Kind Words 2 (lofi city pop), a game where you send real letters to real people and then wander around a cozy town, is due to hit Steam on October 7.
It’s the sequel to Kind Words (lo-fi chill beats to write to), an award-winning 2019 game from independent Boston studio Popcannibal. Players in the original game had a single bedroom where, backdropped by a sweet lo-fi soundtrack, they wrote and responded to letters from other players. There were small bits of room customization and sticker collection in the game, but it was truly just about connecting with strangers in a warm and nice way. This was a prescient idea: Just six months after Kind Words came out, the coronavirus pandemic locked down the globe. Connecting with people safely and from a distance suddenly became a top priority, and Kind Words carried this responsibility well. In the five years since launch, hundreds of thousands of players have sent more than 6 million messages in-game.
Kind Words 2 imports your letters, room changes and stickers from the first game, and it allows you to leave the bedroom and explore a small town of shops, cafes and parks. On top of the standard letter-writing loop, you can customize your avatar with new clothes, scream (in written form) into the void, wish on a star, perform poetry and interact with other players in public spaces. The endlessly chill soundtrack comes from Slay the Spire and Kind Words composer Clark Aboud. It all looks — and sounds — incredibly adorable.
In terms of game design, Popcannibal faces a unique and impossible-sounding challenge with the Kind Words series. Instead of having to build innovative environments or ultra-responsive controls, developers have to create a world that encourages anonymous online strangers to be nice to each other. The original game excelled in this regard, using visuals, mechanics, mood and music to foster friendly conversations among thousands of anonymous players worldwide. Kind Words 2 is bigger, but the vibe seems just as snuggly, and this time around Popcannibal has years of experience moderating and vibe-curating under its belt. If anyone can create a troll-free anonymous social network, it’s these folks.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/kind-words-2-takes-cozy-letter-writing-to-the-city-on-october-7-215127953.html?src=rss
If the compact Wonderboom is just too big for you, Ultimate Ears' latest speaker will supplant that model as the smallest entry in the company's current lineup. The Miniroll is, as the name suggests, a diminutive version of the company's flat, circular Roll design. This new Bluetooth option weighs less than a pound and can tuck into tight pockets. Or, as UE was keen to show off in the marketing materials, the speaker can attach to nearly anything thanks to a built-in, flexible strap.
Once again, Ultimate Ears retained the prominent volume buttons as a key design element. Power and play/pause buttons are on the left side, with that latter control also assisting with track skipping and activating PartyUp mode (with Auracast) for syncing with other Miniroll speakers. Along the bottom edge, there's a USB-C port for charging. Even though that component is fully exposed, the speaker is IP67 rated dust and waterproof, plus it's able to withstand drops of nearly four feet (1.2 meters).
Ultimate Ears
Don't let the smaller size fool you, the Miniroll still packs a punch. The speaker can manage up to 85.5dB of volume, which is impressive for a unit of this stature. That big sound is powered by one 45.6mm active driver and one 37.75mm x 65mm passive radiator.
Ultimate Ears promises up to 12 hours of battery life on a charge, plenty of juice for an all-day party on the go. There's a sustainability element here, too. The fabric made of 100 percent post-consumer recycled polyester and the speaker contains at least 40 percent post-consumer recycled plastic parts.
The Miniroll is available now for $80 (€80/£70) in black, blue, grey and pink color options. At this price, the speaker is the most affordable in the current UE range — in addition to being the smallest.
Update, September 9 2024, 5:35PM ET: This post was updated after UE clarified that the PartyUp feature on Miniroll only works with other Miniroll speakers. This is due to the fact that Miniroll is the only UE speaker that supports Auracast at this time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/miniroll-is-the-smallest-ultimate-ears-speaker-but-it-packs-big-sound-070144756.html?src=rss
Mattel's latest Polly Pocket collab is a Stranger Things playset that houses the fictional town of Hawkins and the Upside Down in a compact shaped like a walkie-talkie. The set, introduced this week, contains figurines of the characters Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will — plus a very non-threatening interpretation of the Demogorgon. Pre-orders for the $50 collectible are now open through Mattel Creations and major retailers, including Walmart and Target. It’s expected to start shipping later this month.
Mattel
The set also includes a few tiny walkie-talkies, bikes, a wig for Eleven and a little stack of waffles. There’s even a mini sensory deprivation tank on both sides of the compact with a cutout that the Eleven figurine fits into, and a chalkboard with a crack for the Demogorgon to burst through. The packaging it comes in is designed to look like a retro tape recorder. It’s all painfully cute. Now can we get that fifth season sometime soon, please?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/theres-a-stranger-things-polly-pocket-set-and-its-design-is-really-clever-204550807.html?src=rss
Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, has issued a recall for Ram 1500 pickup trucks from 2019 and 2021-2024 due to a software problem in the anti-lock brake system. The bug could cause the anti-lock brake system to “disable the electronic stability control system,” which in turn can increase the risk of a crash, according to a notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The recall affects roughly 1.46 million vehicles worldwide, Reutersreports, with the vast majority of them being in the US. So far, there are no known injuries or crashes relating to the issue, according to Reuters. If the problem arises, owners should see the ABS, ESC, Adaptive Cruise Control and Forward Collision Warning lights go on upon starting the truck. Per Reuters, the software issue does not affect foundational braking.
