Uber is rolling out some new features for the holiday travel season. On Wednesday, it announced a new, super-duper-sized option with extra trunk space for airport travel. In addition, there will be a third shuttle route for NYC travelers.
UberXXL is the company’s new extra-spacious rideshare option. These airport-only rides offer more trunk space and plenty of “comfortable” seating room “for you and your group.” Uber says pricing for the new jumbo-sized service will fall somewhere between UberXL and Uber Black. Upfront pricing will be available in the app.
The service is launching at 40 airports in the US and Canada, including New York’s Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark. Other participating UberXXL airports include (among others) LAX, SFO, Reagan National, O’Hare, DFW, Miami and Atlanta. It will be available at over 60 airports globally.
Uber
Holiday travelers will also have new ways to save a few bucks on their trips this year. UberX Share is launching at eight US airports and two international ones. The service lets you book a trip with “just one other airport traveler” to save up to 25 percent compared to UberX fares. The company says the cheaper rates will apply even if you aren’t matched with a random stranger.
UberX Share for flights will launch at Austin, Denver, Newark, Dulles, Miami, New Orleans and Phoenix airports.
Uber Reserve, the company’s schedule-ahead feature, is adding Flight Capture, which lets you enter your flight info and schedule your trip around it. The app will recommend the best time to leave and ask if you want to adjust your drop-off if your flight is delayed. In addition, Uber Reserve will now give you the option of adding multiple stops when setting up your ride.
After launching in New York City last month, Uber Shuttle has added an extra stop to and from LaGuardia. The $18 shuttle service, which lets you save some money on its preset routes, will now include a third stop at the World Trade Center site at 198 Fulton St. It joins the previous two shuttle pickup and drop-off points: Midtown Manhattan (with stops at Port Authority Terminal and Grand Central) and Penn Station.
Finally, the Uber app for iPhone has added a widget that could shave a few seconds off the time it takes to schedule a pickup. Starting today, the iOS app has a new Home Screen widget that lets you request a ride “in as little as two taps.” You can check the App Store for the update today. The company added a ride-tracking Live Activities feature last year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/ubers-new-xxl-rides-will-have-extra-room-for-your-big-ass-suitcase-110027241.html?src=rss
Sony announced that it will run a beta test for cloud streaming on its PlayStation Portal gaming handheld. The feature will begin rolling out in an update today, with Europe due to get it starting on Wednesday. Only PlayStation Plus Premium members will be able to access cloud streaming during the beta test, but it's a promising sign that Sony is finally working on this function, even though it took a year to get here. Adding cloud gaming to the Portal addresses one of the big critiques in our review of this handheld, which didn't seem to have an obvious target audience.
More than 120 titles from the PS5 Plus Game Catalog will be available in the beta test. That covers a range of games including Dave the Diver, Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Monster Hunter Rise and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. No games from the PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 3 will be supported during the beta, but maybe those will join the roster whenever the feature is more broadly available.
Portal owners might also want to know that this update adds a couple tweaks to audio and volume controls. But let's be honest, cloud gaming is really the point.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-will-trial-cloud-streaming-for-the-ps5-portal-230817262.html?src=rss
Twitch is now on the docket for X’s lawsuit against companies that stopped advertising on the social media site. X amended its lawsuit on Monday to include Twitch as a defendant in its lawsuit in a federal court in Wichita Falls, Texas, according to Reuters.
The new complaint claims that the gaming stream site owned by Amazon stopped purchasing ads on X at the end of 2022. X alleges that Twitch and other companies conspired with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) network’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative to withhold “billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from Elon Musk’s social media company.
The plaintiff alleges the boycott violated federal antitrust laws and is demanding a jury trial to settle the matter. GARM also announced its discontinuation two days after X filed its lawsuit.
X Corp.’s joint lawsuit first filed in August also includes the WFA, the global food manufacturer Mars Incorporated, the drugstore chain CVS and the Danish energy company Ørsted A/S over the advertising boycott. X also has a lawsuit against the media watchdog group Media Matters for publishing a report showing X displayed ads next to antisemitic content on the platform.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-adds-twitch-to-its-advertising-boycott-lawsuit-215540775.html?src=rss
A Minecraft Movie has dropped its first full-length trailer today, expanding on the blocky world hinted at by the teaser released in September. While the game Minecraft gives players only the barest sense of direction, there will be a traditional story driving A Minecraft Movie.
