Tag Archives: site|engadget

The Morning After: Our verdict on Apple’s M4 iMac

Posted on by

The final piece of Apple’s recent explosion of Mac hardware, the iMac is ready for review — and possible purchase — and it looks the same as ever.

One quiet update that transforms the lineup, beyond the powerful M4 chip, is the boost in base memory, finally giving the entry-level models 16GB instead of the miserly 8GB they used to get. With an unchanged design, there might seem to be no justification to buy or upgrade to the iMac M4. However, that extra memory allows you to do more than ever on an entry-level iMac, including 4K video editing and AAA gaming — to a degree. Having said that, upgrades remain expensive beyond the base loadout, which is already $1,299.

— Mat Smith

The biggest tech stories you missed

Apple’s AI-infused Final Cut Pro 11 is available

Google now offers a standalone Gemini app on iPhone

The new Xbox ad campaign is confused about what an Xbox is

Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

The Onion, arguably America’s biggest most influential source of satire, confirmed on Thursday its parent company has bought Infowars, the disgraced purveyor of Sandy Hook misinformation and vendor of pseudoscience supplements. The Onion posted on Bluesky its plans to transform the rebooted Infowars into “a very funny, very stupid website.”

The publication says it received the blessing of the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to scoop up Infowars in a bankruptcy auction. Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit founded in the massacre’s aftermath, will reportedly advertise on the rebooted site.

Continue reading.

November is in full swing, which means Black Friday is right around the corner. If you want the best of the best deals, hold tight until the week before Thanksgiving. Still, the sales already available are some of the best this year. Rather than recommend things you already have/ don’t want, take a look at our extensive list — so far.

Continue reading.

TMA
Engadget

In the run up to gift-buying season, we’re updating our pick of the best games for all the gaming platforms. This time, it’s the PS5. With the massive library available, it’s easy to get a little lost scrolling through titles. From award-winning adventures to intense-action RPG experiences, there’s a world of incredible games to explore. Increasingly, the console has built up a collection of PS4 remakes and/or remasters too, offering the best playing experience for hits like Last of Us.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-122246108.html?src=rss

The Rogue Prince of Persia gets a big update with ‘The Second Act’

Posted on by

The Rogue Prince of Persia, a modern reboot of the classic platformer published by Broderbund in 1989, is still in early access mode but it’s getting a bunch of new, cool-sounding stuff next week. Developer Evil Empire posted a blog on the game’s Steam page that includes information about the new update and premieres a new teaser trailer with some gameplay footage.

The Steam page says the update “effectively doubled the game’s content from launch.” “The Second Act” will include a second act and “tons of narrative polish for Act 1” and more biomes, bosses and enemies. The update will also add more “Quality of Life” features like multiple save slots and localization for German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish players. The game’s protagonist will also look pretty different — RIP Prince of Purple.

The new update drops on November 21. The Rogue Prince of Persia was already slick and inventive, even in its infancy. It’s been updated quite a bit since its early access launch, but next week’s update is likely to be its largest. It’s shaping up to be a good mix of classic gameplay with new visuals and a modern “roguelite” gameplay loop as seen in other indies like Hades.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-rogue-prince-of-persia-gets-a-big-update-with-the-second-act-000515851.html?src=rss

The new Xbox ad campaign is confused about what an Xbox is

Posted on by

These times are very trying and it’s understandable if someone goes a little off the deep end once in a while. Just like Norman Bates said in Psycho, “We all go a little mad sometimes.” However, a new Xbox ad campaign has us a little concerned.

Microsoft launched a new marketing campaign for its Xbox consoles and cloud gaming service called “This is an Xbox.” It features posters and commercials with a bunch of different objects like a laptop, a smartphone and a Meta Quest 3 that are all “an Xbox.”

We confirmed with a thorough fact check that all of those objects are not an Xbox. That may sound like overkill but when you live in a world where there’s a real chance that the goopy mass voiced by Tim Curry in FernGully might become Secretary of the Interior, we’re not taking any chances.

The commercial is even trippier. It zips between objects like a flat screen TV, an ROG Ally and a laptop while Black Sheep’s “The Choice is Yours” blasts in the background. This time though, it displays the simple sentence “This is an Xbox” with a secondary clause or imperative statement behind it. Is there some kind of malware virus in the AI software that runs our universe or something?

Microsoft, we know this is an ad campaign and that you don’t really believe these non-Xbox items are “an Xbox.” Of course, you want to talk up your cloud gaming service, which is available across all of the devices in the ads. But last I checked, I didn't need an expensive subscription to play games on a regular Xbox.

