Author Archives: Kris Holt

Minecraft will no longer work on PSVR after March

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Folks who like to escape to the block-filled, creeper-infested universe of Minecraft in virtual reality soon won’t be able to do that on PlayStation VR. Developer Mojang is winding down support on that platform.

“Our ability to support PlayStation VR has come to an end, and will no longer be in updates after March of 2025,” Mojang said in the latest Minecraft patch notes, as spotted by Eurogamer. “You will no longer be able to use your PlayStation VR with Minecraft as it will no longer be supported in the latest updates.”

Mojang added PSVR support in 2020 as an update to the PS4 version of Minecraft — there hasn’t been an equivalent update for PS5 and PS VR2 as yet. The studio says it will continue to update Minecraft on PS4. “From this point on you can keep building in your worlds, and your Marketplace purchases (including Tokens) will continue to be available,” the Microsoft-owned studio said. Still, if you really want to keep playing Minecraft on PSVR, you can use the headset to display PS4 games on a virtual 2D screen.

It's not all that unusual for games that are constantly updated to wind down support on older platforms that players have drifted away from. It's typically not sustainable for studios to keep updating titles for the benefit of a dwindling audience. But the end of Minecraft on PSVR is still notable, not least because it's the best-selling game of all time. That said, you'll soon have a brand new way to experience the Minecraft universe, as a movie based on the game is coming in April.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/minecraft-will-no-longer-work-on-psvr-after-march-144038123.html?src=rss

Neuralink says the FDA designated its Blindsight implant as a ‘breakthrough device’

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Neuralink says the Food and Drug Administration has designated its experimental Blindsight implant as a "breakthrough device." The company is developing the technology in an attempt to restore blind people's sight.

Manufacturers who apply to the FDA's voluntary breakthrough devices program and receive the designation from the agency are granted "an opportunity to interact with FDA experts through several different program options to efficiently address topics as they arise during the premarket review phase.” The FDA also prioritizes breakthrough devices for review. Ultimately, a breakthrough device designation can accelerate development of a technology. Last year, the FDA gave the designation to 145 medical devices.

Blindsight is separate from Telepathy, its implant that enables patients with spinal cord injuries to control computers using their thoughts, allowing them to play video games and design 3D objects. Neuralink owner and founder Elon Musk said in August that the company had implanted the chip into a second human patient

Musk claimed back in March that Blindsight "is already working in monkeys. Resolution will be low at first, like early Nintendo graphics, but ultimately may exceed normal human vision." (Federal investigators have reportedly looked into Neuralink's animal testing practices but Musk said in March that "no monkey has died or been seriously injured by a Neuralink device.")

Blindsight "will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see," Musk said following the FDA's designation. "Provided the visual cortex is intact, it will even enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time." He added that while the resolution of Blindsight is low to begin with, "eventually it has the potential [to] be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths."

Those are lofty claims and Neuralink is some way off from being able to fully restore sight to someone who has lost it, if it’s ever actually able to do that. It's not the first company or research team to work on vision-restoring implants either. Meanwhile, as TechCrunch points out, it's unlikely that Blindsight or similar tech can help people who have been blind since birth, given that such people have not "developed the biological capacity for seeing through their eyes."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/neuralink-says-the-fda-designated-its-blindsight-implant-as-a-breakthrough-device-182343456.html?src=rss

Apple confirms expanded language support for Apple Intelligence in 2025

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The rollout of Apple Intelligence will be fairly slow-paced, with Apple gradually adding new features and support for more languages over the coming months. The company has now confirmed support for several more languages as Apple Intelligence will be available in German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese and Vietnamese in 2025. That’s in addition to previously announced support for Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish.

Apple will initially offer Apple Intelligence in the US in English with the release of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 in October. As such, you won’t have access to the tools immediately if you pick up an iPhone 16 when Apple’s latest smartphone lineup ships on Friday.

The tools will be available in localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK in December. Apple will also start rolling out the features in India and Singapore in English next year. Further language support is to be announced.

