The US Treasury Department announced in a letter back in December that it had been the victim of a security breach, attributing it to a “China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat actor.” Now we know more about the extent of the hack, thanks to reporting by Bloomberg.

The hacking group got into more than 400 laptop and desktop computers, many of which were linked to senior leaders focused on “sanctions, international affairs and intelligence.” They also accessed employee usernames and passwords, in addition to more than 3,000 files on unclassified personal computers. These documents included travel data, organizational charts, sanction materials and foreign investment metrics.

An agency report indicates that the perpetrators likely stole a whole lot of this data, but were unable to get into the Treasury’s classified or email systems. The hackers did access materials regarding investigations run by the Committee on Foreign Investment. This committee reviews security implications surrounding real estate purchases and foreign investments in the US.

The agency report also notes that there wasn’t any evidence to suggest that the hackers tried to hide in the Treasury’s systems for the purpose of long-term intelligence gathering, and they didn’t leave behind any malware.

Investigators have attributed the intrusion to a notorious Chinese state-sponsored hacking group called Silk Typhoon, Halfnium or UNC5221. It has been suggested that they performed the hack outside of normal working hours to avoid detection. Last month, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the accusation that the attack was state-sponsored “unwarranted and groundless.”

Counterintelligence officials are still in the midst of a “comprehensive damage assessment” but Treasury employees are set to brief the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on the matter this week.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/china-linked-hackers-accessed-over-400-us-treasury-computers-182420268.html?src=rss

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© Wikimedia Commons

If your gaming plans for this weekend somehow don't involve stomping around as Godzilla in Fortnite, I don't know what to tell you. The legendary titan is dropping onto the island for a limited time starting on January 17, and you even might get the opportunity to take control of him.

According to developer Epic Games, there's a small chance that a portal will pop up on the map during Battle Royale matches. The first player to locate and jump into it will emerge as the magnificent beast. Godzilla can use a roar ability to reveal nearby players, use a stomp attack to send 'em flying and tear through buildings with a heat ray.

Godzilla is also a de facto boss for other players. They can attack weak spots to deliver extra damage and chip off collectible fragments that provide a health boost and dash charges. Epic has also brought the rail gun back into the game to help players take down the colossal critter. It appears that the event will run until the current season ends on February 21.

It wouldn't be Fortnite if there weren't a bunch of cosmetics that tie into the event. Players who have the current battle pass can unlock a reactive Godzilla skin by completing quests. The outfit will start glowing after you secure your first kill in a match and grow brighter after each elimination — so it might actually punish you for playing too well if you become more visible to enemies.

There's also a Kong and Mechagodzilla outfit bundle coming to the shop. The latter glows when you attack enemy players. The unveiling of that outfit in the event trailer is very funny, with Mechagodzilla stomping buildings until the camera zooms out to reveal a miniature city. I truly hope that's part of a new emote.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-will-let-you-play-as-godzilla-if-youre-lucky-170615837.html?src=rss

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© Epic Games

Leica has unveiled its latest full-frame mirrorless camera, the 24-megapixel SL3-S with improved performance and video compared to its predecessor, the SL2-S. It largely resembles the photo-centric 60-megapixel SL3 unveiled in March last year, but is geared toward hybrid users who shoot both stills and video. Spec-wise, it resembles Panasonic's $2,200 S5 IIX mirrorless camera and may use a similar sensor.

The L-mount SL3-S has a much chunkier body than the Leica rangefinder cameras you may be used to. It does offer front and rear dials to control key functions, along with a pair of mode dials, a joystick and several more buttons. However, it lacks some controls found on models like the S5 IIX — so you may need to wade into the menus to change some settings.

Leica

Luckily, the rear touchscreen is large and very high in resolution (5.7-million dots), though it only tilts and doesn't fully articulate which is unfortunate for a hybrid camera. The electronic viewfinder (EVF) offers 5.76-million dots of resolution, which is solid but a bit low compared to similarly priced rivals. 

A key improvement is faster autofocus, thanks to the updated 24-megapixel full-frame BSI CMOS sensor. That allows burst shooting at up to 30fps with continuous phase-detect AF, with fairly long capture times thanks to support for fast CFexpress Type B memory cards. The company is also promising 15 stops of dynamic range that should allow for fine adjustments when shooting RAW files. 

Leica

Another key new feature is on the video side, with 6K 3:2 "open-gate" capture (5,952 x 3,968 to be exact) recording, or 5,888 x 3,312 RAW 10-bit (to an external recorder), along with 4K 60p. The SL3-S also supports ProRes recording to a USB-C device or CFexpress B cards. (It's not clear if internal RAW video recording is supported, though a spec sheet from B&H Photo Video shows that to be the case.) Those video specs line up closely with Panasonic's S5 IIX, though the latter lacks a CFexpress card slot. 

The main benefit of a Leica camera is Leica's sharp (and expensive) lenses, though the SL3-S can also use glass from L-Mount partners, Panasonic and Sigma. The only big advantage over the S5 IIx is the addition of a CFexpress card slot, but otherwise the two models have similar specs — so whether that red Leica dot is worth an extra $3,100 is up to buyers to decide. Leica's SL3-S is now on sale for $5,295 at B&H Photo Video and elsewhere. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/leicas-sl3-s-mirrorless-cameras-boasts-6k-prores-video-and-faster-autofocus-164600817.html?src=rss

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© Leica

If you’re in the market for a power bank, one of our favorite models is back down to its Black Friday price. Amazon has discounted Anker’s 20,000mAh Prime Power Bank — with optional base included — to $110 or 41 percent off its regular $185 price. As mentioned, the last time the Anker Prime was $110, its current all-time low price, was during the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Anker Prime is Engadget’s favorite premium power bank. Outside of its sleek design, the primary reason to consider the Prime over other, more affordable models is the ease of use you get when you pair the power bank with its optional base. The accessory features magnets that make it easy to align the charging pins, so you never need to fiddle around with a cable to start the recharging process. What’s more, the base, with one USB-A and two USB-C connections, doubles the number of ports the Anker Prime offers.

