Game Freak held a Pokémon Presents livestream today and we finally got a good look at Pokémon Legends: Z-A. The new trailer for the follow-up to the well-received Pokémon Legends: Arceus reveals the massive Lumiose City, which first appeared in Pokémon X and Y all the way back in 2013. It’s a bustling metropolis filled with skyscrapers, and a far cry from the serene countryside of Arceus.
The trailer spotlighted the three starter Pokémon players will be able to choose from. They include the gen 2 starters Chikorita and Totodile and the gen 5 starter Tepig. We also got a better look at the gameplay elements, and they seem like something of a hybrid between the real-time capture mechanics of Arceus and the old-school turn-based gameplay of traditional Pokémon titles.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A will also bring back Mega Evolutions, which turn regular pocket monsters into superpowered monstrosities with temporary stat boosts. This mechanic, just like Z-A’s location, was first introduced in Pokémon X and Y.
We have a bit longer to wait for this one. The game doesn’t come out until the end of the year. It’s also being released for the original Switch, despite the fact that the Switch 2 will most likely be on store shelves by that point. However, long-time readers may remember that the Switch 2 is backwards compatible, so it’ll run on both machines.
Game Freak also showed off a new game called Pokémon Champions, which is a cross-platform battle sim. Today’s Pokémon Presents livestream celebrated the 29th birthday of the franchise. Happy birthday, cute pets we force to live inside of tiny balls and fight to the death!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/new-pokemon-legends-z-a-trailer-reveals-an-absolutely-massive-version-of-lumiose-city-180550052.html?src=rss
Just like the MySports subscription, many of these new bundles come with live TV channels and subscriptions to streaming platforms. For instance, the MyEntertainment bundle allows access to around 40 channels, including Bravo and FX, but also includes a subscription to Disney+ with Hulu. That one costs $35 per month, making for a pretty good deal.
DirecTV
The MyNews bundle doesn’t come with any premium streaming subscriptions, but does allow access to the 24-hour news cycle in all of its brain-melting glory. Purchasers get access to all of the big ones here, including MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and, for some reason, Newsmax. It costs $40 per month, which seems like a lot just to watch a bunch of rich people yell at you, but what do I know.
MiEspañol offers access to more than 50 channels, including many Spanish-language stalwarts like Univision and Telemundo. It costs $35 per month. The MySports bundle, introduced in January, is still around, for $70 per month. It provides access to more than 25 sports-related channels and includes a subscription to ESPN+.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/directv-launches-genre-packs-a-more-affordable-way-to-get-channels-you-actually-want-163012043.html?src=rss
Sony is permanently reducing the price of the PlayStation VR2. Starting in March, the headset will cost $400, €450 and £400 — down from $550, €600 and £530, respectively. Included in the price cut is the Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle, which, like the standard package, will cost $400, €450 or £400 depending on your region. While it’s been possible to buy the PS VR2 for less than $400 during recent sales, the new pricing should give retailers the flexibility to discount the device even more aggressively down the road.
It’s hard to say what this means for the future of the PS VR2. Arguably, it was too expensive at launch, and at $400, it still costs more than the Meta Quest 3S, a standalone headset that doesn’t require a PlayStation 5 or PC to power it. Sony recently added support for low-latency hand tracking, but overall the company doesn’t appear keen on investing more time and money into the platform. Major first-party studios haven’t made many games for the PS VR2, and those that have, including the creators of Call of the Mountain, have seen layoffs in recent months.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-cuts-the-price-of-ps-vr2-to-400-154138227.html?src=rss
Kia has officially launched the EV4, its first electric sedan and hatchback, at the 2025 Kia EV Day in Tarragona, Spain. The company first unveiled the EV4 as a concept at CES last year, along with several other models. Buyers can choose between the 58.3 kWh standard and the 81.4 kWh long-range battery options, with the long-ranger sedan being able to run for 630 km (391.5 miles) on a single charge. Meanwhile, the standard battery sedan can last for 430 km (267 miles), whereas the hatchback vehicle has a range of 590 km (366.6 miles). The vehicle's 150 kW motor can go from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.4 seconds for the standard battery variant and 7.7 seconds for the long-range variant. Both variations have a top speed of 170 km/h.
The EV4 models use Kia's Digital Key 2.0 system that will let owners control certain functions remotely, such as being able to the start the vehicles' engines, through an app across 15 different devices. It even works with Apple Watch. The electric vehicles come with Kia's Highway Driving Assist technology that give owners access to Driver Attention Warning, Forward Collision Avoidance Assist, Lane Following Assist, Intelligent Speed Limit Assist and Remote Parking Assist Entry. There's also an advanced feature called Driving Package F+ that can detect hazardous situations using cameras and radars and can help drivers maneuver their vehicles to safety.
Kia will be manufacturing the EV4 sedan in Korea, where it will initially be available starting in March. It will produce the five-door hatchback version, meant for sale in Europe in the second half of the year, in Slovakia. The company has yet to reveal when it will start manufacturing the EV4 for the North American market, but it assured interested buyers that it's releasing the vehicle in the United States.