Also this is the internet, a gathering place for conspiracy weavers, liars and ne’er-do-wells. Reality is hard enough right now without having to debate the merit of what things are. This feels like the kind of stuff that Jobu would pull when she finished decorating the bagel in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Microsoft, do you need help? Don't be afraid to ask.
Microsoft

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/the-new-xbox-ad-campaign-is-confused-about-what-an-xbox-is-231013374.html?src=rss

The EU publishes the first draft of regulatory guidance for general purpose AI models

Posted on by

On Thursday, the European Union published its first draft of a Code of Practice for general purpose AI (GPAI) models. The document, which won’t be finalized until May, lays out guidelines for managing risks — and giving companies a blueprint to comply and avoid hefty penalties. The EU’s AI Act came into force on August 1, but it left room to nail down the specifics of GPAI regulations down the road. This draft (via TechCrunch) is the first attempt to clarify what’s expected of those more advanced models, giving stakeholders time to submit feedback and refine them before they kick in.

GPAIs are those trained with a total computing power of over 10²⁵ FLOPs. Companies expected to fall under the EU’s guidelines include OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic and Mistral. But that list could grow.

The document addresses several core areas for GPAI makers: transparency, copyright compliance, risk assessment and technical / governance risk mitigation. This 36-page draft covers a lot of ground (and will likely balloon much more before it’s finalized), but several highlights stand out.

The code emphasizes transparency in AI development and requires AI companies to provide information about the web crawlers they used to train their models — a key concern for copyright holders and creators. The risk assessment section aims to prevent cyber offenses, widespread discrimination and loss of control over AI (the “it’s gone rogue” sentient moment in a million bad sci-fi movies).

AI makers are expected to adopt a Safety and Security Framework (SSF) to break down their risk management policies and mitigate them proportionately to their systemic risks. The rules also cover technical areas like protecting model data, providing failsafe access controls and continually reassessing their effectiveness. Finally, the governance section strives for accountability within the companies themselves, requiring ongoing risk assessment and bringing in outside experts where needed.

Like the EU’s other tech-related regulations, companies that run afoul of the AI Act can expect steep penalties. They can be fined up to €35 million (currently $36.8 million) or up to seven percent of their global annual profits, whichever is higher.

Stakeholders are invited to submit feedback through the dedicated Futurium platform by November 28 to help refine the next draft. The rules are expected to be finalized by May 1, 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-eu-publishes-the-first-draft-of-regulatory-guidance-for-general-purpose-ai-models-223447394.html?src=rss

Here’s a fresh look at the Half-Life 2 RTX remaster

Posted on by

We initially heard about a team modding an RTX remaster of Half-Life 2 last August. Today, NVIDIA released a trailer giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at Orbifold Studios' efforts to apply more modern graphics tools to the iconic title. The video highlights the RTX Remix engine and how the team is using it to make visual upgrades to a game with an engine two decades old. They have examples of how they're creating more dynamic light sources, volumetric fog in moody areas, and full 3D detail on the objects in the environment.

The crew at Orbifold still doesn't have a release date for their work, but as the 20th anniversary for Half-Life 2 approaches on November 16, it's possible that there may be something official in the works from Valve. No, not Half-Life 3. But YouTuber and veteran Valve reporter Tyler McVicker noticed that there is a new, password-protected branch of the game in Steam. Just based on the number of new test builds that have been pushed out on that branch, the new update seems more involved than the one the company released to mark the 25th anniversary of Half-Life 1 last year. So if you're itching to pick up the gravity gun again, this weekend might be the time to do it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/heres-a-fresh-look-at-the-half-life-2-rtx-remaster-221321847.html?src=rss

Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube

Posted on by

Google will stop serving political advertisements in the European Union. The decision, announced in The Keyword blog, is in response to an upcoming new rule for the bloc that "introduces significant new operational challenges and legal uncertainties for political advertisers and platforms." The company says the Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising has an overly broad definition for political advertising and raised concerns that technical guidance around the policy may not be given until close to October 2025, when the rules will take effect.

In addition to no longer serving that ad content ahead of next October, Google said that paid political advertisements will also not be allowed on YouTube in the EU. The company said that similar regulations have already led it to stop serving political ads in Canada, France and Brazil.

