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Spotify's new playlist feature gives users more control over their recommendation algorithm
Spotify is attempting to give users more control over the music the streaming service recommends with a new playlist feature called "Prompted Playlist." The beta feature is rolling out in New Zealand starting on December 11, and will let users write a custom prompt that Spotify can use — alongside their listening history — to create a playlist of new music.
By tapping on Prompted Playlist, Spotify subscribers participating in the beta will be presented with a prompt field where they can type exactly what they want to hear and how they want Spotify's algorithm to respond. And while past AI features took users' individual taste into consideration, Spotify claims Prompted Playlist "taps into your entire Spotify listening history, all the way back to day one."
Prompts can be as broad or specific as users want, and Spotify says playlists can also be set to automatically update with new songs on a specific cadence. An "Ideas" tab in the Prompted Playlist setup screen can provide suggestions for users who need inspiration for their prompt. And interestingly, Spotify says each song in the playlist will be presented with a short description explaining why the algorithm chose it, which could help direct future fine-tuning.
If this all sounds familiar, it's because Spotify has already tried AI-generated playlists in the past. The difference here, besides Spotify framing the new feature as giving users more "control," is the detail of the prompts, the depth of user data Spotify is applying and the options users will have to keep playlists up-to-date. Prompted Playlist is only available in English for now, but Spotify says the feature will evolve as it adds more users.
Spotify isn't the first company to offer users more direct control over how content is recommended to them. Meta has recently started experimenting with algorithm-tuning options in Threads and Instagram, and TikTok lets users completely reset their For You page to start fresh. The irony of all these features is that algorithm-driven feeds were supposed to be able to recommend good music, posts and videos without additional prompting. Now that prompting is being pitched as a feature, rather than extra work.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotifys-new-playlist-feature-gives-users-more-control-over-their-recommendation-algorithm-203237903.html?src=rssIntel loses its latest challenge to 16-year-old EU antitrust case
Intel will have to pay up in an antitrust case dating back to 2009, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The company has lost its challenge against a €376 million ($438.7 million) regulatory fine levied by the European Commission. However, Intel managed to get the amount reduced to 237 million euros ($276.6 million).
The case began in 2009, when mobile computing was in its infancy and netbooks (remember those?) were all the rage in the PC space. At the time, the EU ruled that Intel violated antitrust laws on multiple fronts. First, it used illegal hidden rebates to push rivals out of the PC processor market. Second, it paid manufacturers to delay or stop production of AMD-powered products.
The latter, the portion that today's fine deals with, was classified as "naked restrictions." It regarded anticompetitive payments Intel made to HP, Acer and Lenovo between 2002 and 2006.
As often happens in these situations, the legal process bounced back and forth through the courts for years. In 2017, Europe's highest court ordered the case to be re-examined, citing a lack of proper economic assessment of how Intel's behavior affected its rivals. Europe's second-highest court then overturned the judgment from the first (hidden rebates) portion of the fine in 2022, a move confirmed by the EU Court of Justice last year. That penalty, initially set at a whopping €1.06 billion ($1.2 billion), was wiped off the books.
The second ("naked restrictions") fine was imposed in 2023 after European courts upheld that portion. Intel's latest challenge sought to have that one removed, too. Instead, it will have to settle for shaving one-third off the initial sum.
With today’s judgment, it's tempting to declare the matter over and done with. But the Commission and Intel can still appeal the decision to the EU Court of Justice on points of law. Tune in next year to see if this long, strange saga has another chapter.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intel-loses-its-latest-challenge-to-16-year-old-eu-antitrust-case-200746004.html?src=rssThe 10 best white elephant gifts worth fighting over for 2025
There are a lot of competing ideas as to what a white elephant gift exchange really is. The origins of the term “white elephant” point to one definition: According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them. It was a far more devious punishment than simply having them executed. The recipient had no choice but to simply thank the king for such an opulent gift, knowing that they likely could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. It would inevitably lead them to financial ruin.
While that story is almost certainly untrue, it can inform one approach to the white elephant gift exchange: gifting something just useful or amusing enough that it won’t immediately get tossed into the trash, but is also somewhat of a burden. However, every workplace, friend group and family unit has their own approach to white elephant gift exchanges nowadays. Some compete to get a gift that others will surely want to steal, while others scavenge for the most niche and targeted gag gifts. Almost all of them, though, typically have a price limit that keeps the burden of gift giving to a minimum — usually $50 or less. So with all of that in mind, here are some white elephant gift ideas that will get you a few chuckles without requiring you to spend too much (or think too hard about it).
Best white elephant gift ideas
White elephant FAQs
What is white elephant?
A white elephant gift exchange is a party game typically played around the holidays in which people exchange funny, impractical gifts.
How does white elephant work?
A group of people each bring one wrapped gift to the white elephant gift exchange, and each gift is typically of a similar value. All gifts are then placed together and the group decides the order in which they will each claim a gift. The first person picks a white elephant gift from the pile, unwraps it and their turn ends. The following players can either decide to unwrap another gift and claim it as their own, or steal a gift from someone who has already taken a turn. The rules can vary from there, including the guidelines around how often a single item can be stolen — some say twice, max. The game ends when every person has a white elephant gift.
Why is it called white elephant?
The term “white elephant” is said to come from the legend of the King of Siam gifting white elephants to courtiers who upset him. While it seems like a lavish gift on its face, the belief is that the courtiers would be ruined by the animal’s upkeep costs.
Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-10-best-white-elephant-gifts-worth-fighting-over-for-2025-150516281.html?src=rssThe world premieres and other hotness from The Game Awards 2025 Day of the Devs stream
You gotta love that post-Day of the Devs showcase feeling. The organization, founded by Double Fine Productions and iam8bit, consistently highlights top-tier games from independent developers across the globe, providing space for creators to share their stories in both online and in-person events. This year’s Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital Showcase was an hour-long celebration of 22 upcoming indie games, including six world premieres and three release date announcements.
Settle in and bask in the afterglow with us:
World Premieres
Virtue and a Sledgehammer - Deconstructeam
Deconstructeam is a small Spanish studio that’s responsible for some of the most cerebral, sexy and darkly philosophical games around, including Gods Will Be Watching, The Red Strings Club and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood. The team’s next project is Virtue and a Sledgehammer, and it represents a new look with 3D, cel-shaded animations and a third-person perspective rather than the studio’s typical pixelated planar fare. The vibes are just as sinister and introspective as expected, though.
Virtue and a Sledgehammer is a moody coming-of-age experience set in a wooded ghost town dotted with robots and lost locals. Spend quiet moments with old friends and then swing the sledgehammer to raze your hometown and uncover memories that can help you move on. The game’s buildings and objects are highly reactive, which can only help with the catharsis of it all.
Virtue and a Sledgehammer is due to hit Steam in 2026, published by Devolver Digital.
UN:Me - Shueisha Games
Now, this is a horror game. UN:Me comes from Japanese publisher Shueisha Games and developer Historia, and it’s a creepy, mind-bending exploration of primal fear. It stars a young woman with four souls trapped inside of her body, fighting for control of her consciousness. She wanders sterile, illogical hallways and encounters grotesque horrors representing common human fears like heights, authority figures and confined spaces. The souls switch randomly, each one manifesting a specific anxiety. As she wanders, the player has to choose souls to eliminate until only one remains. Whether it’s her real soul or a fake isn’t disclosed until the very end.
UN:Me is available to wishlist now on Steam.
Scramble Knights Royale - Funktronic Labs
Funktronic Labs is mainly known as a VR studio, with games like Cosmic Trip, Fujii and The Light Brigade under its belt, but its latest project doesn’t require a headset at all. Scramble Knights Royale is coming to PC and Xbox in 2026, and it’s a battle royale with adventure game twists. You begin on a boat with 30 to 40 other online players, make your way to land on the back of a turtle, and then it’s essentially Naked and Afraid from there. Find resources, fight creatures, upgrade your gear and play your own game, only battling other players when you encounter them in the wild.
Don’t let the sweet, clay-like animations fool you, either — Funktronic says the combat mechanics are incredibly deep and finely honed. Scramble Knights Royale also supports local split-screen.
Mirria - Mografi
Mografi made a name for itself with the adorable Jenny LeClue detective game, but now it’s time for something different. Mirria is an atmospheric puzzle experience from ISLANDS: Non-Places artist Carl Burton, published by Mografi, and it looks like a delicious mix of Kentucky Route Zero and Monument Valley. In Mirria, you explore mirror worlds and attempt to make the two realities match, paying attention to small details and making minute adjustments until the unsettling environments are perfect reflections. It looks and sounds like soul-soothing stuff.
Mirria is due out in 2026 on Steam.
CorgiSpace - Finji
In recent years, Finji founder Adam Saltsman has been involved in high-profile indie games like Overlands, Night in the Woods, Tunic and Usual June, but his new project taps into his simplistic and mechanics-driven Canabalt roots. Corgispace is a collection of 8-bit games with off-kilter premises, including the soulslike Rat Dreams where you can only dodgeroll, the no-jumping platformer Skeleton Jeleton, and Prince of Prussia, an adventure where you stab Nazis “but in a fun new way,” according to Saltsman. Also, he says there are no secrets in this game, which leads us to believe there is at least one secret in this game.
Corgispace is out now (!) on Steam and Itch.io.
Frog Sqwad - Panic Stations
If the former Fall Guys developers at Panic Stations know how to do one thing, it’s make a silly-physics multiplayer game, so that’s exactly what they’re doing. Frog Sqwad is a co-op experience where you and your fellow frogs search the sewers for food in order to satiate the swamp king. You can eat food to grow bigger and become the mega frog, vomit to shrink, and use your long sticky tongue to swing, hang and slingshot your friends. The sewer levels are procedurally generated, so your froggy playground will always be different, and each run gets harder as the swamp king requires more food.
Frog Sqwad is coming to Steam in 2026, with a playtest beforehand.
Release dates
Dogpile by Studio Folly, Toot Games and Foot: Today, like literally right now
Big Hops by Luckhsot Games: January 12
Demon Tides by Fabraz: February 19, 2026
And the rest
The stream featured a dozen other in-development titles, including the super spooky Lucid Falls, a 90s-grunge-band rhythm game called Rockbeasts, the soothing alien musicality of Soundgrass, an impressive-looking follow-up to The Invincible called Into the Fire, and Unshine Arcade, a creepy game about the secret lives of tamagotchis and claw machines.
The Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital Showcase 2025 wrapped up with a neat little announcement. The organization teamed up with the Video Game History Foundation to release Xcavator 2025, a finished version of a long-lost game from legendary programmer Chris Oberth. It was originally developed by Big Buck Hunter studio Incredible Technologies but never found a publisher. It’s been revived by Mega Cat Studios, Retrotainment Games and iam8bit, and an NES cartridge of Xcavator 2025 is available to pre-order now on iam8bit. Proceeds will benefit the Video Game History Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-world-premieres-and-other-hotness-from-the-game-awards-2025-day-of-the-devs-stream-200000447.html?src=rssPS Plus Game Catalog additions for December include Assassin's Creed Mirage
Sony just announced December's Game Catalog additions for PS Plus subscribers and it's a pretty decent lineup. All of these titles will be ready to play on December 16, except Skate Story which is already available.
Speaking of Skate Story, it's a really weird skateboarding sim that's set in a glass-covered world. The reviews have been positive, with many people praising the outlandish story, surreal locations and the satisfying trick mechanics. It's made by Sam Eng, who was behind the indie shooter Zarvot. This new game is only available for PS5 subscribers.
Assassin's Creed Mirage will be available for both PS4 and PS5 players. This is the mainline entry from 2023 and it's actually really fun. It boasts a "back to basics" design that old-school fans of the franchise should appreciate.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a 3D action RPG that started its life as a mobile game. However, this particular RPG features music compositions from Nobuo Uematsu and art direction from Hideo Minaba. Both worked together on some games in a mom-and-pop franchise called Final Fantasy. This console port will be playable on PS4 and PS5
Cat Quest III is a simple action RPG starring, well, cats (and dogs.) This one brings open world tomfoolery to a land teeming with islands, so expect plenty of pirate puns. I enjoyed the first two, as the gameplay loop is pretty addictive and the quests are fun. It'll be available on PS4 and PS5.
Other forthcoming games include Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Lego Horizon Adventures, Paw Patrol: Grand Prix and Planet Coaster 2. Sony is also offering a holiday promotion in which new annual PS Plus subscribers receive download credits for movies.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/ps-plus-game-catalog-additions-for-december-include-assassins-creed-mirage-193731745.html?src=rss12 steps you can take right now to be safer online
There's a fundamental question you can ask of both the internet and real life: "How do I enjoy my time here without taking unnecessary risks?" In grass-touching meatspace, you can cut out processed foods, carry pepper spray and avoid skydiving without a partner.
But the best methods for staying safe online aren't as intuitive. The internet is a massive town square where people are constantly bellowing deeply personal facts about themselves. It's no surprise that it's become a breeding ground for scams, theft and other criminal activity.
Given the breadth of dangers, it may feel easier to throw up your hands and say that whatever happens will happen. I'm here to tell you, though, that cybersecurity doesn't have to be complex, difficult or time-consuming. You don't need to be a hacker to foil a hacker — you only have to take advantage of simple tips and free apps designed to make you safer online. Whether you commit to all 12 detailed here or only focus on one, you'll be much more secure for it.
1. Install security updates immediately
One of the most important things you can do to ensure your digital security is to install all software updates as soon as they become available on your devices. When you see the notification, don't wait — train yourself to download the update immediately.
Not all software updates are about security, but the ones that are form your best line of defense against technical hacks. When developers discover a flaw that can be exploited, they ship an update to fix it. By the time the flaw gets patched, chances are very high that hackers also know about it, so any time lost means you could be the next to get exploited.
As you go down this list, you'll learn that cybersecurity threats are less technical than you think. To counter the ones that are, however, there's nothing more important you can do than install security updates.
2. Use strong passwords
Weak, easily guessed passwords are one of the most frequent causes of data breaches and malware attacks. If a password is one of the ten or so most common, an attacker may be able to guess it with no other information. If it's connected to you — your birthday, say, or mother's maiden name — it may be guessable from information anyone can look up online.
Even if your password is a random string of characters, it might still be guessable if it's too short. Hackers can use programs to guess all possible combinations and try each one on a target account. The longer a password is, the more exponentially difficult it is to guess.
That means you need passwords that are both long and meaningless to you. You might rightly complain that these are bastards to remember, but you're in luck: password managers can do that for you. A password manager app or browser extension can create passwords when you need them, store them securely and fill them in automatically. All you have to remember is the one master password that unlocks all the others.
3. Set up two-factor authentication
Even the strongest password might get revealed through no fault of your own, like if it's stored without encryption and leaked in a data breach. That's why it helps to have two-factor authentication (2FA), also known as multi-factor authentication (MFA), as a second secure layer on every account.
You probably already know 2FA as the irritating extra step that makes you go get your phone — but that's not the only way to do it. Many apps, including Google and Apple, now let you log in through passkeys. These not only don't require you to enter a code or password, but use asymmetric encryption, sharing credentials between your device and the service that runs the passkeys. It's a lot quicker for you, and leaves nothing to steal.
4. Back everything up
Ransomware and its cousins are a growth industry within the cybercrime economy. These attacks corrupt your files or lock you out of them until you pay a fee to get them back. The easiest way to foil a ransomware attack, or to clear any other kind of malware off a device, is to restore the entire system from the most recent backup.
To make sure you actually have a backup, experts recommend the 3-2-1 rule: three different backups, on two different types of storage, with at least one physically distant from the main system. For example, you could have one backup on another device in your house, one in the cloud and one on a portable hard drive. Automatic backup services can save disk images for you at set intervals so you don't have to remember to do it yourself.
5. Learn to spot social engineering
Despite all the technobabble flying around the cybersecurity world, a great many scams and hacks are accomplished through methods a 19th-century con artist would recognize. Scammers pose as experts or authority figures to gain your trust, and use frightening language to bypass your critical thinking. Ticking clocks, emotional manipulation and fake identities are all in the toolbox.
Take phishing, in which hackers trick you into giving up your information willingly. A typical phishing email might pose as a bank, credit bureau or other authoritative service. In red letters, it may demand your bank password or social security number to immediately fix an irregularity with your account. Other common approaches include warning you about speeding tickets you never incurred or sending receipts for subscriptions you never bought.