As for charging speeds, they’re in line with what you can expect from other 20,000mAh power banks. In our testing, the Prime charged an iPhone 11 from dead to 75 percent in 47 minutes and to full in an hour and 48 minutes. With a phone that features a 3,110mAh capacity like the iPhone 11, you can expect the Prime to fully charge your device three to four times before it needs a recharge of its own.

The one downside of the Anker Prime is how expensive it is at its regular price. At $110, it’s a much better purchase.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/ankers-20k-power-bank-with-charging-base-is-down-to-a-record-low-price-163833147.html?src=rss

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© Anker

Sony just dropped a full-fledged trailer for the Until Dawn movie, just days after releasing a shorter teaser. The new footage gives us a proper introduction to the Groundhog Day-style gimmick that separates the film from the game.

The game is known for permadeath, as any of the eight main characters can die and the narrative will just barrel along without them. The movie, however, takes a different approach. When these characters die, they wake up to start the night over again. This is like Groundhog Day, sure, but also Edge of Tomorrow, Happy Death Day and more Star Trek episodes than you can shake a stick at. Time loops are fun!

Sony says that the movie will connect to the game universe, despite the differing storytelling mechanic. For instance, Peter Stormare voices Dr. Hill in the game, but shows up in the trailer working at a gas station. The film will “delve into his character’s involvement in the events of the game, raising questions for fans to explore.”

The film’s directed by David F. Sandberg, who also helmed Shazam! and Lights Out. It’s written by Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler. Dauberman is best known for writing films in The Conjuring universe, like Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun and Annabelle Comes Home.

Until Dawn stars the aforementioned Peter Stormare, but also younger actors like Ella Rubin, Ji-young Yoo, Michael Cimino and Maia Mitchell. It hits theaters on April 25. In the meantime, a remake of the game arrived on PS5 and PC in October.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/until-dawn-trailer-shows-the-movies-groundhog-day-style-gimmick-in-action-162626389.html?src=rss

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© Sony

Well, it finally happened. After years of waiting and requests, Amazon debuted the $280 Kindle Colorsoft, its first ereader with a color display. The company’s ereaders have dominated this space since the original Kindle came out 17 years ago, but in this case, it feels like Amazon is playing catch-up. Color E Ink displays aren’t novel: we’ve tested and reviewed a number of color ereaders and E Ink tablets from Kobo, Boox and reMarkable in recent years. But Amazon is essentially trying to pull an Apple with the Colorsoft: with claims that color E Ink technology just wasn’t good enough to put into a Kindle until now, Amazon’s promising the Colorsoft gets this implementation right thanks in part to the custom tweaks it made to the display. And, unsurprisingly, Amazon’s ready to charge you a premium for it. So is it all it’s cracked up to be? As you might suspect, the answer isn’t as simple as yes or no.

Update 1/16/25: Following the multiple reports of Kindle Colorsoft owners seeing a yellow band at the bottom of their ereader’s display (myself included), I reached out to Amazon to receive a new review unit. I did so after the company stated publicly that it would make “appropriate adjustments” to resolve the issue.

Amazon sent me a second Colorsoft review unit at the end of 2024 and, in short, the new one did not have the yellow-band issue and the display appeared warmer overall. An Amazon spokesperson told me that a combination of “software and display adjustments” was implemented to fix the yellow-band issue, and those are the only differences between my original review unit’s display and that of the new one.

The difference in warmth between the Kobo Libra Colour’s screen and the Kindle Colorsoft’s screen was dramatically reduced on my second review unit. That’s a good thing for the Colorsoft because its screen now better mimics the look of actual, physical book pages. I've adjusted our pros and cons list to reflect my experience with the new review unit, and what follows is our original review.

Update 11/5/24: There have been multiple reports of Kindle Colorsoft owners seeing a yellow band at the bottom of their ereader’s display. My review unit was not affected during the time I spent testing the Colorsoft, but upon checking on the morning of November 4, 2024, it appeared for me, too. Upon reaching out to Amazon for comment, a spokesperson told Engadget: "A small number of customers have reported a yellow band along the bottom of the display. We take the quality of our products seriously — customers who notice this can reach out to our customer service team for a replacement or refund, and we’re making the appropriate adjustments to ensure that new devices will not experience this issue moving forward." In the meantime, we've removed our score and recommended labeling until we're able to get a replacement Colorsoft and test it for a longer period of time to ensure this issue has been fully resolved.

Screen technology and comparisons

Let’s get the tech details squared away first. The Kindle Colorsoft’s seven-inch screen is based on E Ink Kaleido 3 technology, but a representative from the Kindle team explained to me that they developed a custom display stack for this device. That means they made quite a few changes to the tech in order to achieve things like higher-contrast pigments and improved speeds overall. The Colorsoft’s custom oxide backplane uses 24 driving volts to move pigments around more quickly and it helps those pigments appear with better contrast. Nitride LEDs enhance colors and brightness, and a custom coating in between the display’s layers helps focus light through each pigment so there’s less color mixing. Some of the same tech helps make page-turns quicker and supposedly reduces excessively noticeable screen refreshing when you go from one color page to another, or pinch-and-zoom on an image.

That’s all to say that Amazon would like you to believe that this E Ink Kaleido 3 screen is not like the other girls in this space, and while I do not doubt the Kindle team’s efforts, the differences are not as dramatic as the story would suggest. Until Kobo updates the Sage with color, the closest competitor to the $280 Kindle Colorsoft is the $220 Kobo Libra Colour (in size, platform and overall experience), so I did a lot of side-by-side comparisons of the two.

The biggest difference I saw was that the Kobo’s screen skews warmer than the Kindle’s; I kicked the brightness up to the maximum and turned all warm/natural light settings down to zero on both devices and the difference was noticeable, regardless of if the displays were showing color images, black-and-white text or a mix of the two. This would suggest that the Kindle will show more accurate colors more often since there’s less of a warm lean to its display.

But on the flip side, the Kindle screen’s blue tint was just as noticeable, particularly in low-light situations (like a dark office or a dimly lit living room). At max brightness with warmth down to zero, the Kindle’s screen was borderline uncomfortable to read in those environments — but all it took was a slight adjustment to warmth level four (out of 24) to get it to match the Kobo’s display in warmth almost exactly (at least to my eyes). That made it more comfortable to stare at in dark spaces. I also compared the Colorsoft’s screen to my personal Kindle Paperwhite (previous generation) and the blue skew was noticeable there too.

