The iPhone changed tech overnight. Almost 20 years later, nothing else has come close

I vividly remember Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone on January 9, 2007, a device he dubbed a touchscreen iPod, mobile phone and “internet communicator” all in one product. I immediately looked at my Motorola Razr with a burning sense of hatred. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s pretty easy to say the iPhone launch was the most transformative event in the last 20 years of consumer technology. Even though the original model was lacking in a lot of important ways, its impact was so immediate and monumental that the history of consumer technology was instantly split into two eras: PreiPhone and Post iPhone.

Take the personal computer revolution, for example. Moving room-sized computers from research institutes into something a regular person could buy and use in their home was undoubtedly a huge advance, but there were multiple inflection points in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s that helped usher in modern computing. The trinity of the Apple II, Tandy TRS-80 and Commodore PET 2001 in the ’70s represented the first wave, followed by the rise of the IBM PC and Macintosh in the ’80s. Things really took hold in the ’90s with the dominance of Microsoft Windows; the arrival of Windows 95 was a particularly transformative moment. In more recent history, the laptop became a viable and then dominant in the late ’90s and 2000s, which changed how most people think about computing. These were all events that moved the personal computing marketplace forward, but it’s hard to say one was more important than the others. It was more of a gradual rise and fall of various technologies that brought us to the modern era.

But the mobile phone market was completely reshaped by the iPhone, even if it took a few years for the effects to play out. Companies like BlackBerry, Palm and Nokia clung to the pre-iPhone conception of a smartphone for too long, focusing on business users and physical keyboards and not materially improving the software experience. Those companies are gone or irrelevant to mainstream consumers now. Palm’s introduction of its own webOS and Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia to push Windows Phone forward were reasonable efforts to challenge the iPhone, but they were far too little, too late. Hardware and software quality was hit or miss in both cases, but the main issue was that developers never embraced either platform, largely because consumers adopted iPhone and Android so quickly. The best iPhone apps usually never hit those devices, leading to inevitable doom.

On the other hand, Google and Samsung went all-in on Android almost immediately and quickly reaped the rewards of having an alternative to the iPhone. Android had enough similarities to iOS while also offering enough differentiation to capture a new part of the market. That’s particularly true internationally, where the massive variety of price points and devices was a huge advantage in markets where most people were priced out of Apple’s products. And given that Android arrived just a few months after Apple launched the iPhone App Store meant developers quickly started writing apps for both platforms, giving Android the support it needed. Essentially, everyone either followed in Apple’s footsteps or quickly went extinct.

It goes without saying that the iPhone reshaped a number of other businesses as well. The late aughts were awash with single-function gadgets, from obvious things like digital cameras, portable gaming devices and the iPod. (Also consider what phones have done to watches, paper calendars, lists and address books.) In the Post iPhone Era, consumer-grade digital cameras and portable music players are extremely niche — the iPhone’s camera is more than good enough for most people, and the iPhone itself quickly cannibalized the iPod.

Portable gaming systems are enjoying a bit of a resurgence, but the popularity of games on a phone that anyone can pick up and play is unmatched. If Nintendo’s Wii made its mark by offering casual gaming, the iPhone and the App Store quickly took that concept on the go. Both Call of Duty Mobile and Candy Crush Saga have peaked at about 500 million players, while Minecraft is the top-selling game of all time, with 300 million copies sold. Most AAA blockbuster titles don’t crack 50 million copies sold.

Moving from that Razr to an iPhone was a breath of fresh air. Watching YouTube and movies I had purchased via iTunes transformed my plane rides or commutes. Being able to browse real web pages and use a solid enough email client on the go made me more productive (and began my crippling information addiction). The “touchscreen iPod” felt like a futuristic and intuitive way to navigate my music library. It took until the iPhone 4 in 2010 for Apple to really focus on camera and image quality, but that didn’t stop people from shooting tons of photos and uploading them to Facebook. Even 2009’s iPhone 3GS took respectable enough snapshots and videos that my photo library started growing exponentially, and I’m glad to have a lot of those old, grainy shots from my late 20s.

And about a year after the first iPhone, the App Store blew open the doors on what was possible. Games, productivity tools, better messaging apps, social media, streaming music and everything else we associate with a modern smartphone quickly burst forth. Some people didn’t really consider the first iPhone a “smartphone” since you couldn’t install third-party apps, and Apple wisely saw the writing on the wall and fixed that glaring omission.