In addition to launching the EV4, Kia has also unveiled the Concept EV2 (pictured below) during the event. It described the EV2 as compact and city-friendly, with an expandable interior that has folding second-row seats. Kia is planning to sell the EV2 in "Europe and other regions" starting in 2026.
Kia
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/kias-ev4-its-first-electric-sedan-will-be-available-in-the-us-later-this-year-140039030.html?src=rss
If you’ve ever tried listening to your favorite playlist only to have it drowned out by chatty commuters, airplane engines or other distracting noises, you might want to consider some headphones with active noise cancelation (ANC). Whether you’re working in a bustling coffee shop, catching a flight, or just trying to focus at home, a good pair of headphones with ANC will block out those distracting outside sounds so you can fully immerse yourself in your music, podcasts, or that new audiobook you’ve been dying to finish.
Noise-canceling headphones are designed for all kinds of situations, and each model will be a little different. Some feature plush memory foam ear cushions and an adjustable headband for all-day comfort, ideal for long listening sessions. It’s also worth considering a pair of headphones that offer hours of battery life that will keep the music going from morning meetings to evening workouts. If you’re after high-end sound quality and smart features like customizable ANC, there’s a pair out there that will suit your needs.
How to choose the best noise-canceling headphones for you
Design
When you’re shopping for the best wireless headphones, the first thing you’ll need to decide on is wear style. Do you prefer on-ear or over-ear headphones? For the purposes of this guide, I focus on the over-ear style as that’s what most noise-canceling headphones are nowadays. Sure, you can find on-ear models with ANC, but over-ear, active noise-canceling headphones are much more effective at blocking outside sounds since your ears are completely covered.
For gamers, there are also gaming headsets that feature noise cancellation — some even have detachable microphones, so they can double as over-ear headphones. However, for the purpose of this article, we’re only going to be focusing on noise-canceling headphones rather than headsets. Look for models with a comfortable headband and memory foam ear cups to ensure you can wear them for long periods without discomfort.
Many headphones also come with a range of color options, so if aesthetics matter to you, you’ll find plenty of choices beyond just black or white. Whether you’re looking for something neutral or a bold pop of color, brands now offer a variety of styles to match your personal taste.
Finally, if you’re planning to wear your headphones for long periods of time, it’s important to pick a model with a comfortable fit. Memory foam ear cups, an adjustable headband, and lightweight materials can make all the difference during extended listening sessions. After all, great sound is only part of the equation; comfort matters just as much.
Type of noise cancellation
Next, you’ll want to look at the type of ANC a set of headphones offers. You’ll come across terms like “hybrid active noise cancellation” or “hybrid adaptive active noise cancellation,” and there are key differences between the two. A hybrid ANC setup uses microphones on the inside and on the outside of the device to detect outside noise and cancel it out. By analyzing input from both mics, a hybrid system can combat more sounds than “regular” ANC, but it does so at a constant level that doesn’t change.
Adaptive ANC takes the hybrid configuration a step further by continuously adjusting the noise cancellation for changes in your environment and any leakage around the padding of the ear cups. Adaptive noise-canceling also does a better job with wind noise, which can really kill your vibe while using headphones outdoors. Some high-end headphones also support Dolby Atmos, which enhances spatial audio and makes everything from music to movies sound more immersive. For the purposes of this best headphones list, I’m only considering products with hybrid ANC or adaptive ANC setups because those are the most effective at blocking noise and improving your overall listening experience.
Customization
You’ll also want to check to see if the ANC system on a prospective set of headphones offers adjustable levels of noise cancellation or presets. These can help you dial in the amount of ANC you need for various environments, but it can also help you save battery life. Master & Dynamic, for example, has ANC presets that provide both maximum noise blocking and more efficient cancellation that is more energy efficient. Other companies may include a slider in their companion apps that let you adjust the ANC level to your liking. Some high-end models even allow you to fine-tune the ANC for specific types of environments.
How we test noise-canceling headphones
The primary way we test headphones is to wear them as much as possible. I prefer to do this over a one-to-two-week period, but sometimes deadlines don’t allow it. During this time, I listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the headphones to take both voice and video calls.
Since battery life for headphones can be 30 hours or more, I drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent). Due to the longer battery estimates, I’ll typically power the headphones off several times and leave them that way during a review. This simulates real-world use and keeps me from having to constantly monitor the process for over 24 straight hours.
To test ANC performance specifically, I use headphones in a variety of environments, from noisy coffee shops to quiet home offices. When my schedule allows, I use them during air travel since plane noise is a massive distraction to both work and relaxation. Even if I can’t hop on a flight, I’ll simulate a constant roar with white noise machines, bathroom fans, vacuums and more. I also make note of how well each device blocks human voices, which are a key stumbling block for a lot of ANC headphones.
ANC-related features are something else to consider. Here, I do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as I work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double checked for improvements or regression. If the headphones I’m testing are an updated version of a previous model, I’ll spend time getting reacquainted with the older set. Ditto for the closest competition for each new set of headphones that I review.