Social engineering attacks are constantly evolving, but they often fall back on the same strategies. The best way to foil them is to take a deep breath every time you receive a frightening email or text message, then research it in detail: look up the email address, check the visual design to make sure the sender is who they claim to be, and ask yourself if there's any way the message could be true. I highly recommend working through this phishing quiz — it's tough, but fair, and extremely educational.
6. Always check links before clicking
This is a companion to the previous tip. Social engineering scams don't always try to get you to give up information yourself. They also get you to click on links that put secret malware on your device — like keyloggers that watch you type your passwords or ransomware programs that corrupt your files.
If you're ever not sure about an email attachment or a link you're being asked to click, copy the link (without opening it) and paste it into a URL checker like this one from NordVPN. These free tools can tell you if a link is associated with any known malware domains.
You can also mouse over any link, then look at the bottom-left of your browser to see what URL it will take you to. If an email is from your bank, any links within it should go to your bank's website. If it's going anywhere else, especially to an unidentifiable string of characters, be suspicious.
A related tip is to never copy and paste something into your URL bar if you aren't absolutely sure of what it will do. Social engineering doesn't always get you to click the link — sometimes attackers leave it un-hyperlinked so mousing over it doesn't reveal anything. This also goes for the command modules on desktop and laptop computers. In a recent documented attack, hackers convinced AI chatbots to suggest a command that gave them root access to the victim's device. Never copy-paste anything into the command window without verifying it first, especially if an AI told you to do it.
7. Don't overshare
Over the last two decades, lots of us have gotten into the habit of dumping all sorts of personal information on social media. This trend has supercharged the scam economy. It may seem harmless to broadcast the names of your kids or the dates you'll be on vacation, but every piece of data you put into the world makes it easier for a stranger to get hooks into you.
For example, "grandparent scams" are on the rise right now. Grifters contact a target, usually a senior, pretending to be their grandchild. They'll claim to be in a crisis and need money fast. The more information they have on their target, the more convincing their tale of woe will be. Social media is a prime place to study a potential victim.
Oversharing can also be a compounding problem. If you use weak passwords, your public information can be used to guess your credentials or answer your security questions. So, if you don't have a password manager yet, think twice before you engage with that quiz post on Facebook that asks for the name of your childhood pet.
8. Use a VPN
I'm a big booster of virtual private networks (VPNs), but it's important to be realistic about what they can and can't do. Even the best VPNs aren't total cybersecurity solutions — you can't just set one and assume you're safe forever. A VPN can't protect you if you use easily guessed passwords, for example, or click on a malware link. It's about hiding your identity, not making you invulnerable.
So what can a VPN do? In short, it replaces your IP address (a fingerprint that identifies you online) with another IP address, belonging to a server owned by the VPN. The VPN server does business with the internet on your behalf, while its conversations with your device are encrypted so it can't be traced back to you.
This means no third party can connect your online actions with your real-world identity. Nobody will be harvesting data on the websites you visit to sell to advertisers, nor building a file on you that an unscrupulous government might misuse. VPNs also protect you from fake public Wi-Fi networks set up by cybercriminals — even if a hacker tricks you with a man-in-the-middle attack, they can't do much without your real IP address.
Many top VPNs, including my top pick Proton VPN, include ad blockers that can also keep cookies and tracking pixels from latching onto you. So, even if a VPN can't do everything, you'll be far safer and more private with one than without one. If you don’t want to pay for a new subscription right now, I've also compiled a list of the best free VPNs that are actually safe to use.
9. Run regular virus scans
The most important time to look for malware is when you're downloading a file from the internet. Not only can unwanted apps hitch rides on seemingly safe files, but links can start downloads in secret, even if you don't think they're meant to be downloading anything. A solid antivirus program can catch malware as it arrives on your system, and if it's uncertain, can lock suspicious files in quarantine until it knows whether they're safe or not.
Dedicated antivirus apps are sometimes even capable of catching malware that hasn't been seen or used yet. AV software uses machine learning to identify the common patterns of malware, filtering out new viruses that behave like old ones.
But what about malware that's already gotten through the perimeter? An antivirus app can also check your computer at set intervals in search of unwanted apps, including those that might be masquerading as system files. Windows computers now come pre-installed with Windows Defender, which is enough to handle most of these tasks, but I recommend at least one anti-malware program on any device.
10. Use email maskers and private search engines
If you're concerned about your information being misused or mishandled, remember that the less you put out into the world, the less danger you're in. Keeping your private data off social media is one important step, but there are other ways your data gets disseminated — and other options for responding.
For example, you often need an email address to sign up for an online account. If you use your real email, your contact information is now floating around online, increasing the chance of someone using it to scam you (or at least adding you to mailing lists you never signed up for). To stay safe, use an email masker. These services give you a fake email address you can use to create accounts, which automatically forwards messages to your real address.
Search engines, especially Google, are also notorious for building profiles on users by watching the terms they search for. You can dodge that by switching to a private search engine like DuckDuckGo, which doesn't track anything you do — it's funded by non-targeted ad sales on its search results pages, not by selling your data to brokers.
11. Use a data removal service
Speaking of data brokers: unfortunately, if you've been on the internet at any point in the last 10 years without taking intense precautions, your data is probably in the hands of at least one business that makes money by hoarding and selling it. These data brokers range from public-facing, people-search sites to private backend dealers.
Data brokers are poorly regulated and lax about safety. The longer one has your personal information, the more likely it is to leak. The good news is that most brokers (though not all of them) are legally required to delete your data if you ask them to.
However, there are a lot of data brokers out there, and they really want to keep your data. Each one makes opting out harder than uninstalling a Norton product — and hundreds of them may have files on you. To make the process easier, you can use a data removal service like DeleteMe or Surfshark VPN's partner service Incogni.
12. Practice physical security
Let's close out the list by getting a little old school. I've already discussed how many online scams depend on classic con artistry to work. By the same token, physical infiltration and smash-and-grab tactics still pose a threat to cybersecurity.
It doesn't take too much imagination to see how this could work. If you leave your laptop or phone unattended in public, for example, someone might insert a flash drive that loads malware onto the system. In one illustrative case, a thief in the Minneapolis area would loiter in bars, watch people unlock their phones, then steal those phones and unlock them himself.
I'm not saying you need to be paranoid every second you're in public. Just use the same level of caution you'd use to protect your car. Lock your phone with a biometric key so only you can open it, and make sure not to leave any device lying around if it can access your online accounts. And at work, be careful not to let anyone into a secure area if they don't have the proper credentials.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/12-steps-you-can-take-right-now-to-be-safer-online-130008335.html?src=rssState Department: Calibri font was a DEI hire
The US Department of State is unwinding a 2023 decision to use san-serif Calibri font on all official communications and switching to Times New Roman instead, The New York Times reports. In a memo obtained by NYT titled "Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper," Secretary of State Marco Rubio frames the change as a way to return professionalism to the State Department.
"Switching to Calibri achieved nothing except the degradation of the department’s official correspondence," Rubio said in the memo. That's because the font is "informal" and clashes with the State Department's letterhead, according to Rubio, while serif fonts like Times New Roman "connote tradition, formality and ceremony."
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken originally switched the State Department to Calibri in 2023 to improve the accessibility of official communications. The curvy, flourish-free lines of sans-serif fonts work better with assistive technologies like screen readers and text-to-speech tools. Serif fonts, meanwhile, are typically used in things like newspapers to make small, printed text legible.
While Rubio notes that Calibri "was not among the department’s most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of D.E.I.A.," it seems clear that Rubio lumps the font in with those same diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives. Getting rid of it is an easy (and weirdly petty) way to follow through on the second Trump administration's anti-DEI stance towards just about everything.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/state-department-calibri-font-was-a-dei-hire-190454957.html?src=rssHackers tricked ChatGPT, Grok and Google into helping them install malware
Ever since reporting earlier this year on how easy it is to trick an agentic browser, I've been following the intersections between modern AI and old-school scams. Now, there's a new convergence on the horizon: hackers are apparently using AI prompts to seed Google search results with dangerous commands. When executed by unknowing users, these commands prompt computers to give the hackers the access they need to install malware.
The warning comes by way of a recent report from detection-and-response firm Huntress. Here's how it works. First, the threat actor has a conversation with an AI assistant about a common search term, during which they prompt the AI to suggest pasting a certain command into a computer's terminal. They make the chat publicly visible and pay to boost it on Google. From then on, whenever someone searches for the term, the malicious instructions will show up high on the first page of results.
Huntress ran tests on both ChatGPT and Grok after discovering that a Mac-targeting data exfiltration attack called AMOS had originated from a simple Google search. The user of the infected device had searched "clear disk space on Mac," clicked a sponsored ChatGPT link and — lacking the training to see that the advice was hostile — executed the command. This let the attackers install the AMOS malware. The testers discovered that both chatbots replicated the attack vector.
As Huntress points out, the evil genius of this attack is that it bypasses almost all the traditional red flags we've been taught to look for. The victim doesn't have to download a file, install a suspicious executable or even click a shady link. The only things they have to trust are Google and ChatGPT, which they've either used before or heard about nonstop for the last several years. They're primed to trust what those sources tell them. Even worse, while the link to the ChatGPT conversation has since been taken off Google, it was up for at least half a day after Huntress published their blog post.
This news comes at a time that's already fraught for both AIs. Grok has been getting dunked on for sucking up to Elon Musk in despicable ways, while ChatGPT creator OpenAI has been falling behind the competition. It's not yet clear if the attack can be replicated with other chatbots, but for now, I strongly recommend using caution. Alongside your other common-sense cybersecurity steps, make sure to never paste anything into your command terminal or your browser URL bar if you aren't certain of what it will do.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/hackers-tricked-chatgpt-grok-and-google-into-helping-them-install-malware-185711492.html?src=rssYouTube TV Plans will let you choose genre-specific content packages
YouTube TV, which launched in 2017 as a $35-per-month all-in-one service, will soon introduce YouTube TV Plans. Although the announcement is light on details, we know the initiative will let you sign up for genre-specific packages, such as sports and news. In other words, it's the final step in the legacy-cable-ification of the service.
YouTube hasn't said anything about pricing. But it's probably safe to assume that narrowing your available content will reduce your bill. A year ago, the company raised its monthly cost to $83. That's 137 percent higher than the service’s launch price nearly nine years ago.
We don't yet have the full list of available plans, but YouTube mentioned packages for sports, news and "family and entertainment content." As expected, it promised that you can mix and match them. The YouTube TV Sports Plan will include access to all major broadcast channels and several sports networks, like all ESPN networks, FS1, and NBC Sports Network. It sounds similar to offerings from Fubo and DirecTV.
YouTube TV plans will launch in early 2026. The current $83 all-in-one model will remain available alongside it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/youtube-tv-plans-will-let-you-choose-genre-specific-content-packages-182909455.html?src=rssAmazon brings same-day deliveries of perishable food items to 1,300 new areas
Amazon is introducing same-day delivery of perishable food items to 1,300 new cities and towns throughout the country, upping the total service area to more than 2,300 locations. This expansion covers cities like Boise, Salt Lake City, Fort Collins, Omaha, Des Moines and many more.
Check the link to see if it has expanded to where you live. The commerce giant says it will be bringing the service to even more cities in 2026, making the platform a real rival to stuff like Instacart and Walmart+.
Amazon introduced this feature earlier this year and it has proven to be quite the success, given today's move. It lets people order perishable food items like fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat alongside other more traditional items like electronics and books.
Amazon uses a "specialized temperature-controlled fulfillment network” to ensure that perishables remain in tip-top shape and they are delivered in insulated bags. The deliveries are free for Prime members, as long as the order exceeds $25. Everyone else has to pay $13 per order.
The company says that fresh groceries already make up nine of the top ten most-ordered items for quick delivery, which is a fairly astounding metric. People want their avocados. Amazon has been steadily increasing the number of items available via this method by incorporating Whole Foods products.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-brings-same-day-deliveries-of-perishable-food-items-to-1300-new-areas-175746531.html?src=rssThe UK government will 'look into' Rockstar's firing of union-organizing workers
Rockstar Games may have to answer for what appears to be union-busting behavior. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, under pressure from parliament, said the government will "look into" the firing of 31 employees in October.
The sacked workers were all part of a private trade union chat group on Discord. The company claimed the firings were "for gross misconduct" and accused the workers of sharing confidential information outside of the company.
But based on what we know, it's hard to see that characterization as anything but union-busting in search of legal cover. The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) described the case as "the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry."
In November, IWGB issued legal claims against the Grand Theft Auto developer. The next day, over 200 staff at Rockstar North signed a letter condemning the firings and pressuring management to reinstate the workers. Earlier that month, the fired workers and their supporters protested outside Rockstar North's Edinburgh headquarters. Others picketed in Paris, London and New York.
“It’s clear to everyone close to this situation that this is a blatant, unapologetic act of vicious union busting,” one of the fired staffers said anonymously in a November statement. “Rockstar employs so many talented game developers, all of whom are crucial to making the games we put out.”
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP Chris Murray, who prompted Starmer's response, said in parliament that he recently met with Rockstar to discuss the case. "The meeting only entrenched my concerns about the process Rockstar used to dismiss so many of their staff members," he said. "I was not assured their process paid robust attention to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this course of action was necessary, and alarmingly, I did not leave informed on exactly what these 31 people had done to warrant their immediate dismissal."
Murray added that Rockstar initially refused entry to the MPs unless they signed a non-disclosure agreement. The company eventually relented on that front.
On Wednesday, Murray triggered Starmer's response in parliament. The MP asked the Prime Minister if he agreed that "all companies, regardless of profit size, must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?"
Starmer replied that he found the case "deeply concerning." He added that "every worker has the right to join a trade union, and we're determined to strengthen workers' rights and ensure they don't face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case the member raises and will keep him updated."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-uk-government-will-look-into-rockstars-firing-of-union-organizing-workers-174216696.html?src=rssThe best VPN deals: Up to 88 percent off ProtonVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, NordVPN and more
With a good virtual private network (VPN), you can stream TV shows and events from all over the world, protect your information from hackers and thwart those online trackers that watch you sleep and show you weird personalized ads. Although we strongly recommend using a VPN, you shouldn't jump on just any deal — a bit of comparison shopping goes a long way in this market. The pricing you see on VPN websites is often not an accurate portrayal of what you'll actually pay.
Even so, there are some great bargains on the table. Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over, but lots of the best VPNs — including our top pick, Proton VPN — have end-of-year deals live that can save you anywhere from 67 to 88 percent on annual subscriptions. Most of these discounts only apply if you sign up for a year or more, but as long as you're sure you like the service, committing actually makes sense. You pay more at the start, but if you divide the cost by the months of service, it's significantly cheaper over time.
Most of the deals below follow that pattern, so make sure you're comfortable with a service before you take the plunge. Read on for the best VPN deals live this week.
Best VPN deals
ExpressVPN Basic — $97.72 for a two-year subscription with four months free (73 percent off): This is one of the best VPNs, especially for new users, who will find its apps and website headache-free on all platforms. In tests for my ExpressVPN review, it dropped my download speeds by less than 7 percent and successfully changed my virtual location 14 out of 15 times. In short, it's an all-around excellent service that only suffers from being a little overpriced — which is why I'm so excited whenever I find it offering a decent deal. This discount, which gets you 28 months of ExpressVPN service, represents a 73 percent savings. Be aware, though, that it'll renew at the $99.95 per year price.
ExpressVPN Advanced — $125.72 for a two-year subscription with four months free (67 percent off): ExpressVPN recently split its pricing into multiple tiers, but they all still come with similar discounts for going long. In addition to top-tier VPN service, advanced users get two additional simultaneous connections (for a total of 12), the ExpressVPN Keys password manager, advanced ad and tracker blocking, ID protection features and a 50 percent discount on an AirCove router. As above, note that it renews at $119.95 annually.
NordVPN Basic — $80.73 for a two-year subscription with three months free (74 percent off): NordVPN gets the most important parts of a VPN right. It's fast, it doesn't leak any of your data and it's great at changing your virtual location. I noted in my NordVPN review that it always connects quickly and includes a support page that makes it easy to get live help. NordVPN includes a lot of cool features, like servers that instantly connect you to Tor. This holiday deal gives you 74 percent off the two-year plan, which also comes with three extra months.