Whether all of the changes that followed the iPhone’s rise are a good thing is debatable. Having near-unlimited access to the internet at all times often feels like more than we can handle, and smartphones have enabled all kinds of digital abuse. Our privacy has gone out the window as these devices log vast amounts of data about our movements and desires and spending habits and search histories on behalf of the biggest companies in the world, who monetize it and try to keep us addicted. Steve Jobs almost certainly did not have all of this in mind when he pulled the iPhone out of his pocket in 2007, and the technology advanced so quickly we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.

The ramifications of all this will take decades to fully play out, and to some degree, many of us are already pulling back from the “always connected, sharing everything” mindset the iPhone enabled. The specter of government regulation, at least from the EU, coming for companies like Apple and Google is impossible to ignore, though it’s hard to imagine much happening to loosen their dominance in the near term. Regardless of what changes, there’s no doubt we live in a world where, thanks to the iPhone, the most important computer in people’s lives is the one in their pocket.


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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-iphone-changed-tech-overnight-almost-20-years-later-nothing-else-has-come-close-140041198.html?src=rss

Proton’s Windows and macOS mail app is out of beta and available now

Proton, the privacy-focused company that offers a variety of internet tools like mail, calendars, online storage and a password manager, continues to built out its portfolio. As of today, Proton's desktop mail app for Windows and macOS is out of beta and now available to all its paid users. At the same time, Proton is also releasing its app for Linux users in beta.

If you've used Proton Mail before (or any recent / modern mail client), the app won't be a surprise —it's the standard three-pane view, with different folders on the left, a list of message in the middle and a preview of the message contents on the right. Like in Gmail, there's a right-hand rail that has icons for your contacts and calendar that'll expand to show the selected item if you click them. But for more calendar details, there's a button to switch the whole window view from mail to calendar and back. Proton Drive and Proton Pass already have a desktop app, but for now Proton is keeping it separate from mail and calendar, which makes sense. Those two tools go hand-in-hand, but storage is kind of its own thing. 

Proton Calendar desktop app
Proton

While the new mail app doesn't improve on or change the design of Proton's web tools in any major way, I can say that the beta app felt quite responsive in a little testing I did. And while I wouldn't mind more than a slightly tweaked web wrapper (being able to draft an email in its own window would be nice), I do prefer keeping my email out of my browser window. I'm sure there are other Proton users who feel the same way and will find this app pretty handy for that. 

If you're not currently paying for Proton Mail, you can give the new app a try for two weeks, but after that you'll need to upgrade your account to keep using it. The Mail Plus plan costs $4/month if you sign up for a year, or you can get Proton Unlimited for $10 per month with a year plan that includes 500GB of storage (instead of 15GB for Mail Plus) and Proton Drive, Pass and VPN.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/protons-windows-and-macos-mail-app-is-out-of-beta-and-available-now-110010822.html?src=rss

Why the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air is the best MacBook Air

Our review of Apple’s new MacBook Airs is out, and our esteemed reviewer Devindra Hardawar gave them both equal scores of 90. That’s a very good score! But I think Devindra’s underselling the 15-inch MacBook Air, which is the best laptop I’ve used in years. It deserves at least an extra point or two, in my humble opinion. For me, it’s a Goldilocks laptop, just right, and I think a lot of people would feel the same way if they managed to realize that a 13-inch laptop isn’t the end-all, be-all form factor that Apple has cast it as over the last decade.

For years now, the 13-inch Air has been Apple’s best laptop for most people, with an undoubtedly excellent combo of power and portability. After a total redesign in 2022, though, there’s not much to differentiate this year’s Air. That’s not bad in and of itself, as it’s a sign of a product that has matured over the years to near-perfection; this year’s model has a new chip to keep performance as fresh as possible.

At some point, due in large part to the MacBook Air’s decade-plus dominance, the 13-inch form factor became the de-facto laptop size for most people. Particularly those who wanted a Mac, because in the last ten years the 16-inch Macbook Pro (and the 15-inch model that preceded it) got way too expensive for most. As such, a large screen became a “pro” feature, not something most people could afford.

Fortunately, Apple addressed that last summer with the 15-inch MacBook Air, a computer that retains everything we like about the 13-inch model in a slightly larger and heavier package. In exchange for a little more cash and a slightly bulkier device, I got a bigger screen that I really appreciated when using the Air as my primary computer without a monitor. To me, 15 inches is the ideal laptop size. If you ever felt the same way but got priced out by Apple, you should definitely check out the 15-inch MacBook Air.

