Reddit has just changed the rules so moderators of subreddits must get admin approval to switch from public to private, as originally reported by The Verge. This is being seen by many as an attempt to curb sitewide protests, as these requests must be approved by Reddit staffers. There will be no way for multiple subreddits to go private at once without Reddit having its hand on the lever.
The company put a little note on the support page that reads “if you’re changing your community type after community creation, you’ll need to submit a request.” This page doesn't offer any reasoning behind the decision.
Reddit
We reached out to Reddit to inquire about this most recent policy change and the company pointed us to a post on the subreddit r/modnews written by VP of community Laura Nestler. She wrote that “the ability to instantly change Community Type settings has been used to break the platform and violate our rules.”
So it looks like last year’s protests are absolutely connected to today's changes. Nestler also suggested that this is an issue of personal responsibility, writing that “communities should honor the expectations they set – public communities should remain accessible to all; private communities should remain private.”
On the topic of recent protests, switching from public to private is the exact way in which subreddits expressed dissatisfaction with last year’s API pricing changes. In that case, over 8,000 subreddits went private in tandem. This means that the subreddits became inaccessible to the general public, though they remained active for current members.
The site’s daily traffic suffered as a result. This allegedly had an impact on the functionality of Reddit itself, as there was a major site outage after all of those subreddits went private. The company blamed the protests for this outage, telling Engadget that "a significant number of subreddits shifting to private caused some expected stability issues.”
Not all protests involve switching a subreddit from public to private. Some moderators protest Reddit by labeling a subreddit as NSFW. This disallows advertising on the subreddit and makes it harder to search for. The company also put the kibosh on this move, as that kind of switch also now requires admin approval.
It’s worth noting that last year’s protests didn’t work. Reddit went ahead with those API charges, which forced third-party apps like Apollo to shut down. The company also went in and took complete control of one of the larger subreddits that participated in the protest. Now, there’s today’s change that effectively bans sitewide protests altogether.
Adding insult to injury, Reddit recently struck gold by licensing its content to train AI models. That deal will reportedly net the company around $60 million per year, but the users who actually created the content that’s being licensed will be getting approximately $0 per year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/reddit-policy-changes-make-sitewide-protests-nearly-impossible-183754240.html?src=rss
ASUS's latest Zenbook S14, much like the Zenbook 14 OLED we reviewed last December, is a solid ultraportable with one major selling point: It's among the first laptops to use Intel's newest CPUs. In this case, it's the Core Ultra 7 258V, a processor that sits in the mid-range of the company's "Lunar Lake" lineup. While Intel touts these chips as its most efficient ever, I've been curious about what that means for raw performance, especially since they top out with just eight cores.
Based on my testing, I can confirm that the Zenbook S14 delivers the best battery life we've ever seen from an Intel laptop. It reached 16 hours and eight minutes in the PCMark 10 battery benchmark. In comparison, the Zenbook S16 powered by AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 365 chip only hit 12 hours and 47 minutes. The Intel system's timing is close to the 17 hours and 45 minutes we saw from the Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ , which is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite.
While it's astounding to see how much progress Intel has made with battery life, that does come with some compromises. In a few benchmarks, the Zenbook S14 doesn't score much higher than Intel's last-gen Core Ultra chips, and it's often bested by AMD's Ryzen AI on multithreaded tasks. But, as we often say, benchmarks don't tell the entire story.
A gorgeous ultraportable
When I reviewed the Zenbook 14 OLED a year ago, I couldn't help but point out how dated it looked. It was practically the same as ASUS' laptops from a decade ago (albeit with slimmer screen bezels). Not so with the Zenbook S14. It's impressive the moment you open it up and feel its lid, which is built with a material ASUS calls "Ceraluminum." As the name implies, it's a combination of ceramic and aluminum, and it feels almost uncanny, like something between high-end plastic and smooth metal. It's still premium, but it's also distinctly different from most other laptops.