NordVPN Plus — $105.03 for a two-year subscription with three months free (74 percent off): In another holiday discount, NordVPN has also taken 74 percent off its Plus subscription. For only a little more, you get a powerful ad and tracker blocker that can also catch malware downloads, plus access to the NordPass password manager. A Plus plan also adds a data breach scanner that checks the dark web for your sensitive information.
Surfshark Starter — $53.73 for a two-year subscription with three months free (87 percent off): This is the "basic" level of Surfshark, but it includes the entire VPN; everything on Surfshark One is an extra perk. With this subscription, you'll get some of the most envelope-pushing features in the VPN world right now. Surfshark can rotate your IP constantly to help you evade detection — it even lets you choose your own entry and exit nodes for a double-hop connection. That all comes with a near-invisible impact on download speeds. With this year-round deal, you can save 87 percent on 27 months of Surfshark.
Surfshark One — $61.83 for a two-year subscription with three months free (88 percent off): A VPN is great, but it's not enough to protect your data all on its own. Surfshark One adds several apps that boost your security beyond just VPN service, including Surfshark Antivirus (scans devices and downloads for malware) and Surfshark Alert (alerts you whenever your sensitive information shows up in a data breach), plus Surfshark Search and Alternative ID from the tier below. This extra-low deal gives you 88 percent off all those features. If you bump up to Surfshark One+, you'll also get data removal through Incogni, but the price jumps enough that it's not quite worthwhile in my eyes.
CyberGhost — $56.94 for a two-year subscription with two months free (83 percent off): CyberGhost has some of the best automation you'll see on any VPN. With its Smart Rules system, you can determine how its apps respond to different types of Wi-Fi networks, with exceptions for specific networks you know by name. Typically, you can set it to auto-connect, disconnect or send you a message asking what to do. CyberGhost's other best feature is its streaming servers — I've found both better video quality and more consistent unblocking when I use them on streaming sites. Currently, you can get 26 months of CyberGhost for 83 percent off the usual price.
hide.me — $69.95 for a two-year subscription with four months free (75 percent off): Hide.me is an excellent free VPN — in fact, it's my favorite on the market, even with EventVPN and the free version of Proton VPN as competition. If you do want to upgrade to its paid plan, though, the two-year subscription offers great savings. Hide.me works well as a no-frills beginner VPN, with apps and a server network it should frankly be charging more for.
Private Internet Access — $79 for a three-year subscription with four months free (83 percent off): With this deal, you can get 40 months of Private Internet Access (PIA) for a little bit under $2 per month — an 83 percent discount on its monthly price. Despite being so cheap, PIA has plenty of features, coming with its own DNS servers, a built-in ad blocker and automation powers to rival CyberGhost. However, internet speeds can fluctuate while you're connected.
What makes a good VPN deal
Practically every VPN heavily discounts its long-term subscriptions year-round, with even sharper discounts around occasions like the holidays. The only noteworthy exception is Mullvad, the Costco hot dog of VPNs (that's a compliment, to be clear). When there's constantly a huge discount going on, it can be hard to tell when you're actually getting a good deal. The best way to squeeze out more savings is to look for seasonal deals, student discounts or exclusive sales like Proton VPN's coupon for Engadget readers.
One trick VPNs often use is to add extra months onto an introductory deal, pushing the average monthly price even lower. When it comes time to renew, you usually can't get these extra months again. You often can't even renew for the same basic period of time — for example, you may only be able to renew a two-year subscription for one year. If you're planning to hold onto a VPN indefinitely, check the fine print to see how much it will cost per month after the first renewal, and ensure that fits into your budget.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-vpn-deals-up-to-88-percent-off-protonvpn-surfshark-expressvpn-nordvpn-and-more-120056445.html?src=rssThe next Nintendo Switch Online additions are N64 games Rayman 2: The Great Escape and Tonic Trouble
Nintendo has announced its Nintendo Switch Online additions for December, which are for all the N64-era 3D platformer fans out there. On December 17, Rayman 2: The Great Escape and Tonic Trouble are joining the Switch’s Nintendo Classics library. As a reminder, N64 games are exclusive to Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers, along with the emulators for the Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis and GameCube.
For retro gaming completionsists, Tonic Trouble might actually be the more interesting get for NSO, despite being far less well known than the Rayman series. It was Ubisoft’s first 3D platformer, but a number of delays meant it ended up releasing in the same year as Rayman 2, and therefore has become a bit lost to time. The game stars an alien janitor named Ed, who accidentally drops a powerful green tonic out of his spaceship and all over Earth, making a mutated mess of the planet that he has to clean up.
Tonic Trouble was also conceptualized by Rayman creator Michel Ancel, but Ubisoft clearly only had room for one limbless mascot going forward. Arriving in 1999, Rayman 2: The Great Escape was the series’ Super Mario 64 moment, reimagining the original 2D game as a 3D platformer that was met with critical acclaim at launch. These days, the superb Rayman Legends would probably be most fans’ pick for the best game in the long-running series, but Rayman 2 would likely be near the top of the list.
Today’s announcement means that Rayman arrives on the N64 NSO app before Nintendo's own Donkey Kong 64, which has been one of the most requested games for years. Why the company still hasn’t handed that one over in a year when the big ape made his triumphant 3D platformer comeback remains a mystery. But with the Rayman series kicking off its 30th anniversary celebrations back in September, the arrival of Rayman 2 makes a lot of sense.
Nintendo updated its N64 app for the launch of the Switch 2 earlier this year. Fire it up on today and you can make use of a rewind function, as well as a new CRT filter for optimum nostalgia.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-next-switch-online-additions-are-n64-games-rayman-2-the-great-escape-and-tonic-trouble-171500122.html?src=rssReddit is starting to verify public figures
Like it or not, the checkmark has become an almost universal symbol on most social platforms, even though its exact meaning can vary significantly between services. Now, Reddit, which historically hasn't cared that much about its users' identity, is joining the club and starting to test verification for public figures on its platform.
The company is beginning "a limited alpha test" of the feature with a small "curated" group of accounts that includes journalists from major media outlets like NBC News and the Boston Globe. Businesses that are already using an "official" badge, which Reddit started testing in 2023, will also now have a grey "verified" checkmark instead of the "official" label.
Verification has long been a thorny issue for many platforms. For users, it's at times been a source of confusion, especially on sites where verified badges only require a paid subscription. Reddit's approach, at least for now, is closer to how Twitter handled verification prior to Elon Musk's takeover of the company.
The company has handpicked the initial group who will get checkmarks indicating they have verified their identity and seems to be geared around high-visibility accounts. "This feature is designed to help redditors understand who they're engaging with in moments when verification matters, whether it’s an expert or celebrity hosting an AMA, a journalist reporting news, or a brand sharing information," Reddit explains in a blog post. "Our approach to verification is voluntary, opt-in, and explicitly not about status. It’s designed to add clarity for redditors and ease the burden on moderators who often verify users manually."
For now, Reddit users — even notable ones — won't be able to apply for verification. But the company notes that its intention isn't to limit checkmarks to famous people only. A Reddit spokesperson tells Engadget that "our goal is that anyone who wishes to self-identify will be able to do so in the future."
The company also notes that verification doesn't come with any exclusive perks, like increased visibility or immunity from the rules of individual subreddits. Reddit requires accounts to be in good standing and already active on the platform in order to be eligible for verification. Accounts that are marked NSFW or that "primarily engage in NSFW-tagged communities" won't be eligible.
OpenAI's house of cards seems primed to collapse
OpenAI is in a far less commanding position than it was following the public release of ChatGPT a few short years ago.
Back in 2022, the sudden popularity of ChatGPT sent Google into a panic. The company was so worried about the possibility of the upstart chatbot disrupting its Search business, executives sounded a "code red" alert inside of the company and called Sergey Brin and Larry Page out of retirement to help it formulate a response to OpenAI. It then rushed out Bard, announcing its first commercial chatbot on February 6, 2023. Google's stock tanked days later when the AI incorrectly answered a question about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope during a public demo.
But it wasn't just Google that wanted a piece of OpenAI, while the search giant sought to compete with it, others — including Microsoft and Apple — made deals with the company to bring its technology to their products and services, all the promise that AI would eventually revolutionize every facet of the economy.
Since then, OpenAI has seen its lead against Google and much of the AI industry evaporate, culminating in a series of successive blows throughout 2025. On January 20, the same day Altman was busy rubbing shoulders with other tech oligarchs at Donald Trump’s inauguration, China’s DeepSeek quietly released its R1 chain-of-thought model. A week later, the startup's chatbot surpassed ChatGPT as the most-download free app on the US App Store. The overnight success of DeepSeek eliminated $1 trillion worth of stock market value, and almost certainly left OpenAI blindsided.
In response, the company showed a newfound urgency. In one week, for instance, OpenAI released both o3-mini and Deep Research. It even went so far as to announce the latter on a Sunday evening. But for all its new urgency, OpenAI's biggest, most important release of the year was a miss.
It's safe to say GPT-5 hasn't lived up to anyone's expectations, including OpenAI's own. The company touted the system as smarter, faster and better than all of its previous models, but after users got their hands on it, they complained of a chatbot that made surprisingly dumb mistakes and didn't have much of a personality. For many, GPT-5 felt like a downgrade compared to the older, simpler GPT-4o. That's a position no AI company wants to be in, let alone one that has taken on as much investment as OpenAI.
Anthropic was quick to take advantage of the weakness, signing a deal with Microsoft to bring its Claude models to Copilot 365. Previously, Microsoft depended exclusively on OpenAI for partner models in Copilot. Before the company announced the integration, reporting from The Information said Microsoft made the decision based on the strength of Anthropic's Sonnet 4.0 model, judging it "perform[ed] better in subtle but important ways" relative to OpenAI's offerings.
However, what will likely go down as the defining moment occurred a few short weeks after OpenAI announced the conclusion of its restructuring. On November 18, Google released Gemini 3 Pro, and immediately the new model leap-frogged the competition, including GPT-5. As of the writing of this article, Google's new model is at the top of LMArena, the site where humans compare outputs from different AI systems and vote on the best one. GPT-5, by contrast, is currently ranked sixth overall, behind models from Anthropic and Elon Musk's xAI.
According to a December 2 report from The Wall Street Journal, Sam Altman sent a companywide memo following the release of Gemini 3 Pro. Echoing the words Google used to describe the situation it found itself against OpenAI in 2023, he called for a "code red" effort to improve ChatGPT. Altman reportedly told employees there would be temporary reassignments and that the company would delay some products, all in an effort to catch up to Google and Anthropic.
The few numbers these companies are willing to share don't paint a promising picture for OpenAI. Each month, about 800 million people use ChatGPT. On paper, that's impressive, but Google is catching up there too. In October, the company said the Gemini app had 650 million users, up from 450 million just a few months earlier in July, thanks to the popularity of its Nano Banana Pro image generator.
More importantly, OpenAI has an inherent disadvantage against Google. For the search giant, AI may touch everything the company does now, but Gemini is just one product in an extensive portfolio that includes many other popular services. Google can fund its AI advancements with money it makes elsewhere. OpenAI cannot say the same. The company is constantly raising money to stay afloat, and according to a financial roadmap obtained by The Journal, it will need its revenue to grow to about $200 billion annually to become profitable by 2030. In November, Altman said on X the company was on track to hit above $20 billion in annualized revenue this year.
In an effort to grow revenue, Altman and company have adopted an incredibly risky strategy. In recent months, OpenAI has signed more than $1.4 trillion worth of infrastructure deals in a bid to outscale the competition that is already beating it. Many of those agreements can only be described as circular, and I think the fears about a financial bubble are real. In the first half of 2025, investment in data centers accounted for nearly all of US GDP growth. Even if there's not a repeat of the 2008 housing market crisis or the dot-com crash, the AI boom is at the very least poised to make everyday electronics (and utilities) more expensive for regular people in the short term.
Since late October, demand for server-grade computer components, including memory and storage, has sent the price of consumer PC parts skyrocketing as manufacturers devote more of their production capacity and wafers to high-margin customers like OpenAI and Google. Since late October, the cost of most RAM kits has doubled and tripled. In November, the price of some SSDs went up by as much as 60 percent. Next year, the cost of LPDDR5X memory, which is used in both smartphones and NVIDIA servers, is expected to climb as well.
"Be it carmakers, smartphones or consumer electronics, everyone that uses memory is facing pressure from price hikes and supply constraints in the coming year," Zhao Haijun, the co-CEO of memory manufacturer SMIC told analysts, per Bloomberg.
Gita Gopinath, former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund, recently estimated that if the AI bubble were to burst, it would wipe out $20 trillion in wealth held by American households. The Great Recession, considered the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression, reduced US household net worth by $11.5 trillion, and it took years before for American families to rebuild their wealth to pre-recession levels.
The modern AI bubble may have been started by ChatGPT, but given the crowded field of chatbots and LLMs, it won't necessarily pop should OpenAI go bust. With novelty and technical prowess no longer on its side though, it's now on Altman to prove in short order why his company still deserves such unprecedented levels of investment.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-house-of-cards-seems-primed-to-collapse-170000900.html?src=rssPetco accidentally exposed heaps of customer information
Petco has accidentally exposed a whole lot of customer data and personal information, according to a report by TechCrunch. This is thanks to a security lapse involving its Vetco clinics website, forcing the company to take a portion of that site offline.
Petco has confirmed the leak and TechCrunch noted that the security lapse allowed anyone to download customer records without login information. The exposed data includes customer names, driver's license numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and even financial information. It also includes customer records from visits to Vetco, like medical histories, pet names, vaccination records and other stuff like that.
This was due to an incorrect software setting that made a number of files accessible online, according to a notice filed by California’s attorney general and reported on by Mashable. The company has since corrected the setting, removed the exposed files and implemented security measures.
However, Petco hasn't said if any data was actually extracted during the security lapse or if it even has the means to suss out that kind of thing. Vetco customers should probably perform some due diligence to shore up personal security. The company is offering credit and identity monitoring services to impacted customers, but only in some states. We recommend giving Petco a call to discuss options.
Data breaches of this sort are becoming an unfortunate part of modern life. Recent security breaches have impacted entities like AT&T, Discord, the social network Tea and the human resources company Workday, among others.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/petco-accidentally-exposed-heaps-of-customer-information-163825302.html?src=rssThe best board games to gift for the 2025 holiday season
It's become cliche to say that we live in a golden age of board games, but to paraphrase the great stoic philosopher Andy Bernard, it's great to know you're in the good old days before you've left them. Great titles are still coming out by the thousands every year, from crowd-pleasing party games to genre-bending, theme-heavy Euros. Whether the gamer in your life is looking for a mind-warping challenge, a fun evening with friends or something in-between, we've got new releases or old favorites they'll love.
The best board games to gift (and play)
Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-board-games-to-gift-for-the-2025-holiday-season-125529024.html?src=rssCloverPit, a Balatro-style game with a grungy slot machine, hits iOS and Android on December 17
CloverPit is one of my favorite games of the year so far. Developer Panik Arcade took the formula that helped make Balatro so successful — using various tools to bend the rules of the game to help you rack up obscenely high scores — and based it around a slot machine rather than poker. It’s been a hit so far on PC, where it has sold more than a million copies since September, and on Xbox. CloverPit has been among the top 20 most-played titles on Game Pass since its surprise debut there last month. Now, the horror-tinged roguelite is venturing into new territory, as it’s coming to iOS and Android on December 17.
The mobile versions of the game are said to have a fully-optimized interface, as well as all of the post-launch updates, such as the Hard Mode that Panik Arcade recently added. CloverPit will cost $5 on mobile and it will have no microtransactions or “predatory mechanics.” That might seem surprising for a game centered around a slot machine, but CloverPit isn’t really about gambling (which the developers say they don’t like anyway). It’s about breaking the rules to tilt the odds in your favor.
The setup is pretty straightforward. You’re imprisoned in a rusty cell and you have a rapidly increasing debt to pay off. The only way to do that, and hopefully leave through the door, is to earn enough coins from the slot machine to pay what you owe. There are more than 150 items (which are called charms here) to experiment with that affect things like the number of spins, how much each symbol or pattern is worth and how many tickets you earn. Tickets are what you need to buy more charms.
Figuring out combinations of items that work well together is key to quickly scaling up the number of coins and tickets you can earn from each visit to the slot machine. Fail to pay off your debt by a deadline (i.e. after a certain number of spins) and it’s game over, as you plunge into the titular pit.