Other noise-canceling headphones we tested
AirPods Max
Apple’s AirPods Max are premium, well-designed headphones that incorporate all of the best features you find on standard AirPods: solid noise cancelation, spatial audio and easy Siri access. However, their $550 starting price makes them almost prohibitively expensive, even for those with Apple devices. There are better options available at lower prices.
Sonos Ace
The Sonos Ace is an excellent debut for the company’s first headphones. The combination of refined design, great sound quality and home theater tricks creates a unique formula. However, ANC performance is just okay and key functionality is still in the works for many users.
Beats Studio Pro
The Studio Pro lacks basic features like automatic pausing, and multipoint connectivity is only available on Android. Moreover, they’re not very comfortable for people with larger heads. Overall sound quality is improved, though, and voice performance on calls is well above average.
Noise-canceling headphones FAQs
Does noise cancellation block all noise?
Noise cancellation doesn’t block out all noise, though it does drastically reduce the volume of most external sounds.
Is there a difference between wired vs wireless noise-canceling headphones?
In terms of sound quality, if you have two headphones — one wired and one wireless — with similar specs, the difference is going to be very minimal. However, wireless headphones offer more convenience, allowing you to move around more freely with your headphones on, which is why they often feature noise cancellation to minimize external sounds.
Does noise cancellation impact sound quality?
ANC does bear some weight on sound quality, but the impact of this often doesn’t outweigh the benefits. Noise cancellation reduces ambient noise, allowing a greater focus on audio detail. For audiophiles, however, there may be a small difference in sound fidelity when ANC is turned on.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-noise-canceling-headphones-130029881.html?src=rss
Meta has admitted to CNBC that Instagram is experiencing an error that's flooding users' accounts with Reels videos that aren't typically surfaced by its algorithms. "We are fixing an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended," the company told news organization. "We apologize for the mistake." Users have taken to social media platforms to ask other people whether they've also recently been flooded with Reels that contain violent and sexual themes. One user on Reddit said that their Reels pages was inundated with school shootings and murder.
Others said they're getting back-to-back gore videos, such as stabbings, beheadings and castration, nudity, uncensored porn and straight-up rape. Some said they still see similar videos even if they had enabled their Sensitive Content Control. Social media algorithms are designed to show you videos and other content similar to ones you usually watch, read, like or interact with. In this case, though, Instagram has been showing graphic videos even to those who haven't been interacting with similar Reels, and sometimes even after the user has taken the time to click "Not Interested" on a Reel with violent or sexual content.
The Meta spokesperson didn't tell CNBC what exactly the error was, but some of the videos people have reported seeing shouldn't have been on Instagram in the first place, based on the company's own policies. "To protect users... we remove the most graphic content and add warning labels to other graphic content so that people are aware it may be sensitive or disturbing before they click through," the company's policy reads. Meta's rules also state that it removes "real photographs and videos of nudity and sexual activity."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/meta-confirms-instagram-issue-thats-flooding-users-with-violent-and-sexual-reels-051631670.html?src=rss
SYMBOL - 28 January 2025, Baden-Württemberg, Rottweil: The application app of the video and photo sharing platform Instagram can be seen on the display of an iPhone. Photo: Silas Stein/dpa (Photo by Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images)
I’ve been traveling through time this week. Reviewing the iPhone 16e feels at once like I’m visiting my younger self and also forced to live in olden times, especially since I’ve been using an iPhone 16 Pro for months. No matter the device you’re currently using, getting the iPhone 16e necessitates embracing change. Sure, that’s part and parcel of getting any new phone (and any transition in life), but when it comes to the iPhone 16e, not all change is good. And when you consider the $599 starting price, many of the omissions, ostensibly made in an effort to squeeze Apple Intelligence into the most affordable iPhone, become harder to swallow.
It isn’t surprising that Apple had to make compromises with the iPhone 16e to offer a more affordable entry-level device; what’s unexpected is the decision to not add a second camera or MagSafe. Just the fact that it insists on calling the iPhone 16e’s 48-megapixel camera a “2-in-1 camera system,” makes it clear the company knows two sensors is something people want.
Instead, the iPhone 16e comes with an A18 chip that powers Apple Intelligence, as well as the C1 modem, which is the first designed by the company. You’ll need to be extremely meticulous when poring over the list of similarities and differences between all the currently available iPhones, since there are many tiny factors to consider. What wireless charging speed or standard of Wi-Fi would you need? Do you care about cameras?
Sure, you can compare these specs yourself, but I’m here to tell you exactly what these differences mean in the real world. In my week or so with the iPhone 16e, I felt the drawbacks of the camera the most — I can live without MagSafe and the Dynamic Island. But what the iPhone 16e does offer is fast performance, a clean design, long battery life and, most crucially, cheaper access to Apple’s ecosystem.
Design and display
Let’s be real: Apple was never going to launch another iPhone SE in 2025 with a dated design and no AI support. The iPhone 16e, like its name suggests, is visually very similar to the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup. That is, until you turn the screen on. Once you can see the bezels and the notch up top, the device has a stronger resemblance to an iPhone 14. I was only temporarily distracted by the relatively thick borders, though. Anyone coming to the iPhone 16e from an older iPhone is unlikely to be bothered by this. More importantly, the display is protected by the Ceramic Shield material that was introduced on the iPhone 12. The previous iPhone SE did not have this same protection.