Combining ceramics and aluminum isn't exactly new — ASUS notes that it's a popular option for aerospace and watch designs — but we haven't yet seen it deployed in laptops. It's not just for looks, either. The material should also be more durable than standard metal. The rest of the Zenbook 14 S's body is made out of a solid block of metal, but ASUS added some unique tweaks there as well. The lower part of the case features a geometric grille above the keyboard, consisting of 2,715 circular cooling vents. ASUS claims this design enhances airflow while also keeping dirt and dust out.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
ASUS 14-inch 3K "Lumina" OLED display dominates the Zenbook S14, and it delivers everything I want from a modern laptop screen. It sports a fast 120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of peak brightness. While its bezels are relatively thin compared to older ASUS systems, they're still noticeably chunkier than Dell's latest InfinityEdge screens on the XPS 13 and 14. The system would look much sleeker if ASUS could shave off more of its bottom and side bezels. Most importantly, though, the OLED display looks glorious, with deliciously dark black levels and colors that pop off the screen.
The Zenbook S14 is surprisingly sturdy for a 14-inch laptop that weighs 2.65 pounds and measures 0.47 inches thin. It's slightly lighter and a hair thicker than the most recent 13-inch MacBook Air, and feels similarly polished. Notably, it also offers many more useful ports than Apple's ultraportable. The S14 includes two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone jack and even an old-school USB Type-A port. The only thing it's missing is Ethernet and an SD card slot.
Unfortunately, ASUS couldn't get everything right with the Zenbook S14. Its quad-speaker audio system is serviceable, but the sound loses any sort of depth and detail as you ramp up the volume. And while it's nice to have a Windows Hello-compatible webcam for fast logins, the 1080p sensor looks far grainier and less detailed than Dell's XPS line and the MacBook Air.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Its keyboard also feels merely serviceable, with little responsive feedback while typing. That’s a particular shame, since that’s been a constant complaint we’ve had with ASUS keyboards. At least the touchpad is large and responsive to swipes and multi-finger gestures. You can also adjust the volume and other settings by sliding your finger along the sides of the touchpad.
In use: Capable, but don't stress it
Thanks to Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V chip, the Zenbook S14 felt impressively zippy from the start. I breezed through the Windows setup process, downloaded the latest updates and installed my usual testing programs in just a few minutes. It didn't sweat whenever I needed to jump between apps like Spotify, Slack and Evernote, and I didn't notice any of the lag I often see on Windows notebooks bogged down by third-party bloatware. It was always ready to get work done.
PCMark 10
Geekbench 6 CPU
3DMark Wildlife Extreme
Cinebench 2024
ASUS Zenbook S14 (Intel Core Ultra 7 258V)
6,688 (Base Test)
14,215 (Applications)
2,569/10,442
7,158
121/482
Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite)
14,024 (Applications)
2,621/14,194
6,191
122/748
Dell XPS 13 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Intel Arc)
6,806 (Base test)
2,276/11,490
4,579
90/453
Apple MacBook Air (M3)
N/A
3,190/12,102
8,310
141/490
In PCMark 10, the Zenbook S14 scored almost exactly the same as the Surface Laptop 7 for Business, which uses the last-gen Core Ultra 7 165H. It also matched the XPS 13 Copilot+ edition, which had a Snapdragon X Elite chip, in the PCMark 10 Applications benchmark. The Zenbook's multithreaded performance was noticeably worse than either of those machines in Geekbench 6, likely due to the reduced core count this generation.
The big selling point for Intel's Lunar Lake chips is their dramatically improved NPU (neural processing unit), which can reach up to 47 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of AI performance. In comparison, the previous Core Ultra chips had a significantly less powerful 11 TOPS NPU, while AMD's new Ryzen AI chips reach up to 50 TOPS. (More powerful Lunar Lake chips can hit up to 48 TOPS.) Higher TOPS figures means Copilot+ PCs like the Zenbook S14 will be able to tackle demanding AI workloads more quickly, without impacting overall CPU performance.