CloverPit is strange and beguiling and heaps of fun. I’ve plowed around 39 hours into it on Steam, and I’m sure it’ll take up much of my attention on my phone after it hits mobile next week. Doomspinning seems slightly healthier for my brain than doomscrolling.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/cloverpit-a-balatro-style-game-with-a-grungy-slot-machine-hits-ios-and-android-on-december-17-154500028.html?src=rssApple's Studio Display is $230 off right now
Apple’s Studio Display hasn’t been updated since it launched in 2022, but it remains one of the best monitors for the Mac-oriented, and right now you can pick one up for $230 off. This deal applies specifically to the tilt-adjustable model, which means you can’t adjust the height of the built-in stand. That might be a deal-breaker for some users, but if not, $1,368 is a near-record low.
The Studio Display was a product that Apple devotees had been asking the company to make for years. As well as being a solid 27-inch 5K LED monitor, it also packs in a variety of ports and some surprisingly good speakers. In our 80-scoring review at the time, we praised its bright and color-accurate screen, while bemoaning the fact that it isn't as smooth as Apple’s many ProMotion-equipped devices.
If you’re content with what's already on offer, this is a good deal on what has always been a very expensive luxury device, but bear in mind that there are swirling rumors of a next generation Studio Display that could arrive in 2026. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported earlier this year that Apple might currently have two new models in the works, though it isn’t clear if both will end up making it to retail.
Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-studio-display-is-230-off-right-now-152328981.html?src=rssMasterClass subscriptions are 40 percent off for the holiday season
If learning a new skill is one of your New Year's resolutions, then you might want to know that MasterClass subscriptions are currently 40 percent off. This brings the top-tier subscription with offline mode and use on up to six devices down from $240 annually to $144. The entry-level plan, which supports just one device and doesn't offer offline viewing, is marked down to $72 from $120.
Over the past few years, MasterClass has grown to over 200 classes, sessions and original series. You can learn about entrepreneurship from Richard Branson, screenwriting from Aaron Sorkin, cooking from Gordon Ramsay and heaps more. Each of these offers classes in a one-on-one format with slick instructional videos and often workbooks to accompany them.
MasterClass also appears on our list of the best subscription gifts for this Christmas. Loved ones will enjoy superb production quality and a rich library where they are sure to find something that piques their interest. Gift subscriptions can also be scheduled, so you can take advantage of the current sale even for future gifts. If you're buying it for yourself, know that MasterClass offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Whether you're looking to learn about business from Kim Kardashian or basketball skills from Steph Curry, MasterClass can help you expand your horizons in 2026. The "Holiday Head Start Offer" is available through December 15.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/masterclass-subscriptions-are-40-percent-off-for-the-holiday-season-150520277.html?src=rssProjectors won us over in 2025
Not long ago, you may have thought of projectors as complicated, unreliable or just too expensive. In 2025, though, consumer sentiment started to flip. Companies like Anker and Valerion made the projector experience more practical and immersive, helping drive consumer interest and, ultimately, sales.
This shift has been quite a few years in the making. LG helped kickstart the projector renaissance back at CES 2018 when it introduced its unusual-looking CineBeam HU80K projector that could provide a 150-inch image. The next year at CES saw the dawn of the ultra short-throw (UST) laser projector that could create a similarly large display while sitting just inches from your wall. Another big technological upgrade over the following years was the bright and long-lasting laser light engines that replaced weaker, more fragile bulbs.
The timing couldn’t have been better for projector manufacturers. When COVID shut down theaters in 2020, consumers were forced to get their entertainment at home. Many wanted something akin to a movie theater experience — both indoors and out — and thus interest in projectors started to take off.
In 2025, though, projectors really entered the zeitgeist thanks to two new products. The first was Anker’s SoundCore Nebula X1, the highest-rated home theater product Engadget reviewed this year. It comes with a triple-laser engine that allows for 3,500 lumens of brightness — enough that you can watch it during the day. It also uses liquid cooling to reduce annoying fan noise and offers color-accurate picture quality with support for Dolby Vision HDR.
Even better, it can be carried outside easily via the retractable handle and used for movie nights under the stars. If you splurge for the Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro version that comes with huge party speakers, you can even expect excellent sound quality. It also looks sleek and modern, unlike the plasticky models normally aimed at mid-range buyers.
However, the most interesting feature — which is new for a projector in this price range — is the motorized tilting lens that automatically fits the picture to your screen or surface. That allows buyers to set up the Nebula X1 themselves in just a few minutes, rather than hours. That also makes it easy to move the projector around and use in another location.
The other model that captured our imagination was the Valerion VisionMaster Max. This projector shares many traits of the Nebula X1, like Dolby Vision, a triple laser system and automatic setup. It’s also a nice-looking, modern product.
However, it has two other innovations that made it extra interesting. The first is the dynamic iris and its Enhanced Black Level technology. That had reviewers raving about its deep black levels that were comparable to projectors like JVC’s NZ8 that cost twice as much. The other is the so-called anti-rainbow technology, which eliminates most of the rainbow-hued strobing that appears with models using Texas Instruments DLP chips. This resolves a common complaint with mid-range projectors.
For a similar price as a good quality TV ($1,500 - $3,000), these models can beam an image double the size. And to install one, you just need to position the projector in front of the screen, roughly center it and hit “calibrate” to get a perfect image.
Both the X1 and VisionMaster Max were first announced on Kickstarter and became the top two projectors ever sold on the site. Plus, several projector models, particularly from Anker/Soundcore, appeared on Google’s gadget search trends. All of that is helping the home projector market increase to the point that it’s, well, projected to nearly double by 2030.
As people researched these products, they may have noticed the other advantages. Along with movies, they’re also great for gaming and sports, particularly if you have a big group of people. In fact, they actually take up less room than a TV if both the projector and screen are ceiling mounted. And many models are portable, battery-powered and bright enough to use outside for parties and camping.
A prime example of a recent projector convert is Engadget editor and cinema podcaster Devindra Hardawar, who explained why he decided to make the leap. “I know big TVs have gotten cheaper, but they still can't reach the massive 120-inch screen size of my Formovie ultra-short throw projector,” he said. “It makes watching anything feel truly cinematic, and not like I'm just staring at another screen.”
Even though projectors are gaining some ground, they won’t replace TVs for most people. Mid-range televisions still cost less at around $1,000. TVs are obviously easier to install and more convenient to use, as all projectors need time to warm up. TVs are much brighter, too: even dim models put out at least 500 nits of brightness, compared to 200 to 300 nits max for very bright projectors. However, even though projector setups are less tricky than before, you still need to buy and install a screen for optimal performance, which adds cost and complexity.
How much more can projectors improve? I think they’ll continue to get brighter, more color accurate and even easier to install. Another piece of technology with potential to reduce complexity and improve image quality is the roll-up screen. If those come down in price enough, they may convince some buyers to replace their TVs with a projector. They’re still likely to remain a niche product, but for cinephiles who want a theater-like experience, projectors are now a more compelling option.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/projectors-won-us-over-in-2025-143655492.html?src=rssKindle Scribe Colorsoft review: A very particular set of skills, for a price
In a world where notifications persistently compete for our attention, distraction-free ereaders and writing tablets have found an audience. Putting your phone, laptop or iPad aside and curling up with a Kindle or a reMarkable tablet have become an almost ironic way for the tech-savvy to disconnect from online noise and focus on reading and writing. It’s debatable how broad the appeal of these devices is, but even in what appears to be a relatively small slice of the industry, the competition is fierce.
Amazon is arguably the biggest name in the space, with its Kindles dominating the ereader market for years. When it introduced the Kindle Scribe in 2022, the company made a play for the burgeoning E Ink writing tablet category, and just last year it launched its first color ereader with the Kindle Colorsoft. Put all those features — reading, writing and color — together, and you’ve got the ingredients for Amazon’s latest contender: the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.
This time, Amazon expanded the Scribe line by releasing three new Scribes at once. The entry-level model is the black-and-white tablet without a front light, which costs $430. For $70 more, you’ll get the front light, and then the Colorsoft version goes for $630. There are upgrades from last year’s Scribe across the trio, and for this review we’ll be looking mostly at the Colorsoft, which has all of the new features.
Like with previous models of the Scribe, Amazon doesn’t indicate the generation number in the name, simply calling this lineup the “all-new Kindle Scribe,” attaching the word Colorsoft to the edition that renders colors. To avoid confusion, I’ll occasionally be referring to this generation of the device as the Scribe 3, and the version from last year as the Scribe 2.
Editor’s note: As I only received the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft on December 7 due to shipping delays, I won’t be assigning a score to this device until I have had more time to test it. My colleague Valentina Palladino received the new Kindle Scribe a few days before that, and has contributed testing and impressions to this review. It’s also worth noting that some new features, like “Send to Alexa+,” “Story so far” and “Ask this book” aren’t available to test yet. We will update this review with a score after spending more time with it so we can better gauge things like battery life and the usefulness of some software features.
What’s new with the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft
Aside from the obvious, which is that the Colorsoft can now render colors, the latest Kindle Scribes also feature a refined design, improved front light system, updated screen architecture, new quad-core chip, more memory and Oxide display technology. It has a larger 11-inch screen compared to the 10.2-inch display on its predecessor, and still manages to weigh 33 grams less at 400 grams (0.88 pounds). There’s also a revamped Home page that houses a Quick Note for easier access to the writing interface as well as some software and AI tools that aren’t available to test yet.
A lot of the hardware tweaks translated to a snappier, more responsive device overall. In my testing, the Scribe Colorsoft’s AI summarization and handwriting refinements took a bit less time than the Scribe 2, which I attribute most to the processor, but I also noticed improved fluidity in the writing experience.
Drawing on the Scribe Colorsoft brings me right back to my younger days testing out pens at bookstores. Amazon’s stylus feels like a pen with ink that flows more freely and consistently onto the page than others, and between the nib and the texture of the page there is a lack of resistance and overall smoothness that is very satisfying.
Amazon said that the Premium Pen that comes with the Scribes has been refined with a thicker and more rounded silhouette. With its latest Oxide display, the Scribe Colorsoft’s screen response rate of 14 milliseconds and the non-Colorsoft Scribe 3’s rates of 12ms are both much higher than the 20-21ms for the Scribe 2. Together, this probably is the main reason that the new Scribe feels more responsive in general, and why writing on it seems so smooth. Although, that new front light system might also be contributing to the overall feeling of freshness.
Speaking of, I put the Scribe 2 and Scribe Colorsoft side by side in my friend’s living room and the difference was stark. When I brought both devices next to the window, under direct sunlight, they both seemed similarly bright, with the typical glare-free finish you’d expect of ereaders. But when I took them into a darkened bedroom, the auto-adjusting panel on the Colorsoft lit up its screen and made it easier to read. Colors popped, and while I felt that there was a slight blue tinge to the light, it wasn’t something I would’ve noticed without a side-by-side comparison. It’s not an issue though because you can also adjust the warmth here like you can on other Kindles.
One of my complaints in my review of the Scribe 2 was the flimsy attachment method of magnets holding the pen to the tablet. While Amazon hasn’t built an onboard slot or holder for the stylus, it did increase the magnetic force on the Scribe 3. This was already noticeable during my hands-on with the device back in October, and in real-world use I appreciated this upgrade in keeping the Premium Pen tightly attached to the Scribe Colorsoft. I would still prefer a more secure approach, since I still do worry about the stylus getting lost in my purse and don’t want to have to buy a case just for this purpose. But it’s a small quibble and my concerns have largely been allayed with the increased magnetism.
I still need to test some software features like Send to Alexa+, Ask This Book and Story So Far, but they’re not available yet. I’ve been focusing my testing on the Notebook section and need to spend more time marking up and annotating books to better evaluate that use case. But not much has changed there since Amazon rolled out the collapsible margins in February, and you can read my review of the Scribe 2 for my impressions there.
The new home page and AI-powered Notebook search
At the moment, I can speak to one of the new features: AI-powered Notebook search. The Search bar at the top of the Scribe can now answer questions about the contents of all your Notebooks (and books). At the time of the Scribe’s announcement, I thought this would be helpful in pulling together all the tasks I’d assigned to specific team members across the to-do lists I drew up for various events.
When I asked the Scribe “what tasks have I assigned Sam,” its results page showed six categories, pulling information from my library, notebooks, the Kindle Store, the Audible Store, Goodreads and text within books. Only the second one had any findings. Under “Results in your notebooks,” there was a label “AI-powered insights” followed by a header “Sam’s Assigned Tasks.” Below that was a bulleted list, which I’ll transcribe and include an image of here:
Add content to CES sheet
Handle KPBP company set
Track Samsung mobile developments
Handle OnePlus 13
Review device during CES
Attend meetings with: - Dell & ASUS on Thursday, MSI, Razer, HP, Lenovo, Potentially Sony Ateela
Work on Sam Qi 2
Best-Sam host responsibilities
I quickly realized that I’d need to fine-tune my requests to get results that made more sense, since random tasks divorced from their parent documents made little sense without context. Thankfully, there was a button below the results that prompted me to “Ask Notebooks” about “these insights, or ask something else.” However, tapping that only brought me to a different page showing the same list but with a new section to see the notes they were sourced from.
I’ll also point out that this list of tasks for Sam was not the same result I got from a query about “where do I mention Sam?” In addition to the two to-do lists that I created in December 2023 and January of this year, the Scribe told me “Sam appears on a Christmas shopping list as one of the checked-off friends.”
That’s fairly impressive, since that list did have Sam under a handwritten header “Friends,” as opposed to other pages titled “Gym” or “Neighbors.” But it appeared to only be able to determine that Sam’s name was checked off thanks to the template I used for the notebook. Other check marks I made outside the predefined boxes in that background weren’t deemed as checks and instead misrecognized as dashes. So later when I asked where my friend Michelle appeared in all my notebooks, the Scribe noted an entry for “Michelle-scart” in a different holiday shopping page.
Retrying the same question did yield more accurate results, though, with a subsequent search correctly stating “Michelle appears in a list with ‘scarf’ noted next to her name.” And whether it’s my overly messy handwriting to blame or Amazon’s technological deficiencies, there were still some words or sentences that it misidentified, like “Michelle-callin” instead of “Michelle — Callie.”
So far, the AI-powered Search feels like a hit-or-miss update. Sometimes, like when I took the bait and asked the questions it suggested, I would get shockingly accurate answers. “Try asking ‘which Ariana song is mentioned in the list,’” the Scribe prompted. Or “When is the HOA meeting occurring?” For the former, it told me that the song “Bang Bang” was on a list of karaoke songs, while the latter simply told me the date and time it had found in a note titled “Appointments Dec 2022.” I’ll need more time to think of better ways to use this feature, but for now I can’t decide if it’s actually helpful without some extra work.
I already spent some time testing the Summarize and Refine tools introduced in the last Kindle Scribe, so I’ll just say that refining the handwriting of a to-do list on the Scribe Colorsoft was largely the same as before, just a tad faster. I didn’t really use either AI tool in the year since I reviewed the Scribe 2, so I was right last year in thinking I wouldn’t find much use for them in daily practice.
What I thought would be more practical is the redesigned Home screen and the Quick Note that takes up the top left corner of this page. Again, I’d need to spend much more time to understand how I’d navigate the device over weeks and months, but for the most part I find it easy to just hop in and out of notes I want without first going to the Home section. I’d prefer a hardware shortcut like Montblanc offers in its Digital Paper writing tablet. On that device, you can program the buttons on the pen so that a double click starts a new note, adds a blank page or brings you back home.
While you can customize the button on Amazon’s Premium Pen, your options are limited to switching between tools like the highlighter, pen, shader or eraser for use while you’re writing. (And yes, like before, you can still use the top of the Premium Pen to erase content — no need to push any button.)
One last thing to note about the home page (for now) is that seeing the rows of book covers in color is a delight, and though it’s not something that impacts the function of the device, it certainly adds a layer of visual pleasure.
How does the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft compare to the competition?
One of the Scribe Colorsoft’s main competitors is the reMarkable Paper Pro. The latter has a larger 11.8-inch screen and, correspondingly, weighs a lot more at 525 grams (1.16 pounds). Though I prefer the sharp lines of the reMarkable to the rounded edges and corners of the Scribe, I find the Kindle’s size much more manageable, especially when I’m writing for more than five minutes.