On its back, the iPhone 16e has a plain white (or black) matte surface with a single camera at the top left corner. It was hard to differentiate between the three iPhone 16 models I carried around for testing unless I looked at their rears — that’s how similar they are. In fact, their dimensions are almost identical, with less than a millimeter and 3 grams separating the iPhone 16e and the iPhone 16.
iPhone 16e
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Pro
146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8 mm
5.78 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches
147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm
5.81 x 2.82 x. 0.31 inches
149.6 x 71.5 x 8.25 mm
5.89 x 2.81 x 0.32 inches
5.88 ounces / 167 grams
6.00 ounces / 170 grams
7.03 ounces / 189 grams
In real life, the only thing I really noticed was the weight. All these phones fit in my pockets and purses, and for once Apple’s cheapest phone doesn’t immediately appear drastically out of place. The iPhone 16e even has the Action Button that debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which I’ll talk more about later.
Even the most discerning reviewer will have a hard time complaining about the iPhone 16e’s 6.1-inch display. Not only does it finally feel like something you can use in 2025 thanks to its size (compared to the 4.7-inch anachronism that is the iPhone SE’s screen), the fact that it’s an OLED panel means it’s brighter and more vibrant. All the better to watch Instagram and TikTok videos on, right?
It’s worth noting, though, that the iPhone 16 gets significantly brighter. Even the iPhone 15, which costs $100 more than the 16e, hits the same numbers as the iPhone 16, though only the latter can get down to 1 nit of brightness. I'll also point out that many Android phones at this price offer faster refresh rates, which would make doomscrolling a lot smoother. The iPhone 16e is stuck at the same slow 60Hz as the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, while the Pro models get ProMotion speeds of up to 120Hz. Neither the iPhone 16 nor the 16e support Apple's Always On Display, either.
One final difference on the iPhone 16e is that it’s the last remaining handset across Apple’s lineup to have a notch on its display. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 both have the company’s pill-shaped Dynamic Island, which has functional benefits as well as looking better. It lets you keep an eye on live activities, like a timer, sports event ticker, ongoing media playback and more. It’s funny how dependent I’ve become on this feature in the years since it was introduced. On the iPhone 16e, I was slightly confused and annoyed that I couldn’t access quick controls for Spotify in the notch, for example, or that voice recordings wouldn’t appear in the notch as animated waveforms.
Still, people considering the iPhone 16e are more likely to have never encountered Dynamic Island in their daily lives, so it won’t be a jarring change. It’s unlikely to factor into your consideration when buying a new phone, but this experience certainly shed light on my feelings for a recent feature I’d grown to take for granted.
Camera experience and performance
Since reviewing the iPhone 16e has felt like traveling back in time, I took it to the Met museum to photograph some ancient artifacts, with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro as testing companions.
For the most part, the iPhone 16e and iPhone 16 delivered about the same level of detail, saturation and vibrancy. It was even hard to tell which of the two devices did better with my low-light shots of a beautiful chandelier suspended above a room from an 18th-century Parisian hotel. Although they have similar 48MP sensors, the iPhone 16’s is larger, which makes the closeness in performance here slightly surprising.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
The same goes for selfies, which largely looked almost identical whether I shot them on the iPhone 16 or the 16e. Though both devices pack 12MP TrueDepth cameras up front, each packs a custom sensor and lens that integrate with the software and Apple Silicon. It’s unclear what exactly the differences lie, but suffice it to say that regardless, they took photos of comparable quality.
It’d be nice if I could say the iPhone 16e delivered basically the same camera experience as the iPhone 16 for $200 less. But the lack of a second lens on the rear is limiting in a few key ways.
First, there’s the fact that an ultrawide camera is just more versatile. Not having one presented challenges quite quickly, like when I entered a small room in the British art hall and wanted to capture the entirety of a pair of tall display cases containing dozens of ornate plates. With the iPhone 16e, I had to back up so much that I almost had to leave the space to get the two cases to fit in the frame. On the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro, switching over to the 0.5x zoom option enabled me to take the shot without moving much at all.
You’ll also find an older version of Portrait mode on the iPhone 16e, and this is where the majority of my grievances with the camera lie. If you don’t care about pictures with blurred backgrounds and a faux depth of field effect, you’ll be a lot less bothered. But for those like me, it might be frustrating to learn that the iPhone 16e’s Portrait mode only works when it detects a face in the scene. This harkens back to the days of the iPhone 7 Plus, when Portrait Camera was first rolled out. Even then, Apple was able to apply the effect to non-human faces and objects like plants as the dual-camera system enabled the iPhone to calculate depth and add blur based on that.
