Author Archives: Ian Carlos Campbell

The last Xbox update of 2025 includes a handy Wireless Headset upgrade

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As part of its last Xbox-focused software update of the year, Microsoft is improving the Bluetooth performance of the Xbox Wireless Headset to make it work even better with Windows 11. Microsoft released the latest Wireless Headset as an accessory for Xbox Series X/S and PC, but as of this update, Xbox Wireless Headset owners on Windows will now have a leg up on their console counterparts thanks to support for Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio.

Microsoft says that supporting Bluetooth LE Audio will let the headset offer lower latency audio, better battery life, richer stereo sound and the ability to share audio across multiple compatible Bluetooth accessories at the same time. Not revolutionary updates, but still nice to have if you bought a $110 Xbox Wireless Headset back in 2024. Provided you're running the latest version of Windows 11 and your device supports Bluetooth LE, Microsoft says you can take advantage of the improvements by updating your headset in the Xbox Accessories app.

If you're a regular user of the Xbox mobile app, Microsoft is also making some changes there. After adding the ability to purchase Xbox games directly from the app in April — a feature made possible after Google and Apple were forced to change the rules of their app stores — Microsoft is now adding a dedicated Store tab to the app. You'll also be able to add games to your wishlist and search for add-ons and DLC directly in the app.

Microsoft ending the year with Windows and mobile app updates reflects the ways the company's gaming strategy has changed in 2025. After spending decades positioning itself as a console maker, Microsoft is seemingly making Xbox software its main focus going forward.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/the-last-xbox-update-of-2025-includes-a-handy-wireless-headset-upgrade-204500386.html?src=rss

Save on Crunchyroll annual subscriptions this holiday season

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If you're struggling to find your next binge-watch, you can't go wrong with anime. For the holidays, you can save on a Crunchyroll subscription, giving you access to its vast library of anime series to watch. Through December 29, you can sign up for an annual Fan subscription for $67, down from the usual $80, or a Mega Fan subscription for $100, down from $120.

While both the Fan and Mega Fan plans are ad-free, you do get some different benefits depending on which you decide to pay for. Fan subscribers get full access to Crunchyroll's library, new episodes "shortly after they air in Japan" and five percent off select purchases in the Crunchyroll Store. Mega Fan subscribers get all those benefits, plus the ability to stream on four devices at the same time, download HD quality episodes and movies to view offline, play games from the Crunchyroll Game Vault and receive 10 percent off select products in the Crunchyroll Store.

Notably missing from either subscription is access to Crunchyroll's new Manga service, but unless you're specifically looking for reading material, you'll get plenty of entertainment out of Crunchyroll's video library. Outside of Netflix, which produces and licenses its own growing collection of anime, Crunchyroll is the de facto place to watch Japanese animation in the US. You'll find long-running series like One Piece and newer hits like Spy X Family, alongside hundreds of more niche series.

Crunchyroll has its issues, of course. Since the streaming service was acquired by Sony, it's been particularly interested in using generative AI to subtitle shows, which has already produced poor results. It's hard to beat Crunchyroll's library, though, and for as little as $65, you'll get more than your money's worth.

Check out our coverage of the best streaming deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/save-on-crunchyroll-annual-subscriptions-this-holiday-season-194345431.html?src=rss

Amazon pulls its bad AI video recaps after Fallout fallout

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Amazon has responded to viewers catching errors in its AI-generated season recaps by apparently pulling them from Prime Video. The company announced its new Video Recaps feature in November as a way to make it easier to jump into a new season of a show, but the feature had issues: A recap created for Fallout included factual errors about the plot and the setting of the show.

On Prime Video, recaps can be played in the "Extras" section if you're watching on the web, or via a dedicated "recap button" on the show's page, according to Amazon's original Video Recaps announcement. If you head to the Fallout season two page now, the erroneous recap has been removed. In fact, at least on the web, there are currently no video recaps available on the show's Amazon was testing the feature on, which includes Fallout, Bosch, Upload, The Rig and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan.

Engadget has contacted Amazon for more information on why the recaps were removed. We'll update this article if we hear back.

Video Recaps are just one of the ways Amazon is trying to integrate AI into its different products and services. The company offered AI-generated English dubs for select anime shows on Prime Video, before it pulled the dubs after users complained. Amazon also uses AI to generate recaps for long-running book series that are sold through the Kindle Store.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/amazon-pulls-its-bad-ai-video-recaps-after-fallout-fallout-220358758.html?src=rss

IKEA’s new wireless charger is as cute as it is practical

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IKEA's revamp of its smart home products doesn't end with Matter support. The furniture and home goods company also has a line of new Qi wireless chargers, the best of which, the VÄSTMÄRKE wireless charger, combines the functionality of a PopSockets-style phone grip with cable storage.

