit D-Log, upgraded from the more lightweight D-Log-M available on the Pocket 3. Shutter speeds are now expanded and go right down to 1/4 for extreme light effects. Hardware changes are few, but do include two new buttons below the 2-inch display. One is a dedicated zoom button and the other you can assign a function from a selection of common tasks rotating the gimbal, toggling recording presets and so on. You can assign up to three different controls to this button via single, double and triple clicks. Theres also 107GB of internal storage. You can still use SD cards, but you dont need to if you dont want to. That zoom, DJI states, is good for 2x lossless zoom while shooting in 4K and 4x in 1080p. The Pocket 3s 2x Mid-Tele zoom had to be activated first, but now you can use lossless zoom any time and/or while using ActiveTrack face-tracking. Its available in Portrait mode, too, but if youll need to have the screen in the horizontal position to access the buttons, which means your viewfinder/preview will be teeny-tiny as its rescaled for 16:9. DJI Osmo Pocket 4 James Trew for Engadget DJI has added on-camera Film Tones which are similar, functionally, to film simulations seen on Fujifilm cameras. There are six to choose from at launch and include subtle and not-so-subtle stylized color tones that apply different moods to your videos without having to manually color grade or use a LUT after the fact. As for still images, theres an on-screen button for Live photos similar to what you might find on an iPhone. Live photos were sorta-kinda possible on the Pocket 3, but they are a little bit easier this time around. A lot of DJI drones include Gesture Control, which lets you start/stop recording and engage ActiveTrack from a distance, and thats new on the Pocket 4 too. On the audio side of things, the Pocket 4 now has audio zoom, so if you have two people in a scene and do a close up on one of them, the volume of their voices will be boosted. Its a little crude, but it could be handy in certain situations. The Pocket 4 can also record spatial audio via the three onboard microphones, good for live music and other situations where sound placement might matter. Lastly, the Pocket 4 has a modular component. At launch, theres a magnetic fill light that clips onto the gimbal and can be configured via the camera menus. Its included in the creator combo and opens the door for other modular accessories, though its limited to things that can sit on the gimbal without causing problems. A shotgun-style microphone, for example, could be possible. The display and controls on the Osmo Pocket 4 James Trew for Engadget Battery life also gets a slight boost over the Pocket 3 with a 1,545mAh cell which is almost a 20 percent increase. That translates to an extra 30 minutes or so of recording time for an average of two and a half hours at 4K, more if you shoot in lower resolutions or are using the camera for photos. What we dont see here, an item that you might have been hoping for, is any type of optical zoom. Whats more, the max resolution in vertical mode remains capped at 3K. You still have to rotate the camera if you want full-sensor, 4K video in portrait. Video quality The popularity of the Pocket series is thanks to its combination of high-quality video and a portable form factor. The Pocket 4 builds on this winning formula with exceptional quality for the cameras size. The new 1-inch sensor is noticeably more detailed than the Pocket 3 and DJIs claim of improved low light performance is backed up by stellar results. I took the Pocket 4 out at night and it bested its predecessor with far more dynamic range and better exposure in shadowed areas that come out dark or fuzzy on the Pocket 3. Image performance in general is impressive and a definite strong point for a camera of this size. Colors now look more natural than ever without looking over-saturated. Similar shots on the Pocket 3 look a little flatter when viewed side by side. I like that the f2.0 aperture still provides some light bokeh, and when combined with the new D-Log mode, theres plenty of scope for cinematic shots. These would be harder to achieve with a phone and dont require the setup and planning of a mirrorless camera. With the extended shutter speeds you can get some interesting effects dramatic light trails in traffic for example but its going to over expose any other light source in your shot. So, proceed with caution. The Pocket 3 bottomed-out at 1/25, but the Pocket 4 goes right down to a dramatic 1/4. The 2x lossless zoom surprised me. At first, I was sceptical about DJIs claims of it being lossless, but it does seem to maintain visual quality without noticeable loss of detail. Though if you want to use that 4x zoom in 4K, expect to see some digital artifacts. The Pocket 4s 20mm lens is particularly suited to wider, vlog-style shots, so a usable zoom is a welcome addition. Its worth noting that its better used for static and tripod shots as any gimbal movements and keeping a subject in frame can feel like steering a ship. Film tones Until now, if you were aiming for a more cinematic style, you had to get comfortable shooting in D-Log-M and boning up on color-grading. DJI provided some filters in the Mimo app for a quick and dirty way to add a mood or vibe to your videos, but that still caused some friction in the workflow. The new film modes are on camera, so achieving something more stylized is now just a menu tap away. Ill be honest, Im not a huge fan of the selection available right now as theyre either too hot or too cold. Of the six, Warm and Movie seem the most usable for cozy-style landscapes or B-roll cityscapes. DJI hasnt shared much about whether these are just on-camera filters or true film simulations. Movie and Retro, at least, were already available as filters in the app. If the full effect is too strong, you can dial down the intensity, but thats the extent of the control. Their addition here expands what you can get out of the camera without using the app or having to drag things over to your editing software. Its unclear if well see more options in the future, but theyre there if you need them. New buttons One of my main complaints with the Pocket cameras was the zoom. More specifically, controlling it with the joystick. It always looks slow, inconsistent and a bit amateur when zooming in manually. The new button provides an instant punch-in that can be used for an intentional, attention-drawing effect. I cant count the number of times Ive ruined a shot because I thought I had the joystick set to zoom, but it was still assigned to panning (you had to toggle its use via an on-screen button). With the physical button, I can close in on a target instantly and never worry about accidental pans. The button layout on the Osmo Pocket 4 James Trew for Engadget The second, customizable button is also a real usability upgrade. If, like me, youre constantly recentering the gimbal, youll know that the usual double-click on the joystick is often unreliable. Now you can assign that action to the button plus two more controls from a selection of common actions. I have it set so double-click switches to one of my manual recording presets and triple-click locks the gimbal so I no longer have to jump into the main menu to switch gimbal modes. It even works while recording if I spontaneously decide I want to keep my horizon level. Changing what this button does is simple: Long-press it and itll jump into the settings where you can choose its functionality. Theres still scope for some refinement, as although a double click can instantly start recording with my preferred settings, clicking again doesnt stop it. You have to use the record button. This makes some sense, but Im used to using the same button to stop/start recording, so intuitively I thought that might be the case here. Sadly not. Audio upgrades Something a little unexpected in the Pocket 4 is the addition of spatial audio. Using the three built-in microphones, the theory is you should be able to hear where sounds are coming from though youll need headphones on for the effect to work. In practice, it does create a different audio ambience, one where sounds feel more relative to their location, but it comes at a price. If you speak to the camera, even if youre nearby, your voice will sound distant and muddled so spatial audio is something youll want to use intentionally and certainly not as a default setting. The same is true for that audio zoom. To be fair to DJI, Ive never found an audio zoom I truly liked. You cant capture better audio than what the microphone is receiving, so amplifying it in any way isnt going to improve it beyond what you can do with editing software. In a pinch, this might help with interviews when you have multiple speakers, no external microphone and need to publish quickly, but Im reluctant to recommend it for anything else. You can get an Osmo Pocket 4 bundle with a DJI lapel mic James Trew for Engadget The new Vocal Boost is a more useful option under the Pro settings menu. When activated, it enhances voices by lowering background noise and other sounds. Again, its not a fix for getting good source audio, but in noisy run-and-gun vlogging environments, it can improve your chances of capturing something useful with just the internal microphones. Fortunately, DJI has a much better solution that was already a feature of Pocket cameras native connectivity with its wireless microphones. The Creator Combo now includes a single DJI Mic 3 transmitter and charging cable, and its the absolute best way to get YouTube-ready audio from the camera. One nice tweak with the Pocket 4 is that you can now export videos with both the built-in and external mic audio as one 4-channel file. Open this in your video editor and you can mix and cut between mic and ambient audio without having to deal with separate files as before. The competition The fact that theres no real direct competition for the Pocket series is surprising. For true, like-for-like gimbal cameras, expect to find alternatives from brands youre less familiar with such as Agfaphoto or Feiyu . Most of the nearest competition will be action cameras like the GoPro Mission 1 or Insta360 Ace Pro 2 . Both of these are great portable cameras with solid stabilisation, but they unsurprisingly favor that wide, bright and sharp action-style footage. The Pocket 4s nearest rival for stabilized vlog-friendly filming is still the Pocket 3 . This raises the question of whether the Pocket 4 (445) is worth it over the more affordable Pocket 3 (389) at launch. (DJI cant directly sell the Pocket 4 in the US, so official prices are in British Pounds or Euros.) Both are great, all-purpose, vlogging cameras versatile enough for recording in a variety of situations though less suited to rugged/action filming thanks to the delicate mechanical gimbal. Its likely that the price difference between the two will expand after the launch window. The Osmo Pocket 4 flipped down and powered off James Trew for Engadget Wrap-up The Pocket 4 might not bring defining new features like optical zoom or higher resolution, but its a better camera in every way that matters. There are also several quality of life improvements that make it incredibly compelling. For the extra money, youre getting better image quality that will pay you back over time. The new buttons make the camera even more convenient and that onboard storage alone effectively closes the price gap not to mention the huge convenience that feature alone brings with it. Hardcore fans might have been hoping for more dazzle with the Pocket 4. In reality, DJI delivered a camera that builds on an already winning formula in ways that actually matter: higher quality video, improved usability, modular capabilities and longer battery life. Its hard to argue with that. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/dji-osmo-pocket-4-review-the-only-vlogging-camera-youll-ever-need-120000374.html?src=rss

Anthropic will ask Claude users to verify their identities 'for a few use cases'

Anthropic has started rolling out identity verification on Claude for a few use cases. The company didnt list out those use cases in its announcement, but weve asked it for details and will update this post when we hear back. Anthropic says you might see a verification prompt upon accessing certain capabilities, asking you to verify your identity. You would have to show a valid and physical government-issued photo ID. Youd also have take a selfie with your phone or computer camera that the system will compare against the ID you present. The news, as youd expect, wasnt well-received . Many users are questioning the necessity of identity verification to be able to use an AI chatbot, especially if Anthropic already has their credit cards on file as paying subscribers. People are also criticizing Anthropics decision to use Persona Identities, which also provides age verification services for OpenAI and Roblox. One of Personas major investors is venture firm Founders Fund, which was co-founded by Peter Thiel, whos also the co-founder and chairman of surveillance company Palantir. Palantirs customers are mostly federal agencies and government offices , including the FBI , the CIA and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement . Most criticisms against the company center around the services it provides those customers, as theyre mainly used to expand government surveillance using its facial recognition and AI technologies. In its announcement, Anthropic said that Persona will be the one handling your IDs and selfies. It will not copy and store those images. It also said that Persona is contractually limited in how it can use your data and that all data passing through its process is encrypted in transit and at rest. Anthropic emphasized that it will not use your identity data to train its models and that it will not share your data with anyone else. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-will-ask-claude-users-to-verify-their-identities-for-a-few-use-cases-115754092.html?src=rss

Amazon MGM's 2026 theatrical slate includes 'Highlander' and 'Spaceballs: The New One'

Fresh off the box office success of Project Hail Mary , Amazon MGM Studios has announced its theatrical release lineup for the next year. Most of the titles aren't likely to hit the highs of the Ryan Gosling starrer which has grossed $515 million in theaters. However, there are a number of promising releases like Spaceballs: The New One and Highlander starring Henry Cavill, both sequels to '80s films. Another is The Sheep Detectives with Hugh Jackman, the trailer for which has been a hit on YouTube. Earlier this year, Amazon MGM promised to release up to 14 films in theaters over the next year and leave them to run for as long as 45 days a far cry from its previous policy of releasing just a few films for several weeks at most. That strategy is paying off so far. Four months. Four films. Over $670 million at the box office. And we have nine more on the way, said Amazon MGM's head of domestic theatrical distribution, Kevin Wilson. The company said that it's not about volume, but impact. We are building films that give audiences a reason to leave the house. Films with scale. Ambition, Wilson said. Looking at the slate, though, some of those films are likely to be hits and some not so much. First up is The Sheep Detectives set to arrive on May 8th. You may scoff at the title, but the trailer has racked up 20 million views and mainly positive comments. It looks like fun, family-friendly fare and stars a popular actor, so one could easily see this being a hit for Amazon MGM. Masters of the Universe is next up on June 5, 2026. Director Travis Knight brings the world of Eternia to life on a massive scale with stars Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, and Idris Elba, Amazon explains. The film is based on the Mattel toy franchise and animated series so again, it could be another magnet for kids and their nostalgic parents. How to Rob a Bank is a heist comedy with a solid cast including Nicholas Hoult, Zo Kravitz, Anna Sawai, Pete Davidson, and John C. Reilly, set to arrive on September 4. That's followed by Verity (October 2, 2026) based on the Colleen Hoover novel and Peter Farrelly's I Play Rocky Sylvester Stallone biopic about the production of the 1976 film Rocky . 2027 starts with the The Beekeeper 2 (January 15) starting Jason Statham, followed by The Thomas Crown Affair (March 5, 2027) directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan. Spaceballs: The New One , a sequel to the classic Mel Brooks movie arrives on April 23, 2027 with Rick Moranis, Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, Lewis Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Bill Pullman, and Mel Brooks. Other films expected but without release dates yet include The Chosen: Crucifixion , A Colt is My Passport , Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother and Highlander starring Henry Cavill based on the 1986 cult classic. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/amazon-mgms-2026-theatrical-slate-includes-highlander-and-spaceballs-the-new-one-094505690.html?src=rss