Unfortunately, there still aren't a ton of AI features to test at the time of this review. Microsoft's Copilot+ Windows 11 update for Intel and AMD systems isn't arriving until November, and even that will only include a beta version of the controversial Recall feature. It's also hard to find apps that take advantage of a local NPU — most entries in the Windows Store "AI Hub" rely on cloud AI processing.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
At least there's Audacity's OpenVino plugin, which Intel developed to show off its AI PC hardware. It offers NPU-powered features like noise suppression and transcription, but it also requires an involved setup process that may be confusing to Audacity novices. I was able to completely remove incessant jackhammering from a five-minute clip in one minute and eight seconds using the NPU alone. That's not very fast in the world of audio editing (CPU rendering can tackle a noise-filled 90 minute file in three minutes and thirty seconds), but what's key is that the NPU handles the same work using very little power. That could be important if you're stuck editing on battery in a plane or remote location.
I was also impressed by Intel's latest Arc 140V GPU, which let me play Halo Infinite between 35 fps and 45 fps in 1080p with low quality graphics settings. That's far from a smooth experience, but it's fascinating to see it from a built-in GPU. Intel's graphics also scored well above the Snapdragon X Elite across the board, especially in the Geekbench 6 GPU test.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Pricing and the competition
ASUS launched the Zenbook S14 with a starting price of $1,500, but it’s already slightly discounted at Best Buy for $1,400. That configuration gets you a Core Ultra 7 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. That’s not too shabby, considering the XPS 13 Copilot+ system with a Snapdragon X Elite costs $1,800 when equipped with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and an OLED display. The Zenbook also doesn’t have the compatibility issues inherent with Snapdragon systems, which have to emulate older Windows apps and can’t run many popular games at all.
As usual, ASUS also delivers far more value than Apple. A MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD costs $1,700, and that’s also stuck with a 60Hz LCD screen.
Wrap-up
The Zenbook S14 leans more on efficiency than raw power, but it’s still an incredible achievement for Intel, a company that used to be infamous for energy-devouring mobile chips. While the Lunar Lake chip’s NPU makes the Zenbook ready for Copilot+ and AI features, its true selling points are its excellent battery life, slick ASUS design and gorgeous OLED display.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/asus-zenbook-s14-review-a-showpiece-for-intels-lunar-lake-ai-pc-chips-171642261.html?src=rss
AI enthusiasts who like the Raspberry Pi range of products can rejoice, as the company is now announcing its new Raspberry Pi AI Camera. This product is the result of the company’s collaboration with Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS), which began in 2023. The AI Camera is compatible with all of Raspberry Pi’s single-board computers.
The approximately 12.3-megapixel AI Camera is intended for vision-based AI projects, and it’s based on SSS’ IMX500 image sensor. The integrated RP2040 microcontroller manages the neural network firmware, allowing the camera to perform onboard AI image processing and freeing up the Raspberry Pi for other processes. Thus, users who want to integrate AI into their Raspberry Pi projects are no longer limited to the Raspberry Pi AI Kit.
The AI Camera isn’t a total replacement for Raspberry Pi’s Camera Module 3, which is still available. For those interested in the new AI Camera, it’s available right now from Raspberry Pi’s approved resellers for $70.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/raspberry-pi-built-an-ai-camera-with-sony-165049998.html?src=rss
The first of twoSea of Stars content updates for the next year has an official release date. The free Dawn of Equinox, which adds a co-op mode, new combat and other features, arrives on November 12 on all platforms.
Announced in March, Dawn of Equinox adds new game modes and mechanics for our favorite lunar-solar heroes, Valere and Zale. It includes a new local co-op mode that lets you and up to two friends play the entire game together. Each player has independent movement when traversing the world (as long as you stay within the screen’s confines), and there’s a new co-op Timed Hits feature that turns one of the core game’s mechanics into a group effort.
