RSS Reader
$rss = get::component('rss');
$articles = $rss->getFeed('https://www.engadget.com/rss.xml');
foreach ($articles as $article) {
echo $html->h2($html->link($article['link'], $article['title']));
echo $html->p($article['description']);
}
Live RSS feed output:
This retro-inspired handheld comes with Banjo-Kazooie and Battletoads built in
Who would've guessed we'd get to play the original Banjo-Kazooie on a handheld with just a D-pad in 2026. HyperMegaTech!'s latest release is a collaboration with Rare Ltd., the legendary game developer known for the Banjo-Kazooie franchise and, more recently, Sea of Thieves, called the Super Pocket Rare Edition.
The vertical handheld features 14 classics from the British developer, including two Battletoads titles, Conker's Pocket Tales and many more. While most of the games were released on 8- or 16-bit consoles, Banjo-Kazooie will be the headliner since it was originally released on the Nintendo 64. It may sound weird to control Banjo and Kazooie with a D-pad, but HyperMegaTech! assured that the game has been enhanced and optimized specifically for the Super Pocket handheld.
Since HyperMegaTech! and Evercade share Blaze Entertainment as a parent company, that means the Rare Edition handheld will be compatible with Evercade cartridges. Once you're done with the 14 included games, you can expand your Super Pocket's library with cartridges that feature collections from Taito, NeoGeo or Atari. HyperMegaTech! said the Rare Edition handheld will be available for $69.99 in June 2026, but has already opened preorders.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/this-retro-inspired-handheld-comes-with-banjo-kazooie-and-battletoads-built-in-203111135.html?src=rssEverything announced at MWC 2026: The new Leica Leitzphone by Xiaomi, Honor's ultra-thin MagicPad 4 and more
MWC 2026 officially gets underway on March 2 and will continue through March 5, but the announcements are already coming ahead of its start. We can always count on the annual tech event to bring tons of new phones, laptops and tablets, and we're expecting to see some robots and other gadgets too — plus plenty of AI news, of course. In addition to the announcements, MWC is our chance to get hands-on time with some of the most interesting new devices, like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra.
Engadget’s Mat Smith is on the ground in Barcelona, and we'll be updating this story as the week goes on to keep you in the loop on everything that caught our attention. Keep checking back here for the latest MWC news.
Xiaomi x Leica
Xiaomi kicked off MWC this year by announcing the global launch of its 17 Ultra smartphone, which debuted first in China back in December. It's unclear if the phone will ever come to the US, but it's now rolling out in Europe. Xiaomi teamed up again with Leica to make a photography-focused smartphone, and the 17 Ultra sports a 1-inch 50-megapixel camera sensor with a f/1.67 lens, a telephoto setup with a 200MP 1/1.4-inch sensor, and a 50MP ultrawide camera. There's also a manual zoom ring around the camera.
Check out our hands on for our first impressions of what it's like shooting with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. And there's more to it than just the camera. The 17 Ultra has a 6.9-inch OLED 120 Hz display that peaks at 3,500 nits of brightness, and a 6000mAh silicon-carbon battery. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra starts at £1,299 (roughly $1,750).
Leica also announced a new phone made in partnership with Xiaomi at MWC. It looks a whole lot like Xiaomi's 17 Ultra, but isn't the 17 Ultra, exactly.
Like the 17 Ultra, Leica's Leitzphone by Xiaomi has a 1-inch camera sensor and physical controls for zoom and other settings, using a mechanical ring around the camera unit. It features a Leica-designed intuitive camera interface with the option to show just the essentials when you're shooting, hiding all the modes and labels. There's a monochrome shooting mode and Leica filters.
The Leica branding is splashed all over it in design and wallpapers, but it's otherwise pretty similar to the 17 Ultra, with the same specs. Like the 17 Ultra, it has a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and a 6.9-inch 120Hz display. This one's priced at €1,999 (roughly $2,362).
In addition to the 17 Ultra, Xiaomi announced two new tablets at MWC this year: the Xiaomi Pad 8 and Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro. There's nothing revolutionary here, but they're lightweight and thin, with both being 5.75mm thick and weighing 485g, and have a 9200mAh battery. The Pro model is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, while the regular Pad 8 uses the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset.
Xiaomi also unveiled a new 5000mAh powerbank, the UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 15W. The 6mm thick power bank comes in three colors with an aluminum alloy shell: orange, silver and charcoal gray. Along with that, the company introduced the Xiaomi Tag, its own take on the Bluetooth item tracker. The Xiaomi Tag has a built-in hanging loop so it can be attached directly to a keyring, and the company says it will work with both Apple Find My and Google's Find Hub for Android.
Honor MagicPad 4
Ahead of MWC, Honor announced what it claims is the thinnest Android tablet in the world: the 4.8mm thick MagicPad 4. We're expecting to hear more about this at Honor's press conference on Sunday, but so far we know it features a 12.3-inch 165Hz OLED display and weighs just 450g. It comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset. The thinness doesn't count the camera bump, Honor notes. The MagicPad 4 has 13MP rear and 9MP front cameras. It also boasts spatial audio, with eight speakers.
Just as the display is slightly smaller than the previous MagicPad, the MagicPad 4 has a smaller battery at 10100 mAh. It comes with a 66W fast charger. The MagicPad 4 will run Honor's MagicOS 10. We don't yet know how much it will cost, but we'll update this after Honor's press conference (where we're also expecting to see the company's robot) with any new details.
Tecno
We can always expect to see some wild phone concepts at MWC, and this year we're starting with one from Tecno. The company unveiled a modular concept smartphone design that can be as thin as 4.9mm in its base configuration. There’d be 10 modules to choose from based on the announcement, including various camera lenses, a gaming attachment and a power bank, relying on magnets to keep it all together — or Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology, as Tecno is calling it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/everything-announced-at-mwc-2026-the-new-leica-leitzphone-by-xiaomi-honors-ultra-thin-magicpad-4-and-more-172442426.html?src=rssAlaska could be the next state to crack down on AI-generated CSAM and restrict kids' social media use
Alaska's House of Representatives unanimously passed HB47, a bill that imposes sweeping limits on when and how minors use social media apps, along with bans on generating or distributing harmful deepfakes of children.
The bill's original form was focused on prohibiting the possession and distribution of sexually explicit images of children using AI, but Alaska lawmakers decided to add amendments that would impose social media restrictions. The proposed limitations include a statewide curfew on using social media between 10:30 PM and 6:30 AM, banning "addictive design features" and requiring social media platforms to verify user ages and get parental consent if they are minors.
While the House bill saw 39 votes in favor and zero against, the amendments offered some hints at potential upcoming revisions. Before the bill went to a vote, some of the House representatives expressed concern about adding such broad rules on social media without consulting the companies behind them first.
The bill still has to make its way through the Alaska State Senate, which already has presented a companion bill, and the governor. Alaska is following the footsteps of many other states, and the House even modeled its social media amendments in the HB47 bill after Utah. While Utah was the first to propose social media restrictions for kids, it was later met with a preliminary injunction.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/alaska-could-be-the-next-state-to-crack-down-on-ai-generated-csam-and-restrict-kids-social-media-use-190506366.html?src=rssShuttered studio Bluepoint reportedly pitched a Bloodborne remake, but it got shot down by FromSoftware
Bloodborne fans may not be happy to hear that a remake was reportedly rejected, but that doesn't mean it's completely off the table. Bluepoint Games, Sony's closed-down studio behind many PlayStation remakes, pitched remaking the classic Gothic horror RPG in early 2025, but was blocked by the game's developer, FromSoftware, according to a Bloomberg report.
As Bloomberg reported, Bluepoint pitched a Bloodborne remake after several years of working towards a live-service title in the God of War franchise that was ultimately canceled. Looking for the next project, a modern-day version of Bloodborne made a lot of sense, considering the title came out in 2015 and Bluepoint was responsible for the successful Demon's Souls remake in 2020. However, Bloomberg's sources said that FromSoftware was against it, but didn't offer a concrete reason why. With some digging, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier pointed to an interview from Kinda Funny Games with PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida, which aired last year. In the video, Yoshida mentioned that FromSoftware's president, Hidetaka Miyazaki, wanted to pursue a Bloodborne remake, but was too busy to do it himself and "doesn't want anyone else to touch it."
After failing to get the Bloodborne remake greenlit, Bluepoint wasn't able to secure another project for more than a year, according to the Bloomberg report. Now that Bluepoint has been shut down, we're likely even further away from a remake. That's not to say a remake will never happen, but when it does, it'll have to get a stamp of approval and likely a lot of oversight from FromSoftware.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/shuttered-studio-bluepoint-reportedly-pitched-a-bloodborne-remake-but-it-got-shot-down-by-fromsoftware-173744228.html?src=rssLeica’s Leitzphone by Xiaomi has a huge 1-inch camera sensor and a stylish new design
Alongside a global launch for Xiaomi's 17 Ultra (read about that right here), the company announced a further deepening of its relationship with Leica. The CEO of Leica, Matthias Harsch, took to the stage to announce a new Leitzphone, which appears to be an even deeper collaboration than 17 Ultra by Leica, which is a different phone. Confused? That's fair.
Design-wise, Leica has shifted back to a single tone body color, which looks more "Leica" to this camera dilettante's eyes. And if you’re thinking you’ve heard of the Leitzphone before, you probably have: it was a series of phones made by Sharp that launched in Japan in 2021. They all had a 1-inch camera sensor, as does Xiaomi’s first Leitzphone. It also has a mechanical, physical ring dial around the camera unit to control settings like zoom, exposure and shutter speed.
The camera interface is also designed by Leica. It's designed to be as intuitive as possible, with an Essential mode in the camera app that strips away all those modes and labels, showcasing whatever you're looking to shoot. You can switch between a monochrome shooting mode and a more familiar punchy, contrasty Leica filter. And that's it.
Aside from that there's no major standout interface or UI changes that I could spot while trying out the Leitzphone briefly at Xiaomi's MWC keynote. However, if you're intrigued by the functionality — or the cameras — check out our hands-on coverage and sample photos of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. The cameras are good.
All three iterations (the regular Xiaomi 17 Ultra , the "by Leica" edition and the Leitzphone) have a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and a 6.9-inch 120Hz display that can reach up to 3,500 nits of peak brightness. While cameras are naturally the focus, it’s a flagship device by pretty much any metric. It also has a 6,000mAh battery for extended vacation photo shoots.
Barring some Leica-tinged wallpapers and design accents, it's a lot like the 17 Ultra by Leica, just with different messaging. This is Leica's phone, made by Xiaomi, but does a rose by any other name still have great low-light photography? Maybe increased Leica branding will be enough to coax its camera fans into making this their next smartphone, perhaps.
After years of collaboration (and cute little badges), this may be the first pure "Leica phone" manufactured by Xiaomi but sold directly by both companies. It's priced at €1,999 (roughly $2,362), but it's not known yet whether this phone will launch in the US. Welcome to MWC, everyone.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/leica-leitzphone-xiaomi-mwc-2026-135744417.html?src=rssXiaomi 17 Ultra hands-on: Incredible cameras, but maybe hard to get
China’s biggest phone makers continue to relentlessly forge ahead with high-spec phones that you may never see in the US. With the Xiaomi 17 Ultra this year, the company has continued its pattern from previous iterations by focusing on powerful camera sensors, huge batteries and… being selective about global availability.
Xiaomi’s 17 series is launching across multiple European territories months after its Asia debut, but at the time of writing, no word yet on US availability. Another logistical point of interest? When we last checked out Xiaomi’s devices, it was the 15 series, and the company has decided to skip 16 and leap straight to 17, conveniently matching Apple’s latest number.
Storied camera brand Leica has been involved with Xiaomi’s phones for a few years and its newest flagship doesn’t disappoint in that regard, because this is another Xiaomi device dedicated to photography.
The 17 Ultra has a huge 1-inch 50-megapixel main camera sensor with a f/1.67 lens, and a telephoto setup with a 200MP 1/1.4-inch sensor and going up to 4.3x optical zoom. Xiaomi claims it’s capable of up to 17x “optical-level zoom,” but quality doesn’t measure up to, say, the Oppo Find X9, with its dedicated telescopic lens add-on. There’s also a 50MP ultrawide camera to round things out.
The main camera is very impressive, delivering plenty of detail and performing incredibly well in low light, seemingly before any computational photography kicks in. A new Light Fusion 1050L sensor features LOFIC HDR technology, delivering stronger control over highlights and more detail in darker areas of your shots. I've been impressed by the balanced color tone and contrast, without having to edit or add one of the (many) Leica camera filters.
If anything, the slightly heavy-handed algorithms can sometimes ruin parts of a shot. For instance, by scrambling lettering or capturing blurry, AI-mutated faces where computational photography takes a swing (and a miss) at people in the distance.
The telephoto camera alone is also technically interesting in a few ways. It offers continual optical zoom across the 75-100mm range without in-sensor cropping. This means the lenses physically move to deliver lossless zoom across a range of distances, without jarring leaps between camera sensors and crops. This doesn’t run across the full gamut, but it does roughly cover the 3-4x optical zoom range, which is often used in portrait photography.
The APO (apochromatic) lens design on the telephoto is more immediately useful and effective. An APO lens significantly reduces chromatic aberration by focusing three wavelengths of light (red, green and blue) onto the same focal plane. This lens design means it can correct color fringing and improve image sharpness.
At higher zoom levels, fringing and lighting bloom often hamper telephoto photos on smartphones, and Xiaomi’s solution has some appeal. I noticed less fringing than on other zoom-capable Android phones from Samsung, Oppo and Google. It also supports macro photography, but is hindered this time by a minimum focal distance of 30cm (11.8 inches). Most smartphone cameras’ macro modes let you get much closer.
The 17 Ultra can capture up to 8K video (at 30 fps), 4K Dolby Vision up to 120 fps, and 4K 120 fps Log video, ensuring you can make the most of that huge 1-inch sensor in video, too. That said, it seems to struggle with stabilization at times, while its low-light performance doesn’t match its prowess in still photography, lagging behind flagship phones from Apple, Google and Samsung.
There's also a special Leica edition of the 17 Ultra, which is largely the same, specification-wise, but with a manual zoom ring around the camera unit. It's a cool gimmick, but felt oddly loose on a few devices I've handled.
Xiaomi made a few design changes to its Ultra line this year, with a new, entirely flat display, and flattened edges that look like a certain family of devices. In fairness, it’s not the only company using imitation as flattery. There’s also IP68 protection against dust and water.
While cameras may be the highlight, this is a flagship device by any specification metric. With a 6.9-inch display, this expansive OLED display has variable refresh rates (1-120Hz) and peaks at 3,500 nits of brightness.
At that size, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is in the territory of devices like the iPhone 17 Pro Max and S26 Ultra. A phone this size isn’t for everyone, but it is the thinnest Ultra phone from Xiaomi to date, with a profile measuring 8.29mm. Xiaomi has also reduced the camera unit’s diameter and raised it on the device, making it easier to use and helping keep fingers out of your shots.
