Tag Archives: author_name|Mat Smith

The Morning After: Our verdict on the Meta Quest 3S

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Meta’s latest play to get you into VR is a cheaper VR headset almost as capable as the $500 Quest 3. The Quest 3S brings some but not all of the top features of the more expensive headset. Compared to the Quest 2, it has a more capable processor, better hand and controller tracking and lets you dip your toes into mixed reality.

Costs have been cut: There are lower-res screens and cheaper Fresnel lenses, but Meta has cleverly cherry picked the right specs to ensure the Quest 3S feels as capable as the more expensive option. You get the same subtle, comfortable controllers and the camera arrays to track your environment.

You can also use the 3S to play Xbox titles and even connect to your PC for VR games like Half Life: Alyx. The Quest 3S starts at $300 with 128GB of storage. If you’re intrigued, check out our full review.

— Mat Smith

The biggest tech stories you missed

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Fujifilm

The $799 X-M5 is for photographers on a budget or vloggers stepping up from a smartphone. Fujifilm cut a few features, like a viewfinder (EVF), to get to that price point, but it does have the company’s latest 26-megapixel X-Trans 4 CMOS sensor. There are also handy vlogging features, like a portrait enhancer, background defocus and product priority, much as we’ve seen on Sony’s vlogging Z-series cameras. It’s on presale for $799.

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Google said it will partner with the startup Kairos Power to build seven small nuclear reactors in the US. The deal aims to farm 500 megawatts of nuclear power from the small modular reactors (SMRs) by the decade’s end. The first is expected to be up and running by 2030, with the rest arriving through 2035. It’s the first-ever corporate deal to buy nuclear power from SMRs. Small modular reactors are smaller than existing reactors. Their components are built inside a factory rather than onsite, which can help lower construction costs. It’s not a dead cert: Kairos will need the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve the plans.

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SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster successfully returned to the pad after liftoff, caught by the launch tower’s mechanical arms. It’s rather incredible — you should watch it. The milestone came during the fifth flight of the company’s Starship and is a huge step for the rocket’s planned reusability goals. Where Falcon 9 typically lands on a drone ship in the ocean, Super Heavy returned to its launch site and had to navigate into the narrow opening between the launch tower’s outstretched “chopsticks.” Just watch it!

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-our-verdict-on-the-meta-quest-3s-111519614.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Pokémon hack exposes future games, beta designs and more

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Pokémon developer Game Freak has confirmed its servers were hacked in August. The breach meant internal materials — from source codes to early and even scrapped character designs — were circulating on social media over the weekend.

Leaked documents and images flooded Reddit and X after Centro Leaks began dumping it all on Saturday afternoon. It allegedly includes source codes for past games and codenames for the Switch 2 and the upcoming Gen 10 Pokémon games. There are also references to a Pokémon MMO, future movies and a new anime series. The leak revealed tons of beta character designs and concept art.

— Mat Smith

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Casio

Casio (of watch and calculator fame) is taking pre-orders in Japan for Moflin, the adorable robotic plushie with AI “emotional capabilities,” which debuted during CES 2021. Moflin, developed in a partnership with the Japanese startup Vanguard Industries, is meant to work like an emotional support pet — and is as fluffy as it looks.

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Last week, robot vacuums across the country were hacked, allowing attackers to not only control the robovacs, but use their speakers to hurl racial slurs and abusive comments at anyone nearby. Specifically, it was the Ecovacs Deebot X2s, which has a reputation for being easy to hack. The company says it’s developed a patch to eliminate the security flaw — but that won’t roll out until November. Maybe October is a messy house kind of a month?

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Redbox is dead, but its cuboid corpses remain in malls and shops nationwide. The machines are heavy and cumbersome, with a former Redbox executive suggesting it costs $500 to remove one kiosk. Note: Some machines are actually embedded in concrete. Some devotees have taken to adopting them regardless. Yet another note: These boxes use massive amounts of energy. Walgreens told a judge it costs the company $184,000 each month to power 5,400 kiosks, roughly $35 per month for a single machine. That was fine 10 years ago, when the company drew in $2 billion in annual revenue.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111103297.html?src=rss

The Morning After: This is Tesla’s robotaxi, the Cybercab

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At Tesla’s We, Robot event at Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio in California, the company finally unveiled its robotaxi. The car is expected to go into production before 2027, but even Musk caveated that, saying he was “highly optimistic with timeframes.”