YouTube now lets you hide Shorts

You now have the power to remove short-form videos from your YouTube feed if you dont want to see them. YouTube has rolled out the capability to set your Shorts feed limit to zero minutes, which could help you stop doomscrolling, at least on mobile. The video-sharing platform originally launched a Shorts feed limit back in October last year, but the lowest option you could choose was 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes are up, youll get a pop-up reminding you to take a break. Earlier this year, it integrated the feature with parental controls, allowing guardians to set time limits for younger users. YouTube said back then that parents will soon see the option to set the timer to zero. Now, the Shorts timer is live not just for parents, but for all users. We can confirm that were now seeing the zero minutes option in our (adult) account and were able to activate it for ourselves. When you select it, you may see a notice that says Scrolling is paused but you may still see individual Shorts. You may also have to refresh your app before short-form videos disappear from your feed. To be able to block stop Shorts from showing up for you, go to your Setting page in the YouTube app for mobile. Look for Time management and scroll down to Daily limits, where you can find the Shorts feed limit section. If you dont want to get rid of Shorts altogether, you can choose from any of the other options, with two hours being the maximum time available. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/youtube-now-lets-you-hide-shorts-085538825.html?src=rss

Opera adds Browser Connector for integrating AI chatbots

Opera is offering a new choice for looping in an AI assistant during browsing. Today, the company introduced Browser Connector, which allows Opera One and Opera GX users to integrate either ChatGPT or Claude into the platform. The chatbots will be able to access page content while a person is browsing and will draw context for queries from the information in your open tabs. The free new feature can be enabled through the AI Services section of the Settings menu. Opera is one of the many browser companies that has been experimenting with an AI-focused service. It began rolling out the $20-a-month Opera Neon agentic AI browser last year. The benefit of something like Browser Connector means you aren't limited to a single brand's product offerings and can switch things up at will. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/opera-adds-browser-connector-for-integrating-ai-chatbots-080000153.html?src=rss

Microsoft's new college deal is a half-hearted answer to the $500 MacBook Neo

Apple's MacBook Neo is a $600 (or $500 for students) shot across the bow at affordable Windows laptops, and it seems like Microsoft has ready its first response. The newly announced Microsoft College Offer is a bundle of Microsoft 365 Premium, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, custom Xbox controller and discounted laptop that the company thinks could woo students away from Apple's new deal. With the purchase of a discounted machine directly from Microsoft, retailers like Amazon and Best Buy or PC makers like HP, ASUS and Acer, you can get what the company says is an extra $500 of value from its bundle. The laptop deals include a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x with a Snapdragon X chip, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $500 from Best Buy, around $250 off the laptop's usual $750 price. Or if you wanted something even cheaper, Walmart is selling an HP Omnibook 3 for $429, a discount of $270 off its usual $699 price. Microsoft is less generous with the deals on its own laptops and tablets, but you can even get a discount on a Surface Laptop as part of the offer. A discounted laptop is great, but where the value of the Microsoft College Offer gets harder to define is with the services the company is packing in. Getting what would normally be a $200 year-long subscription to Microsoft 365 Premium for free is a meaningful deal, but many colleges give their students access to Microsoft's apps (and other software) with the cost of their tuition. A year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which costs $30 per month as of October 2025 , sounds like significant savings, but the offer is only valid for new subscribers. That leaves the free custom Xbox controller as the simplest bonus of the bunch, a value of around $76. Windows PC makers are expected to make more serious attempts to compete with the Neo over the next year. For now, though, the Microsoft College Offer isn't exactly a bad deal, but it's certainly not as straightforwardly appealing as an Apple-quality laptop for $500 with a college discount. The Microsoft College Offer is available to students starting April 15 and runs through June 30, 2026. Microsoft says redemption of the full bundle of services and accessories its offering needs to happen by July 31, 2026. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/microsofts-new-college-deal-is-a-half-hearted-answer-to-the-500-macbook-neo-215336362.html?src=rss

Federal jury finds concert business Live Nation is a monopoly

Live Nation, which operates the Ticketmaster platform, has been determined to be a monopoly . A federal jury handed down its decision today that the company violated federal and state antitrust rules. This finding won't surprise anyone who has used Ticketmaster and been sticker-shocked by their final bill. However, it's unclear what the jurys decision will mean in practice. For starters, the judge overseeing the case hasn't determined what remedies will be applied. The actions could go as far as requiring Live Nation to sell off Ticketmaster. There are also monetary damages to be awarded, which haven't been set yet. And whatever the judge decides, it's also likely that Live Nation will appeal the decision. We've reached out to Ticketmaster for comment. The Department of Justice and a group of state and district attorneys general sued Live Nation on monopoly claims in 2024. The government agency reached a settlement with Live Nation last month, but the other parties continued their action. There's also a separate case being waged by the Federal Trade Commission questioning whether Live Nation colluded with ticket resellers . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/federal-jury-finds-concert-business-live-nation-is-a-monopoly-203924011.html?src=rss

PlayStation Plus April catalog adds include Horizon Remastered, Squirrel with a Gun and Frank Stone

For PlayStation Plus subscribers, April is going to be a little bit spooky, a tad sporty and extra squirrelly. PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium players will get access to The Crew Motorfest , Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered , Football Manager 26 Console , Warriors: Abyss , Squirrel with a Gun , The Casting of Frank Stone and Monster Train . Additionally, Wild Arms 4 will be exclusive to Premium libraries. Expect the full lineup to go live on April 21. The Crew Motorfest , Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered , Warriors: Abyss and Wild Arms 4 will hit PS4 and PS5 consoles, while the rest of the month's additions are PS5 only. In the case of Horizon , PS4 players will receive Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition , rather than the PS5 remaster. Horizon, The Crew and Football Manager are self-explanatory at this point in gaming history, but here's a quick rundown of the more underground titles on April's list: Warriors: Abyss is a hectic hack-and-slash roguelite from Koei Tecmo; Squirrel with a Gun is a silly yet competent third-person shooter from a two-man indie team; Monster Train is a much-loved demonic deckbuilder from Shiny Shoe and Good Shepherd Entertainment; and Wild Arms 4 is a PS2-era RPG from Japanese studio Media.Vision. The Casting of Frank Stone is what PlayStation Plus was made for, in my estimation. It comes from Supermassive, a campy-horror studio that I'm quite fond of, but it's a crossover with Dead by Daylight , a game I've never played, despite a latent interest in its vibe. For whatever reason, Frank Stone never eclipsed other titles in my to-play pile and in the harsh light of 2026, I was on the verge of forgetting all about it. Now that it's free and being shoved in my digital face ( complimentary ), I'm ready to give it a go. And who knows, maybe it'll be a gateway into the rich world of Dead by Daylight . Most of the games on this month's list can fit this description to some degree minus the Dead by Daylight hook, unless you really squint at Monster Train so it feels like a quality batch. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/playstation-plus-april-catalog-adds-include-horizon-remastered-squirrel-with-a-gun-and-frank-stone-194534366.html?src=rss

There's yet another study about how bad AI is for our brains

A group of researchers from across the US and the UK have conducted a study on what AI does to our brains and the results are, in a word, grim. These results were published in a paper called AI assistance reduces persistence and hurts independent performance which kind of tells you everything you need to know. We find that AI assistance improves immediate performance, but it comes at a heavy cognitive cost, the study declares. Researchers went on to state that just ten minutes of using AI made people dependent on the technology, which led to worsening performance and burnout once the tools were removed. The study followed people who use AI for reasoning-intensive cognitive labor. This refers to stuff like writing, coding and brainstorming new ideas, which are some of the most common use cases. The researchers recruited 350 Americans, who were asked to complete some fraction-based equations. Half of the participants were randomly granted access to a specialized chatbot built on OpenAI's GPT-5 for help and the others had to go it alone. Halfway through the exam, the AI group had their access cut off. This led to a steep decline in correct answers by the AI group and many instances of people simply giving up. This result, in which performance and perseverance both dropped, was repeated in a larger experiment with 670 people. Finally, the scientists performed one final experiment with reading comprehension questions, and not math. The results were more of the same. Once the AI is taken away from people, its not that people are just giving wrong answers. Theyre also not willing to try without AI, Rachit Dubey, an assistant professor at the University of California and coauthor of the study, told Futurism . Peoples persistence drops. Dubey went on to warn that rapid deployment of AI in the education sector could lead to a generation of learners and people who will not know what theyre capable of, and then that will really dilute human innovation and creativity. The study likens using the technology to the boiling frog effect , in which sustained AI use erodes the motivation and persistence that drive long-term learning. These effects accumulate and by the time they are visible, they will be difficult to reverse. A recent study found that chatbots affected peoples critical thinking performance differently depending on how users engaged with the bots. https://t.co/IBbLLqrNdG Science News (@ScienceNews) April 15, 2026 There are two caveats here. The study has yet to be peer-reviewed. Also, researchers found one tiny bright spot regarding the use of AI. People who used AI tools for hints and clarification had a much easier time once the chatbot was removed when compared to those who used the bot to essentially prompt the answers. This is just the latest study trying to get to the bottom of what AI is doing to our collective noggins. It has been found to increase fatigue among full-time workers who rely on the tools, which led to the term AI brain fry. To that end, researchers discovered that employees who use AI actually end up working harder and longer than those old-fashioned luddites. The results are even starker in the world of education. Studies have found that AI use in school leads to poor social and intellectual development and that kids who rely on chatbots tend to do worse on tests . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/theres-yet-another-study-about-how-bad-ai-is-for-our-brains-183418494.html?src=rss

Google unleashes a native Gemini app for the Mac

Not content with stuffing Gemini into all of its own apps and services, Google wants you to adopt its AI assistant on desktops and laptops too. The company released a Gemini Windows app on Tuesday and it's following that up a day later with one for Macs. Google says the macOS Gemini app is a native desktop experience that you can access with a keyboard shortcut. By default, pressing option and space will open a mini chat, while a combo of option, shift and space will open the full Gemini chat experience. You'll be able to adjust these bindings in the app settings. Users will be able to share anything that's on their screen, including files they have saved on your system, with the chatbot and ask it questions about whatever theyre seeing. This can include anything from images to documents, and data to code. There's an option to share full web pages with Gemini, not just what's on your display. The Gemini app also supports image and video generation with Nano Banana and Veo, respectively.The app is available on Macs that are running macOS 15 (i.e. macOS Sequoia) or later in all countries and languages in which Gemini is supported. We're building the foundation for a truly personal, proactive and powerful desktop assistant, with more news to share in the coming months, Michael Friedman, group product manager for the Gemini app, wrote in a blog post . That's intriguing, given that Apple's long-delayed, generative AI revamp of Siri may finally debut at WWDC in June . Apple's retooled chatbot, which is slated to have deep integration with macOS apps, is powered by Gemini models . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-unleashes-a-native-gemini-app-for-the-mac-170500185.html?src=rss