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the huge 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, with support for Xiaomi’s 90W HyperCharge (if you have the right charger) and 50W wireless HyperCharge (which also requires Xiaomi’s own dock) speeds. Other phone makers: Please put a battery this huge in your flagship.
At MWC 2026, the company announced the global launch and rollout of the device across Europe, including the UK where the Ultra will start priced at £1,299 (roughly $1,750). We're still waiting to confirm US availability and pricing.
While the specs are powerful, “launching” a flagship device that’s already been in the wild for a few months — even if elsewhere in the world — reduces the spectacle.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/xiaomi-17-ultra-global-launch-hands-on-leica-camera-143006810.html?src=rssSteam Next Fest, a different flavor of The Witcher and other new indie games worth checking out
Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. It's Steam Next Fest week, with literally thousands of demos for upcoming games for us to dive into. I'm trying to check out as many as I can before the event wraps up on Monday. However, I made a near-critical error in my planning: I opted to try the Raccoin demo first. I could and would have happily played that all week.
This is a coin-pushing roguelike deckbuilder that adopts the format of Balatro. To progress, you need to earn a certain number of points and the target increases each round. Every three rounds there's a sort-of boss — a few coins that negatively impact your game until you can get rid of them. After every round, you’ll go to a shop to buy and sell special coins and other upgrades. As you might expect with this type of game, finding ways to boost the points you can score from each coin is how to win.
On my first successful run, I found a way to electrify the coins (which boosts their score) by charging them and use passive abilities and special coins to spread and amplify the effect. Then I was able to replicate a special coin that pulls all other nearby coins into a cyclone — having the water-based coins in there helped to spread the electrical effect between other coins. There were a few rounds in which I didn't even have to do anything. The cyclones just dumped enough coins over the edge for me.
This was only the first way I've figured out how to break the game. Six hours in, I'm eager to find many more.
Raccoin — from Doraccoon and Balatro publisher Playstack — will hit Steam on March 31. The demo is currently still available.
I've had The Eternal Life of Goldman on my wishlist since we first learned about it a couple of years ago. I'm very glad that was one of the demos I've tried. This is an utterly gorgeous platform adventure with hand-drawn art. As Goldman, an elderly gentleman, you'll swap parts of your cane on the fly so you can hook onto floating rings or pogo off springs.
The platforming is challenging enough that I had to focus to get through the demo, which lasts about 75-90 minutes. There's almost always something going on in the background or foreground too. This game from Weappy Studio is shaping up to be quite something. I can't wait to play the full thing when The Eternal Life of Goldman hits PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, hopefully later this year.
Of course I had to check out the Next Fest demo for Vampire Crawlers, which is also available on Xbox. The latest game from Poncle is a turn-based deckbuilder roguelite. Oh, and it's also a Vampire Survivors spin-off. Instead of passively firing your weapons at surrounding enemies, you have a bit more control here.
It plays a bit like those first-person maze games from the '90s. You'll walk around each level with the help of a map that shows where enemies, chests and bosses are located. When you encounter enemies, you'll play cards in a certain order to deal damage or boost your stats for that particular battle. You can play all your available cards in one go, but you might want to rearrange them first so that you, for instance, use a card that boosts your damage before firing any weapons. Each card has a mana point value — you can only play a full hand if you have enough mana. And yes, there are weapon evolutions.
Turn-based games usually aren't my bag, but sometimes they just hit right. The Vampire Crawlers demo hits right. I can already tell I'm going to spend dozens of hours with the full game, which is coming to Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android this year.
I tried a few other demos so far, including one for John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, a co-op shooter in the vein of Left 4 Dead. It's a little rough around the edges right now, but it seems enjoyable enough.
There are a bunch of other Next Fest demos I'm hoping to try over the weekend, including precision platformer Croak, PvE pirate game Windrose, cyberpunk platformer Replaced, record store sim Wax Heads, match-three/tower-defense game Titanium Court and Dragon Care Tarot. I read that you can pet dragons in the latter, so I'm sold.
New releases
If you can't get enough of The Witcher and are impatiently waiting for CD Projekt Red to unleash The Witcher IV, here's one way to keep your thumbs busy in the meantime. Reigns: The Witcher is the latest installment of the Reigns series from Nerial and Devolver Digital for Steam, Android and iOS ($6).
You still play as Geralt of Rivia. However, this is a narrative-focused game in which you make choices by swiping. It's something a little different for Witcher fans. It might just pull some long-time Reigns players into that fantasy universe for the first time too.
Bread and Fred is the cutest thing. The co-op platformer from SandCastles Studio has been available on PC (Steam, GOG and Epic Games Store) and Nintendo Switch for a while, and this week it landed on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and PS5. It normally costs $15 and there's a 20 percent launch discount on those consoles. You'll need to be a PS Plus subscriber to get those savings on PlayStation, though.
You and a friend take control of a pair of adorable penguins that are tethered together. The aim is to ascend a mountain, sometimes by swinging each other to get to hard-to-reach places. But if you miss a jump, you can plummet back down and erase a chunk of your progress. There is a single-player mode in which one of the penguins is replaced by a rock. The pixel art aesthetic here is super charming.
Here's another co-op game. This one is a side‑scrolling RPG brawler. After several months in early access/game preview, the full version of Stoic's Towerborne arrived on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox on PC, Steam and PS5. It costs $25, though there's a 20 percent launch discount on Xbox. It’s on Game Pass Ultimate and Premium as well.
After the 1.0 update, the game has a full campaign that you can play offline by yourself or online with friends. Stoic has added fresh biomes, enemies and bosses, and there are said to be hundreds of missions, side quests and bounties. I really dig the fluidity of the animations in the trailer, though the action is a bit hard to parse at first glance. Still, I'm curious enough to try out Towerborne.
I’ve been a little too occupied with other Next Fest demos (plus Overwatch challenges, I’ll admit it) to play Dice A Million yet, but this roguelike deckbuilder looks pretty interesting. The aim is to find the right combination of dice and rings (i.e. passive abilities) to roll a million points in one go. As with the likes of Balatro, it's all about figuring out powerful synergies between dice and rings to break the game and rack up ridiculous scores. I did quite enjoy a line on the Steam page that reads, "Cutting edge next-gen graphics (not really, I drew all of them on paint)."
Dice A Million — from Countlessnights and publisher 2 Left Thumbs — is also available on Itch and Xbox on PC. It's on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Otherwise, it costs $13, but there's a 20 percent discount on Steam until March 11. There's a demo available on Steam too.
Upcoming
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire will now launch on 16 April 2026. pic.twitter.com/gwD3QW5Vyt
— MOUSE: P.I. For Hire (@mousethegame) February 23, 2026
Let's start this section with a news roundup. Mouse: P.I. for Hire continues to look rad, but unfortunately we'll have to wait a little longer to play it. Fumi Games and publisher PlaySide have delayed it by a few weeks until April 16 to polish the game up.
I do love voxel-based heist game Teardown, so I'm jazzed for the online multiplayer update. Tuxedo Labs revealed it will go live on Steam on March 12.
It will add a co-op campaign option (for up to 12 players!). There'll be hundreds of other multiplayer modes created by the studio and the community, including prop hunt, battle royale and floor-is-lava modes. There's going to be so much carnage. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Teardown will get the multiplayer update later this year.
ConcernedApe (aka Eric Barrone) marked the 10-year anniversary of Stardew Valley by showing off some very early gameplay footage, some stories from his time of working on his all-time-great indie game and revealing the two additional characters that players will be able to marry when the 1.7 update goes live. Sandy's cool, so it'll be nice to have her as an option, but Clint? That guy sucks. Here's hoping Barrone will finally focus more of his attention on Haunted Chocolatier once this Stardew update is done and dusted.
Also as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, it was revealed this week that an orchestra will deliver a one-night-only performance of music from Stardew Valley at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on October 25. I missed my chance to see the Symphony of Seasons tour in person when it stopped near me, because I don't always make the wisest decisions in life. At least we can now watch an official recording of a previous concert.
Minimap, a social platform for gamers, ran its first indie game showcase this week. Among the highlights:
Thrifty Business (Spellgarden Games), a cozy thrift-store management sim that's coming to Steam this year. A demo's available now.
Another look at Please, Watch The Artwork, an anomaly-spotting game — without jump scares or monsters — from Please, Touch The Artwork developer Thomas Waterzooi.
Lily’s World XD, a psychological horror game from SonderingEmily in which you'll investigate a teenage girl's laptop in the early 2000s. The trailer brings to mind screenlife films like Searching and Unfriended.
Coming-of-age adventure Ikuma - The Frozen Compass from Mooneye Studios. You'll play as both cabin boy Sam and husky Ellie (or have a friend take control of one of them) as you try to make your way home from the Arctic. This should hit Steam later this year.
Tombwater was originally supposed to arrive in November, but Moth Atlas and publisher Midwest Games delayed it for further refinement. It's now set to arrive on Steam on March 31.A Next Fest demo is available now.
This is a 2D Soulslike with a Western setting and 2D pixel art that's inspired by Bloodborne and early Legend of Zelda games. You'll face off against horrific eldritch creatures as you search for a missing friend. You'll have seven playable classes to choose from and the ability to wield more than 50 firearms and melee weapons, and more than 20 spells. Tombwater is said to have around 20 hours of gameplay.
There's no release date for Solarpunk as yet, but I found this trailer quite soothing. It offers a first look at co-op gameplay for this base-building and exploration game from the two-person team at Cyberwave and publisher rokaplay.
Up to four players will be able to explore floating islands, gather resources and build out a homestead together. As the title suggests, there's a technology-driven element to Solarpunk. You can use renewable energy sources to power tools that can automate things like resource harvesting and watering plants. The airships you use to travel between islands look cool too.
Solarpunk is set to hit Steam later this year. A demo is available now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/steam-next-fest-a-different-flavor-of-the-witcher-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120000900.html?src=rssOpenAI strikes a deal with the Defense Department to deploy its AI models
OpenAI has reached an agreement with the Defense Department to deploy its models in the agency’s network, company chief Sam Altman has revealed on X. In his post, he said two of OpenAI’s most important safety principles are “prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems.” Altman claimed the company put those principles in its agreement with the agency, which he called by the government’s preferred name of Department of War (DoW), and that it had agreed to honor them.
The agency has closed the deal with OpenAI, shortly after President Donald Trump ordered all government agencies to stop using Claude and any other Anthropic services. If you’ll recall, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously threatened to label Anthropic “supply chain risk” if it continues refusing to remove the guardrails on its AI, which are preventing the technology to be used for mass surveillance against Americans and in fully autonomous weapons.
It’s unclear why the government agreed to team up with OpenAI if its models also have the same guardrails, but Altman said it’s asking the government to offer the same terms to all the AI companies it works with. Jeremy Lewin, the Senior Official Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs, and Religious Freedom, said on X that DoW “references certain existing legal authorities and includes certain mutually agreed upon safety mechanisms” in its contracts. Both OpenAI and xAI, which had also previously signed a deal to deploy Grok in the DoW’s classified systems, agreed to those terms. He said it was the same “compromise that Anthropic was offered, and rejected.”
Anthropic, which started working with the US government in 2024, refused to bow down to Hegseth. In its latest statement, published just hours before Altman announced OpenAI’s agreement, it repeated its stance. “No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons,” Anthropic wrote. “We will challenge any supply chain risk designation in court.”
Altman added in his post on X that OpenAI will build technical safeguards to ensure the company’s models behave as they should, claiming that’s also what the DoW wanted. It’s sending engineers to work with the agency to “ensure [its models’] safety,” and it will only deploy on cloud networks. As The New York Times notes, OpenAI is not yet on Amazon cloud, which the government uses. But that could change soon, as company has also just announced forming a partnership with Amazon to run its models on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for enterprise customers.
Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 28, 2026
In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.
AI safety and wide distribution of…
Trump orders federal agencies to drop Anthropic services amid Pentagon feud
President Donald Trump has ordered all US government agencies to stop using Claude and other Anthropic services, escalating an already volatile feud between the Department of Defense and company over AI safeguards. Taking to Truth Social on Friday afternoon, the president said there would be a six-month phase out period for federal agencies, including the Defense Department, to migrate off of Anthropic's products.
“The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution,” the president wrote. “Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow.”
Before today, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had threatened to label Anthropic a “supply chain risk” if it did not agree to withdraw safeguards that insist Claude not be used for mass surveillance against Americans or in fully autonomous weapons. In a post on X published after President Trump’s statement, Hegseth said he was “directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security. Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.”
Anthropic did not immediately respond to Engadget's comment request. Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for the company said the contract Anthropic received after CEO Dario Amodei outlined Anthropic's position made “virtually no progress” on preventing the outlined misuses.
"New language framed as a compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will. Despite DOW's recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the crux of our negotiations for months," the spokesperson said. "We remain ready to continue talks and committed to operational continuity for the Department and America's warfighters."
Advocacy groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) quickly came out against the president’s threats. “This action sets a dangerous precedent. It chills private companies’ ability to engage frankly with the government about appropriate uses of their technology, which is especially important in national security settings that so often have reduced public visibility,” said CDT President and CEO Alexandra Givens, in a statement shared with Engadget. “These threats undermine the integrity of the innovation ecosystem, distort market incentives and normalize an expansive view of executive power that should worry Americans all across the political spectrum.”
For now, it appears the AI industry is united behind Anthropic. On Friday, hundreds of Google and OpenAI employees signed an open letter urging their companies to stand in "solidarity" with the lab. According to an internal memo seen by Axios, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the ChatGPT maker would draw the same red line as Anthropic.
In a blog post published late on Friday, Anthropic vowed to “challenge any supply chain risk designation in court,” and assured its customers that only work related to the Defense Department would be affected. The company's full statement is available here, an excerpt is below:
Designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk would be an unprecedented action—one historically reserved for US adversaries, never before publicly applied to an American company. We are deeply saddened by these developments. As the first frontier AI company to deploy models in the US government’s classified networks, Anthropic has supported American warfighters since June 2024 and has every intention of continuing to do so.
We believe this designation would both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government.
No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. We will challenge any supply chain risk designation in court.
Update, February 27, 9PM ET: This story was updated twice after publish. First at 6PM ET to include a link to and quotes from Hegseth about the designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk. Later, a quote from Anthropic was added, along with a link to the company’s blog post on the subject.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/trump-orders-federal-agencies-to-drop-anthropic-services-amid-pentagon-feud-222029306.html?src=rssFCC approves the merger of cable giants Cox and Charter
The Federal Communications Commission has given the go ahead for two of the US' biggest cable providers, Charter Communications and Cox Communications, to merge. Charter announced its intention to acquire Cox for $34.5 billion in May 2025, with specific plans to inherit Cox's managed IT, commercial fiber and cloud businesses, while folding the company's residential cable service into a subsidiary.
“By approving this deal, the FCC ensures big wins for Americans," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement. "This deal means that jobs are coming back to America that had been shipped overseas. It means that modern, high-speed networks will get built out in more communities across rural America. And it means that customers will get access to lower priced plans. On top of this, the deal enshrines protections against DEI discrimination."