Jack Black provides a voiceover about how his character, Minecraft mascot and stock avatar Steve, was drawn to the mines as a child and discovered the Overworld. He teams up with four other people, seemingly from the real world we know, to protect the Overworld from "dark forces" with their inventiveness and creativity. This all sounds like pretty standard fare for a video game movie — rag-tag group of misfits band together and learn the power of friendship. It's unclear whether their foes will be baddies from the Nether or the End, because while those can be a pain, they canonically don't seem interested in world domination.
But I'm not here for a clever, compelling plot. The trailer is a sizzle reel of familiar in-game experiences, and that's exactly what I want. Taming a wolf with a bone, making a chicken-roasting redstone machine and nighttime coming way faster than you want it to all get their due. The team certainly did their homework on that front. The art style they've chosen doesn't speak to me, but I'm also willing to admit to some bias after hundreds of hours spent looking at the original source material. I'm also not sure if they'll stick the landing on the humor and emotion or whether it'll fall flat like an elytra that's run out of juice. We'll find out when A Minecraft Movie releases on April 5, 2025.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/first-trailer-for-a-minecraft-movie-delivers-on-iconic-in-game-moments-210252851.html?src=rss
If you tried to get some flight time in Flight Simulator 2024 today only to find yourself staring at a loading screen, you’re not alone. The official X page for Microsoft’s flight sim @MSFS_Support posted an update that several users are reporting “long initial loading times.” Not exactly the debut anyone was hoping for.
The post blames the game’s slowdown on the large number of server requests trying to log into the game at once — maybe something Microsoft should have expected. The post also recommends rebooting your computer or console if the initial load makes it past 90 percent mark and then stalls out. If it’s under 90 percent and still loading, Microsoft advises “waiting to allow the loading to proceed as normal.” Our own Kris Holt has been stuck looking at the very same loading screen for around 45 minutes.
Xbox launched Flight Simulator 2024 and added it to its Game Pass Ultimate catalog for PC, Xbox Series X/S and the cloud today following a technical alpha test in October for the PC version. Microsoft recommends running the game on PCs with an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU, a Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU, 8 GB of VRAM, 32 GB of RAM and 50 GB of storage space.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/microsofts-flight-simulator-2024-launch-day-users-seeing-long-loading-times-203805287.html?src=rss
Smart rings are having a moment, and now you can get one of the most popular models at a deep discount. The Oura Ring Gen 3 is on sale for as low as $249, depending on the style you decide to pick up. You’ll get the lowest price on the black and silver finishes, while the brushed titanium and stealth materials are on sale for $279, down from the usual of $349. The premium gold and rose gold rings are down to $349 instead of the usual $449.
The company did just release the Oura Ring Gen 4, so this deal won't give you the most cutting edge developments in sensors and design. But for someone who wants a less intrusive approach to a wearable, the Gen 3 still has a lot to offer.
Our review by Daniel Cooper pointed out that the Oura Ring offers impressively accurate readings even though all its sensors are packed into a much smaller form factor than a smartwatch. While he felt the design of the ring is a little bulky, in practice it was easy to forget that he had it on.
Keep in mind that unless you're upgrading from another Oura product, you'll want to buy the size guide to make sure your new ring fits correctly. When you do buy a sizing kit for the Gen 3, you'll get $10 towards the purchase of the actual wearable.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-oura-ring-gen-3-drops-to-a-record-low-on-amazon-for-black-friday-195248194.html?src=rss
I can't stop staring at Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Whether I'm exploring the game's home base in the dream-like Fade, or a forest shimmering with golden leaves and wild magical energy, the game simply looks gorgeous. And, if you've got the graphical horsepower to see it, it also delivers some of the most sumptuous ray tracing I've ever seen. There's a level of polish across every aspect of the game, including its new action-oriented approach to combat, that's simply glorious to behold.
Veilguard continues the story of the decade-old Dragon Age Inquisition, which was most notable for the shocking ending of its DLC. It turned out that Solas, one of your more cantankerous companions, was actually an Elven god hellbent on destroying the Veil, a boundary he created to separate the real world from the spirit-filled Fade. Oh, and that's where he also trapped even more evil Elven gods. Solas considered himself a hero, but then again, so did Marvel's Thanos.
