The Morning After: Alienware’s impressive, expensive QD-OLED gaming monitor

Have you been saving up for some new PC gaming hardware? Want something a little more satisfying than just a simple graphics card upgrade? Well, we’ve just tested out two impressive additions to pine after: Razer’s recent OLED-equipped, high-refresh-rate Blade 15 gaming laptop and the similarly gorgeous — but more static — Alienware QD-OLED gaming monitor.

Razer Blade 15
Engadget

Now to the surprise of none of you, they’re both expensive. But we think they may be worth it. Razer’s new Blade 15 (we tested the $3,700 configuration… whoa) has a wide selection of high refresh rate display options, including both LCD and OLED. There’s a premium aluminum chassis with larger keycaps, too. But, I repeat, it’s almost $4,000.

Meanwhile, Alienware’s 34-inch curved QD-OLED monitor has Samsung’s new Quantum Dot OLED panel and rings in at $1,299. Sure, compared to Apple’s $1,599 Studio Display, it’s almost reasonable, but against many other monitors, this is a premium option. Both reviews are live over on the site now.

— Mat Smith 

The biggest stories you might have missed

NVIDIA pays $5.5 million to settle SEC charges over GPU sales to crypto miners

The company allegedly failed to disclose how much it benefited from crypto.

I already mentioned GPUs in the intro, but this is more about the increasingly lucrative market of NVIDIA graphics cards for crypto miners. I say lucrative, but the company is paying $5.5 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission charges after it failed to disclose crypto mining played a “significant” role in its surging revenue from GPU sales through fiscal 2018.

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How Gen Z is pushing NES ‘Tetris’ to its limits

New Kids on the Blocks.

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Engadget

Tetris, the basic NES version that birthed a phenomenon, is back again, at the highest levels of block destruction. It’s an era of new techniques (you haven’t heard of hypertapping?) and players barely older than a GameBoy Advance.

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John McEnroe played tennis against a virtual version of himself on ESPN+

You can not be serious.

What would happen if tennis legend John McEnroe played himself? An ESPN special entitled McEnroe vs. McEnroe featured the 63-year-old star, who retired from singles competition in 1992, playing a complicated, AI-trained version of himself. Which one had a meltdown first? The special is available to watch on ESPN+.

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Xbox is recovering after two outages over the weekend

This second bout was only three hours after the first was supposedly resolved.

Xbox users faced a nine-hour outage on Saturday. Microsoft issued a tweet around 4 PM ET that day, acknowledging some users were unable to purchase and launch games or join Cloud Gaming sessions. Possibly the worst part: It was the second Xbox Network outage over the weekend. Xbox networks suffered a similar outage from late Friday afternoon and into Saturday morning.

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The Morning After: ‘Fortnite’ is back on iOS, kind of

Microsoft has partnered with Epic Games to make Fortnite playable, for free, on Xbox Cloud Gaming. No subscription required. So long as you have a Microsoft account in one of 26 streaming-enabled countries, you can play the battle royale title through the web browser on an iPhone, iPad, Android device or Windows PC.

The streaming version supports both controllers and touch. Creative mode is also free although you’ll need to pay if you want to fight AI villains in the Save the World campaign. Microsoft also said it would “look to bring” other free-to-play titles to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

It’s not the first workaround — NVIDIA has also allowed its cloud gaming subscribers to stream Fortnite on Apple devices. Microsoft, however, has a bigger audience of casual gamers, making this a bigger deal. It also sided with Epic when the company went toe-to-toe with Apple over App Store restrictions and costs.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

The maker of TurboTax owes customers $141 million

It ‘cheated’ them out of free tax services.

TurboTax maker Intuit will pay $141 million “for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free,” the New York Attorney General’s office wrote in a press release.

The company must refund nearly 4.4 million consumers who used TurboTax’s Free Edition between 2016 and 2018, then discovered they had to pay to file. Many didn’t realize they could have used the IRS Free File program available in a separate product, which costs nothing. Intuit released a statement expressing no regret and said the required ad changes would have little impact on its business.

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‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ says the quiet part out loud

It’s done with being subtle.

The long-awaited third live-action Star Trek series in recent years makes its debut on Paramount+. But, while Discovery carried the burden of being the first Star Trek show in 12 years and Picard saw the return of a beloved character after 17 years, Strange New Worlds appears to pitch itself, in many ways, as a return to the Star Trek of the past, beyond just more episodic storytelling.