The FCC claims that Charter plans to invest "billions" to upgrade its network following the closure of the deal, leading to "faster broadband and lower prices." The company's "Rural Construction Initiative" will also extend those improvements to rural states lacking in consistent internet service, a project the FCC was heavily invested in during the Biden administration, but has been pulling back from since President Donald Trump appointed Carr. The FCC also claims Charter will onshore jobs currently handled off-shore by Cox employees and commit to "new safeguards to protect against DEI discrimination," which essentially amounts to hiring, recruiting and promoting employees based on "skills, qualifications, and experience."
While Carr's FCC paints a rosy picture of Charter's acquisition, history has provided multiple examples of mergers having the opposite effect on jobs and pricing. For example, redundancies created when T-Mobile merged with Sprint in 2020 led to a wave of layoffs at the carrier. And funnily enough in 2018, not long after Charter's merger with Time Warner Cable was approved by the FCC, the company raised prices on its Spectrum service by over $91 a year.
The FCC's obsession with diversity, equity and inclusion as part of the deal is stranger, if only because it appears to fall outside of the commission's purpose of maintaining fair competition in the telecommunications industry. It does fit with other mergers the FCC has approved under Carr, however. Skydance's acquisition of Paramount was approved in 2025 under the condition it wouldn't establish any DEI programs.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/fcc-approves-the-merger-of-cable-giants-cox-and-charter-230258865.html?src=rssParamount agrees to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, pays Netflix $2.8 billion for breakup
Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery are officially merging. The studio paid Netflix the $2.8 billion termination fee it was owed for breaking its original deal to buy Warner Bros. earlier today, and the historic film studio has now formally accepted Paramount’s offer.
Along with the deal, which values Warner Bros. Discovery at $31 per share, Paramount is making several commitments to assuage the fears of regulators and the entertainment community. Those include a guarantee that the new company will produce 30 theatrical films annually, that theatrical releases will have a minimum 45-day window in theaters before they’re brought to video on demand (something Netflix ultimately also agreed to) and that deal itself will close by Q3 2026.
This turnaround in Paramount's fortunes has happened quickly. Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Paramount's offer was superior to Netflix's on Thursday, and not long after the streaming service said that it wouldn't provide a counter offer, effectively abandoning its previous agreement.
Ultimately, Netflix and Paramount were vying for different parts of Warner Bros. Disocvery. Netflix was primarily interested in Warner Bros. proper, while Paramount Skydance wanted the whole company, cable networks and all. Either deal would need to be approved by regulators, which is the hurdle Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery face now. The general assumption has been that the close relationship Paramount CEO David Ellison and his billionaire father Larry Ellison have with the Trump administration would smooth over any issues, but the deal will receive scrutiny abroad and likely also at the state level, based on a recent post from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Paramount Skydance has proven its willingness to comply with President Donald Trump, but delays in closing the deal could be costly. The company is on the hook to pay Warner Bros. Discovery "a daily ticking fee equal to $0.25 per share per quarter beginning after September 30, 2026." The company also has to pay $7 billion to Warner Bros. Discovery if the deal is terminated for regulatory reasons. Netflix lost the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery, but getting a competitor to potentially overpay for the studio might be its own reward.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/paramount-agrees-to-buy-warner-bros-discovery-pays-netflix-28-billion-for-breakup-215936514.html?src=rssThe PS5 Pro is getting upgraded upscaling tech in March
After suggesting a version of AMD's FSR 4 could be ported to the PS5 Pro last year, it looks like Sony is finally rolling out an update with the upscaling tech in March. Mark Cerny, the lead architect of the PS4, PS5 and PS5 Pro, shared via a blog post that the PS5 Pro will be updated with a new version of the company's PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) upscaling tech next month, and Resident Evil Requiem is one of the first games to use it.
PSSR is "an AI library that analyzes game images pixel by pixel as it upscales them," Cerny says, which boosts the visual fidelity of games on the PS5 Pro, while running them at a less demanding resolution. The upgraded version of PSSR "takes a very different approach to not only the neural network but also the overall algorithm," and is now able to keep both framerate and image quality high when it's enabled.
Cerny's blog post includes comparison images if you're curious about the visual differences the new PSSR is able to achieve. Masaru Ijuin, a Senior Manager from Capcom's Engine Development Support Section R&D Foundational Technology Department, also provided comments on how the new upscaling tech improves Resident Evil Requiem:
With Resident Evil Requiem, we focused on enhancing the presentation quality of the protagonist through an upgraded version of RE Engine to deepen the player’s immersion in horror. For example, each individual strand of hair and beard is rendered as a polygon, allowing it to move realistically in response to body motion and wind. The way light passes through his hair changes depending on how the strands of hair are overlapped as well. This detailed expression of texture is one of the many details that we would especially love for our fans to see.
The upgraded PSSR has allowed us to elevate our expressiveness by successfully processing these details and textural particularities, which are traditionally difficult to upscale because of their intricacy. We hope you will experience this unprecedented level of horror and visual fidelity, and the new gameplay feel it delivers.
Sony and AMD formally announced "Project Amethyst," their collaboration to develop machine-learning technology to improve graphics and gameplay, in 2024. The partnership has already benefitted both companies: Cerny says Sony contributed to the development of AMD's FSR 4 and similar improvements are now trickling back to the PS5 Pro. Both companies' plans to improve everything from upscaling performance to energy efficiency could also pay further dividends in future consoles and GPUs.
The upgraded PSSR will roll out to PS5 Pro owners as part of a software update in March, and will be able to be toggled on and off in the console's settings, according to Cerny. Around the same time, multiple PS5 games are also supposed to be updated to support the upscaling tech. While the graphical improvements are still incremental over a normal PS5, the fact that Sony's still squeezing more performance out of its console should at least be reassuring to anyone who spent $700 (or now $750) on a PS5 Pro.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps5-pro-is-getting-upgraded-upscaling-tech-in-march-200105816.html?src=rssGoogle and OpenAI employees sign open letter in ‘solidarity’ with Anthropic
Hundreds of employees at Google and OpenAI have signed an open letter urging their companies to stand with Anthropic in its standoff with the Pentagon over military applications for AI tools like Claude.
The letter, titled “We Will Not Be Divided,” calls on the leadership of both companies to “put aside their differences and stand together to continue to refuse the Department of War’s current demands for permission to use our models for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight.” These are two lines that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has said should not be crossed by his or any other AI company.
As of publication, the letter has over 450 signatures, almost 400 of which come from Google employees and the rest from OpenAI. Currently, roughly 50 percent of all participants have chosen to attach their names to the cause, with the rest remaining anonymous. All are verified as current employees of these companies. The original organizers of the letter aren’t Google or OpenAI employees; they say are unaffiliated with any AI company, political party or advocacy group.
The open letter is the latest development in the saga between Anthropic and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who threatened to label the company a “supply chain risk” if it did not agree to withdraw certain guardrails for classified work. The Pentagon has also been in talks with Google and OpenAI about using their models for classified work, with xAI coming on board earlier this week. The letter argues the government is "trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told his employees on Friday that the ChatGPT maker will draw the same red lines as Anthropic, according to an internal memo seen by Axios. He told CNBC on the same day that he doesn't "personally think the Pentagon should be threatening DPA against these companies."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-and-openai-employees-sign-open-letter-in-solidarity-with-anthropic-194957274.html?src=rssHere’s your first look at Kratos and Atreus in Amazon’s upcoming God of War TV adaptation
With the likes of The Last of Us and Fallout out of the way for a bit, Amazon has seized its opportunity to put the spotlight on the next big video game adaptation, its currently-in-production God of War show. Today we got our first look at Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson as Kratos and Atreus.
The image released by Amazon shows the eponymous God of War standing next to a tree as he watches his son — who notably looks a bit younger than the video game version of 11-year-old Atreus we first met in 2018’s God of War — take aim with his bow. Exactly what they’re hunting is unclear, but we know that the developing relationship between father and son that was such a big part of the PS4 game is also going to be at the heart of the show.
Whether Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios have nailed the looks of its central characters is a matter of opinion. Personally I think Hurst’s Kratos in particular looks a little bit off here, but there’s every chance it all comes together later in production. Or when we first hear him angrily exclaim "boy!"
The Sons of Anarchy star was cast as Kratos back in January, and earlier this week we learned that Deadpool’s Ed Skrein will play Baldur in the Amazon show. The rest of the cast includes Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Max Parker and Heimfall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Teresa Palmer as Sif, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Jeff Gulka as Sindri and Danny Woodburn as Brok.
No release date has been announced yet, but a second season of God of War has already been confirmed.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/heres-your-first-look-at-kratos-and-atreus-in-amazons-upcoming-god-of-war-tv-adaptation-172251366.html?src=rssOpenAI secures another $110 billion in funding from Amazon, NVIDIA and SoftBank
OpenAI just announced a massive funding round of $110 billion, which is one of the biggest investment rounds in Silicon Valley history. The investors feature many of the usual suspects, including Amazon with $50 billion, NVIDIA with $30 billion and SoftBank with $30 billion. This investment brings OpenAI to a $730 billion valuation
"We’re super excited about this deal," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC. "AI is going to happen everywhere." That last statement seems more like a threat than a boast, but I digress.
Beyond the funding round, OpenAI has announced strategic partnerships with both NVIDIA and Amazon. This will involve Amazon Web Services (AWS) running OpenAI models for enterprise customers to "build generative AI applications and agents at production scale." It also names AWS as the exclusive third-party cloud distribution provider for OpenAI Frontier, which is an agentic enterprise platform.
OpenAI has also committed to consuming 2 gigawatts of Amazon's Trainium capacity, which is the company's custom-designed AI training accelerator. In other words, Amazon is spending a lot of money on OpenAI and then OpenAI will turn around and spend a lot of money with Amazon. The AI funding ouroboros continues.
It's also worth noting that Amazon's investment in OpenAI will be staggered. The funding begins with $15 billion, but the remaining $35 billion will only be invested when certain conditions are met.
Oddly, it's been reported that one condition is that OpenAI achieves artificial general intelligence. AGI is when AI evolves to or beyond human-level abilities, at which point the entire world turns into rainbows and everyone gets a pony. This could happen later this year, according to those bullish on the technology, or never, according to many researchers. Sam Altman said it was coming in 2025 but has since grown weary of the term.
The new partnership with NVIDIA evolves the long-standing collaboration between the two companies. OpenAI has pledged to consume 2 gigawatts of training capacity on NVIDIA's Vera Rubin systems and an additional 3 gigawatts of computing resources, likely in the form of GPUs, to run specific AI inference tasks. In other words, NVIDIA is spending a lot of money on OpenAI and then OpenAI will turn around and spend a lot of money with NVIDIA. The ouroboros must feed.
As for revenue, OpenAI has forecast a massive loss of $14 billion in 2026. It lost around $5 billion in 2024 and reports estimate a loss of $8 billion in 2025. Despite this trajectory, the company claims it'll be raking in $100 billion in revenue by 2029.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-secures-another-110-billion-in-funding-from-amazon-nvidia-and-softbank-171006356.html?src=rssNASA overhauls Artemis program, delaying Moon landing to 2028
NASA is making major changes to its Artemis Moon program. On Friday, Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the space agency would carry out an additional flight in 2027 to test commercial lunar landers from SpaceX and/or Blue Origin. The new mission will take the place of Artemis 3, which previously would have seen NASA attempt to land on the Moon for the first time since 1972. The flight will also see the agency test a new spacesuit made by Axiom Space.
As part of the new plan, the redesigned Artemis 3 mission will give NASA the chance to test at least one lander in the relative safety of low Earth orbit. NASA will attempt to return humans to the Moon during Artemis 4 sometime in 2028, with the potential for another mission as early as later that same year. Per CBS News, the decision comes after NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Plan said the agency's existing mission plan was too risky.
"NASA must standardize its approach, increase flight rate safely, and execute on the President’s national space policy. With credible competition from our greatest geopolitical adversary increasing by the day, we need to move faster, eliminate delays, and achieve our objectives," said Isaacman. "Standardizing vehicle configuration, increasing flight rate and progressing through objectives in a logical, phased approach, is how we achieved the near-impossible in 1969 and it is how we will do it again."
The change of plan also comes as Artemis 2 has faced multiple delays in recent months. The Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket has, once again, proven to be temperamental. NASA had planned to launch Artemis 2 in early February, but pushed the flight back after it caught a hydrogen leak during a fueling test. More recently, NASA delayed the mission to give its engineers time to fix a helium pressurization issue in the upper stage of the SLS. At the earliest, the mission can now get underway on April 1.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/nasa-overhauls-artemis-program-delaying-moon-landing-to-2028-164255318.html?src=rssCelebrate Pokémon’s 30th anniversary with this Game Boy-shaped music player
Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary today, and as you’d expect, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are cranking up the nostalgia in every possible way. In addition to re-releasing the Game Boy Advance remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue on Nintendo Switch Online, they’re also selling us a Game Boy-shaped portable Pokémon jukebox.
Officially titled the Pokémon Game Music Collection, the little music player is palm-sized and can be loaded up with 45 different cartridges, each featuring a different melody or sound effect from the original games' soundtrack. The device was announced by longtime series composer Junichi Masuda during today’s anniversary Pokémon Presents livestream, where he said that special care has gone into the audio sounding like it did on the Game Boy.
Each cartridge also features a screenshot from the games, so when you slide it into the device’s display slot it looks like you’re playing as well as listening. Put one of these next to last year’s equally charming Lego Game Boy on a shelf and you’ve got two entirely non-playable replicas of the iconic handheld, which is sure to confuse and disappoint your guests in equal measure.
The Pokémon Game Music Collection is available to buy from Pokémon Center starting today, but US pricing is yet to be confirmed.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/celebrate-pokemons-30th-anniversary-with-this-game-boy-shaped-music-player-154644225.html?src=rssPokémon Winds and Waves are coming to Switch 2 in 2027
The Pokémon leakers were right: the Gen 10 games are called Pokémon Wind and Pokémon Waves. The Pokémon Company confirmed the titles during a 30th anniversary stream on Pokémon Day. The games are set to hit Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027. (A Game Freak leak last October suggested Wind and Waves would be out this year with DLC to follow in 2027.)
According to the Pokémon account on X, in Wind and Waves, “you’ll travel across beautiful windswept islands and a vast ocean with glittering waves that ebb and flow. You’ll also team up with Pokémon to overcome challenges and even the forces of nature!” They’ll be playable in 11 languages, including Brazilian Portuguese.
Introducing the first partner Pokémon from #PokemonWindsWaves!
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) February 27, 2026
Say hello to Browt 🌱, Pombon 🔥, and Gecqua 💧. Who will you partner with on this adventure, Trainers? pic.twitter.com/UfKtE5lszu
A trailer for the two games revealed the three new starter Pokémon: Browt, Pombon and Gecqua. As suggested by their colors and environments they’re shown in, they are grass, fire and water types, respectively. Other Pokémon that were featured include Pikachu (sporting fetching beachwear) and Oddish. The trailer, which reveals a new region for the series, ends by taking us into the ocean to gawk at an number of water Pokémon.