This time around, you play as Rook, a new recruit enlisted by series regular Varric to track down Solas before he tears down the Veil. That happens sooner than you'd think — your team finds him and stops his magical ritual in your first mission. But doing so unleashes two very pissed off Elven gods, who proceed to wreak havoc across Thedas.
BioWare wastes no time showing off its new aesthetic for Dragon Age. The game's characters are more stylized than in Inquisition, but I didn't mind the slight loss in realism. If anything, it makes this entry feel more distinct from previous Dragon Age titles. The sense of style carries over to every environment, as well. The Lighthouse, your base of operations, is a stunning series of medieval buildings floating in the middle of a dreamy, magical storm. I’d often find myself just staring off into the distance of the Fade, imagining what else lay beyond the horizon. That’s something I found myself doing in every new location, the detail in the world hints at thousands of untold stories.
BioWare
For a game that was rebooted several times, and suffered some notable turnover (including losing its original creative director, Mike Laidlaw), Dragon Age: The Veilguard is surprisingly well-constructed. And throughout my twenty hours with the game (so far), it’s that level of craft and quality I appreciate the most.
While the storyline isn't exactly groundbreaking, I haven't been able to put down Dragon Age: The Veilguard because it's such a joy to play. The new combat system is more action-oriented than before (think of the difference between Mass Effect 1 and 2), with counters and special moves reminiscent of the recent God of War. You can't directly control your companions, but you can have them deploy special abilities that can either aid you or attack your enemies. It's a well-balanced system that makes small encounters feel genuinely fun, and it allows for some epic boss fights (some of which have lasted nearly 10 minutes and left my controller a sweaty mess).
BioWare
As you level up, you can tweak your character to your liking with Veilgaurd's massive skill tree. I've honed my Rook to be a lightning-fast dual-sword wielding Rogue who isn't afraid to whip out her bow for the occasional headshot. (You can also choose from Warrior and Mage classes early on, which should be pretty self-explanatory.) Each skill tree has three specializations: Rogues, for example, can choose to be Veil Rangers (an archery emphasis), Saboteurs (specializing in traps and poison) or Duelists. Personally, I'm a sucker for the Duelist's double sword action.
Battles can get hectic, and thankfully Dragon Age: The Veilguard performs well enough to keep up. While playing on a PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super GPU, the game managed to stay well above 100fps while playing in 4K with DLSS, "Ultra" graphics and ray tracing settings. If you have the hardware to support it, this will likely become a new showpiece for the possibilities of ray tracing: Lighting from the sun and magical elements realistically hits characters and the environment, and shadows across the board look more natural.
BioWare
But I was also surprised to find that Veilguard was also still very playable on my Steam Deck, albeit with low graphics settings (definitely no ray tracing) and a basic 30-to-40fps. That's certainly not the ideal way to play, but it's helpful for dealing with side missions in bed, or on the go. Given how well it performs on a mere handheld, I'd bet the game would play well on low-end and mid-range GPUs, as well as consoles, without much of a sweat. (And if you want to revel in advanced ray tracing features from your couch, there's also support for the PlayStation 5 Pro.)
Beyond merely looking great, Veilguard kept me hooked because of BioWare’s attention to its characters. I enjoyed strolling through Docktown with Neve, who warmed up to my character (also a fellow Shadow Dragon) while discussing how much she loved her rundown neighborhood. I helped Davrin come to terms with his new role raising one of the last Griffons in the world, and I learned about the trauma behind Bella’s typically warm demeanor. As usual, you can romance any of your companions (how can you not love Neve?), and there’s still plenty of fun to be had trying to set up those relationships.
BioWare
I’ll admit, it simply felt good to pour some hours leading a group of ragtag do-gooders to save the world against relentless odds. That’s pretty much every RPG and adventure story, sure, but who can deny the pleasure of killing a few evil gods? (Bringing on the combined talents of composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe to score the game likely also made me a bit more emotional.)
After Baldur’s Gate 3 failed to grab me (I’ll get back to it, I swear!), I feared that Dragon Age: The Veilguard would be another letdown. But it turned out to be exactly the sort of spectacle I needed: It’s beautiful to behold, fun to play and I genuinely enjoyed the new batch of characters. It’s BioWare at its best – I’m just hoping they can do the same for the next Mass Effect.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/dragon-age-the-veilguard-is-beautiful-in-every-way-193013807.html?src=rss
The actual payout could rise above $16 million per year, as it only reflects the “fixed” component of the payment. The “variable” component will be calculated in the future, according to a recent earnings call led by the chief operating and financial officer of Dotdash Meredith’s parent company IAC.
