Tag Archives: Technology & Electronics

It’s no longer free to use Claude through third-party tools like OpenClaw

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Anthropic is no longer offering a free ride for third-party apps using its Claude AI. Boris Cherny, Anthropic's creator and head of Claude Code, posted on X that Claude subscriptions will no longer cover using the AI agent for third-party tools, like OpenClaw, for free. As of 3PM ET on April 4, anyone using Claude through third-party apps or software will have to do so with an extra usage bundle or with a Claude API key, according to Cherny.

Most of Claude's workload may come from simple user questions, but there are those who use the AI chatbot through OpenClaw, a free and open-source AI assistant from the same developer as Moltbook. Unlike more general AI solutions, OpenClaw is designed to automate personal workflows, like clearing inboxes, sending emails or organizing calendars, but leans on external large language models, including Claude, ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

Cherny replied to X users that this change is about engineering constraints and optimization. "We’ve been working hard to meet the increase in demand for Claude, and our subscriptions weren't built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools," Cherny explained on X. "Capacity is a resource we manage thoughtfully and we are prioritizing our customers using our products and API."

If OpenClaw users still want to use Anthropic as its LLM, they will have to buy a usage bundle, which are currently discounted, or switch to another AI integration like xAI, Perplexity or even DeepSeek. Of course, Anthropic has its own alternative, which tackles some similar tasks as OpenClaw, called Claude Cowork.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/its-no-longer-free-to-use-claude-through-third-party-tools-like-openclaw-160912082.html?src=rss

Take-Two laid off the head its AI division and an undisclosed number of staff

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Take-Two, the owner of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, has seemingly laid off the head of its AI division, Luke Dicken, and several staff members working under him. "​​It’s truly disappointing that I have to share with you that my time with T2 — and that of my team — has come to an end," Dicken shared in a LinkedIn post spotted by Game Developer. 

When asked to confirm the layoffs in its AI division, Take-Two declined to comment.

Dicken writes that his team was "developing cutting edge technology to support game development" and his post specifically notes that he's trying to find roles for staff with experience in things like "procedural content for games" and "machine learning." It's unclear how many people other than Dicken have been impacted by these layoffs, but the timing does seem a bit unusual for Take-Two.

Like some other large game publishers, Take-Two has "actively embraced" generative AI tools to "drive efficiencies" and "reduce costs." Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has even framed AI as having a positive effect on employment, noting that generative AI "will not reduce employment, it will increase employment," because "technology always increases productivity, which in turn increases GDP, which in turn increases employment."

It's too early to characterize these layoffs as some sort of tide turning against AI — like other big game companies, Take-Two also just does a lot of layoffs — but it's interesting they're happening now, while the company is speeding towards the release of Grand Theft Auto VI. The sequel is expected to be a big hit, one that should give Take-Two plenty of financial wiggle-room to experiment with new technology.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/take-two-laid-off-the-head-its-ai-division-and-an-undisclosed-number-of-staff-182824338.html?src=rss

Engadget Podcast: How Apple keeps redefining personal computing at 50

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For a 50-year-old company, Apple remains pretty hip and nimble. This week, Devindra and Senior Reporter Igor Bonifacic dive into Apple's big birthday, the state of the company today and what the next 50 years could bring. It remains one of the few PC companies that’s still firmly committed to the idea of personal computing. Also, we celebrate the successful launch of NASA's Artemis II mission, which will bring us back to the Moon (but just for a close look).

  • Apple at 50: Why it’s still all about personal computing – 1:16

  • Artemis II is safely on its way to the moon, but they’re having problems with Outlook – 37:48

  • SpaceX files for the largest IPO ever, what’s driving their hopes for a 1.75 Trillion valuation? – 40:52

  • Another Starlink satellite broke up in orbit, the second in 6 months – 47:21

  • Anthropic accidentally leaked source code for Claude Code – 52:17

  • FCC issues ban on all foreign-made WiFi routers – 57:18

  • Around Engadget – 1:02:09

  • Working On – 1:07:18

  • Pop culture picks – 1:08:20 

Hosts : Devindra Hardawar and Igor Bonifacic
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/engadget-podcast-how-apple-keeps-redefining-personal-computing-at-50-122121591.html?src=rss

The Morning After: NASA’s Artemis II is on a voyage around the Moon

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NASA’s Artemis II successfully launched on April 1, with its crew on a 10-day mission to circle the Moon. It’s the first crewed Artemis flight and a major step toward humanity returning to our little neighbor in the future. Since launch, the vehicle has separated from its launch system and been manually piloted, testing how the Orion capsule will dock with future lunar landers. There have been some snags, however: The onboard toilet went awry, and Microsoft Outlook has been acting screwy.

