Tesla is declaring the Cybertruck to be “America’s bestselling electric pickup truck in 2024.” And yet for the first time, the company offering discounts of up to $2,600 on the low-poly truck, a sign that demand may not be as strong as Tesla would like you to think.

The discounts, which appear on the company’s inventory webpage, are as high as $1,600 for brand new Cybertrucks, and up to $2,600 for slightly used demo versions of the truck. The price reduction you see will depend on how you configure your Cybertruck.

The discounts come as the electric vehicle market is suddenly brimming with a multitude of offerings, from established players like Chevy and Hyundai, to upstarts like Rivian and Lucid. People shopping for an electric truck in particular have a lot of options, including the Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevy Silverado EV, GMC Hummer and Sierra EVs, and Rivian R1T.

But the Cybertruck is outselling all of those options, according to Tesla. How do we know? You’re just going to have to take their word on it, because Tesla doesn’t break out sales numbers for the Cybertruck — instead just lumping it in with its “other models,” like the Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi. As noticed by Electrek, that stands in contrast to how Ford reports its sales numbers.

For example, Ford said it sold 33,510 F-150 Lightnings in 2024. And Tesla sold an estimated 40,000 Cybertrucks, which would back up its claim of best-selling electric truck in the US. But again, those are just estimates.

The discounts certainly add a wrinkle to Tesla’s claim. Prices tend to be reduced when a manufacturer has too many cars to sell. And since Tesla bypasses the traditional dealership model to sell vehicles directly to customers, the discounts come directly from the company.

After appearing on the company’s inventory page late last year, Foundation series Cybertrucks were recently removed. And earlier this month, Tesla asked factory employees working on the Cybertruck line to stay home for three days, according to Business Insider. It would seem as if demand is starting to weaken — a phenomenon being experienced by almost every automaker with EVs to sell. After selling cars to all the early adopters, companies are struggling to push their products on more price conscious, mass market shoppers.

All of this evidence points to weakening demand for the Cybertruck. The EV certainly has its fans, but the polarizing design, as well as Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s hard right politics, has also been a factor in the truck’s diminishing appeal.

And with EV incentives likely to disappear under Donald Trump, and tariffs expected to roil the auto industry, the Cybertruck looks like it’s in for an even harsher 2025.

More than 700,000 US-based users have downloaded RedNote, a popular Chinese social app, as the TikTok ban deadline looms — but they may find themselves looking for yet another TikTok alternative soon. A US official told CBS News that Xiaohongshu, the app more commonly referred to as RedNote, has many of the same issues that caused Congress to ban TikTok and that the app could eventually face a similar ban unless it divests from its China-based parent company.

“This appears to be the kind of app that the statute would apply to and could face the same restrictions as TikTok if it’s not divested,” the anonymous official told CBS News on Thursday, referring to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill under which Congress banned TikTok.

Among the problems lawmakers raised in the lead-up to the TikTok ban was the Chinese government’s sway over TikTok’s content moderation practices — an issue that appears to apply to RedNote as well. Per The Information, RedNote has begun removing US users’ posts that are considered “too sensitive” for the app, including posts discussing LGBTQ topics. Three people with knowledge of communications between RedNote and officials with the Cyberspace Administration of China told The Information that regulators are concerned about politically sensitive posts — and Chinese officials told RedNote’s government relations team to ensure that users in China can’t see US users’ posts.

Privacy advocates are also warning against using RedNote. In an emailed statement, Cooper Quintin, the senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said “anyone for whom privacy is a matter of personal safety” should think twice before downloading RedNote, adding that the EFF has similar concerns about US-based apps like Facebook.

“People looking for alternative social media apps should be cautious about the privacy implications of sharing information with an app that has not yet seen substantial public scrutiny outside of China,” Quintin said. “This is certainly not a platform which values free speech – it’s a heavily censored application on which topics such as political speech, drugs and addiction, and sexuality are more tightly controlled even than similar social networks. This is also not a platform that will protect you from US-based surveillance capitalism as it shares data with Facebook and Google ad networks.”