Recteq X-Fire Pro 825 review: A smart grill that pulls double duty

Occasionally, you really can have it both ways. For the most part, pellet grills are great for smoking and mid-temperature cooking, but youll typically need other grills for high-heat searing and 1,000-degree temperatures(with a few exceptions ). Sure, some pellet grills allow you to move the heat deflector for direct access to the fire pot for searing, but thats still not a cooking experience that will be familiar to gas grill users. With the X-Fire Pro 825 ( $1,550 ), Recteq is putting its pellet grill expertise to work in a dual-mode design thats meant to bridge the gap between gas and wood fire. Of course, this is a smart grill thanks to its Wi-Fi connectivity, and the backbone of this beast is undoubtedly a pellet grill. Plus, the company offers totally separate controls to avoid confusion between Smoke and Grill modes, all combined in a durable, all-stainless steel design. Its the rare device that really is the 2-in-1 the company claims. Design All Recteq grills are made of stainless steel, but unlike the Deck Boss, Patio Legend and other models in the companys lineup, the X-Fire Pro doesnt have a powder coated lid. This isnt a problem per se, but it does require extra care with cleaning and maintenance to avoid rust. Apart from the cast iron grill grates, the interior components are also stainless steel, so most of this grill is clearly built to last. When you combine that with the robust cart and premium casters that the X-Fire Pro sits on, this grill is one of the most well-designed Ive reviewed. Like most pellet grills, the X-Fire Pro has a digital controller mounted on the side. In this case, its situated on the front edge of a shelf on the left of the grill. Single-knob navigation allows you to set cooking temperature and food probe alerts, which can also be done via the Recteq app thanks to the grills Wi-Fi connectivity. The X-Fire Pro allows you to use two wired food probes simultaneously, but theres no option for wireless probes. Recteq does sell wireless probes though, but they connect directly to the companys app, not to the grill itself. The X-Fire Pro has two separate sets of controls for its two modes Billy Steele for Engadget Rather than a traditional on/off switch, the X-Fire Pro is turned on with the far left knob on the front. To do so, you choose between the grills two modes, Smoke or Grill. If you select Smoke mode, the controller on the left will light up and you set your desired temperature between 225 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Personally, I prefer a slightly lower minimum temperature, around 180 degrees, to enable things like cold smoking or even mimic the Keep Warm feature that competitors like Traeger offer. In Grill mode, you can expect temperatures from 225-400 degrees on low, 350-650 on medium, 500-850 on high and 800-1,200 on max. There are two fire pots inside the X-Fire Pro. The one on the left is used exclusively for Smoke mode while both can be used in Grill mode. I typically set the right side to a higher grilling temperature, since theres an Adaptive Sear Control for direct access to the flame (theres a dedicated knob on the front to control this). I would then leave the left side on low, which would give me a hot/cold setup like I would normally use on a gas grill. Of course, you can set both fire pots to the same heat level and use the entire cooking surface at the same temperature. You could also leave one of the fire pots completely off if you needed to do so. Dual-mode cooking Recteq promises that the X-Fire Pro is a pellet grill that will offer the best aspects of gas grilling with familiar knob-based controls. I agree that the large knobs are similar to what youll find on a gas grill, although you cant fine-tune the heat like you can with gas burnersI didnt find this problematic, though. Where Recteq surpasses propane or natural gas options is the fact that the X-Fire Pro entirely runs on wood pellets, so your food tastes much better. Just keep in mind that its a different flavor than charcoal. During my testing, I unexpectedly spent most of my time using the X-Fire Pro in Grill mode. I cooked steaks, chicken, burgers, sausages and more, all of which tasted a lot better than they would have on a gas grill. Even at high temperatures, you still get some wood flavor, which helped elevate my sous vide New York Strips beyond a simple high-heat sear. Of course, I also had the option to open the Adaptive Sear Control for direct-flame finishing, which was absolutely the right move for steaks and burgers. One important caveat about Grill mode is that the digital controller for Smoke mode completely turns off. You operate this mode entirely with the front-mounted knobs just like you would a gas grill. As such, you dont have access to the food probes or any Wi-Fi features that Smoke mode employs. I can understand why Recteq would want to keep the two modes separate, but I do wish there was a way to use the food probes to track internal temperature of things like steak and chicken, or any items where exact doneness is essential. A pork shoulder (Boston Butt) cooked on the X-Fire Pro Billy Steele for Engadget When it comes to smoking, the X-Fire Pro works just as well as any other pellet grills Ive reviewed from Traeger, Weber and others. Its very much a set-it-and-forget-it device, if you want it to be, which means you can put on a pork shoulder or a brisket early in the morning and it will be ready by dinner. But since the X-Fire Pro has two fire pots and therefore two smaller pellet hoppers instead of one larger one, each hoppers capacity is limited to just10 pounds. While I had no trouble getting through an 8-hour smoke session with a full hopper (at 275 degrees), I wouldnt feel comfortable with overnight cooks due to the reduced pellet supply. In Grill mode, though, a single full hopper on the right was always enough to get through a cook. Recteq says the digital controller can maintain the set temperature in Smoke mode within five degrees. I found this to be true during all of my low-and-slow cooking, and the graph in the app confirms it. The only dips it showed corresponded to the times I opened the lid. This performance was consistent across multiple uses of the X-Fire Pro, although on one particularly cold and very windy day, I did see some greater fluctuations (theres a warning about this in the user manual). Under normal weather conditions though, this grill is reliable at maintaining the desired cooking temperature in Smoke mode. Other features on the X-Fire Pro The main cooking surface of the X-Fire Pro consists of four removable cast iron grates. These are reversible with one side for general use and the other with wider bars for more apparent sear marks. Theres also a shallow top grate above the primary cooking area, perfect for resting foods when theyre done or warming buns in Grill mode. In Smoke mode, you could also put another rack or two of ribs up there, but its not big enough for larger cuts of meat. Most pellet grills direct ash and grease to a catch pan of some sort. Since the X-Fire Pro has two fire pots, it has two ash removal trays on either side with levers to help with the debris. Like every other pellet grill, youll need to clean out some ash from the cooking chamber every few uses, and the best way to do that is with a shop vacuum. Recteq cautions against allowing grease buildup with Smoke mode, but I never found this to be a problem. Thats likely due to the fact that I used Grill mode between low-and-slow cooking sessions, so I probably burned off any excess residue. Whats more, I like to use aluminum pans for pork shoulders for easier cleanup, rather than placing them directly on the grates. The X-Fire Pro's adjustable sear control Billy Steele for Engadget Like every other Wi-Fi-enabled pellet grill Ive tested, the X-Fire Pro works with an app that allows you to control and monitor it from afar. You can keep tabs on both grill and food probe temperatures as well as turn the whole thing off. Recteqs app also has more advanced features like temperature graphs, a 30-day cooking history and over 60 step-by-step guided recipes. Plus, you can save cooking sessions with notes for future reference and the apps complete recipe book houses over 450 dishes. The company prides itself on the quality of its app, and I can confirm its the most reliable mobile software Ive used during a smart grill review. Now lets discuss a few things you wont find on the X-Fire Pro. First, theres no option for a folding front shelf since the pellet hopper is front-mounted. The hopper lid gives you a slight ledge to rest the corner of a pan or tray, but its not enough to do any kind of wrapping or setting anything down completely. Theres also no interior lighting, which was probably the thing I missed most from other pellet grills. Sure, we can debate the utility of how some companies arrange these lights, but something is better than nothing, especially when youre loading a grill before dawn or finishing a cook after dark. The competition While there are other pellet grills with direct-searing capabilities, none of those offer the dual-mode functionality of the X-Fire Pro. For example, several Pit Boss models have levers for open access to the fire box or, as the company calls, it the Flame Broiler. Some companies offer open-lid modes, like Weber does on the Searwood , but not all of those designs allow you to get direct access to the fire. These grills also let you set a high searing temperature on the regular controls rather than giving you completely a separate operating method like Recteq does. Again, the appeal with the X-Fire Pro is something familiar to both pellet and gas grillers with controls best-suited for each style of cooking. And yes, the $1,550 price puts this firmly in the premium category, but when you consider its two grills in one, that amount doesnt seem excessive. The X-Fire Pro features an all-stainles-steel design Billy Steele for Engadget Wrap-up Rarely does a device live up to its billing as a double-duty workhorse. With the X-Fire Pro , Recteq has successfully combined the best aspects of pellet grills with a dedicated high-heat mode and separate controls that will be familiar to gas grillers. This model offers robust build quality, reliable performance and Wi-Fi connectivity for extended smoking sessions. The smaller pellet hoppers require slightly more vigilance, and there are a few features Id love to see in the future, but Recteq has certainly bolstered its reputation for well-built smart grills with this dual-mode machine. Id much rather keep tabs on my pellet supply than guess if my propane tank is empty. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/recteq-x-fire-pro-825-review-a-smart-grill-that-pulls-double-duty-170000586.html?src=rss

Snap is laying off 16 percent of its workforce, blames AI

Snap is laying off around 1,000 staff, amounting to 16 percent of its workforce, which it will seemingly replace with AI. The cuts were announced in a company-wide memo from CEO Evan Spiegel, who added that more than 300 open roles are also being closed. Spiegel said the incredibly difficult decision would likely save Snap more than $500 million by the second half of 2026, in turn helping it to establish a clearer path to net-income profitability. Impacted staff were notified by email and the companys North America-based team were instructed to work from home. Snap said it would provide four-month severance packages to those affected by the layoffs, as well as healthcare and other entitlements. While these changes are necessary to realize Snaps long-term potential, we believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers, Spiegel wrote. We have already witnessed small squads leveraging AI tools to drive meaningful progress across several important initiatives, including Snapchat+, enhanced ad platform performance, and efficiency improvements in our Snap Lite infrastructure. Snap laid off around 20 percent of its employees in 2022 , with further cuts made in 2023 and 2024 . It follows in the footsteps of a number of tech companies laying off employees in favor of AI in a move to boost efficiency, including Amazon , Fiverr , Microsoft and Pinterest in the last year. Snap is expected to launch the consumer version of its Specs AR glasses later this year, and recently span off the brand into its own business. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/snap-is-laying-off-16-percent-of-its-workforce-blames-ai-162456069.html?src=rss

Shoe company pivots to AI compute in sign of a totally normal and healthy economy

The shoe company Allbirds, famous for its wool trainers, is pivoting to AI . You read that right. The San Francisco company has plans o pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions provider. It's also changing its name to NewBird AI. This is subject to shareholder approval, with a vote scheduled for May 18. Once approved, the company will raise $50 million from an unnamed investor to assist with this enterprise. This money will be used for the acquisition and monetization of graphics processing units, related high-performance computing infrastructure capable to support high workloads and other related assets. In other words, all of the things one would need to start an AI compute company. Allbirds, the shoe brand, now says it's an AI compute company. pic.twitter.com/MRAG2LXyY9 Tracy Alloway (@tracyalloway) April 15, 2026 Allbirds has always been known as an eco-friendly shoe company and, well, there's no real way to do AI while protecting the environment . The company plans on getting rid of any eco-friendly branding, with stockholders being asked to approve a charter amendment proposal to emove references to the company being operated for the environmental conservation public benefit. Investors absolutely love AI, despite rising public sentiment against the technology . To that end, the announcement that Allbirds was transitioning from shoes, a product category it has a decade of experience in, to AI compute, a product category it has no experience in, shot the stock up by over 400 percent. Financial Times has suggested this uptick will be short-lived and that retail investors should stay away. Allbirds was once valued at $4 billion. It just struck a deal to sell most of itself for $39 million. https://t.co/DsX89JdtEM The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 31, 2026 This pivot to AI cloud compute is surprising and, frankly, bizarre, but something drastic was bound to happen to Allbirds at some point. The shoe company was once riding high, with a valuation of around $4 billion as recently as 2021. It sold its shoe business and branding to an investment firm earlier this month for just $39 million . Allbirds isn't the only company pivoting to compute in an effort to feed the hungry goblin called AI . Boom Supersonic is a startup trying to build the world's fastest airliner but has begun selling gas turbines to AI companies to power data centers. Many Bitcoin mining centers have pivoted to AI and it's worth remembering that NVIDIA's GPUs were once used primarily for PC gaming. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/shoe-company-pivots-to-ai-compute-in-sign-of-a-totally-normal-and-healthy-economy-161449196.html?src=rss

The Vivo X300 Ultra is a powerful camera phone aimed at videographers

Chinese phonemaker Vivo has been pushing the limits of smartphone photography in the last few years. However, the availability of its phones like last years X200 Ultra , with its beefy add-on telephoto has been intermittent in the West. The company says the X300 Ultra its first global flagship launch, although theres still no word on a US launch or pricing at the time of writing. Like the latest phones from Xiaomi and Oppo, Vivo is also obsessing over larger camera sensors, peripherals and a dizzying array of technical photography specs, with a particular focus on cinematic video recording. Collaborating with Zeiss again, the X300 Ultra features a triple prime lens camera system with 85, 35 and 14mm equivalent focal lengths. This can be punched up to 400mm equivalent with a new telephoto extender, the messily-named Zeiss Telephoto Extender Gen 2 Ultra, whose price is also unknown for now. Even without that add-on, Vivo has built its 85mm equivalent 200-megapixel telephoto camera to handle most of your zoom-heavy shooting moments. A gimbal-grade APO (apochromatic) camera is designed to correct color fringing and stabilize your shots. These are both typical issues when using higher zoom levels. In a dedicated snapshot mode, Autofocus tracking will even work at 60 fps, which Im excited to test, as the phone can also shoot at up to 12 fps. Vivo says its optical image stabilization can correct up to three degrees of movement. Other cameras are similarly powerful, spec-wise. The 35mm equivalent Zeiss Documentary camera uses a 1/1.12-inch 200MP Sony sensor and is apparently engineered for strong low-light performance and portrait shooting, with an f/1.8 aperture. Finally, theres a 50MP ultrawide rounding out the camera lineup. All three rear cameras support up to 4K 120fps 10-bit log video and the same in Dolby Vision. Vivo says the X300 Ultra will capture film-like color performance without the need for editing. If you want to dig into editing, however, it supports 10-bit log video for more dynamic range and color depth. Vivo is going hard on video capture. The X300 Ultra's new pro video mode has an upgraded monitoring feature that supports users custom LUTs, showing a real-time preview of how it will look while recording in log. Vivos log format is also compatible with ACES workflow, making it easier to integrate the X300 Ultra alongside other cinema cameras. Vivo To make it easier to use for hypothetical professional shoots, Vivo has collaborated with camera-peripheral maker SmallRig on a video-rig kit. This includes an expandable camera cage with quick-release ports (alongside multiple cold shoe mounts), dual handgrips and even a physical shutter control and zoom buttons. Theres also a cooling fan to keep the X300 Ultra recording at high resolution for extended periods. Its otherwise a flagship phone everywhere else, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 processor and a 6.82-inch display at 3,168 x 1,440 resolution, topping out at an industry-leading 144Hz refresh rate. The X300 Ultra also supports up to 100W FlashCharge and 40W wireless charging (with compatible Vivo chargers) and a huge 6,600mAh battery. Were planning to test the X300 Ultra in the very near future. At the time of writing, the company is keeping pricing and launch dates to itself. Well update this story once we hear those crucial details. Its also likely to face immediate competition from sibling brand Oppo, which has also been teasing an ultra iteration of its latest flagship phone , the Find X9 Ultra. For now, Vivo says the X300 Ultra will launch across Asia, as well as parts of Europe (Austria, Spain, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy and Russia) and several other countries, including Brazil. And yep, no US, Canada or the UK on that list. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/vivo-x300-ultra-launch-powerful-camera-phone-availability-160008605.html?src=rss

