A new month is almost upon us, which means Sony is about to refresh the lineup of games that all PlayStation Plus members can claim and keep in their collection as long as they maintain their subscription. Between March 4 and March 31, you'll be able to snag Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Sonic Colors: Ultimate and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (PS5)is the clear headliner this time around. Fans had to wait a decade between new installments in BioWare's series, partly because the studio rebooted its work on the latest title several times. Veilguard, an action RPG, is a direct sequel to 2014's Dragon Age Inquisition. It garnered generally positive reviews and we appreciated the visuals and BioWare's attention to detail with the game's characters.
However, Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet BioWare parent EA's sales expectations. In its first two months, the game brought in 1.5 million players, which is about half of what EA expected in that timeframe. That player count includes those who checked out the game on the EA Play Pro subscription service, so it's not clear how many copies of the game EA has actually sold so far. That disappointing sales performance is perhaps one reason why Dragon Age: The Veilguard is joining the PS Plus Monthly Games lineup a hair over four months after it was released.
Sonic Colors: Ultimate (PS4) is a remaster of a platformer that was originally released on the Wii back in 2010. As for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection(PS4 and PS5), that includes 13 classic TMNT games Konami released between 1989 and 1994, such as the all-time great Turtles in Time. The collection has a number of quality of life features, including online and local multiplayer, a rewind option, the ability to save at any point and button remapping. There's also concept art and "historic TMNT media content."
Until this trio joins the PS Plus Essential lineup on March 4, you can still snag February's games. Those are Payday 3,High on Life and Pac-Man World Re-Pac.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps-plus-monthly-games-for-march-include-dragon-age-the-veilguard-181028013.html?src=rss
The DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo bundle is on sale via Amazon for $369. This is 18 percent off and represents a record low price, as the normal cost is $449. The bundle includes the well-regarded Action 5 Pro camera, a trio of rechargeable batteries, a protective frame, a lens cover, an extension rod and more.
We heaped praise on the Osmo Action 5 Pro camera in our official review, calling it “a worthy GoPro rival.” The battery life here is next-level, allowing for over two hours of use when shooting 4K 60p video and four hours when shooting in 1080p. Again, this bundle comes with three batteries, which means twelve full hours of continuous shooting in 1080p. That’s a whole lot of ski jumps or whatever.
There’s also 47GB of internal storage, in addition to a microSD slot. Most action cameras don’t even have internal storage, so this is a much-appreciated upgrade. The Action 5 Pro is lightweight and waterproof down to 66 feet. There’s a waterproof case that extends this limit to 200 feet, but that doesn’t ship with this particular bundle.
As for the actual footage, we found it to be serviceable, but thought the color was slightly oversaturated. The video is also a bit less sharp than what’s produced with rival cameras. Other than these minor nitpicks, however, this is a near-perfect action camera, and those accessories sure sound useful.
The Adventure Combo isn’t the only bundle on sale right now, though it is the best value. The Essential and Standard bundles are also on sale, at $319 and $329 respectively.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/this-dji-osmo-action-5-pro-bundle-is-cheaper-than-ever-175747696.html?src=rss
In an utterly shocking, consumer-friendly move, Max won't charge for something previously offered for free. Warner Bros. Discovery said on Wednesday that it's shelving its previously announced plan to charge an extra $10 monthly for sports and news content. Instead, it's cutting the content from the ad-supported tier next month, which sounds reasonable enough.
In 2023, Max said its Bleacher Report (B/R) Sports Add-On tier would only be free until February 2024, when it would become a $10 add-on for all tiers. But that date came and went (and then went some more) without news of the extra fees. Viewers waited silently like students who hoped their teacher would forget their homework assignment. Then, last September, Bloombergreported that the $10 fee was still in the works — and could arrive as soon as that month. Uh oh.
But today's news puts those concerns to rest, at least for paying subscribers. Ad-supported members will lose access to B/R Sports and CNN Max (the news network's streaming redo) on March 30. Warner says those on that tier who want to retain access to sports and news can visit the Max Help Center for more info. So far, that page says nothing about it, so you'll probably want to check back closer to the cutoff date.
Although Max subscribers will welcome today's announcement, there's reason to question whether the free integration will be permanent. In its press release, where you have to assume words were chosen carefully and pored over by layers of management, Max only said it won't pursue that path… "for now."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/max-reverses-course-wont-charge-extra-for-live-sports-and-news-175010512.html?src=rss
Less than two weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Meta announced sweeping changes to its content moderation procedures, reportedly at the behest of Mark Zuckerberg and a small group of advisors. Among those caught off guard was the company’s own Oversight Board, the independent organization created by Meta to help shape its most sensitive policy decisions. The group is now looking to examine those changes, and in doing so, will test the enforceability of its own powers.
The changes Meta has enacted drastically reshape how the company polices content across Facebook, Instagram and Threads. It ended its fact-checking program in the US, and rolled back hate speech rules that protected immigrants and LGBTQ users on its apps. Unlike its previously proactive approach, it also reoriented its content moderation procedures so that many types of rule-breaking posts will only be removed if other users reported them.