Sabotage Studio
The update also includes Combat 2.0, which adds some fun wrinkles to Sea of Stars’ battles. Mystery Locks adds a new challenge to unlock enemies’ spells the first time you face them. (A corresponding “Reveal” action will appear in some of your party’s special skills.) Combo points also remain after battles, which should open the door to some epic beat-downs on your opening moves in subsequent standoffs. In addition, developer Sabotage Studio says it’s put effort into rebalancing the entire game to reflect the new mechanics and incorporate player feedback.
Other changes include a more action-oriented prologue that ditches the old flashback structure, a bonus cinematic and a relic (game mode) designed for speedrunners. There will also be three difficulty options when starting the game. Finally, it enhances the game’s secret-tracking parrot and adds a French Canadian translation, “for Quebec’s finest Solstice Warriors.”
The new features in Dawn of Equinox will also apply in the upcoming Throes of the Watchmaker DLC. That content will add an all-new storyline next spring in what Sabotage Studio describes as “an encore to Sea of Stars’ original adventure” (perhaps before a full-fledged sequel?). The DLC will send Valere and Zale into a “magical miniature clockwork world threatened by a cursed carnival,” forcing the heroes to adapt their sun and moon magic to the mysterious environment.
Sabotage Studio
Sea of Stars was one of 2023’s biggest surprises, garnering grassroots praise and taking home the hardware for Best Indie Game at last year’s Game Awards. Engadget’s Lawrence Bonk praised the game’s Chrono Trigger vibes earlier this year, calling out its gorgeous pixel art and an overworld map that pays proper tribute to its ’90s RPG inspirations.
Sea of Stars is available now on all major platforms: PC, Switch, PS5/4, Xbox One Series X/S and Xbox One (including on Game Pass). The full game costs $35, and both big upcoming content updates will be added for free.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/sea-of-stars-free-dawn-of-equinox-update-arrives-in-november-164023516.html?src=rss
October Prime Day deals have brought a slew of discounts to Amazon devices, including the entire Fire TV lineup. The company's most powerful streaming stick, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, is arguably the best buy of the bunch at just $35. That's 42 percent off its normal price and a return of the discount we saw during July Prime Day. Elsewhere in this sale, you can find our favorite budget streaming device, the Fire TV Stick Lite, for only $18.
But the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a great streaming device as well, with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+. As the name suggests, it can stream content in 4K Ultra HD. The stick also supports Dolby Atmos audio, for added immersion.
This streaming stick includes the company’s proprietary Fire TV Ambient Experience, which allows users to display art and photos on the screen. This mimics the functionality of something like Samsung’s The Frame TV. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max also boasts 16GB of storage, for downloads, apps and games.
Speaking of games, this thing doubles as a highly functional cloud gaming box. It can stream Xbox games via Game Pass Ultimate and integrates with Amazon Luna. We singled out this device as a great option for retro gamers, as it can easily run many emulation apps. Finally, it ships with an upgraded remote that offers Alexa integration.
While the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is arguably Amazon's best streaming dongle for most people that's on sale right now, the rest of the Fire TV device lineup is on sale, too.
Fire TV Stick Lite streamer for $18 ($12 off): This is already the most affordable Fire TV streaming stick, but it’s a steal at this sale price. It supports 1080p content and comes with a “lite” version of the Alexa Voice Remote.
Fire TV Stick streamer for $20 ($20 off): This dongle ups the ante on the TV Stick Lite by adding support for Dolby Atmos audio, plus it comes with the regular version of the Alexa Voice Remote. It also supports Wi-Fi 5 and comes with 8GB of internal storage.
Fire TV Stick 4K streamer for $25 ($25 off): This mode is the cheapest Fire TV Stick you can get to stream 4K content, plus it has support for Wi-Fi 6 and Dolby Vision and Atmos. With its live picture-in-picture feature, you can view security camera feeds right on your TV while you’re watching your favorite show or movie.