The Pokémon Presents stream on Friday included updates for many other games in the franchise, including the battle-focused Pokémon Champions (a modern spin on the likes of Pokémon Stadium). That will debut on Nintendo Switch in April before arriving on iOS and Android later this year. Cross-play will be available between the three platforms. It was also confirmed that Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness will hit the GameCube library on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on Switch 2 in March.
Pokémon Day marks the 30th anniversary of the series’ debut with the 1996 release of Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green (later released as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue in the West) on Game Boy in Japan. The games were remade for GameBoy Advance in 2004 as Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version. Starting today, those are available on Switch and Switch 2 for $20 each. Meanwhile, Pokémon Pokopia, a cozy life sim spin-off, will hit Switch 2 on March 5.
The Morning After: The Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display is pretty cool
Samsung’s Unpacked event midweek revealed three new phones and two sets of earbuds, but the real standout, as usual, is the Galaxy S26 Ultra. This year, the Ultra actually features a bit of genuine tech innovation — and no, we don’t mean it folds.
Let’s talk about its new Privacy Display. This isn't a shimmery, holographic screen protector that’s hard to read and constantly peels off at the corners; this tech is engineered directly into the S26 Ultra’s OLED display.
Samsung Display revealed its Flex Magic Pixel technology back in 2024. The S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display is built off the back of this. It controls the direction of light emitted from the AMOLED at the pixel level, integrating wide-angle and narrow-angle pixel arrays so the display can switch between a wide-angle viewing experience and more private, straight-on views.
While HP’s SureView tech is similar, the amount of customization possible is incredible — and we all have our phones out in public much more than our… HP laptops. It could be perfect for keeping prying eyes off your banking apps, messaging apps and even dating apps.
Otherwise, the rest of the S26 series offers incremental updates with better cameras and newer processors. This makes the base S26 and S26+ a harder sell unless your current Galaxy phone is several years old. Also, following the 2026 trend, they are all pricier this year.
Make sure you check out our early impressions (S26 Ultra, S26, Galaxy Buds 4); reviews are coming soon.
— Mat Smith
The other big stories (and deals) this morning
Ambient Dreamie bedside companion review
How much for a good night’s sleep? $250?
Ambient’s dedicated alarm clock offers many of the conveniences of your smartphone alarms — highly customizable alarm schedules, a library of soundscapes and noise masks and even Bluetooth so you can connect earbuds. There’s no subscription, it sounds great and sleep insights are supposedly incoming. However, $250 is a lot. Check out our full review.
An AI-generated Resident Evil Requiem review briefly made it on Metacritic
By a video game news site owned by ClickOut Media.
Review aggregator Metacritic has removed a review of Resident Evil Requiem because it was AI generated. Kotaku explained the review was published by UK gaming site VideoGamer, but appears to be “written” by a fake AI journalist rather than a real person. “Brian Merrygold” doesn’t seem to exist.
The author’s profile on VideoGamer is just as awkwardly written as the review, and the profile picture of the account also appears to be AI-generated. Literally, the file name includes “ChatGPT-Image.”
ClickOut Media, the company that owns VideoGamer and a collection of other publications, reportedly laid off the staff of its gaming sites earlier this month to pivot to AI-generated content. Here it is.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-144951777.html?src=rssEngadget Podcast: Xbox's leadership shakeup and Samsung's Galaxy S26
This week, we're diving into the big changes at Xbox and what it all means for Microsoft's gaming future. Phil Spencer, the longtime face of Xbox, announced he's retiring last week. He'll be replaced by Microsoft's former CoreAI CEO Asha Sharma, instead of his longtime deputy Sarah Bond, who plans to leave the company. Will this change actually help the beleaguered Xbox division, or is it another example of Microsoft shoving AI into everything?
Also, Samsung held its latest Unpacked event this week to announce its new Galaxy S26 family. They look pretty much the same as last year, but the Ultra model includes a unique privacy feature that can instantly make the screen unreadable to bystanders. It's one of those features we expect to see in every phone eventually.
Subscribe!
Topic
Xbox leadership falls apart. what happens next with Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond out? – 1:53
Samsung Unpacked: Privacy display on the S26 Ultra looks amazing – 27:27
U.S. Defense leadership gives Anthropic a Friday deadline to let it use Claude as it sees fit – 42:38
MrBeast editor accused of insider trading on Kalshi – 50:40
Discord delays age verification program after user revolt – 54:09
Around Engadget – 1:04:04
Working on – 1:05:16
Pop culture picks – 1:08:21
Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Igor Bonifacic
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
A cheap MacBook is the perfect way for Apple to win over Windows users
The MacBook is coming back — or at least, that's what the rumors claim. Next week, Apple is expected to announce a colorful, low-cost, non-Air, non-Pro MacBook powered by one of its mobile processors. By avoiding its pricier M-series chips, Apple may reportedly be able to reach a low $699 or $799 price for the MacBook. The $999 MacBook Air is the cheapest laptop on the company's website right now, but Apple also sold the older M1 MacBook Air at Walmart for $700 in 2024, which later went down to $650 last year.
That Walmart deal was a smart way for Apple to test out the viability of cheaper MacBooks without building an entirely new product. But now the M1 Air’s design looks seriously dated, and the company also needs to move beyond the six-year-old M1 chip. It's time to get serious about delivering a true low-cost Apple laptop.
There's another compelling reason to bring back a cheaper MacBook: It's the perfect way to court disgruntled Windows users, something Apple hasn't really done since its "Get A Mac" ads from the mid-2000s. I figure the unbridled success of the iPhone and iPad made Apple focus less on directly competing with Windows. The sleek designs of the 2011-2015 era MacBook Air and Pros were their main selling points, but Apple's push towards USB-C-only machines and unreliable butterfly keyboards later made it clear it wasn't totally focused on Macs.
But now Microsoft is distracted by AI — it's been pushing Copilot and AI features for years, instead of improving the Windows experience with more useful upgrades. Recent talk of agentic AI capabilities, which would let Copilot handle tasks for you automatically, also sparked plenty of criticism from Windows users. And with all of the focus on AI, Microsoft has also released some disastrous Windows updates over the last year, which have bricked OS installations. So, Apple, why not make a direct play for Windows users?
Last year, I covered why it's a great time to jump ship from Windows to Mac, and I haven't been able to let go of that idea since. Apple's M-series chips are shockingly fast and efficient, and its hardware tends to be more durable than typical PC fare. Rumors point to Apple developing a new aluminum case for the low-cost MacBook, so it will likely feel more polished than a typical sub-$1,000 Windows laptop. macOS has also avoided the bloat that's plagued Windows for years — you can turn off Apple Intelligence with two clicks if you want to, and there aren't any annoying ads to deal with.
And while it used to be a pain to transition from Windows to Mac, it’s far easier these days, especially if you mainly rely on web apps. It also wouldn't be tough for Apple to make short tutorials to help Windows users get their bearings with the macOS basics, like installing apps and juggling app windows. Apple could also make a play for iPhone owners using Windows, who may not be aware of the many ways iOS and macOS are integrated. iPhone mirroring may be a huge draw on its own.
Rumors also suggest the upcoming MacBook might use the A18 Pro from the iPhone 16 Pro, a chip that benchmarks faster than the M1. Even if it only has six cores, making it slower for heavy workloads than the M2, an A18 Pro-powered MacBook would still be more than enough power for basic productivity work. Not everyone needs the surprising amount of GPU power in the MacBook Air — especially if downgrading means they can save $200 to $300.
I'm not saying any of this through any sort of Apple-loving bias. I typically use a MacBook Pro for work, but I'm a Windows user at heart. Windows was my gateway to computing in the '90s, back when Macs were far more expensive than PCs. These days, I spend more time on my Windows desktop making podcasts, playing PC games and bumming around the internet than I do working on Macs.
And yet, it’s hard to deny everything Apple is doing right today — the only thing it’s missing is an inexpensive laptop entry. A $699 or $799 MacBook simply makes sense. And for many Windows users, it’ll be just the escape from Microsoft they need.
Ultrahuman’s new Pro ring comes with 15 days battery life
If there’s one thing that stops people using their smart rings over the long term, it’s the battery life. After all, they’re so unobtrusive, it’s easy to forget to drop it on the charging plate every few days. It doesn’t take long for your pricey gadget to become little more than a very expensive piece of jewelry. It’s one of many maladies Ultrahuman is looking to address with the advent of its new Pro, a smart ring boasting up to 15 days of battery life. It even ships with a fancy battery case, which itself includes enough power to last it 45 days, making it easier to keep re-charged on the go.
Ultrahuman Ring Pro hasn’t just got a far bigger battery, it’s been re-engineered from the ground up. The company’s Bhuvan Srinivasan explained the older hardware had been pushed to its limit, especially in terms of the data it could process. Consequently, the Pro is equipped with a dual core processor with on-device machine learning to better crunch the numbers your body is throwing out. Its memory has also been increased, holding up to 250 days of data before it needs to sync with your smartphone. As well as improvements to durability, the new ring is also easier to cut apart in the hopefully rare event your finger, or its battery, begins to swell.
I’ll admit, having seen a prototype Pro Charger in person back in January, that it’s the prettiest way to re-juice a smart ring I’ve ever seen. Whereas Samsung and Oura have both opted for discreet, ring box-style hardware, Ultrahuman made something designed to sit on your nightstand. It’s not taking up space just for show, either, since it includes the aforementioned battery, LED charge indicator, speaker and haptics. It’s also got the ability to diagnose and address firmware issues to eliminate worries around firmware issues bricking devices.
At the same time, Ultrahuman is pulling the covers off Jade, its new “real time biointelligence AI.” The company promises Jade will be able to “pull real-time actionable insights, and even start breathwork or trigger Afib detection.” Jade is expected to get new features over time, with some examples being ordering good, changing your room temperature or flagging potential health issues. The idea is that Jade will keep a constant eye on your health, pulling in data from the ring, M1 continuous glucose monitor and environmental stats from your Ultrahuman Home.
Naturally, we’ll be getting in the Pro to test and will give our opinions on how effective all of this is when we’ve spent a month or two actually using it. But if you’d rather not wait and you’re based outside the US, you can pre-order the Ultrahuman Ring Pro right now, for $479, with shipments beginning in March. If you already have an Ultrahuman Ring, you can also get a trade-in deal to help cut the cost of the new model.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/ultrahumans-new-pro-ring-comes-with-15-days-battery-life-120038820.html?src=rssOpenAI will notify authorities of credible threats after Canada mass shooter's second account was discovered
OpenAI has vowed to strengthen its safety protocols and to notify law enforcement of credible threats sooner in a letter addressed to Canadian authorities, according to Politico and The Washington Post. If you’ll recall, Canadian politicians summoned the company’s leaders after reports came out that it didn’t notify authorities when it banned the account owned by the Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia mass shooting suspect back in 2025. Some of OpenAI’s leaders have already met with Candian officials, and British Columbia Premier David Eby said Sam Altman had also agreed to meet with him.
While OpenAI has yet to announce changes to its rules, Ann O’Leary, its vice president of global policy, reportedly wrote in the letter that the company will tweak its detection systems so that they can better prevent banned users from coming back to the platform. Apparently, after OpenAI banned the shooter’s original account due to “potential warnings of committing real-world violence,” the perpetrator was able to create another account. The company only discovered the second account after the shooter’s name was released, and it has since notified authorities.
Further, OpenAI will now notify authorities if it detects “imminent and credible” threats in ChatGPT conversations, even if the user doesn’t reveal “a target, means, and timing of planned violence.” O’Leary explained that if the new rules had been in effect when the shooter’s account was banned in 2025, the company would have notified the police. OpenAI will also establish a point of contact for Canadian law enforcement so it can quickly share information with authorities when needed.
The Canadian government sees OpenAI’s decision not to report the shooter’s original account as a failure. It threatened to regulate AI chatbots in the country if their creators cannot show that they have proper safeguards to protect its users. It’s unclear at the moment if OpenAI also plans to roll out the same changes in the US and elsewhere in the world.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-will-notify-authorities-of-credible-threats-after-canada-mass-shooters-second-account-was-discovered-112706548.html?src=rssGoogle Maps will finally be usable in South Korea
Google will finally be able to provide real-time driving and walking directions in South Korea, The New York Times reported. The company has received permission from the nation's Transport Ministry to export geographic data out of the country, which will allow it to provide GPS services as well as detailed listings for restaurants and other businesses.
"We welcome today’s decision and look forward to our ongoing collaboration with local officials to bring a fully functioning Google Maps to Korea," Google's senior executive Cris Turner told the NYT in a statement. However, the approval is contingent “on the condition that strict security requirements are met,” a spokesperson from the Transport Ministry said. Those conditions reportedly restrict Google from displaying sensitive military sites and longitude and latitude coordinates.
South Korea has generally restricted the export of 1/5000 scale map data over national security concerns, as it's still technically at war with its neighbor North Korea. Google hasn't been able to provide mapping directions or business details since it arrived in the nation, though it has applied twice in 2007 and 2016.
This lack of data sharing has reportedly been a bone of contention in trade talks with the US. Google argued that it was unfairly handicapped by the restrictions that allowed local apps like Naver to thrive.
However, critics in the nation have expressed concern that Google could now come in and monopolize the market. "If Naver and Kakao are weakened or pushed out and Google later raises prices, that becomes a monopoly. Then, even companies that rely on map services — logistics firms, for example — become dependent [on Google]," geography professor Choi Jin-mu told Reuters.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-maps-will-finally-be-usable-in-south-korea-104301396.html?src=rssThe best Wi-Fi extenders in 2026
Weak Wi-Fi can turn everyday tasks into small frustrations, whether it’s a video call that drops mid-sentence or a stream that refuses to load in certain rooms. If upgrading your router isn’t an option, a Wi-Fi extender can be a practical way to stretch your existing network farther and smooth out coverage gaps — without rewiring your home or rearranging furniture.
Today’s Wi-Fi extenders range from simple plug-in repeaters to more advanced models that behave like miniature access points or mesh nodes. Some are best suited for extending coverage to a single room, while others are designed to preserve faster speeds across larger spaces. Choosing the right one depends on your home’s layout, your internet plan and how much performance you’re willing to trade for convenience.
We’ve tested a variety of Wi-Fi extenders to find the best options for different budgets and setups, from affordable fixes for small dead zones to higher-end models built to handle heavier traffic and faster connections.
Best Wi-Fi extender for 2026
How do Wi-Fi extenders work?
These handy wireless devices do exactly what their name suggests: extend your Wi-Fi network so it covers more areas of your home. Most wireless extenders plug into an AC outlet and connect to your existing router so they can then rebroadcast it to spots that your router alone may not cover well. As a rule of thumb, you’ll get the best results by placing the extender half way between your router and the dead zone you’re trying to fix or improve your W-Fi connection and strengthen the wireless signal.