Importantly, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft simply has a better screen than the reMarkable. It delivers brighter, more saturated colors, and supports more hues, too. Plus, when I placed them next to each other, the Paper Pro seemed to have a yellow cast and a dimmer screen overall (even at maximum brightness). And when I use the highlight function on each, the reMarkable device “flashes” — meaning you have to give it a second for the color to appear in its final form after you put the stylus to the screen. Meanwhile, the color that shows up on the Colorsoft’s panel as soon as you write on it doesn’t change — no flashing takes place.
The Scribe’s other strengths are its superior performance and Amazon’s ecosystem of books (for those like me who already have large Kindle libraries, anyway). Though it does offer AI features that reMarkable doesn’t, I’m generally leery of those tools, and, as already detailed in this review, they don’t usually help me.
However, the reMarkable remains the winner when it comes to writing software. It’s way more versatile than Amazon in this respect, especially with its ability to have handwritten and typed text coexist within the same document. You can also edit a note from reMarkable’s app on your phone, typing in any last-minute additions to your shopping list and bolding, italicizing or formatting them if you like. And if you’re a power user, getting your favorite ebooks onto the reMarkable tablet isn’t too difficult, provided you have the EPUB files. The main problem for me here is that you'll need to pay $3 a month for its Connect subscription to continue having access to a lot of these features.
I’ll also shout out companies like Kobo and Boox, who also make color-rendering ereaders that you can write on. Boox’s Note Air 5c starts at $530 and includes the stylus and a magnetic case for that price. It supports apps via the Google Play Store, but, as our deputy editor Valentina Palladino cautions, isn’t the most beginner-friendly product. Kobo, on the other hand, makes color ereaders like the Libra Color. Although it does support stylus input, it is much smaller with its 7-inch display.
And for those who aren’t too fussed about color, there are plenty of black-and-white E Ink writing tablets, including the $905 Montblanc Digital Paper, which I’ve been testing for a few weeks. I’m finishing up my review but that one is clearly a luxury product targeted at a much more niche audience than the already limited target market for this category of devices. If your budget is tight, I’d recommend skipping the Colorsoft model unless it’s crucial to your process. $500 is a much easier price to stomach.
Who should get the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft?
I hesitate to recommend anyone buy anything before I’ve had enough time to assign a score, since things like battery life take longer to evaluate. And while I continue to test the device to get a better sense for its battery life, I’ve already noticed that like the Scribes before it, this version doesn’t last as long as other Kindles. Amazon promises weeks of reading and writing per charge, which could be anything between two and ten (or more) weeks.
In my experience so far, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft dropped about 20 percent in two days, which, mathematically, means it would struggle to even last a week, not to mention multiple weeks. But because the Scribe 2 showed similar battery drain during my review (with heavier use) and manages to stay charged for at least a month when I’m not testing it all day every day, I’m willing to believe Amazon’s promise of greater runtime.
Aside from my reservations about battery life, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is a competent device that delivers on most of its promises so far. The biggest knock against it is its price. At $500 for the monochrome model and $630 for color, this is one Amazon product that can be more expensive than the competition.
But it’s not without its strengths. I’d think of the Kindle Scribe 3 (and Colorsoft) as an E Ink tablet that is more of a notebook than a portal for textbooks you can mark up, with a robust library of Kindle titles to boot. The AI features are not crucial to the experience, but they also stay out of the way. For those looking for a more sophisticated and versatile writing tablet that is less of a book replacement, the reMarkable Paper Pro is the superior device. And for people who don’t mind the notifications, apps and alerts that these purpose-driven tablets keep from distracting you, there’s always the option of buying an iPad or an Android tablet with a stylus. Just install minimal apps or block all notifications, and you might even save hundreds of dollars in the process.
Wrap-up
I hate to admit it, but Amazon’s devices and services chief Panos Panay was right in calling the Kindle Scribe a 2-in-1. But the two functions it serves are very specific. I think of the Scribe devices as Kindles first and foremost. That means they’re ereaders, capable of substituting stacks of books thanks to their digital libraries and eye-friendly screens. The second role the Scribe plays well is that of a notebook substitute. It is a place to hold endless slips of digital paper, and its search function can competently help you find what you jotted down in a random note years ago.
But Amazon has not yet found a way to deliver on features like annotating and marking up ebooks that feels like pen-and-paper. Trying to mark up a digital textbook on the Scribe still feels unintuitive, involving virtual sticky notes, collapsible margins and inserting boxes within lines of text. And you won’t be able to easily edit your notes if you’re away from your Scribe, unlike how you can on a reMarkable product.
So the Kindle Scribe 3 is not a three- or four-in-one. I don’t have a problem with that, especially without the extra cost that comes with the color capabilities. While the Colorsoft model is superior to the competition at the moment, it also comes at a premium. If you’re looking for the best color E Ink writing tablet available and are willing to splurge, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is worth consideration.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/kindle-scribe-colorsoft-review-a-very-particular-set-of-skills-for-a-price-140014961.html?src=rssEU pledges 90 percent cut to carbon emissions by 2040
The European Union has provisionally agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent (based on 1990 levels) by 2040, the EU parliament announced in a press release. That goes beyond the goals of most other major economies, including China, but falls short of the original one recommended by the EU's climate science advisors. "The target delivers on the need for climate action while safeguarding our competitiveness and security," said Denmark's minister Lars Aagaard, who helped negotiate the deal.
The new accord — a vital step in the bloc's long-term goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 — was a political compromise months in the making. On one hand, countries like Poland and Hungary argued that deeper cuts would be too onerous for industries already facing high energy costs. And on the other, members including Spain and Sweden said action was needed to help blunt extreme weather events and allow the EU to catch up with China in green tech manufacturing.
To achieve the target, European industries will need to reduce emissions by 85 percent and sell carbon credits to developing nations to make up the balance. The EU also agreed on an option to use additional international carbon credits (up to five percent) to soften the impact on industry and to delay a carbon tax for fuel by a year to 2028.
Even with the reduced targets Europe is more committed than all other major polluters, having already cut emissions 37 percent from 1990 levels. During the same period, the US has only managed a reduction of about 7 percent, according to Statista. And under the Trump administration, the US has once again pulled out of the Paris climate accord, scrubbed references to climate change from government sites and promoted polluting energy sectors like coal and gas.
The deal must still be ratified by the EU parliament and individual countries to become law. Normally, though, that's a formality for such pre-agreed deals.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/eu-pledges-90-percent-cut-to-carbon-emissions-by-2040-133919256.html?src=rssInstagram will let you control which topics its algorithm recommends
For the first time, Instagram will start letting you control the topics its algorithm recommends, much as you now can on TikTok. The new feature is starting with the Reels tab but will eventually come to Explore and other areas of the app. Like much of what Meta is doing right now (for better or worse), the "Your Algorithm" feature will be powered by AI.
"As your interests evolve over time, we want to give you more meaningful ways to control what you see," Instagram wrote on its blog post. "Using AI, you can now more easily view and personalize the topics that shape your Reels, making recommendations feel even more tailored to you."
To see and control the Reels algorithm, tap the icon in the upper right corner (two lines with hearts) to open Your Algorithm. It will show what topics Instagram thinks you're interested in, then you can specify which ones you want to see more or less of and your recommendations will adapt. You can fine tune topics as well:
See your top interests: View a summary of the topics Instagram thinks you care about most, right at the top.
Tune your preferences: Type in the topics you want to see more or less of, and your Reels will reflect your choices.
Share your algorithm: If you’d like, you can share your interests to your Story, so friends and followers can see what you’re into.
Another AI "feature" that surfaced yesterday on the platform didn't go over well with some users. It was discovered that Instagram was generating sensational and often inaccurate headlines that were likely created by an LLM. And you can expect AI to infiltrate its apps even more down the road, judging by the company's recent acquisitions and priority shifts. In any case, the new Your Algorithm feature for the Reels tab is debuting today in the US only and expanding to other territories in the future.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-will-let-you-control-which-topics-its-algorithm-recommends-133002612.html?src=rssApple's AirPods Pro 3 are back on sale for an all-time-low price
If you haven't yet upgraded to Apple's AirPods Pro 3, you can pick up the company's latest model at a discount through a deal on Amazon right now. The AirPods Pro 3, which came out in September, are currently down from $249 to $220 — their Cyber Monday all-time low price. With the new AirPods Pro, Apple made some big improvements, including better battery life and sound quality, and introduced useful new features, such as Live Translation.
The AirPods Pro 3 are the best AirPods available today, with Apple's H2 chip, and earned a score of 90 out of 100 in Engadget's review this fall. Active noise cancellation (ANC) is one of the biggest selling points of the AirPods Pro, and Apple has made the experience even better with the AirPods Pro 3. They sport new foam-infused ear tips that create a better seal to improve passive noise isolation, and as Engadget's Billy Steele wrote in his review, "Ultra-low-noise microphones combine with advanced computational audio to silence even more background noise." In testing, they had no problem blocking out the chatter of people nearby or otherwise noisy environments.
With the AirPods Pro 3, Apple introduced heart-rate sensing, so you'll be able to see your heart rate data from the earbuds in the Fitness app and other workout apps. The AirPods Pro 3 also boast Live Translation, which you can activate via controls on the earbuds themselves. As long as you have an Apple Intelligence-capable device, you'll be able to translate in-person conversations in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin).
Also on sale in the world of AirPods are the AirPods 4 with ANC, which are down to $100 again — the same price we saw during Black Friday. You can even pick them up with AppleCare+ for $119.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-airpods-pro-3-are-back-on-sale-for-an-all-time-low-price-222806313.html?src=rssThe 10 best last-minute Christmas gifts for the 2025 holiday season
The holidays are nearly here and if you’re a bit behind on your gift shopping, you’re not alone. The holidays can truly sneak up on you, and this year that’s been more true than ever. Between wrapping things up at work before some well-deserved time off and making sure you have everything you need to host family and friends, it can be hard to find the time to go to a store to pick out presents. And when you do finally get there, you may be met with half-empty shelves. But this is where the internet comes in handy: you still have time to buy holiday gifts online.
At this point, we recommend picking up small, affordable gifts that will ship quickly from retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target so you have plenty of time to wrap them up nicely and make it look like you had everything well-planned from the start. Here are the best last-minute Christmas gifts you can get right now and still have in time before the holidays.
Best last-minute Christmas gifts
Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-10-best-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-the-2025-holiday-season-140037254.html?src=rssThe best things Engadget editors bought in 2025
For many of us at Engadget, a big part of our jobs is testing out new tech on a regular basis. Our desks are cluttered with new smartphones, power banks, gaming accessories and more pretty much all the time, and there are plenty of winners and losers amongst them. Similarly, there are winners and losers in the things we buy for ourselves throughout the year, and we like to sing their praises just as much as we do for the best new tech that (professionally) comes across our desks. These are the best things Engadget staffers purchased in 2025 that will continue to get lots of use in the new year.
Adobe brings Photoshop, Acrobat and Adobe Express to ChatGPT
Back in October, OpenAI announced apps like Spotify and Canva would be accessible in ChatGPT. At the time, the company said more software was on the way, and now one of the most popular professional applications is available through the chatbot.
Starting today, you can access Photoshop, Acrobat and Adobe Express inside of ChatGPT. All the apps are free to use through OpenAI’s website, though before you can begin generating PDFs and illustrations using Acrobat and Adobe Express, you'll need to sign into your Adobe account. To use any of the apps in ChatGPT, either name them in your prompt or select them from the plus menu.
Of the three apps, the way OpenAI's chatbot connects to Photoshop is probably the most interesting. Depending on the prompt, the interface will change to display the sliders most relevant to your request. For example, if you want to brighten an image, you'll see one slider allowing you to adjust the exposure, alongside other ones for the shadows and highlights. By comparison, if you want to add an effect to an image, ChatGPT might display options related to dithering and tri-tone, among others.
What's interesting about all this is the way ChatGPT is interacting with Adobe's tools, through an MCP server, to offer a slice of the company's apps. I don't know about you, but I’ve always found Adobe software to be far too complicated, with often one too many ways to accomplish the same task. Granted, what I saw was a hands-off demo, but the routing Adobe created worked well.
"We build the Lego blocks, which are the MCP tools, and we create detailed instructions, and then ChatGPT figures out what it wants to do," Aubrey Cattell, vice-president of developer platform and partner ecosystem at Adobe, explains. "Sometimes it does what we want it, and sometimes it doesn't. That's the nature of it being non-deterministic, and we're continuing to hone as much as we can from users' intent and natural language to give them the result that they're looking for."
Of course, if you ever want more control, the web versions of Photoshop, Acrobat and Adobe Express are a click away.
For OpenAI, this is easily the biggest coup to date of its push to reshape ChatGPT into an operating system for all the apps its more than 800 million users depend on daily. For Adobe, it feels like the company is partnering with an entity out to eat its lunch. After all, OpenAI offers its own image generation. However, Cattell said Adobe doesn't see it that way.
"A couple weeks back, OpenAI dropped Apps SDK as a new paradigm for accessing ChatGPT, we saw there was a natural fit in the work we were doing with our applications," he said. "Essentially, they gave us an operating system we were able to leverage to bring our applications to their surface. There's a lot of natural affinity there between the workflows OpenAI is trying to enable and Adobe's best in class capabilities."
Cattell promised Adobe would continue to explore what it could offer inside of ChatGPT, but added the company's apps will continue to be the place users can go if they want more power, precision and control.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/adobe-brings-photoshop-acrobat-and-adobe-express-to-chatgpt-130000389.html?src=rssThe best mesh Wi-Fi systems of 2025
Spotty Wi-Fi can make even simple tasks feel harder than they should. If you’ve ever had a video call freeze in one room or watched a stream buffer in another, a mesh Wi-Fi system can fix those frustrations. Instead of relying on a single router tucked in a corner, a mesh setup uses multiple units that work together to spread a strong, consistent signal throughout your home.
Modern mesh systems are built for busy households. They keep dozens of devices connected at once, manage traffic intelligently and often include helpful app features that make troubleshooting or adjusting settings much easier. Many support the latest Wi-Fi standards and faster internet plans too, so you can upgrade your network without replacing everything else.
We’ve tested a range of mesh Wi-Fi systems to find the ones that deliver the best mix of speed, coverage and reliability. Whether you live in a small apartment or a multi-floor home, these picks can help you stay connected wherever you are.
Table of contents
Best mesh Wi-Fi systems for 2025
What to look for in a mesh Wi-Fi system
Linksys’ CEO Jonathan Bettino told Engadget why mesh systems are an “advancement in Wi-Fi technology” over buying a single point router. With one transmitter, the signal can degrade the further away from the router you go, or the local environment isn’t ideal. “You can have a small [home], but there’s thick walls [...] or things in the way that just interfere with your wireless signal,” he said.
Historically, the solution to a home’s Wi-Fi dead zone was to buy a Wi-Fi extender but Bettino said the hardware has both a “terrible user experience” and one of the highest return rates of any consumer electronics product. Mesh Wi-Fi, by comparison, offers “multiple nodes that can be placed anywhere in your home,” says Bettino, resulting in “ubiquitous Wi-Fi” that feels as if you have a “router in every room.”
Rather than having one main router in your home, having a “router in every room” is the biggest selling point for mesh Wi-Fi given how reliant we all are on the internet. Each node is in constant contact with each other, broadcasting a single, seamless network to all of your connected devices. There’s no separate network for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, just a single name that you connect to.
It’s a good time to buy a mesh Wi-Fi system since the latest standard, Wi-Fi 6E, represents a big leap in the technology. Matt MacPherson, Cisco's Chief Technology Officer for Wireless, said Wi-Fi 6E is a big “inflection point,” using much more of the wireless spectrum than its predecessors. “If you’re using that spectrum with a Wi-Fi 6 [device],” he said, “you’re going to get significant gains [in speed.]”
MacPherson added Wi-Fi 6E will likely “carry you for a long time” thanks to the fact its “top throughputs now typically exceed what people can actually connect their home to.” In short, with a top theoretical per-stream speed of 1.2 Gbps, Wi-Fi 6E is fast enough to outrun all but the fastest internet service.
What do all these Wi-Fi numbers and letters mean?
I’m sorry folks, we need to get boringly technical for one paragraph, but I promise you it’s worth it.
Wi-Fi is governed by International Standard IEEE 802.11, and every few years a letter gets added onto that name when the technology evolves and improves. Until 2019, routers were sold under their IEEE name, leaving users to pick through the word soup of a product labeled 802.11 b/g/a/n/ac and so on.