The Cybercab doesn’t have a steering wheel and, according to Elon Musk (so pinch of salt!), could be very cheap to run. The Tesla boss said the operating cost of the robotaxi would be 20 cents a mile, 30 to 40 cents with taxes. He also confirmed people can buy one and that Tesla expects to sell the Cybercab for below $30,000. He still, predictably, said something weird. Musk said he envisions a future where people own several robotaxis and manage a fleet like shepherds. Huh?

The technology is a little different to most of its robotaxi competitors. Tesla has long dropped radars and sensors that other robotaxis, like Waymo’s, use extensively, instead going for cameras and AI object detection. There’s also no charging port, using inductive charging instead, so a completely different infrastructure is needed to keep these vehicles on the roads.

Not one to waste a big event, Musk also briefly introduced the Robovan — an autonomous van that can carry up to 20 people and transport goods, and he marched out a line of Optimus robots, which ended up serving drinks to attendees during the event.

— Mat Smith

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YouTube

Mubi has secured the rights to Grand Theft Hamlet. In this documentary, two out-of-work actors attempt to stage an entire production of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet within the game world of Grand Theft Auto Online during the Covid-19 pandemic. The movie comprises more than 300 hours of GTA footage.

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Despite competition everywhere, Intel has broadly maintained its lead on gaming performance. The company’s most recent Core 5/7/9 often outperformed their AMD counterparts. However, that has come at the cost of power efficiency. Until now. According to Intel, the goal was to reduce power consumption by 40 percent and internal package temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Celsius with its 15th-gen chips. When the high-spec Intel Core Ultra 9 285K arrives on October 24, it will cost $589, the 14-core Ultra 5 245KF will be $294 and the 20-core Ultra 7 265K will go on for $394.

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With many devices no longer including a charger in the box, especially the latest smartphones, a fast charger is no longer just a nice-to-have item — it’s arguably a must-have.

We’ve pulled together and tested the best chargers in three power output ranges. We have graphs, we have alternative options, we even tease more powerful chargers coming in the near future. In short, we’ve pulled together everything you need, besides buying one and shipping it to you ourselves.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-this-is-teslas-robotaxi-the-cybercab-111546066.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Nintendo’s latest hardware is not the Switch 2

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We’ve been waiting and waiting, and Nintendo finally did the right thing and announced an entirely new piece of hardware. Alas, it’s not a new console but a very Nintendo-looking smart alarm clock. The Alarmo has motion sensors that let you snooze it based on your movement. (There is a physical snooze button too.)

You’ll also be able to check how much you move around while you sleep, and the clock has sleeping sounds and music to drift off to.

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Nintendo

You can set the clock’s background with scenes inspired by the likes of Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 3, Pikmin 4 and, er, Ring Fit Adventure. The company says it plans to add more games as updates in the future. And when it’s time to wake you up, Alarmo will use music and sounds from those games.

For now, the curio is only available if you’re a Nintendo Switch Online member in the US and Canada. Other regions will have to wait, although as I finished writing today's TMA, Nintendo's UK site had the clock available to buy. You can order the $100 Alarmo online now, and Nintendo says it will be available at retail early next year.

— Mat Smith

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Former Humble Games staff form new publisher that will work with their old company

Meta AI will launch in six more countries today, including the UK

Zoom’s latest feature update focuses heavily on its AI assistant

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Green Day

While other classic albums often get remasters for big anniversaries, Green Day (with the help of an art studio called Brain) went in a lo-fi direction. It’s re-releasing the music on defunct and/or (very) inconvenient formats in very limited editions. As a result, you can hear what “Basket Case” sounds like through a Big Mouth “Billie” Bass, listen to “Welcome to Paradise” on a Game Boy cartridge. Other formats include an answering machine, toothbrush, animatronic stuffed animal, floppy disc, doorbell, Fisher Price record, HitClip and — this is crazy — MiniDisc.

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It kicks off at 10PM ET / 7PM PT today.