There is one key thing worth noting as part of the Apple Intelligence rollout, however. Apple is not planning to broadly offer the tools in the European Union or Chinese mainland right away. So while you’ll be able to use Apple Intelligence in Portuguese or French, you might not necessarily be able to do so while you’re in Portugal or France.

“Apple Intelligence will not currently work if you are in the EU and if your Apple ID Country/Region is also in the EU,” Apple notes in a support article. “If traveling outside of the EU, Apple Intelligence will work when your device language and Siri language are set to a supported language.”

Also, as things stand, Apple Intelligence won’t work on phones bought on the Chinese mainland. Those traveling to China with an iPhone they bought elsewhere also won’t have access to the tools if their Apple ID Country/Region is set to mainland China.

Apple is hoping to bring Apple Intelligence to the EU and China, however. The company told TechCrunch that it's in talks with regulators in both markets over the issue. Apple is initially withholding the AI tools from the EU over concerns related to the Digital Markets Act.

Update 9/18 10:41AM ET: Added a note that Apple is in discussions with the EU and China over Apple Intelligence. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-confirms-expanded-language-support-for-apple-intelligence-in-2025-140548274.html?src=rss

A Sims movie from Amazon MGM Studios is on the way

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The Sims has been one of the biggest success stories in gaming over the last quarter century, with more than 500 million players trying to understand Simish, learning what WooHoo-ing is and using the classic Rosebud cheat to gain more money. All of that could be coming to a big screen near you, as Electronic Arts has revealed that Amazon MGM Studios is working on a movie adaptation of the games.

Kate Herron (Loki, The Last of Us) will direct the film and co-write the screenplay with Briony Redman (Doctor Who). One of the production companies that's on board is Margot Robbie's LuckyChap, which seems appropriate given that EA is looking "to make an impact the size of something like a Barbie movie," EA vice president and Sims general manager Kate Gorman said. (For the tape, Barbie is the 14th-highest-grossing film of all time.)

EA wants the movie to be an authentic experience for fans, particularly given that many people have "love and nostalgia" for the series. To that end, you can expect a lot of Sims lore and Easter eggs in the film.

“There will be Freezer Bunnies,” Gorman told Variety. “I’m sure a pool without a ladder is somewhere in there, but we haven’t finalized any of those details. But that’s the idea, is to say that it lives within this space. It’s a nod to all of the amazing play and creation and fun that people have had over the last 25 years within The Sims.”

Meanwhile, EA provided updates on The Sims franchise as a whole. The company doesn't currently plan to release The Sims 5, instead opting to focus on updating The Sims 4 and releasing paid expansions for the 10-year-old game. The publisher is also spinning up a creator program and some players who create custom in-game items will be able to sell them as Creator Kits.

While The Sims 4 will remain the core of the series, EA is looking at expanding the franchise in other ways, including with Project Rene, a cross-platform multiplayer experience that the publisher has been talking up for a couple of years. An invite-only playtest is scheduled for this fall.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-sims-movie-from-amazon-mgm-studios-is-on-the-way-161159048.html?src=rss

Here’s how Google will start helping you figure out which images are AI generated

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Google is trying to be more transparent about whether a piece of content was created or modified using generative AI (GAI) tools. After joining the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) as a steering committee member earlier this year, Google has revealed how it will start implementing the group’s digital watermarking standard.

Alongside partners including Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI, Google has spent the past several months figuring out how to improve the tech used for watermarking GAI-created or modified content. The company says it helped to develop the latest version of Content Credentials, a technical standard used to protect metadata detailing how an asset was created, as well as information about what has been modified and how. Google says the current version of Content Credentials is more secure and tamperproof due to stricter validation methods.

In the coming months, Google will start to incorporate the current version of Content Credentials into some of its main products. In other words, it should soon be easier to tell whether an image was created or modified using GAI in Google Search results. If an image that pops up has C2PA metadata, you should be able to find out what impact GAI had on it via the About this image tool. This is also available in Google Images, Lens and Circle to Search.

The company is looking into how to use C2PA to tell YouTube viewers when footage was captured with a camera. Expect to learn more about that later this year.