Mercifully, wiser heads opted to rebrand the letters as numbers, so rather than 802.11 b/g/a/n/ac, we have Wi-Fi 1, 2, 3 4 and 5. Right now, we’re in the middle of one of those Wi-Fi generations, with most of the gear on sale right now supporting either Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E.
What’s the difference between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E?
Wi-Fi uses chunks of the radio frequency spectrum, with Wi-Fi 6 using the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands to pump data around. In fact, back in the old days, it was likely your home router would offer you the choice of the 2.4GHz or the 5GHz network, as separate bands to access. These days, all of the spectrums are tied together as one thing, and Wi-Fi 6E has the added ability to use the 6GHz band as well. That’s a big chunk of extra wireless real estate that isn’t as cluttered up as the 2.4 and 5GHz bands.
You’re going to talk about wireless frequencies now, aren’t you.
Each Wi-Fi band had tradeoffs, because the slower radio frequencies have greater range but less speed. 2.4GHz signals will travel a long way in your home but aren’t quick, while 6GHz is blisteringly fast but can be defeated by a sturdy brick wall. A lot of Wi-Fi-enabled gear you own, like smart home products, only use the 2.4GHz band because the range is better and it’s a lot cheaper. But it means that the band is also overcrowded and slow, making it great for your doorbell and robovac, but lackluster for Twitch streaming.
So, what am I looking for?
Right now, the market is full of mature Wi-Fi 6 and 6E devices, and most new systems available to buy are capable of taking advantage of the faster speeds they offer. This guide focuses on Wi-Fi 6E gear since it’s what we think it’s more than enough to satisfy almost everyone’s at-home Wi-Fi needs.
What about Wi-Fi 7?
We’re now seeing the first generation of Wi-Fi 7 devices available to buy, but we don’t recommend you do so immediately. The Wi-Fi 7 standard is still so new that there’s little to no reason for you to rush out and buy one for your home. The hardware is tremendously expensive and while Wi-Fi 7 will, eventually, offer some great benefits over 6E, it’s not as transformative an upgrade as 6E. Not to mention, Wi-Fi 7 is so new that almost none of your home’s devices will be able to take advantage of its big-ticket features. I’d estimate you won’t need to worry about upgrading to Wi-Fi 7 for at least five years, if not longer.
Range and speed
All Wi-Fi routers boast a theoretical broadcast range and a theoretical top speed, and in some cases external antennas to boost signal directionality — but these figures don’t mean much. After all, manufacturers can’t control your ISP’s real speed, the materials and layout of your home or where you put your Wi-Fi gear. Raw speed isn’t everything, either, and you likely need a lot less than the internet speeds your provider is advertising. What matters more is how consistent your connection is between rooms and across devices.. After all, Netflix needs just 15 Mbps to push a single 4K video stream to your home. As cool as it is to say you’ve got all these hundreds of Mbps, factors like latency and reliability are far more crucial to a happy internet life. And unless you have Gigabit internet that can reach speeds of up to 1 Gbps, you won’t need a mesh router that offers that spec.
Backhaul
Mesh Wi-Fi systems work by connecting every hardware node to a single wireless network, letting them all communicate with each other. Imagine four people in a busy, noisy restaurant all trying to order their dinner from a weary staff member, all at once. Now imagine, while this is going on, that four more people at that same table are also trying to tell a funny anecdote. It’s no surprise that it might take a long time for the right information to reach its intended destination.
To combat this, higher-end mesh routers offer dedicated wireless backhaul; a slice of the spectrum for node-to-node communication. So rather than everyone talking at once in the same space, the conversations are essentially separated, reducing the invisible clutter in the air. Because there’s less confusing cross-chatter, everything moves faster, offering a significant performance boost to those systems.
Connectivity
These days, even your washing machine can have a wireless connection, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the joys of wired internet. No matter how fast Wi-Fi is, a hard line will always be faster, and some gear, like Philips’ Hue bridge, still needs an ethernet connection. Plenty of routers can also use these hard connections as backhaul, eliminating further wireless clutter.
It’s convenient for spread-out systems and power users, but it will mean running more wires through your home. The most common standard is Cat 5e, or gigabit ethernet which, unsurprisingly, has a top speed of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps). Since Ethernet cables are backward compatible, you should be able to easily find one that works with your system. However, to get the most out of your mesh routers, it’s worth investing in an Ethernet cable that meets the standard your router uses — if it’s Cat 5e, use a Cat 5e cable. You can check your router’s specs via the manufacturer’s website to be sure.
Flexibility and scalability
Mesh routers enable you to add (or subtract) modules from your home network to suit your needs. D-Link’s Alan Jones said users should “check how scalable the prospective product is” before you buy. This sense of scale doesn’t just apply to the number of nodes on the network, but how many simultaneous connections it can handle.
It’s also worth looking at ASUS’ AiMesh products, which can combine mesh Wi-Fi gear and its standard “spider” Wi-Fi routers. If you’ve got a tricky part of your home, you can bolt on an ultra-power standalone Wi-Fi router to a compatible mesh.
Placement
Mesh networks replace one big piece of hardware with a series of identical nodes that you scatter around your home. You connect one to your modem (usually over ethernet), and then scatter the rest around the place for the best coverage. A good rule of thumb is to place each node no more than two rooms away from the last one, rather than sticking them at the far ends of your home.
Bear in mind, every physical obstacle between a Wi-Fi node, its siblings and your devices will hurt your overall performance. You should aim to place them, at the very least, at waist height on furniture in open air, without too many obstructions. The reason many mesh Wi-Fi products are designed to look like an inoffensive white doodad is so you don’t feel compelled to hide them behind your TV.
Other mesh Wi-Fi router systems we tested
Amazon Eero Pro 7
Eero built its reputation on easy to use yet powerful mesh systems that offer a lot of good in a relatively small and affordable package. Setup is effortless, the app running things is clean and simple, and you get the added benefit of backwards compatibility with older hardware. Sadly, the issue with every Eero system is that so many basic management features, like parental controls, are paywalled behind the company’s Eero Plus subscription for $100 a year.
Amazon Eero 6E
Eero Pro 6E is an “easy” device, the sort a total novice can set up on their own and thrive with for years on end. There’s little brainwork required to get things set up, and the app has a clean UI with plenty of hand-holding. But, as with the Eero Pro 7, the fact that so many basic management tools are paywalled irks me, especially since you can get plenty of them for free with Google’s rival offering.
Netgear Orbi 960
The Orbi 96T0 (RBKE963) is Netgear’s flagship mesh Wi-Fi product, which the company calls the “world’s most powerful Wi-Fi 6E system.” It’s also one of the most expensive consumer-level kits on the market, setting you back $1,499.99 for a three pack. It's a fantastic piece of gear, but it's worth saying that the subset of people who could, would or should buy it remains far smaller than you might expect. Ultimately, I feel that if you’re paying luxury prices, you should expect a luxury product. There were plenty of times during testing that I went looking for a feature that was either only available via the web client, or behind a paywall. While, yes, much of your cash is going to the superlative hardware, but for this sort of money, the fact you have to pay extra for some table-stakes features is insulting. If you’re looking for a new Wi-Fi system and aren’t prepared to spend almost $1,500, it’s worth considering our other top picks for the best Wi-Fi routers and mesh systems.
How we test Wi-Fi routers
My home covers around 2,200 square feet across three stories with the office on the third floor. It’s relatively long and thin, with the living room at the front of the house, the kitchen at the back and the three bedrooms on the first floor. Its age means there are a lot of solid brick walls, old-school lathe and plaster as well as aluminum foil-backed insulation boards to help with energy efficiency. There are two major Wi-Fi dead zones in the house: The bathroom and the third bedroom behind it, since there’s lots of old and new pipework in the walls and floors.
For mesh routers with two nodes, I place the first in my living room, connected via ethernet to my cable modem with the second on the first floor landing in the (ostensible) center of the house. For three-node sets, the third goes in my kitchen, which I’ve found is the optimal layout to get the bulk of my house covered in Wi-Fi. Fundamentally, my home poses enough challenges that if it succeeds here, it stands a very good chance of succeeding in your place.
Each mesh is judged on ease of setup, Wi-Fi coverage, reliability, speed and any additional features that it advertises. I look at how user-friendly each companion app is from the perspective of a novice rather than an expert given you shouldn’t need to be a network engineer to do this sort of thing. Tests I do include checking for dead zones, moving from room to room to measure consistency of connectivity and streaming multiple videos at once to replicate common usage patterns.
Mesh Wi-Fi system FAQs
This is the section of our mesh Wi-Fi buyer’s guide where we talk about the stuff that most people just glide past. If you’re not familiar with technology, it can be intimidating if people talk about these things as if you’re expected to already know. So here’s a very simple, very basic rundown of some of the stuff you might have missed in very basic terms.
What’s the difference between a Wi-Fi router and a mesh router?
A Wi-Fi router is a box that usually sits close to wherever the internet comes into your home and pumps out information over radio waves. A mesh router, meanwhile, is a set of smaller devices, one of which sits next to your internet connection while the rest are scattered around your home. A single Wi-Fi router is great if your home is small, your needs aren’t too demanding, or if your home doesn’t have many radio-blocking obstructions that mean those signals can’t reach every corner of your home. But, much like standing next to a radio transmitter and then walking away from it in a straight line, after a while, the signal will degrade.
That’s the problem a mesh system is designed to solve, since it will take the signal from your modem and pump to the other mesh devices, known as nodes, in your home. That way, instead of having one big router in one part of your home, you have several small ones that ensure you have good Wi-Fi connectivity all over. It also helps ensure that there’s no risk of dropping your connection as you move around — a mesh router system makes it easy to, for instance, walk from room to room watching Netflix and know you won’t miss a single frame.
What's the difference between a Wi-Fi extender and a mesh system?
Oh boy. Wi-Fi extenders, or repeaters, are small devices designed to push Wi-Fi a little further than your Wi-Fi router can stretch. They’re cheap, compact and often come in the form of little boxes that sit on your plug sockets with the hope of pushing Wi-Fi to a signal-sparse corner of your home. They are, and I can’t put this delicately enough, often a big pile of rubbish and are often not worth your time. Especially since the price of mesh routers has fallen to within most people’s budgets.
What is a wireless backhaul?
As we explained above, mesh Wi-Fi systems work by connecting every hardware node to a single wireless network, letting them all communicate with each other. Imagine four people in a busy, noisy restaurant all trying to order their dinner from a weary staff member, all at once. Now imagine, while this is going on, that four more people at that same table are also trying to tell a funny anecdote. It’s no surprise that it might take a long time for the right information to reach its intended destination.
To combat this, higher-end mesh routers offer dedicated wireless backhaul; a slice of the spectrum for node-to-node communication. So rather than everyone talking at once in the same space, the conversations are essentially separated, reducing the invisible clutter in the air. Because there’s less confusing cross-chatter, everything moves faster, offering a significant performance boost to those systems.
Is it better to hard wire instead of using a mesh Wi-Fi system?
This is a great question that doesn’t have a simple answer.
It is (almost) always preferable to connect devices with a wire, in this case Ethernet, than to use Wi-Fi. The speeds are faster, it’s more reliable and your data is less vulnerable to the slings and arrows of the laws of physics. Hell, I spent about a year trying to work out how to build an iPhone to Ethernet connector back in the bad old days of Wi-Fi.
But your ability to do so depends on your level of DIY skills and / or how much money you want to spend on contractors. Wiring your home for Ethernet if you don’t have the infrastructure already can be a costly and time-consuming process. Particularly if you don’t want ugly wires running along your baseboards and under your carpets or across your hardwood floors.
If you’re building your own home or can do some serious DIY, then hard wiring is a fantastic thing to have. It goes wonderfully hand-in-glove with mesh networks too, since you’ll be able to hook up your nodes to the network for even better speeds.
But if I’m honest, advances in Wi-Fi technology mean I’d only go for hard wiring if I really believed I needed the sort of speed it offers. Unless you’re a Twitch streamer running your own 24/7 content studio, it’s probably overkill.
When we started renovating our 140-year-old home, I had Ethernet installed in the living room, the master and second bedroom and in my office, all at the front of the house. I can’t use it for my mesh since I’d need to put the wiring through the middle of the house. If I ever had the wiring done again, I would do so as I know I’ll instantly see a meaningful improvement in both my connection speed and reliability. But I wouldn’t spend several thousand pounds to have it done just for the sake of it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-mesh-wifi-system-130028701.html?src=rssInstagram is generating SEO-bait headlines for its users' posts
It looks like Meta has decided to turn Instagram users into unwitting SEO spam pawns. On Tuesday, 404 Media reported that the platform is generating sensational, likely AI-generated headlines and descriptions for user posts without their knowledge or explicit consent. An Engadget editor has also noticed this on their posts. The headlines are found in the pages’ code and are only visible in search results.
The scheme appears to be an effort to boost the Google search ranking of Instagram content. An Instagram post by Engadget’s Sam Chapman, about a board game he created, received an unwanted generated description. “Floramino is a cozy puzzle game where you arrange gardens as a traveling florist,” the generated text reads. “The demo looks fun, with charming visuals and strategic elements.”
In this case, there’s a significant factual error. The board game is called Bloomhunter. Floramino, which the generated text referenced, is a puzzle game on Steam.
In an example cited by 404 Media, author Jeff VanderMeer's untitled video about a bunny eating a banana received a generic, SEO-style title. "Meet the Bunny Who Loves Eating Bananas, A Nutritious Snack For Your Pet," it reads. That indeed reads like the work of an LLM. A Massachusetts library's post promoting a reading of a VanderMeer book got the same treatment. "Join Jeff VanderMeer on a Thrilling Beachside Adventure with Mesta …", the headline reads.
Multiple cosplayers also found their posts gaining strange titles. "I would not write mediocre text like that, and it sounds as if it was auto-generated at scale with an LLM," cosplayer Brian Dang told 404 Media. "This becomes problematic when the headline or description advertises someone in a way that is not how they would personally describe themselves."
The headlines appear in the posts’ code, as confirmed by Google's Rich Result Test tool. (They're found in the <title> tags for the post. The descriptions appear in the "text": section) The spammy headlines differ from the page's alt text, which Instagram generates for people with low vision.
You might want to search for your recent content to see if you’re affected.
Engadget reached out to Meta. In a statement, the company said it "recently began using AI to generate titles for posts that appear in search engine results. This helps people better understand the content that was shared." Users can disable indexing; however, it appears to remove all indexing, reducing the likelihood that users will discover the Instagram account.
The statement continued: "As with all AI-generated content, these titles may not always be 100% accurate."
Update, December 9, 2026 at 5:07 PM ET: The story was updated to include more detail about a post from Engadget’s Sam Chapman receiving a generated description.
Update, December 10, 2026 at 4:30 AM ET: Added a statement from Meta about how it's recently started using AI for index titles in search results.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-is-generating-seo-bait-headlines-for-its-users-posts-213702800.html?src=rssWatch the Day of the Devs: Game Awards 2025 edition right here at 1PM ET
The Game Awards 2025 edition of the Day of the Devs digital showcase goes live on Wednesday, December 10 at 1PM ET on Twitch and YouTube. That’s more than 30 hours before The Game Awards itself kicks off, which makes perfect sense. It is called Day of the Devs, after all, and if we’re judging by past appearances, the event absolutely deserves its own full 24 hours in the spotlight.
This year, the Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital Showcase will feature 22 indie titles, including three release date announcements and six world premieres. That’s a packed show, even by Day of the Devs standards. Expect to see projects from developers including 17-BIT, BONE Assembly, Capybara Games, Deconstructeam and Panic Stations, and publishers Annapurna Interactive, Devolver and Blumhouse Games, among others.
Each Day of the Devs showcase lasts about an hour and highlights a batch of extremely rad-looking independent games across a wide range of genres, complete with commentary from creators. The featured games are curated by industry veterans at Day of the Devs, and past shows have offered early looks at future hits like Animal Well, Blue Prince, Cocoon, Despelote, Crow Country, Phoenix Springs, Skate Story, UFO 50, Eternights, Sorry We’re Closed and many others.
Day of the Devs is a non-profit operation that provides a platform for select independent creators to showcase their games to large audiences for free, founded by folks at Double Fine Productions and iam8bit. On top of accepting donations, it receives support from various industry players, including Xbox, PlayStation and Summer Game Fest.