Setting aside the annoyance I felt at not being able to use Portrait mode on food, animals or other subjects, the fact that the iPhone 16e is using data from one camera for this effect also impacts its results. This was noticeable in my portraits taken of a bust in the museum’s European Sculpture Court. With the pricier phone and its two cameras, Apple delivered more accurate blur, keeping the visage, hair and neck looking crisp. On the iPhone 16e, the sculpture’s neck and chest were blurry upon closer inspection.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
I ended up playing a game of “Will it Portrait or Will it Not Portrait” in the museum, pointing the iPhone 16e at random faces in faded tapestries, softly outlined sculptures and oh so many busts. Frequently, even when a face was clearly visible to me, the iPhone 16e wouldn’t recognize that one was in frame and did not allow me to snap a Portrait.
Again, this is frustrating only if you take a lot of pictures in that mode. You might be able to live with a single camera if you don’t mind inferior Portraits compared to higher-end iPhones. However, bear in mind that the solo sensor setup also means you won’t get things like the latest generation of Photographic Styles, the company’s sophisticated color and tone filters which I raved about when I first tested it for my iPhone 16 Pro review. While that’s a more recent feature, it’s hard to ignore that anyone coming from an iPhone 11 or later already has a dual-camera setup and will have to give up an ultrawide camera and a faceless Portrait mode.
The iPhone 16e is also missing camera features like Spatial, Action and Cinematic modes, which are omissions that actually matter less at this price. Though I think having Macro support would be nice, I can understand its absence since it’s for more niche use cases than portraits.
It’s also reasonable that the iPhone 16e doesn’t have Camera Control, which is the dedicated side button that debuted on the rest of the iPhone 16 family last year. I’ve grown to appreciate it as a quick, tactile way to launch the camera app (though I don’t care as much for the touch-sensitive slider controls).
I thought I’d miss it when having to test the iPhone 16e, since I was going to be repeatedly opening its camera all day. But I managed to mostly substitute that by configuring the Action button to launch the camera. The Action button’s location near the top of the right edge isn’t ideal, since it’s more of a reach, but it’s better than having to pull out the iPhone, tap its screen and long press or swipe the camera shortcut.
Brian Oh for Engadget
The Action Button as a gateway to Apple Intelligence
You can also set the Action button to switch between audio profiles or focus modes, turn on the Flashlight or even start any app or series of actions you can customize via Apple’s Shortcuts. Crucially, you can set the button to launch Visual Intelligence, as well. This represents the first time Visual Intelligence has been accessible via something other than Camera Control since its introduction with the iPhone 16 series last year. The capability is also coming to iPhone 15 Pro models via an iOS 18.4 update. At the moment, without long-pressing a physical button, you can’t use your iPhone’s camera to look up things around you.
When I set the iPhone 16e’s Action button to launch Visual Intelligence, I got basically the same experience as I did on the iPhone 16 Pro. I pointed it at nearby plants and the very fashionable and hip sneakers I had on. Though Siri (with ChatGPT’s help) did not correctly identify the brand of my shoes, it did suggest some similar styles. Google’s image search, which is the other of the two built-in options to get answers from your iPhone’s camera, delivered slightly more helpful results for the wooden table I was looking at and where I could buy something similar.
Apple Intelligence
Visual Intelligence is just one part of the entire Apple Intelligence package, which permeates the iPhone 16 lineup. I won’t dwell too long on the individual features here, since we’ve already covered them fairly extensively since the company started rolling them out last year. I will just say that I was able to fairly smoothly use Image Playground to create a background for an event I was coordinating in Apple Invites, get my haphazardly written notes proofread and summarize a Wikipedia entry on Zero Day TV series via Writing Tools. The iPhone 16e is a capable Apple Intelligence machine, if AI is your thing.
Performance, the Apple C1 modem and battery life
All of that is powered by the A18 chip sitting inside the iPhone 16e, and the fact that it’s in a phone that doesn’t cost $700 to start is surprising. It may have one less GPU core than the iPhone 16, but that didn’t hinder my escape from the hordes of ghouls chasing me down in Vampire Survivor. That’s a fairly simple game to run, computationally speaking, and I’ve yet to really push the iPhone 16e with more demanding options. But if you’re looking for a phone that will handle titles like Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile or League of Legends: Wild Rift without hiccups, you’ll have to spend hundreds more.
In daily use, the iPhone 16e was smooth and zippy, and the only slowdowns I encountered were in situations that also challenged powerhouses like the iPhone 16 Pro. That included waiting for Apple Intelligence to make a Genmoji of a “video shoot,” for example, or for Image Playground to return results based on the same prompt. Sometimes Cleanup in the Photos app would not respond despite my repeated drawing on things I wanted to erase from an image, but that feels more like an Apple Intelligence issue than a slow processor. I noticed the slightest delay compared to the iPhone 16 when waiting for Night mode to complete capturing a photo in low light, with the iPhone 16e taking a second or so longer.
With its bigger battery and new C1 modem, the iPhone 16e is supposed to last a few hours longer than the iPhone 16 when playing video. Though I was unable to run a full-on battery test, in general the iPhone 16e had no problem lasting well longer than 24 hours. I pulled it off the charger on Sunday at about 10am and on Tuesday morning I still had 60 percent left after a day of camera testing. Granted, this is still a very new device that I’ve been using as a secondary phone, so runtimes will likely drop a bit with greater use. But compared to my experience with a brand new review unit of the iPhone 16 Pro, the iPhone 16e certainly gave me far less battery anxiety.