The 13-inch model will almost certainly remain the default option for most people — in part because it’s cheaper. And if you travel a lot, you’ll probably be happier with a smaller and lighter machine. But I believe that a lot of people would be much happier with the larger screen, because the 15-inch Air is still extremely thin and light. Devindra disagrees, noting the bigger laptop is a half-pound heavier, “more unwieldy” and a little “annoying to carry.” That’s fair — I didn’t have the same experience because I never used the 15-inch alongside the 13-inch. Instead, I compared it to Apple’s two MacBook Pro models, and the Air is lighter than both. In fact, it’s more than a pound lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

While I already believe that most people would be just as happy with the 15-inch Air, if not happier, there are a few use cases worth pointing out to hammer home the point. Devindra said the Air did pretty well playing some of the newer games available for it like Lies of P and Death Stranding. If you’re into games, whether they’re titles like those or more casual options from Apple Arcade, there’s little doubt they’re more fun on a larger display.

The 15-inch MacBook Air is also a great option for older users, or people with visual impairments (or, honestly, anyone who prefers bigger elements on their screen). When I use the 15-inch Air, I enjoy having more pixels to show more of whatever apps I’m using. But, you can just as easily scale up screen elements so you have the same canvas as the 13-inch Air, just on a greater scale. Naturally, the screens on the Air series aren’t as pixel-dense and sharp as the MacBook Pros, but they’re still lovely and won’t look overly pixelated if you decide to scale up the UI.

Forget about specific use cases, though. To put it simply, I’m a fan of the 15-inch Air. It just feels right — much more portable than a computer with a 15-inch display has any right to be. I don’t feel like I’m giving up screen size for something that’s easier to carry around; instead, it’s a computer that I can take anywhere and not feel constrained while using it. Maybe I’m overestimating the appeal — you can just plug the 13-inch Air into a monitor at home to get a bigger screen and then have a smaller computer when you’re on the go. But for someone who likes the idea of a single computer that can work in any context, the 15-inch Air fits my bill.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/why-the-15-inch-m3-macbook-air-is-the-best-macbook-air-150020238.html?src=rss

Why the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air is the best MacBook Air

Our review of Apple’s new MacBook Airs is out, and our esteemed reviewer Devindra Hardawar gave them both equal scores of 90. That’s a very good score! But I think Devindra’s underselling the 15-inch MacBook Air, which is the best laptop I’ve used in years. It deserves at least an extra point or two, in my humble opinion. For me, it’s a Goldilocks laptop, just right, and I think a lot of people would feel the same way if they managed to realize that a 13-inch laptop isn’t the end-all, be-all form factor that Apple has cast it as over the last decade.

For years now, the 13-inch Air has been Apple’s best laptop for most people, with an undoubtedly excellent combo of power and portability. After a total redesign in 2022, though, there’s not much to differentiate this year’s Air. That’s not bad in and of itself, as it’s a sign of a product that has matured over the years to near-perfection; this year’s model has a new chip to keep performance as fresh as possible.

At some point, due in large part to the MacBook Air’s decade-plus dominance, the 13-inch form factor became the de-facto laptop size for most people. Particularly those who wanted a Mac, because in the last ten years the 16-inch Macbook Pro (and the 15-inch model that preceded it) got way too expensive for most. As such, a large screen became a “pro” feature, not something most people could afford.

Fortunately, Apple addressed that last summer with the 15-inch MacBook Air, a computer that retains everything we like about the 13-inch model in a slightly larger and heavier package. In exchange for a little more cash and a slightly bulkier device, I got a bigger screen that I really appreciated when using the Air as my primary computer without a monitor. To me, 15 inches is the ideal laptop size. If you ever felt the same way but got priced out by Apple, you should definitely check out the 15-inch MacBook Air.

The 13-inch model will almost certainly remain the default option for most people — in part because it’s cheaper. And if you travel a lot, you’ll probably be happier with a smaller and lighter machine. But I believe that a lot of people would be much happier with the larger screen, because the 15-inch Air is still extremely thin and light. Devindra disagrees, noting the bigger laptop is a half-pound heavier, “more unwieldy” and a little “annoying to carry.” That’s fair — I didn’t have the same experience because I never used the 15-inch alongside the 13-inch. Instead, I compared it to Apple’s two MacBook Pro models, and the Air is lighter than both. In fact, it’s more than a pound lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

While I already believe that most people would be just as happy with the 15-inch Air, if not happier, there are a few use cases worth pointing out to hammer home the point. Devindra said the Air did pretty well playing some of the newer games available for it like Lies of P and Death Stranding. If you’re into games, whether they’re titles like those or more casual options from Apple Arcade, there’s little doubt they’re more fun on a larger display.