The Game Awards 2025 begins on Thursday, December 11 at 7:30PM ET, with a half-hour pre-show up first. The whole thing will certainly last longer than one hour, but we’ll find out together whether it’ll have more game reveals than Day of the Devs.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/watch-the-day-of-the-devs-game-awards-2025-edition-right-here-at-1pm-et-060000319.html?src=rssRepair iconic 2000s-era gadgets in upcoming indie game ReStory
We love a little nostalgia mixed in with our cozy gaming, and ReStory looks like a perfect blend of those two. In this upcoming indie game, you play the owner of a Tokyo electronics repair shop in the mid 2000s. The trailer that dropped today shows you tinkering with some very familiar gadgets from the era, such as renamed riffs on a Tamagotchi, a Nokia brick phone, a PSP and a Walkman. You clean and repair these devices for customers, and it looks like your conversations with them might have as much impact on their lives as your official work does.
The whole thing looks exceedingly charming and chill. It's nice to see a game like ReStory as a counterpart to something with a similar premise but wildly different tone like Kaizen, which was a highlight during the Steam Automation Fest over the summer. ReStory is being developed by Mandragora, and it is currently playtesting ahead of a planned 2026 release.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/repair-iconic-2000s-era-gadgets-in-upcoming-indie-game-restory-233445848.html?src=rssUber is installing kiosks for booking rides without the mobile app
Uber is rolling out kiosks for travelers to book rideshares without using the mobile app. The company is pitching the service as a convenience for international travelers who may not have a data plan, but it could also be a lifesaver if your phone runs out of juice and you don't have a way to recharge it. A passenger can use the kiosk to enter their destination and desired ride type, then will receive a printed receipt with the details about their booked ride. The first kiosk will debut in Terminal C at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, but Uber said it would have additional locations in airports, hotels and ports over the coming months.
In airport situations, these kiosks make Uber even more of a direct competitor to traditional taxis. With the removal of the app, the kiosk can essentially stand in as the dispatcher and a passenger can decide how to travel based on their preferences (or on wait times) for a rideshare versus a yellow cab.
Uber also used LaGuardia as the starting point for its shuttle bus service in New York, with $18 rides between the airport and Manhattan transit hubs in October 2024; it later rolled out the shuttles to John F. Kennedy Airport in March 2025. Today, Uber said it is bringing the shuttle bus option to Newark Liberty International Airport, so all major NYC airports now have access to the service.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-is-installing-kiosks-for-booking-rides-without-the-mobile-app-220904106.html?src=rssSlack's CEO is joining OpenAI to find the money to pay for all those data centers
OpenAI has announced that Denise Dresser, the current CEO of Slack, will be the company's new Chief Revenue Officer. Dresser will oversee the company's revenue strategy "across enterprise and customer success," according to OpenAI's announcement, and will presumably play a key role in leading the company towards profitability now that it's reorganized as a public benefit corporation.
"We're on a path to put AI tools into the hands of millions of workers, across every industry," Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of Products said in the announcement. "Denise has led that kind of shift before, and her experience will help us make AI useful, reliable, and accessible for businesses everywhere."
Simo joined OpenAI in May of this year, after serving as CEO of Instacart, and before that, the head of Facebook at Meta. Hiring Simo and Dresser could be a good indication of how OpenAI plans to approach ChatGPT going forward. Which is to say, the company is taking a very Silicon Valley approach to growing its chatbot business and focusing on scale and monetizing as many AI interactions as possible. It's not a mistake that Simo helped establish Meta's ads business and OpenAI is reportedly planning to introduce ads into chats with its AI models.
Even with the possibility of ad revenue, Dresser will still have to overcome what OpenAI continues to spend to offer its various AI products. OpenAI pays for multiple partnerships for data center access and has commitments to both buy and build server components for those data centers. Add in the cost of just processing a ChatGPT query itself, and growing the company’s revenue seems like a tall order.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/slacks-ceo-is-joining-openai-to-find-the-money-to-pay-for-all-those-data-centers-220411962.html?src=rssHow to watch The Game Awards 2025 on December 11
The Game Awards are this week, with the grand showcase for 2025 coming up on Thursday, December 11 at 8PM ET. There's also a pre-show (in case the multi-hour affair just isn't enough TGA for you) and that kicks off at 7:30PM ET. The ceremony will be a mix of honoring games from the past year and debuting trailers for future releases, so expect a couple interesting announcements to emerge from Thursday night. Engadget will be reporting on any big stories as they happen at The Game Awards, but if you want to watch along with us, the whole shebang is available to watch for free on just about every streaming platform you could want.
The primo spot to watch is probably YouTube, since it will be broadcasting the show in 4K and you'll want to see all those trailers in their full glory. The video is embedded above. The other official co-streaming partners are Twitch and TikTok Live, but you can also watch everything on Steam and Amazon Prime Video. The Game Awards will also be on social media via Facebook Live, Instagram and X.
It's been a good year for gaming and lots of top-notch projects are up for nominations at the show this year. The Game Awards will also shine a light on important subjects such as Innovation in Accessibility and Games For Impact as well as recognizing recent releases for excellence in artistry and design. And don't sleep on the Day of the Devs showcase happening tomorrow, Wednesday, December 10; that will almost certainly have some hype stuff emerging from the indie scene.
In terms of reveals, host Geoff Keighley has shared a few looks at what's to come. There will definitely be an appearance by Lara Croft and whatever is happening at Wildflower Interactive, the new studio helmed by The Last of Us co-director Bruce Straley, is due to be announced. PlayStation will also have more to say about Saros, which is Housemarque's follow-up to Returnal. And of course, hope springs eternal (as do the memes) for Half-Life 3.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/how-to-watch-the-game-awards-2025-on-december-11-205500124.html?src=rssTraeger debuts Woodridge Pro Plus grill with Wi-Fi features and built-in storage cabinet
Traeger debuted its Woodridge line of Wi-Fi-enabled pellet grills back in January. The overall theme across the Woodridge, Woodridge Pro and Woodridge Elite is the company’s reliable performance and features are available for less than the cost of its most premium models. Just before Christmas, the company is adding to the the Woodridge lineup with the Woodridge Pro Plus.
For $400 more than the Woodridge Pro, this Plus model adds the enclosed storage cabinet from the Woodridge Elite. Instead of an open shelf, the cabinet offers a better option for keep pellet bins and other accessories close to the grill. This Plus version also has four casters on the bottom of the cart, so it’s easier to maneuver on solid surfaces than the Woodridge Pro. The main difference between the Pro Plus and Elite models is that the latter includes an induction burner on the side shelf.
This new Woodridge Pro Plus still carries all of the handy features from the Woodridge Pro, including Wi-Fi-powered WiFIRE connectivity with the Traeger app, Super Smoke mode, 970 square inches of cooking space and an integrated pellet level sensor. You can also use wireless food probes from the Traeger-owned Meater lineup and the P.A.L. Rail system allows you to customize the grill to your needs with extra organization.
The best subscription box gifts for 2025
The best gifts inspire joy long after the initial unwrapping. Subscription boxes are designed to show up again and again, each time offering something new to try, build or taste. They’re perfect for friends who already have too much gear or relatives who like to discover things without searching for them. From electronics kits and mystery puzzles to Japanese treats and fresh coffee, these boxes make each month feel like a small celebration. You pick the vibe, the plan and the recipient gets a steady stream of good surprises. Below are 13 subscription boxes that hit the sweet spot between fun and thoughtful, whether your giftee is a builder, reader, snacker or collector.
Best subscription box gifts
Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-subscription-box-gifts-for-2025-130037236.html?src=rssNearly one-third of teens use AI chatbots daily
AI chatbots haven't come close to replacing teens' social media habits, but they are playing a significant role in their online habits. Nearly one-third of US teens report using AI chatbots daily or more, according to a new report from Pew Research.
The report is the first from Pew to specifically examine how often teens are using AI overall, and was published alongside its latest research on teens' social media use. It's based on an online survey of 1,458 US teens who were polled between September 25 to October 9, 2025. According to Pew, the survey was "weighted to be representative of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 who live with their parents by age, gender, race and ethnicity, household income, and other categories."
According to Pew, 48 percent of teens use AI chatbots "several times a week" or more often, with 12 percent reporting their use at "several times a day" and 4 percent saying they use the tools "almost constantly." That's far fewer than the 21 percent of teens who report almost constant use of TikTok and the 17 percent who say the same about YouTube. But those numbers are still significant considering how much newer these services are compared with mainstream social media apps.
The report also offers some insight into which AI companies' chatbots are most used among teens. OpenAI's ChatGPT came out ahead by far, with 59 percent of teens saying they had used the service, followed by Google's Gemini at 23 percent and Meta AI at 20 percent. Just 14 percent of teens said they had ever used Microsoft Copilot, and 9 percent and 3 percent reported using Character AI and Anthropic's Claude, respectively.
Pew's research comes as there's been growing scrutiny over AI companies' handling of younger users. Both OpenAI and Character AI are currently facing wrongful deaths lawsuits from the parents of teens who died by suicide. In both cases, the parents allege that their child's interactions with a chatbot played a role in their death. (Character AI briefly banned teens from its service before introducing a more limited format for younger users.) Other companies, including Alphabet and Meta, are being probed by the FTC over their safety policies for younger users.
Interestingly, the report also indicates there has been little change in US teens' social media use. Pew, which has regularly polled teens about how they use social media, notes that teens' daily use of these platforms "remains relatively stable" compared with recent years. YouTube is still the most widely-used platform, reaching 92 percent of teens, followed by TikTok at 69 percent, Instagram at 63 percent and Snapchat at 55 percent. Of the major apps the report surveyed, WhatsApp is the only service to see significant change in recent years, with 24 percent of teens now reporting they use the messaging app, compared with 17 percent in 2022.
The Webb telescope spots a supernova from 13 billion years ago
The James Webb Space Telescope and other international observatories have spotted a 13-billion-year-old supernova. On Tuesday, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the sighting of a gamma-ray burst from a star that exploded when the Universe was only 730 million years old. The Webb telescope even detected the supernova's host galaxy.
Before this observation, the oldest recorded supernova was from when the Universe was 1.8 billion years old. That's a difference of more than a billion years.
You can see the gamma-ray burst in the image below. It's the tiny red smudge at the center of the zoomed-in box on the right.
"This observation also demonstrates that we can use Webb to find individual stars when the Universe was only 5 percent of its current age," co-author Andrew Levan wrote in the ESA's press release. "There are only a handful of gamma-ray bursts in the last 50 years that have been detected in the first billion years of the Universe. This particular event is very rare and very exciting."
Researchers learned that the 13-billion-year-old explosion shared many traits with modern, nearby supernovae. While that may not sound shocking, scientists expected a more profound difference. That's because early stars likely had fewer heavy elements, were more massive and didn't live as long. "We went in with open minds," co-author Nial Tanvir said. "And lo and behold, Webb showed that this supernova looks exactly like modern supernovae."
Detection was an international relay race. First, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory noted the X-ray source's location. (That helped Webb to make subsequent observations that determined its distance). Then, the Nordic Optical Telescope on the Canary Islands in Spain made observations indicating that the gamma ray might be very distant. Hours later, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile estimated its age: 730 million years after the Big Bang. All of this happened in under 17 hours, according to the ESA.
The team behind the observation has been approved to spend more time with Webb studying gamma-ray bursts from the early Universe — and the galaxies behind them. "That glow will help Webb see more and give us a 'fingerprint' of the galaxy," Levan predicted.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/the-webb-telescope-spots-a-supernova-from-13-billion-years-ago-194327489.html?src=rssSamsung Wallet to gain support for digital Porsche keys
Owners of the Porsche Macan and upcoming Porsche Cayenne Electric will be able to unlock and start their cars with their Galaxy phones, Samsung has announced. The cars, alongside other Porsche models, are gaining support for Samsung Wallet's Digital Key feature, which lets users wirelessly control their car over a secure UWB or NFC connection.
Digital Key support will be available in Europe in December, before rolling out globally, "aligned with the launch timeline of Porsche vehicles," Samsung says. Samsung Wallet is available on Samsung devices as old as the Galaxy S20, Note 20, Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Galaxy Flip 5G, and is included on the majority of the company's new phones. Like similar features on Google's Pixels and Apple's iPhones, Digital Key allows Porsche owners with a supported Galaxy phone to unlock, lock and start their car directly from their phone. If your phone is ever taken, you can also remotely lock or delete a Digital Key to keep your car safe.
Samsung added Digital Key support to select Volvo and Polestar EVs in February 2025. The feature first became available in 2021, and is one of several ways the phone maker imagines people will use Samsung Wallet. Beyond digital car keys, the app can also store credit and debit cards and be used to transfer money with a tap.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-wallet-to-gain-support-for-digital-porsche-keys-193000085.html?src=rssPlayStation's 2025 Wrap-Up is here, so you can see how many hours you've sunk into Death Stranding 2
Sony's 2025 PlayStation Wrap-Up is now available. The recap, which is similar to those from music streaming services, sums up gaming habits from throughout the year. It shows players how many hours they used their PS4 or PS5, what games they played the most, preferred genres, trophy counts and more.
These digital cards are shareable on social media, which is kind of the whole point. Nothing says "bragging rights" more than offering definitive proof of how long you spent on a couch grinding in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or wandering the wasteland in Death Stranding 2.
This year, the recap provides insight into how much players interacted with accessories like the PlayStation Portal and PS VR2. It also details the "most used DualSense wireless controller design."
The 2025 Wrap-Up will be available until January 8. Once completed, players also get a "unique glass-themed avatar." It's only available for adults.
My PlayStation wrap up 2025 pic.twitter.com/9Em96T4Xce
— priceless (@Real__Priceless) December 9, 2025
The PlayStation Wrap-Up has been around since 2017, though it ran into some issues with accessibility in 2024. Spotify introduced the basic idea with Wrapped back in 2015. Since then, the concept of a shareable year-end streaming list has spread like a virus. Just about everyone does it now, from Apple Music to Nintendo and even YouTube. We love to reflect on things we recently experienced, don't we folks?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/playstations-2025-wrap-up-is-here-so-you-can-see-how-many-hours-youve-sunk-into-death-stranding-2-191508693.html?src=rssSkyrim arrives on the Switch 2
You can add the Switch 2 to the (long) list of platforms where you can play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The bad news: It costs $60 to play the 2011 game optimized for Nintendo's 2025 hardware. The good news: It costs less (or nothing) if you own one of the versions for the original Switch.
The (digital-only) Switch 2 port is the Anniversary Edition of Skyrim, released in 2021. That includes the base game and three expansions (Dawnguard, Dragonborn and Hearthfire). You'll also find hundreds of Creation Club items, like quests, weapons, armor, spells and dungeons. The Anniversary Edition's Zelda crossover content (Master Sword, Hylian Shield and Champion's Tunic) is also there. So, at least there's plenty of content.
The game also offers technical upgrades for the Switch 2 hardware. It has enhanced resolution, DLSS anti-aliasing, faster load times and general performance optimizations. There's also mouse support, motion controls and Amiibo support. The trailer below gives you an idea of what to expect.
In an interview with Nintendo Life, Bethesda Creative Director Matt Carofano said the Switch 2 port was "an easy development process and actually pretty quick" to make. He described the team's motivation for porting it as bringing back "one of our most beloved games to the Switch 2 and see how we can improve it and make it the best experience for that console."
Okay, cool, but I'm gonna go on a limb and say money was also a factor. That’s because, if you don't already own Skyrim for the OG Switch, you'll have to fork over a whopping $60 in the Nintendo Store for the 14-year-old game. Meanwhile, if you own the standard version of Skyrim for the original Switch, you’ll pay $20 to upgrade. Finally, if you have the Skyrim Anniversary Edition on the OG Switch, you can install the new version for free.
If you own the Switch 1 version, first install that on Switch 2 and start the game. When you see the eShop banner advertising the new version, press Y to access the store and upgrade. You can do that with both digital and physical versions of Skyrim for Switch 1.
Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 now has a Stranger Things expansion
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 just got a fairly bizarre expansion inspired by the Netflix show Stranger Things. If you've ever wanted to fly over a fictional Indiana town in the 1980s, this is the update for you.