The changes have raised questions about the role of the Oversight Board, which was created, Zuckerberg once said, because “Facebook should not make so many important decisions about free expression and safety on our own.” If that’s what Meta is now doing, critics have asked, what exactly is the point of an ostensibly independent Oversight Board?
But the Oversight Board is already working to address Meta’s rewritten “hateful conduct” policy, according to board member Paolo Carozza, who spoke to Engadget. When Zuckerberg announced the changes in early January, the board already had four open cases involving Meta’s hate speech rules. The board now plans to use those cases to examine the new policies, which were rewritten to allow people to use dehumanizing language to describe immigrants and accuse LGBTQ people of being mentally ill.
“We deliberately delayed the decision of those cases after January 7, precisely so that we could go back to Meta again and ask a new round of questions,” Carozza, a law professor at Notre Dame who joined the Oversight Board in 2022, told Engadget. “We're trying as much as possible to use the tools that we have to find out more information, bring more transparency and more certainty to how it's going to play out in practice.”
The board, according to Carozza, has already had briefings with Meta as it pushes for more details about the new hate speech policies. But it could still be some time before its findings are made public. The open cases deal with several aspects of Meta’s hate speech rules, including immigration, gender identity, hateful symbols and incitement of violence.
In addition to the questions surrounding each case, Carozza said that the board is also grappling with how to prioritize the case decisions given the renewed importance of the underlying policies. “There are competing concerns about being quick and efficient versus being more thoughtful and deliberative,” he said.
But while the board may hope to provide more transparency about Meta’s decision-making, it’s unclear how much influence the board will ultimately end up having. Under its rules, Meta is only required to comply with the group’s decisions surrounding individual posts. The board’s policy recommendations are non-binding and Meta has a mixed track record at implementing its suggestions.
It’s also unclear how the board might be able to weigh in on Meta’s other changes, like the shuttering of fact-checking programs or shift away from proactive content moderation. “We were quite critical of the fact checking program in general, but our ordinary cases make it a little bit hard to get at that problem because it doesn't come up through an appeals process within the scope of the kinds of cases that we get,” Carozza says. The board, he notes, could write a policy advisory opinion as it has with rules around COVID-19 misinformation and Meta’s cross-check rules for celebrities. But the board is only empowered to make those kinds of non-binding recommendations at Meta's request.
That gets at one of the fundamental tensions of the Oversight Board: it may operate independently, but Meta ultimately dictates how much influence it can wield. “It would be unrealistic to expect that the standard for value and success of the board is that Meta, 100% of the time, does everything we ever tell them to do,” Carozza says, “We’re one piece of a complicated jigsaw puzzle of accountability and oversight.”
Still, the fact that the group wasn’t consulted on such major policy moves has raised some uncomfortable questions for the board. Dozens of civil society groups recently signed an open letter urging board members to resign in protest. In a letter to Zuckerberg, some members of Congress said the board “is rendered toothless” when Meta refuses to follow its own principles.
Carozzo acknowledges the Oversight Board’s limitations, but says that the billions of people on Meta’s apps are ultimately better off with the board intervening where it can. “If everybody were to resign en masse … the only people who would lose are Meta’s end users, especially those who are in especially vulnerable situations [and] communities around the world.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-oversight-board-will-weigh-in-on-metas-new-hate-speech-policies-174044682.html?src=rss
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, makes a point during an appearance at SIGGRAPH 2024, the premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, Monday, July 29, 2024, in the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Amazon just held an event in New York City to reveal the long-awaited revamp of its Alexa chatbot. This refreshed assistant can perform many new tasks, thanks to some AI wizardry, and there are a few different ways for consumers to access the digital companion. There’s voice activation with Echo devices, of course, but the company has also built a dedicated web portal for Alexa+.
This portal will allow Amazon customers to interact with Alexa+ without having to boot up the app or interact with a smart speaker or smart display. This could be handy for making adjustments while at work or for those who feel comfortable drafting lengthy queries with a traditional keyboard. Consumers will also be able to continue using the app, but Amazon promises a redesign in the near future to accommodate the new features offered by Alexa+.
Amazon
For the uninitiated, Alexa+ is a juiced up version of the long-standing chatbot. It leverages conversational AI and integration with Amazon services to assist users in a number of new ways. It has contextual awareness, so it can remember earlier parts of a conversation, and can complete relatively complex tasks. The company showed off demos of the assistant finding recipes, booking dinner reservations, searching for the correct part of a movie and a whole lot more.