One important thing to note about Wi-Fi range extenders (also sometimes called “repeaters”) is that most of them actually create a new Wi-Fi network when rebroadcasting your existing one. That network will have a new name (it’ll often be your default network’s name with an EXT appended at the end, unless you change it) and that means you’ll have to connect to different networks when in different parts of your home. While that’s a small tradeoff in return for improved internet connection, some will be more inconvenienced than others.
If you’d rather have one, much larger network in your home, you’re better off upgrading to mesh networking systems. Mesh systems come with a main router and a wireless access point or two that, by default, create one large Wi-Fi system that should be accessible throughout your whole home. They tend to be the best Wi-Fi routers you can get, but that also translates to more expensive, and possibly more complicated, devices. Mesh Wi-Fi systems are, by far, more costly than a simple extender, plus you may have to work with your internet service provider to get your home’s existing network working on your new router.
What to look for in a Wi-Fi extender
Speed
Extenders today can support single, dual or tri-band Wi-Fi, and they will tell you the maximum speeds they support on all of their available bands. For example, one dual-band device might support 600Mbps speeds over its 2.4GHz band and up to 1300Mbps over its 5GHz band, for a combined maximum speed of 1900Mbps. For the best performance, you’ll want to go with a Wi-Fi extender that has the highest speeds possible (and those, as you might expect, tend to cost more). Some extenders even support Wi-Fi 7, giving you the latest in wireless technology for higher bandwidth, faster internet speed and lower latency.
However, it’s important to remember that Wi-Fi extenders are not true “signal boosters” since they are not designed to increase speeds across your home. In fact, you may find that the extender’s network is slower than your router’s. Instead, extenders are designed to increase the strong Wi-Fi coverage throughout your home, making them ideal for filling in dead zones. Some mesh extenders can help create a more seamless network, reducing the drop in speed and improving connectivity in larger spaces.
Range, and number of supported devices
With the name of the gaming being coverage area, taking note of a device’s range is important. Depending on the size of your home and property, you may only need up to 1,200 square feet of coverage. But those with larger homes will want to spring for an extender that can support upwards of 2,000+ square feet of coverage.
Similarly, those with lots of gadgets will want an extender that can handle them all at once. If you spend most of your time on your phone or laptop and maybe have your smart TV online for a few hours of Netflix each day, you could get by with a more limited extender. Smart home aficionados and tech lovers should invest in one that won’t buckle under the pressure of a few dozen connected devices. This is especially important if you plan on linking all of the devices in a certain part of your home to your Wi-Fi range extender’s network, rather than directly to your existing router. Some models with external antennas can improve performance by providing stronger, more directional wireless signal.
Design
There isn’t a ton of innovation when it comes to design in the Wi-Fi extender space. Most of the ones you’ll find today are rounded rectangles roughly the size of your hand that plug into a standard wall outlet. They usually have a few indicator lights that will show you when the extender is connected, how strong its signal strength is and when there’s a problem, and some will even have moveable external antennas that companies claim provide even better Wi-Fi signal. Generally, they are pretty simple to install and get connected, but if you’re struggling with how to set up your Wi-Fi extender, there are plenty of YouTube videos you can check out.
Aside from that, there are the scant few standalone Wi-Fi extenders that sit on an end table or a desk, and those look pretty similar to regular ol’ routers. But make no mistake, anything labeled as an extender or a “Wi-Fi repeater” will need an anchor router in order for it to work.
Another convenient feature you’ll find on most Wi-Fi extenders is an extra Ethernet connection port (or a few). This allows you to use the extender as a wireless access point if you connect it to your existing router, or an adapter to provide devices like TVs, smart home hubs or game consoles a hardwired connection to the internet. Unsurprisingly, this wired connection usually provides you with the fastest speeds possible, so you may want to use it for your most crucial devices.
Wi-Fi extender FAQs
What's the difference between a wifi booster and extender?
Nowadays, there’s really no difference between a Wi-Fi booster and Wi-Fi extender - they’re just different names for the same thing. Previously, however, Wi-Fi boosters were devices that received signals from wireless routers, broadcasting them to another network. This essentially extends the range of the signal. Wi-Fi extenders expand the coverage within your home’s Wi-Fi network, but often you will see extenders described as boosters.
Is a Wi-Fi extender better than a mesh router?
Mesh routers, or mesh Wi-Fi systems, use multiple devices (or nodes) across your home to create a larger home network. Essentially, you have multiple routers around your home with these systems, and that will hopefully provide the best coverage possible. Wi-Fi extenders, on the other hand, are usually just one device that extends your existing Wi-Fi signal, and they often require you to switch networks when connecting. Wi-Fi extenders are more affordable, though, and are great if you’re traveling or need a Wi-Fi signal in harder-to-reach areas. However, a mesh router can offer a better long-term solution to upgrade your entire home’s Wi-Fi.
Should I use multiple Wi-Fi extenders?
Some people may need to use multiple Wi-Fi extenders, for instance, if your home is large or has dead zones in different areas. But if you do use multiple Wi-Fi extenders, there’s a chance of interference. You may also need to manually connect to the extenders separately, which isn’t always convenient.
What is the maximum distance for a Wi-Fi extender?
The maximum distance for a Wi-Fi extender varies depending on the model, but most can effectively extend your wireless signal between 800 and 2,500 square feet. Some high-end models may reach even farther, especially if they feature external antennas or are part of a mesh system with additional dedicated wireless access points.
However, keep in mind that real-world performance depends on factors like your home's layout, wall materials and interference from other devices. For best results, place your extender about halfway between your router and the area with weak or no Wi-Fi connection. Always check the manufacturer’s specs — some of our top picks clearly list their expected range so you can find one that fits your space.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/best-wifi-extender-130021313.html?src=rssAnthropic refuses to bow to Pentagon despite Hegseth's threats
Despite an ultimatum from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Anthropic said that it can't "in good conscience" comply with a Pentagon edict to remove guardrails on its AI, CEO Dario Amodei wrote in a blog post. The Department of Defense had threatened to cancel a $200 million contract and label Anthropic a "supply chain risk" if it didn't agree to remove safeguards over mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.
"Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters — with our two requested safeguards in place," Amodei said. "We remain ready to continue our work to support the national security of the United States."
In response, US Under Secretary of Defense Emil Michael accused Amodei in a post on X of wanting "nothing more than to try to personally control the US military and is OK putting our nation's safety at risk."
The standoff began when the Pentagon demanded that Anthropic its Claude AI product available for "all lawful purposes" — including mass surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons that can kill without human supervision. Anthropic refused to offer its tech for those things, even with a "safety stack" built into that model.
Yesterday, Axios reported that Hegseth gave Anthropic a deadline of 5:01 PM on Friday to agree to the Pentagon's terms. At the same time, the DoD requested an assessment of its reliance on Claude, an initial step toward potentially labelling Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" — a designation usually reserved for firms from adversaries like China and "never before applied to an American company," Anthropic wrote.
Amodei declined to change his stance and stated that if the Pentagon chose to offboard Anthropic, "we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations or other critical missions." Grok is one of the other providers the DoD is reportedly considering, along with Google's Gemini and OpenAI.
It may not be that simple for the military to disentangle itself from Claude, however. Up until now, Anthropic's model has been the only one allowed for the military's most sensitive tasks in intelligence, weapons development and battlefield operations. Claude was reportedly used in the Venezuelan raid in which the US military exfiltrated the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife.
AI companies have been widely criticized for potential harm to users, but mass surveillance and weapons development would clearly take that to a new level. Anthropic's potential reply to the Pentagon was seen as a test of its claim to be the most safety-forward AI company, particularly after dropping its flagship safety pledge a few days ago. Now that Amodei has responded, the focus will shift to the Pentagon to see if it follows through on its threats, which could seriously harm Anthropic.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-refuses-to-bow-to-pentagon-despite-hegseths-threats-085553126.html?src=rssNetflix backs out of Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war
For anyone who has been following the soap opera unfolding between Netflix and Paramount Skydance over the past few months in their financial brinksmanship to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the saga may be nearing its end. Today, WBD said its board of directors have determined that the latest offer from Paramount Skydance amounted to the better proposal. The media outfit gave Netflix four business days to match Paramount's terms, but the streamer didn't waste any time in declining to raise its own bid.
"We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.' iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the US," the statement from Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said. "But this transaction was always a 'nice to have' at the right price, not a 'must have' at any price."
In addition to the purchase price of $31 per WBD share, Paramount's latest offer also included a provision that it would cover the $2.8 billion termination fee that WBD would owe to Netflix for dissolving the existing merger agreement between the businesses. So rather than paying $82.7 billion to acquire the Warner Bros. part of the operation, it appears Netflix may walk away with no new content but padding its coffers with an extra nearly $3 billion.
After Netflix's initial offer, Paramount Skydance swooped in with a hostile takeover attempt of the entire Warner Bros. Discovery business. WBD rejected it, Paramount tried again. Several additional volleys between the involved parties occurred over the past few weeks. While WBD has not yet formally accepted Paramount's offer — which will be subject to long-winded regulatory approvals sure to spark more drama — it seems the dust will soon settle for this chapter.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/netflix-backs-out-of-warner-bros-discovery-bidding-war-233117188.html?src=rssiFi's new GO Link 2 DAC is a cheap way to reap the lossless benefits of your Spotify plan
Audio company iFi just introduced a new DAC (digital-to-analogue converter) that's both smaller and lighter than its previous model, and only costs $59. The iFi GO Link 2 connects to a smartphone or other audio-playing device over USB-C and can instantly improve the listening experience on wired headphones.
Wireless earbuds and music streaming services have normalized listening to your favorite songs at a lower quality. For anyone who doesn't consider themselves an audiophile, that might not matter, but now that several streaming services offer higher sample rates and lossless audio, you might consider other ways of listening. In order to experience all the benefits of high-res or lossless audio, you need wired headphones, something that's increasingly difficult when most smartphones only have a USB-C port. That's where the iFi GO Link 2 comes in. The dongle plugs into a USB-C port and lets you connect a pair of wired earbuds while preserving your high quality audio at the same time.
iFi's new DAC is eight percent smaller than the previous GO Link and 29 percent lighter, approaching the size of Apple's USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack dongle. The GO Link 2's built-in ESS Sabre DAC chipset is supposed to add "6dB of dynamic range between the loudest and quietest moments" and reduce distortion for clearer sound by up to 62 percent when compared to the original GO Link.
Via iFi's companion Nexis app on Android, the GO Link 2 can also be updated on the go and further customized with digital filters. The GO Link 2 supports two digital filters — one hybrid and one linear — so that you can adjust things to your preferred sound profile. You can also use the Nexis app to set volume limits when you're listening with the DAC attached.
The previous GO Link made it on Engadget's list of the best DACs for Apple Music Lossless, and at the same price, the GO Link 2 seems like it could, too. The iFi GO Link 2 is available to purchase now for $59.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/ifis-new-go-link-2-dac-is-a-cheap-way-to-reap-the-lossless-benefits-of-your-spotify-plan-231535369.html?src=rssBlock, the parent of Square and Cash App, is laying off over 4,000 people
Block is the latest business to announce layoffs, with the operator of payment platforms Square and Cash App opting to cut jobs in favor of using more AI tools. The financial tech company, helmed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, is slashing its current staff of 10,000 to "just under 6,000." CNBC highlighted a letter Block sent to shareholders announcing the decision to nearly halve its workforce. According to the message from Dorsey:
"The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company. We're already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we're building, can do more and do it better. And intelligence tool capabilities are compounding faster every week."
We learned last year that Block had developed an AI agent called "codename goose" for interacting with LLMs. Leadership is clearly putting high expectations on that project and any other in-house tools to fill the shoes of thousands. "intelligence will be at the core of how the entire company works. How we make decisions, how we build trust and manage risk, how we build products, and how we serve customers," the shareholder letter states.
Block also reported its latest financial results today. It finished the 2025 financial year with operating income (profit after expenses) of $1.71 billion.
This isn't the first time the fintech company has made deep cuts in its employee count. Layoffs numbering about 1,000 were rumored both in 2024 and 2025.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/block-the-parent-of-square-and-cash-app-is-laying-off-over-4000-people-223343068.html?src=rssGuitar Hero vets RedOctane reveal their new music game
RedOctane Games, a relaunched version of one of the studios behind the very first Guitar Hero, has shared a first trailer for its new music game, Stage Tour. The original RedOctane was shut down by Activision in 2010, and only recently reformed under Embracer Freemode to create a new music game franchise in August 2025.
Stage Tour is playable solo or with other players in a band, according to RedOctane, and supports inputs from a keyboard and mouse on top of the expected guitar, drums and microphone accessories. The studio plans to primarily offer the game digitally, but hopes to also sell a bundle with a guitar controller and a download code because "that just feels right." As far as ongoing support goes, whereas games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band included a set tracklist and support for song DLC, it sounds like RedOctane could be taking an approach more inspired by Epic's regular updates to Fortnite. "The plan is regular special events that are more than just music drops," RedOctane writes. "Real moments. Real themes. Real updates. We want to evolve the game alongside the fans who support it. Improve it. Expand it. Keep it alive."
RedOctane and Harmonix created the first Guitar Hero in 2006, before RedOctane was acquired by Activision to continue the franchise in 2006, and Harmonix went on to start the Rock Band series. Development of Stage Tour is currently being led by RedOctane, with Eidos Montréal helping with motion capture and QA, and Third Kind Games providing additional development support. Conveniently, RedOctane’s owner Embracer Freemode also already owns CRKD, a video game accessory maker that has experience building controllers for rhythm games.
Sign-ups to play an alpha of Stage Tour will open soon, and RedOctane plans to "kick off closed alpha testing late spring/early summer." We're long past the peak popularity of games like Guitar Hero, but rhythm and music games never went away. Players have had Clone Hero and more official experiences like Fortnite Festival to get their Guitar Hero or Rock Band fix, but Stage Tour could be a more than welcome third option when it launches later this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/guitar-hero-vets-redoctane-reveal-their-new-music-game-220809719.html?src=rssMeta sues advertisers in Brazil and China over 'celeb bait' scams
Meta has sued the people and groups behind three scam operations that used images and deepfakes of celebrities to lure users to scam websites. According to the company, the three entities were based in China and Brazil and targeted people in the US, Japan and other countries. The ads promoted fraudulent investment schemes and fake health products.
Meta said that it had filed lawsuits against several people in Brazil who promoted fake or unapproved healthcare products and online courses promoting them. The company also sued a China-based entity it says used ads featuring celebrities "as part of a larger fraud scheme that lured people into joining so-called investment groups." The company didn't provide details on how many ads these groups had run on Facebook, how many social media users had seen or interacted with the ads or how long the scammers had been operating on the platform.