Microsoft is bundling its AI-powered Office features into Microsoft 365 Personal and Home subscriptions, but it’s also raising prices as a result. Previously, Microsoft 365 subscribers had to pay an extra $20 per month to get Copilot inside Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as part of a Copilot Pro subscription, but Microsoft is now adding these AI features to Microsoft 365 apps for an extra $3 per month. Existing subscribers can opt out of the AI features and not suffer the price increase, though.

Microsoft has been testing adding AI-powered Office apps, the most important feature of Copilot Pro, into the Microsoft 365 subscriptions in recent months. What was previously only available in Australia, New Zealand, and a number of countries across Asia is now expanding to most markets worldwide.

While it feels like Microsoft is admitting that people aren’t willing to pay an extra $20 a month for AI-powered Office features, Microsoft argues it has always wanted to bring AI features to more users.

“We know that people are willing to pay for the integration into Microsoft 365,” says Gareth Oystryk, senior director of marketing for Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365, in an interview with The Verge. “Copilot Pro is an opportunity to learn from our power users and early adopters. Our plan all along has been how do we bring this value to as many subscribers as possible in a way that works for them and for us.”

Image: Microsoft

Copilot Pro isn’t going away, and Microsoft isn’t reducing its $20 monthly pricing, either. It will remain for power users who want priority access to the latest AI models, along with early access to new AI features. “We definitely have a place for Copilot Pro,” says Oystryk. “There is still a group of folks that enjoy the power use of Copilot Pro.”

Microsoft is raising the price of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions by $3 per month in the US to bring these AI-powered Office features to all subscribers. “We are raising the prices of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family for the first time in 12 years,” says Oystryk. “We’ve never actually raised the price in the US and we’re raising it by $3 a month, along with similar amounts in other markets.”

Nobody likes price increases, and consumers are especially sensitive to being asked to pay more for AI features right now. If you don’t want to pay extra for these AI features, then Microsoft will have plans for existing subscribers to remain at the same price point without Copilot in Office apps.

“We’ve created two new plans that are really only going to be available for the next year, Personal Classic and Family Classic,” explains Oystryk. “They’ll be available as folks go through the renewal cycle. If they go to cancel they’ll have the opportunity to pick one of these Personal Classic or Family Classic plans.”

Image: Microsoft

These plans will only be available to existing Microsoft 365 subscribers, and new subscribers will get AI-powered Office features by default with the new pricing changes. It sounds like the classic plans won’t get any of Microsoft’s big new features, though. “They’ll continue to get security updates and minor feature updates, but any new additional innovations that we deliver in the future won’t be included in those plans,” says Oystryk.

Microsoft is also introducing a new AI credits system today, alongside its Microsoft 365 subscription changes. It’s a new system that works across most of Microsoft’s AI-powered consumer experiences, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. You’ll get a monthly allotment of credits within Microsoft 365 Personal and Family to use on things like image generation in the Designer app or in apps on Windows like Paint, Photos, and Notepad. Copilot Pro essentially includes unlimited usage of all of these AI features, based on a fair usage policy.

Microsoft is also making it easy to turn off Copilot in Office apps if you simply don’t want the AI assistant or you’re a student and your school has policies against using AI. “The most interesting piece of feedback we learned is that there are times where our users want to turn off Copilot,” says Oystryk. “We’ve been working to add new settings to some of our key apps that allow people to toggle off Copilot.” This is coming to Word first today and then Excel and PowerPoint in the coming weeks.

Nintendo has finally revealed its new console, debuting the Switch 2 with a short video that went heavy on visuals but light on information. The video was paired with a brief follow-up press release from Nintendo that also didn’t go into much detail, with the company ostensibly saving all the juicy stuff for the Switch 2 Direct set to take place on April 2nd. While we wait for official word, here are the burning questions we still have about the Nintendo Switch 2.

What are the Switch 2’s specs?

Perhaps the most glaring omission in the Switch 2 reveal was the fact that Nintendo didn’t say anything about how powerful the new console is. We can see that the console is bigger, but what’s the screen size? Is it OLED or LCD? Is the screen resolution still 720p? Is 4K resolution supported?