It looks pretty cool, but it’s also fairly expensive. Alexa+ begins rolling out over the next few weeks to select Echo Show devices and costs $20 per month. However, it’s free for Prime subscribers. Prime currently costs $15 per month in the US. Hopefully that price won’t be rising with the inclusion of Alexa+.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/amazons-ai-heavy-alexa-will-be-accessible-on-the-web-164724844.html?src=rss
Amazon held its first major product event of the year on Wednesday and, as expected, it was largely (okay, entirely) about Alexa. The company first announced its next-gen, AI-powered voice assistant back in 2023, but technical issues forced Amazon to delay its formal unveiling and rollout. Amazon's hardware chief, Panos Panay, and his devices and services team were at the event to show off Alexa+.
Here's a rundown of everything Amazon announced at its first product event of 2025:
Alexa+
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
After lots (and lots) of boring rambling about generative AI from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy at Wednesday's event, Panay took the mic to start sharing the actual news. Alexa+ is the name of the company's upgraded voice assistant. The company will start to roll it out next month, beginning with Echo Show devices. Alexa+ costs $20 per month, but Prime members get access at no extra cost. Prime currently costs $15 per month, so we have to wonder if a price increase is coming there.
Alexa+ is designed to be more conversational and useful across compatible devices. It can remember your preferences, such as the types of food you like and dislike, and it factors those into your recipe requests. Alexa+ can detect your tone and mood. In a live demo, it appeared to try to help Panay remain calm during his presentation.
Panay claimed that, among other things, smart home management "has transformed with Alexa+." You can use the voice assistant to, for instance, move music from an Echo device to another speaker or a TV, or jump to a certain scene in a movie that's on Prime Video.
Amazon claims the upgraded voice assistant can answer questions about footage captured with Ring cameras, photos taken with an Echo Show, emails, files such as PDFs, hand-written notes, your calendar, upcoming sports games and much more. Alexa+ can use a service called Suno (which record labels have sued for scraping their music to train its AI modes) to generate custom songs on the fly.
Much like OpenAI has for ChatGPT, Amazon has partnered with a number of news organizations with the aim of answering questions about a variety of topics with current information. Other partners include Uber for ordering rides, OpenTable for booking a restaurant reservation, Spotify, Sonos, Samsung, Xbox, Tidal, Dyson, NASA and "tens of thousands" more. There's Amazon Fresh integration for grocery ordering, and you can see what's in your cart on your screen.
Elsewhere, Alexa+ has some features that are apparently kid-friendly. The voice assistant can use genAI to tell kids customized stories based on what they want to hear about. It can also answer questions they have (hopefully without any of those incorrect or false results that delayed Alexa+).
Panay led into the announcement and demos by noting that Alexa, as it stands, can be frustrating to use but genAI can help to mitigate those annoyances. He added that an AI chatbot wouldn't be sufficient for Amazon's vision for Alexa and that people need something easy to use that allows them to "actually take action." With Alexa+, Panay claimed that the "intimidation factor" of genAI is no more. Sure!
Alexa.com and new phone apps
Amazon
There are other ways to access Alexa+ other than on an Echo device. Amazon revealed that you'll be able to use the upgraded voice assistant via alexa.com, which looks very basic at the time of writing. Seriously, the screenshot above is all that's on the website, which looks like it was knocked together in five minutes. That'll surely change soon, as a demo at the event indicated that you'll be able to type in queries. Amazon is also revamping the Alexa iOS and Android apps to include access to the upgraded assistant.
New devices
There was diddly squat on this front. It was widely expected that Amazon would introduce new hardware to go along with Alexa+, such as fresh Echo Buds, Echo speakers, smart displays and so on.
But nope! The event was all about the upgraded voice assistant which, at least to start with, requires a screen like an Echo Show, smartphone or computer to use. However, the company says Alexa+ will run on nearly every Alexa-compatible device it has released.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/everything-announced-at-amazons-alexa-ai-event-164613305.html?src=rss
Following years of development, Amazon's next-generation digital assistant is nearly ready for public use. Panos Panay, senior vice president of devices and services, demoed Alexa+ at the company's 2025 devices event, and it gave a glimpse of how generative AI could supercharge a product millions of people use.
The model powering Alexa+ can detect tone and mood and respond accordingly, with a completely new voice — one that sounds more natural. Moreover, it's only necessary to say "Alexa" once to wake the assistant, and it will then follow the conversation. Panay said Alexa+ has contextual awareness, with the ability to "remember" earlier parts of a conversation. "You can have almost any conversation — that intimidation factor of AI is gone."
In one of the more impressive demos Amazon showed off, Panay asked Alexa+ to play a song without actually naming it properly. "What's the song Bradley Cooper sings.. it's like a duet?" Alexa+ correctly answered "Shallow," and said Cooper sings it with Lady Gaga in A Star is Born.Panay then asked Alexa to "move" the music to the "right side of the room," and the assistant properly identified the correct speaker and played the music there. According to Panay, it will even understand requests like "play the music everywhere but don't wake the baby." In that case, Alexa+ will be able to reason that it shouldn't cast music to the nursery.