Jokes aside, there is something magnificent about seeing humanity taking to the stars once again. That, for all of our worst instincts, we can still come together to solve problems and explore beyond our own horizons.

— Dan Cooper

Donut Lab
Donut Lab

At CES 2026, a Finnish–Estonian startup claimed to have invented a world-changing solid state battery. Rather than explain how it did so, it engaged in a lengthy campaign teasing out data that didn’t quite support its explosive claims. We’ve dived deep to separate truth from hype and found there’s little of the former and far, far too much of the latter.

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Roland Go: Mixer Studio
James Trew for Engadget

As James Trew says, $300 is a lot for a portable mixer in this class, but Roland’s brand new Go:Mixer Studio justifies its price. Unlike its predecessor, the Pro-X, it gets a second XLR port, MIDI connectivity and a display offering visible VU meters. That you can also use it as a desktop interface adds another layer of icing on an already sweet cake.

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WWDC 2026
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

WWDC 2026 isn’t until the summer, but we’re already collating enough rumors from the mill to bring you the inside skinny. Early reports suggest Apple is making this a Snow Leopard year, tidying up after itself inside its software rather than going hard on new features. Hopefully, that will see the gaudier excesses of Liquid Glass dialed down, a lot of trimmed cruft and stability improvements. Oh, and some guff about AI.

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Image of the Robosen Soundwave standing in front of a plant.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

There are some things in life that would normally be a hard sell, a $1,400 boombox that could just about move around with poor sound quality being one of them. Dress it up as Soundwave from the original Transformers toy line / cartoon, however, and suddenly Sam Rutherford is racing for their wallet.

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Image of the Soundcore Nebula X1 on a dais in the center of a beautiful French living room
Steve Dent for Engadget

Nebula’s built quite the track record for making projectors you’re actually proud to show off. Its latest is the X1 Pro, which combines a beefy 4K projector with a 400-watt Dolby Atmos 7.1 speaker system. That’s a hell of a lot of tech in a single package and is clearly at home at the center of a backyard movie night under the stars. But is it worth the $5,000 asking price? For that, you’ll need to read Steve Dent’s review.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111544222.html?src=rss

Sony’s gaming division just bought an AI startup that turns photos into 3D volumes

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Sony Interactive Entertainment, owner of the PlayStation brand, has acquired Cinemersive Labs, a UK startup developing tools to convert 2D photos and videos into 3D volumes. The startup team will join Sony's Visual Computing Group, a research engineering team focused on graphical technology, including game rendering, video coding and generative AI models.

Cinemersive's most recent product is a virtual reality app called Parallax that works as a viewer for parallax photos — three-dimensional images that you can peer around with natural head movements — captured using traditional smartphones and professional cameras with stereo lenses. The startup developed custom AI tools to convert 2D images into 3D volumes to make Parallax possible, and Sony apparently wants to apply that expertise to its own projects.

"Following the acquisition, the Cinemersive Labs team will join SIE’s Visual Computing Group (VCG) and contribute to our broader efforts in advancing state of the art visual computing within games," Sony says. "This includes applying machine learning to enhance gameplay visuals, improve rendering techniques, and unlock new levels of visual fidelity for players."

Machine learning has been a major focus of Sony's efforts to improve graphical performance on the PlayStation 5 and future hardware. The PlayStation 5 Pro was designed around a new GPU, faster storage and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), custom AI upscaling tech that let the console run games at a lower resolution and then upscale them to 4K. The company recently squeezed even more performance out of the Pro with an updated version of PSSR it released in March. And with AMD, Sony is working on Project Amethyst, a multi-pronged collaboration to improve ray tracing and upscaling on the future consoles.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sonys-gaming-division-just-bought-an-ai-startup-that-turns-photos-into-3d-volumes-220648699.html?src=rss

OpenAI brings ChatGPT’s Voice mode to CarPlay

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In a surprise release, OpenAI has made ChatGPT's Voice mode available through Apple CarPlay. If you're running the latest version of both iOS and the ChatGPT app, and own a CarPlay-compatible vehicle, you can check out the experience. To get started, download all the necessary software, connect your iPhone to CarPlay and select "New voice chat" from ChatGPT. When the in-app text indicates ChatGPT is "listening," you can start a conversation.         