Ultimately, how much warm or cool light you prefer while reading is up to personal taste. My preferences would lead me to adjust the warmth on the Kindle to be a bit higher than zero, mimicking that of the Kobo. In an unscientific poll of the Engadget staff, both in person and with device photos, everybody preferred the screen on the Kobo. I think the slight added warmth in Kobo’s screen makes colors appear a bit more saturated and more inviting overall. It also gets close to mimicking the look of actual physical pages (as much as one of these devices could, at least), and that’s the experience I’m going for when I read pretty much anything. But I could understand why some hardcore comic fans would want to start off with the most color-accurate baseline as possible, and then adjust from there to fit their preferences.

In addition to adjusting the warm light, the Kindle Colorsoft has vivid mode, which “enhances color in less saturated images.” For the sake of efficacy, most of my time was spent in standard mode when testing the Colorsoft. But in trying out vivid mode, I noticed that its enhanced saturation was most noticeable in warm-toned images: reds appeared ever-so-slightly more striking, while oranges and yellows had a more bronze effect and the like. But I had to turn vivid mode on and off a few times to clock the effect because it’s quite subtle.

Then there’s the question of actually reading words on the Colorsoft. Even the Kindle team representative I spoke with acknowledged that, due to the extra physical layer in the screen that enables color, one might notice a bit less sharpness and contrast in black-and-white text on the Colorsoft’s screen. That’s not unique to this particular Kindle — every color ereader will have this issue to some degree.

When comparing the text-only experience of the Kindle Colorsoft to that of the Kobo Libra Colour, I found both to be quite good and comparable to one another. Where there’s a bigger possibility for discrepancies is in a comparison of the Colorsoft to, say, the new Kindle Paperwhite. I did not have the latter device to compare to, but I did have my personal, previous-generation Paperwhite, and the difference was ever so slight, with the standard Paperwhite having the (small) upper hand in the contrast and sharpness departments.

Reading experience

Photo by Valentina Palladino / Engadget

The color screen is the most consequential thing about the Kindle Colorsoft, and chances are if you’ve had a Kindle in the past, the reading experience on this new device will feel quite familiar. The Kindle UI hasn’t changed much, still dividing the main screen into Home and Library options. The former is basically a space for Amazon to serve you personalized book recommendations and promote new Kindle releases, while the latter shows your entire digital library including books, documents, Audible audiobooks and library loans. The Library page is striking in color and there is something undeniably satisfying about seeing all of your title covers in full-color glory.

While reading a book, you can still customize and save different themes with fonts, font sizes and page layouts that best suit your preferences. You still have the option to quickly navigate within a title by page, location, chapter and even popular highlights. Page turns are speedy and will likely be an improvement for anyone coming from an older Kindle or other ereader.

Annotations and your own highlights are collected in the same place for easy reference, and with the latter, you can filter by highlight color as well. You have four colors to choose from on the Colorsoft — orange, yellow, blue and pink — so if you use the yellow highlighter to mark favorite quotes, you can then filter by just that color. Note that all highlighting and note-taking must be done with your fingers because, unlike the Kindle Scribe, the Colorsoft has no stylus support.

The pinch-to-zoom feature on the Colorsoft is good for those who read a lot of graphic novels and comics. Amazon developed a custom algorithm to make this motion as smooth as possible, and it’s a pretty good experience, albeit not a unique one. You can also pinch to zoom on the Kobo Libra Colour, which mostly helps get in closer to comic panels to read small text or better see minute details.

On both devices, there are full-screen refreshes when you pinch to zoom on color images and the speed of completion is roughly the same. I also found image quality to be quite similar as well, and it’s worth noting that art style can skew your impression of an image’s quality. A comic that employs clean, distinct lines compared to one that’s more grungy and watercolor-like will always come off more crisp.

The Colorsoft, like the regular Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, also has an auto-adjusting front light that promises to illuminate the display just right depending on if you’re reading outside on a sunny day, in the dark cabin of an airplane or anywhere else. It’s a nice hardware perk to have and, with the feature turned on, removes much of manual fiddling that some might find annoying to do when they take their Kindle into different environments.

The competition

Photo by Valentina Palladino / Engadget

While we already went through the screen comparisons for the $280 Kindle Colorsoft and the $220 Kobo Libra Colour, there are plenty of other differences between the two that you should consider when picking your next ereader. I’ve added a spec list below to break down the basics, and the most consequential to me are the fact that the Kobo has page-turn buttons and stylus support.

The former is really a matter of preference — you either love physical buttons or you find no use for them — but the latter is pure added value even if you do have to purchase the $70 Kobo stylus separately. It essentially allows you to turn the Libra Colour into a makeshift Kobo Sage or Kindle Scribe, which could be useful for anyone in academia (students and educators alike) or anyone who just loves the feeling of putting pen to “paper.” Meanwhile, the Kindle has the upper hand in its wireless charging capabilities and its slightly cleaner flush-front design.

When it comes to actual content available on Kindle and Kobo devices, the libraries you can purchase from on both are vast: both have ebooks and audiobooks available, and both the Colorsoft and Libra Colour support Bluetooth, so you can listen to audiobooks directly from the device with your wireless headphones. At the time of writing this review, all of the top five New York Times bestseller titles were available on both platforms at the same prices, with the only discrepancies being one that was on sale as a Kindle ebook and one that was available to read for free for Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus subscribers. Both of those monthly subscriptions give you unlimited reading access to thousands of titles, but I would give the advantage to Amazon on this one since Kindle Unlimited has been around for much longer. Amazon also has Prime Reading and Kids+ subscriptions that work with Kindle devices and provide even more content to paying subscribers.

As far as borrowing ebooks from your local library goes, it might be a draw. Kobo integrates elegantly with Overdrive, making it nearly seamless to get borrowed books on your ereader. Simply connect your Overdrive account and library card in the settings menu and you can then either browse your library’s offerings directly on device, or use the Libby mobile app to borrow titles and those will appear automatically on your Kobo. My only gripe with this system is that it works best if you have just one library card, since you can only connect one at a time. I’m a unique case where I have at least three library cards and I switch among them in Libby depending on which has the title I’m looking for.