Amazon
On first glance, Alexa+ also offers much deeper (and smarter) integration with Amazon's disparate services. For instance, when watching Prime Video it's possible to jump to a specific scene using details like the name of an actor or character, with no need to manually fast forward or rewind through the footage. It's possible to search through Ring footage in much the same way. During his demo, Panay asked Alexa+ to help him remember if someone walked the family dog recently, and the assistant correctly jumped to the correct clip.
That level of integration should extend to third-party apps with Amazon offering new tools to companies like Uber, Grubhub and OpenTable to allow Alexa+ to access information from their platforms intelligently. In one demo, Amazon showed how Alexa+ was able to make a reservation on OpenTable and then add a reminder to the user's calendar. Moments later, the assistant booked an Uber ride for a person and sent them a text message notifying them of the upcoming ride. It will be interesting to see how this capability works in real life; the demo involved a hypothetical pickup at JFK in New York, and if you've ever been to that airport, you know finding the correct Uber can involve complicated pickup zones and even a shuttle train along the way.
Multi-modality with Alexa+ extends to documents, and this is where Amazon's demo didn't go quite according to plan. When Mara Segal, director of Alexa, asked Alexa+ a question about a HOA document she shared with the assistant, Alexa talked over Mara before correctly responding after a second request. Amazon says Alexa+ will be able to act on information from documents to provide helpful summaries and add events to your calendar.
Alexa+ will come included with Amazon Prime. Amazon will also offer the enhanced digital assistant separately for $20 per month. For context, Prime currently costs $15 per month in the US. The company will begin rolling out early access to Alexa+ starting next month, with availability expanding over the coming months in waves. Initially, Amazon is bringing Alexa+ to devices with screens. If you don't own an Echo Show 8, 10, 15 or 21, you can buy one of those smart displays now and you'll be among the first to get early access as Amazon rolls out Alexa+ to more people.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-is-a-smarter-more-conversational-ai-version-of-amazons-digital-assistant-154349563.html?src=rss
The UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) has advised the government to ensure half of all homes in the UK have heat pumps — electric replacements for gas boilers — by 2040 as part of its Seventh Carbon Budget to reach net zero by 2050. It also recommended making four out of five cars electric.
The UK’s carbon budgets are intended to help it achieve a balance between the greenhouse gasses it produces and how much is taken out of the atmosphere. Besides switching to electric cars and heat pumps and moving away from fossil fuels, the CCC added that reducing consumption of meat and dairy would also help. Although the UK government isn’t bound to accept the CCC’s guidance, doing so makes the carbon target legally binding. The government can decide how it wants to hit the goal.
The UK has been pushing for heat pumps since 2021, especially ones powered by hydrogen. Engadget senior editor Dan Cooper also broke down how difficult it was for him to completely eschew natural gas in 2022, citing how expensive it was to install a heat pump even with government discounts. While technology is rapidly becoming more efficient, the CCC’s plans aren’t guaranteed to work.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/half-of-uk-homes-will-need-heat-pumps-by-2040-to-hit-climate-goals-151406654.html?src=rss
Google has been offering the Results About You tool since 2022 and updated it once in 2023. A part of Google Search, the tool looks for your personal information online and lets you request its removal. Today, the tech giant is announcing the latest changes, including a redesigned hub and the ability to update outdated search results to reflect the latest changes.
The redesign isn’t only for show. You can now submit removal requests directly from Search with fewer actions by clicking or tapping the three dots beside a search result. If you manage to have content about you deleted or changed from a website but Google Search hasn’t caught up, you can refresh the search, which will ”recrawl the page and obtain the latest information.” In other words, you can always see the most up-to-date results about you.
While these updates are helpful, they don’t introduce any major changes. The 2023 update to Results About You was more substantial, introducing proactive searches containing your info and the ability to remove consensual explicit images of yourself.
While Google didn’t introduce any significant changes to “results about you” last year, it did become available in Australia and South Africa last May. However, this helpful privacy feature remains inaccessible in many countries, including Malaysia, where I’m from. Google also doesn’t say where it’s available, so you’ll have to check your Google account to see if it works for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/google-is-making-it-even-easier-to-remove-your-personal-information-on-search-145326075.html?src=rss
Apparently almost all undergraduate students are using AI now, in one way or another. A new report from the UK's Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) found that 92 percent of students have used generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, for their studies. At the same time, 88 percent of these students have used it for exams. These numbers are a tremendous increase from HEPI's February 2024 report in which 66 percent and 53 percent participants relayed use, respectively.
The top reasons students reported using AI include saving time, improved quality of their work and getting instant support. Wealthier, STEM-focused and male respondents were more enthusiastic about AI in the survey. Students' main arguments against utilizing AI included cheating accusations, being given fake results or hallucinations and getting biased results. Women and younger students were more likely to voice concerns. HEPI surveyed 1,041 British and international students in the UK during December 2024.