Fire TV Cube set-top box for $100 ($40 off): This model will provide the best performance of any Fire TV streaming device, and it supports 4K HDR content, Dolby Vision and Atmos and an enhanced version of the Alexa Voice Remote. Along with live picture-in-picture view and the Fire TV ambient experience, you can also hardware other devices to the Fire TV Cube including a cable box or a game console.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Engadget.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-is-down-to-its-lowest-price-for-october-prime-day-163133851.html?src=rss
Ford is looking to take some of the sting out of EV charging by offering a free home charger. The automaker will even send out a technician to install it at no cost to you if you buy or lease a retail Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning or E-Transit between October 1 and January 2. However, Ford may opt to extend the program if it proves successful. (Ford Pro fleet customers will get a $2,000 commercial charging cash incentive instead.)
According to Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal, those who take up the offer will get a Level 2 charger at home. This should save Ford EV buyers and lessees a pretty penny, since the Ford Charge Station Pro costs $1,310 and the company typically charges $2,000 for installation. Still, those who want to take up the deal may need to make sure their garage is wired up properly to fully take advantage of Level 2 charging.
The EV side of Ford's business has been struggling as of late — the company expects that division to lose as much as $5.5 billion this year. In January, it cut production of the F-150 Lightning due to lower than expected demand and shifted resources to make more Broncos and Rangers. A few months later, the company delayed some EV models, including a planned three-row SUV, and placed more focus on hybrids. But in August, the automaker killed the three-row SUV project entirely while further delaying some other EVs.
Incentivizing EV purchases and leases with a free home charger and installation is smart and it could pay off for Ford. However, it may turn out to be little more than a Band-Aid for the division's deeper-set problems.
Update 9/30 2:53PM ET: The headline has been updated to reflect that the offer is available for all new EV purchases and leases in the US.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/ford-chucks-in-a-free-ev-home-charger-and-installation-with-some-models-160138994.html?src=rss
As first reported by Reuters, ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, is planning to train and develop an AI model using chips from fellow Chinese company Huawei. Three anonymous sources approached Reuters with this information; a fourth source couldn’t confirm that ByteDance was using Huawei chips but did say that a new AI model was in development.
Previously, ByteDance’s AI projects used NVIDIA’s H20 AI chips, which were designed for the Chinese market and avoided the trade restrictions the US government placed in 2022. Chinese customers were only allowed to purchase select models of AI chips, which was an attempt to slow down Chinese technological advancement.
ByteDance has ordered 100,000 Ascend 910B chips from Huawei this year but only received 30,000 of them. Huawei’s Ascend 910B chips are said to be superior to NVIDIA’s A100 chips in GPU performance and computing power efficiency. Nevertheless, the chip shortage halted ByteDance’s AI model development project.
The news isn’t confirmed by ByteDance yet, but it’s not the only company to switch away from NVIDIA products. Many other Chinese companies are slowly transitioning to local chips. Even though ByteDance had previously used loopholes to get NVIDIA AI chips, the latest development shows how China is attempting to reduce its dependence on Western products.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/bytedance-will-reportedly-use-huawei-chips-to-train-a-new-ai-model-154846749.html?src=rss
It’s always beautiful when two lonely corporations find one another. DirecTV has reached an agreement to acquire Dish Network, according to reporting by The New York Times. This would create a global behemoth in the satellite TV space.
It would also provide some financial armor for the struggling Dish Network. The company’s in debt to the tune of billions of dollars because, well, satellite TV isn’t exactly a growth industry anymore. Stream, baby, stream. All told, Dish has $2 billion in debt that’s due in November and only $500 million in available cash. That math don’t add up to anything but bankruptcy.
The specifics of the deal are pretty dang convoluted. It’s a multi-step transaction with a few players. First, the private equity firm TPG will acquire a majority stake in DirectTV from AT&T for $7.6 billion. Next, DirecTV will buy Dish Network for just a single dollar. However, it’ll also take on that $2 billion in debt. EchoStar, the parent company of Dish, will hold onto some parts of the business as part of the transaction, including over $30 billion in wireless spectrum investments. DirecTV will get the Sling TV video service as part of the deal.