“If you look at Q3 of 2024, licensing revenue was up about $4.1 million year over year. The lion’s share of that would be driven by the OpenAI license,” CFO Chris Halpin said. “So that’s — on a quarterly basis — a good proxy for the revenue we’re recognizing. And then the variable components will be calculated and recognized in the future.”
Dotdash Meredith will license its content for OpenAI to train ChatGPT, but the publisher will also use the AI company’s models to boost its in-house ad-targeting tool. As part of this arrangement, ChatGPT will display content and links attributed to the various publications under the Dotdash Meredith umbrella.
These publications include stuff you likely already read, like Food & Wine, InStyle, Better Homes & Gardens, Lifewire and Investopedia, among others. Dotdash Meredith also owns and publishes the eco-conscious site Treehugger and weall know how great AI is for the environment.
As a side note, I have written for multiple Dotdash Meredith publications throughout the years. Can a lowly copywriter get a taste of that $16 million please? Actually, never mind. Huge payouts are for overpaid executives and not for the people who actually make the thing that people click on. Silly me.
On the plus side, at least OpenAI is paying some companies to use content now. The entity has been sued by everyone from The New York Times to comedians like Sarah Silverman, all accusing it of using content without permission or any kind of payout.
Dotdash Meredith is just the latest publisher to offer its content to AI companies to help create our glorious shared future in which nobody makes anything except pithy messages on social media sites. The Financial Timesentered into a similar arrangement with OpenAI. Book publisher HarperCollins is also getting in on the act.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-will-pay-dotdash-meredith-at-least-16-million-per-year-to-license-its-content-191756662.html?src=rss
Dust off your pickaxe because Mojang Studios and Merlin Entertainments are building a new series of theme park style attractions called “Adventures Made Real” that will bring the world of Minecraft to life.
Merlin Entertainments will create two permanent Minecraft theme park locations including one in the US and another in the UK with a plan to open them between 2026 and 20277. The new Minecraft parks will have interactive attractions from the top-selling video game, along with all the usual experiences like rides, gift shops and restaurants and plans to “expand these experiences to other destinations globally,” according to Merlin’s statement.
Of course, the parks will also involve some level of digital perks. It's not clear what they'll involve specifically, but Merlin claims the parks will include "touchpoints that will allow guests to unlock exclusive in-game content to continue their gaming journey."
Merlin Entertainments is the second biggest theme park builder in the world behind Disney. The company operates the LEGOLAND theme parks as well as theme parks such as Alton Towers Resort, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures in the UK, the Gardaland Resort in Italy and Heide Park in Germany.
This isn’t the only time Minecraft has lept from its pixelated, buildable universe into the real world. Warner Bros. released a trailer in September for the A Minecraft Moviestarring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, with Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) directing. A Minecraft Movie is scheduled for release on April 5, 2025.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/minecraft-is-getting-its-own-theme-parks-190603375.html?src=rss
Last month, Sonos debuted its latest premium soundbar in the midst of a difficult year. The company initially delayed launching the $999 Arc Ultra, devoting more time to fixing the major issues that plagued its app since a botched update in the spring. Now that the soundbar is here, Sonos has rolled out its first product to feature its Sound Motion technology that offers increased bass performance from smaller components. This new transducer allowed the company to make other improvements to the Arc Ultra versus the original Arc, so it’s not just a matter of more low-end tone. So, what is Sound Motion exactly, and will it be available in other Sonos products?
What is Mayht?
The Sound Motion story starts with a company called Mayht. In April 2022, Sonos bought Mayht Holding BV, an audio company based in the Netherlands, for approximately $100 million. At the time, Sonos said Mayht “invented a new, revolutionary approach to audio transducers.” More specifically, the company re-engineered that foundational component of speakers to be smaller and lighter with no sacrifices to overall audio quality.
In a January 2022 interview with TechCrunch, Mayht CEO Mattias Scheek said the company began working on its speaker technology in 2016. He explained that the company would “defend” and license the tech rather than manufacture the drivers itself. Early potential use cases ranged from soundbars to compact subwoofers and smaller smart speakers. The company’s new approach would become the foundation for Sonos’ Sound Motion.