Those like me might prefer the “send to Kindle” option in Libby, which just takes a couple more clicks to get any book from any library network to your Kindle device. The biggest downside here is that my Colorsoft review unit did not show all of my library book covers in full-color glory on the lock screen. After troubleshooting with a representative from Amazon, it was determined to be a title-specific issue. According to Amazon: "For library books, the lock screen is taken from the designated marketing cover for the book used by the library, which may not be the same as the actual book cover." So just know that if you get most of your reading material from your local library, there's a chance some of the covers may not display properly on the Colorsoft.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the $250 Boox Go Color 7, which earned a spot in our best ereaders guide after my colleague Amy Skorheim tested it. First, it’s imperative to know that Boox devices require a bit more tech-savvy than a Kindle or a Kobo, as well as a willingness to experiment. They are full-blown Android tablets after all, and that might be exactly what you’re looking for if you get your reading material from many different sources, since it offers access to the Google Play Store and all of its apps. As for specs, the Go Color 7 has a seven-inch Kaleido 3 display with 300 ppi in black and white and 150 ppi in color (similar to the Colorsoft), along with a warm light, page-turn buttons, a splash-resistant design and 64GB of storage (and a microSD card slot for more space!). It’s even more similar to the Kobo Libra Colour in feature set and price, so it’s another option for anyone willing to think a bit outside the standard ereader box.

The decision between Kindle, Kobo and Boox is infinitely more complicated than choosing between the Colorsoft or the standard Kindle Paperwhite — and that’s precisely because of the stark price difference. The Colorsoft is $120 more than the regular Kindle Paperwhite ($100 more if you pay to remove the lock screen ads from the Paperwhite, and $80 more than the Signature Edition) and aside from the color panel, it only adds wireless charging, the auto-adjusting front light sensor and doubles the storage. Remove color from the equation, and arguably the most useful of all of those is the extra storage but, make no mistake, 16GB of space on the Kindle Paperwhite is nothing to scoff at and will be just fine for most people. Unless you’re 100-percent certain that color will make a huge difference in your day-to-day reading experience, the standard Paperwhite is the better value.

Wrap-up

Photo by Valentina Palladino / Engadget

While it’s very late to the color E Ink party, the Kindle Colorsoft is a solid premium ereader that provides an excellent experience both in color and black and white. I focused a lot on comparisons in this review because most people will not have the opportunity to have the Colorsoft and any of its contemporaries side by side (unless you’re my dad, who buys almost every ereader and small tablet under the sun). But to be clear, the Colorsoft is a good Kindle, and in many ways, Amazon did pull an Apple here. If you’re already heavily entrenched in the Kindle ecosystem and have been holding out for a color ereader, this is the device to get — just be prepared to pay a premium for it.

Also, like Apple and its various operating systems, there’s something to be said about the convenience and ubiquity of the Kindle ecosystem. The library is seemingly endless (with discounts galore), supplemented by Prime Reading and Kindle Unlimited, so it’s easy to get sucked in when you’re already shopping on Amazon for household goods and holiday gifts. But when it comes to value for your money (and a pure spec breakdown), you can get more from Kobo and Boox devices. Kindle isn’t the only name in town anymore for ereaders, and it hasn’t been for a long time, and that seems to be a more pronounced fact now with the introduction of the Colorsoft. If nothing else, Amazon has finally filled a glaring hole in its ereader lineup with this device.

Amazon Kindle Colorsoft vs. the competition

	Amazon Kindle Colorsoft	Kobo Libra Colour	Boox Go Color 7
Price	$280	$220	$250
Display size	7-inch color E Ink Kalaido 3 (with custom display stack)	7-inch color E Ink Kalaido 3	7-inch color E Ink Kalaido 3
Pixel density	300 ppi (black-and-white), 150 ppi (color content)	300 ppi (black-and-white), 150 ppi (color content)	300 ppi (black-and-white), 150 ppi (color content)
Storage	32GB	32GB	64GB
Battery life	Up to 8 weeks	Up to 6 weeks	2,300 mAh capacity; "long-lasting" battery life
Page-turn buttons	No	Yes	Yes
Adjustable warm light	Yes	Yes	Yes
Auto brightness adjustments	Yes	No	No
Auto warm light adjustments	No	Yes	No
Waterproof rating	IPX8	IPX8	Not provided
Pinch-to-zoom support	Yes	Yes	Not provided
Stylus support	No	Yes	No
Audiobook support	Yes, Audible audiobooks	Yes, Kobo audiobooks	Yes, via Android apps
Library support	Yes, via Overdrive's "Send to Kindle" option	Yes, via built-in Overdrive integration	Yes, via Android apps
Wireless charging	Yes	No	No
USB-C charging	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes	Yes	Yes

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/kindle-colorsoft-review-the-missing-link-in-amazons-ereader-lineup-131529685.html?src=rss

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© Photo by Valentina Palladino / Engadget

Grill companies are taking a different approach in 2025. Instead of refining premium smart pellet models and adding even more features, they’re aiming to provide a solid outdoor cooking experience for less money than usual. Weber did so with the Smoque earlier this week and now Traeger is following suit. With the Woodridge series, Traeger offers an all-new look and simplified controls, and even the most affordable option is equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity. Plus, you can upgrade them all with additional accessories.

The regular Woodridge is the cheapest option of the new trio. At $800, it’s the same price as the smallest Pro series model, the Pro 575, and $1,000 less than the mid-range Ironwood grill. The entire Woodridge series has a novel design that differs from the pricier Timberline and Ironwood grills, and Traeger ditched the touchscreen for a simplified setup. But don’t let the price fool you, the company didn’t cut many corners to keep costs down. The Woodridge is a workhorse, and in some ways it’s better to cook on than Traeger’s more expensive grills.

Design

The first thing I noticed about the Woodridge is that Traeger got rid of the touchscreen controls. I don’t doubt that component was expensive, and in my opinion it was unnecessary. Instead, there’s a simple set of buttons for timers, food probes, ignition and menu. Next to them is a multi-color display with large numbers that make temperature, time and other stats easy to see, even from a distance. On the far right of the panel, a single knob allows you to scroll through and adjust temperature settings and more.