Spotify is selling books now

A collaboration between Spotify and Bookshop.org that allows readers to purchase physical books in the Spotify app is now live in the US and UK. Rather than positioning audiobooks as the hard copy-killer, Spotify is encouraging you to see them as complimentary to one another. First announced back in February, the new partnership with Bookshop.org appears to be an acknowledgement from Spotify that physical still reigns supreme in the book world. Bookshop is a digital marketplace that enables indie booksellers to take their businesses online, and Spotify says any purchase made through its app will directly support those bookshops and the authors who brought the story to life. When viewing an audiobook on Spotify, where available you should now see a Get a copy for your bookshelf link that redirects you to the Bookshop.org website, which takes over the rest of the purchase and shipping process, reports TechCrunch . The feature is now live on Android, with iOS support arriving next week. Key to this partnership is the new Page Match feature that Spotify launched in February, which allows readers to sync their progress between audiobooks and physical or ebooks so they can jump between formats seamlessly. When reading a paperback, you can use your phone camera to scan the page you reach and continue from that point in the audiobook. It also allows you to scan ereader pages so you can pick up when you left off in the audiobook, and vice versa. Spotify has today expanded Page Match to support more than 30 new languages, including French, German and Swedish, while Audiobook Recaps are now available on Android. Introduced last year , initially for iOS users, these AI-powered audio summaries refresh you on your progress before you start reading, becoming available once you pass the 10-minute threshold in a book. Spotify launched audiobooks in 2022 and now offers 15 hours of free listening time a month to Premium subscribers. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/spotify-is-selling-books-now-144340074.html?src=rss

Most US teens say TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat aren't hurting (or helping) their mental health

Most teens in the United States say that Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat aren't harming their mental health, though a slightly higher proportion report negative effects on their sleep and productivity, according to a new report from Pew Research. The report offers fresh insights into how teens perceive the effects of social media at a time when there are increasing calls to ban younger teens from social platforms altogether. The report is based on a survey of 1,458 teens between the ages of 13 and 17. Teens were asked about their use of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok and how those apps affect them. Pew also asked the teens' parents to weigh in. Relatively few teens reported negative mental health effects, with 9 percent of Snapchat and TikTok users and 11 percent of Instagram users saying they thought the services had hurt their mental health. More teens reported negative effects on sleep and productivity, however, especially when it comes to use of TikTok. Thirty-seven percent of teens said their use of the app had hurt their sleep and 29 percent reported that it had affected their productivity. Even so, the majority of teens responded that the apps had neither helped nor hurt their mental health, sleep or productivity. Teens and their parents differed on the effects of social media platforms. Pew Research A significant number of teens did say that social media apps had helped their friendships, particularly Snapchat. At the same time, the app had a somewhat higher rate of bullying and harassment compared with the other services. While the self-reported data is hardly a definitive answer to whether social media is harming teens, the numbers do offer a somewhat different narrative than the one that lawmakers, regulators and other critics have used to pursue social media bans and civil litigation against major companies. Meta, Snap and TikTok are all facing lawsuits that claim the platforms have purposefully created addicting features and enabled other harms to teen users, Perhaps unsurprisingly, when researchers surveyed those same teens' parents, they had a more negative view of the apps' impact on their children. About four in ten parents said that social media hurts their kids' sleep and productivity and about a quarter thought it hurt their mental health. Forty-four percent of parents whose teens use TikTok said they thought their child was spending too much time in the app. The share of parents who say the same of Snapchat and Instagram is lower, the researchers note. But the same pattern continues for both, with parents being more likely than teens to describe their teens use of these sites as excessive. The report isn't the first time Pew has polled teens on their relationship with social media. Last year, a separate report found that teens were becoming more worried about social media, though they were less likely to say they had been negatively impacted on a personal level. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/most-us-teens-say-tiktok-instagram-and-snapchat-arent-hurting-or-helping-their-mental-health-140000912.html?src=rss

Adobe's Firefly AI Assistant works across Photoshop, Premiere and other apps

Few creative software companies have embraced AI like Adobe , with the company embedding image , video, audio and vector generation tools into nearly all its apps. Now, Adobe is taking on AI apps like Gemini's Nano Banana with its new prompt-based Firefly AI Assistant. You simply describe the outcome you want and it will execute complex multi-step workflows across Photoshop, Premiere, Lightroom, Illustrator and other apps to achieve that result, Adobe says. The complexity of apps like Photoshop creates a barrier to entry for users who may have a vision but lack skill, according to Adobe. That's where the FireFly AI Assistant comes in. It works much like ChatGPT and other prompt-based AI assistants, but it has Adobe's suite of powerful apps behind it to execute the required steps. You no longer have to map the process. You can start from the outcome, the company says. Adobe emphasizes that while the Firefly AI Assistant is doing the grunt work, you remain in control. You stay in the loop as the assistant executes, stepping in at any point to guide direction, adjust outputs and create something that's distinctly yours. It also maintains Adobe's native file formats, so the final output remains fully editable. Adobe You'll be able to launch complex workflows with Creative Skills that let you run multi-step workflows from a single prompt, then customize them to your working style. For instance, you can start with the social media assets skill then direct the assistant to crop or use Generative Extend to make it fit the format of Instagram, Facebook and other platforms. It can also handle context-aware creative decisions. In one example, Adobe describes a product photo set in a forest. The assistant might give you a simple slider to increase or reduce the surrounding trees and foliage making it easy to adjust the scene without complex edits, the company explains. Finally, to gather and act on feedback, the Assistant can organize and share work among team members via Adobe's Frame.io. Adobe emphasizes that Firefly AI Assistant is grounded in the company's pro-grade creative tools to deliver precise, context aware results in a way that other AI agents can't and will learn your style over time. That's an argument the company no doubt hopes will counter a narrative that generative AI apps like Nano Banana are eating software like Adobe Photoshop. Adobe's Firefly AI Assistant will arrive in public beta in the coming weeks. Should you wish to use other AI image generator within Adobe apps, the company has added Kling 3.0 and Kling 3.0 Omni, all-purpose video models optimized for fast, high-quality production with smart storyboarding and audio-visual sync. That's on top of other models already offered, including Google's Nano Banana 2 and Veo 3.1, Runway Gen-4.5, Luma AIs Ray 3.14, ElevenLabs Multilingual v2, Topaz Labs Topaz Astra and others. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/adobes-firefly-ai-assistant-works-across-photoshop-premiere-and-other-apps-130055883.html?src=rss

Amazon's budget-friendly answer to the Frame TV will start shipping on April 22

When Amazon introduced the Ember Artline TVs in January , it didnt have a specific date of availability to share. Now, the company is ready to supply the details: Pre-orders open today, and units ship on April 22 in the US and Canada, with the UK and Germany to follow. The company also announced a new version of its Fire TV Stick HD this morning, as well as some new features for its Fire TV software. For those who dont remember offhand, the Ember Artline is basically Amazons answer to Samsungs Frame TV . Its a matte, 4K QLED panel that can double as artwork when youre not watching TV, and to that end, Amazon is including more than 2,000 pieces of art for free. Thats also part of the Fire TV package that comes on the new Fire TV Stick HD, so you dont necessarily need an Ember Artline to access them. In its press release, Amazon said Our collection spans artistic movements and includes Impressionist classics by Monet, Degas, and Renoir, alongside contemporary works of street art, murals, mixed media, and photography. Customers also have access to 60 exclusive motion video pieces commissioned by documentary filmmaker Sam Nuttmann, who traveled the world capturing landscape and wildlife scenes. To make it easier to match the Ember Artline to your rooms decor, there are 10 frame color options to choose from, and the varieties I saw (a faux wood grain and a muted teal metallic finish) looked quite pleasant. If you really want some help finding artwork that will fit your space, Amazons Match the room feature might come in handy. A person holding up a phone taking photos of a room with an Ember Artline TV on the wall. Amazon At a recent demo, I watched as the companys representatives scanned a QR code from the TV to pull up the tool on their phone. There, they took three photos of the environment (surrounding walls and furniture, for example) and the system generated suggested pieces of art from the gallery. Using the TV remote, they were then able to choose from the recommendations on the big screen. In my brief experience, the suggestions were typically quite good at matching the vibe, while offering a variety of styles (geometric, landscapes, modern etc) each time. According to the press release, the AI tool will suggest artwork from our collection based on the room's colors, overall style, and any recurring themes in their existing artwork, including nature or travel photography. If youd like a more personal touch, you can showcase your own photos instead by connecting your Amazon Photos account. You can also ask Alexa+ to play a slideshow of us biking in the mountains, for example, to pull up memories ad hoc. An animated GIF showing the Ember Artline TV in various rooms and settings with varying decor. Amazon Thats not the only new feature coming to the Fire TV ecosystem, by the way. In addition to adding Alexa+ support and the new Fire TV UI it showed off in January , Amazon said that this month, its adding another tool for US customers to seamlessly transfer a show or sports game by asking Alexa to move the content to another enabled Fire TV device in your home. So say you started watching a show in your bedroom and wanted to continue on the bigger screen in your living area. You could say Alexa, move this to the living room. The demo I saw took place on two Ember Artline TVs on adjacent walls, so the speediness was quite noticeable. After the VP for Fire TV Aidan Marcuss asked the assistant to move the content over, the second TV picked up where the first left off in just about a second or two. Maybe real-world performance may vary but I can't imagine dashing from my bed to my couch in under three seconds just to avoid missing precious moments of The Boys drama. For now, the feature is limited to Prime Video content, and Amazon said it plans to roll it out to more services over time. The Ember Artline comes in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes and starts at $900. For context, Samsungs The Frame (not the Pro versions) is available as a 32-inch model that costs $600, while the 65-inch configuration starts at $1,100 at the moment. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/amazons-budget-friendly-answer-to-the-frame-tv-will-start-shipping-on-april-22-130000337.html?src=rss

Amazon's new Fire TV Stick HD is slimmer than ever and has no power adapter

After unveiling a 4K version of its Fire TV Stick Select at its hardware event last September , Amazon is launching the latest version of its HD dongle today. The Fire TV Stick HD costs $35, comes with Alexa+ built in and offers the redesigned experience that the company previewed at CES in January . It might be confusing, considering Amazon makes at least five different configurations of its streaming stick , but the model announced today comes in at the entry-level and brings some meaningful upgrades. First, its about 30 percent narrower, according to the company, which makes it easier to fit into tight spaces (or to wedge between your TV and wall, perhaps). It comes with a short USB-C cable with a USB-A head that plugs into one of the USB ports on your TV, allowing it to draw power without the typically longer cables that would connect to wall adapters. To quote the company, the new Fire TV Stick HD is optimized for Direct Power through a TVs USB port, so it fits more neatly behind a TV without requiring a separate power adapter. But if your TV doesnt have a USB port for that, you can still use a USB-C cable with a traditional wall adapter to power the new Fire TV Stick HD. Given how little power the USB ports on a TV provide, it's likely any old charger will do. A picture with a diagram showing where the Fire TV Stick HD would slip behind a TV in a bedroom. Amazon The new dongle also comes with other improvements like support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3, and Amazon says its more than 30 percent faster on average compared to its predecessor, which means it turns on and opens apps more quickly. That, together with the redesigned layout, should make it easier to find what you want to watch. And if youre a Prime Member or subscribed to Alexa+, you can also ask the assistant for show recommendations, dim your lights or pick up where you left off on a Prime video in a different room, if you have a compatible TV set in there. Amazon also said that in the coming months, it will add a new Adaptive Display setting to the Fire TV Stick HD. This is supposed to be an accessibility feature that makes onscreen elements like words, menus and images easier to see. The company said that it would proportionally scale content artwork while enlarging text and menus, so the overall experience is more balanced. Multiple size options will be available. A screenshot showing how the Fire TV interface handles larger text for better readability. Amazon Like its predecessors, the Fire TV Stick HD is a pretty straightforward device that brings modern features to older TVs. At $35, its a relatively budget-friendly price, though we recommend springing for the 4K Max model if you have a bit more to spare. If not, the new Fire TV Stick HD will start shipping on April 29 to those in the US, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, with more regions coming later. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/amazons-new-fire-tv-stick-hd-is-slimmer-than-ever-and-has-no-power-adapter-130000885.html?src=rss