What is Sound Motion?
The first implementation of Mayht’s technology in a Sonos product via Sound Motion is inside the Arc Ultra soundbar. Sound Motion is a flat, brick-like driver where the motors are positioned at the sides and the membrane in the middle, allowing a greater range of movement for twice as much bass as the first Arc, by Sonos’ calculations. The four lightweight motors can displace more air inside the soundbar, which leads to increased low-end tone.
By replacing one large motor with four compact units, the Sound Motion transducer is up to three times smaller than a comparable “conventional” driver. But again, it still produces the same amount of bass. Those four motors power four voice coils, two moving in one direction and two in the opposite direction, enabling dual opposing diaphragms that cancel force and minimize vibrations. Sonos replaced cloth components with injection molded plastics for stable, linear travel. It also designed aluminum ribs to connect the motors to solidify the structure.
The motors themselves have a unique design. Sonos opted for dual magnets inside of each one to create increased force that gives the company more options when it comes to product design.
Sonos' Sound Motion driver
Sonos
“Particularly when we’re talking about soundbars, we are always constrained by the size of the products,” Sonos’ vice president of audio Chris Davies explained to Engadget. “Being able to squeeze the profile down to this opens up opportunities for us to create something that’s new and different.”
Even with twice the bass output of the Arc, the Arc Ultra is nearly the same size as its predecessor. Not only is that due to the fact that the Sound Motion transducer is smaller than a conventional woofer, but also because the performance is so improved that Sonos only needed one to double the bass output. That difference is immediately apparent when you play some thumping, chaotic rock tunes from Better Lovers or Kaytranada’s electronic hip-hip, as I experienced first-hand during my review of the Arc Ultra.
The Sound Motion tech sits on the right side of the soundbar while the amplification electronics occupy the same space on the left. Due to this location, I could hear the bass coming from one side of the Arc Ultra if I stood up close, but at a comfortable sitting distance from my TV, the low-end blends seamlessly.
“We’re able to get more bass out of a small package,” Davies explained. “We’re also able to do that in a way that gives us other flexibility around the design of the product, the architecture of the product and so on.”
Sonos' Sound Motion inside of the Arc Ultra
Sonos
That flexibility is what led to improved overall audio performance on the Arc Ultra that’s a lot more than just adding bass. Since Sound Motion is designed to create a lot of bass from a compact component, Sonos then had the freedom to redesign the mid-range and high-frequency architecture as well. The company used multiple sizes of both mid-range drivers and tweeters for more positioning options, which allowed it to enhance the sound beamed out across a room.
“This is an evolution of what we've done,” he continued. “For Atmos content we’re doing a 9.1.4 rendering. This really is an augmentation of what we've done in the past, but it's adding a higher channel count by having all of these different elements now that we can play with.”
Sonos was able to employ two wide front channels to keep the sound stage immersive and use four separate height channels so that front and rear spatial sound wasn’t crammed together. The reconfiguration inside the Arc Ultra, again thanks to Sound Motion, also enabled the company to expand its speech enhancement feature with three levels of augmentation based on your needs.
“We've put a lot of energy into really trying to do a better job in terms of dialog clarity,” he said. As a result, Davies said, the company was able to deliver clearer dialog than in any of its soundbars ever.
Will Sound Motion be in future Sonos products?
The short answer: absolutely. You don’t spend $100 million on something to only put it inside one product. I’m willing to bet Sonos won’t just use it inside soundbars either. The company has already confirmed in its press materials that it anticipates “introducing more innovative products with Sound Motion in the future.” Sonos further explained that the use of the technology will depend on “the sound profile, design needs and price point” of any future speakers, and noted that each of its “acoustic architectures” are designed for the intended customer experience.
It’s easy to see how a small component capable of producing enormous amounts of bass would benefit Sonos’ more compact speakers. The company has consistently lacked deep low-end tone in products like the Era 100 and Move 2, despite the excellent clarity and detail these speakers exhibit. It would massively improve overall fidelity if Sonos could somehow cram a Sound Motion driver in future versions of these products. Additionally, the company’s most compact soundbar, the Ray, would be a much more compelling product for small spaces if it didn’t immediately require a separate subwoofer for adequate bass performance. With the Arc Ultra, for example, you can just use the soundbar for music since it has ample thump when a track demands it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/what-is-sonos-sound-motion-technology-183313680.html?src=rss