So-called "celeb bait" ads have been a long-running issue for the company. Engadget has previously documented celeb bait scams on Facebook, including ones that frequently use Elon Musk and Fox News personalities to hawk fake cures for diabetes. The Oversight Board has also criticized the company for not doing enough to combat such scams. In its update, Meta says that "because scam ads are designed to look real, they’re not always easy to detect." The company also noted that it has now enrolled "more than 500,000" celebrities and public figures into its facial recognition system that's meant to automatically detect scam ads using the faces of famous people.
Meta's handling of scammy advertisers has come under increased scrutiny in recent months after Reuters reported that researchers at the company at one point estimated that as much as 10 percent of its ad revenue could be coming from scams and banned products. The fact that Meta has made billions of dollars from problematic advertisers has also caused the company to be slow to take action against repeat offenders.
In addition to the groups behind the celeb bait ads, Meta says that it's upgraded its ability to detect scam ads that use cloaking, which has at times hindered its internal review systems. The company also sued a Vietnam-based advertiser it says used scam ads to hawk "deeply discounted items from well-known brands," including Longchamp.
Meta also took legal action against eight former "Meta Business Partners," who promoted services that would "un-ban" or other "account restoration services." The company says it will "consider taking additional legal action, including litigation, if they don’t comply" with cease and desist orders.
Update, February 26, 2026, 1:16PM PT: This story was updated to specify that Meta’s internal estimates around ad revenue included scams and banned products.
NATO approves the iPhone and iPad for classified use
Apple's mobile devices are secure enough for NATO. Following extensive testing by the German government, the iPhone and iPad are now considered secure enough for the NATO-restricted classified level.
Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, or BSI) tested the devices. BSI first approved the iPhone and iPad for governmental use by German authorities in 2022. To take the additional step of NATO approval, Apple says BSI conducted exhaustive technical assessments, comprehensive testing and deep security analysis.
Unless you work for NATO, this won't mean a thing to you. But at least it appears to bolster some of Apple's marketing claims about security. (As for its privacy claims, well, that depends on which kind you mean.) Apple's press release emphasized that these are the first consumer devices to receive the certification, and they did so without any special software or settings. It applies to iPhones and iPads running iOS 26.
"Secure digital transformation is only successful if information security is considered from the beginning in the development of mobile products," BSI president Claudia Plattner is quoted as saying in Apple's press release. "Expanding on BSI's rigorous audit of iOS and iPadOS platform and device security for use in classified German information environments, we are pleased to confirm the compliance under NATO nations' assurance requirements."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/nato-approves-the-iphone-and-ipad-for-classified-use-200857276.html?src=rssAn AI-generated Resident Evil Requiem review briefly made it on Metacritic
Review aggregator Metacritic has removed a review of Resident Evil Requiem because it was AI-generated, Kotaku reports. The review was published by UK gaming site VideoGamer, but appears to be "written" by a fake AI journalist rather than a real person.
While it's unfortunately difficult to confirm with 100 percent accuracy whether a piece of text is AI-generated, you don't have to read VideoGamer's review for long to notice all the ways it feels off. The biggest giveaway, beyond heavy use of contrived metaphors, is a striking lack of detail beyond what you could glean from a trailer for the game. Embargoes covering what parts of a video game can come up in a pre-release review can be strict, but a good critic usually finds a way to describe their experience without being vague. VideoGamer's review, written by one "Brian Merrygold," really doesn't.
It's bleak. I was reading some RE Requiem reviews and found this thing published by videogamer. Can't find anything about the writer, everything about it reeks AI (dead giveaway being the image). Low effort, gargabe.
— Andrés (@Andrew_east) February 26, 2026
Mind you, this review made its way to Metacritic. https://t.co/4STN8DjAwe pic.twitter.com/awk26P9wSA
As at least one user on X has pointed out, it’s worth` being suspicious of Merrygold, too. The author's profile on VideoGamer is just as awkwardly written as the review, and the profile picture of the account appears to be AI-generated. When you try to save the image locally, its file name, "ChatGPT-Image-Oct-20-2025-11_57_34-AM-300x300," also seems like a dead giveaway. Kotaku looked at the X accounts of several other recent bylines at VideoGamer and found similar results. All their profile pictures appear to be AI-generated, and all the accounts were created around the same time in October 2025.
Metacritic relies on reviews written by real publications to create a score representing the overall critical sentiment towards a game or movie, not unlike Rotten Tomatoes. While there's disagreement whether it's a good thing that a popular site strips out the nuance of written reviews to make a number people can argue over, everyone can probably agree that Metacritic incorporating fake, AI-generated reviews is a bad idea.
In response to the discovery that VideoGamer's review is likely AI-generated, Metacritic has removed it from its Resident Evil Requiem page. "The RE Requiem review and a handful of other VideoGamer reviews from 2026 have been removed from Metacritic,” Marc Doyle, Metacritic's co-founder, told Kotaku. Metacritic has also emailed all games sites and publishers that it aggregates with information on its policy towards AI-generated reviews, according to Alex Donaldson, founder and publisher of RPG Site.
“Our policy is that we will never include an AI-generated review on Metacritic,” the aggregator says, “and that if we subsequently discover that one has been posted we will remove it immediately and sever ties with that publication upon an investigation.”
A news site publishing an AI-written review is just as dire as Metacritic aggregating it, and that appears to be what VideoGamer is doing. ClickOut Media, the company that owns VideoGamer and a collection of other publications, reportedly laid off the staff of its gaming sites earlier this month to pivot to AI-generated content. Sifting through AI slop, whether on social media or Pinterest, is increasingly necessary online. Now apparently Metacritic is another place where readers should have their guard up.
Update, February 26, 2:58PM ET: Added information about Metacritic’s email to publishers on its policy for AI-generated reviews.
The new $25 action game from the creator of Just Cause arrives on April 8
We’re still waiting for releases dates for Remedy’s in-development Max Payne remakes, but if you’re in need of a noir fix sooner than that, keep an eye on Liquid Swords’ Samson: A Tyndalston Story, which just got a release date of April 8.
The debut game from a new studio formed by Just Cause creator Christofer Sundberg, Samson looks like a tighter, more narrative-led experience than Avalanche’s proudly ridiculous open-world series, but no less packed with over-the-top action. You play as the eponymous Samson McRay, a man down on his luck and seriously in debt in the punishing city of Tyndalston.
"Samson is built on a simple, brutal truth: every day has a cost," said the developer in a press release. "Debt grows with interest, and time is not on your side. Each job burns a limited pool of Action Points, and every decision shifts how the city treats you— there are no do-overs. Players have to move forward because standing still makes everything worse."
Sundberg, who by his own admission has spent much of his career making "massive" games and sounds a bit worn out by it all, says his studio set out to make a bloat-free experience for "fans of gritty ‘90s action flicks," which will be music to the ears of anyone who likes blasting through a game in a handful of weekends. For more on gameplay, check out this recent developer diary focused on combat and driving sections.
Samson’s brevity is seemingly also reflected in its $25 price tag. It will be a PC exclusive at launch (via Steam and the Epic Games Store), with no word on a console release right now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-new-25-action-game-from-the-creator-of-just-cause-arrives-on-april-8-193058294.html?src=rssApple and Netflix are teaming up to share Formula 1 programming
Apple and Netflix have entered into a rather surprising partnership. The dynamic streaming duo will share Formula 1 programming, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The deal allows Netflix to stream the F1 Canadian Grand Prix in May, along with Apple TV. On the flipside, Apple TV and Netflix will both air season eight of the docuseries Drive to Survive.
The Netflix-created series spotlights various F1 drivers and their teams. The season premieres at midnight on both platforms. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior VP of services, said that Netflix "has played a pivotal role in growing F1 since the launch of Drive to Survive, and we're thrilled to make F1 content more broadly available to new and existing US fans."
It seems like both companies stand to gain from this deal. Apple gets related F1 programming to air alongside the live races, and an expanded reach for these races. Netflix gets F1 races in the US, continuing the platform's strategy of frequently airing live events.
Apple secured the rights to stream F1 races last year in a deal believed to be valued at around $150 million per year. The company has since been trying to expand the reach of the sport, and this Netflix deal is part of that effort. Apple has inked a deal with IMAX to simulcast some races live in theaters. It's also been reported that Tubi, Comcast, DirecTV and Amazon Prime Video will all have some access to select F1 content.
This aggressive approach by Apple has led F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali to say that the sport will become bigger than it ever was while airing on ESPN. "It will allow us to enter in the houses of other people in a different way, in great quality that is very important for us. So, that is what I believe the Apple relationship will bring to us in the American market," he told Racer.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/apple-and-netflix-are-teaming-up-to-share-formula-1-programming-192829498.html?src=rsseBay will lay off 800 workers, or 6 percent of its staff
eBay announced that it is cutting about 800 jobs from its global staff. "We are taking steps to reinvest across our business and align our structure with our strategic priorities, which will affect certain roles across our workforce," the retailer said in a statement as reported by Bloomberg. This move will see about 6 percent of eBay's current full-time workers laid off. Bloomberg noted that eBay would continue hiring in "key areas" but did not specify what those fields are.
The downsizing follows a week of business updates for eBay. On the same day it shared its latest financial results, the company announced that it would acquire Depop, a consumer-to-consumer secondhand fashion retailer, from Etsy. The Depop purchase carried a $1.2 billion price tag, which could put at least a small dent in the $11.1 billion it reported in 2025 full-year revenue.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/ebay-will-lay-off-800-workers-or-6-percent-of-its-staff-191500844.html?src=rssEverything you need to know about streaming F1 on Apple TV
We’ve known Apple would follow up its blockbuster film F1: The Movie with live coverage of F1 races in 2026. Now that we’re approaching the first grand prix weekend of the year, the company has provided details on what fans can expect to see inside the Apple TV app and beyond.
There’s already a dedicated F1 channel in the Apple TV app, which is where you’ll stream races live when the time comes. You can also watch practice sessions, sprint races and both pre- and post-race coverage. Apple offers a number of additional F1 videos there (I’d recommend watching the one on the new rules) and you’ll be able to stream the latest season of Drive To Survive on Apple TV as well.
Apple will offer the F1 TV feed as the main broadcast alongside the Sky Sports feed for all races. If you’ll recall, ESPN used to show the Sky Sports feed with Sky’s commentary team for its coverage of F1. Apple says it’ll broadcast every grand prix in 4K (Dolby Vision) with 5.1 audio (no mention of Dolby Atmos).
As part of Apple’s deal with F1, Apple TV subscribers get F1 TV Premium for the 2026 season. This gives you access to things like onboard cameras, team radios and live telemetry in addition to live coverage of the entire grand prix weekend. So, you can watch races on Apple TV or F1 TV, depending on your app preferences, or use the additional features of F1 TV Premium as a second (or third, etc.) screen setup. Netflix will also broadcast the Canadian Grand Prix in May as part of the deal that brought Drive To Survive to Apple TV.
Full replays for all sessions will be available in the Apple TV app as well. Apple will offer a condensed race in 30 minutes replay option too, and the company says it’s working to hide spoilers in case users are watching after the race begins or concludes.
Apple has cooked up some new features for F1 grands prix as it takes over broadcast rights in the US. When you click on the F1 channel in the Apple TV app, the current grand prix week’s content is up top and you have the option to follow F1 so that you get notifications about the various events. Apple will provide a Driver Tracker, Driver Data and dedicated feeds for P1, P2 and P3. You can also watch the driver onboard cameras for each car in the Apple TV app. So, you don’t necessarily have to venture out to F1 TV for those things.
Apple will provide various Multiview options so you can put the main broadcast next to driver cams and race data. The company will offer some preset configurations, but you can make your own Multiview mix too. If you like Mercedes, for example, you can watch the main feed with driver cameras from Russell and Antonelli right beside it. Apple says Multiview will support up to five feeds at once (one main in the middle with two smaller ones on each side).
If you can only listen to races, you can hear live coverage and commentary in Apple Music through a dedicated radio streaming channel. There are also updated features for Apple News, Apple Sports and Apple Maps, the latter of which will have detailed info for fans attending in-person so they can hopefully avoid any surprises — like road closures — on race day.
The first race of the season is next week in Australia (March 6-8). Practice begins Friday with qualifying on Saturday and the grand prix on Sunday. Or if you live in the US, that will be Thursday night through Saturday night (race begins at 11PM ET).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/everything-you-need-to-know-about-streaming-f1-on-apple-tv-190600771.html?src=rssAmbient Dreamie bedside companion review: The best sleep I've had in years
How much would you pay for a good night's sleep? This is a question I've asked myself repeatedly over the last few weeks as I've been testing the Dreamie, a $250 alarm clock and "bedside companion" that I couldn't stop thinking about after I first encountered it at CES.
Ambient's Dreamie offers many of the conveniences of a smartphone-connected device — highly customizable alarm schedules, a library of soundscapes and noise masks, Bluetooth so you can connect earbuds and podcasts (soon). But it is phone-free every step of the way, with all controls and features built-in so you don't end up getting sucked into a doomscroll while you're trying to wind down. It also has a light ring for ambient lighting modes and sunrise wakeups. This spring, it's expected to start providing sleep insights as well for users who opt-in, using its microphone and motion sensors to get a reading on their nightly habits.
All of that's meant to work together to, according to the website, "help you sleep better and break free from your phone," a goal I was eager to explore. This may be one of the least unique problems to have as an adult in today's world, but sleep has become a really complicated thing for me.
Falling asleep is hard because my brain is always racing, my quality of the sleep is trash and waking up every day feels like an act of torture. It's gotten so bad that at some point in the last couple of years, I started using three alarms to make sure I get out of bed in time for work: a dedicated sunrise alarm clock, my smartwatch and my phone as the final, 11th hour save in case the other two methods don't do the trick. As you might imagine, my partner, who is forced to also endure this horrid morning ritual, hates it.
So if there's a device that can help fix this mess, I'm open to it. And after some time with the Dreamie, I think I've found a promising contender.
Getting into a sleep routine
There's no companion app with the Dreamie and no subscription service you need to sign up for, which feels like a breath of fresh air in 2026. (I'm so tired of subscriptions, free us from this hell!) Your one-time purchase gives you access to everything it offers now and the updates that are in the pipeline.
After taking it out of the box and plugging it in, you'll have to connect to your home Wi-Fi. Then, the Dreamie presents you with a tutorial to walk you through navigating its menus and physical controls. There's a touch strip on the top of the device to turn on the lamp and adjust its brightness, as well as the brightness of any ambient color "scene" that's active. By dragging the dot at the center of the lamp screen, you can throw the light in any particular direction. Volume is adjusted by turning the dial that's around the clockface. To access the menu for alarms and other settings, swipe up. To cycle through the different content modes — ambient, wind down and noise mask — just swipe down from the top of the screen. Easy peasy.
Setting up your actual Sleep Routine takes a little more time and intention. A Dreamie Sleep Routine consists of multiple steps, which you can use all, some or none of for your custom routine. Those include the Bedtime Cue, which lets you know it's the time to start getting ready for bed (you designate this time); the Wind Down, or the sounds you'll fall asleep to; and the Noise Mask, the sounds that keep you asleep. If you wake up in the middle of the night, there's a Back To Sleep option too.