The acquisition would create a massive pay-TV provider, with a combined total of around 19 million subscribers. As a counterpoint, cable TV leader Comcast has 13.2 million subscribers. Netflix is creeping up on 300 million subscribers, to show the stark contrast between pay-TV and streaming.
The companies say they expect the deal to close in the second half of 2025, though the whole thing is subject to regulatory approval. The Justice Department denied a similar merger back in 2002, but that was when the satellite TV industry was at its peak.
More recently, the federal government side-eyed a potential merger between the two companies in 2020 on the grounds that it would deprive rural customers a viable alternative to Dish and DirecTV when looking to purchase 5G wireless service.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/directv-to-acquire-rival-dish-network-for-1-subject-to-regulatory-approval-152041300.html?src=rss
If you're eager to snag some tech deals during October Prime Day next week, you'll be happy to know you can already do so today. Apple deals can be hit or miss during sale events like this, but at the moment, we're seeing a record-low price on the USB-C Apple Pencil. You can grab the peripheral for onl y $69, which is $10 off and the lowest price we've seen. While not a huge discount, it does represent a savings of 13 percent, and it is currently the most affordable Apple Pencil you can buy.
For the sake of clarity, here are all the iPad models with which the USB-C Apple Pencil works:
iPad Pro 13-inch (M4)
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later )
iPad Pro 11-inch (all models)
iPad Air 13-inch (M2)
iPad Air 11-inch (M2)
iPad Air (4th generation and later)
iPad (10th generation)
iPad mini (6th generation)
Although being able to charge the peripheral with a USB-C cable is handy, this version does lack some of the fancier features of the Apple Pencil Pro (which you can also snag on discount now for $116) and second-gen Apple Pencil. While you can attach it to the side of iPads with magnetic holders for safekeeping and convenience, there's no support for magnetic charging. Pressure sensitivity isn't available and you can't use Apple's nifty double-tap feature. However, the company says the USB-C Apple Pencil does support pixel-perfect accuracy, low latency and tilt sensitivity.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/early-prime-day-apple-deals-include-the-usb-c-apple-pencil-at-a-record-low-price-144636083.html?src=rss
Some users may know that Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, has had its own app store for a while now, the Epic Games Store. The company also won an antitrust lawsuit against Google last December that found Google held an illegal monopoly on app distribution and in-app billing services for Android devices. Despite that win, it seems that Epic’s court war has only begun. Epic Games is now suing Google again, but it also named Samsung in the lawsuit as a defendant. This time, its sights are trained on Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature.
In the latest lawsuit, Epic Games is claiming that Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature is making it difficult for users to install the Epic Games Store on the latest Samsung devices. This is because Samsung now activates Auto Blocker, which only allows app installs from the Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store, by default and prevents third-party app installation unless you disable the function. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is even suggesting that Google and Samsung are working together, though he admits there’s no concrete evidence for this claim.
The Verge’s Sean Hollister put these claims to the test and discovered that his Samsung smartphone did prevent him from installing Epic Games Store, but it wasn’t so simple. There were no instructions on how to deactivate Auto Blocker. He then searched “turn off auto blocker” in the search bar, which yielded results but required jumping through several screens.
Besides winning against Google and legally proving that Google had a monopoly over Android app sharing, Epic Games also won a lawsuit against Apple. Apple had refused to let Epic Games launch its app store on iOS devices, but the EU forced Apple’s hand. However, Apple is still resisting and claims that its acceptance is only temporary.
How Google and Samsung will respond remains to be seen, but it’s possible that both companies will resist and claim they aren’t making it difficult to install the Epic Games Store. Once again, we’ll likely be waiting for the legal system to sort things out.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/epic-is-suing-google-and-samsung-for-making-it-too-hard-to-download-fortnite-142846819.html?src=rss