There are some notable limitations to using ChatGPT Voice with CarPlay. For one, OpenAI's chatbot can't control car functions. If you want to adjust the cabin temperature or skip tracks, you'll still need Siri for those tasks. Due to Apple's restrictions, you also can't start using ChatGPT through a wake word like you can Siri. For example, to resume a previous conversation, you need to open the ChatGPT app from CarPlay and tap a recent or pinned chat.  

With those limitations in mind, OpenAI suggests you can use Voice mode to get how-to advice, brainstorm ideas and practice languages. Personally, I like to listen to podcasts and music when I'm driving, but if talking with ChatGPT is your thing, you do you.    

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-brings-chatgpts-voice-mode-to-carplay-191422297.html?src=rss

Russia closes loophole to fully block payments for Apple services

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Russia has closed a loophole that allowed its citizens to pay for Apple digital services. "As of April 1, 2026, payment processing is no longer available for purchases made on the App Store or other Apple Media Services in Russia," the company wrote in a support document (via 9to5Mac).

The change affects all Apple services. However, the company says iCloud+ subscribers' data will remain available after their subscriptions end, even after losing premium cloud storage. Customers' previous purchases will still be accessible, as will existing Apple Account funds until they run out.

Why is Russia doing this? Well, the (state-aligned) Russian news outlet RBC reported that government officials said it was to prevent users from paying for VPN apps. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that the country has stepped up its attack on the services as part of its "great crackdown" on online information and speech. By mid-January, it had reportedly blocked 70 percent more VPN apps than late last year.

With Russia's war with Ukraine now in its fifth year, Putin's regime apparently wants to shore up domestic support the way autocrats do: by limiting access to information. (VPNs allow Russians to circumvent the country's strict online censorship.) The country’s crackdown has also included blocking WhatsApp, slowing down Telegram and repeatedly jamming mobile internet in Moscow.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/russia-closes-loophole-to-fully-block-payments-for-apple-services-163228262.html?src=rss

Google releases Gemma 4, a family of open models built off of Gemini 3

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When Google released Gemini 3 Pro at the end of last year, it was a significant step forward for the company's proprietary large language models. Now, the company is bringing some of the same technology and research that made those models possible to the open source community with the release of its new family of Gemma 4 open-weight models.

Google is offering four different versions of Gemma 4, differentiated by the number of parameters on offer. For edge devices, including smartphones, the company has the 2-billion and 4-billion "Effective" models. For more powerful machines, there’s the 26-billion "Mixture of Experts" and 31-billion "Dense" systems. For the unfamiliar, parameters are the settings a large language model can tweak to generate an output. Typically, models with more parameters will deliver better answers than ones with less, but running them also requires more powerful hardware. 

With Gemma 4, Google claims it's managed to engineer systems with "an unprecedented level of intelligence-per-parameter." To back up this claim, the company points to the performance of Gemma 4's 31-billion and 26-billion variants, which claimed the third and sixth spots respectively on Arena AI's text leaderboard, beating out models 20 times their size.     

All of the models can process video and images, making them ideal for tasks like optical character recognition. The two smaller models are also capable of processing audio inputs and understanding speech. Separately, Google says the Gemma 4 family is capable of generating offline code, meaning you could use them to do vibe coding without an internet connection. Google has also trained the models in more than 140 languages.    

Google is releasing the Gemma 4 family under an Apache 2.0 license. The company made previous Gemma models available through its own Gemma license. The move will give people a greater deal of freedom to modify the new systems to their needs.  

"This open-source license provides a foundation for complete developer flexibility and digital sovereignty; granting you complete control over your data, infrastructure and models." Google said. "It allows you to build freely and deploy securely across any environment, whether on-premises or in the cloud." 

If you want to give one of the systems a try for yourself, the model weights are available through Hugging Face, Kaggle and Ollama. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-releases-gemma-4-a-family-of-open-models-built-off-of-gemini-3-160000332.html?src=rss

Samsung’s new Frame Pro and OLED TVs are now available to order

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After sharing pricing and availability for its new Mini LED TVs in March, Samsung is ready to detail some of the other TVs it introduced at CES earlier this year. The 2026 versions of Samsung's The Frame Pro and OLED TVs are both available to order today – save for some notable exceptions – and they start for as little as $1,200.