Though visible for a few brief moments, the reveal video showed off the Switch 2’s new dock. What’s the docked resolution? Is it just a charging shell, or is it still required for TV play? Can you dock the Switch 2 in the original Switch dock, or will it support all the super-portable third-party docks?

The Switch 2 also features a second USB-C port at the top. It’s likely there to offer a way to...

Read the full story at The Verge.

The US Food and Drug Administration is banning the use of Red Dye No. 3 in food, drinks, and medication, the agency announced Wednesday. The dye, which the FDA says gives certain candies, cakes, and frostings a “bright, cherry-red color,” was found to cause cancer in male rats.

Food manufacturers in the US now have until January 15th, 2027 to reformulate their products without Red Dye No. 3, while drugmakers must take action by January 18th, 2028. Its ban as a food additive comes 35 years after the FDA banned its use in cosmetics and topical drugs in 1990. California similarly banned Red No. 3 and other food additives in 2023, while the European Union, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand also restrict the use of the dye.

Under the Delaney Clause of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), the FDA must ban foods that induce cancer in humans or animals. However, the FDA notes that studies involving other animals and humans “did not show these effects,” adding that claims stating Red Dye No. 3 in humans “are not supported by the available scientific information.”

Here are some foods that may use Red Dye No. 3, according to Amanda Beaver, a wellness dietician at Houston Methodist Hospital:

• Certain fruit cocktails
• Candy corns
• Protein shakes
• Ice pops
• Sausages
• Lollipops
• Puddings
• Vegetarian meats
• Bacon bits
• Strawberry milk
• Jellybeans
• Candies
• Colored beverages
• Strawberry ice cream bars

You can check whether a food has Red Dye No. 3 by checking the product’s ingredient list, or using food databases from the US Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Working Group.

The FDA’s decision to ban Red Dye No. 3 comes just days before President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Service, has considered taking action against food dyes and other potentially harmful additives.

In a bid to get even more people regularly coming back to the theater, AMC is rolling out a new set of perks for the cheapest (read: free) tier of its loyalty rewards program.

Though AMC doesn’t seem to be getting rid of the original Insider level of its AMC Stubs membership, the theater chain announced today that it’s introducing a new Premiere Go! tier that will offer subscribers even more benefits. In addition to discounted tickets on Tuesdays, free (large) popcorn refills, and access to AMC theaters’ priority lanes, Premiere Go! members will earn twice the amount of AMC points (which can be redeemed for more discounts) for every dollar spent.

Unlike the Insider tier, Premiere Go! Subscribers’ points won’t expire. But like the Premiere ($17.99 / year) and A-List (the monthly price varies by location) tiers, people using Premiere Go! will also be able to upgrade the size of their popcorn and fountain drinks at no additional cost. To become a Premiere Go! member, you’ll have to see at least eight movies a year or earn 5,000 points, and once you do, you’ll keep the status through the entirety of the next year.

In a statement about the new tier, AMC’s senior VP of marketing Ellen Copaken described it as a way of offering customers “an exciting and achievable pathway to unlock enhanced rewards simply by enjoying the movies they love.”

Everything about the new tier feels like AMC is trying to get more people to consider signing up for Stubs’ A-Tier, which launched back in 2018 as a direct response to MoviePass. And given how MoviePass’ legacy just became even more tarnished by former CEO Mitch Lower pleading guilty to fraud, Stubs is probably looking a lot more attractive by comparison now.

While you can pay close to $1,000 or more for a fancier robot vacuum with bells and whistles like mopping and AI object avoidance, sometimes, all you may need is a solid roamer with powerful suction. That’s exactly what the Roborock Q5 Max Plus is, and the all-time low price of $279.99 ($170 off) at Amazon and Roborock right now appropriately reflects that.

The Roborock Q5 Max Plus is quite similar to the Q5 Pro, which we typically recommend if you need something that’s great for vacuuming pet hair. That’s largely thanks to its dual rubber roller brushes, which can really dig into the carpet with greater friction to loosen up those hairs and other stubborn debris.