As for that custom modem, it's hard to tell after just one week of use whether people will run into any significant issues or interference. But during my time with the iPhone 16e on an AT&T eSIM, I've found little problems with the network. I'm a T-Mobile user, and often lose signal when I'm at places like underground train stations or Moynihan Train Hall in Penn Station. When I couldn't send a message on my iPhone 16 Pro with T-Mobile, I was able to connect over AT&T with the iPhone 16e. This has less to do with Apple's hardware and more to do with each carrier's coverage, of course.
The same goes for the modem's general performance — I consistently saw the iPhone 16e (with C1) significantly outperform my iPhone 16 Pro on Speedtest and Fast.com tests, but much of that has to do with individual network speeds. It also depends on whether you're using a phone that supports ultrawideband 5G, which would see huge boosts to performance. The C1 modem doesn't support that, so if you've been relying on mmWave 5G (mostly via Verizon in the US), you'll have to sacrifice it if you buy the iPhone 16e.
Brian Oh for Engadget
How does the iPhone 16e compare to the iPhone 16 and the iPhone SE?
There are numerous other little differences between the iPhone 16e and the iPhone 16, and I’ll list some of the more significant ones here. Probably the most noteworthy is that it doesn’t support Apple’s MagSafe, which would let it magnetically attach to stands, grips and other accessories. As someone who plops her iPhone on a MagSafe charging stand only when there is no other USB cable available, the lack of MagSafe didn’t actually meaningfully impact my experience. But if you rely on such an accessory, the iPhone 16e isn’t for you.
While you could add MagSafe compatibility to the 16e with cases or adapters, you’ll still be stuck with pokey, last-generation 7.5W wireless charging speeds (per the Qi standard). Other iPhones support faster speeds — the iPhone 15 goes up to 15W while the iPhone 16 can hit 25W.
If we’re going to get down to the nitty gritty, I should also point out that the iPhone 16e supports Wi-Fi 6, not Wi-Fi 7 like the iPhone 16. The iPhone 16e is also lacking compatibility with the Thread smart home networking standard and while its camera does offer optical image stabilization, it’s not the “Sensor-shift” OIS that the iPhone 16 (and the iPhone 15) provide. Finally, and this is far from the last omission from the iPhone 16e, the device doesn't support ultra-wideband, meaning if you're locating your devices via Find My, you will rely on Bluetooth and won't get the more precise tracking on AirTags and phones that have UWB.
All this spec-sheet scrutiny is getting at is that as an investment, the iPhone 16e is likely to get outdated again sooner than the iPhone 16. Still, it’s a nice upgrade from the iPhone SE (2022), thanks to the addition of USB-C charging, a sharper camera, an actual zoom option, a beefier processor, satellite communications for emergencies and a bigger, better screen. Regardless of how you (or I) feel about Apple Intelligence, there’s no denying that its inclusion makes for a phone that’s more modern, too. Also, Genmoji is just fun.
Considering how far behind the iPhone SE was compared to the iPhone 13, the fact that the iPhone 16e is so close to the rest of the iPhone 16 portfolio is impressive. I guess I would have preferred a cheaper entry-level iPhone with a few other compromises, rather than one that’s so similar (in both specs and price) to the next version up.
And as much as I’d like to compare the iPhone 16e to its peers on the Android side of the smartphone market, I have to acknowledge that most people considering an iPhone are likely already happily stuck in the Apple walled garden. They probably don’t want an Android phone, no matter how many cameras it has, how quickly its screen refreshes or how fast it can charge. When you can be a blue bubble texter, who cares about how much smoother a game plays or how rapidly Instagram posts zoom past my eyes, right? (Sarcasm, in case it wasn’t obvious.) If you did want to learn more though, check out our post on how the iPhone 16e compares to the competition.
Wrap-up
It’s easy for me to get caught up in outrage, ranting at Apple’s decisions to exclude MagSafe or raise prices. But for people who don’t use magnetic accessories or who finance their smartphones over a two-year period, those might be non-issues. What bothered me most as I was reviewing the iPhone 16e wasn’t its slow wireless charging speed or the notch atop the display — it was ultimately the solo camera sensor. Anyone coming from the iPhone 11 and up will likely miss the ultrawide option, even if the iPhone 16e’s 48MP sensor is a genuine improvement.
Whether the iPhone 16e is a good purchase for you ultimately depends on how much those limitations bother you. If you don’t care about MagSafe, taking photos or the principle that you could save hundreds of dollars on a better Android phone, the iPhone 16e makes sense.
In fact, for people who want to buy their first iPhone or someone who’s less tech-enthusiastic, the iPhone 16e is a capable, good-looking handset. Those who, like me, can’t do without a second camera, can consider the iPhone 15, which costs just $100 more. You won’t get Apple Intelligence or the Action button, but I doubt many will miss those features.