The NHTSA says notices will be mailed to owners in early October, and they’ll have to bring their trucks into a dealership so the ABS control module software can be updated. As of now, the vehicles do not comply with the federal motor vehicle safety standard for electronic stability control systems, the NHTSA says. If you’re unsure whether the recall applies to your truck, you can plug your information into the NHTSA recall search tool to find out.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/over-14-million-ram-1500-trucks-recalled-to-fix-a-bug-in-the-anti-lock-brake-system-172807815.html?src=rss
If you remember the reMarkable 2 when it was announced in March 2020, you'll be excited to hear about its successor: the reMarkable Paper Pro. This new distraction-free writing slate comes with a nicer chassis, faster internals, a bigger display and most importantly, a color screen.
If you’re unfamiliar, reMarkable is the standard bearer for those devices standing in the delta between high and low tech. It’s an e-paper slate with a stylus (or keyboard) for reading, writing or editing your own documents, or annotating PDFs. The focus is giving you a calmer space to get some Serious Work(™) done, free from the distractions a “proper” computer or tablet would harbor. The company has always maintained that its devices offer you a way to feel like you’re working on paper, without actually having to work on paper. Despite its age, the reMarkable 2 has been a mainstay in our E Ink tablets guide as the pick that's the best option for most people. The only other products currently in the conversation are the Kobo Libra Colour and Onyx Book Tablet Note Air 3 C. Those models also boast color screens and stylus compatibility, but both have smaller displays — 7 inches diagonally on the former and 10.3 inches on the latter.
The Paper Pro is a little more than an inch taller and a quarter inch wider than its predecessor but has been able to cram in a lot more stuff. The rM2 had a 10.3-inch monochrome display while the Paper Pro’s stretched to 11.8-inches. reMarkable’s Chief Design Officer Mats Solberg explained his team worked to reduce the size of the bezels and chin to accommodate the bigger display.
Image by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
Whereas the older model stuck to a rigid notion of post-iPad design language, the new Paper Pro gets a more austere look and feel. The edge band is sharper, if still comfortable to hold, and Solberg emphasized the grooves etched into the sides. He explained they both evoke the idea you’re holding a sheaf of paper, and to add some much-needed grip to a device this thin.
There’s dramatic changes on the inside, with a new 1.8Ghz quad-core Cortex A53 paired with 2GB RAM and 64GB storage. For comparison, the rM2 had a 1.2GHz dual-core chip, 1GB RAM and just 8GB storage. As soon as you turn the Paper Pro on, you’ll see the benefits of the new silicon, with far faster response times. You even get proper animations during the setup process.
But the real showstopper here is the display, which uses a modified version of E Ink’s Gallery 3 technology dubbed “Canvas Color.” It means the display holds a series of ink particles inside each pixel — a White, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow — as in most regular printers. reMarkable says the display is similar to newsprint and it’s an apt analogy with clear, if muted, colors on show.
Image by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
The technology can also dither colors, mixing each ink particle to produce up to 20,000 other colors, and the colors can also be layered. It means you can highlight sections of text in the same way you’d use a highlighter on paper, the more layers you draw, the darker the color. Of course, the benefit of using a digital device is that you can highlight it as many times as you want without anything becoming soggy.
As usual, reMarkable has leveraged a limit and turned it into a benefit, offering you colors with a heavy dose of restraint. And you don’t really need your retinas to be burned inside out if you’re trying to organize your thoughts ahead of a big meeting. Although, having been spoiled by so many well-made displays of late, I do wish the colors popped a little bit more than they do.
The Paper Pro is the first reMarkable with a frontlight, finally letting you get some work done in dark environments. Solberg explained the frontlight was one of the hardest challenges to build without harming the distance between the stylus tip and the display itself. He said the team was determined to keep the gap between the pen and the display to under one millimeter, and succeeded.
The last two slates had active displays but passive styluses, but the Paper Pro gets an Apple Pencil-esque active stylus as well. It’ll charge while magnetically connected to the side of the bezel and the new components help improve accuracy and latency. Solberg said the reMarkable 2 had an input latency of 22ms, and he had targeted 15ms for this model. He was proud to say that the team smashed that target, with the Paper Pro’s latency down to just 12ms.