Google's advertising and ad tech have been subjected to scrutiny by the European government in recent years. The company faced (but ultimately avoided) fines for "abusive" advertising practices in 2019, and last year was hit with antitrust accusations. And Google has also engaged in other eyebrow-raising behavior in the bloc. Just yesterday, the company began what it called a "small, time-limited test" to omit results from EU-based news publishers in search, Google News and the Discover feed.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-will-stop-serving-political-ads-in-the-eu-including-on-youtube-210604043.html?src=rss

ADL report finds Steam is ‘rife’ with racist posts and images

Posted on by

Valve’s Steam store is more than just a place to buy computer games online. It’s an active community of gamers. Unfortunately, a sizable portion of those gamers are posting an “unprecedented” amount of hateful, racist and anti-Semetic content on the gaming site’s cyber social gathering place Steam Community, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League.

The organization found 1.83 million unique pieces of “extremist or hateful content” from 1.5 million unique users in 73,824 groups. The content included “explicitly anti-Semitic symbols” and “tens of thousands of instances” of users showing support for foreign terrorist groups. The online gaming community even included an alarming number of “copypastas,” more than half of which were variations of Nazi swastikas.

The Anti-Defamation League found an alarming number of images containing references to neo-Nazis on Steam Community
ADL

The report also found a “significant number” of Steam avatars with hateful symbols. Investigators uncovered 827,758 users with extremist or racist-signaling avatar images including the cartoon character Pepe the Frog in Nazi regalia or adorned with stereotypical tropes and looks, swastikas, the white supremacist skull or “siege” mask and the Nazi Eagle. Another 15,129 avatars contained images of flags, emblems or logos of terrorist groups, the majority of which referred to the jihadist group ISIS.

The ADL even uncovered images that “glorify violent extremists” and violent hate crimes. The report found references to and stills from tragedies like the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand shooting and the stabbing of five people in Eskisehir, Turkey committed by an 18 year old wearing neo-Nazi imagery.

Even the “Collections” and “Mods” community on the gamer gathering site contained hundreds of mods that contained hateful imagery. An unidentified user named after the Christchurch shooter Brian Tarrant took the Valve physics sandbox game Garry’s Mod and made the “Australian S**poster collection.” The user recreated Tarrant’s body armor look and posted screenshots implying the character is killing Muslims just as Tarrant did in 2019.

The images the Anti-Defamation League found on Steam Community included references to foreign terrorist groups like ISIS.
ADL

Other users utilized the Garry’s Mod game to create maps that also celebrated tragedies like the Columbine High School shooting and the Tops supermarket white supremacist shooting in Buffalo. The maps inspired even more racist comments and reactions such as “make synagogue next” and “remember labs, subscribe to PewDiePie,” a chilling reference to a comment Tarrant made on a livestream just before he committed his shooting.

The ADL accused Valve, Steam's owner, of not taking enough action to remove or curb the use of these images in its communities. The report claims Valve has a “highly permissive approach to content policy” and only took action “in rare notable cases.”

“Steam has selectively removed extremist content, largely based around extremist groups publicized in reporting or in response to government pressure,” the ADL report says. “However, this has been largely ad hoc, with Valve failing to systematically address the issue of extremism and hate on the platform.”

We’ve reached out to Valve for a comment on the ADL’s report.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/adl-report-finds-steam-is-rife-with-racist-posts-and-images-203934592.html?src=rss

Nintendo Black Friday deals include The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for $50

Posted on by

Nintendo has announced its various Black Friday promotions, and they're worth paying attention to if you want to pick up some big games on a rare sale. These include discounts on first-party Switch titles as well as some extras with a special version of the Switch Lite. The deals will be available at popular retailers like Best Buy, Target and Walmart. These discounts are for physical copies of games only, so the Nintendo eShop won't be involved. The sale starts on Sunday, November 24 and runs through Saturday, November 30.

Perhaps the jewel in Black Friday’s crown is a $20 discount on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The game is normally $70, so this drops the price down to $50. The game is an absolute blast and builds on all of the good stuff originally introduced in Breath of the Wild. This time, however, new abilities allow for even more unique solutions to puzzles.

The sale also applies to the long-gestating Pikmin 4 and the sublimely creative Super Mario Maker 2. Both will be available for $40. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the belle of the COVID-era ball, will also cost $40. The same goes for Nintendo Switch Sports and Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

Super Mario Odyssey, which is still the franchise’s latest 3D platformer, will shoot down to just $30. The same price will apply to the remake collection Pikmin 1 + 2. Joy-Con controllers, carrying cases and other accessories will also be on sale.

There will even be a deal on an actual Switch console bundle. The Nintendo Switch Lite: Hyrule Edition is going to cost $210, but it comes with some serious perks. This bundle ships with the gold-colored console and a full year of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. This provides access to all kinds of retro games, from the NES all the way to the N64.