The $10 VÄSTMÄRKE wireless charger is reminiscent of a bagel or donut, if you could take the top half of those ring-shaped foods and turn them inside out to create a cozy grip for your fingers. That same red silicone design also makes for a perfect place to store the charger's built-in USB-C cable, according to IKEA's product page, and otherwise acts as a playful replacement for what can be a pretty boring smartphone accessory.

A VÄSTMÄRKE wireless charger with its top half unfolded so fingers can grip it.
A VÄSTMÄRKE wireless charger with its top half unfolded so fingers can grip it.
IKEA

VÄSTMÄRKE offers Qi2 charging speeds and can magnetically attach to iPhones with MagSafe or Pixel phones with Google's Pixelsnap magnets. If you're interested in something a bit more discrete, the $25 VÄSTMÄRKE wireless charger with lighting is a bowl-shaped charger with a column in the center for attaching a smartphone, and room around it for keys or your wallet.

IKEA has had multiple different ideas over the years for how smart home tech should integrate with its minimalist and user-friendly furniture. The company's partnership with Sonos ended in May 2025, which produced lights and picture frames with smart speakers built-in. Since then, the company has announced a new Bluetooth speaker and started rolling out a new collection of Matter-connected remotes, lights and sensors.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/ikeas-new-wireless-charger-is-as-cute-as-it-is-practical-195013422.html?src=rss

4:LOOP is a co-op shooter from the creator of Left 4 Dead and JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot

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The next game from Left 4 Dead designer Mike Booth is putting a sci-fi spin on his last game's co-op action, based on a trailer Booth and producer JJ Abrams shared at The Game Awards 2025. The new game is called 4:LOOP, and it's the first project entirely developed by Bad Robot Games, film production company Bad Robot's game studio.

4:LOOP combines the four-player co-op action of Left 4 Dead, with roguelike elements enabled by what seems like a time loop mechanic. Based on the trailer, players fight a mixture of aliens and robots in each mission, all in the hopes of eventually drawing the attention of an alien mothership and destroying it.

"Each time the four-player team succeeds in a mission, they make choices to improve their equipment, building out a unique kit to survive the epic boss battle at the end of the Act," Booth said in an interview with PlayStation Blog. "If the team completes all three Acts, they defeat the Mothership and save the world. All of this is, of course, easier said than done."

Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it would be publishing 4:LOOP earlier in December, so naturally the game will be available on PS5 and PC when it launches. Players interested in trying 4:LOOP can sign up on the game's website.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/4loop-is-a-co-op-shooter-from-the-creator-of-left-4-dead-and-jj-abrams-bad-robot-035835461.html?src=rss

Lara Croft will return in Tomb Raider: Catalyst and a new remake

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The last mainline Tomb Raider game was 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and after spending a few years in video game purgatory, Lara Croft is coming back in two new games. At The Game Awards 2025, Amazon Game Studios announced that Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will reimagine of one of the hero’s early adventures in 2026, and Tomb Raider: Catalyst will continue the series in 2027.

Catalyst is developed by Crystal Dynamics and follows Lara through Northern India “in the wake of a mythical cataclysm,” as she comes into competition with other treasure hunters. Legacy of Atlantis, developed by Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog, reimagines the very first Tomb Raider game in Unreal Engine 5. And yes, it seems like dinosaurs will be in the mix.

A new Tomb Raider game has been in the works officially since at least 2022, when Amazon announced that it would be publishing the next game in the series. Amazon shared that Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge would be developing a television adaptation of Tomb Raider in May 2024. Sophie Turner, best known for playing Sansa Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones, was cast as Lara Croft in September 2025. With both a show and a game in the works, Amazon clearly seems interested in making Tomb Raider its next big crossover hit after the success of Fallout.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will be released in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The platforms Tomb Raider: Catalyst will be released on weren’t shared, but the game is scheduled to be released in 2027.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lara-croft-will-return-in-tomb-raider-catalyst-and-a-new-remake-025859998.html?src=rss

South of Midnight is coming to PS5 and Switch 2 next spring

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South of Midnight is heading to PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 in Spring 2026, developer Compulsion Games announced on X. The third-person action-adventure game launched as an Xbox and PC exclusive, but like plenty of Microsoft's other first-party games, it's heading to competitors' consoles.

Mixing platforming with magic-infused combat in a unique setting inspired by the folklore of the South, Compulsion Games' South of Midnight  was generally well-received when it was released in April 2025. The game likely reached sizable audience by launching on Game Pass and PC, but coming to PlayStation and Switch will open it up to an even bigger audience.

As Microsoft reworks its Xbox brand to focus more on software than hardware, releasing its exclusives on other platforms has become a key part of its ongoing strategy. It tested the water with games like Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves in 2024, and now everything from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Halo are making the jump.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/south-of-midnight-is-coming-to-ps5-and-switch-2-next-spring-022725892.html?src=rss

Amazon’s AI-generated recap tool didn’t watch Fallout very closely

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Amazon's plan to offer AI-generated recaps of Prime Video shows isn't off to a great start. The company's recap of the first season of Fallout features multiple errors, GamesRadar+ writes, including basic facts about the plot of the show.