Google also plans to use C2PA metadata in its ads systems. It didn't reveal too many details about how its plans there other than to say it will use "C2PA signals to inform how we enforce key policies" and do so gradually.

Of course, the effectiveness of this all depends on whether companies such as camera makers and the developers of GAI tools actually use the C2PA watermarking system. The approach isn't going to stop someone from stripping out an image's metadata either. That could make it harder for systems such as Google's to detect any GAI usage.

Meanwhile, throughout this year, we've seen Meta wrangle over how to disclose whether images were created with GAI across Facebook, Instagram and Threads. The company just changed its policy to make labels less visible on images that were edited with AI tools. Starting this week, if C2PA metadata indicates that someone (for instance) used Photoshop's GAI tools to tweak a genuine photo, the "AI info" label no longer appears front and center. Instead, it's buried in the post's menu.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/heres-how-google-will-start-helping-you-figure-out-which-images-are-ai-generated-150219272.html?src=rss

Hundreds of Amazon drivers in NYC join the Teamsters union

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Hundreds of Amazon drivers in New York City have joined the Teamsters union in the hope of obtaining better pay and working conditions. The union says a majority of drivers at each of three delivery service partners (DSPs) working out of a Queens warehouse have signed authorization cards.

According to a Teamsters press release, the drivers have been organizing for a year to secure fair pay, consistent schedules, reasonable workloads and proper pay maintained trucks. They walked off the job last December as part of a nationwide protest against Amazon’s alleged unfair labor practices and union-busting efforts.

At least on paper, joining the union should give the drivers more leverage as they push Amazon for better working conditions. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the company will play ball. The Amazon Labor Union, one of the first major successful organization efforts within the company in the US, has yet to secure a union contract, two years after forming. The group became a Teamsters affiliate this summer.

However, the union has found some success on behalf of Amazon workers. Last month, a regional National Labor Relations Board director determined that Amazon is a joint employer of some third-party drivers in Palmdale, California. The Teamsters hope that finding will set a precedent for the rest for DSP drivers elsewhere. The Queens drivers are the first Amazon workers to organize with the Teamsters following that decision.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/hundreds-of-amazon-drivers-in-nyc-join-the-teamsters-union-202758685.html?src=rss

Who exactly asked for a Wordle VR app?

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It seems that The New York Times isn't quite content with players attempting to complete Wordle 4.8 billion times a year on its apps and website. The publication has brought the all-conquering daily word game to a new platform in the shape of Meta Quest headsets. That's right, Wordle VR is now a thing. There's a dedicated app for it on Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro.

Wordle VR works in much the same way as the game does on your phone or computer. You have six attempts to guess a five-letter word. The mystery word is the same for all players and the game refreshes at midnight local time. The main difference in VR is that Wordle is played on a floating screen, with yellow and green blocks in the background. I guess those add a little extra visual stimuli.

"We’re always looking for unique and creative opportunities to reach audiences with our games," Jonathan Knight, the general manager of NYT Games, told the Meta Quest blog. "This collaboration reflects our embrace of innovative technologies and exploration of new formats and experiences, like mixed reality, to bring our games to life. Wordle is the perfect choice for this virtual environment, given its simple, user-friendly interface that audiences everywhere have come to love."

I can't imagine that anyone will explicitly strap on a Quest headset just for the two minutes or so it takes to play each round of Wordle. But perhaps having the app on their Quest homescreen will remind them to try to keep their streak going before they hop into Asgard's Wrath 2 or that cool-looking Batman VR game. Otherwise, was anyone truly hoping for Wordle VR to exist? (If that's you, please drop a comment below. I need to know.)

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/who-exactly-asked-for-a-wordle-vr-app-184055339.html?src=rss

Apple’s 13-inch M2 iPad Air is back on sale for $720

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It’s not too late to get that bright student in your life a back-to-school gift that could help with their studies. An iPad can be useful for note taking and writing papers (especially with a keyboard attachment), carrying out research and definitely not streaming a new TV obsession during class.