Like other Traeger models, the controller is installed on the pellet hopper, which doubles as a small side shelf. On the Woodridge, the hopper has a 24 pound capacity, more than enough for most low-and-slow smoke sessions. These new grills also have Traeger’s Pop-And-Lock (PAL) rail system around the outside. These allow you to customize your grills with things like shelves, paper towel holders and condiment baskets. There’s also ample rack storage built in, with spots to store both the longer top rack and the smaller bottom ones, too.

The Woodridge is the most basic of the new grills, and it doesn’t have any kind of shelf or cabinet underneath. Instead, there’s just an X-shaped bracket that keeps the legs snug and tight. On the hopper end, there are two wheels with rubber tread and two legs on the other. There’s no handle to lift the grill to move it, so you have to use the side-mounted PAL rail. On the underbelly, you’ll get Traeger’s so-called EZ-Clean Grease & Ash Keg that collects all the waste from the cook chamber for easy removal.

Even the lid and cook box on the Woodridge have a new shape. The lid is flatter and looks more like a gas grill than the oval tops of the Timberline, Ironwood and Pro series. You still get two levels of grates inside covering 860 square inches of cooking area, but there’s less vertical space to stack food. Traeger redesigned the components under the cooking surface too, installing handles on the drip tray for easy removal and a cover for the grease keg. The path for grease is now more enclosed, so errant embers should be less of a concern.

Overall, I’m impressed with the build quality on the entry-level Woodridge. It would’ve been easy for Traeger to use cheap materials to reduce cost, but the grill is sturdy and should last for years. The legs are rock solid and everything feels hefty and strong, which is a welcome surprise compared to other budget friendly options.

Cooking with the Woodridge

Billy Steele for Engadget

If you’re looking for a straightforward pellet grill that gets the job done, the Woodridge is a great option. It isn’t loaded down with features you might not use, but does everything from low-and-slow barbecue to high-heat searing with a temperature range of 180-500 degrees Fahrenheit. I typically use pellet grills for smoking, so most of my testing focused on that, but I can vouch for the Woodridge’s ability to maintain temperatures of 500 (and slightly above).

The Woodridge doesn’t have Traeger’s signature Super Smoke mode, but the grill still imparts lots of smoke into your food. I particularly enjoyed the layered flavor on a double-smoked, glazed ham over the holidays. The convection air flow inside the cooking chamber moves smoke around to blanket your food with the nuance of the wood pellets. Even at higher “smoking” temperatures of 300 degrees and above, the grill was still producing significant amounts of smoke.

A big feature on the Woodridge is Traeger’s WiFire tech. This Wi-Fi connectivity sends vital cooking stats to the company’s app on your phone, allowing you to keep tabs on the process from anywhere. For the Woodridge, this means you can see data from wired or wireless food probes, adjust grill temperature, set timers, activate Keep Warm mode and shut down the grill on your phone. As always, the Traeger app has a wealth of recipes when you need some inspiration, complete with guidance for beginners. The app is one of the best tools on Traeger’s grills, so it’s nice to see the core features from the software are available on this base model.

Other Woodridge options

The regular Woodridge is the base model in the new trio with the Woodridge Pro and the Woodridge Elite above it. The Pro has 970 square inches of cooking space, Super Smoke mode, a folding side shelf and a bottom storage shelf. It also offers an upgraded controller with a pellet-monitoring sensor inside the hopper. Those upgrades cost $200, as the Woodridge Pro is $1,000.

On the Woodridge Elite, you get some of the best aspects of Traeger’s most expensive grills — the Timberline and Timberline XL. Those conveniences include insulated construction for better heat retention, a 1,100-watt infrared side burner and an enclosed cabinet base. The additions come on top of the 970-square-inch cooking area and other key specs from the Woodridge Pro. You’ll pay a lot more for this grill, though, as the Elite is $1,600. So, it’s much less attractive than the other Woodridge options.

The Woodridge, Woodridge Pro and Woodridge Elite were just announced today, but the first two are available now at Traeger’s website or from retailers in the US and Canada.

Final thoughts on the Woodridge

After Traeger went even more premium with its Ironwood makeover in 2023, the company had a big gap between its most affordable models and its more expensive ones. The original Ironwood was a nice bridge between the Pro series and the Timberline, but all of those upgrades killed that value proposition. The new Woodridge series reclaims some of that territory, and even the base trim gives you everything you’d want in a basic pellet grill. In fact, I’d argue it goes beyond that. The Woodridge and Woodridge Pro are massive upgrades compared to the Pro 575 and Pro 780.

Every time I use the Woodridge I’m amazed by the sturdy build quality Traeger delivered while keeping the cost down. The new look is certainly a departure from the company’s other grills, so it’ll take some getting used to. But, when you’re using it, that doesn't matter. I prefer the new simplified controls to Traeger’s affinity for a touchscreen and the Woodridge performed well every time I cooked on it. If you think most of Traeger’s lineup is too expensive, and that the Pro series has been around too long to invest in one, the Woodridge might be right for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/traeger-woodridge-review-a-big-upgrade-for-the-entry-level-pellet-grill-160010591.html?src=rss

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© Billy Steele for Engadget

The UK has spent over a decade attempting to regulate who can access adult content online and has failed, again and again. But things might just change, as OfCom, the country's government-approved communication services regulator, has finally published its age checks guidance. How exactly, they'll enforce that guidance is unclear, but baby steps. 

The new obligations stem from the October 2023 Online Safety Act, which requires services to stop children from accessing pornographic content. Ofcom released an initial draft of expectations for services in late 2023, stating it would publish its final guidance in early 2025 — so, we're right on time. 

"For too long, many online services which allow porn and other harmful material have ignored the fact that children are accessing their services," said Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, in a release. "Either they don’t ask or, when they do, the checks are minimal and easy to avoid. That means companies have effectively been treating all users as if they’re adults, leaving children potentially exposed to porn and other types of harmful content. Today, this starts to change."