Meanwhile, universities tended to score well with students on the integrity of their AI policies. Four-fifths of respondents stated that their school had a clear AI policy and, notably, 76 percent believe their university would spot AI use for assessed work (yes, despite that 88 percent that have done it). Staff are also better prepared to help with AI, with 42 percent of students responding that the staff is "well-equipped," up from 18 percent last year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nearly-all-uk-undergrads-use-ai-in-their-studies-according-to-a-new-report-144221715.html?src=rss
Alibaba is giving people free access to its generative artificial intelligence models that can produce highly realistic videos and images from both text and image input. The company has announced that four variants of its Wan 2.1 series, the latest version of its generative AI technology, are now open source and can be downloaded and modified by users. Researchers, academics and commercial entities can all get them from Alibaba Cloud's ModelScope and Hugging Face platforms, both of which give people access to open-source AI models. As Reuters said, the models Alibaba has open sourced are called T2V-1.3B, T2V-14B, I2V-14B-720P and I2V-14B-480P, with the 14B indicating that the model can accept 14 billion parameters.
Last month, Chinese company DeepSeek made its R1 reasoning model free to download and use, creating a clamor for more open-source AI technologies. DeepSeek even expanded its commitment to the open-source community and is in the process of releasing five code repositories behind its service.
Alibaba was one of the companies that joined the fray to develop generative AI tech following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT two years ago. Just recently, Alibaba Group's Chairman, Joe Tsai, said that the company's generative AI technology will power artificial intelligence features for iPhones meant for sale in the Chinese market. Apple couldn't use the same AI tech for phones released in China due to strict regulations surrounding AI products, so it has to look for local partners, Alibaba being one of them.
🌟 Big News from @alibaba_cloud! 🌟 Meet WanX - our next-gen AI model redefining video generation !
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alibaba-offers-free-access-to-its-ai-model-that-can-generate-realistic-video-and-images-133045633.html?src=rss
SHANGHAI, CHINA - FEBRUARY 24, 2025 - An interior view of Alibaba's headquarters in Shanghai, China, February 24, 2025. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Apple is far from saintly, but, compared to its fellow tech giants, it did something right. The company's shareholders have voted to keep its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, following a push by conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), to remove them, Reuters reports. The Center's proposal, Request to Cease DEI Efforts, failed 8.84 billion votes to 210.45 million votes — or about 2.3 percent of the vote.
Many of these programs emerged or expanded when the Black Lives Matter movement exploded onto the global stage in 2020. However, President Trump's criticisms and threats that DEIs could violate the law — along with spineless greed from executives — has seen companies like Meta and Google reduce or even fully remove these programs. Those in favor of the proposal at Apple argued that the company could face an uptick in discrimination cases if current policies remain.
At the meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that "strength has always come from hiring the very best people and then providing a culture of collaboration, one where people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives come together to innovate."
Now, none of this is to say that Apple has incredible DEI efforts. Previously, its shareholders rejected greater transparency about its racial and gender gaps. They also voted down a measure that would require Apple to further investigate the risks of its AI efforts.
Cook is also doing plenty of appeasing when it comes to Trump. The pair reportedly met last week and Apple has announced $500 billion in US-based spending over the next four years. He also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and attended it alongside Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and other tech executives.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-is-keeping-its-dei-program-130033491.html?src=rss
If you know you want an Apple Watch, but aren’t sure which one to get, this guide is here to explain the differences between the three models. The company’s flagship Apple Watch Series 10 has robust fitness tracking and health monitoring, as well as helpful iPhone integrations. We named it the best smartwatch overall. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 packs a few extra features and is geared towards serious athletes and outdoor adventurers — and it’s also the most expensive. The oldest model of the bunch is the budget Apple Watch SE from 2022, which you can often find on sale for under $200. It gives you a surprising number of features for the price. Check out the buying advice below to get the full story on the chips, sensors, features, battery life and price to help you pick the best Apple Watch for your wrist.
The new Apple Watch Series 10 has an S10 SiP (system in a package) chip with a four-core Neural Engine. The Ultra 2 was updated last September with Apple’s S9 SiP. Both chips allow for on-device processing of Siri requests as well as dictation, translation, automatic workout detection and the Double Tap gesture that lets you answer calls or stop an alarm by tapping your thumb and forefinger together twice. It also enables faster machine learning performance for interpreting sensor data, speech recognition and performing other “thinking” tasks. The Apple Watch SE still relies on the S8 SiP, which was also used in the Series 8 and the original Ultra.
Both the Series 10 and Ultra 2 can measure certain vital signs like heart rate, as well as take an ECG. Temperature sensors can help track ovulation, while underwater temperature sensors may come in handy while swimming and snorkeling. Both also support fall-detection and crash-detection as a safety feature. All three models have a compass and altimeter. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has an onboard SOS siren, as well as dive features like a depth gauge. Water features were added to the Apple Watch Series 10, but with a shallower depth rating (just six meters, as compared to 40 meters on the Ultra). The Ultra includes blood oxygen sensors, but a patent dispute has forced Apple to disable that health feature on new models sold in the US and the hardware isn’t present in the new flagship model.
All three models support near field communication (NFC), the chip that enables Apple Pay. Once you set it up using the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, you can pay for stuff at any store that accepts Apple Pay, even if you don't have your phone with you.