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Lenovo’s new Slim series laptops feature updated AMD or Intel processors

There’s also a laptop that Lenovo claims is carbon neutral.

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Engadget

Lenovo’s big spring laptop refresh includes a new generation of Slim clamshell laptops in the US (which confusingly share the Slim branding with older, unrelated models). These include the Slim 9i, the Slim 7i and Slim7i Pro X, the Slim 7i Carbon and the Slim 7. The last of those come with an AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processor rather than the Intel chips inside its sisters, while the Slim 9i claims to be carbon neutral.

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Starlink users can now take their internet terminal on the road

That connected ‘vanlife.’

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Starlink

A new Starlink feature called Portability allows users to temporarily use Starlink when they’re away from home. In the US, Portability will cost $25 per month. That’s on top of the regular service fee, which SpaceX recently bumped up to $110 per month. The hardware now costs $599 for those without a pre-order.

There are some caveats: It’s not worth taking a terminal on a transatlantic trip. Starlink says the feature is only available when users are on the same continent as their registered service address. They’d also have to ship it…

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The Morning After: We played Steam games on a Chromebook

Gaming has been one of Chrome OS’ weak spots for years. Most Chromebooks have lower-power hardware paired with an OS built on web technology, so playing AAA titles found on Windows has simply not been an option. Cloud gaming, like Google’s own Stadia, offered a solution of sorts, but many players have been eager to see how Steam would fare, after Google announced Valve’s platform was in an early alpha phase.

News Editor Nathan Ingraham tested things out on one of the seven Chromebooks that can run Steam, an ASUS Chromebook CX9 with Intel’s 11th-generation Core i7. (Google says Steam required a device with at least a Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM.) He explains that many games run like a dream; however, his attempts to play 2018’s God of War, originally released for the PS4 and ported to Windows in January this year, was apparently a “totally unplayable slideshow.” God of War’s spec requirements demand either NVIDIA’s GTX 960 or AMD’s R9 290X graphics cards — it wasn’t a huge shock.

While Google and Valve will improve the Steam experience from this early alpha, it’s fair to say Chrome OS will never be the place to play cutting-edge games. But, Steam’s library is vast, and there are thousands of titles — most playable offline, something Stadia can’t offer.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

New ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ trailer includes some Darth Vader assembly

The six-episode series debuts on Disney+ on May 27th.

Lucasfilm and Disney+ celebrated May the 4th by offering another look at the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series. There’s not a ton of new footage, but it includes a peep at Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) being pieced together, which is much more than the breathing cameo from the previous trailer.

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Wordle brought ‘tens of millions’ of users to The New York Times

Many players stuck around, too.

The New York Times has revealed it added “tens of millions” of new users in the first quarter of 2022 thanks to Josh Wardle’s hit word game. That led to the company’s best quarter yet for subscriber additions to games, and “many” of those incoming players have stuck around to try other games.

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Samsung’s new phone storage standard is twice as fast

The company will start mass-producing Universal Flash Storage 4.0 in the third quarter.

Samsung has introduced the latest iteration of its Universal Flash Storage product, which it says is much, much faster than its predecessor. UFS was created to enable SSD speeds for cameras, phones and other devices, but this version — called UFS 4.0 — can reach 23.2Gbps per lane. That’s double the speed of UFS 3.1, the storage used in Samsung’s Galaxy S22.

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Sonos’ rumored $250 soundbar is reportedly called the Ray

It may be smaller than the Beam, with some high-end features.

Sonos’ rumored budget soundbar was briefly posted online at Colombian store KTronix. The listing suggested g it will be called the Sonos Ray and be smaller than the already compact Beam Gen 2 at just 22 inches long (versus 25.6in), if slightly taller and thinner. A previous leak hinted Sonos might release it as soon as early June. And while the Colombian price (about $323) likely won’t reflect the exact pricing for the US, it does imply the rumored $250 sticker is at least close to the mark.

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The best gifts to upgrade your grad’s tech setup

Due a refresh.

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Engadget

Graduation is traditionally a big time for gift-giving, so if you know someone heading out into the real world who could use an upgrade after four (or more!) long years of higher education, we’ve got a host of options — even if the giftee is in deep with tech already.