First off, Ofcom is requiring all applicable services to determine if children are likely to access any part of their offerings by April 16. That same month, Ofcom will publish its Protection of Children Codes and guidance on conducting a children's risk assessment. Any service likely to be used by children will need to conduct said assessment by July. They also need to have protective measures in place if children try to use their services, such as age checks. Any site that has pornography (whether created by the service, users or generative AI) must introduce strict age checks as soon as possible. 

As Ofcom puts it, "age-checking methods deployed by services must be technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair in order to be considered highly effective." These techniques can include photo ID matching, facial age estimation, digital identity services, and mobile network operator age checks, to name a few. Users self-declaring their age and online payments in which a person doesn't have to be 18 are not acceptable methods. Pornography shouldn't be at all visible before or while these checks are occurring. However, the regulator stresses that services must balance protecting adult users' privacy and access rights. 

Ofcom states it will contact many adult services about these requirements and "will not hesitate" to act against or investigate services that ignore their obligations. Again, these exact actions are unclear, so we'll see how well these regulations will be enforced. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/uk-demands-adult-content-sites-introduce-effective-age-verification-methods-150057997.html?src=rss

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Not to be cliché, but if losing things was an Olympic sport then I'd at least get a bronze. To that end, I rely on Find My programs to keep track of my devices, but I've put off dishing out money on a Bluetooth trackers. 

Now, I don't have an Android but, if you do, then it might be time to learn from my mistakes and tag all your items. Right now, the Chipolo One Point four pack — our favorite Bluetooth tracker for Android — is on sale for $63, down from $79. The 20 percent discount brings this set down to a new all-time low price. 

The Chipolo One Point uses Google's Find My Device to keep track of items. We liked how easy it was to set up and how loud it rings. Plus, unlike AirTags, it comes with a hole in it so attaching the tracker to a key ring is simple. However, the One Point isn't as accurate as an AirTag and Find My Device doesn't offer left behind notifications. But, it's still a great option for Android users. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/a-four-pack-of-our-favorite-bluetooth-trackers-for-android-devices-is-cheaper-than-ever-143719990.html?src=rss

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© Amy Skorheim / Engadget

In a few days, TikTok could be banned in the US, rendering the app unusable and removing it from app stores. Instead of making do with Instagram Reels, people looked for a closer alternative and found Chinese social media app "RedNote" or Xiaohongshu, which translates to "little red book." It shot to the top of the Apple App Store download list, and according to Reuters, more than 700,000 users joined the service within just a couple of days. Apparently, though, RedNote isn't the only app that has benefited from TikTok's looming ban. The language learning app Duolingo has revealed that it has seen a "216 percent growth in new Chinese (Mandarin) learners in the US compared to this time last year."

While RedNote has an English interface, most of its content is in Chinese, and American users are probably hoping to be able to interact with more videos. As TechCrunch notes, the graph Duolingo posted clearly shows a big uptick in new learners at the same time RedNote shot up in popularity. On TikTok, Duolingo posted videos with the hashtags #rednote and #tiktokban. In one video, someone wearing a mask of the app's green owl mascot is teaching Mandarin Chinese for beginners, starting with "Welcome, TikTok refugees." 

Meanwhile, RedNote's original Chinese users are getting language lessons from the app's American imports. They're now apparently getting schooled on gen Alpha American slang and TikTok trends, like "my shayla" and "Raw. Next question." Chinese users are also having fun with the new users, telling them that they're their "Chinese spy" and jokingly asking for their data to give to China's government. 

TikTok's owner, ByteDance, only has until January 19 to sell the app's US assets to prevent a shutdown. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/tiktok-refugees-are-learning-mandarin-chinese-on-duolingo-for-rednote-140032557.html?src=rss

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The long wait is finally over. In a YouTube video with little fanfare, Nintendo officially introduced the long-awaited Switch 2. The first true next-gen follow-up to the original Switch includes backwards-compatibility for owners of existing Switch games. We'll learn more about the console in a Nintendo Direct presentation on April 2, 2025. There's still no firm release date, though.

Nintendo is also planning to host first-look experience events in cities around the globe starting in April, the first of which take place in New York City and Paris from April 4 to April 6. More cities around North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia will follow.

This trailer and accompanying press release are truly light on details. We see how the Switch 2 evolves from the original, with a larger screen and accompanying Joy-Con controllers that do appear to be attachable via magnets and a tiny port on the side of the controller. That's it, though — no price, specs or any details on what games are coming to the Switch 2.

That said, we did see a few shots of a Mario Kart game running on the Switch 2 — so all the rumors surrounding a Mario Kart 9 launching alongside the Switch 2 got another shot in the arm today. 

The announcement of the Switch 2 has been a long time coming. Today's news caps off months of speculation about when the company would unveil new hardware. The community interest in a Switch 2 was vocal enough that president Shuntaro Furukawa posted on X ahead of the June 2024 Nintendo Direct not to expect any new console news, although he did confirm that the Switch's successor would be introduced by March 2025. 

Nintendo has given players some minor upgrades over the years since the Switch first arrived on the scene in 2017. The Switch Lite offered a more compact handheld ideal for gaming on the go, and the Switch OLED delivered a premium screen. But even within the limitations of a portable gaming device, the Switch has lagged far behind other consoles when it comes to power and performance. Of course, trying to compete with Sony and Microsoft's consoles on pure power hasn't been Nintendo's concern for decades at this point. Once we get our hands on the Switch 2, we'll know whether it delivers enough oomph to feel worth the wait.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-is-official-with-more-details-coming-on-april-2-2025-131325484.html?src=rss

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Insta360 is back with another smartphone gimbal and it looks pretty darn great. The Flow Pro 2 is an upgrade over its predecessor in nearly every major way, and we already loved the original. This is another great tool for any content creator to have at the ready.

First of all, the Flow 2 Pro offers a sturdier build, for enhanced durability, and a much stronger tripod. The unit also includes an exterior selfie mirror, so users can quickly get a fit check in the middle of a vlog or whatever.

Insta360

The new design allows for something called Free Tilt Mode, which means that users can angle the gimbal in unique ways to get creative shots. The company says folks will be able to use this mode to get crane shots, tilt shots and multiple combinations thereof. The stabilizer also supports 360-degree pan tracking.