And yet, for all the headline changes, it’s the added responsiveness that’s the really compelling feature. The rM2 was no laggard, but the faster input really does help sell the idea you’re sketching out ideas on paper. You can always credit the company for sweating the details, too, like the fact you can add a highlight or handwritten annotation to typed text that will follow the text around as you edit it.
I’m also impressed with reMarkable’s commitment to making the Paper Pro easier to repair and refurbish than older models. Solberg explained that the Paper Pro is far more modular under the hood, with easily-swappable components. He ruled out end-user repairs, but said that the only adhesive used in the chassis are two replaceable glue strips to keep the battery in place. Repairs would likely need to take place at reMarkable HQ or a partner distributor, but the fact it’s been designed with an eye on long-term repair at all is laudable.
reMarkable Paper Pro is available to order today from reMarkable’s website and Best Buy, priced at $579 with the standard Marker and $629 for the Marker Plus. If you want to add a case, and I heartily recommend you do, it’ll cost you between $89 and $179, depending on your material choice. And if you want to add the Type Folio, you’ll need to cough up an additional $229. The reMarkable 2 is remaining around as a lower-cost option (unsurprisingly, as it’s a really good piece of kit) and will now be available with the standard Marker for $379.
Of course, you and your wallet will have to decide if that’s the sort of sum you can bear to part with, especially in these tightened times. With a product like this, the intentional choices and limits made means it’ll always stack badly in a head-to-head with a similarly-priced iPad. The trick is to work out if you’ll be more productive with less mental and physical clutter in your computing environment, and go forward from there. I’ve found, when I’ve got a lot of work to do and need to focus, it’s a better way to hammer out first drafts than other devices I could name.
Update, September 6, 4:43PM ET: This story was updated after its original publication to include a comparison to competing writing tablets with color screens.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/the-new-remarkable-paper-pro-adds-a-color-display-120059067.html?src=rss
What the Car? is a celebration of gaming through pure creativity, unfettered by the trappings of narrative logic. It isn't as wildly surprising as What the Golf?, and it doesn't have the VR immersion of What the Bat?, but like those previous two games, it still delivers more charm and whimsy than you'll see in most other titles. Why does the car have legs, you ask? Shut up and play.
As we learned from What the Golf?, the developers at Triband Games specialize in subverting your expectations. So while your main character is indeed a car, you won't actually be racing on four wheels over boring old tracks. Your car sprouts legs early on, and that alone teaches you to expect the unexpected. Every level you play twists the weirdness a bit further: You'll get long legs; you'll get a rocket pack and springy legs; you'll be transformed into a soccer ball.
What the Car?escalates its gameplay ideas to levels of sheer absurdity, but that's what makes it so great. After playing as a soccer ball for a bit, a few stages transformed into massive foosball tables. The game didn't need to pause and explain the changes or tell me which buttons to press. I intuited that the car's action button flipped the kickers, and my brain quickly remapped itself around foosball rules. This experience might be a little frustrating for those unfamiliar with the glory of tabletop soccer, but the game effectively uses failure as a teaching tool.
After debuting on Apple Arcade last year, What the Car? is now available to PC players on Steam. And before you ask, yes, it does make for a truly perfect portable Steam Deck experience. While it's lush with a vivacious aesthetic and cartoonish characters, the game doesn't require advanced graphics hardware. (Its minimum specs? A mere 2.6GHz Intel Quad Core chip, 2GB of RAM and an 11-year-old GeForce GT 750M mobile GPU.)
Triband
For the most part, levels in What the Car? aren't too difficult, but if you want more of a challenge you can try to get gold trophies by completing stages faster. That carrot was enough to make me replay stages multiple times. There's also a hidden collectible card in every stage, as well as other secrets.
While Triband Games claims you’ll be able to complete What the Car?’s core stages in three to five hours, it estimates it’ll take another nine to 12 to get all of the secrets and gold trophies. There are also user-generated levels to consider (most of which are truly punishing), as well as a level builder for your own creations.
Triband
These days, I'm often playing games side-by-side with my five year old daughter Sophia, who in the past few months has become absolutely Minecraft-pilled. (Is there some sort of Minecraft support group for tired parents who never got into it? Someone please hook me up.) She ended up sacrificing some of her limited gaming time just to watch me play What the Car?. She was thrilled when I was able to reach gold on particularly tough stages, and she couldn't stop laughing at the car's silly transformations and the damage it would inevitably inflict on bears populating the levels.
I could relate to her sense of awe. Through its whimsy and delirious inventiveness, What the Car? is a testament to the power of games. It's something I felt at the same age, when I first encountered Super Marios Bros. on the NES. I didn't question why mushrooms made Mario get stronger, or why I could go down pipes. My daughter never questioned why the car had legs, or why the rules of the game kept changing. She was just thrilled to be along for the ride.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/what-the-car-hits-steam-and-its-still-one-of-the-best-games-youll-play-this-year-153007118.html?src=rss
LG's stretchable displays that we first saw at CES 2023 have made a new public appearance at a fashion show, the company announced. The tech — which LG now calls Stretchable — appeared as part of clothing and bag concepts at 2025 Seoul Fashion Week.