Ultimately, though, unless you really can’t fork over the $200 difference (which works out to a few dollars a month over two years), the iPhone 16 is a better buy for most people.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-16e-review-whats-your-acceptable-compromise-020016288.html?src=rss
It sometimes feels like everybody and their dog has a podcast. (Engadget does!) But why not jump on the trend when the interest in this type of content has grown for years? Video platform YouTube may not seem like the most obvious choice for tuning in to an audio-driven format, but the company has actually become a major player for podcast consumption. Today, YouTube announced that as of January 2025, it has surpassed 1 billion monthly active viewers of podcasts.
People aren't just playing YouTube podcasts to their headphones, either. The company's year-in-review showed that more than 400 million hours of podcast content was played on "living room devices" during 2024. Data from Edison Research found that YouTube was the most-used platform for nearly a third of weekly podcast listeners age 13 and up.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube-passes-1-billion-monthly-active-podcast-viewers-225223309.html?src=rss
Antalya, Turkey - May 6, 2011: iPad is on the Apple Macbook Pro. Youtube logo on iPad screen. Youtube is the largest video sharing website in the world.
There's a new M4 MacBook Air reportedly on the way soon, but if you can't wait or don't need the extra power of Apple's M4 chip, you can get a M3 MacBook Air for $200 off on Amazon right now. That lowers the current MacBook Air's price from $1,099 to $899 — not the $850 low we've seen before for the Air, but pretty close.
Engadget picked the M3 MacBook Air as the best MacBook overall because of its lightweight design, bright screen and the reliable performance of the M3 chip. Besides support for Wi-Fi 6E, Apple's custom silicon allows the MacBook Air to power two external displays at once, something sorely missing from the previous generation Air.
The current deal only covers the Air model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in Apple's "Midnight" blue finish, but that should be more than enough storage and memory for most people. If you'd still like a deal but with a few more colors to choose from, several other MacBooks are also on sale.
For example, you can get an M2 MacBook Air for $200 off when you use a coupon, lowering the price from an already discounted $950 to $800. That deal applies to the Air with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and covers multiple different colors. The M2 chip is technically less powerful than the M3, but for day-to-day computer tasks you'll get more than enough performance and battery life from an M2 MacBook Air.
If you're willing to pay more and you want one of the most capable laptops Apple currently sells, you can could instead opt for a new M4 MacBook Pro for $1,399, $200 off its usual $1,599 price. Apple introduced the M4 MacBook Pros near the end of 2024 with a focus on improving graphical performance. The new MacBook Pro is the closest Apple has gotten to a gaming laptop, and it includes other upgrades, like a brighter screen and an improved webcam.
The model on sale includes 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, a healthy amount to start with if you plan on using the MacBook Pro for work. All of the MacBooks on sale on Amazon also support Apple Intelligence, if you're interested in exploring Apple's approach to AI features like summarization and text generation.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-m3-macbook-air-is-200-off-at-amazon-right-now-210927500.html?src=rss
The FDA has granted clearance to a potentially lifesaving feature for Google's Pixel Watch 3. The smartwatch will start offering "loss of pulse detection" for US customers at the end of March. Once this aspect of the watch is enabled, the Pixel Watch 3 can automatically place a call to emergency services if it detects that the wearer's pulse has stopped. That could help a user receive critical medical attention even if they are responsive in situations such as cardiac arrest, respiratory or circulatory failure, overdose or poisoning.
Loss of pulse detection was announced last year and is already available to Pixel Watch 3 owners in select EU markets. We luckily didn't have cause to put the feature through its paces in our positive review of the wearable, which particularly impressed on battery life, brightness options and workout detection.
Smartwatch manufacturers have been developing a suite of tools designed to assist wearers in different kinds of potentially life-threatening situations. For instance, the Pixel Watch 3 also offers features such as a safety check that shares your location with a chosen contact, fall detection that alerts first responders and car crash detection that notifies emergency services. Apple also introduced similar features for the iPhone and Apple Watch a few years ago.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/pixel-watch-3-receives-fda-clearance-for-loss-of-pulse-detection-210458883.html?src=rss
Riot Games is hitting "undo" on its recent massively unpopular changes to League of Legends that essentially made everything in the game harder for players to unlock without spending money. After the company saw negative comments spammed across social media, widespread talk of a player boycott and over 32,000 signatures gathered on a petition to fire CEO Dylan Jadeja, the company acknowledged that the recent updates "didn't hit the mark for everyone." As a result, Riot is (among other changes) bringing back Hextech Chests and cutting in half the Blue Essence cost of all champions to win back disgruntled players.
For a master class in the corporate art of selling opposing messages with equal gusto, watch Riot Games' last two League Of Legends dev update videos back-to-back. Less than three weeks ago, studio head Andrei van Roon and executive producer Paul Bellezza put on their best Ward Cleaver faces to matter-of-factly explain why too much free stuff for players wasn't good for Riot's long-term finances:
Fast-forward to Wednesday's video, and the same pair can be seen hustling to backpedal as hard as possible, acknowledging that "some of you are frustrated, even questioning if Riot is still the company you've always known" while promising they "get it." (I almost expected a crisis hotline number to flash across the screen.) "When our decisions don't land the way we intended, it can damage your trust," Bellezza somberly admits:
Setting aside the amusing nature of corporate attempts to personalize business decisions, today's changes should help inspire more confidence from the fanbase.