The software suite has received a major upgrade. Just like the original iteration, the Flow 2 Pro integrates with Apple DockKit for automatic tracking. However, there’s also something called Active Zoom Tracking, which can close in up to 15x while following a moving subject. The company says this will ensure that shots are “crystal clear and perfectly framed, no matter the distance”

The company’s Deep Track AI-powered tech has also gotten an update. Deep Track 4.0 brings new capabilities and quality-of-life features to make sure that all shots are “perfectly framed and effortlessly smooth.” The software even allows for multi-person tracking.

The gimbal can be controlled via an Apple Watch or a secondary smartphone and the battery lasts around ten hours per charge. The Insta360 Flow 2 Pro is available right now for $160, with availability in gray and white.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/insta360s-flow-pro-2-gimbal-offers-a-sturdier-build-and-a-selfie-mirror-130016865.html?src=rss

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The last few years have brought a barrage of “cozy games,” video games expressly designed to generate good vibes. That said, coziness isn’t a virtue in and of itself. If you’re looking for games to help you wind down, allow us to help. We’ve curated a selection of our favorite chill titles, ones that purposefully deemphasize fail states, grinding, intense violence and other aggressive urges, but aren’t insufferably twee, dull or same-y. Yes, these include the Stardew Valleys and Animal Crossings of the world, but we’ve also highlighted a number of lesser-known gems that span across genres. Here’s a few of the best relaxing games for your Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC or mobile device.

Recent updates

January 2025: We’ve added Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley and Little Kitty, Big City to the list.

Check out our entire Best Games series including the best Nintendo Switch games, the best PS5 games, the best Xbox games, the best PC games and the best free games you can play today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/best-relaxing-video-games-140048572.html?src=rss

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Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket has successfully made it to space for its maiden flight, a few days after its planned January 13 launch was scrubbed. The vehicle passed the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space, shortly after 2AM Eastern time on January 16. New Glenn's booster separated from the rest of the rocket to make its way back to Earth towards a landing platform in the ocean by 2:10 AM, while its second stage and payload went on to reach orbit. The company has just announced on its live feed that it failed to land New Glenn's booster, but it was never the launch's primary purpose. 

Dave Limp, the company's CEO, previously stressed that the mission's objective is to reach orbit. "Anything beyond that is a bonus," he wrote in a tweet. He said that landing the booster was "ambitious" but that Blue Origin is still going for it and expects to "learn a lot" from the effort. Notably, it took SpaceX three years of landing tests before it was successfully able to land Falcon 9's first stage on a drone ship in the ocean.

New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle with a booster that was designed to be reused for a minimum of 25 flights. Blue Origin describes it as its "giant, reusable rocket built for bigger things." It has a massive payload capacity and can carry more than 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO). For its maiden flight, the vehicle carried the company's Blue Ring Pathfinder, which is part of its Blue Ring platform that will offer spacecraft services to clients like the Pentagon. The mission is meant to test Blue Ring's core flight and ground systems, as well as its operational capabilities. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-launches-into-orbit-on-its-maiden-flight-073451555.html?src=rss

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LG Display is introducing its 4th-generation OLED TV displays today, which manage to not only be brighter than what it showed off in 2024, but also more power-efficient and less reflective. The LG OLED evo M5 was one of Engadget's favorite announcements from CES 2025, thanks in part to the LG Display panels it uses.

LG Display's new 4th-generation OLED TV panel can reach a maximum brightness "as high as 4,000 nits," according to the company, which is 33 percent brighter than the previous generation panel. It's worth noting maximum brightness is not the same thing as uniform brightness across the same display panel, but it's still a notable improvement when OLEDs can struggle with brightness. Especially when those gains are paired with better energy efficiency, which LG Display says is "around 20 percent greater" on a 65-inch 4th-generation panel.

LG Display

The changes to the new OLED's efficiency are due to enhancements to the panel's "structure and power supply system" while the brightness improvements have to do with a clever to tweak to how LG is arranging the LEDs in the panel. The 4th-generation OLED uses a "Primary RGB Tandem structure" which stacks independent layers of red and green light elements with two blue layers. Each layer produces more light which helps improve brightness and "color purity."

LG Display is also aiding color reproduction (and presumably purity) with a new film coating that reduces the amount of light reflected from the surface of the panel and light absorbed and reflected inside the panel. The company says all of these developments are in service of making better "AI TVs" but if that doesn't sway you, it sounds like TVs with these new panels should just look better too.

The 4th-generation OLED panel will appear in "top-of-the-line mass-produced" TVs this year, and LG Display says the "Primary RGB Tandem structure" will be gradually introduced into Gaming OLED monitors in the future, as well.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/lg-displays-new-oleds-are-even-brighter-and-more-power-efficient-020010221.html?src=rss

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The Super Bowl tends to be a cultural moment, even for people who don't know an extra point from a safety. This year, if you want to see the whole program, including the halftime show by Kendrick Lamar, there will be a free streaming option. The broadcast will be available in 4K on Tubi, the free ad-supported streaming TV platform owned by Fox.

This year marks the first time Tubi will have the NFL's final matchup as part of its programming. Fox Sports announced its plans to mark the occasion of Super Bowl LIX with a "takeover" of Tubi, including not just the livestream of the game, but also a special red carpet pre-show. Tubi will also have a Countdown to the Super Bowl on the NFL channel starting January 28 that will highlight big moments from the championship's history.

Super Bowl LIX will be available to watch on FOX, FOX Deportes, Tubi and Telemundo, as well as on NFL digital properties, without requiring any paid-TV authentication. The game takes place on February 9.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/tubi-will-livestream-the-2025-super-bowl-for-free-in-4k-232831563.html?src=rss

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© USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect / Reuters

We're nearly a month into 2025, and it's time for another flagship smartphone announcement. Samsung's first Galaxy Unpacked event is on the books for January 22, and like past years, you'll be able to watch along from home.