If you’re intrigued by what Tesla has planned for its robotaxis, you’ll probably have to pull a late one. At the company’s long-delayed robotaxi event, we’re not expecting to see a fully finished vehicle, but investors and Tesla fans are hoping for a working prototype. The manic-jumping Tesla boss, Elon Musk, began talking about the robotaxi plan years ago. However, it took on greater importance earlier this year when Tesla reportedly shelved its plans for an entry-level EV in favor of the autonomous ridesharing project.

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The Internet Archive has been hit this week with a series of DDoS attacks, which have taken the service offline. The Verge noticed a popup on the site when the online database went down. The popup has since disappeared. This attack apparently came just as the Internet Archive was going to disclose a previous breach of its site that resulted in the theft of more than 31 million records. A DDoS organization known as Blackmeta claimed responsibility for the attacks with a confusing message that the platform “belongs to the USA.” The Internet Archive is headquartered in San Francisco.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-nintendos-latest-hardware-is-not-the-switch-2-alarmo-111617400.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Boring Company’s Vegas Loop plagued by lost drivers, trespassers and skateboarders

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Elon Musk’s Boring Company pitched that its Vegas Loop, underground tunnels built below Las Vegas, would reduce gridlock in some of the busiest parts of the city, offering a new transport solution that isn’t a monorail. People are transported by ordinary Tesla vehicles in tunnels and terminals that are often difficult to get to. (At least, that was my experience earlier this year.)

It hasn’t been the transport game changer the company promised, though. A report from Fortune elaborated on what’s actually happening in those tunnels, saying there have been at least 67 trespassing reports since 2022 and 22 instances of other vehicles following Teslas into the tunnels and stations.

Boring’s monthly reports to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also showed several instances of “property damage, theft, technical issues or injuries, near-misses and trespassing or intrusions.” Some curated highlights include a skateboarder who snuck into the tunnels through a passenger pickup station and two people spotted sleeping in one of the tunnel stations.

And yet (and yet!) county commissioners approved a plan last May to expand the tunnels to 65 miles and add 69 passenger stations.

— Mat Smith

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SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts are leaving the ISS on October 13

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Engadget

If you were intrigued by Meta’s continued VR experiments but put off by the price of the Quest 3, then the Quest 3S may be for you. It’s a slightly bulkier, slightly less sharp version of Meta’s last standalone VR headset, but starting at $300, it’s much less than the Quest 3’s $500 launch price. There are compromises with display resolution and lenses, but it packs the same powerful processor as the Quest 3, so it should run games and apps just as quickly. Expect our full review soon, but so far we’re impressed.

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Engadget

The DJI Neo may be an inexpensive, beginner-friendly drone, but it still has powerful features, like subject tracking and quick shots. Surprisingly, this is a cheap $200 drone arguably worth considering. Just be prepared for the noise it makes.

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Two scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” John Hopfield, an emeritus professor of Princeton University, devised an associative kind of memory that can store and reconstruct images and other patterns in data. Geoffrey Hinton, dubbed the Godfather of AI, pioneered a way to autonomously find properties in data, leading to the ability to identify picture elements.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-boring-companys-vegas-loop-plagued-by-lost-drivers-trespassers-and-skateboarders-111742611.html?src=rss

The Morning After: The best deals we found on Amazon’s Prime Day 2024

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Didn’t we already have a Prime Day? Yes, but that was Amazon’s July Prime Day — this one is in October. While it typically doesn’t offer the same breadth of deals (or deep discounts) as the OG day, if you’ve been keeping your eye on a certain pair of AirPods, Kindle tablet or, randomly this year, a lot of Lego, then you might be in luck.

Some highlights include $154 off AirPods Max (both Lightning and the recent USB-C version), the recently launched Ring pan-and-tilt security camera for $50 and Anker’s travel-friendly MagGo 3-in-1 Charging Station that can charge an Apple Watch, AirPods and smartphone all at once down to $88. Sony’s best headphones, another perennial Prime Day attendee, are on sale too: The WH-1000XM5 are on sale for $298, that’s $101 off.