You can watch the recap yourself in the "Extras" section of Amazon's Fallout season two listing in Prime Video. Besides being somewhat dry, the AI-generated recap incorrectly identifies the time period of the show's Los Angeles-set flashbacks as being the 1950s, when they're actually 2077 (the Fallout franchise is set in an alternate history that diverged from our real one after 1945). As Gizmodo notes, the recap also seems to misunderstand the ending of the first season, which sets up season two's partnership between vault dweller Lucy and The Ghoul, an irradiated wastelander with a personal connection to the mystery at the heart of the first season.

While the recap suggests Amazon's AI system can successfully combine clips, music and dialogue into a coherent video, it apparently lacks an understanding of the details. The inaccuracies in this recap won't prevent anyone from enjoying the second season of the show, but they don't exactly inspire confidence in Amazon's tool either. It also seems like a problem that could have been easily solved by having a human employee who's watched the show review the video before it was uploaded.

Unfortunately, Amazon's lack of AI quality control extends beyond recaps of its shows and into the dubs for the shows themselves. The company pulled AI-generated voiceover tracks for Banana Fish and other anime because of how bad they sounded earlier this week. It wouldn't be surprising if this recap gets pulled, corrected and re-uploaded, too. As Amazon adds more AI-generated content to its platform, users are bound to discover more ways it comes up short. The company's audience is too big, and AI is apparently still too unreliable for it to be avoided.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/amazons-ai-generated-recap-tool-didnt-watch-fallout-very-closely-215712958.html?src=rss

New York passes law requiring ads to disclose the use of AI performers

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New York is taking steps to regulate the use of AI in the state's entertainment industry. NY State Governor Kathy Hochul passed two pieces of legislation on Thursday that forces certain productions to disclose the use of AI-generated performers, and defines rules around how someone's likeness can be used after their death.

Assembly Bill A8887B, now known as S.8420-A, specifically covers the use of AI performers in advertisements. Per Hochul's announcement, the law "requires persons who produce or create an advertisement to identify if it includes AI generated synthetic performers." S.8391, meanwhile, "requires consent from heirs or executors if a person wishes to use the name, image, or likeness of an individual for commercial purposes after their death."

“By signing these bills today, we are enacting common sense laws that will ensure we are fully transparent when using images generated by artificial intelligence and also prevent the unauthorized commercial use of a deceased individual’s name or likeness," Governor Hochul said in the announcement. "In New York State, we are setting a clear standard that keeps pace with technology, while protecting artists and consumers long after the credits roll."

The use of AI performers and deepfakes made using the likenesses of actors were major focuses of the contract SAG-AFTRA won during its strike in 2023. The union ultimately agreed to allow for the use of things like digital replicas and AI-generated performers, with some key carveouts. For example, actors have to give their explicit consent for a digital replica to be made in their image. They also have to give their consent each time the replica is used and are supposed to receive a pre-negotiated rate every time the replica appears in a production.

New York's new regulations put further safeguards around both practices, and join a growing collection of state AI laws that have passed or are currently being considered this year. Because of the close relationship between tech companies and the Trump administration, though, multiple attempts have been made to prevent such laws from existing at all. A decade-long ban on state AI regulation was included in early drafts of the Big Beautiful Bill, and David Sacks, venture capitalist and White House Special Advisor, has reportedly gone to great lengths to try and get President Donald Trump to sign an executive order banning state AI regulation. The effort may have been worth it: The president posted on Tuesday that he would sign a new executive order focused on AI this week.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/new-york-passes-law-requiring-ads-to-disclose-the-use-of-ai-performers-202619826.html?src=rss

Apple TV and Apple Music were down for some users

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Apple Music and Apple TV were briefly down during outage, according to Apple’s System Status page. The outage was logged on Apple’s own system at around 2:53PM ET and affected both of the company’s streaming services, along with Apple TV’s Channels feature, until the company resolved the issue around 4:31PM ET.

On DownDetector, reports of issues with Apple TV and Apple Music first appeared right around 2:33PM ET, a little before Apple officially confirmed the outage on its own site. Only “some” users were affected by the outage, according to Apple, and anecdotally, multiple members of Engadget’s staff were still able to stream content while the services were reportedly out.

Engadget has reached out to Apple for more information on the outage and how many people were impacted. We’ll update this article if we hear back.

Apple relies on cloud services from third-party companies like Amazon, and is ultimately only as stable the data centers it’s paying for. In October 2025, the company was impacted by the same Amazon Web Services outage that took down services and apps like Alexa, Fortnite and Snapchat for hours.

Update, December 10, 5:09PM ET: Article and headline updated to reflect that the outage has been resolved.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/apple-tv-and-apple-music-were-down-for-some-users-214425802.html?src=rss