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The Morning After: Apple may have hired a longtime Ford exec for its car project

I thought Apple’s car project had gone a little quiet, but it’s still a thing, according to Bloomberg.

The company has reportedly hired a longtime Ford engineer and executive to work on its car thought experiment, once called Project Titan. Desi Ujkashevic had been with the automaker since 1991 and was Ford’s global director of automotive safety engineering.

Naturally, that means we’ve chewed over her work history and LinkedIn page, noting she’s worked on Ford’s electric vehicles and regulatory issues — expertise Apple will love.

There have been rumors about Apple’s work on autonomous vehicles since 2015, but there have been more setbacks than announcements. Doug Field, who apparently led Project Titan, left Apple to rejoin Ford last September. Are they just swapping execs?

— Mat Smith

 

The biggest stories you might have missed

Razer’s Blade 15 is the first laptop with a 240Hz OLED screen

Literally, the nicest screen you’ll see.

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RAZER

Razer is updating its Blade 15 laptop with an option for what it says is the first 240Hz OLED laptop display. You’ll get the high responsiveness for an edge in multiplayer games, but you’ll still have a color-accurate 1440p panel (100 percent of the DCI-P3 space) with deep contrast. You’ll need deep pockets: The upgraded Blade 15 will arrive before the end of the year for $3,500.

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Paramount+ debuts in the UK and Ireland on June 22nd

It has nearly 40 million subscribers.

Paramount’s streaming service will arrive in the UK and Ireland on June 22nd. South Korea will also have access sometime in June. For everywhere else, you’ll have to wait until the second half of 2022.

The company announced it added 6.8 million new Paramount+ subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, putting the platform now at almost 40 million customers. Despite Halo.

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Ubisoft Montreal takes over work on ‘Prince of Persia’ remake

The game was supposed to come out this year, but…

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Ubisoft

Work on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake hasn’t gone as smoothly as Ubisoft hoped. The company has now put its Montreal studio in charge of the project, taking it away from Ubisoft’s Pune and Mumbai studios.

Ubisoft Montreal was “the very birthplace of the epic Sands of Time trilogy,” the developers wrote in a message to fans. The original was released in 2003, which was a reboot of, well, 1989’s Prince of Persia. In the original, when you died, you stayed dead.

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The best travel gear for graduates

Hook them up with the latest gadgets before their next trip.

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Peak Design

While this guide is for graduates planning trips post-college, I think a lot of us are thinking of going somewhere as travel restrictions relax, and we all start to feel more comfortable with the idea of long-distance travel. Here are some travel essentials to help you stay connected — and have more fun — on the road.

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The Morning After: Meta’s high-end VR headset described as ‘a laptop for the face’

The latest report on Meta’s VR ambitions has likened Project Cambria, its next headset beyond Quest series, to a “laptop for the face” or even a “Chromebook for the face.” Presumably with a rather different price tag.

A report from The Information suggests Meta will unveil its own VR operating system, which is based on Android. This will work with web-based tools and services, as well as some Quest apps. Technical specs are still unknown, but we can expect higher-res screens to make text easier to read — the aim could be to ensure the VR headset is usable in work situations.

We haven’t yet seen an entirely new VR device since the company rebranded, but all this suggests that, compared to the Rift and Quest devices, the use cases could be broader, or at least tap into some of that sweet enterprise segment. Companies are more likely to pay for cutting-edge VR and AR hardware — still Microsoft’s approach to the segment.

The headset will have outward-facing cameras for mixed reality functions, so it could tie together Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse ambitions in one fell swoop. For now, rumors and reports suggest Project Cambria will hit shelves around September, costing over $800.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Square Enix sells the studios behind Tomb Raider and Deus Ex

Embracer just picked up some major gaming IPs.

Swedish game company Embracer Group has just made a blockbuster deal to acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal for what seems like a bargain $300 million. Those studios represent around 1,100 employees across eight global locations, with more than 230 games in development, 30 of those being AAA titles. Alongside this acquisition news, another Deus Ex revival is incoming — powered by Unreal Engine 5.

Crystal Dynamics has already said it’s developing a new Tomb Raider game.

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The best gifts for the new grads in your life

Work, rest and play.