If you’re shopping for a phone, though, no iPhones are discounted. Boo. However, the Pixel 8a is $100 cheaper ($399) and the OnePlus 12 is down to $650. We’ll be pulling the best deals into a single place, right here.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

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Anadolu via Getty Images

If you’re using Meta’s Threads, then you’ve probably encountered some engagement bait in your for you feed — if it’s not completely clogging it up. Now, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri says the company is “working to get it under control” after yet another spike in posts. Because the app defaults to the algorithmic for you feed, these engagement bait-style posts that attract a lot of replies often go viral on the app, even if it’s the type of content many don’t want to see. And are low quality. And dumb. And repetitive.

Addressing the issue could be tricky because engagement bait takes many forms. It could be rage-bait, AskReddit-style questions, Facebook copy-paste and more. Mosseri and Meta haven’t explained why it’s proved so easy to game Threads’ algorithm to go viral, either, but it seems the social network prioritizes replies.

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US District Judge James Donato issued a permanent injunction forcing Google to open its storefront to competitors for three years and make Android apps available in alternate stores. The ruling stems from Google’s four-year antitrust battle with Epic Games. Billing changes will also emerge from the injunction. Google can’t require developers to use its own billing system, nor can it stop devs from notifying users about less expensive payment options. Google said it will appeal the injunction.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111630224.html?src=rss

The Morning After: The first Apple Intelligence features should finally arrive on October 28

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It's been a wait. Apple Intelligence will start rolling out on October 28, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Apple said last month it was targeting October for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 — which will bring some of the first Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 16 and the rest of the Apple family.

The first wave of Apple Intelligence-powered features will include its summarization tool, Writing Tools and smart audio recording and transcriptions for Mail, Notes, Pages and other apps. I’ve been testing the beta, and so far, the most useful feature has been the summarization tool, tackling my forest of notifications and messages and parsing them into glanceable summaries.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

TMA
Lego

Scammers hijacked the toy brick maker’s website last week. They switched its banner and used it for a crypto scam. A banner with illustrated golden coins bearing the company’s logo claimed the "Lego coin is now officially out." It even promised secret rewards to those who’d buy some. The incident happened overnight at Lego’s headquarters. The company responded relatively quickly, removing the unauthorized banner and links. Lego told Engadget no user accounts were compromised.

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A more immediate update from Apple: It has released two new patches, including iOS 18.0.1 for iPhones and iPadOS 18.0.1. The patch fixes recording issues with all the iPhone 16 models in the Messages app. The iPhone’s microphone would accidentally start recording a few seconds before becoming activated with the orange microphone icon.

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X tried to avoid a $400,000 fine by claiming Twitter (its old name) no longer exists. The … creative legal argument came amid a more-than-year-long dispute with Australia’s eSafety Commission. The commission had asked the company to provide details about its handling of child sexual exploitation on the platform last February. X failed to answer several questions and was slapped with a $415,000-plus fine for non-compliance. The argument isn’t exactly new: CEO Linda Yaccarino has also repeatedly claimed X is a “brand new company” in a bid to avoid scrutiny. She repeated the line multiple times earlier this year while testifying at a Senate hearing on child safety issues. Australia federal judge Michael Wheelahan, however, was not having it.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-first-apple-intelligence-features-should-finally-arrive-on-october-28-111544744.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Samsung’s latest software update was bricking older Galaxy phones

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I'd be cautious with your software updates if you’ve got a Galaxy phone with a 2019 vintage. An update rolling out from Samsung is reportedly bricking devices from the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 series of phones. 9to5Google reported some users had the same issue with Galaxy M51 and A90 models. The Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ are five years old, running Android 12 and circling an age where they may not support updates.

Affected devices were apparently trapped in a bootloop and could not fully turn back on. Don’t factory reset your device, though, as you’ll lose data. 

Was this a dark plot to force you to buy a new Galaxy foldable? No. Samsung has now pulled the update and shared a newer version (2.2.03.1) without the issue — make sure you check that update number.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, claiming the company violated a new child privacy law in the state. It’ll be the first test of Texas’ Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. It requires social media platforms to verify the ages of younger users and offer parental control features, including the ability for parents to opt their children out of data collection.

Paxton alleges TikTok’s existing parental control features are insufficient, lacking “parental tools that allow them to control or limit most of a known minor’s privacy and account settings.”