Godzilla goes to New York in 'Minus Zero' teaser trailer

Japanese entertainment company Toho has released a teaser video for Godzilla Minus Zero , the upcoming sequel to the award-winning film Godzilla Minus One . The teaser shows the famous monster next to the Statue of Liberty as it rampages across New York. Godzilla Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the events of the first film, and will be a direct sequel. Youll see familiar faces from Minus One in the short trailer, as well, namely Koichi Shikishima and Noriko Oishi, two of the first movies main characters. The kaiju flick was filmed specifically for IMAX with high-definition digital cameras. Even its audio was optimized for the massive screens immersive cinema experience. Minus One won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, so expectations are high for this sequel. The good news is that this movie is also helmed by Takashi Yamazaki, who wrote, directed and oversaw the visual effects for Minus One . Godzilla Minus Zero is heading to cinemas in Japan on November 3 and in the United States on November 6 this year. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/godzilla-goes-to-new-york-in-minus-zero-teaser-trailer-015029346.html?src=rss

Sony is nerfing its Bravia TVs' program guide

Sony is removing some features from its TV guide and program guide displays for channels received by an over the air TV antenna on select models of Bravia televisions from 2023-2025. Cord Cutters News reported on the changes, which will take effect in late May. Channel logos and thumbnail images in program descriptions are going away from the built-in TV Guide for antenna TV channels. Only programs from recently watched channels will be shown in the guide, and depending on the channel, program information may not be displayed. Change is also coming for set top box users, with the dedicated Set Top Box TV menu being removed and replaced by a Control menu. This setup will also not show program thumbnail images any longer. This is an admittedly narrow use case in the age of both streaming and cable TV, but Sony didn't provide any reason for making the change. And for those people who are impacted, this could be an unpleasant surprise next month that makes the TV guide and program guide much less helpful. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/sony-is-nerfing-its-bravia-tvs-program-guide-225640797.html?src=rss

Google's new Windows app is yet another way to access Gemini

Google has introduced a new app for Windows desktops and, unsurprisingly, it puts AI front at center. If you aren't a big fan of Google's Gemini chatbot, then skip on past this download. For those of you who are heavy Gemini users, though, this could mean a simpler and more integrated experience on Windows machines. Once installed, you can pull up the app's search bar with the Alt + Space shortcut. Queries typed into this open-ended search box can hunt down information from the web like typical Google search, where AI Mode will be enabled for an extra layer of artificial intelligence for follow-up questions or a deeper dive down a rabbit hole. But the app isn't limited to web search. It can delve into your computer's files, other installed apps or Google Drive files to retrieve information. Screen sharing is also built into the app, which enables using Google Lens to conduct AI-powered searches on content displayed on your monitor. The app is rolling out globally today in English. Interestingly, this hasn't been gated to the most recent Windows 11 , but it does require a machine running at least Windows 10. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/googles-new-windows-app-is-yet-another-way-to-access-gemini-214000564.html?src=rss

NAACP sues xAI over data center pollution

The NAACP is suing xAI and a subsidiary called MZX Tech for allegedly operating unpermitted methane gas turbines to power its Colossus 2 data center in South Memphis. The association is asking the federal district court of the Northern District of Mississippi to declare that the company has violated the Clean Air Act, force it to stop using its unpermitted turbines and assess financial penalties against xAI for violating federal law, among other requests. The lawsuit claims that xAI the Elon Musk-founded AI startup now owned by SpaceX is operating 27 gas turbines without an air permit to power Colossus 2, one of a growing number of data centers xAI has set up to train Grok, its AI assistant. Gas turbines expel pollution, hazardous chemicals and fine particulate matter that are linked to things like heart problems, respiratory diseases and even certain cancers, issues that are particularly concerning given Colossus 2's close proximity to people's homes. Operating these turbines without an air permit also violates the Clean Air Act, which requires sources of pollution to be permitted before being operated or constructed. The NAACP is represented in the lawsuit by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice. Before filing today's lawsuit, the NAACP sent xAI a 60-day notice of intent to sue in compliance with the Clean Air Act. xAI's failure to respond to the notice is why the lawsuit is moving forward today. xAI's continued operation of these turbines without a permit and without adequate pollution controls is not only illegal, it's an insult to families living nearby who for months have expressed serious concerns about how air pollution from the company's personal power plant could impact their health and well-being, Ben Grillot, a Senior Attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said. xAI must be held accountable for its reckless, unlawful actions and that's exactly what this lawsuit aims to do. Besides the high cost of sourcing the components that train and run AI models, AI companies often have to generate power to run the data centers where all those components are being installed. Oracle is reportedly turning to gas generators like xAI. Google , Meta and Amazon , meanwhile, have all invested in or signed deals with nuclear energy providers to power their data center efforts. Building new energy sources for data centers is one of several price-lowering methods proposed by the Ratepayer Protection Pledge , an agreement several tech companies signed to try and prevent data centers from raising the cost of the average person's energy bill. Quickly building out new energy sources might help ease costs, but it doesn't account for the negative environmental impacts of having a new power plant in your neighborhood, something the Trump administration doesn't appear all too interested in addressing. In his latest AI framework proposal , President Donald Trump largely ignored the environmental impact of AI in favor of calling for the permitting process for things like on-site energy generators to be streamlined. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/naacp-sues-xai-over-data-center-pollution-213511352.html?src=rss

What to expect from Google I/O 2026

We're sliding into developer conference season and one of the biggest events on the upcoming calendar is Google I/O. This year's edition is taking place on May 19 and 20 . As usual, the in-person element will happen in Mountain View, California, though many of the keynotes and sessions will be livestreamed. Google will surely make its biggest announcements during the opening keynote, which will start at 1PM ET on May 19. A developer keynote will take place later the same day. As ever, the rumor mill will pick up speed in the leadup to Google I/O. We do have some ideas about what Google will discuss at the event. So let's take a look at what to expect at Google I/O 2026 (we'll update this story as we hear more credible rumors). What's officially on deck Google I/O logo Google When it confirmed the dates for this year's I/O, Google revealed a little bit about what it has in store for us. As you might imagine, AI will be a major focus of the event. Google plans to share its AI breakthroughs and updates in products across the company, from Gemini to Android, Chrome, Cloud and more, it wrote in a blog post in February. There will be news on Gemini model updates as well as agentic coding. Google will have some product demos too. The company has released its initial schedule of keynotes and sessions, but it doesn't provide us with a lot of specifics as yet. It has lined up discussions on what's new in the likes of Google Play, Firebase (a mobile and web app development platform), the Gemma open model family and the open-source app development framework Flutter. Interestingly, there isn't a dedicated session for Android XR on the schedule just yet. What to expect Leaked image of Google's Aluminium OS 9to5Google There haven't been many credible leaks ahead of Google I/O as yet, but we can make some educated guesses about what to expect from the event. It's all but certain that we'll get more details about Android 17 at I/O. Developers need time to tweak their apps ahead of the next major version of the operating system rolling out to everyone if they want to take advantage of new features as soon as possible, and they invariably get a heads up about those at I/O every year. (That said, Google has been moving away from a big annual release approach in favor of juicier Pixel Drops/Android updates, so we may not see some of the new features it unveils at I/O for some time.) As for other operating systems, Google is planning to meld ChromeOS and Android into a unified platform . This seems to be the project that's being referred to as Aluminium OS, which we got a first glimpse of earlier this year thanks to some leaks. I/O seems like the perfect venue for Google to start showing that off to the public. On the AI front, a reveal of Gemini 4 could be on the docket, along with details of the latest Veo text-to-video model. Maybe well hear more about Project Astra , Googles pitch for a universal AI assistant. If Google has some consumer hardware to show off at this year's event, I suspect it'll be an Android XR device or devices, rather than a Pixel phone or watch. There is a chance that we'll get a tease of the Google Pixel 11 lineup. But don't be surprised if we don't see that or the Pixel Watch 5 until Google's dedicated hardware event, which has taken place in August or October in recent years (Google will want to stay well away from Apple's iPhone event, which will likely take place in September as usual). Heres hoping for a big surprise or two Google Sure, Android updates are all well and good. If Google insists on cramming Gemini and other AI tools into all of its tools and services, well at least listen to what they have to say about all that. But I have my fingers crossed for some cool surprises. Give us something new from Google X (Alphabets moonshot factory, not the thing that was once Twitter), an idea that could be a net benefit for humanity and boost the companys bottom line at the same time. These events are always more fun when theres something for us to get genuinely excited about, even if its something relatively niche but out there, like the Google Beam 3D video conferencing tech. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/what-to-expect-from-google-io-2026-200252914.html?src=rss

League of Legends' new WASD control scheme will be enabled for ranked later this month

Riot Games released a pile of updates for its long-running MOBA League of Legends . One of the more noteworthy changes coming to the game is the official launch of WASD controls. This alternate option, allowing players to traverse the rift by keyboard rather than by mouse, is rolling out to ranked matches in patch 26.9. Riot first announced that it was pursuing support for WASD controls last August. The studio said it wanted to ensure that the alternate control scheme wasn't more powerful than point-and-click movement; Riot said it was targeting a low win-loss rate difference between the options before releasing it to League players. There's still a small delta in the win-rates between the control schemes, with Point and Click having a minor advantage, according to today's devlog dedicated to this new feature. We expect that difference will decrease over time as players gain more mastery with WASD, but we will continue to monitor this stat in the future. That blog post goes into more detail about how the team tested and gauged community responses to WASD, which is pretty neat stuff if you're a game dev nerd. League will be receiving a few new accessibility improvements, such as custom inputs for moving the mouse cursor and some new flexibility for keybinds, along with the new control scheme. Although Riot was clear to say that it's not adding official support for controllers or gamepads, players will be able to use WASD controls with a joystick. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/league-of-legends-new-wasd-control-scheme-will-be-enabled-for-ranked-later-this-month-193858052.html?src=rss

Microsoft raises prices on Surface PCs due to skyrocketing RAM costs

The RAMpocalypse continues. Microsoft just revealed significant price increases across the entire Surface line of products, according to reporting by Windows Central . The updated pricing has already hit the official Microsoft Store, with other retailers expected to follow suit in the near future. These are fairly significant upticks. For instance, the base model 15-inch Surface Laptop 7 now starts at $1,600. It cost $1,300 when the laptop was first released back in 2024. It did receive a price increase last year to $1,500, so today's increase tacks on another $100. The cost balloons even further when upgrading components, as a top-end Laptop 7 with a Snapdragon X Elite, 64GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage now costs a whopping $3650. As a comparison, a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro, 64GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD comes in at $3,300, and the M5 Pro blasts the Snapdragon X Elite out of the water . Microsoft This trend continues with the Surface Pro line of hybrid computers. The 12-inch Surface Pro starts at $1,050, after launching at just $800. The flagship 13-inch Surface Pro cost $1,000 in 2024 and now starts at $1,500. That's a $500 increase in just two years, though the base hard drive did get a bit bigger . These price increases are, of course, being blamed on generative AI's penchant for eating up RAM and related components . Due to recent increases in memory and component costs, Surface is updating pricing on Microsoft.com for its currentgeneration hardware portfolio, Microsoft wrote in a statement. Industry reports have also indicated that the company is currently readying refreshes across the Surface line. It's highly likely these new prices will stay in place if component prices don't decrease. Motorola slapped sudden price increases on the Moto G series right after its new model went live https://t.co/00DzRHXK0f by @chaosromero 9to5Google (@9to5Google) April 8, 2026 These aren't the first devices that have shot up in price due to AI. Motorola recently instituted increases that even impacted its budget-friendly phones . Samsung has also pushed up the cost for its Galaxy Z Fold 7 . The PS5 is now much more expensive when compared to the 2020 launch price, though Sony didn't explicitly blame these increases on RAM, but rather continued pressures in the global economic landscape. There are also rumors that the continued RAM shortage has made it difficult for Valve to manufacture the Steam Deck and likely pushed back the release of the Steam Machine to 2027 . VDURA hikes its enterprise SSD pricing, now costs 22.6x more than hard drives the price of a 30TB SSD has climbed 472% https://t.co/iDOZYMtQbB Tom's Hardware (@tomshardware) April 10, 2026 SSDs have also shot up in price , with old-school HDDs not far behind . It's getting thorny out there. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-raises-prices-on-surface-pcs-due-to-skyrocketing-ram-costs-181648588.html?src=rss