All signs point to the event including the launch of One UI 7 and a new lineup of Galaxy S25 phones (including Ultra, Plus and regular models) at the very least. The new phones are more or less guaranteed to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, and sport some amount of design tweaks, and new colors. One UI 7 was technically already announced at a Samsung developer event in 2024, but Unpacked should give the company to dig in to more of the details of how the operating system revamp will actually impact using the company's new devices. 

Beyond that, Galaxy AI will be featured prominently, based on Samsung's original announcement of the event, and it seems possible the company could include an update on its wearables and more information about Project Moohan, the headset it's developing for Google's Android XR platform.

The event begins at 1PM ET / 10AM PT in-person in San Jose and online everywhere else. If you plan on watching, you can find a stream on Samsung.com, in Samsung's Newsroom, or watch along right here in the YouTube video below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-watch-the-samsung-galaxy-s25-unpacked-event-211629281.html?src=rss

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© Richard Lai for Engadget

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a suit against John Deere, accusing it of “unfair” practices that force farmers to pay higher-than-average repair costs. The federal organization, along with attorneys general for Illinois and Minnesota, are alleging that the company engages in practices that keep farmers from being able to make repairs on equipment they own.

In other words, this is another salvo in the ongoing right-to-repair battle. The complaint states that John Deere engages in dubious practices, like incorporating software into farm equipment, to dissuade people from trying to fix stuff on their own. Additionally, the suit points to “decades” of unlawful behavior that pushes farmers to the company’s authorized network of dealers for repairs.

“Illegal repair restrictions can be devastating for farmers, who rely on affordable and timely repairs to harvest their crops and earn their income,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a press release. “The FTC’s action today seeks to ensure that farmers across America are free to repair their own equipment or use repair shops of their choice.”

The suit goes on to allege that Deere makes “the only fully functional software repair tool capable of performing all repairs” on its equipment, which was only made available to official dealers. These dealers allegedly charge higher prices than independent shops, giving the company unlawful monopoly power. Farmers have long maintained that they can conduct basic repairs on equipment, but the computers lock the systems from working again until an officially licensed technician does their thing. This thing, allegedly, is simply flipping a software switch.

The company says it supports customers’ right to repair equipment. It even signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) in 2023 that was supposed to make its software, tools and documentation available to farmers and independent repair shops. It doesn’t look like that actually happened, as the suit alleges it “continues to unlawfully withhold a fully functional repair tool from equipment owners.”

The lawsuit seeks to “stop Deere’s anticompetitive conduct” by mandating access to its software repair tool, in addition to “other repair resources available to authorized dealers.” Nathan Proctor, PIRG’s Right to Repair Campaign Director, said in a statement to Gizmodo that “We shouldn’t tolerate companies blocking repair. When you buy something, you should be able to do whatever you want with it.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/ftc-sues-john-deere-over-unfair-corporate-tactics-and-high-repair-costs-192052941.html?src=rss

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© John Deere

Sony is set to freshen up the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for Extra and Premium subscribers with a bunch of new additions in January. The obvious headliner here is God of War Ragnarök (PS4 and PS5), one of PlayStation's biggest blockbusters from the last few years.

The epic 2022 adventure sees Kratos and his son Atreus attempting to prevent an event that could bring about the end of the world. Studio Santa Monica expanded on the core game in late 2023 with the free addition of a roguelite mode that acts as an epilogue. Kratos can wield permanent upgrades as well as temporary ones that only last for the duration of a given run.

If you haven't done so already, we'd highly recommend playing through God of War before delving into Ragnarök. The story of the 2018 game feeds directly into that of the sequel (and it's a darn good game too). Thankfully, God of War is also in the Game Catalog.

Another new addition that's well worth checking out is the brilliant rhythm action title Sayonara Wild Hearts (PS4). It tells the story of a young woman attempting to repair her broken heart through a series of imaginative levels, all set to an absolutely banging pop music soundtrack. Sayonara Wild Hearts was an Apple Arcade launch title, but it left that service a few months ago. It's one of my two favorite games of all time, and I can't recommend it enough.

The highly regarded sci-fi RPG Citizen Sleeper is in the mix as well. It'll hit the Game Catalog a week and a half before the sequel, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, drops on January 31.

Other newcomers to the Extra tier include the 2023 Like A Dragon spinoff, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PS4 and PS5), action RPGs Atlas Fallen: Reign Of Sand (PS5) and SD Gundam Battle Alliance (PS4 and PS5), action-adventure title ANNO: Mutationem (PS4 and PS5), tower defense game Orcs Must Die! 3 (PS4 and PS5) and Poker Club (PS4).

Premium subscribers will get access to another two games on top of all of those. Those are Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (PS4 and PS5), which debuted on PS2 in 2009, and Medievil II (PS4 and PS5), which originally hit the PS1 in 2000.

These games will hit the PS Plus Game Catalog on January 21. As a reminder, PlayStation Portal owners can now stream certain PS5 games in the catalog from the cloud.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/god-of-war-ragnarok-headlines-the-playstation-plus-game-catalog-additions-for-january-191024729.html?src=rss

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Google is partnering with The Associated Press to bring real-time information from the news agency to its Gemini app, the search giant announced on Wednesday. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The deal builds on an existing partnership Google had with The Associated Press to source real-time information for its search engine. “This will be particularly helpful to [Gemini app] users looking for up-to-date information,” Google says of the deal.

“AP and Google’s longstanding relationship is based on working together to provide timely, accurate news and information to global audiences,” said Kristin Heitmann, The Associated Press senior vice president and chief revenue officer. “We are pleased Google recognizes the value of AP's journalism as well as our commitment to nonpartisan reporting, in the development of its generative AI products.”

In 2023, The Associated Press was among the first news publishers to forge a partnership with an AI firm, signing a two-year deal with OpenAI that gave the company access to select news content dating back to 1985. Since then, many other publishers have followed suit with their own agreements. In fact, just earlier today, Axios announced a three-year deal with OpenAI that will see the AI startup fund four new local newsrooms. Last year, OpenAI partnered with People publisher Dotdash Meredith, a deal that has since been reported to be worth at least $16 million annually.

Correction 6:23PM ET: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that The Associated Press was following other publishers in signing agreements with AI firms. We regret the error. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-brings-real-time-information-from-the-associated-press-to-gemini-190317150.html?src=rss

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