Welcome to episode 39 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, we talk about our long-term Pixel 9 Pro XL review.
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In this jam packed launch episode, Sophia Tung and Zac Hall dive deep into DeepSeek’s arrival to the AI race, how NVIDIA and OpenAI are responding, and the state of current AI tools; this week’s biggest tech surprises, what has us excited and what has us concerned, and much more.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is the latest in the long-running 4X strategy franchise that first debuted in 1991 on MS-DOS. The new turn-based game from Firaxis Games and the titular, legendary designer is set to release on PC and modern consoles in on February 11th, 2025 — over eight years after the last installment.
Civ VII promises to expand the scope of how players can write their own historical fantasy, offering the freedom to mix and match civilizations with different historical figures, such as Hatshepsut reigning over the Roman empire in the Age of Exploration. It’s the kind of game that easily consumes hundreds of hours of playtime, constantly offering new and unexpected ways to engage with its deep city-building systems. Our own Ash Parrish details in her hands-on impressions how she only managed to scratch the surface in a lengthy three-hour demo.
Here’s all our coverage of the next major title in the Civilization series.
iOS 18 introduced a major redesign to Control Center across iPhone and iPad. Here are the three controls that have made a big difference for me over several months of use.
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From time to time, I see some nostalgic posts about the good old days when iPods were everywhere. Personally, the iPod was responsible for getting me to like Apple products. But years after the iPod was discontinued, I don’t think people really want the iPod back even though they claim they do – and here’s why.
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What exactly is wrong with the batteries in some of Google's Pixel 4a phones still out there? Google has not really said. Now that many Pixel 4a owners are experiencing drastically reduced battery life after an uncommon update for an end-of-life phone, they are facing a strange array of options with no path back to the phone they had.
Google's "Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program," announced in early January, told owners that an automatic update would, for some "Impacted Devices," reduce their battery's runtime and charging performance. "Impacted" customers could choose, within one year's time, between three "appeasement" options: sending in the phone for a battery replacement, getting $50 or the equivalent in their location, or receiving $100 in credit in the Google Store toward a new Pixel phone. No safety or hazard issue was mentioned in the support document.
Ars has reached out to Google about the Pixel 4a battery updates and appeasement options provided and will update this post with any response.
© Ron Amadeo
In 2016, Apple started including an auto power-on feature for its new MacBook models that activated when you opened the notebook lid or plugged in USB-C power when the lid was open. This is a cool little convenience if you donât want the added step of pressing the power button â plus it could get the computer running if, for some reason, that button stops working.
But what if you open the lid just to clean the screen or are troubleshooting the computer for some other issue? Or perhaps you are building a slabtop and donât want it to power on just because you plugged it into power? Or what if you donât want to automate everything? In these cases, auto power-on is either a minor inconvenience or a straight-up annoyance.
The first MacBooks to get this feature had Intel processors, and it continued over to every new model, including when Apple switched to its own Apple Silicon M-series processors. Thereâs a Terminal command for the Intel MacBooks that can be used to disable open lid power-on, but when Apple launched the M1 MacBook Air in 2020, that command no longer worked. However, in January 2025, Apple finally added an official way to disable autoboot upon opening the li …
While Mark Zuckerberg and Meta press forward with augmented glasses projects buoyed by its million-selling set of smart Ray-Bans, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman says that Apple just pulled the plug on an AR glasses project. Codenamed N107, they’re described as something that would’ve looked similar to regular glasses but with added displays in the lenses that could connect to a Mac.
With features that sound similar to devices like the Xreal One AR glasses, the glasses could’ve delivered on the Vision Pro feature that’s closest to being any kind of a killer app (popping up a huge virtual monitor anywhere) without the $3,499 price and heavy design that required a head strap. The glasses also would’ve had tint-changing lenses that, like the Vision Pro’s Eye Sight, could signal to onlookers whether the wearer was busy or not. While other details are fuzzy, it doesn’t appear as if the N107 glasses would’ve had a camera or any of the mixed-reality features of the Vision Pro.
A big problem, according to Gurman, was developing something that worked well while being cost-effective proved to be a challenge. Apple initially wanted the N107 to connect to an iPhone, but it proved to be a battery-guzzler, and the iPhone itself didn’t have enough juice to power the glasses — hence the shift to a Mac. Unfortunately, that switch purportedly didn’t seem to go over well with executives in testing.