The 15-inch MacBook Air is also a great option for older users, or people with visual impairments (or, honestly, anyone who prefers bigger elements on their screen). When I use the 15-inch Air, I enjoy having more pixels to show more of whatever apps I’m using. But, you can just as easily scale up screen elements so you have the same canvas as the 13-inch Air, just on a greater scale. Naturally, the screens on the Air series aren’t as pixel-dense and sharp as the MacBook Pros, but they’re still lovely and won’t look overly pixelated if you decide to scale up the UI.

Forget about specific use cases, though. To put it simply, I’m a fan of the 15-inch Air. It just feels right — much more portable than a computer with a 15-inch display has any right to be. I don’t feel like I’m giving up screen size for something that’s easier to carry around; instead, it’s a computer that I can take anywhere and not feel constrained while using it. Maybe I’m overestimating the appeal — you can just plug the 13-inch Air into a monitor at home to get a bigger screen and then have a smaller computer when you’re on the go. But for someone who likes the idea of a single computer that can work in any context, the 15-inch Air fits my bill.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/why-the-15-inch-m3-macbook-air-is-the-best-macbook-air-150020238.html?src=rss

Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct will focus on upcoming third-party releases

The next Nintendo Direct is scheduled for this Wednesday, the company just announced. It's being billed as a "partner showcase," with Nintendo saying it'll show off Switch games coming in the first half of this year from "our publishing and development partners." It'll kick off on February 21, bright and early at 9AM ET. 

While Nintendo holds these showcases on a regular basis, this one is potentially more significant than usual. Last week, Microsoft made an expected but still surprising announcement that it would begin bringing some of its titles to "other consoles," a phrase that's hard not to interpret as games coming to the Switch (and Sony's PlayStation 5 as well). 

Nintendo says it'll be a 25-minute presentation, so there's a chance we'll hear about some games from other developers, as well. But we're all expecting to see some news about what games Microsoft is going to bring over to the Switch. Microsoft only said that it would be bringing four games to other platforms but didn't name them; the latest rumors cite Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Halo and Gears of War as likely options to make the move.

This comes at a time when Nintendo doesn't have a lot of its own first-party games scheduled for the platform (that we know of, anyway). There's also the looming specter of a Switch 2 console; reports just said that the hardware is getting pushed back to 2025 after an expected launch at some point this year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wednesdays-nintendo-direct-will-focus-on-upcoming-third-party-releases-221910223.html?src=rss

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is an odd, eye-catching ode to simpler times

I never played the original Mario vs. Donkey Kong, which came out in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance.  So I brought no nostalgia or past experience to the new version coming out this week, which feels thoroughly modern in all ways except the gameplay. Mario is limited — he can’t run quickly, he doesn’t jump very high, you lose a life with a single mistake. Coming from the brand-new Super Mario Bros. Wonder can give you serious whiplash, as there’s no Elephant power or Wonder Stars to be found here. But if you don’t compare Mario vs. Donkey Kong to the plumber’s more modern adventures, it has some charm all of its own to enjoy.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong has a lot more in common with the original Donkey Kong arcade games than your typical Mario platformer. Each level has two parts, but they aren’t expansive side-scrolling adventures. Instead, it’s a puzzle that requires specific steps and clever usage of the enemies and tools littered throughout. First, you need to get a key, and then you need to rescue a cute little Mario toy that Donkey Kong stole and placed in the level. Sometimes, you’ll need to throw a Shy Guy onto a pit of spikes and ride him across the hazard; other times you’re activating switches in a specific order to get platforms to appear where you need them to advance. As with a lot of the best Mario games, nearly every level introduces a new mechanic, enemy or tool that impedes or helps you finish. These levels stretch both horizontally and vertically, but they’re small, self-contained little worlds.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Nintendo

As usual, Nintendo’s polish is on display here. There are plenty of bouncy orchestral music selections; Mario, DK and all the baddies who pop up throughout are lovingly rendered and controls are tight and precise. That is, once you get used to Mario’s limitations. I didn’t have an issue with Mario being a bit less capable, as it’s a totally different style of game, but I definitely forgot that Mario didn’t have the hops to make it across some chasms.