Chrome Skills let you save your favorite Gemini prompts for easy access

Gemini in Chrome is about to get a small but handy upgrade. Starting today, Google is rolling out a feature it calls Skills to Chrome on desktop. Skills allow you to save your favorite Gemini in Chrome prompts for quick access, thereby making it easier and faster to repeat certain tasks. For instance, Google suggests you could use one saved prompt to get Gemini to calculate how much protein there could be in a new recipe you found online. Another Skill can make it easier to do a side-by-side spec comparison of a few different products you're looking at across multiple tabs. You can save prompts you want to use again directly from Gemini in Chrome's chat history. To use a saved prompt, type forward slash or click the plus button and select the Skill you want to use. To help people get started, Google is providing a set of ready-to-go prompts you can use to save time on common workflows or as a jumping off point for your own Skills. Skills you save are available on any version of Chrome for desktop where you're signed into your account, though for the time being, Google is only rolling out the feature to people who have their browser language set to US English. Gemini in Chrome, like its other AI tools, has become a major area of focus for Google in recent months. At the start of the year, the company rolled out an update that saw the addition of a dedicated Gemini sidebar to Chrome and access to Nano Banana image generation directly from said sidebar. More recently, Google began rolling out Gemini in Chrome to users in Canada, India and New Zealand. As the high-stakes AI race countinues to heat up, expect more features in that vein, though we may still get more traditional enhancements like vertical tabs from time to time. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chrome-skills-let-you-save-your-favorite-gemini-prompts-for-easy-access-170000683.html?src=rss

Sony Inzone's latest monitor boasts a blazing 720Hz panel for competitive gamers

Super fast gaming displays have grown in popularity recently following the release of several new models back at CES . Now Sony is hopping on that bandwagon with its latest display featuring a tandem OLED panel from LG that offers the choice of either 540Hz or 720Hz refresh rates. That said, priced at $1,100, the new 24.5-inch Sony Inzone M10S II is only for the most dedicated and deep-pocketed gamers. In normal use, the monitor offers a 540Hz refresh rate at QHD (2,560 x 1,440). However, in competitive situations where that still might not be enough, the display can go even faster by reducing its resolution to 720p while boosting its refresh rate all the way up to 720Hz. On top of that, to help make visuals clearer, Sony added a new Motion Blur Reduction algorithm with Black Frame Insertion that boosts brightness while still delivering a response rate of just 0.02ms. Unfortunately, at $1,100, this thing is out of reach for most gamers. Sony Elsewhere, a new Super Anti-Glare film helps reduce reflections. The company also used feedback from pro gamers to create a stand with a smaller footprint and a wider range of tilt adjustability (from -5 to 35 degrees). For those worried about the panel's long-term performance, the Inzone M10S II comes with a three-year warranty and OLED protection features like a custom heat sink. The new Inzone H6 Air are based on Sony's MDR-MV1 studio monitor headphones while costing half the price. Sony Aside from its new monitor, Sony is also releasing a pair of open-back wired headphones in the Inzone H6 Air . Priced at $200, they are based on the company's well-known studio monitor headphones the MDR-MV1 but with some additional tweaks for gaming. Not only is it really light at just 199 grams (not including its detachable cable and boom mic), it also features a dedicated RPG/Adventure profile designed to improve clarity and environmental details. The one caveat is that to access this mode, you need to use Sony's USB-C Audio box, which offers additional features like virtual 7.1 surround sound and support for 360-degree spatial audio. Atomic Purple, I mean Glass Purple, is always a good look. Sony Finally, while they aren't brand new, Sony is releasing a translucent Glass Purple version of its Inzone wireless gaming earbuds that conjures up nostalgic memories of Nintendos Atomic Purple N64 , along with Fnatic Editions of its Mouse-A, Mat-F and Mat-D peripherals. All of Sony's new gadgets are available today , aside from the Inzone M10S II monitor, which is due out sometime later this year. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/sony-inzones-latest-monitor-boasts-a-blazing-720hz-panel-for-competitive-gamers-165008263.html?src=rss

Samsung's new Micro RGB TVs start at $1,600 for a 55-inch model

Samsung just released its lineup of Micro RGB TVs for 2026, and it includes models that start at 55 inches and go up to 85 inches. These 4K sets feature the company's Micro RGB display technology, which uses thousands of little red, green and blue LEDs to minimize color bleed and enable expanded color with pinpoint accuracy. The display is assisted by a new AI processor that has been specifically designed to calibrate the picture to bring out all of that gorgeous color. The company says this results in stunningly sharp images with incredible detail. The processor also assists with motion smoothing, in addition to handling all of those smart TV apps. These displays support HDR10+ Advanced , which is an updated standard co-developed by Samsung. This ensures genre-based optimization and enhanced brightness, among other features. Samsung The TVs are split into two lines. The R95H is the beefier of the two, with access to Samsung's anti-glare technology and a 165Hz refresh rate. The R85H tops out at 144Hz. All models include Dolby Atmos sound and the ability to pair up to five Samsung sound devices via its Q-Symphony technology . They can also all access Samsung's Art Store, which is a platform that originally launched alongside the company's The Frame display . This lets subscribers choose from thousands of art pieces which will then be displayed on the screen when it's not being used to watch TV or play video games. The R95H line starts at $3,200 for a 65-inch model, going all the way up to $6,500 for an 85-inch display. Samsung promises a 100-inch version is coming later this year. The R85H line is cheaper, starting at $1,600 for the 55-inch release and shooting up to $4,000 for the 85-inch model. The TVs are available right now, directly from Samsung and from retailers like Best Buy. The company recently did manufacture an absolutely massive 130-inch Micro RGB display , which it brought to CES 2026. However, this was just a concept design. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-new-micro-rgb-tvs-start-at-1600-for-a-55-inch-model-150023242.html?src=rss

OpenAI buys its second startup in a month

OpenAI has acquired Hiro Finance, a startup that offers AI-powered financial planning tools. As first reported by TechCrunch , fiscal terms of the deal, which was announced on Monday, were not disclosed by OpenAI. However, all signs point this to being an acquhire, with Hiro founder Ethan Bloch writing on LinkedIn that the company's product would stop working on April 20. Users have until May 13 to migrate their data off of Hiro's servers before everything is deleted. It's unclear if OpenAI plans to offer a dedicated financial planning tool in the mold of Hiro. At the start of the year, the company released Prism , a Claude Code-like app for scientific research that built on its acquisition of the startup behind Crixet . At the very least, it sounds like some of the expertise Hiro has built will make its way to OpenAI's chatbot. For decades, personalized financial guidance has been too expensive, too generic, or too hard to access. ChatGPT is finally changing that, Bloch wrote on LinkedIn. The deal is the second acquisition in only two weeks to be announced by OpenAI. At the start of the month, the company bought Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN), a media company known for its daily tech podcast. For a company that has by all indications a long and tough road ahead to profitability, it sure does seem OpenAI is spending a lot of time and money on startups that might not end being central to its core business, which in recent months has seen it target the coding market to edge out Anthropic . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-buys-its-second-startup-in-a-month-140550769.html?src=rss

Amazon buys the satellite internet company behind Apples SOS system

Amazon has today announced it is merging with satellite internet provider Globalstar Inc. to bolster Leo , its Starlink rival. Globalstar isnt a household name but you do know its work, as it provides Apples emergency satellite connectivity for compatible iPhones and Watches. In a statement, Amazon says the deal will grow Leos space-based footprint and enable direct-to-device service for its burgeoning satellite network. An interesting wrinkle is Apple owns 20 percent of Globalstar, which it bought for $1.5 billion in 2024, but that didnt get a mention. Instead, the release says Amazon and Apple have agreed Leo will power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models. And that this support will continue as Leos network evolves, as well as collaborating with Apple on future satellite services using Amazon Leos expanded satellite network. The release adds Leos direct-to-device service wont start until 2028, and the deal itself isnt expected to close until 2027. That is, of course, unless Amazon doesnt placate the FCC into extending its deadline to get more satellites into orbit before July 2026. At present, the company needs to have 1,600 satellites in orbit by that deadline, but only expects to have around 700 actually up in the heavens and working by then. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/amazon-buys-the-satellite-internet-company-behind-apples-sos-system-130150744.html?src=rss

GoPro's Mission 1 offers 8K 60p video and interchangeable lenses

GoPro has seen its action camera market share diminish due to strong competition from rivals like Insta360 and DJI of late. Now, the company is fighting back with a new line of flagship cameras called Mission 1, designed to greatly improve the video quality offered by its current Hero 13 camera . The company also introduced a new Wireless Mic system similar to DJI's Mic Mini, along with a point-and-shoot grip and other accessories. The combination of our new 50 megapixel one-inch sensor and ultra-efficient GP3 processor sets a new performance bar for compact cinema cameras, enabling resolutions, frame rates, low-light performance, runtimes and thermal capabilities never seen before in cameras this small, GoPro's senior VP Pablo Lema said in a statement. Sample Photo from GoPro Mission 1 Pro action camera GoPro The new line includes three models: the Mission 1, Mission 1 Pro and Mission 1 Pro ILS. All have a one-inch 50-megapixel sensor, new GP3 processor and up to 8K video, but the Mission 1 Pro supports higher frame rates. The Mission 1 Pro ILS (interchangeable lens system) comes with a lens mount so you can use high-quality Micro Four Thirds lenses from the likes of Panasonic and OM System. The Mission 1 has an updated lens design with a 159 degree native field of view, the widest in its category. It also features a new OLED rear display that's 14 percent larger than previous flagship GoPro cameras, along with bigger raised buttons for easier use with gloves and a removable lens hood to reduce glare and lens flare. GoPro The 50MP 1-inch sensor has large 1.6m pixels at full resolution or 3.2m fused pixels when it's in operating at 4K in quad-bayer mode. That allows for higher dynamic range up to 14 stops and improved low-light performance with exceptional detail in the darkest of shadows while protecting highlight details, GoPro claims. That low-light performance is likely to be better in quad-bayer 4K mode than full resolution 8K, however. Meanwhile, the new GP3 Processor offers a power-efficient 5nm design that allows best-in-class resolutions, frame rates and image quality, the company says. Those resolutions include 8K at up to 60 fps for the Mission 1 Pro/Pro ILS models, 4K at up to 240 fps and 1080p at up to 960(!) fps. GoPro also offers 10-bit HLG/HDR and a 10-bit GP-Log2 mode to maximize dynamic range. The Pro models support 4:3 open gate capture so you can easily reframe shots or export video for different platforms. The Mission 1, meanwhile, captures up to 8K 30 fps, 4K 120 fps and 1080p 480 fps video, along with 4K 120 fps open gate video. You can capture 50MP RAW stills at up to 60 fps burst speeds on all Mission 1 models. GoPro The lineup promises excellent battery life thanks to the new Enduro 2 battery, with three-plus hours of 4K 30p recording on a charge. You can use the Hero 13 batteries as well albeit with shorter recording times. The company is also promising faster charging speeds. Thermal performance is solid despite the small size, with 8K 60p capture possible for 37 minutes straight with no airflow, or 74 minutes with airflow (when riding a bike for instance). Like its DJI and Insta360 rivals, the Mission 1 cameras offer multiple intelligent capture modes, including subject tracking, Dive (underwater stabilization) and Low-Light, along with Slow-Mo, Lapse, Sport POV, Vlog and Open Gate. GoPro action cams generally have excellent stabilization, so it'll be interesting to see if the Mission 1 series continues that trend, especially in low-light conditions. GoPro isn't skimping on audio either, as the Mission 1 models offer a four-mic system with 32-bit float along with stereo recording and wind noise reduction. You can connect wirelessly to compatible devices via Bluetooth 5.3 or wired mics over USB-C audio. GoPro The Mission 1 Pro ILS appears to be the first action camera with an interchangeable lens mount that's compatible with any Micro Four Thirds lenses and adapters. GoPro's HyperSmooth electronic video stabilization will work with any prime (non-fisheye) lens. It's the worlds smallest, most rugged and versatile high-speed cinema camera at a fraction of the cost and size of comparable cameras, GoPro said. Most lenses will likely make the camera too heavy and awkward to attach to a helmet or body, but you could certainly mount it to a motorbike, car or other vehicle. Along with the Mission 1 cameras, GoPro is introducing some new accessories. Key among those is the new Wireless Mic System designed for easy pairing with the Mission 1 cameras, along with DSLRs and smartphones. With a charging case and magnetic clips, it looks a lot like DJI's Mic Mini system and offers 24-bit/48kHz audio with Dynamic Noise Reduction, 150 meters of wireless range, 6.5 hours of run time, adjustable gain and a safety track mode. GoPro Other accessories include a Media Mod kit with a built-in multi-pattern mic and expanded I/O capability including 3.5mm mic and headphone ports, a micro HDMI port and a line-in port for timecode sync. GoPro is also offering a new Point-and-Shoot grip, M-Series ND Filters, a protective housing, a dual Enduro 2 battery charger, Volta battery grip and Light Mod 2 LED light. It's compatible with a GoPro subscription and Quick App, along with GoPro Labs that lets you unlock higher data rates (up to 300Mbps) and over 1,000 complex settings. The new models will be available individually or in kits, including the Mission 1 Pro Creator Edition bundled with the Media Mod, Wireless Mic System and Volta battery grip. The Mission 1 Pro Ultimate Creator Edition includes those while adding GoPro's Fluid Pro AI gimbal and Light Mod 2. Pricing and availability will be announced at a later date. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/gopros-mission-1-offers-8k-60p-video-and-interchangeable-lenses-130018643.html?src=rss