This most recent cancellation puts a big question mark over Apple’s future AR and XR plans. Apple purportedly canceled a separate AR glasses project in 2023, and rumor has it that work on a Vision Pro 2 has been put on hold in favor of trying to create a cheaper Vision Pro. Meanwhile, the Vision Pro itself has struggled to find a foothold.
The cancellation also means Apple is falling further behind the competition. CES 2025 was a playground for all sorts of smart glasses, and Google recently entered the fray with Android XR. Samsung has also thrown its hat in the ring with its Project Moohan headset. Last year, Meta showcased its Orion glasses, an AR glasses prototype with advanced Micro LED displays and a neural wristband for controls. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also been bullish on smart glasses as an ultimate vehicle for AI assistants, and the company is expected to release both Oakley-branded smart glasses for athletes and a higher-end version of its current Ray-Ban glasses with a display this year.
People working for, or with, Elon Musk are reportedly taking over the inner workings of multiple government agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management and the Treasury Department. The Washington Post reported Friday that the highest-ranking career official at Treasury is leaving the department after “a clash” with people working for Musk’s so-called Department of […]
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When in mid-2022 Sarah Guo left Greylock to launch her own AI-focused fund, Conviction Partners, she indicated that she was tagging the word “Partners” to the firm’s name because she would eventually bring on other GPs. Now, more than two years later, Guo is being joined by Mike Vernal, who was a partner at Sequoia […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
In Adult Swimâs Common Side Effects from Joe Bennett (Scavengers Reign) and Steve Hely (American Dad!), the discovery of a strange mushroom that can heal any sickness or injury is either a miracle or a doomsday scenario, depending on who you ask. The plant is a godsend to people suffering from debilitating illnesses, but its curative properties make it an existential threat to powerful pharmaceutical companies. And while all Marshall Cuso (Dave King), the showâs hero, wants to do with his fungus is help people in need, thatâs enough to make the American Drug Enforcement Administration label him as a menace to society.
Imminent danger is always right around the corner as Marshall goes on the run in hopes of finding a way to spread his mushrooms far and wide. Often, he feels like the showâs only character who has a conscience and wants to do good in the world. But when I recently spoke with Bennett and Hely, they explained that even though the people around Marshall might seem terrible, the showâs true villain is the (American) healthcare system they have all been forced to live within.
Marshall knows that he canât really relax or trust anyone (aside from his pet torto …
A popular Bloodborne framerate mod is no longer available thanks to a DMCA takedown request from Sony. Australia-based Twitch streamer Lance McDonald first developed the mod back in 2020 before making it available to download in 2021. Lance announced today in a post on X that Sony Interactive Entertainment asked them to remove download links for the patch.
The hack’s sole purpose was to get Bloodborne running at a smoother 60 fps with improved frame pacing. FromSoftware originally released Bloodborne back in 2015 for the PlayStation 4, and the game has always been locked at 30 fps with occasional stuttering from inconsistent pacing (the 30 frames within each second were not always on-screen for equal amounts of time). The beloved game’s graphical limitations have persisted even on the PS4 Pro and while playing it via backwards compatibility on the PlayStation 5.
On February 21st, 2021, I created and released a patch for Bloodborne which makes the game run at 60fps. Today I received a DMCA takedown notification on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment asking that I remove links to the patch I posted on the internet, so I've now done so
— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) January 31, 2025
Lance’s mod has received its share of testing and praise from the “Soulsbourne” community that covet FromSoftware games but wish their technical and graphical chops were more cutting-edge. This includes being spotlighted by creators like Digital Foundry, who interviewed McDonald about his hack back in 2020, used his mod to make a 4K / 60 fps representation on PS5 using AI upscaling, and recently published a Bloodborne PS4 emulation video that really juices up the performance and has an extra-spicy video thumbnail aimed squarely at Sony.
For years, the most rabid of Bloodborne fans have been quick to jump at any Bloodborne-related news as a potential clue to an upcoming, long-awaited remake. And in this case, it only takes a short scroll of McDonald’s replies on his post to see people speculating that this takedown means Sony must be nearing some kind of announcement in time for the 10-year anniversary of Bloodborne’s release. Or, perhaps, Sony is just taking a page from Nintendo’s playbook.