Hextech Chests aren't just returning — you'll find more of them. Starting with next week's patch (25.05), you'll be able to earn up to 10 Chests and Keys per Act. Eight will be spread throughout the free Pass (in place of the Seasonal skin and Mystery Epic or Lower Skin); another two will be learnable through Honor (the game's system to encourage good sportsmanship). Riot stressed that these will be identical to the Chests previously earned through Champ Mastery.
Other changes include a 50 percent reduction in Blue Essence cost for all champions. In addition, Riot is delaying the widely panned Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser Exalted skin "to take more time to make sure it better delivers on its core fantasy." It also plans to take more time improving future Exalted skins, which means "you likely won't see one in every Act this year as originally planned." Finally, Clash is returning to a monthly schedule, Your Shop will be back in Patch 25.06 and the Blue Essence Emporium will reappear in 25.07.
The community is (understandably) pleased with itself in forcing the pivot. "Holy shit, bullying works," u/DirtyChickenBones (an all-time handle if ever there was one) posted in the League subreddit. "NEVER STOP BULLYING CORPORATIONS," u/HunniePopKing yelled triumphantly — as if perched on the bow of the Titanic — in the same thread.
Others retained a grounded realism about the reversal. "Don't think for one second this changes their approach," u/eBay_Riven_GG wrote. "They will keep limit-testing what they can get away with. Keep complaining if you want improvements." Reacting to Bellezza's comment about the changes not resonating with players, u/350 wrote, "'Didn't hit the mark for everyone,' bruh, it didn't hit the mark for anyone except the CEO."
You can check out Riot's dev blog post for more details on Riot's reversal on all those changes that "didn't hit the mark."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/riot-is-reversing-its-unpopular-league-of-legends-changes-203925763.html?src=rss
League of Legends executive producer Paul Bellezza apologizing in a video. Captioned text: "and when our decisions don't land the way we intended, it can damage your trust."
The Nemesis system was featured in both 2014’s Shadow of Mordor and the follow-up Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Simply put, it’s a gameplay mechanic in which enemies remember previous encounters with the protagonist. These antagonists, typically orcs in the LOTR games, would use these humiliating memories to fuel their thirst for revenge as they rose through the ranks. This mechanic also worked both ways, so enemies would remember besting you in a previous encounter.
It was the best part of those two titles and Monolith had planned on bringing back the mechanic for a now-cancelled Wonder Woman game. Now the system is lying unused, locked behind a patent vault in David Zaslav’s mega-yacht or whatever. Gigantic multinational corporations are awesome!
*Monolith makes the awesome Nemesis system for Shadow of Mordor, everyone loves it*
*WB patents it, making it pretty much impossible for other devs to use it*
Warner Bros Discovery patented the system in 2016, which you can read right here. The patent is active until 2036, so long as the company keeps up with the associated fees. It’s worth noting that in the nine years since patenting the system, it’s only been used in a single game. That’s Shadow of War, which came out in 2017 and was already in development when Warner Bros went ahead with the patent.
It remains to be seen if Warner Bros Discovery will do anything with the Nemesis system. It had nine years of heavy game development to make use of it across its entire IP portfolio, but didn’t. In that time period, plenty of Batman games and Hogwarts Legacy allcame out. Those would have surely benefited from the unique mechanic. Oh well.
WB will still focus some resources on game development, but the company’s efforts will be primarily spent on four franchises. These include Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, the DC universe and Game of Thrones. Three of those four seem like good fits for the Nemesis system to me.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/shadow-of-mordors-innovative-nemesis-system-is-locked-behind-a-patent-until-2036-195437208.html?src=rss
The Nintendo DS' stylus-based messaging app PictoChat wasn't the first place I instant-messaged (that would be my friend's AIM account) but it was absolutely the least overwhelming and most pleasant place it happened. PicoChat, an iMessage app from developer Idrees Hassan that you can download right now, attempts to recapture some of that peer-to-peer messaging magic on your iPhone.
PicoChat looks like a version of PictoChat that’s been squeezed into the lower-third of your iPhone, complete with alphanumeric and emoji keyboards, and controls to change the line weight of your drawings. It wouldn’t be PictoChat without the ability to draw and write with a stylus, so PicoChat also goes the extra mile and displays an onscreen stylus when you doodle with your finger.
ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget
Nintendo debuted PictoChat alongside the original Nintendo DS in 2004 as more of a curiosity than a play at messaging dominance. The app required both messengers to connect their handhelds over the same Wi-Fi network, which naturally limited its reach as a communication tool. Still, Nintendo included the software on the DS Lite and the DSi in 2006 and 2009, respectively, and the 3DS’ optional Swapnote app was considered a spiritual successor of sorts when it came out in 2011.
PicoChat can't fully recreate the small, personal feeling of PictoChat while strapped on top of iMessage, but if you miss the cumbersome, but considered messaging of your DS days, it's a pretty great hit of nostalgia.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-dream-of-pictochat-on-the-nintendo-ds-lives-on-in-this-imessage-app-194040764.html?src=rss
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.
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/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