It also has the same adjustable 5,500Pa suction power and a 770ml dustbin that empties itself into a roomy 2.5-liter bin at the charging dock. That means you could go several weeks before manually emptying the dock. However, unlike the Q5 Pro, it doesn’t come with detachable mopping pads.

Like the Q5 Pro, the Q5 Max Plus uses Lidar navigation with multi-level 3D room mapping and keep-out zones, and it runs for up to four hours before it needs to return to the dock. You can manage and control all of this with the companion app, too, or control it with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple Siri voice commands.

Nintendo has finally revealed the Switch 2 — but it didn’t reveal everything. Even still, the new console looks pretty much like a bigger, more refined Switch. Sure, that’s the straightforward and expected move from Nintendo. But it’s also exactly what I’ve been waiting for.

The first Switch was a revelation. When it launched, I marveled over being able to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on my TV and then take the console out of the dock and play in handheld mode curled up on the couch. Nintendo absolutely nailed the execution of combining its console and portable expertise into one great device, and ever since, the Switch has been a constant companion at home and while traveling.

I would have been disappointed if Nintendo messed with what worked for the Switch with the Switch 2. I’m glad it has a bigger screen, one that appears to be even larger than the seven-inch display on the OLED Switch. I’m guessing the taller Joy-Cons will be easier to hold, which could be a massive improvement for my hands, and attaching them from the side looks like it could be easier than sliding them up and down. The second USB-C port on the top will be a very welcome addition for easier...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Now that New York City has finally flipped the switch on congestion pricing, the big question is: Will it work? And if so, how well?

To find out, all eyes turned to an unassuming new web tool called the Congestion Pricing Tracker. The brainchild of two college-age brothers, the tracker uses real-time traffic data from Google Maps to calculate traffic times for chosen routes and days. The data is presented as a line graph of traffic times before and after congestion pricing went into effect on January 5th. Compare one line to the other to see whether traffic times have increased or decreased.

Unsurprisingly, depending on the route and time of day, the new tolling scheme seems to be working — perhaps even better than expected. Since January 5th, most drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours will pay $9 — or $2.25 for late nights and weekends. And that fee appears to be doing what it set out to do, which is to change the behavior of the people behind the wheel and funnel millions of dollars into needed transit improvements.

That was what initially drew brothers Benjamin and Joshua Moshes to the project. Benjamin, a senior studying math and...

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Tech companies and their leadership are schmoozing Donald Trump ahead of the imminent administration switchup.

Read the full story at The Verge.

You can always count on Nintendo for a surprise. This is the company that followed the Game Boy with a strange dual-screened handheld and broke out of its GameCube slump with a console focused on motion controls. It’s the company that lost its lead with the Wii U and then gambled on another innovation — the portable hybrid known as the Switch — to ultimately get back on top. All of those were big, risky swings that seemingly exemplified the company’s playful, experimental ethos.

The Switch 2, on the other hand, is… a bigger, better Switch. It’s kind of boring. But it’s also exactly the right move from Nintendo. At a time when people expect their games and experiences to carry over between devices, the old console paradigm of starting over with a new generation doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. And since Nintendo hit a home run with the original Switch, it has the runway to be a little bit boring this time.

Today’s reveal video didn’t detail a whole lot about the Switch 2 in terms of specs, but there are still some clear improvements over the original, like the bigger display (though we don’t know the exact screen size) and redesigned Joy-Con controllers. More details are coming...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Calculator aesthetics are apparently very important to some people, so Casio Japan has announced a new Comfy JT-200T solar-powered model that relocates its solar cell to the top edge keeping it out of sight while you’re crunching numbers.

The calculator is also available in five muted colors to better match your desk decor: off white, dark gray, grayish pink, grayish green, and grayish blue. It will be released on January 30th, 2025 in Japan for ￥3,850, or around $25.

Image: Casio Japan

There’s no indication the new position of the solar panel will affect its exposure to indoor lighting and power generation capabilities, but it is slightly angled upwards and a bit larger than the solar panels on Casio’s other design-focused models.

The company says the new model will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the very first calculator Casio released in 1965. However, the Comfy JT-200T has more in common with the company’s first personal calculator, as it uses the same key font as the Casio Mini released in 1972.