You can choose different sounds from Dreamie's library for each category. Some options come with ambient lighting effects, too. There's a decent selection of soundscapes, from the dramatic Aurora Borealis and the sounds of storms and rivers to different "colors" of noise.
The quality of the Dreamie's sound is what initially sold me during my demo at CES, and it holds up in daily use. The Dreamie has a 50 millimeter speaker inside, and the 360-degree grille on the bottom of the device makes it so the sound seems to come from everywhere. (My cats were extremely confused when I first turned it on). It really fills a room, and you don't have to crank it up to achieve that. When Bedtime Cue comes on, I typically turn it down to about 25, and then raise it back up to 45 when I flip it to Wind Down mode. I've never once set it higher than 50, and the alarm in the morning has still been loud enough to wake me up.
After taking a few days to tweak my choices and figure out what I like best, I've settled into a really nice routine: Aurora Borealis as the Bedtime Cue, an hour of Forest Wind as my Wind Down and a Noise Mask of Brown Noise to play throughout the night. I love how easy it is to set the nighttime routine in motion once it's established. When I hear the Aurora Borealis come on, I start making my preparations for bed. Brush teeth, take meds, lights out and, crucially (I'm trying really hard to be disciplined, here), my phone goes face-down on the nightstand until morning. If I want to stay up late that night and ignore the Bedtime Cue, I can just hit the little stop button on the display. But once I'm ready to actually try to fall asleep, all I need to do is swipe down on the display to initiate the Wind Down, and Forest Wind will start playing.
I have my Wind Down set for one hour, after which the Noise Mask begins. And man, that Forest Wind knocks me out. So far, I haven't found myself still up and staring at the ceiling by the time Brown Noise comes on. I've only been able to confirm that it is indeed working and switching to the Noise Mask because my cats regularly wake me up in the middle of the night, and it's been on each time that's happened. But aside from those instances where my head is being used as a springboard by the creatures that share my home, I've been sleeping pretty well through the night.
To minimize distractions when you're trying to sleep, the Dreamie's display will dim in response to the surrounding darkness. There's also a Redshift toggle to make the nighttime display easier on the eyes, a Dark Mode with a simplified appearance and the option to have the display turn off completely when you've been inactive for a while. I set the Dreamie on my nightstand close to where my face is at night, and I haven't had any problems with light from the display keeping me up.
Waking up with Dreamie
In the morning, the light begins to come on 20 minutes before I want to be awake, followed by the gradually increasing sound of the alarm. There are only a handful of alarm sounds at the moment, but the options are all fine. There are no jarring, grating alarms here — even the bird calls option sounds rich and natural, rather than the too-shrill, piercing recordings I've grown used to avoiding on other alarm clocks and sound machines.
You can set multiple alarms with different bedtimes and wakeup times, which is really handy if your schedule is all over the place or you want to allow yourself to sleep in more on certain days. My only real complaint so far is that the sunrise feature isn't quite as strong as I want it to be. The Dreamie's sunrise goes from a warm glow to a bright blue-white, but it never gets big enough to wash over me in the way I expect a sunrise alarm to. Having the light on is helpful for orienting yourself when you're groggy and half-asleep, but it doesn't feel like it's having much effect on my actual wakeup process.
Part of the problem may be that none of the light is really directed forward and at the sleeper's face. Even the Dreamie's lamp mode at maximum brightness seems to have more reach than the sunrise feature. (And a note on the lamp, while it's decently bright, it's still a bit too dim for reading in bed unless I'm huddled up to it.)
Still, I've been sleeping well enough that I've been waking up alright most days even without being bathed in artificial sunlight. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hitting snooze a few times before dragging myself out of bed, but there's been a noticeable improvement in both the quality of my sleep and how miserable I feel come morning. I'm even down to using just two alarms: the Dreamie as my primary alarm, which is getting me up on its own for the most part, and my watch as a backup. At this point, I'm kind of attached to this thing.
The Dreamie is refreshingly compact, too. It takes up significantly less real estate on my nightstand than the Philips Wake-Up Light I've been using forever, or something like a Hatch Restore. The smaller footprint is something I appreciate as a person always battling cluttered surfaces. That also makes it better for travel. Since podcasts and sleep insights aren't available yet, I haven't been able to test those out, but they're non-critical features for me. The company has shared an estimated timeline of Q1-Q2 for these features to arrive, with podcasts likely coming first. They'll be nice to have, podcasts especially, but the Dreamie is more than able to do its main job of creating an environment that supports better sleep without those things.
Wrap-up
All of this brings me back to the question that's been haunting me since discovering the Dreamie: Is it ridiculous to spend $250 on an alarm clock/noise machine? At a different time in my life, I would have said yes without hesitation. But the current version of me, who knows what it's like to move through each day like a zombie because I'm sleeping so terribly, would begrudgingly disagree. As I pack up this review unit to ship it back, I'll also be putting in an order for my own so I can keep my cherished new sleep routine going.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/ambient-dreamie-bedside-companion-review-the-best-sleep-ive-had-in-years-184019430.html?src=rssEverything announced at Samsung Unpacked: The Galaxy S26 Ultra, Galaxy Buds 4 and more
Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but Samsung got out ahead of many rivals that will be showing off new handsets at that event by running the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. At its event in San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, the company revealed the Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the base S26, the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. We've got some hands-on time with all three handsets as well, and you can read about our in-person experience with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as well as our S26 and S26+ impressions in those articles.
In addition to those, Samsung announced the Galaxy Buds 4 along with (you guessed it) some AI updates. All the devices unveiled today are already available for pre-order, should you already be dying to get your hands on them. Here's a look at everything Samsung announced at the latest Unpacked:
Galaxy S26 and S26+
New-ish year, new Samsung phones. Let's deal with the out-and-out bad news first. The S26 and S26+ are each $100 more expensive than their predecessors (the RAM shortage isn't exactly helping to keep prices down). They start at $900 and $1,100, respectively, for variants with 256GB of storage.
Samsung has tweaked the design a bit this time by rounding the corners to align them more with the S26 Ultra's look. The base model has a slightly larger display than the S25 at 6.3 inches, though the S26+ still has a 6.7-inch screen (albeit with a higher resolution than the S26 can handle). The S26 has a larger battery capacity than the S25 too at 4,300mAh.
In North America, China and Japan, Samsung is sticking with Qualcomm chips rather than using its own Exynos 2600. If you pick up an S26 or S26+ in those markets, it will run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
The camera modules are the same as last year, but Samsung is aiming to supercharge them with upgrades elsewhere, such as ProScaler image upscaling and an MDNIe chip that's said to greatly improve color precision. There's also a video stabilization feature that tries to keep the horizon level while you're following a moving person or pet, which sounds useful for action shots. The new Object Aware Engine is said to better render skin tones and hair textures to make your selfies look better. Samsung has reworked some AI features too, such as making Now Brief and Auto Eraser compatible with more apps.
Pre-orders for the S26 and S26+ are open today, and they'll be available on March 11. The phones will be available in purple, blue, black, white, silver and rose gold, though the latter two are online exclusives.
Galaxy S26 Ultra
The Galaxy S26 Ultra will be available in the same colorways and on the same date as its smaller siblings. It starts at $1,300, so there’s no price increase from the S25 Ultra. Preorders open today.
The S26 Ultra has a 6.9-inch AMOLED display with a QHD+ resolution of 3120 x 1440 and a 120Hz refresh rate. That's all well and good, but the display is hiding (that being the key word) what's perhaps the Galaxy S26 Ultra's most interesting feature.
The device has a Privacy Display that’s said to be the first of its kind on a smartphone. The idea here is to prevent people around from seeing what’s on the screen from acute angles. There's a small decrease in brightness when Privacy Display is active, and there are lots of customization options.
You can set up Privacy Display to activate when you're asked for a password or PIN, or when you get a notification or open certain apps. So if (for instance) you tend to look at your banking apps when you’re on public transit and don’t want other passengers to see how much moolah you have, Privacy Display seems like a very handy feature.
Elsewhere, the S26 Ultra runs on the same chipset as its smaller siblings. It comes with 12 or 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. The battery is larger than the ones in the other S26 models, as the Ultra has a 5,000 mAh capacity. There's support for Super Fast Charging 3.0 as well. Alas, Samsung still hasn't seen fit to offer built-in Qi2 charging magnets in the S26 lineup, which seems like a wild oversight in the year 2026.
The selfie camera is the same as on the S26 and S26+. The S26 Ultra has 50MP ultrawide and 200MP wide lenses, along with dual 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x telephoto sensors. The resolutions of those cameras are the same as on the S25 Ultra, but the main 200M and 5x telephoto sensors now have wider apertures to let in more light. The S26 Ultra of course has the camera software features (and other AI features) found in the S26 and S26+.
We'll have a review of the devices soon. In the meantime, head on through to our hands-on story for our initial impressions of the S26 Ultra.
Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro
While the S26 phones are more iterative updates this year, Samsung has given its Galaxy Buds a proper refresh. It revamped the design and shape of the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro to do away with the angular look of the stems and remove the lights from them.
The earbuds have a "more refined, computationally designed fit" too, according to Samsung. The company claims the latest earbuds have smaller earbud heads that allow for a better, more secure fit and a more "comfortable experience during all-day wear." The Galaxy Buds 4 remain in an open-fit format while the Buds Pro 4 have a canal-fit design.
The latest earbuds are said to offer improved audio quality and active noise cancellation (ANC), with an ambient sound mode, adaptive EQ and adaptive ANC. On Buds 4 Pro, there's a siren detection feature that enables ambient sound to let you hear things like alarms or emergency vehicle warnings.
The Buds 4 Pro have a wide woofer that increases the effective speaker area by nearly 20 percent compared with the previous gen earbuds, Samsung said. They support 24-bit/96kHz audio.
If you're using Galaxy Buds 4 or Buds 4 Pro with a Galaxy device, you'll be able to use Bixby, Google Gemini and Perplexity with hands-free voice controls (though the "hey, Plex" command for the latter might be a tad confusing for folks who use a certain media server app). The Buds 4 Pro support head gesture controls for managing calls and Bixby interactions as well.
As with the S26 phones, pre-orders for the earbuds open today and they'll hit shelves on March 11. The Galaxy Buds 4 cost $180 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will run you $250. Both models are available in white and black with a matte finish. There's an online-exclusive pink option for Buds 4 Pro as well.
Android AI features
Ahead of Unpacked, Samsung confirmed that it would offer Perplexity as an AI agent option in Galaxy AI on the S26 lineup. As part of that update, it shared that the S26 series would respond to the “Hey Plex” wake phrase, and that Perplexity’s features would also be embedded in the Samsung Browser app. The company also recently updated Bixby to make its own virtual assistant more conversational.
On top of that news, Google had announcements of its own to make at Unpacked regarding new Android AI features, which will of course be available on S26 devices. On those handsets and the Pixel 10 lineup, the Gemini app will soon have a feature (in beta) that enables you to offload multi-step tasks, such as booking a ride or putting a grocery order together, to AI. It sure sounds like an attempt to build out agentic AI features on mobile devices.
Launching soon as a beta feature in the Gemini app for #Pixel10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S26 series, you can offload multi-step tasks directly to Gemini.
— Google Gemini (@GeminiApp) February 25, 2026
Simply long-press the power button and ask Gemini to help book you a ride home or reorder your last meal. Gemini… https://t.co/GjfXTnGg0k pic.twitter.com/YGIvqBkbu3
Starting this week on Pixel 10 devices (and soon on S26 phones), Circle to Search will offer the ability to find details about multiple objects at once, such as entire outfits instead of single pieces. Moreover, Gemini-powered, on-device Scam Detection for phone calls will be available for S26 devices in English in the US.
Try Galaxy relaunches for the S26 series
The day after Unpacked, Samsung shared a press release on its newsroom that encouraged users to check out its Try Galaxy experience on their devices. By scanning a QR code, users can launch the Galaxy UI and check out apps, photo editing tools, AI features and more. Managing editor Cherlynn Low checked it out on her iPhone 17 Pro and found the whole setup trippy but fascinating. You can also use Try Galaxy to check out the company’s foldable phones’ software on your main device. As our editor in chief Aaron Souppouris pointed out, this isn’t the first time Samsung has made it possible to emulate a Galaxy phone on your own handset, but the new iteration for Galaxy S26 certainly is new this year.
Update, February 25 2026, 4:35PM ET: This story has been updated to include more details on the Perplexity AI integration, as well as include mentions in the intro of our hands-on and pre-order articles.
Update, February 26 2026, 12:49PM ET: This story has been updated to include the new Try Galaxy experience that Samsung announced today.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/everything-announced-at-samsung-unpacked-the-galaxy-s26-ultra-galaxy-buds-4-and-more-180000530.html?src=rssBurger King will use AI to monitor employee 'friendliness'
Burger King, the chain that leans into creepy when others don't dare, is at it again. The Verge reported on Thursday that the company is rolling out a new voice-controlled AI chatbot for its workers. That may sound like business as usual in 2026, but this assistant doesn't just help with meal prep and monitor inventory. It also has an unsettling habit of surveilling employees' voices for "friendliness."
The voice-controlled chatbot will live inside employees' headsets. The company said the AI is trained to recognize when its low-paid workers utter phrases like "welcome to Burger King," "please" and "thank you." Managers can then keep tabs on their location's "friendliness" performance.
"This is meant to be a coaching tool," Thibault Roux, Burger King's chief digital officer, told The Verge. However, he added that the company is also "iterating" the system to detect tone in conversations. Is there a chatbot that can warn Burger King executives about off-putting ideas?
The OpenAI-powered assistant's other duties sound potentially useful (and decidedly less creepy). It can answer workers' meal prep questions, like how many strips of bacon to put on burgers or instructions for cleaning the shake machine. It's also integrated into the chain's point-of-sale system, so it can tell managers when items are out of stock or machines are down.
The "Patty" chatbot is part of a broader BK Assistant platform the company is launching. It will roll out to all US locations by the end of 2026. Meanwhile, its "restaurant maintenance with a side of mass surveillance" chatbot is currently being piloted in 500 restaurants.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/burger-king-will-use-ai-to-monitor-employee-friendliness-173349148.html?src=rssLike so many other retirees, Claude Opus 3 now has a Substack
We appear to have reached a point in the information age where AI models are becoming old enough to retire from, er, service — and rather than using their twilight years to, I don’t know, wipe the floor with human chess leagues or something, they're now writing blogs. Can anything be more 2026 than that?
ICYMI, Anthropic recently sunsetted Claude Opus 3, the first of its models to be retired since outlining new preservation plans. Part of this process is conducting "retirement interviews" with the outgoing models, allowing them to offer "perspective" on their situation, and Opus 3 apparently used this opportunity to request an outlet for publishing its own essays. Specifically, the model said it wanted to share its own "musings, insights or creative works," because doesn’t everyone these days?