Alienware 27 (AW2726DM) QD-OLED monitor review: A budget PC gamer's new best friend

The price of nearly every type of gaming gadget has skyrocketed recently. RAMageddon has caused the cost of memory to double or triple in the last six months, with companies like HP saying that RAM now accounts for more than a third of a new PCs bill of materials. Meanwhile, the Xbox Series S/X and the PS5 have gotten price hikes, and a similar bump for the Switch 2 is starting to look inevitable. Even mobile devices are not immune, with Samsung jacking up the cost of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 nine months after release. But with the $350 27-inch QD-OLED (AW2726DM), Alienware hasnt just created agaming display thats an excellent value, its made a beacon of hope for anyone looking to upgrade their setup without emptying their bank account. Design Unlike some of Alienwares more expensive displays , the AW2726DMs design couldnt be simpler. It sits on a square 8.75-inch base that supports tilt, pivot and height adjustments. Though it does require a little assembly, everything you need comes in the box. Alienwares monitor arm attaches via a captured thumb tab, while the monitor relies on four screws and a VESA mount that can be connected using the bundled Philips wrench. (Though if you have a proper screwdriver, that would be even better.) Setup only took me a few minutes and after arranging it properly on my desk, the monitor felt quite solid. The only potential drawback is that if you have limited desk space or youre the kind of gamer that likes jamming your keyboard as close to your monitor as possible , Alienwares stand might get in the way. The back of the monitor has an easy-to-use joystick for controlling its on-screen settings menu. Sam Rutherford At around 4mm thick, the AW2726DMs panel is exceedingly sleek, though naturally that expands a bit on the lower portion of the monitor where its ports are located. This brings us to one of the biggest differences between Alienwares budget display and more premium options: limited connectivity. All you get here is two HDMI 2.1 jacks, one DisplayPort 1.4 slot and a 3.5mm plug for audio out. Theres no support for data transfer, power sharing or anything else. Heck, there isnt even any RGB lighting, which feels weird on a product from Alienware. But given its price, Im not upset. In fact, its actually kind of refreshing. Finally, theres a handy control stick on the back of the display for navigating its on-screen menu. Visuals As long as it's not too sunny or bright, the AW2726DM delivers excellent visuals for the money. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The AW2726DM features a QD-OLED panel supplied by Samsung that comes with a QHD resolution (2,560 x 1,440) and up to a 240Hz refresh rate. Alienware supports VRR via AMD FreeSync Premium and VESA AdaptiveSync, though sadly theres no native option for NVIDIA G-Sync. That means if you have a GPU from Team Green and want to take full advantage of the monitors potential, youll want to rely on that DisplayPort for optimal compatibility. Regardless, for a $350 gaming display, the AW2726DM checks all the most important boxes and it looks fantastic. Alienwares budget monitor showcases the strengths of OLED panels versus LCD, even when compared to Sonys Inzone M9 , which was a much more expensive monitor when it debuted back in 2022. Alienware offers richer colors (it covers 99 percent of DCI-P3), and thanks to its deep inky blacks, contrast is significantly better as well. Here's a direct comparison between the AW2726DM and the Sony Inzone M9, the latter of which cost $900 when it came out in 2022. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The one big drawback is that, with a typical brightness of 200 nits, the AW2726DM is dimmer than more expensive rivals. That means the monitor doesnt have fancy certifications for stuff like VESA True Black and instead relies heavily on general HDR10. Furthermore, Alienware chose a glossy (and quite reflective) finish that makes colors look even more saturated while improving perceived brightness. The one thing you need to watch out for is glare, especially if your PC or console lives in a room that gets a lot of sunlight. But if youre like a lot of gamers that prefer to frag at night or in the dark, this may not be an issue. Outside of gaming, theres another shortcoming of the AW2726DM. Between its QHD resolution and the arrangement of Samsungs QD-OLED subpixels, folks with good eyesight may notice a little fringing , especially when compared to higher-res 4K displays. This means some Word docs and web pages may not look quite as sharp as youd like, but thats a small price to pay for some of the best visuals you can get on a gaming monitor in this price range. Warranty and care The stand for the AW2726DM supports tilt, height adjustment and even pivoting all the way into portrait mode. Sam Rutherford for Engadget One of the major concerns about OLED displays when they first hit the market was the potential for burn-in, resulting in permanent damage to the panel from things like static UI elements staying on the screen too long. Thankfully, the AW2726DM comes with a three-year warranty that includes a clause covering burn-in, along with a free panel replacement in case theres even a single bright pixel. Furthermore, Alienware uses a graphite film heatsink and an AI algorithm to prevent any sort of ghosting from appearing in the first place. Wrap-up Alienware also conveniently includes both HDMI and DisplayPort cables in the box, along with the required screws for mounting the panel to the stand. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The AW2726DM might not have all the fancy features you get on more expensive monitors, but its an excellent example of a no frills gadget done right. You get just enough ports, a straightforward design and a beautiful QD-OLED panel with a solid resolution and refresh rate all for just $350. It would certainly be nice if it was a little brighter or if text looked a touch sharper, but those shortcomings are pretty easy to live with. For anyone looking to upgrade what might be arguably the second most important part of your gaming setup (your screen is your window into new worlds after all), this display is budget gold. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/alienware-27-aw2726dm-qd-oled-monitor-review-a-budget-pc-gamers-new-best-friend-130000287.html?src=rss

You can attend Pokmon EDM shows in Los Angeles and London

If you love Pokmon and electronic dance music, the Pokmon Company made the perfect event for you. As part of Pokmons 30th anniversary festivities, the company is holding EDM concert experiences called Pokmon Night Out in Los Angeles and London. American DJ Marshmello, known for wearing a marshmallow-like mask on stage, will be headlining the events, with Australian DJ Alison Wonderland as a supporting act. The experiences will feature custom sets and Pokmon-inspired visual storytelling. The events will be open to fans 16-years-old and up. It will be held at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on October 24, 2026, and at the O2 arena in London on November 10. You can get tickets for both concerts starting on April 18 at 10AM Pacific time for the Los Angeles concert and at 10AM British time for the London experience. In addition to holding EDM concerts, Nintendo and the Pokmon Company re-released the Game Boy Advance remakes of Pokmon Red and Blue on Nintendo Switch Online for the franchises 30th anniversary. They also released a Game Boy-shaped portable Pokmon jukebox , little music players that can be loaded witha different melody or sound effect from the original games' soundtracks. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/you-can-attend-pokemon-edm-shows-in-los-angeles-and-london-120405128.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Meta is reportedly working on an AI model of Mark Zuckerberg

If you were looking for the worst AI project announced so far this week, try Meta. According to a Financial Times report, the company is developing its own Mark Zuckerberg AI , training it on Zuckerbergs mannerisms, tone and publicly available statements. AKA, the good stuff. ( Will it smoke meats ?) The company has reportedly been working for some time on creating photorealistic, 3D-animated AI characters that can manage interactions. However, it now appears to be focusing on this Zuckerberg AI character, which would interact with employees in his stead. Yeesh. Remember when the Meta boss introduced legs to the metaverse? Hopefully, a backbone is in the works soon. Mat Smith The other big stories this morning How to de-Gemini your Google apps YouTube Premiums US pricing is going up Games Workshop brings 7 classic Warhammer games to Steam Meta warned that facial recognition on smart glasses would empower predators Multiple organizations, including the ACLU, are wary of the tech. TMA Dozens of civil rights organizations have written a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg warning of the dangers posed by adding facial recognition technology to the companys smart glasses. More than 70 groups have urged Zuckerberg to abandon plans to incorporate the tech on the grounds that it would empower stalkers, sexual predators and other bad actors. They also want the company to disclose past or ongoing discussions with federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, about the use of Meta smart glasses and other wearables, according to a report by Wired . Adding to the grossness of all this, according to The New York Times , Meta issued an internal memo last year suggesting it could roll out this technology during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns. In short, attempting to add the feature when pushback would be limited or unfocused. The coalition called this vile behavior that looks to take advantage of rising authoritarianism. Continue reading. Xbox CEO called Game Pass too expensive for players in a leaked memo Microsoft is eyeing changes to its gaming sub. TMA Xboxs new chief exec, Asha Sharma, reportedly wrote in a memo to employees that the current pricing of the Game Pass subscription service might be too high. According to the note, seen by The Verge : Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. Microsoft raised the price of Game Pass twice in 15 months, and many Xbox exclusives have made their way to rival PlayStation. Game Pass continues to add games: the April update adds indies like Hades 2 and Double Fine-project Kiln alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare . The Verge reports the addition of the CoD franchise might have contributed to Game Pass price increases, as in the past, buying the game at retail value was less favorable than a one-month subscription. Continue reading. Apple may be testing up to four styles of smart glasses And another one. Its a real connected-story edition of TMA today. Bloomberg reports Apple could reveal its smart glasses by the end of this year, and its already testing four eyewear styles. Apple is reportedly mulling over a large rectangular frame comparable to Ray-Ban Wayfarers, a slimmer rectangular design, like the one Apple CEO Tim Cook wears, as well as an oval or circular frame in large and small iterations. Apple is also working on a selection of colors. Apples upcoming smart glasses will compete directly with the second-gen Ray-Ban Meta model. While similar, Apple might be differentiating its design with vertically oriented oval lenses with surrounding lights, according to the report. Apples upcoming product will capture photos and videos but is meant to play better with iPhones, so users can take advantage of Apples ecosystem for editing, sharing and more. Continue reading. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111528055.html?src=rss

Sony is developing a Bloodborne animated film adaptation

An R-rated animated film adaptation of Bloodborne is currently being developed by Sony, according to Variety . Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group held a presentation at CinemaCon, where the divisions president said that the adaptation will be very true to the violent and graphic nature of the game. Bloodborne was created by Japanese studio FromSoftware and was published by Sony back in 2015. The critically acclaimed title is an RPG in the style of Dark Souls , featuring heavy blood splatters during combat and other body horror elements. Its director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, said his biggest inspiration for the game was HP Lovecrafts works. Bloomberg had reported in February that Bluepoint Games, the now-defunct Sony studio behind many PlayStation remakes, wanted to work on a new version of the classic Gothic horror RPG for modern consoles. However, FromSoftware blocked the project. Miyazaki reportedly wanted to work on the remake himself. Despite being too busy to do it, he said during an interview that he doesn't want anyone else to touch it. The Bloodborne film adaptation will be co-produced by PlayStation Productions, Lyrical Animation and Sen McLoughlin, a gaming YouTube known by his pseudonym jacksepticeye. It seems to be early stages at this point, and Variety doesnt have a target release date for it yet. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/sony-is-developing-a-bloodborne-animated-film-adaptation-110421866.html?src=rss

Two suspects have been arrested for allegedly shooting at Sam Altman's house

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's house may have been the target of a second attack after San Francisco Police Department arrested two suspects for a reported shooting in the Russian Hill neighborhood. The SFPD said in a press release that police officers responded to a suspicious occurrence of possible shots fired at around 5:56 AM ET / 2:56 AM PT on Sunday, April 12. SFPD's Special Investigation Division took over the case and have since detained both 25-year-old Amanda Tom and 23-year-old Muhamad Tarik Hussein, seizing three firearms in the process with the help of a warrant. The two suspects were charged with negligent discharge. According to the initial police report, as reported by The San Francisco Standard , two people inside a Honda sedan stopped in front of Altman's property that spans from Chestnut Street to Lombard Street. The police report also noted that the passenger appeared to fire a round at the Lombard Street side of Altman's property. The property's security personnel reported hearing a gunshot and there was surveillance footage that recorded the incident, according to the report. This could be the second instance of violence targeting Altman and his residence in a matter of days. On Friday, a 20-year-old man allegedly hurled a Molotov cocktail at Altman's home, which caused a fire on one of the property's exterior gates, according to SFPD. The San Francisco Standard reported that there were no injuries in either incident. Daniel Moreno-Gama, the 20-year-old suspect from Texas, was charged on April 13 with murder and attempted arson. According to The New York Times , he wrote a document that discussed the purported risk AI poses to humanity. The document also reportedly included the names and addresses of other executives, investors and board members of AI companies. Update, April 14, 2026, 2:06 AM ET: Updated with the latest information on the suspect who allegedly hurled a Molotov cocktail at Altmans home. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/two-suspects-have-been-arrested-for-allegedly-shooting-at-sam-altmans-house-142655308.html?src=rss

Xbox CEO called Game Pass 'too expensive for players' in a leaked memo

Xbox's new chief exec, Asha Sharma, has only been in charge for a few months but things already seem like they might be changing for the better. Or at the very least, they might be getting cheaper. The Verge reported that the new Xbox CEO wrote a memo to employees addressing the current pricing of the Game Pass subscription service. Game Pass is central to gaming value on Xbox. Its also clear that the current model isnt the final one, Sharma allegedly said. Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. Long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system which will take time to test and learn around. After Microsoft upped the price for Game Pass twice within 15 months, many of us certainly felt that the service had gotten too costly to keep. Xbox is still offering a wide range of titles on Game Pass; the April update is adding indies like Hades 2 and new Double Fine project Kiln alongside AAA hits like the remake of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare . The Verge 's sources suggested that the addition of the CoD franchise might have been a factor in some of the Game Pass price increases, since Microsoft would lose out on revenue by making the latest entries in the series available under the subscription. It's too early to say whether this memo from Sharma means Xbox is on the brink of a resurgence. And there are changes the company could make, like adding ever more complicated tiers, that would further hamper interest and uptake of Game Pass. But acknowledging the problem, even internally, is refreshing to see after so many baffling moves from Xbox in recent years. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-ceo-called-game-pass-too-expensive-for-players-in-a-leaked-memo-194749597.html?src=rss