Displays and case sizes
The wide-angle OLED display on the Apple Watch 10 lets you see the always-on display from more angles. The Ultra 2 also has an always-on display, but you’ll have to lift your wrist to tell time or read notifications on the SE. The SE can reach a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits, the Series 10 can get as bright as 2,000 and the Ultra 2 hits 3,000 nits. Both higher-end screens can dim to a single nit, making them less distracting in the dark.
The Apple Watch Series 10 came with a new finish and case material — a glossy anodized jet black finish on the aluminum model and the option for a titanium case. The Ultra 2 also got a new finish, satin black, that utilizes a PVD (physical vapor deposition) process to apply the color.
As for case sizes, the SE is available in 40 or 44mm. The Series 10 increased in size from the prior generation and now has a choice of a 42 or 46mm case. The Ultra 2 comes in just one size measuring 49mm. You also get the opportunity to pick the length and style for watch bands. The SE and Series 10 come in small/medium or medium/large and the Ultra 2 gives you the choice of small, medium or large.
The Series 10 (left) and Series 9 (right).
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
Battery life
Since it’s the largest wearable, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 sports the biggest battery and can last for a claimed 36 hours on a charge. That number jumps up to 72 hours if you turn on low power mode. Both the Apple Watch 10 and the SE are rated by Apple to go for 18 hours before they need a visit to the charger, and longer when using battery saver mode. That means if you want to use either of those models regularly for sleep tracking, you may need to recharge them a bit before bed.
Fitness and wellness features
Believe it or not, all three Apple Watches have similar fitness tracker chops. The Activity app uses three “rings” to keep tabs on how much you’re moving in a day: The Move ring tracks your active calories; the Exercise ring monitors the minutes you’ve spent walking, running, doing yoga and so on; and the Stand ring tells you how many hours in a day you’ve stood up and moved around for at least one minute.
Different internal sensors detect those activities, for example the accelerometer senses when you’re moving versus sitting still, and the optical heart rate sensor judges how hard you're working out and how many calories you’ve burned. You can set your goals for each ring and you’ll earn badges and animations when you hit them.
The Workout app lets you start and track an exercise session. The sensors can even auto-detect when you’re working out, tapping your wrist to suggest you track the activity. Apple Watches will integrate with Apple’s Fitness+ subscription, displaying real time heart rate and calorie burn data on your iPhone, iPad or even Apple TV 4K as you take a class. Fitness+ also includes audio-guided walks and runs with just your watch and Bluetooth earbuds. All three models support the Activity and Workout apps for free. The Fitness+ app also works with all Apple Watches, but costs $10 per month.
New features enabled with watchOS 11 include Training Load that gauges your body’s response to workouts over time, which could help athletes better prepare for events like marathons. Users can also now skip a day (or more) from fitness tracking metrics when they need to rest or aren’t feeling up to the challenge of closing their rings. The new OS also supports offline maps, which could prove useful when hiking far from cellular coverage.
Siri
You can get the weather, start a workout, identify a song and dictate a text just by asking Siri. All Apple Watch models support the Raise to Speak feature that bypasses the need to say “Hey Siri” and will instead listen for your request when you lift your wrist near your mouth.
Both the Series 10 and the Ultra 2 utilize onboard processing of Siri requests. That means executing simple requests like starting workouts and timers are quicker, as they won’t need to access external networks. However, requests like sending texts or getting weather forecasts still need to communicate with Wi-Fi or cellular, so you’ll need to have your phone nearby if you have a GPS-only model.
Carbon neutral options
The Apple Watch Series 9 with the aluminum case was the company's first carbon neutral product. Apple defines its carbon neutral products as those that use "100 percent clean electricity for manufacturing and product use, 30 percent recycled or renewable material by weight and 50 percent of shipping without the use of air transportation." Combined, Apple says those changes reduced the emissions by around 75 percent, and the company will use credits so make up for the remaining emissions.
Currently, the Apple Watch Series 10 in either aluminum or titanium with the sport loop band, braided solo loop or Milanese loop, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 with the trail loop or alpine loop bands are designated as carbon neutral products.
Price
There’s a $550 difference between the cheapest and most expensive Apple Watches. For $250 (and often on sale for less), you can get the 40mm Apple Watch SE with GPS-only connectivity; adding cellular connectivity ups the price by $50. The Apple Watch Series 10 starts at $399 for the 42mm, non-cellular model in aluminum and goes as high as $749 for the 46mm titanium case (which is only available with GPS and cellular). The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has just one price: $799 for a titanium 49mm case with both GPS and cellular power.
How we tested Apple Watches
Engadget has been reviewing Apple Watches since the first one came out in 2015. Since then, we’vetestedeverysubsequentmodelApplehasreleased, including the Ultra and SEmodels, spending at least a few days or even a couple weeks with one strapped to our wrists. During that time, we run, hit the gym, go on hikes and wear it while sleeping, all the while gauging how it tracks various metrics, integrates with the iPhone and performs every other trick Apple claims its smartwatches can do.