So if you’ve been lagging on a back-to-school gift or even just want to treat yourself to one of Apple’s iPads, you may be pleased to learn that the iPad Air is currently on sale. The 13-inch M2 iPad Air with 128GB of storage is available in purple, space gray and starlight for $720. That's a discount of $79, which is almost a record low. Be sure to clip the coupon on Amazon before heading to the checkout to get the full discount.

The 11-inch M2 iPad Air is also on sale. It's $50 off at $549 in the space gray, starlight and blue colorways.

The most recent version of the iPad Air is our pick for the best iPad for most people. Sure, it's more expensive than the base iPad, but it's much more capable. Other than the screen real estate, the main difference between the two iPad Air sizes is that the 13-inch variant has a brighter display (600 nits vs 500 nits). Although the fully laminated display is an improvement from the previous iPad Air, the refresh rate is 60Hz, so it doesn't look as smooth as the iPad Pro's 120Hz OLED panel.

It can handle basic tasks like web browsing and video streaming with ease, thanks to its M2 chipset and 8GB of RAM. The hardware can handle more demanding tasks too — it can run high-end games like Death Stranding and the Resident Evil 4 remake. The tablet is also compatible with Apple Intelligence, the suite of AI tools that Apple will start rolling out in October.

On top of all that, the M2 iPad Air should run for up to 10 hours or so on a single charge. It has a USB-C port for charging and peripherals, while the Touch ID fingerprint scanner is built into the power button.

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/apples-13-inch-m2-ipad-air-is-back-on-sale-for-720-151549796.html?src=rss

iPads will support third-party app stores in Europe starting September 16

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Apple has revealed it will allow iPad users in the EU to install third-party app stores on their tablets (without having to sideload them) starting on September 16. You'll need to install iPadOS 18, which will be available broadly on Monday, to do so.

Back in April, the European Commission designated iPadOS as a "core platform service," meaning that like iOS, the App Store and Safari, the operating system is subject to stricter rules under the bloc's Digital Markets Act. As TechCrunch notes, Apple had six months to update iPadOS so that it complied with the DMA, which included opening up the platform to third-party app marketplaces.

Epic Games has already pledged to bring its app marketplace to iPadOS, meaning that folks in the EU should be able to play Fortnite and Fall Guys natively on compatible iPads in the near future. Several other third-party app stores have arrived on iOS in the EU since Apple added official support in March.

While the likes of AltStore PAL and the Epic Games Store aren't subject to Apple's usual app review policies, the company notarizes them for security purposes. The developers of third-party app marketplaces also need to pay a Core Technology Fee to Apple once they meet certain thresholds (the EU opened an investigation into this fee in March).

One other key change coming to iPads with the rollout of iPadOS 18 is under the surface, but one that may ultimately change how EU users browse the web on their iPads. Apple will allow third-party browsers to use their own engines on iPadOS instead of having to employ its own WebKit. This means that the likes of Mozilla and Google will be able to offer iPad versions of Firefox and Chrome that run on their own tech.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/ipads-will-support-third-party-app-stores-in-europe-starting-september-16-180414833.html?src=rss

Waymo and Uber are bringing their robotaxi service to Austin and Atlanta by early 2025

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Waymo and Uber are planning to bring their robotaxi service to more locales in the near future. Waymo One will arrive in Austin and Atlanta by early 2025. Folks in the two cities will be able to take a ride in Waymo’s autonomous, electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles via the Uber app.

Waymo employees in Austin are already using the service. The company will open up access to a limited number of public riders via the Waymo One app before moving the service to Uber early next year. The Atlanta public can start taking rides in the robotaxis in early 2025, and the companies plan to gradually expand Waymo One in that city.

The Austin operations have been a long time coming. Waymo first revealed plans to expand to the Texas state capital back in 2023, and it initially planned to do so that fall.

Waymo One riders currently take more than 100,000 trips each week across San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles. Waymo said in May it was facilitating 50,000 paid trips every week.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/waymo-and-uber-are-bringing-their-robotaxi-service-to-austin-and-atlanta-by-early-2025-154417860.html?src=rss