The calculator’s case is made from a mix of recycled plastic and mica which helps hide scratches, there’s a spring-loaded stand on the back that will elevate it about eight degrees, and it features a 12-digit segmented LCD display. Its number-crunching capabilities are basic, but it does include dedicated tax buttons potentially making it appealing to accountants not entirely devoted to spreadsheets.

Image: Casio Japan

Sony has been saying that its upcoming Until Dawn feature — one of its new IP adaptations — is meant to channel the game’s spirit. But the movie’s latest trailer makes it pretty clear that this isn’t just going to be a one-to-one translation.

Similar to the game, director David F. Sandberg’s Until Dawn revolves around a group of people who find themselves trapped in a time loop that resets as they’re each murdered in a number of different horrific scenarios. When Melanie (Maia Mitchell) goes missing under mysterious circumstances, her younger sister Clover (Ella Rubin) recruits her friends Max (Michael Cimino), Megan (Ji-young Yoo), Nina (Odessa A’zion), and Abel (Belmont Cameli) on a mission to find her. In the trailer, group’s search brings them to what looks to be an inn run by Hill (Peter Stormare), an odd man who warns them that wandering farther up the road will only bring trouble into their lives.

Though one seems all that bothered by how the weather acts strangely around Hill’s inn, they know something is up when their car vanishes, and they find Melanie’s signature written in a dusty old guest log. Things only get spookier as night falls, and something starts lurking in the darkness around Clover and her friends. But it isn’t until people start dying that they realize they’re somehow being resurrected and challenged to survive until the morning as various ghouls try to kill them in inventive ways.

The trailer makes it seem like, despite revolving around new characters, it’ll hit many of the classic Until Dawn beats. And when the movie hits theaters on April 25th, it’ll probably keep audiences guessing as to who exactly is going to make it out alive.

Polestar may be facing a possible ban in the US, but the Sweden-by-way-of-China manufacturer isn’t going to let that stop it from releasing new products. The company provided a business update on Thursday, during which it announced a new model, the Polestar 7 compact SUV, that will be produced in Europe.

Little was revealed about the Polestar 7 — we didn’t even get a look at a prototype — but the company said it will be a “very progressive SUV” with “a strong USP,” or unique selling point. It’s unclear when the vehicle will go into production or even where in Europe it will be built. (Sweden seems like a likely bet.)

“We will enter the compact SUV segment, by the way the biggest and fastest growing segment in the world, and we will obviously make sure it comes with all the Polestar DNA,” the company’s new CEO, Michael Lohscheller, said.

The update, which took the form of a professionally produced sit-down interview with Lohscheller, didn’t touch on Polestar’s regulatory trouble in the US. The Biden administration recently finalized a ban on connected vehicle software from China, a move that Polestar has said would “effectively prohibit” it from selling EVs in the US.

In fact, the US wasn’t mentioned at all during the 27-minute video — perhaps a reflection of the strong headwinds EVs are facing under the incoming Trump administration. Instead, the company said it expects to launch soon in France, which is one of the fastest-growing markets for EVs.

This represents a significant shift in the company’s position from the past few years. Polestar was laser-focused on the US market with the Polestar 3, a three-row SUV manufactured at its factory in South Carolina in order to qualify for generous incentives under the Biden administration. EV sales were looking strong when the Polestar 3 was announced, but now sales have slowed thanks to high prices, charging challenges, and politics. Many of those incentives put in place by President Joe Biden are likely to be eliminated under President-elect Donald Trump.

In a statement, Polestar said it was in the process of adapting its operations to comply with the new regulations. “The U.S. is and will remain an important market for Polestar and we always ensure that our cars comply with regulations in the countries in which we operate,” Polestar spokesperson Michael Ofiara said. “The now finalized legislation is expected to be implemented with the model year 2027. We are in advanced stages to adapt our future models to make sure they comply with the regulation in terms of hardware, software and suppliers. Therefore, we will make sure to comply with all regulations.”