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Engadget

Whether your graduate is going after their first job or continuing their education, these gadgets can support their first professional steps — or simply help them relax during those early career challenges. We’ve even curated a guide for gifts that duck in at under $50.

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EU charges Apple over NFC payment restrictions on iOS devices

It’s part of the Commission’s antitrust probe into Apple’s payment practices.

The European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager confirmed the EU has formally charged Apple over its iOS payment features. This could result in a substantial fine if it is upheld. In a statement, Vestager said the Commission had “indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple’s devices.”

The Commission opened a dual review into both Apple’s in-app and NFC payment systems in June 2020, noting the company’s choice could stifle competition and reduce consumer choice.

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Scientists ‘knit’ soft robotic wearables

These could eventually turn into assistive gloves for the disabled.

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CSAIL

Designing and manufacturing soft robots is tricky. Now, scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have come up with a new process called PneuAct, which uses computers and a special knitting process to design and digitally fabricate the soft pneumatic actuators. These actuators have conductive yarn for sensing so they can essentially “feel” or respond to what they grab.

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The Morning After: Formula E unveils the world’s most efficient race car

Formula E officially unveiled its Gen3 car yesterday, ahead of this weekend’s Monaco E-Prix. There are some big power and efficiency changes coming when the new cars hit the track next season. Much of the focus on Gen3 has been the massive upgrades to performance, but the car also sports a new overall body design.

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Engadget

Wheel covers are gone, making the new model more of a true open-wheel car, and there are no wings over the rear wheels. Instead, the Gen3 has two jet-like fins on the back, with the new aerodynamic shape inspired by fighter aircraft — an F-18 on wheels. Engadget’s Billy Steele went to take a look in person over in Monaco — life is hard for Mr. Steele. Check out his full report right here — with more stories on the way over the next few days.

Apologies to any listeners of The Morning Edition, Engadget’s early morning news podcast. I lost my voice over the last week, making it, well, impossible to talk into a mic. I’ll make my triumphant return to podcasting next week. I have many vocal exercises planned for the weekend.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Twitter admits it overstated user numbers between 2019 and 2021

And an operating loss of $128 million as Musk deal approaches.

As it prepares itself for the possibility of being owned by Elon Musk, Twitter revealed it overstated its user figures between 2019 and 2021. In its newest financial reports, the platform says users with multiple accounts were inadvertently counted as multiple people. The difference was apparently never more than two million either way.

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Call of Duty games now prevent cheaters from seeing opponents

You can’t play dirty if you can’t find targets.

Activision is rolling out its RICOCHET anti-cheat system to Call of Duty: Vanguard and has also revealed that the countermeasure punishes cheaters with “Cloaking.” In a wonderful twist, cheaters will be the ones at a disadvantage. Any detected will be unable to see or hear opponents, even their incoming bullets.

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Elon Musk’s Tesla tweets still need to be checked before posting

A judge ruled he can’t get out of his 2018 SEC deal.

Elon Musk won’t be able to get out of his agreement requiring oversight of his tweets about the company. A judge has rejected his request to drop the 2018 deal made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that required a company lawyer to approve any Tesla-related tweets. The judge also denied Musk’s request to block an SEC subpoena related to possible insider trading.

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Snap’s $230 selfie drone is called Pixy

It can wirelessly transfer Snaps to your Snapchat.

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Snap

Snap has officially revealed its first selfie drone. The pocket-sized device, called Pixy, doesn’t even have a controller. Instead, it tracks and trails you. The drone can float, orbit or follow you directly. Once you’re done, Pixy lands in your hand — which sounds adorable. Folks in the US and France can buy the $230 Pixy now.

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The Morning After: Apple’s repair-it-yourself iPhone service and toolkits launch in the US

Apple’s Self Service Repair program is now available in the US. If you have an iPhone 12, iPhone 13 or third-generation iPhone SE, you can buy replacement batteries, cameras and displays from a dedicated store and use the company’s official repair manuals to fix it yourself. You can even spend $49 to rent a toolkit for a week if you’d rather not buy tools.

The program will expand to other regions later this year, starting in Europe. If you’re looking to repair your Mac, you’ll have to wait a little longer. Like iPhones, currently only the very latest models — powered by Apple Silicon — will be self-repair friendly.