There’s a caveat here. The Nintendo Switch isn’t long for this world, as a sequel is imminent. Adults may want to wait for the new console, but a Switch Lite is still a great gift for a kid. However, nobody has any idea what Trump’s promised tariffs will do to console prices, so maybe even the Switch Lite will cost $600 next year. Who the heck knows anymore.

If you're keen on getting some holiday shopping done now, though, you can browse the best Black Friday tech deals we've curated. Gaming deals are a little sparse at the moment, but you can get up to 55 percent off Xbox titles right now, or a 1TB Xbox Series X with two included controllers for $490 — that's $110 off the usual rate. Elsewhere, Lego deals are in full swing with up to 40 percent off Star Wars and Super Mario sets, including this Super Mario King Boo's Haunted Mansion (71436) for $60 and Star Wars: A New Hope Boarding The Tantive IV Fantasy Toy (75387) for $44.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/nintendo-just-announced-its-black-friday-deals-and-they-include-tears-of-the-kingdom-for-50-194609765.html?src=rss

PBS programming is coming to Prime Video

Posted on by

Amazon and PBS have entered a partnership that will bring content from the public media operation to Prime Video. More than 150 local PBS channels and the PBS Kids Channel will launch as a free ad-supported TV (or FAST) offering on Prime Video over the coming months. The press release from PBS noted that this is the first time this collection of programming will be available on a major streaming service for free.

PBS Distribution is also launching two new FAST channels that will be available exclusively on Prime Video for a limited time beginning November 26. These channels are PBS Drama and PBS Documentaries. It seems Amazon is looking to focus on a lineup of FAST channels within Prime Video for free viewing, since the company announced that it is closing Freevee.

Having yet another place to watch public media content is a happy development for PBS fans. The broadcaster recently launched a FAST channel with Roku called PBS Retro, specifically with shows from the 1980s and 1990s for those of us who want to dive into a little nostalgic escapism. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/pbs-programming-is-coming-to-prime-video-190443155.html?src=rss

Teenage Engineering is back with another droolworthy (and expensive) groovebox

Posted on by

Did you think Teenage Engineering would go another entire year without dropping something both absurdly cool and outrageously expensive? Think again. The company just announced the long-rumored OP-XY groovebox. It looks like an OP-1 Field, but plays like the relatively-ancient OP-Z. It also costs $2,300.

The OP-XY is described by the company as an "all-in-one powerful synthesizer and composer with deep, direct sequencing capabilities.” That sounds about right. The primary workflow here is sequencing, as opposed to the faux tape recording found with its OP-1 siblings. The groovebox features a shrunken-down keyboard and a strip of 16 LED-equipped buttons to control the sequencer.

There’s a multisampler inside the box, in addition to some great-sounding synth engines, drum kits and a bevy of useful effects, including the punch-in effects from the original OP-Z. As for specs, this little beast ships with 512GB of RAM, a dual CPU system that’s "capable of ultrafast processing power and efficiency” and 8GB of internal storage.

Teenage Engineering boasts about the groovebox’s "brain chord progression.” This lets players program chord sequences by “letting your hands do the talking.” We don’t exactly know what that means, as hands are typically involved when programming any chord sequence. We’ll have to wait for a hands-on experience to get the gist. It does allow for live recording, which is nice.

Just like the OP-Z, there’s a built-in gyroscope that allows players to adjust parameters by simply moving the device around. As for connectivity, there’s a USB-C port, a 3.5mm stereo input, MIDI in, MIDI sync and a new multi-output port that can send MIDI, CV, gate or sync data. It even has Bluetooth MIDI.

A screen.
Teenage Engineering

It’s also an absolute head-turner in the looks department. This thing is a stunner, dropping the toy-like OP-Z aesthetic for something that eerily resembles the OP-1 Field, albeit with a color swap to matte black. There’s a bright OLED display and many of the same multi-function buttons and knobs found with the original OP-1 and the Field. It looks very cool and I want it.

As previously mentioned, there’s a rub. The OP-XY costs $2,300. You read that right. That’s $300 more than the OP-1 Field. Heck. You could buy a brand new standard OP-1 and an OP-Z and still have some money leftover to buy cables and other accessories. Despite the price, I’m cautiously optimistic about this one. I absolutely love the OP-1 Field and I don’t care who knows it.

This is really the first ultra-expensive instrument the company has released since the aforementioned OP-1 Field. Last year’s EP-133 and its medieval-flavored follow-up both cost $300. The OP-XY is available right now. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/teenage-engineering-is-back-with-another-droolworthy-and-expensive-groovebox-183918448.html?src=rss