The Frame Pro was originally introduced in 2025 as the more premium version of Samsung's popular The Frame art TVs. The big advantage of stepping up to a Pro model over a normal Frame is you get a Neo QLED panel with better backlighting, and support for Samsung's Wireless One Connect box, which lets you avoid cluttering your TV with extra cables. The 2026 version doesn't really change that formula. You still get a glare-free QLED panel, a refresh rate of up 144Hz or up to 240Hz when the TV is connected to a PC and access to the Wireless One Connect box. The key differences are The Frame Pro now comes in a smaller 55-inch size (joining Samsung's 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch models) and one of the TV's Micro HDMI ports supports eARC for improved audio quality with connected sound bars.

Samsung's new S95H OLED for 2026 features a new display that lets it mount flush against a wall.
Samsung's new S95H OLED for features a new design that lets it mount flush against a wall.
Samsung

Samsung's improvements to its OLED TVs line is a bit more substantial. The company's flagship S95H features what Samsung calls a "FloatLayer Design" with a metal bezel that lets the TV mount flush against a wall, and the option to use a Wireless One Connect Box to hide cable clutter. Both the S95H and the cheaper S90H feature brighter OLED HDR Pro or OLED HDR+ displays, and Samsung's glare-free treatment to hide reflections. The TVs are also NVIDIA G-Sync compatible and support AMD FreeSync Premium Pro to prevent stuttering and screen tearing when you're playing games, and use Samsung's NQ4 AI Gen 3 Processor to handle 4K upscaling and other AI features. The cheapest OLED option, the S85H, now also comes in a smaller 48-inch size.

Most, but not all, of Samsung's 2026 The Frame Pro models are available to purchase from Samsung and other retailers starting today. The 65-inch The Frame Pro is available for $2,000, the 75inch model is $2,800 and the 85-inch model is $4,000. Samsung has yet to share pricing or availability for the 55-inch The Frame Pro, or the 2026 versions of the entry-level The Frame.

All the company's 2026 OLED TVs are also available to purchase. A 55-inch S95H is $2,500, the 65-inch model is $3,400, the 77-inch model is $4,500 and the 83-inch model is $6,500. The mid-tier S90H lineup starts at $1,400 for a 42-inch model and goes all the way up to $5,300 for an 83-inch model. Samsung's S85H, meanwhile, starts at $1,200 for a 48-inch model and goes up to $4,500 for an 83-inch model.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-new-frame-pro-and-oled-tvs-are-now-available-to-order-150000440.html?src=rss

Artemis II crew is just like us, needs help with Microsoft Outlook issues

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The four history-making Artemis II crew members are cooped up with each other in a tiny space for 10 days. And yet the most uncomfortable aspect of the mission might be having to deal with not one, but two instances of Microsoft Outlook.

Commander Reid Wiseman sent a literal "Houston, we have a problem" message to mission control in the early hours of Thursday. He sought tech support for internet connectivity issues on a PCD (personal computing device), which is a Microsoft Surface Pro. Before you ask, yes, Wiseman did try turning the device off and on again before requesting help, but that didn't resolve the problem.

NASA detected that the PCD was actually on a network. It asked the commander for permission to connect to the tablet remotely so it could look into a problem with the Optimus software. "I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working," Wiseman responded, per a clip shared by Niki Grayson on Bluesky. "If you wanna remote in and check Optimus and those two Outlooks, that would be awesome."

I scrubbed through some of NASA’s livestreamed feed of its communications with Orion, but didn’t hear any resolution to the problem. Perhaps tech support was looking into the matter while the astronauts were asleep. Engadget has contacted NASA for comment.

Tablet trouble isn't exactly the biggest problem the crew had to deal with thus far. The astronauts reported an issue with a fan in the toilet, which handles urine collection. Although there are contingency urinal bags on board Orion, the issue was thankfully resolved within a few hours. 

Still, dealing with Outlook means that the astronauts will have the sympathy of many office workers. Here's hoping they don't have to use Teams as well.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/artemis-ii-crew-is-just-like-us-needs-help-with-microsoft-outlook-issues-145230968.html?src=rss