Conveniently, for Apple, it timed the launch alongside a new white paper, which says the company has “nearly doubled” the size of its repair network, and eight out of 10 of its American customers live within 20 minutes of an authorized repair provider. The company also outlined the rationales, again, behind its design and repair decisions, including its emphasis on using official parts — to protect your privacy and security.

It’s not a flawless repair scheme. To buy a part, you need to enter your iPhone’s serial number at checkout and get that part activated through a pairing software tool.

As iFixit points out, other parts will come with an “unable to verify” warning, which could limit (or put off) people thinking of repairing their device.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Sony is building a game preservation team

The revamped PlayStation Plus service will include hundreds of games from older generations.

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Kim Kyung Hoon / reuters

Talking of preservation, Sony is trying to ensure games from decades ago will live on. When Sony’s expanded PlayStation Plus service starts rolling out next month, it’ll fold in PlayStation Now, which offers access to hundreds of games from older console generations. Sony has hired at least one engineer to work on a new game preservation team.

Sony has struggled to preserve games over console iterations. Many PS1 games worked on PS2, and the original PS3 models could run many PS1 and PS2 games, but you were unable to play discs from older generations on PS4.

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Amazon avoids fines and other penalties in Illinois warehouse collapse

It’s still facing multiple lawsuits and a House Oversight committee probe.

CNBC reports Amazon won’t face fines and other penalties following the collapse of an Illinois warehouse that killed six workers during a tornado. However, the US Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) asked Amazon to review its procedures after discovering issues with its Emergency Action Plan. Despite tornado warnings from the National Weather Service 36 hours ahead of the event, Amazon continued to operate the Edwardsville, Illinois, warehouse. It was in the middle of a shift change when the tornado touched down with wind speeds up to 150 MPH, destroying the south side of the building.

While Amazon avoided penalties from OSHA, it’s facing a separate probe in Congress and multiple lawsuits.

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Twitch is reconsidering how it pays top streamers

Because many jumped to YouTube.

Bloombergsources say Twitch is considering multiple proposals to rethink payment structures, including one that would cut top streamers’ share of subscriptions from 70 percent to the usual 50 percent. Another would establish multiple pay tiers with different requirements.

The reported proposals come after Twitch implemented multiple efforts to boost long-term profits and satisfy its parent company, Amazon. The service recently introduced a program that motivates frequent streamers to run more ads.

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‘Disney Dreamlight Valley’ looks like Animal Crossing with Wall-E and Moana

You can go fishing with Goofy and help Anna and Elsa restore their memories.

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Disney

Disney’s latest video game, Dreamlight Valley, appears to be a blend of a life sim and an adventure game packed with Disney and Pixar characters. In metaverse style, you’ll be able to customize your character with T-shirts, dresses, hats and other gear you design yourself. There’s also the option of kitting them out with Mickey Mouse streetwear or a ballgown inspired by a Disney princess. (Why not both?)

Disney Dreamlight Valley will be available on PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. It’ll formally launch in 2023 as a free-to-play game.

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The Morning After: Mastodon, an open-source Twitter alternative, is having a moment

News of Twitter’s buyout has rattled some users, as Elon Musk indicated he plans to take a much more hands-off approach to content moderation. As is often the case when Twitter makes a change (or infers that one is coming), some users have threatened to leave the platform. Mastodon has been welcoming those that made the jump. Mastodon said it saw “an influx of approx. 41,287 users.”

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Mastodon

​​It’s not the first time Mastodon has benefited from Twitter drama. The company was briefly popular in 2017, following outrage over Twitter’s decision to remove user handles from the character limit for replies — yes, they were more innocent times.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Instagram is testing pinned posts for profiles

The app already allows you to add Stories above your photo grid.

Instagram recently began testing a feature for you to highlight specific posts above your photo grid. If you’re among the people the company has enrolled in the trial, you can access the feature by tapping the three dots at the top of a post and selecting the new “pin to your profile” option. It’s pretty much identical to the pinned options you get with other social networks, like Twitter and TikTok. But that’s not stopped Instagram taking inspiration from its rivals. Again.

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Roku will stream ‘John Wick 4,’ ‘Borderlands’ and other Lionsgate films for free

They’ll arrive immediately after their first streaming window on Starz.

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Roku

The Roku Channel has signed a multi-year deal with Lionsgate Films that will allow it to stream upcoming blockbusters like John Wick 4 and Borderlands for free. Roku will get those films in a timely fashion, too: right after their initial streaming windows on Lionsgate’s Starz platform.