The displays were added to the front of garments, sleeves and clutch bags designed by Korean designers Youn-Hee Park and Chung-Chung Lee. "We have been able to design future fashion concepts with new materials that have never existed before," Park said.
Stretchable displays can be pulled, bent and twisted, so they go a step farther than the bending and twisting displays used in foldable smartphones. To make them more supple, LG built the substrate material from a silicon similar to that used in contact lenses, with microLEDs smaller than 40-micrometers for the light source. LG notes they can be stretched from 12 to 14 inches or about 20 percent.
Flexible wearable tech has been a much researched feature for fashion and even things like invisibility cloaks. South Korea's government created a national project to test their commercial potential for new types of wearable tech across multiple industries. The main challenge has been to make it more like fabric instead of stiff plastic, but LG seems to have at least partially cracked the problem.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/lg-flaunts-its-stretchable-displays-on-the-catwalk-140053981.html?src=rss
Puzzle games come in a range of styles, from mindless relaxation machines to hardcore logical quagmires, and we have a little bit of everything in this list. From classics like Threes! and Braid to new-school entries like Lorelei and the Laser Eyes and Escape Academy, there’s always a puzzle game to play between meetings, during a slow Sunday afternoon or with a group of friends on the couch. Here we’ve compiled some of the best puzzle games to activate your brain in new ways or unwind after a long day.
Sony shared a first glimpse of its plans to celebrate PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, and it seems PS5 Pro is coming to the party. Its decorative logo includes an image of the rumored upgrade to the current-gen PS5 console. Zoom between the S of the PlayStation logo and the 3, to reveal a different rectangle to the PS5s that appears elsewhere. The main change appears to be a differently proportioned console — if this is the Pro, it’ll be shorter than the OG PS5 — and have more stripes across the body, making it look a lot like the PS5 Pro rendering leaked in late August. How much, though? And how much more powerful?
DJI’s much-leaked $200 drone is for content creators and casual users alike. It’s tiny and easy to use thanks to novice-friendly propeller guards, palm takeoff and voice control. It has a suite of powerful features, like ActiveTrack, Quick Shots, FPV controller support, smartphone control and the ability to record yourself with the DJI Mic 2. The Neo’s 1,435mAh lithium-ion battery is incredibly light but supports up to 17 minutes of fly time, or around 13 to 14 minutes in the real world. It’s reasonably priced too.
Sony might have finally made a cute in-house official PlayStation mascot. It may have found its Mario. However, Astro Bot is not just for kids. It feels purpose-built for video game fans. According to Engadget’s Jessica Conditt, it’s a skill-driven celebration of everything that makes the format so memorable and joyful, and an excellent introduction to the language of games.
You can access No Such Podcast on all major platforms.
The National Security Agency has a podcast to bring “people to the table from across the agency to discuss our role as a combat support agency, our foreign signals intelligence and cybersecurity missions, and so much more.” The podcast is far from Edward Snowden-level sharing. The NSA’s chief of strategic communications, Sara Siegle, is quick to add that some of the agency’s work is too sensitive to discuss. The first episodes have focused on cybersecurity and the agency’s role in finding Osama Bin Laden.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-did-sony-just-reveal-the-ps5-pro-design-111516898.html?src=rss
Panasonic TVs have been missing from the US market for over a decade, which is odd because, well, the company makes good stuff. In any event, our national nightmare is over. The Japanese electronics giant just released a bunch of new televisions for US customers.
The releases break down into two lines of OLED displays and another line of Mini-LED TVs. The televisions range in size from 55 to 85 inches and they’ve all been designed and developed in Japan. As expected, all of the TVs boast a 4K resolution, to showcase Panasonic’s “outstanding picture quality.”
Panasonic has also teamed up with Amazon for these displays. Each model comes with Fire TV built in. This partnership likely gave Panasonic an easy way to add an America-friendly UI into the mix, being as how the company’s been missing from these shores for ten years.
Panasonic/Amazon
Why come back now? The company says it was “driven to re-enter the US by a strong belief in the unmet demand for their televisions, particularly among consumers seeking the highest possible picture quality.” That’s just corporate mumbo jumbo, but the real reason is likely one word that rhymes with “shmoney.” The US is a huge market.
The company’s new TVs are available to order right now, though it looks like shipments won’t go out until September 16. Prices range from $1,300 to $3,200, depending on the model and size.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/panasonic-just-returned-to-the-us-market-with-new-oled-and-mini-led-tvs-152614684.html?src=rss