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Starting on October 15, YouTube is increasing Shorts video limits from one to three minutes. For reference, TikTok, arguably its biggest competitor, has allowed users to share 10-minute videos for over two years. The company is working on letting you pull clips from across YouTube through the Shorts camera and make remix clips. If Shorts aren’t your thing, it will also be easier to skip them as YouTube is introducing a tool to show fewer Shorts, although this is only temporary.

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NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a supernova three times, at three different periods during its explosion, in one image. The image could help scientists better understand how fast the universe is expanding. One image, above, captures a streak of light with three distinct dots that appear brighter than the rest of it. As Dr Brenda Frye from the University of Arizona explained, those dots correspond to an exploding white dwarf star. It is also gravitationally lensed — there's a cluster of galaxies between here and the star, which bent the supernova’s light into multiple images.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-112437965.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Oura’s return to the smart ring fight

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Oura’s next-gen ring appears to be an upgrade in every way. It features a sleeker design, longer battery life and smarter sensors to offer deeper insights for wearers. No more squarish edges; it’s a perfect ring this time. Oura says Ring 4 has 18 signal pathways, up from eight in the Gen3, which is paired with its new Smart Sensing algorithm.

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Oura

New features include automatic heart rate and activity detection for up to 40 activities. It’ll land in six colors: Silver, Brushed Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, Stealth and Black. All bar the Stealth is made of titanium. Oura Ring 4 is available to pre-order today, with shipping expected to begin on October 15, 2024. Prices start at $349.

— Mat Smith

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Two Harvard students used facial recognition tech and a large language model to unearth a subject’s name, occupation and other details. Their setup (dubbed I-XRAY) can use that information to pull data like addresses, phone numbers, family member details and partial social security numbers from various sources online.

In a demo video, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio used the glasses to address people who appear to be strangers by name, discuss their work and bring up a place where they may have met in the past, based on information picked up. The students told 404 Media they developed I-XRAY to make people aware of what’s possible with current technology — they won’t release the code they used.

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Engadget

Following its first two cars of the same name, the Polestar 3 delivers what many of us were looking for. It’s a mass-market machine to fill the needs and wants of buyers looking for an all-electric SUV with proper dimensions — and yellow seat belts. After all the delays, we’ve got a test drive.

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Tesla’s Model 3 Standard Range Rear-Wheel Drive is no longer available in its online configurator. Electrek first reported on the absence of the cheapest option from the electric vehicle brand, with a price tag of $39,000. Now the Model 3 with Long-Range Rear-Wheel Drive takes that title with a retail price of $42,500.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-ouras-return-to-the-smart-ring-fight-111642885.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Microsoft is killing off HoloLens 2

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Microsoft is discontinuing production of its HoloLens 2 headset, according a report from UploadVR. The company has no plans for a follow-up device, telling customers this will be the last chance to purchase the headset before stock runs out. At launch, it was advertised as a device for enterprise consumers, so it never really entered the mass market. The move isn’t that surprising, considering Microsoft scrapped plans for a HoloLens 3 headset back in 2022. We’re waiting for the official line from the company.

It’s not exactly indicative of a death knell for VR and AR, though. Apple’s Vision Pro isn’t yet a year old, while Meta and Snap have both announced new glasses hardware in the last month. However, those last two companies’ take on AR are substantially smaller (and lighter) than the HoloLens — if not exactly subtle.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed
Uber and Wing will partner for drone delivery pilot in Dallas

New Xbox Game Pass titles for October include Inscryption and Sifu

Raspberry Pi built an AI camera with Sony

VTuber Ironmouse breaks all-time record for concurrent Twitch subscribers

TMA
Netflix

Netflix has finally shared a full-length trailer ahead of Squid Game’s second season premier on December 26, calling for viewers to “Get back in the game.” It centers on the mysterious salesperson from the start of the series, reprised by Gong Yoo — and he wants to play again.

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Engadget

reMarkable’s new ‘pro’ e-paper tablet has a color screen, creating a best-in-class distraction-free writing experience. Combined with a stylus and a folio keyboard, it’s built for ideas and writing. Is it as powerful as an iPad? No. Is it expensive? Yes.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-microsoft-is-killing-off-hololens-2-111629324.html?src=rss