Polestar also reported its third quarter earnings today (the company is lagging behind other companies in reporting its earnings), including a $323 million net loss. It sold 12,548 cars, which was down 8 percent compared to its Q3 sales in 2023.

The company also said it no longer expects similar revenue in 2024 as it earned in 2023, nor a positive gross profit margin for the fourth quarter. Instead, Polestar is expecting “a mid-teens percentage decline in revenue and a negative gross margin around the same level as full year 2023, as the fourth quarter product mix was negatively impacted by fewer than expected Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 sales.”

But amid these challenges, Lohscheller said he was convinced that Polestar was still on the right track. He predicted “positive” adjusted earnings for 2025 and free cash flow, in which Polestar would be generating more money from its business operations than it is losing in 2027.

“Really, 2024 is a transitional year for Polestar,” said Lohscheller, who previously served as CEO of the Stellantis-owned Opel. “But I feel we are well positioned now going into 2025 with the right cars, with the right distribution, and obviously a much much better focus on significant cost reduction and increasing efficiency.”

Update January 16th: Updated to include a statement from a Polestar spokesperson.

Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine offers a history of the biggest player in streaming.

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Leica has a new camera for pros who shoot both video and stills. The $5,295 Leica SL3-S, which launches today, is a full-frame mirrorless hybrid camera optimized for fast-action stills and 6K video. Like the SL3 it’s based on, the SL3-S has a compact body and 3.2-inch tilting touchscreen display. But where the SL3 with its 60mp sensor is mainly for still photography, the SL3-S is optimized for speed: its 24mp sensor can shoot video at 6K with 12-bit raw footage, and it can capture stills at up to 30fps with continuously tracking autofocus.

Image: Leica Camera

The SL3-S’s newfound video chops mean it supports open-gate 6K (5952 x 3968 resolution) recording of its full 3:2 sensor at up to 30fps, or up to 60fps in 4K, and it can record directly to an SSD via USB-C connection. While it doesn’t have an especially high-resolution sensor for stills, it makes up for that with speed and focusing ability. The SL3-S has 779 phase-detect autofocus points, more than double the SL3’s 315 points. It also has improved object detection and tracking focus, and it shoots fast enough to enable 48- and 96-megapixel high-res multi-shot composites without a tripod.

Otherwise, the SL3-S shares a lot with the SL3 — utilizing the same body design with dual card slots (one UHS-II SD and one CFExpress Type B), tilting touchscreen, color-coded menu system (red for photo / yellow for video), and that quirky light-up power button. (Seriously, why is the power button not a nice physical switch like every other camera?) It’s a similar approach to the one Leica took with its last-generation SL2 and SL2-S, with the SL3-S once again looking identical to its pricier counterpart, aside from some blacked-out Leica lettering.

The SL line is aimed at pros who need their fancy German camera to be more of an all-around workhorse, with high-res video recording and autofocus, instead of a slower-paced, specialized tool for photography like a Leica M rangefinder. So it makes sense that Leica is baking its Content Credentials into the SL3-S, utilizing Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative for image verification like it first did on the M11-P. Strangely, this feature isn’t available in the standard SL3, which launched in March 2024, and won’t be added via firmware upgrade. Leica spokesperson Nathan Kellum-Pathe told The Verge that the SL3 lacks the necessary hardware and that while software-based content authentication is possible, it “does not meet Leica’s standard for encryption of this important data.”

If you have Leica money, but not infinite Leica money, the SL3-S feels like the better value for all but the pickiest pixel peepers.

The arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2 heralds some much-needed improvements over its predecessor, especially its Joy-Con controllers. Here’s a quick breakdown of what the announcement trailer showed us about the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons.

Before the official reveal of the console, there were rumors alluding to how the new Joy-Cons would work and their internal mechanisms. The most significant rumor was that they were held to the console via magnets, and in the reveal video, that appears to be the case. The video features the Joy-Con seemingly snapping to a cover as though attracted by a magnetic force.