Since we also review smartwatches from other companies, such as Samsung and Google, our editors can compare Apple Watches not just to previous generations, but also to other wearables on the market. Our buying guides and recommendations rely on first-hand testing by Engadget staff.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/best-apple-watch-160005462.html?src=rss
Microsoft announced that it is making some features available for free in its Copilot AI assistant. Everyone now has unlimited access to Voice and Think Deeper, which is powered by OpenAI’s o1 model.
Copilot got the Voice feature, which allows users to have conversations with the AI assistant, in October 2024. Think Deeper is intended to parse complicated queries, such as assessing the pros and cons of major home purchases, taking cost and long-term value into account.
"We are working hard to scale unlimited access to advanced features to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible," the blog post noted. Microsoft noted that users could experience delays or interruptions during times of high usage for these newly free Copilot applications. Members of the Copilot Pro subscription will still have preferred access to the company's latest AI models at those peak usage times, as well as to new features that are still in the experimental stage.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-copilot-offers-voice-and-o1-powered-think-deeper-for-free-232723768.html?src=rss
A bizarre bug is causing iPhones to automatically change the word “racist” to “Trump” when using the built-in dictation feature in iOS. The issue, which seems to have been discovered by TikTok users, crops up when using the voice-to-text feature in Apple apps like Messages.
When speaking the word “racist,” iOS briefly transcribes the text as “Trump” before changing it back to the intended word. It’s not clear what could cause this behavior. Engadget was able to replicate the issue, as you can see in the GIF below.
Apple told The New York Timesit was due to “phonetic overlap between the two words,” despite the fact that the two words do not sound similar. That also doesn't explain why "racist," with a lowercase "r" would transcribe as "Trump" — seemingly a reference to our current president — and not "trump," the noun. An AI expert who once worked on Siri told the paper it could be a “serious prank” on the part of an Apple employee.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Whether it’s a bug or prank, it surfaced at a particularly embarrassing time for the iPhone maker, which announced on Monday that it planned to invest $500 billion in manufacturing facilities for AI servers. The investment, most of which was already planned, came after Apple CEO Tim Cook met with President Donald Trump at the White House last week.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/iphones-are-briefly-changing-racist-to-trump-due-to-an-ios-dictation-issue-230712021.html?src=rss
New models of the Apple iPhone 16 are displayed after Apple's "It's Glowtime" event in Cupertino, California, September 9, 2024. Apple on Monday announced a new iPhone built for generative artificial intelligence as it seeks to boost sales and show it is keeping up in the technology race. (Photo by Nic Coury / AFP) (Photo by NIC COURY/AFP via Getty Images)
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is one of my favorite games of the year, so you'll forgive me if I spend the next 300 words or so writing about a limited-edition plush the game's creator, Gareth Damian Martin, is producing with the help of crowdfunding platform Makeship. Starting today, you can pledge $30 to support Martin's campaign, and if enough other people do as well, everyone will get a cute cat plush sometime later this year. The toy was designed by French illustrator Guillaume Singelin, who also did the character designs for the game. Right now, the campaign is sitting at 45 percent funded with 90 toys sold, and the better part of 22 days to go.
And I mean look at the plush, isn't it one of the cutest things you've seen? For the uninitiated, the Stray, not to be confused with another cyberpunk cat, is one of the characters Citizen Sleeper 2's protagonist can encounter during their journey. As far as I'm aware, they only appear in one scene throughout the entire runtime of the game (how very cat-like of them, I know), but it's a moment that's emblematic of so many of Citizen Sleeper 2's strengths.
"This cat, the one on your ship, was born here. That much is obvious," writes Martin in the scene. "It is a creature of zero-gravity, a being that orbits and glides, not one that leaps and stalks." Without spoiling anything, what follows is a touching and thoughtful meditation on memory, and how we can choose whether our memories define us.
If you haven't played Citizen Sleeper 2 yet, consider this a recommendation. It is easily worth your time and more. You can play the game on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. As for the Stray, they're expected to start shipping on June 12, 2025.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/im-writing-about-this-cute-cat-plush-so-you-play-one-of-2025s-best-games-223325680.html?src=rss
The Federal Aviation Agency has started testing Starlink terminals for upgrades to the networks that manage airspace, creating the latest conflict of interest between the US government and Elon Musk. The FAA posted (fittingly on the social network Musk also owns) that it is testing a Starlink terminal in Atlantic City, NJ, and two terminals in Alaska. The post claims that the department had been considering using the SpaceX tech since the prior presidential administration.
The agency, which oversees all areas of civil aviation, has levied fines and required reviews over the years related to various SpaceX operations. Most recently, the agency ordered SpaceX to investigate what caused a mid-flight explosion with its Starship rocket last month.