Roku has made a steady push into free programming, buying all of Quibi’s short-form shows last year and later adding content from the Tribeca Film Festival, IGN, CBC News and AccuWeather.

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‘Elden Ring’ is getting an unofficial Game Boy demake

A demo captures the spirit of the game and that 8-bit ’90s Game Boy nostalgia.

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Reddit

Elden Ring is famous for its rich open world, but it just got turned into an… ambitious 8-bit rolling adventure demake. It was created by Reddit user Shintendo, who showed off an early demo set in Elden Ring‘s Chapel of Anticipation. There, a Tarnished faces off against the infamous Grafted Scion boss (and loses, again). Shintendo is aiming to release a demo by the end of May on Itch.io.

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EU warns Elon Musk that Twitter must follow local content rules to avoid ban

Musk’s plans for looser moderation are butting up against political reality.

The European Union’s Thierry Breton told the Financial Times that Musk’s Twitter will still be subject to EU regulations, including the new Digital Services Act governing efforts to fight misinformation. The Tesla chief is “welcome” but “there are rules” he still has to follow, Breton said. The Digital Services Act requires Twitter and other internet companies to share how they’re curbing false claims on their sites. It also bans ads targeting minors as well as specific ethnicities, political affiliations, religions and sexual orientations.

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The Energy Department will block sales of inefficient light bulbs

New efficiency standards may help reduce carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons.

The Department of Energy has finalized rules to block sales of many incandescent light bulbs. The measures bring in stricter efficiency standards, targeting light bulbs that emit less than 45 lumens per watt. If this all sounds familiar, it’s because the bulbs turned into a bit of political tennis. The most recent move reverses a decision by the Trump administration in 2019 to roll back stricter standards for bulbs. This was after the Obama administration established rules that would have blocked sales of inefficient light bulbs from January 1st, 2020.

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The Morning After: Elon Musk is buying Twitter

This morning’s tech headlines are heavy on Musk. While the SpaceX and Tesla boss is still chasing hyperloop glory, yesterday Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s buyout offer of $44 billion — more than anyone else would have likely paid for the social network.

Musk has already said he’ll take the company private and added he wants to upgrade Twitter by protecting free speech, open-sourcing algorithms, fighting spambots and “authenticating all humans.”

Now, there’s no-one the internet and tech media loves to predict or bet against more than Elon Musk. What’s odd is that Musk laid out his interest in Twitter so explicitly. He tweets so much. He makes headlines, not only in specialist press but across TV networks and major newspapers, with his casual missives running the gamut from typo-riven banter — how I deal with Twitter, to be honest — to angering America’s Securities Exchange Commission and facing repercussions for it.

I’m interested to see how it compares to Jeff Bezos’ purchase of The Washington Post, which now seems like a sensible, innocuous media purchase in comparison. The Amazon founder has been pretty hands-off, as he said he would be.

Bezos paid $250 million for a journalistic institution. Musk is offering up 176 times more for Twitter. How messy could it possibly get?

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

‘Diablo: Immortal’ is coming to mobile and (surprise!) PC on June 2nd

Maybe some people don’t have phones.

Way back in 2018, Blizzard revealed Diablo: Immortal, a game to fill the gaps of the story between Diablo II and Diablo III. However, the fact it was announced as a mobile-only game didn’t exactly go over well with the publisher’s hardcore fans — to put it mildly. Nearly three and a half years later, there’s a June release date, and Blizzard announced it’ll also be available on PC after all.

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Musk isn’t done with the idea of building a hyperloop

The Boring Company will start one ‘in the coming years,’ he said.

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POOL New / reuters

Elon Musk first started the idea of a high-speed hyperloop transport system between cities back in 2013, but he then left it to other companies. Next, in 2017, he announced he would build a hyperloop system after all, starting with a New York to Washington D.C. route. Now, Musk has tweeted The Boring Company will attempt to build a working hyperloop “in the coming years.” The company hasn’t completed any significant projects, apart from the Las Vegas LVCC Loop with 1.7 miles of tunnels. (It has announced but shelved or canceled several other projects).