Gif: Nintendo

The video shows that the Joy-Cons have a protrusion that fits into an oval depression in the main body of the console, plugging into ports (with that iconic Nintendo Switch “snap” sound) instead of sliding down rails. There’s also a button at the top of each controller that is ostensibly how the Joy-Cons detach from the main console, but the reveal video didn’t show that in action. According to some of the Switch 2 rumors reported on by The Verge, pressing that button actuates a pin that will push the Joy-Cons away from the console, and in the video, you can see on the inside track of each controller a small circle at the top that looks like it pushes out.

Gif: Nintendo

The Joy-Cons, like the Switch 2 itself, are larger. In the version of the console shown in the announcement video, they’re black with accents in the traditional red and blue colors from the original Switch. Other elements from the previous Joy-Cons are still there, like the indicator lights and the SL / SP buttons that are visible when the Joy-Cons are being used individually. The left Joy-Con still has its square screenshot button and the right one has the home button, but directly below that is a new button whose function is still unconfirmed.

The biggest problem plaguing the original Switch Joy-Cons was a condition known as Joy-Con drift. Users reported that their analog sticks would display movement without input from the player, kind of like a cursor moving on a computer screen without moving the mouse. Nintendo didn’t share any information about the internal mechanisms powering the Joy-Cons, so we don’t know how susceptible they will be to this problem.

We’ll know more about the Joy-Cons, along with the console and its upcoming library of games, when Nintendo holds its Switch 2 Direct on April 2nd.

We don’t know when the Nintendo Switch 2 will launch (aside from later this year), but we do know when you can get your hands on the hardware — at least briefly. Nintendo is taking the Switch 2 on tour with a series of events it’s called the “Nintendo Switch 2 Experience.” Players around the globe will be able to check out the new console for themselves and presumably play brand-new games, like the just-teased next entry in the Mario Kart series.

The events will span North America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe and kick off in April — which is also when Nintendo will be hosting a Direct event to share more details on its new console. Here’s the full schedule, and you can keep an eye out for tickets right here. Nintendo says the tickets “will be made available through a free-to-enter, randomly selected drawing.”

• New York, April 4th–6th, 2025
• Los Angeles, April 11th–13th, 2025
• Dallas, April 25th–27th, 2025
• Toronto, April 25th–27th, 2025
• Paris, April 4th–6th, 2025
• London, April 11th–13th, 2025
• Milan, April 25th–27th, 2025
• Berlin, April 25th–27th, 2025
• Madrid, May 9th–11th, 2025
• Amsterdam, May 9th–11th, 2025
• Melbourne, May 10th–11th, 2025
• Tokyo (Makuhari), April 26th–27th, 2025
• Seoul, May 31st–June 1st, 2025
• Hong Kong, To be announced
• Taipei, To be announced

Nintendo is finally making a new Mario Kart. While the official announcement of the Switch 2 didn’t feature much in the way of game announcements, the company did tease the next entry in the Mario Kart series. We don’t know anything about it really, though. There’s currently no title or details about the game. That should change later this year, as Nintendo is planning a Switch 2 Direct event for April.

It’s been a long time coming. Mario Kart 8 originally launched in 2014 for the Wii U, before an upgraded edition hit the Switch three years later, where it became the platform’s bestselling title, moving more than 64 million copies. Of course, it’s not like fans have been without new content; the Switch version of Mario Kart 8 got a huge number of DLC add-ons, which doubled the number of available tracks. Nintendo also released a mobile spinoff called Mario Kart Tour in 2019, though it stopped receiving updates as of 2023.

Now that Nintendo’s reveal of the Switch 2 has put to rest years of anticipation and rumormongering, it’s time to hear more information about the console and, importantly, all the games. The company has announced it will hold a Switch 2 Direct scheduled for April 2nd.

The Switch 2 reveal trailer showed footage that looks to be a new Mario Kart game, which is a good indication it’ll be a launch title. There’s speculation that the forthcoming Metroid Prime 4 might straddle both consoles the way Breath of the Wild launched on both the Wii U and the Switch back in 2017. The Switch 2 Direct might also reveal the follow-up to Super Mario Odyssey. Who knows?

But we do know that it is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a Switch 2 must be in want of games to play on it, and we’ll get a good idea of what those games will be in early April.