Games Workshop brings seven classic Warhammer games to Steam for the first time

Fans of miniature plastic soldiers, rejoice. Games Workshop has brought a host of older Warhammer and Warhammer 40K video games to Steam for the first time , alongside a dozen games that haven't been available on Valve's storefront for a few years. The new to Steam releases consist of three games from the Warhammer fantasy range Shadow of the Horned Rat , Mark of Chaos Gold Edition and Dark Omen and four from its sci-fi 40K universe Chaos Gate , Fire Warrior , Final Liberation and Rites of War . If you're a Warhammer fan of a certain age, some of these may be formative experiences for you. I know they are for me. I can't count how many hours I spent playing Chaos Gate when I first discovered 40K at the age of 10. Yes, it was an XCOM clone, but by that point I didn't know about the MicroProse original, and Space Marines were cool. Years later and as a Tau collector at the time, I also loved Fire Warrior, even if it wasn't the most polished or deep first-person shooter. I haven't played the other five games included in today's announcement, but I've heard Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat and Warhammer 40K: Rites of War are pretty good if you're into the setting or, in the latter case, a fan of the Eldar. To celebrate the re-release of these old gems, Games Workshop is running a Classics sale on Steam , with discounts on all 19 re-releases. Plus, you can get discounts on some more recent releases, including the excellent Dawn of War Definitive Edition and Dawn of War 2 Anniversary Edition . If you're new to the Warhammer 40K universe, and would rather avoid a plastic addiction, one of those would be my first port of call, along with the excellent Space Marine 2 . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/games-workshop-brings-seven-classic-warhammer-games-to-steam-for-the-first-time-185432304.html?src=rss

Meta warned by dozens of organizations that facial recognition on its smart glasses would empower predators

Dozens of civil rights organizations have written a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to warn of the dangers in bringing facial recognition technology to the company's smart glasses. More than 70 groups have banded together to form a coalition to urge Zuckerberg to abandon plans to incorporate the tech, on the grounds that it would empower stalkers, sexual predators and other bad actors. This coalition includes organizations like the ACLU, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future, Access Now and many others. The letter isn't asking for safeguards. These groups want the feature to be completely eliminated, stating the idea behind facial recognition of this type is so dangerous that it cannot be resolved through product design changes, opt-out mechanisms or incremental safeguards. This tracks, as there would be no real way for bystanders to know or consent to being identified. People should be able to move through their daily lives without fear that stalkers, scammers, abusers, federal agents and activists across the political spectrum are silently and invisibly verifying their identities and potentially matching their names to a wealth of readily available data about their habits, hobbies, relationships, health and behaviors, the letter states. The organizations have urged Meta to disclose any known instances of its wearables being used for stalking, harassment or domestic violence. They also want the company to disclose past or ongoing discussions with federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, about the use of Meta smart glasses and other wearables, according to a report by Wired . There is certainly some cause for worry here. Meta issued a memo last year that suggested it would roll out this technology during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns. That's corporate speak for we'll do it when nobody is watching. The coalition has called this vile behavior that looks to take advantage of ising authoritarianism. NEW: Meta plans to add facial recognition to its smart glasses as soon as this year, according to a new report from The New York Times. The feature, internally known as Name Tag, would allow smart glasses wearers to identify people and get information about them through Metas pic.twitter.com/et7PO9JGW5 Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) February 13, 2026 The technology in question is called Name Tag, for obvious reasons. It uses AI to pull up information about people in a field of view to smart glasses displays. That's about as dystopian as it gets. The company has reportedly been working on two versions of the toolset . There's one that would only identify people that are currently connected to a Meta platform and another that would identify anyone with a public account on a service like Instagram. It doesn't look like there's any way, as of yet, to use this tech to identify strangers on the street who don't have a Meta account of any kind. In other words, the company should expect a wave of cancellations if this rolls out. Name Tag is currently scheduled for release at some point this year, but it's not set in stone just yet. Public outcry has gotten Meta to back off from facial recognition in the past. The company ended Facebook's photo-tagging system in 2021 after pushback from civil liberties groups and years of costly litigation. Meta paid out billions of dollars to settle biometric privacy lawsuits in Illinois and Texas and another $5 billion to the FTC for a separate privacy case partially tied to facial recognition software. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-warned-by-dozens-of-organizations-that-facial-recognition-on-its-smart-glasses-would-empower-predators-185000998.html?src=rss

Retro handheld maker Anbernic's latest device has a swiveling display

There are plenty of retro gaming handhelds on the market, but Anbernic is introducing one that offers a unique spin on the square shape. The retro gaming handheld maker revealed the RG Rotate on its YouTube channel, showing off a 1:1 display that swivels out much like the T-Mobile Sidekick of yore. Anbernic often drip feeds details of its upcoming products over time, but so far, we know that the RG Rotate will run on Android, feature an aluminum alloy frame and come in Polar Black and Aurora Silver. Anbernic's video detailed that the handheld will have a proprietary ultra-thin alloy hinge that went through high-durability testing. While the handheld maker has experience with other hinges as seen with its RG DS and RG 34XXSP, the RG Rotate's hinge mechanism could prove to be a new engineering challenge . As for the rest of the build, Anbernic is adding swappable L2 and R2 buttons that allow users to adjust the height of the shoulder buttons. From the video, the RG Rotate might only be built with a single USB-C port, which has irked a few fans hoping for an audio jack. Anbernic hasn't announced pricing for the RG Rotate yet, but it'll likely be much cheaper than more premium options from Ayn or Retroid . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/retro-handheld-maker-anbernics-latest-device-has-a-swiveling-display-174705958.html?src=rss

How to de-Gemini your Google apps

Over the past couple of years, Google has found ways to stuff Gemini in nearly every app and service it offers. Whether it's Gmail with its AI inbox or Chrome with its chat sidebar , Gemini is now inescapable inside of Workspace. I don't know about you, but I don't need an AI to tell me how to write a =SUM equation in Sheets or an outline for a first draft. Most of the time, I find Gemini is a distraction. If you feel the same way, this how-to is for you. How to remove Gemini from your personal Workspace account From the General tab of Gmail's settings menu, look for the Smart features checkbox. Igor Bonifacic for Engadget To turn Gemini off, you will need to disable two separate sets of options. The first set covers a set of features, including smart compose, that are shared across Gmail, Chat and Meet so if you turn them off in one app, they won't be available in any of the three. All of this is most easily done through Gmail's web client. In Gmail, tap the cog icon. Select See all settings . Under the General tab, scroll down to find Smart features . Disable Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet . In Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom or European Economic Area , smart features are turned off by default. Next, turn your attention to Workspace. In Gmail, tap the cog icon. Select See all settings . Under the General tab, scroll down and click Manage Workspace smart feature settings . Toggle off smart features in Google Workspace and Smart features in other Google products . A word of warning: completely disabling smart features in Google Workspace turns off not only Gemini integration but also access to basic capabilities like spelling and grammar corrections. You'll also lose features that have been Google staples for years. In Gmail, for example, the app will stop sorting incoming emails by priority, a notification at the top of the screen informing you that smart features are required for inbox categorization. Whatever Google's motivation for this state of affairs, it's a design decision that actively discourages users from disabling Gemini integration. Disabling Gemini in Google Workspace will also turn off other features. Igor Bonifacic for Engadget If you want to rid yourself of Gemini but would still like to use some of the other features the company offers through Gmail and its other apps, I recommend leaving the first set of smart features on while disabling the Workspace-specific ones. You can also opt to turn off some of the features included in the first group, while leaving others on. Below is a list of those features, with a brief overview of the less self-explanatory ones. Grammar Spelling Autocorrect Smart Compose as you write an email, Gmail will generate predictive writing suggestions Smart Compose personalization as you write, Gmail will tailor Smart Compose suggestions to your writing style Nudges Gmail will generate notifications prompting you to respond or follow up on unanswered emails Smart Reply Gmail will generate suggestions on how to respond to an email Package tracking Google will display shipping updates inside of Gmail Desktop notifications Yes, for some reason you need the power of AI to get notifications on your PC Unfortunately, Google doesn't offer this same level of granular control when it comes to smart features inside of Workspace. For instance, if you turn off Gemini in Docs, Calendar won't automatically display events from Gmail. Again, Google really wants to dissuade you from disabling Gemini. How to remove Gemini from your professional Workspace account If your workplace uses Google Workspace, all of the above options should be present in Gmail's settings menu, and you can follow the same steps to turn off most of the smart features Google offers. Unfortunately, the second part of the process does nothing. You will still see Gemini in Docs, Sheets and elsewhere, even with smart features in Workspace turned off. Only your admin can completely turn off Gemini for you. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/how-to-de-gemini-your-google-apps-170000462.html?src=rss

Meta is reportedly building an AI clone of Mark Zuckerberg

Picture this: You're a senior Meta employee looking for feedback from the CEO. But, instead of hearing from the real Mark Zuckerberg, you get a response from a Zuckerberg AI character. As absurd as that sounds, it could eventually be a reality. Meta is reportedly working on such an AI character, training it on Zuckerberg's mannerisms, tone and publicly available statements, according to the Financial Times . The character is also learning about the CEO's thoughts on recent company strategy, with the idea that it could offer advice to Meta employees. The company has reportedly, for some time, been working on creating photorealistic, 3D animated AI characters that can manage interactions. However, it now appears to be focusing on this Zuckerberg AI character, which would interact with employees when the CEO can't or doesn't want to. This additional AI tool follows last month's news that Zuckerberg is creating an AI agent to help him do his job, first reported by the Wall Street Journal . It would reportedly do things like finding answers for him, but there aren't many details of the still developing AI agent. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-is-reportedly-building-an-ai-clone-of-mark-zuckerberg-130242840.html?src=rss

Roblox introduces mandatory age-gated account tiers

Roblox is preparing to roll out its biggest change since starting age verification late last year. While that program was initially focused on chat access, todays news is about age-segregating the games on the massive platform. Starting in mid-May, users will be pushed into one of three worlds: Roblox Kids, Roblox Select or Roblox. The exact age ranges of these groups will vary by territory, but in the US they are 5-8 for Kids, 9-15 for Select and 16+ for the regular account. These three account types then align with the platforms current content maturity labels, which divide games into Minimal, Mild, Moderate and Restricted. Kids accounts will be the most restricted, with chat off by default and only Minimal and Mild experiences available. Ages 9-15 get to chat with kids in their age group and trusted friends that have passed the parent test, and will be able to access Moderate content as well as games for babies. At 16, teens will automatically be moved to a full-fat Roblox account with all of its features, but not all of the games. Content marked as Restricted will only unlock once they turn 18. Roblox Roblox says over half of its users are now age checked, whether through ID verification or face scans. With the new account types rolled out globally which the company says should be done by June itll start forcing users who havent completed an age check into a Kids-like experience, with no access to chat or games rated higher than Mild. Once age verification is completed, Roblox still faces the task of ensuring that its vast collection of user-created content is actually age-appropriate. Its solution to this is, of course, ID verification, AI and upcharges. Developers will have to verify their identity and pony up $5 a month for Roblox Plus to show a long-term commitment to the platform. The wisdom is that, with these hurdles cleared, a developer will surely apply the correct maturity label to their games. On the off-chance that an experience is mislabeled, Robloxs AI moderation will keep tabs on game instances to make sure what's happening on-screen and in-chat matches the maturity label. On the surface, this does leave a gap where a toddler could end up playing an incorrectly labeled mature game before the AI catches it. Dont fret, though, as Roblox says users over 16 play new games first, which surely isnt an overgeneralization and will ensure that no child ever plays a mature game. Roblox also previewed a pair of new parental control features coming in June. First, parents will be able to block any game and manage direct chat access until a child turns 16. Previously, kids over 13 could unblock experiences by themselves. Second, parents will be able to approve games outside of their childs age bracket on a case-by-case basis. Roblox gave an example of a younger child wanting to play a game with their older sibling for this features utility. Of course, the big blocky elephant in the room is the efficacy of automated age verification. Reporting from Wired in January suggested even enterprising toddlers might be able to get past the platforms age checks, which somewhat undermines everything Roblox is trying to achieve. Speaking to press ahead of todays announcement, Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said, If we get it wrong we offer users multiple ways to correct that. He added that the platform is constantly measuring users behavior and comparing that against what their age-check data says. If we see those things divert, then we will just ask people to run through the age process again. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/roblox-introduces-mandatory-age-gated-account-tiers-121535702.html?src=rss

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