There’s a surprising amount of content in this game, too. There are eight worlds, two of which are brand-new for the 2024 reissue. Each has six stages, plus a bonus stage and a boss battle. And once you beat the main campaign, there’s a remixed “Plus” version of all those levels available that use the same items and overall characteristics as the original but with a new, more challenging goal — you need to lead a vulnerable mini Mario toy to the exit, and those toys are even less capable than big Mario. It’s a good way to mix up the formula that had gotten extremely familiar by the time I completed the first 64 stages.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Nintendo

Finishing the main game also unlocks 16 new expert stages that absolutely live up to that title. They’re quite challenging, and since the game doesn’t continuously feed you 1-Up mushrooms, they’ll take some skill to complete (I have only just started getting into this new challenge). Figuring out the puzzle and executing the solution without making a mistake before is a tall order on some of these later levels, both in the expert stages and the Plus levels.

That’s good, because beating the first eight worlds was so easy I was worried this game wouldn’t have any real value to it. I breezed through the first four worlds, and only hit significant challenges in the last two. The Plus worlds, so far, haven’t been too tough either, though I wager that’ll change. As it is, I got the “perfect” mark on all of world two-plus in 30 minutes (six stages, plus a bonus stage to harvest some 1-Up mushrooms and the final world boss level). It would have been 20 minutes had I not run into a challenge on 2-6 that took some time to work out. I wish there were more levels like that — as it is, the game felt either extremely easy or surprisingly difficult, without as much of a difficulty ramp as I’d like to see. All that said, I am looking forward to seeing how the Plus worlds continue to advance in difficulty.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Nintendo

Given the simplicity of this game, it’s fair to say that its target audience might be younger or less experienced than I am. Nintendo included some features to make the game even more accessible, too. There’s a “casual” mode where you can take six hits before you lose a life in a stage, instead of just one. That also removes the time limit, which didn’t stress me out in earlier levels but definitely posed a challenge as the game went on. If you do like trying to beat the clock, there’s a “time attack” mode where you try and beat a target time in the level. And regardless of which play style you choose, you can always just hit “retry” to start a stage over without losing a life. Finally, Nintendo also included local co-op multiplayer, something experienced and novice players may enjoy.

At first, I felt like Mario vs. Donkey Kong was going to be too slight of a game to recommend people spend $50 on. It started off cute and clever, but very simple and with seemingly little depth. But Nintendo surprised me — while it’s definitely a throwback sort of game, there’s a solid mix of challenge and depth here. And as with many Nintendo games, this one should be fun for players of any age. Just don’t expect Mario to have the moves and tricks he does in Super Mario Wonder.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mario-vs-donkey-kong-is-an-odd-eye-catching-ode-to-simpler-times-171516524.html?src=rss

The Arc Browser is getting new AI-powered features that try to browse the web for you

Earlier this week, the team behind the Arc browser for Mac (and recently Windows) released a brand-new iPhone app called Arc Search. As you might expect, it's infused with AI to power an experience where the app "browses for you"—pulling together a variety of sources of info across the internet to make a custom webpage to answer whatever questions you throw at it. That's just one part of what The Browser Company is calling Act 2 of Arc, and the company gave details on three other major new features its bringing to the browser over the coming weeks and months. 

The connective tissue of all these updates is that Arc is trying to blur the lines between a browser, search engine and website — the company wants to combine them all to make the internet a bit more useful to end users. In a promo video released today, various people from The Browser Company excitedly discuss a browser that can browse for you (an admittedly handy idea). 

The Arc Search app showed off one implementation of that idea, and the next is a feature that arrives today called Instant Links. When you search for something, pressing shift and enter will tell Arc to search and automatically open the top result. This won't have a 100 percent success rate, but there are definitely times when it comes in handy. One example Arc showed off was searching for "True Detective season 4 trailer" — pressing shift + enter automatically opened the trailer from YouTube in a new tab and started playing it. 

You can easily get multiple results with this tool, too. I told it to "show me a folder of five different soup recipes" and Arc created a folder with five different tabs in for me to review. I also asked for the forecasts in Rome, Paris and Athens and got three pages with the details for each city. It's handy, but I'm looking forward to Arc infusing it with more smarts than just simply pulling the "top" search result. (Side note: after testing this feature, my browser sidebar is awash with all kinds of nonsense. I'm glad Arc auto-closes things every day so I don't have to sort it out.)