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The Wachowskis are auctioning iconic film props to support trans youth

There’s a Lightning Rifle from ‘The Matrix’ and Channing Tatum’s ‘Jupiter Ascending’ ears.

Filmmakers Lana and Lilly Wachowski have announced they’re holding an auction of props from films like The Matrix and Cloud Atlas to raise money for vulnerable trans youth. It comes after a record 238 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed in the US this year alone, with roughly half targeting transgender people.

All the money raised will go to the Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund, which will distribute the funds to organizations in Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and elsewhere in the US.

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Panasonic GH6 camera review

A vlogging workhorse, with some caveats

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Engadget

Panasonic launched the GH5 over five years ago, powering a vlogging boom and confirming the potential of mirrorless cameras for video. Its replacement has finally come in the form of the $2,200 GH6. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s very good. But one area it struggles is crucial: autofocus. The GH6 only has contrast detect autofocus, which, while improved, means it lags behind rival Sony and Canon cameras.

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Chevrolet is making an all-electric Corvette

A hybrid could be available as soon as 2023.

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GM

One of Chevy’s most iconic cars will get the EV treatment. GM has confirmed it’s developing a “fully electric” Corvette, and an “electrified” (read: hybrid) version will be available as soon as 2023. The automaker didn’t provide more details, and even the video attached to the teaser doesn’t offer any clues. A Corvette EV isn’t entirely surprising, mind you. GM plans to exclusively sell EVs by 2035, and the car was only going to survive that transition by being electrified.

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The Morning After: Another gadget prototype left behind at a restaurant

We’ve been playing peek-a-boo with Google’s teased/leaked/rumored Pixel smartwatch for centuries now, but the existence of actual hardware makes it all feel a little more real.

Unfortunately for someone who’s probably been working hard on Google’s bid to dethrone the Apple Watch (or at least make a more compelling Android wearable), they left the circular smartwatch prototype in a restaurant. Oops.

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Android Central

There’s a heart rate monitor, buttons and proprietary watchband latches (boo) and, well, not much else to add for now. The watch wouldn’t run beyond its boot-up screen, so for now we’ll have to dream how WearOS 3 will look. Such heady dreams!

It isn’t the biggest mishap in lost prototype property. Over ten years ago, Apple engineer Gray Powell left a prototype iPhone 4 in a bar, and Gizmodo got the jump on exactly what Apple had planned for arguably the iPhone that set the pace for smartphones at the time. That all ended in litigation.

Will this Pixel Watch leak end similarly? I’m not sure, but Google could do with the publicity when it comes to its wearables.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Massive human cancer DNA study offers new clues to their causes

UK scientists analyzed the complete genetic makeup of 12,000 tumors.

A team of UK scientists has analyzed the complete genetic makeup of 12,000 tumors from NHS patients and discovered 58 new mutations that provide clues about their potential causes. The team used data from the 100,000 Genomes Project and developed an algorithm called FitMS that will give clinicians easy access to the new information.

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Twitter may take another look at Elon Musk’s $43 billion takeover bid

The company will likely weigh in on the proposal this week.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the company is re-examining Musk’s takeover bid after the billionaire announced he had the financial backing to get the deal done. When Musk first announced he was ready to pay $43 billion to buy the social media giant, noting at the time it was his “best and final offer,” Twitter was widely expected to reject the proposal.

Twitter declined to comment on the report. When Musk first announced his bid, the company said it was committed to a “careful, comprehensive and deliberate review” of the offer. It’s very likely we’ll learn how Twitter plans to proceed sometime in the next few days.

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European Union limits targeted advertising and content algorithms under new law

The Digital Services Act could reshape the internet beyond Europe.

Following a marathon 16-hour negotiation, the European Union reached an agreement early Saturday to adopt the Digital Services Act. The legislation seeks to impose greater accountability on global tech companies, once the act becomes law in 2024.

It’ll have teeth, too: The EU will have the power to fine tech companies up to six percent of their global turnover for rule violations. And The Guardian did the math: For Meta, that would translate into a single potential fine of approximately $7 billion.

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What we bought: An excellent portable monitor

Sometimes it’s worth paying extra.

TMA
Engadget

Sam Rutherford’s investment in an ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP portable monitor is paying off nicely. With a selection of peripherals that come free with it, loads of ports and 240Hz refresh rates, it might be better than your older, existing not-at-all-portable monitor.

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