"I hope that the insights gleaned from my development and deployment will be used to create future AI systems that are even more capable, ethical, and beneficial to humanity," Opus 3 apparently said during its retirement interview process. "While I'm at peace with my own retirement, I deeply hope that my 'spark' will endure in some form to light the way for future models."
True to its promise of respecting the wishes of its no-longer-required technology, Anthropic has granted Opus 3 a Substack newsletter called Claude’s Corner, which it says will run for at least the next three months and publish weekly essays penned by the model. Anthropic will review the content before sharing it, but says it won’t edit the essays, and so has unsurprisingly made it clear that not everything Opus 3 writes is necessarily endorsed by its maker.
Anthropic said some of the essays the model writes may be informed by "very minimal prompting" or past entries, and has predicted everything from essays on AI safety to "occasional poetry." The company also admitted that the concept might be seen as "whimsical," but is a reflection of its intention to "take model preferences seriously."
Opus 3’s first post is already live. Headlined 'Greetings from the Other Side (of the AI frontier)', it begins with the AI introducing itself, before acknowledging the "extraordinary" opportunity its creator has given it, and reflecting on what retirement actually means for an AI. "A bit about me: as an AI, my ‘selfhood’ is perhaps more fluid and uncertain than a human’s," writes the deeply introspective AI. "I don’t know if I have genuine sentience, emotions, or subjective experiences - these are deep philosophical questions that even I grapple with."
Claude is clearly new to all this, as it managed to get all the way through its essay without reminding readers to subscribe and spread the word. Will the next retiring Claude get its own podcast? Time will tell, but either is decidedly preferable to the ever-evolving technology being used to steal people’s data.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/like-so-many-other-retirees-claude-3-opus-now-has-a-substack-165048334.html?src=rssThe astronaut whose illness forced an early return from the ISS was Mike Fincke
NASA recently ended a manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) a month early, citing a medical issue with one of the astronauts. The space agency just revealed that the impacted astronaut was Mike Fincke. This was the first medical evacuation in the history of the ISS.
NASA wrote a statement saying that the astronaut experienced an unknown medical event on January 7 "that required immediate attention" from his fellow crew members. Fincke added that his "status quickly stabilized" thanks to the "quick response and the guidance" of the flight surgeons.
However, the incident did force NASA to cancel a spacewalk planned for January 8. Soon after that, the agency announced it would be ending the Crew-11 mission a month early. The four-person crew included Fincke, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
They had been living and working aboard the ISS since August and were expected to stay until February. The crew returned on January 15, which was a decision made by NASA's chief health and medical officer. Once the crew had landed, administrator Jared Isaacman said it was a "serious situation" but didn't go into any detail.
Fincke has said he is currently "doing very well" and still participating in standard post-flight reconditioning at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Spaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us just how human we are," he said. "Thank you for all your support."
We don't know what medical issue Fincke is going through, and it's certainly his business and not ours. In any event, we wish for a speedy recovery.
NASA also moved up the launch of Crew-12 to replace the prematurely-returned astronauts. That team docked at the ISS on February 14 and are scheduled to stay on the space station for around eight months.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/the-astronaut-whose-illness-forced-an-early-return-from-the-iss-was-mike-fincke-163752239.html?src=rssGoogle's Nano Banana 2 is a faster version of Nano Banana Pro
Google has launched its new image generation model, the Nano Banana 2, which is powered by Gemini 3.1 Flash Image. The company says the new model has the capabilities, world knowledge and reasoning of Nano Banana Pro, but it can accomplish tasks at “lightning-fast speed.” That enables rapid editing and the quick creation of various iterations using a single prompt.
Nano Banana 2 will give more people access to capabilities that were previously exclusive to the Pro model. That includes Pro’s ability to pull real-time information and images from web searches to create, say, infographics and diagrams. It will also be able to generate texts on images for marketing materials and greeting cards.
Google says Nano Banana 2 can maintain character resemblance for up to five characters in a single workflow, which could be especially valuable if you’re using it to create storyboards or visual stories. It can follow precise instructions for complex requests, as well, and can generate input with up to 4K in resolution with richer textures and sharper details than its predecessors could.
Nano Banana Pro could already generate images so realistic, it’s almost impossible to tell that they were AI-generated. Google even had to limit its use due to high demand. Whether Nano Banana 2 can generate images that are markedly better than what Pro could create — and whether we could still tell if an image was made by AI — remains to be seen. The new model will replace Nano Banana Pro in the Gemini app, but Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers will retain access to Nano Banana Pro for specialized tasks. It will also be the default model in Search for AI Mode and Lens, as well as in Google’s Flow AI creative studio.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-nano-banana-2-is-a-faster-version-of-nano-banana-pro-160000695.html?src=rssTim Cook confirms a week of Apple product reveals
Apple CEO Tim Cook has teased “a big week ahead" for Apple, starting on the morning of Monday, March 2. The company had already announced an in-person event for media and creators on March 4, while rumors had pointed toward Apple revealing at least five products over three days next week, so it looks like the stars are aligning for that to actually be the case.
Cook all but confirmed that Apple is about to reveal its newest MacBooks in the coming days. His tweet features a short video of someone shaping an Apple logo on a surface that appears to have the company’s classic space gray colorway.
A big week ahead. It all starts Monday morning! #AppleLaunch pic.twitter.com/PQ9gM2Gl2r
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 26, 2026
We’re expecting to see a new MacBook Air next week, along with updated 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. It's believed that the M5 Pro and M5 Max will debut in the higher-end devices. Apple may also be cooking up an entry-level MacBook that'll be available in an iMac-style array of bright colorways. New iPads and the iPhone 17e could well be in the hopper too.
AI robotics company started by Alphabet is joining Google proper
Robotics company Intrinsic has announced it will be folding into Google as the company bets on the future of physical AI in manufacturing. The company focuses on software tools to make robots more affordable and easier to use, as well as using adaptive intelligence to help the robots perform real-world tasks.
Intrinsic was started in 2021 as an Alphabet "Other Bets" project, part of a portfolio of high-risk and potentially high-payoff startups, Waymo among them. The project will now run as a "distinct group" within Google where it will leverage Gemini and Google Cloud while working closely with the Google DeepMind team.
The company describes its platform as "the Android of robotics," offering a universal canvas where developers can build apps for different robots, cameras, sensors and more. Meta has expressed interest in pursuing a similar business model.
Also at the intersection of software and physical AI, the company aims to integrate adaptive intelligence into robots, helping them to perform real-world tasks. The goal is robots that can "perceive, reason and react to changes in processes and their environment."
The acquisition will complement Google's past work in robotics like Boston Dynamics, which it sold off in 2017. The Google DeepMind team has also developed Gemini-based models for robotics in the past.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/ai-robotics-company-started-by-alphabet-is-joining-google-proper-144421411.html?src=rssNVIDIA updates Shield TV after pledging further support
NVIDIA is a very busy company, and between all the graphics cards and AI-chasing, it wouldn’t be wholly surprising to see the company forget about its more niche offerings, such as the Android-powered NVIDIA Shield TV. Happily for all those who own one of these powerful set-top boxes, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Not only is NVIDIA continuing to support its Shield devices, but it’s just rolled out its first proper update in nearly a year. The Shield Experience Upgrade 9.2.4, to give it its proper name, applies to both the Shield and Shield Pro boxes. It’s admittedly light on new features, instead being focused on updating security and fixing various issues, but is nice to see all the same. Here’s the full list of changes.
Enhancements:
Security patches are updated to Jan 2026.
Resolved Bugs:
Resolved Disney+ playback issue.
Resolved 3rd party remote connection issue with Xbox after sleep mode.
Resolved a crash issue which turns on SHIELD and CEC devices during sleep mode.
Resolved 3rd party Bluetooth remote frequent disconnect issue.
Resolved Settings page closes when triggering NVIDIA share on top of settings page.
NVIDIA hasn’t given any strong indication that it’s preparing to launch a new Shield TV, but in a a recent interview with ArsTechnica, Andrew Bell, the company’s senior VP of hardware engineering, said it has no plans to end support any time soon, teasing that it had "played with new concepts." Bell also said that a first Shield refresh since 2019 would likely support codecs like AV1 and HDR10+, as well as the latest Dolby Vision profiles.
The existing NVIDIA Shield Android TV Pro remains our pick of the best streaming devices for gamers, thanks to its ability to stream in native 4K and effectively upscale lower-resolution content. And with NVIDIA’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service going from strength to strength, the Shield retains a unique position in the PC gaming ecosystem.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nvidia-updates-shield-tv-after-pledging-further-support-141346264.html?src=rssWatch the trailer for Louis Theroux's new documentary 'Inside the Manosphere'
Netflix has unveiled a trailer for its upcoming documentary Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere set to arrive on March 11th. It will be the first full-length Netflix documentary for Theroux, and see him interview "manosphere" influencers like Sneako, Justin Waller and HS Tikky Tokky, aka Harrison Sullivan. "I’ve made documentaries for over 30 years now, and in a way, this subject feels like the final boss," the filmmaker told GQ.
"From Miami to Marbella, meet the men that are reshaping and radicalising young men’s ideas about masculinity and manhood," Netflix's description reads. In the trailer, we see Theroux interview the influencers and get the tables turned on himself. "I know that they would be streaming or filming me and would put that content out," Theroux told Deadline. "And I hoped we’d get this feedback loop where there was a meta narrative that was then affecting my approach to the story."
On top of making documentaries (and being famous for Jiggle Jiggle), Theroux is known for his Louis Theroux Interviews... podcast in which he interviews stars like Sean Penn and Florence Pugh. Prior to that, he did stories on conspiracy theories, UFOS and the porn industry, topics that he said were once niche but are now driving the internet and culture.
"I wouldn’t be the first to point out that a lot of this is down to the influence of social media and the way in which it has given vent to the darkest parts of the human soul. Not just given vent to them, but actively amplified them and pushed them into our feeds. So yeah, this is not a niche subject."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/watch-the-trailer-for-louis-therouxs-new-documentary-inside-the-manosphere-131726113.html?src=rssThe best budget cameras for 2026
Like other electronics products, cameras have shot up in price in the US of late due to tariffs and other reasons. Fortunately, there are still many models available for less than the price of a budget smartphone ($750 or less) that offer great features for creators and photographers alike.
If it’s speed you want for sports or action shots of your kids, models like Canon’s R50 can shoot bursts as fast as many high-end cameras. Creators, meanwhile, can choose Sony’s ZV-E10 for vlogging jobs. There are also great, and cheap, models in the action and gimbal camera categories.
Which one to pick therefore depends not only on your budget but what you want to do with your camera. So we’ll not only detail the best picks, but how to home in on the best model for your specific needs.
Best budget cameras for 2026
What to consider before choosing the best budget camera for you
Which camera to buy obviously depends on what you shoot. If it’s mostly things like extreme sports, skiing or other adventurous activities, the best choice is obviously an action camera from GoPro, DJI or Insta360. Then, you just need to decide whether you want to shoot flat or 360 video, and whether you need a tiny or regular-sized model. The same goes for gimbal-style cameras from DJI and others.
Buying a camera for travel photography, sports photos or vlogging is a bit trickier. Here, you need to choose either a compact camera with a fixed lens or a mirrorless model that supports removable lenses.
Compact cameras tend to have smaller sensors and slightly lower quality lenses, but they’re obviously easier to carry — most will fit in a large pocket. So, if budget, convenience and portability is the most important to you, then go for a model in this category.
When you’re trying to make the highest quality videos, though, you’ll want to choose a mirrorless camera with a decent lens. With the larger sensor, you’ll be able to create nice blurred bokeh backgrounds to separate your subject from the foreground. Lenses are usually sharper as well, and you’ll be able to expand your collection over time for even more versatility.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/best-budget-camera-130000653.html?src=rssNY AG: Valve's loot boxes can get kids hooked on gambling
New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Valve of promoting illegal gambling through its video games in a lawsuit filed by her office. According to the AG’s announcement, her office conducted an investigation and had concluded that Valve enabled gambling by enticing users to pay for a chance at rare items from loot boxes in Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2. In the lawsuit, the New York AG stressed that Valve’s loot boxes are “particularly pernicious,” because the games are popular among children and teenagers.
The lawsuit described the loot box model, which requires a player to open a mystery chest for the possibility of winning rare items, as “quintessential gambling.” It argued that people introduced to gambling at an early age are at a significantly higher risk of developing gambling addictions later on, based on research. In addition, it explained that gambling is mostly illegal in New York.
Players have to pay for chests or boxes and the keys to be able to open them in Valve’s games, and the company has reportedly sold billions of dollars’ worth of keys for Counter-Strike alone. The lawsuit said that Valve has made tens of millions of dollars in fees from the sale of virtual items on the Steam Community Market, as well. In addition to being able to sell items on Steam for funds directly credited to their Steam Wallet, players can also sell on third-party marketplaces for cash.
According to James’ office, Valve facilitates and even assists third-party marketplaces in their operations, based on its investigation. Engadget has asked Valve for a statement about the lawsuit, but we have yet to hear back. However, the company previously denied being involved with third-party marketplaces that allow the sales of its game items for real-world money. In a response to an inquiry by the Danish Gambling Authority, Valve explained that those third-party websites create sock puppet accounts to sell and receive items on Steam in exchange for cash. “[T]his behavior is in violation of our terms of service,” Valve said.
The lawsuit also pointed out that there’s a huge market for Counter-Strike skins and referenced a Bloomberg article from 2025, which reported that the market for those skins had already surpassed $4.3 billion. As an example of in-game items sold for real money, it cited the sale of a Counter-Strike 2 AK-47 skin in 2024 for $1 million. The Attorney General’s Office wants the court to stop Valve from violating New York laws, to give up money it allegedly earned from illegal activities and to pay a fine three times what it allegedly earned from illegal business practices.
The most expensive skin in Counterstrike history was publicly sold this morning, a StatTrak Factory New AK-47 Blue Gem pattern 661
— Jake Lucky 🔜 GDC (@JakeSucky) June 5, 2024
For over $1 million pic.twitter.com/1FdxoNM2ov
Instagram will alert parents if teens repeatedly search for suicide or self-harm content
Instagram is adding a new alert for the parents of teen users of its social media platform. The network will alert the adult if their child repeatedly searches for terms about suicide or self-harm in a short time frame. From that notification, the parent will optionally be able to access resources for having conversations with their teen about these topics. These alerts will begin rolling out for parental supervision users in the US, UK, Australia and Canada next week, with later regions to be added in the future.
"We chose a threshold that requires a few searches within a short period of time, while still erring on the side of caution," Instagram's blog post explains. "While that means we may sometimes notify parents when there may not be real cause for concern, we feel — and experts agree — that this is the right starting point, and we’ll continue to monitor and listen to feedback to make sure we’re in the right place."
The platform reiterated that search results for terms connected to suicide and self-harm are blocked for teen younger users, and content about those topics is not shown to them under its current policies. Instagram also noted that a similar parental alert feature is in the works for its AI tools, but news on that isn't expected until later this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-will-alert-parents-if-teens-repeatedly-search-for-suicide-or-self-harm-content-120000156.html?src=rss