In a similar vein, the upcoming Live Folders feature will collect updates from sites you want to follow, like a sort of RSS feed. The idea is anticipating what sites someone is going to browse to and bring updated results into that folder. One example involved getting tagged in things on GitHub — each time that happened, a tab would be added to the folder with the new item. The demo on this feature was brief, but it should be available in beta on February 15th for further testing.

I got the sense from the video that developers would need to enable their sites to be updated via Live Folders, so it doesn't seem like you can just add anything you want and expect it to work. In that way, it reminds me of some other Arc features like the one that lets you hover over a Gmail or Google Calendar tab to get a preview of your most recent messages or next appointment. Hopefully it'll have the smarts to do things like drop new posts from your favorite site into the folder or open a new video from a YouTube channel you subscribe to, but we'll have to wait to find out. (I also reached out to Arc for more details on how this might work and will update this story if I hear back.)

Finally, the last new feature here is also the most ambitious, and the one that most embodies that "browser that browses for you" vibe. Arc Explore, which the company says should be ready for testing in the next couple of months, uses LLMs to try and collapse the browser, search engine and site into a singular experience. In practice, this feels similar to what Arc is already doing with its new browser, but more advanced. One example the company gave involved making a restaurant reservation — starting with a query of wanting to make a reservation at one of a couple different restaurants, the Arc Explore interface brought back a bunch of details on each location alongside direct links to the Resy pages to book a table for two at exactly the time specified. 

Arc Browser

Another demo showed off how using Arc Explore can be better than just searching and clicking on results. It centered around soup, as all good demos do. Having Arc Explore bring up details on a certain kind of soup immediately provided details like ingredient lists, direct recipe steps and of course related videos. Compared to the pain of browsing a lot of sites that get loaded down with autoplaying ads, videos, unrelated text and more distractions, the Arc Explore experience does feel pretty serene. Of course, that's only when it brings back the results relevant to you. But using a LLM, you can converse with Arc to get closer to what you're looking for. 

After using Arc Search on my iPhone, I can appreciate what The Browser Company is going for here — at the same time, though, breaking my old habits on how I browse the internet is no small thing. That means these tools are going to need to work pretty well when they launch if they're going to supplant the years I've spent putting things into a Google box and finding the results I want. But that sums up the whole philosophy and the point behind Arc: to shake up these habits in an effort to make a better browsing experience. Not all these experiments will stick, and others will probably mutate a lot from these initial ideas, but I'm definitely interested in seeing how things evolve from here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-arc-browser-is-getting-new-ai-powered-features-that-try-to-browse-the-web-for-you-211739679.html?src=rss

‘Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’ looks even more baffling than the original game

As expected, the PlayStation State of Play today featured an in-depth look at the latest from famed developer Hideo Kojima, in the form of an exceedingly creepy and cinematic preview of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Sam, played by Norman Reedus, is back in a trailer that makes very little sense if you haven't played the first game — and even if you did, the contents of this preview might not make a ton of sense. Rest assured, you'll still be running around wildly impressive landscapes with your giant yellow backpack. 

But it sounds like you won't actually have to run around delivering things, because bots are able to do that in this world. The real surprise is when Sam gets captured and runs across his brother, played by the ubiquitous Troy Baker... who pulls out a guitar/gun and starts shredding to take on some enemies? Sure. It'll still be a bit before we see what this all amounts to, as it doesn't arrive until sometime in 2025.

At the end of the stream, though, Kojima teased an all-new project in the works, though it won't be entering full production until after Death Stranding 2 is complete.

Correction, 1/31/24, 6PM ET: This post originally stated this was our first look at Death Stranding 2. We've updated it to say this is our first in-depth look, as the game was first announced in December of 2022.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/death-stranding-2-on-the-beach-looks-even-more-baffling-than-the-original-game-224806034.html?src=rss

Arc browser comes to the iPhone as a stripped-down, AI-powered search tool

Arc, a browser initially built just for the Mac, has been expanding lately. The Browser Company announced a beta of its Windows version last month, and today they're bringing the Arc experience to the iPhone with Arc Search. As the name implies, the new app is focused on searching — when you open the app, you're met with a keyboard and search field, not your usual collection of tabs. And rather than just serving up simple search results from Google or your engine of choice, Arc scans the internet for various sources and creates a "page for me" that pulls together a bunch of info on your desired query.