A source told Bloomberg that Musk had approved a shipment of 4,000 Starlink terminals to the FAA last week. The agency has an existing contract with Verizon Communications, worth $2 billion, for supporting and maintaining its infrastructure. Bloomberg's sources were unsure how the Starlink tests would impact the Verizon deal.
This isn't the first time a Musk-owned business has benefited since the South African billionaire inserted himself into the US political landscape. He and his so-called DOGE group has been leading cuts within the federal ranks, including at the FAA and at other departments that oversee his companies. For instance, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration saw about a 10 percent reduction to its staff this month, including cuts to the small division overseeing autonomous vehicles such as those from Tesla.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/amid-a-musk-led-overhaul-the-faa-starts-doing-business-with-spacex-221900620.html?src=rss
FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration sign hangs in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Samsung's new 9100 PRO Series solid-state drives (SSDs) include the company's first consumer-grade 8TB NVMe SSD. The latest models use the speedy PCIe 5.0 standard, which — unless you train AI models for a living — is almost certainly overkill for your PC needs.
The Samsung 9100 PRO series offers up to double the storage of its predecessor, the 990 PRO line. It launches in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB models, with the 8TB ones not arriving until later this year. Each tier ships in models with and without a heatsink (whether you need that will depend on whether your motherboard includes one for NVMe drives).
Samsung
The company says the 9100 PRO SSDs have sequential read speeds of up to 14,800 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 13,400 MB/s. Their random read speeds are as fast as 2,200K IOPS (input-output per second), with random write speeds up to 2,600K IOPS. The company says the 9100 PRO SSDs are up to 49 percent more power-efficient than the 990 PRO line and have a profile as slim as 0.35 inches (around 8.9mm).
But as Engadget's Igor Bonifacic wrote in our SSD buying guide, very few real-world use cases demand those speeds. (Think people training large-scale AI models and the like.) As it stands, PCIe 4.0 drives already benchmark far beyond what most gamers and other consumer uses require. They also cost about half as much.
The first 9100 PRO SSDs arrive in March: 1TB ($200), 2TB ($300) and 4TB ($550). Variants with a heatsink tack an extra $20 onto those prices. As for the 8TB tier, which Samsung hasn't announced pricing for, it doesn't arrive until the second half of the year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/samsungs-9100-pro-ssd-line-includes-its-first-8tb-nvme-model-for-consumers-205727818.html?src=rss
Warner Bros Discovery made sweeping cuts to its games division today, closing three studios and ending development on its planned Wonder Woman project. Monolith Productions, Player First Games and WB Games San Diego will be shuttered due to a “disappointing 2024” for WB's gaming business, according to an internal memo from JB Perrette, the company's CEO and president of global streaming and games. Bloomberg broke the news of the restructuring.
Monolith Productions made two well-regarded Lord of the Rings games, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. The studio was going to apply its popular Nemesis system from those titles to a Wonder Woman game, which was announced back in 2021.
WB acquired Player First Games last year. The team was responsible for MultiVersus, a platform fighting game that reached 20 million players in its early days before dwindling to a planned shutdown of the online services when its fifth season ends this May.
WB Games San Diego was working on AAA free-to-play gaming. In December, Warner Bros Games also announced that it would lay off employees at WB Games Montreal as well as pulling back on the studio's game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
According to the internal email from Perrette, WB's gaming efforts will be focused on four of its properties: Harry Potter (including Hogwarts Legacy), Mortal Kombat, the DC universe and Game of Thrones. "We need to make some substantial changes to our portfolio/team structure if we are to commit the necessary resources to get back to a ‘fewer but bigger franchises’ strategy," Perette said.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/warner-bros-discovery-slashes-gaming-business-closing-three-studios-204344213.html?src=rss
As the name suggests, it also boasts a ginormous display, which Razer describes as “the world’s first 18-inch dual mode display.” This means that users can instantly switch between UHD+ at 240Hz for appreciating the finer details of AAA games and FHD+ at 440Hz for absolute speed.
The keyboard has been fully redesigned, with a new scissor switch that allows for 35 percent more travel distance versus the previous generation, along with a 63g actuation force. There’s a 10-key numeric keypad and dual-LED backlighting per key. Otherwise, the design remains mostly unchanged since the first Razer Blade 18 hit store shelves back in 2023.
Razer
Razer also promises “desktop levels of connectivity.” To that end, there are a pair of Thunderbolt ports, including a Thunderbolt 5 port. It supports Wi-Fi 7, HDMI 2.1, Bluetooth 5.4 and Gigabit LAN. Each Blade 18 includes a six-speaker virtual surround sound system that supports THX Spatial Audio and a 5MP camera with a privacy shutter.
The good news? Pre-orders are open right now. The bad news? This is a Razer Blade 18, so it’s a real wallet-buster. Pricing starts at $3,200, but can shoot all the way up to $4,900 depending on RAM and storage configurations. Early adopters do get a free skin and a laptop stand.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/razer-announced-a-refreshed-blade-18-laptop-with-a-dual-mode-display-200943604.html?src=rss