That's right. The game now lets folks fly over Hawkins, Indiana and check out more than 40 iconic locations from the series, including Starcourt Mall, the junkyard, the government lab and, of course, the upside down.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 introduces Netflix’s Stranger Things expansion, out Dec 9
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) December 9, 2025
📡 Recreation of Hawkins with more than 40 iconic locations
🚁 Five exhilarating missions
Full details: https://t.co/JyB4LkMSzO pic.twitter.com/XsmGzt52Mb
Inexplicably, this isn't just a joyride. There's an actual game here, with five helicopter-based missions that have players arranging supply drops, rescuing characters and chasing bad guys. Murray Bauman, portrayed by Brett Gelman, is on hand to assign missions and engage in banter.
This is a free update and it's available right now, so get out there and blast that one Kate Bush song over and over (and over.) As for Stranger Things, the second part of season five drops on December 25, followed by the series finale on January 1. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, which first came out last year, recently launched for PS5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/microsoft-flight-sim-2024-now-has-a-stranger-things-expansion-173944325.html?src=rssMeta is trying to make Facebook suck less by simplifying things a bit
Somewhere along its never-ending quest to increase engagement, Meta realized that giving Facebook users more of what they want would make it more likely that they'll stick around. The company has announced a bunch of updates designed to help improve the feed and the broader Facebook experience by making it easier to find, create and share interesting things. (Because primarily showing updates from your friends with the occasional ad or meme post is maybe just too complicated.)
Simplification is a big focus of this overhaul. First, the Facebook feed will be a bit more streamlined. Whenever you post multiple photos, Facebook will arrange them into a standardized grid. When you click into anything on the feed, you'll be able to see it in a full screen view. And there's a very welcome change in that you'll be able to like a photo by double-tapping it. Just be careful with that when you're swiping through an ex's or a crush's photos.
Search results are now said to "show more content in a more immersive grid layout that supports all content types," according to Meta. The company is trying out a new full-screen viewer for Facebook that "lets you explore different photo and video results without losing your place in search," which it plans to expand to "more content and post types in the coming months."
In addition, the company says you’ll be able to provide feedback on a Facebook post or Reel to help make future recommendations more relevant. More ways for you to "shape your feed" and offer feedback on what the algorithm serves up are coming soon.
The Facebook feed sucks, and it's good that Meta knows it sucks. There have been numerous occasions over the last couple of years where I've had to scroll through a couple dozen uninteresting posts from pages and creators I've never heard of before seeing something from a friend. The glut of spam and AI slop isn't helping (things are pretty grim for creators who have been dealing with content thieves too).
There was a spell of several months last year when, every single time I opened Facebook, I would see an utterly garbage AI-generated image of a "tiny house," a supposedly cozy domicile where not much actually made sense (three TVs in a living room, stairs and railings that had the telltale signs of AI warping). I'd always provide feedback that I didn't want to see any posts from that page again. But the next day there'd be another rotten "tiny house" image from a different page in my feed.
Here's hoping Meta will actually take feedback related to recommendations on board and act on it. If the company does, it might actually make the feed more interesting to scroll through again.
Elsewhere, Facebook will place the most-used tab bar features — such as Reels, Friends, Marketplace and Profile — front and center on the tab bar for easier and faster access. Meta is also promising a refreshed look for the menu and "cleaner" tab notifications.
Facebook is making it easier to access more popular Story and Feed post creation tools like music and friend tagging by giving them more prominent placement. Advanced options like text background colors will be an extra tap or two away. The post and Story composer feature audience and cross-post settings prominently, so that you have ease of control over who can see what you're sharing. Meta has updated how comments work across the feed, Groups and Reels as well to make things more streamlined and easier to follow.
On top of all of that, when you make changes to your profile, you might start seeing suggestions for friends with shared interests. Meta suggested that, "if you update your profile to show you're into sourdough bread baking or planning a trip to Nashville, Facebook will show you friends who can give you sourdough starter tips or offer suggestions on the best local spots." As always, though, you can decide who sees what on your profile or simply opt to share none of this personal info with Facebook at all, especially if you feel that Meta already knows too much about you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-trying-to-make-facebook-suck-less-by-simplifying-things-a-bit-171910771.html?src=rssGoogle Pixel Watch 4 gets double pinch and wrist turn features
It has been two months since Google released the Pixel Watch 4 and now the company is introducing new updates to the wearable. In our review, Engadget managing editor Cherlynn Low was impressed enough with the watch to give it an 86, but called out the lack of gesture-based interactions. The new one-handed gesture features, like double pinch and wrist turn, should make up for that.
In an industry that involves constant borrowing of ideas, it should come as no surprise that these features are very similar to those available on the Apple Watch. Double pinch works much the same to the Apple Watch's double tap. Pixel Watch 4 users should be able to pinch their fingers together twice on the same hand to do things like answer or end a call and pause timers. The Pixel Watch will also offer "context hints" on its screen about when a person should consider using double pinch.
Then there's wrist turn, Google's answer to Apple's wrist flick. It should allow Pixel Watch 4 users to take actions like dismissing incoming calls by turning their wrist.
Currently, users can rotate their wrist to scroll through notifications. They can also summon Gemini by bringing their wrist to their mouth, but it's a bit finicky, requiring them to start at the homepage and be extremely accurate in their movements. Google is rolling out a new step-by-step tutorial for this raise to talk feature, so hopefully it becomes a bit easier to use moving forward.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/google-pixel-watch-4-gets-double-pinch-and-wrist-turn-features-170024210.html?src=rssStudy shows that Instacart was charging different amounts for the same items
A collaborative report from Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union has uncovered pricing experiments within the Instacart app that yielded higher or lower prices for different users on the exact same items from the same store location.
The organizations partnered to enroll 437 shoppers in an experiment across four cities, where each shopper added the same items to their carts within Instacart from the exact same store. Almost 75 percent of grocery items were shown to shoppers at multiple price points, with as many as five different prices shown for the same item. The average difference between the highest and lowest price shown was 13 percent, while the highest delta on an individual item was a whopping 23 percent.
Engadget reached out to Instacart and received the following response. It reads in part: "Just as retailers have long tested prices in their physical stores to better understand consumer preferences, a subset of only 10 retail partners — ones that already apply markups — do the same online via Instacart. These limited, short-term, and randomized tests help retail partners learn what matters most to consumers and how to keep essential items affordable." An Instacart spokesperson added that this is not dynamic pricing (insofar as it is not based on supply and demand), that no personal demographic data is used in the process and that these experiments are random.
The bulk of the tests were conducted at Safeway and Target stores, which both yielded similar results. A Target spokesperson told the New York Times that the company "is not affiliated with Instacart and is not responsible for prices on the Instacart platform." Instacart told the Times that they were "evaluating different approaches" to cover the platform's costs at the time of the study, but have since discontinued pricing tests on Target orders.
Instacart published a blog post today attempting to explain how these tests that showed higher prices are actually meant to help retailers invest in lower prices. It also waxes poetic about Instacart's commitments to affordable groceries for consumers.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/study-shows-that-instacart-was-charging-different-amounts-for-the-same-items-165108224.html?src=rssPebble is making a weird little smart ring for recording thoughts
Pebble just announced the Index 01, a smart ring for recording thoughts. It's a little ring with a built-in microphone and that's about it. The Index 01 is almost anti-tech in its simplicity. There's no needless AI component shoehorned in, aside from speech-to-text. It's a ring with a microphone that you whisper ideas into and I want one.
Here's how it works. You get an idea while walking down the street, so you quietly whisper it into the ring. The ring sends the idea to a notes app or saves it for later review. Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky calls this an "external memory" for the brain, but I call it a nice way to avoid having to dig the phone out of a pocket or bag just to utter something like "pizza, but for cats."
The ring doesn't record unless a button is pushed, so it won't be listening in on private conversations, and it doesn't require a paid subscription of any kind. It's on the smaller side, about the size of a wedding band, and is water-resistant.
The battery also lasts for "years" and never needs to be charged. The ring is designed to be worn at all times, so users develop the muscle memory of holding down the little button when they have something to share. See what I mean? I want one, and I've quite literally never worn a ring in my life.
Migicovsky says this is an open source product and that Pebble is "leaving the side door open for folks to customize." He envisions people will integrate AI voice agents and that the ring will eventually work with stuff like ChatGPT, Beeper, Google and other services.
The Pebble Index 01 works with iPhone and Android and is available for preorder right now. It costs $75 during this preorder period, but the price jacks up to $99 when shipments start going out in March.
This is just the latest product by Migicovsky and Pebble. The company unveiled the Core 2 Duo and the Core Time 2 smartwatches earlier this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/pebble-is-making-a-weird-little-smart-ring-for-recording-thoughts-161723645.html?src=rssThe 11 best gifts under $25 for 2025
The most hyped tech is often also the most expensive: flagship smartphones, ultra-powerful gaming laptops, immersive VR headsets and the like. But it would be wrong to assume that those are the only pieces of technology worth gifting. You don’t have to drain your wallet to get someone a cool gadget that will both be useful and make their lives easier. There are more solid, affordable gadgets out there now more than ever, but that also means you’ll discover some junk along the way. We’ve collected our favorite pieces of tech under $25 that make great gifts and help you to stick to a budget.
Best gifts under $25
Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/the-11-best-gifts-under-25-for-2025-140042203.html?src=rssThe AI boom could soon send GPU prices soaring, so now's a good time to buy one
When someone asks me for gadget buying advice, I normally tell them to stick with their current device. In 2025, most new tech products aren't a worthwhile upgrade over even something that was released a few years ago — and with the price of everything going up, that new iPhone can wait. But things aren't normal right now.
On December 3, The Wall Street Journal reported memory manufacturer Micron would wind down Crucial, its consumer business, to focus on components for the AI industry. The PC I'm writing this article on has an SSD and RAM from Crucial. Overnight, Micron decided to end a business it spent decades building, and from a certain perspective, I guess it makes sense. In recent months, OpenAI has signed more than $1.4 trillion worth of infrastructure deals, creating unprecedented demand for server-grade solid-state storage and RAM.
To meet the moment, manufacturers have been allocating more of their production capacity and wafers to high-margin commercial customers. For consumers, the result has been skyrocketing RAM prices, with some DDR5 kits now costing as much as two or three times as much as they did a couple of months ago. Recent analysis from TrendForce shows the price of some consumer-grade SSDs increased between 20 and 60 percent in November for the same reason. Then there's LPDDR5X memory, which is used in both smartphones and NVIDIA's Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin platforms. In 2026, it's expected to increase in price as well. The demand for AI infrastructure is such that all consumer electronics may cost more in the coming months.
Price Changes Coming December 7th 2025, Due To Market Conditions 🔔‼️ pic.twitter.com/et0HADhc08
— CyberPowerPC (@CYBERPOWERPC) November 25, 2025
That gets me to the purpose of this article. If you've been thinking about upgrading to a new graphics card, I would recommend you buy one sooner rather than later. The AI boom came for RAM first, and there are already signs it will come for GPU pricing next. A recent report suggests AMD is considering raising the MSRP of its 8GB models by $20 and 16GB models by $40 due to the price of GDDR6 memory. NVIDIA, meanwhile, is rumored to have recently told its board partners it would no longer supply them with VRAM for their cards.
Neither NVIDIA nor AMD responded to comment requests from Engadget requesting they share how they plan to work with their board partners to ensure GPU prices remain stable. NVIDIA also did not comment on reports the company will stop providing VRAM to its board partners.
Separate from the memory shortage, neither NVIDIA nor AMD are expected to release new GPUs soon. According to recent rumors, the earliest a Super refresh of the Blackwell line could arrive is sometime in the middle of 2026 — not at CES in January as the 40-series Super cards did in 2024. The memory crunch could complicate things there too, since the company has typically relied on more and faster VRAM to offer better performance on its Super cards. With 50-series Super GPUs, it might not be the case that NVIDIA announces them at the same MSRP as their non-Super predecessors, which was the case with the 40-series.
As for AMD, the company debuted its RDNA 4 cards at the start of the year. We know it's already working on RDNA 5, and if a recent chat with Sony's Mark Cerny is any indication, the new architecture will be a major step change for AMD. However, right now rumors indicate the earliest RDNA 5 could arrive is sometime in 2027.
In other words, with nothing new on the horizon and pricing of existing stock likely to increase, there might be only a short window where you can get a new GPU at a reasonable price. It's impossible to predict the future, but if you're in need of an upgrade and have the means to purchase, there might not be a better opportunity before the end of 2026.
Recommendations
The recommendations in Engadget's recent GPU guide are still as relevant today as they were a few months ago. Once again, the best advice I can give is to buy a card with at least 12GB of VRAM, and preferably 16GB if your budget allows for it. Unless you mostly plan to play older games on a 1080p monitor, it's not worth considering a model with 8GB of VRAM — it won't last you long enough to warrant the purchase price.
Our recommendations are grouped from most affordable to most expensive. Where possible, I've tried to find options from both Newegg and Amazon. You won't find any high-end picks like the RTX 5080 since if you can afford that card, this guide isn't for you.
Intel Arc B580
For those on a tight budget, I would start and end my search with the Intel Arc B580. Newegg has models from ASRock and Onix at or under the card's $250 MSRP. I can't speak to the quality of ONIX cards, but ASRock is well-regarded. Over on Amazon, you can find the B580 for $300. With Intel cards you sometimes need to put up with odd driver issues, but as far as budget options go, the B580 offers value that's hard to beat. The one thing about budget cards like the B580 is they’re likely to face the most pricing pressure from the memory crunch due to the smaller margins manufacturers are making on them.
NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
If you have more than $250 to spend on a GPU, the RTX 5060 Ti is the GPU to buy. Avoid the 8GB model and go straight for the 16GB variant. NVIDIA announced the 5060 Ti at an MSRP of $429, and luckily as of the writing of this article, you can still find one close to that price.
Newegg, for instance, is selling the MSI Ventus Black Plus version of the card for $440. Amazon has the silver colorway of that same GPU listed for $460 currently. The retailer also has models from Gigabyte and Zotac in and around that same price.
If I had to pick between the 5060 Ti and 5070, which NVIDIA only offers with 12GB of VRAM, I would pick the former. The 5060 Ti is a safer bet, and offers nearly as much performance, particularly in games that include ray tracing as an option.
AMD Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT
For a mid-range option, the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT offer excellent value. Of the two cards, the 9070 is the better purchase for most people due to its less demanding power requirements, but if you got a PSU that can handle the 9070 XT, go for it.
Right now, Newegg has a few 9070 models from ASRock and Sapphire just under the card's $549 MSRP. My friend recently bought the Sapphire card linked above, and has had nothing but good things to say about it. You'll pay more going through Amazon, but the company has a couple of options around $600 from XFX and Gigabyte.
When it comes to the 9070 XT, Newegg has an ASRock model priced right at the card's $599 MSRP. Many of the other options from Sapphire and XFX are unfortunately priced between $650 and $700. The same is true on Amazon, where the cheapest model I could find was $630.
NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti
For our final recommendation, consider the RTX 5070 Ti. It's a great option if you want to play games at 4K for less than what the 5080 and 5090 cost. Newegg has MSI and Zotac models on sale for $750, the card's recommended price. There are also a handful of other options from ASUS and Gigabyte that are just over $800. Amazon, meanwhile, is selling one Gigabyte variant for $749.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-ai-boom-could-soon-send-gpu-prices-soaring-so-nows-a-good-time-to-buy-one-153000063.html?src=rssOur favorite Anker MagSafe power bank is 34 percent off right now
Holiday travel is almost upon us and, while it likely won't be something out of a Richard Curtis film, there are ways to make it easier. You can raid our list of best travel gifts for 2025 and pick up our favorite MagSafe power bank: Anker's MagGo 10,000mAh Power Bank.
Even better, the Anker MagGo power bank is currently on sale for $60, down from $90. This 34 percent discount brings the power bank to only $5 more than its all-time low price. We're big fans of Anker's MagGo power bank — one of the first and best Qi2-certified products available. You can get about 1.7 iPhone 15 charges out of it and bring your phone from five percent to 60 percent in a little more than 45 minutes. Plus, the stand makes it easy to keep using your phone while it charges.
Two of our other picks for best MagSafe power bank are also on sale — and down to record-low prices. The Baseus Picogo 25W Power Bank is 24 percent off and down to $53 from $70. Meanwhile, the Ugreen MagFlow 10,000mAh 25W Power Bank has dropped to $60 from $90 — a 33 percent discount.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-anker-magsafe-power-bank-is-34-percent-off-right-now-151039224.html?src=rss