For example, I just searched for "What happened in the Detroit Lions game?" and was met with details about a controversial two-point conversion that was overturned and how it ultimately affected the game's outcome, which was a three-point Lions loss. It follows with some top search results, team reactions, more details about the referees involved in the confusing call, fan sentiments and more links to dive into. 

It's not dissimilar to the sort of summaries you get in Google's generative AI search results, but so far I find results to be very hit or miss. For example, in the above-mentioned Lions query, the actual final score of the game was nowhere on the page that Arc generated. That's pretty basic info that you'd expect to see up top. Other queries I tried brought back a decent overview but not a whole lot of deep detail, and sometimes there weren't other links to click on to continue researching. That felt odd, because the results I received were far from comprehensive. 

If you aren't interested in these sorts of summary pages, however, you can still just type in a query and hit the "go" button on the keyboard to search Google; you only get the Arc-created summary pages if you tap the "browse for me" button. You can also just put a URL right into the search field and go straight to a site if you're so inclined. Like the desktop Arc browser, the Arc Search app archives your tabs after 24 hours so you don't rack up a never-ending log of sites you're not going to go back to (you can also choose to have tabs stick around as long as 30 days, if you need more time with what you've pulled up). And there's a nice "reader" mode like you'll find in Safari that strips away the mess found on many modern websites to make it easier to read an article. It also blocks trackers, ads and banners by default, which is pretty handy.

From what I can tell, there's no way to sync Arc Search with the desktop browser — there's no way to see opened tabs from another machine, and I don't even think there's a way to sign into Arc Search with the account you make for your desktop browser. The only thing you can do with your open tabs is star one so it doesn't get closed, but there's otherwise no bookmarking or "read later" features. 

As the name suggests, it's a way to search and find info you need on your phone without offering the expected tools you'd get in a full-featured web browser. This makes it a bit of a tough sell to me — I love Arc on my Mac, and this so far feels like a significantly less useful experience than the full version of Arc, not to mention Safari or Chrome on iOS. While there's something to be said for the simplicity, I don't think the AI-generated summaries are worth making this my default mobile web browser.

That said, the Browser Company likes to get things into the wild so its users can test them and prod them and figure out what isn't working, so I'm sure iteration and improvements will come quickly. The company already says its working on sync with desktop, and they also plan to merge the app with features found in the "Arc Mobile Companion" app that launched last spring. That app, which has now been removed from the App Store, only shows you what tabs you have open on other devices and bounces them to Safari (or other apps) for viewing. So it's safe to say that the new Arc app will be more capable soon. And even though it's not something I want to use as my default browser yet, Arc's quirky view on how a browser works is enough for me to keep an eye on it and see how it grows.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/arc-browser-comes-to-the-iphone-as-a-stripped-down-ai-powered-search-tool-150227704.html?src=rss

Naughty Dog’s behind-the-scenes documentary on The Last of Us Part 2 arrives February 2

The Last of Us Part II Remastered arrived last week, and if the cutscene commentary from the game's director, writer and key actors wasn't enough for you, Naughty Dog has another behind the scenes piece coming. Grounded II: Making The Last Of Us Part II, a documentary on the game's creation, will arrive on February 2 at 12PM ET on YouTube as well as in the game itself. There's a trailer in the remastered game currently, and the full documentary will be added via a downloadable patch. That patch will also have some new skins for Ellie and Abby in the main game.

The development of The Last of Us Part II was challenging, to say the least —Naughty Dog infamously crunched its employees to get the game done, but it was still delayed multiple times. Plus, key scenes from the game that contained extensive spoilers were leaked just a few weeks before the game launched, and the team also had to content with the Covid-19 outbreak while finishing everything up. 

Judging from the Grounded II trailer that Naughty Dog released a few weeks ago, it looks like all those topics and more will be added in the documentary — though I wager Naughty Dog will only address the crunch situation in a way that doesn't reflect badly on the studio or Sony. That caveat aside, the previous Grounded documentary that covered the development of the original The Last of Us for the PS3 was a pretty in-depth look at how things work inside a game studio. So while we're certainly going to get a sanitized version of the truth, fans of the game will likely be interested to hear directly how the studio decided to make the controversial narrative choices it did, and how the fallout from the leaks affected the game's launch. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/naughty-dogs-behind-the-scenes-documentary-on-the-last-of-us-part-2-arrives-february-2-184556009.html?src=rss