Google's Gemini AI systems can do a lot, judging by today's I/O keynote. That includes the option to set up a virtual teammate with its own Workspace account. You can configure the teammate to carry out specific tasks, such as to monitor and track projects, organize information, provide context, pinpoint trends after analyzing data and to play a role in team collaboration.
In Google Chat, the teammate can join all relevant rooms and you can ask it questions based on all the conversation histories, Gmail threads and anything else it has access to. It can tell team members whether their projects are approved or if there might be an issue based on conflicting messages.
It seems like the virtual teammate was just a tech demo for now, however. Aparna Pappu, vice president and GM of Workspace, said Google has "a lot of work to do to figure out how to bring these agentive experiences, like virtual teammates, into Workspace." That includes finding ways to let third parties make their own versions.
While it doesn't seem like this virtual teammate will be available soon, it could eventually prove to be a serious timesaver — as long as you trust it to get everything right first time around.
Catch up on all the news from Google I/O 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-gemini-can-power-a-virtual-ai-teammate-with-its-own-workspace-account-182809274.html?src=rss
Dead by Daylight fans can check out the Dungeons and Dragons chapter starting today, but Behaviour Interactive teased another high-profile crossover during an anniversary showcase on Tuesday. A Castlevania chapter is on the way to DbD. There aren't any details yet about what that will include, but you just might get to play as Alucard or Simon Belmont in the fog. Behaviour plans to divulge more info about the Castlevania tie-up, which will arrive later this year, in August.
As for the Dungeons and Dragons chapter, which brings a dark fantasy element to DbD for the first time, Behaviour spilled the beans on that during the stream. PC players will be able to try out the chapter on the public test build today before it goes live for everyone on June 3.
Behaviour Interactive
The new killer is Vecna (the D&D version rather than the Stranger Things baddie) and stalwart video game actor and Critical Role mastermind Matt Mercer is voicing the character. The latest survivor is actually two identities in one. It's a bard character that you can opt to play as an elf female or human male, bringing a slight element of D&D-style character creation to DbD.
The chapter will also include a new map, which (surprise, surprise) is a dungeon. Whenever you're up against Vecna, you'll be able to find treasure chests which will trigger a roll of a 20-sided die when opened. Rolling a one will net you a nasty surprise while getting a 20 grants you a powerful magical item. Roll any number in between and you'll get a helpful item.
Speaking of maps, there will be larger ones to check out in an upcoming new mode. DbD has long pitted four survivors against one killer. A pair of killers will soon be able to team up and hunt eight survivors. They'll be able to take advantage of team powers too.
There will be a lot of changes for this 2 vs. 8 mode, which will be around for a limited time at first. Perks will be jettisoned in favor of a class system, and there won't be any hooks. Downed survivors will instead go straight to a cage. If a survivor is caged three times, they're out of the game. Behaviour sees this as more of a party mode as opposed to the competitive nature of 1 vs. 4. The 2 vs. 8 mode is slated to arrive later this summer, and you can expect to find out more about it in July.
Behaviour also had some news about several DbD spinoff games that are in the works. The Casting of Frank Stoneis a single-player, narrative-focused game set in the DbD universe and developer Supermassive has released the first gameplay trailer.
The spinoff tells the story of a group of young people who venture into a condemned steel mill in 1980 while attempting to film their own horror movie. There, they discover evidence of crimes committed by serial killer Frank Stone.
The gameplay sounds very familiar for those who have experience of previous Supermassive games like Until Dawn and The Quarry. The direction of the story will shift based on your narrative decisions and how you handle environmental puzzles and quick-time events. The Casting of Frank Stone, which is said to be about five to seven hours long, is slated to arrive later this year.
An untitled co-op shooter spinoff from Midwinter Entertainment is still in early development, but it now has a codename: Project T. It'll be a third-person game and unlike the survivors in DbD, you'll actually be able to fight back against enemies using guns. Fans who want to find out more can sign up for an insider program, which will include updates, closed playtests and the chance to provide feedback.
That's not all though, as Behaviour announced yet anotherDbD spinoff. What the Fog is a two-person co-op roguelike that it developed in-house. The premise is that DbD survivors Claudette and Dwight are sucked into a cursed board game, Jumanji-style. The game is mainly played in third-person, but if you die you'll move into a bird's-eye support mode, where you can help your teammate survive. Just like in DbD, you'll need to interact with a hook to revive your ally. There's a single-player mode, while Feng Min is an unlockable character.
Behaviour Interactive
What the Fog shares some elements with DbD. You'll need to pick up tokens called blood points by roaming the map and killing enemies. These let you activate generators so you can escape a room. You'll get a buff from each generator and acquire a weapon upgrade after each round. There are bosses to take down too. What the Fog also has a more cartoony look than DbD's more realistic art style.
I've played a few rounds of the single-player mode and I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. The metal soundtrack and monster-slaying chaos actually reminds me a bit of the Doom series. After unlocking a door, I'd suggest sticking around in the room a while longer to kill some more enemies and snag a bunch of blood points. That way, you'll be able to repair the next room's generators quickly and power up before taking on a fresh army of monsters.
What the Fog is available now on Steam. The first 2 million copies are available for free, though you'll need a Behaviour account to claim one. If you're not quick enough to snag a free copy or just feel like giving Behavior a few bucks, the game costs $5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/castlevania-is-coming-to-dead-by-daylight-later-this-year-164509826.html?src=rss
Amazon's Prime Video is riding a high after the success of Falloutand it has more video game-related projects lined up. The streaming service has ordered a Tomb Raider series with Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag fame set as writer and executive producer. The show was rumored to be happening as far back as January 2023 and now it's official.
“If I could tell my teenage self this was happening I think she’d explode. Tomb Raider has been a huge part of my life and I feel incredibly privileged to be bringing it to television with such passionate collaborators," Waller-Bridge said in a statement. "Lara Croft means a lot to me, as she does to many, and I can’t wait to go on this adventure. Bats ‘n all."
Few other details about the "epic, globetrotting" project have been revealed (it's not yet known who's playing Lara Croft, for one thing), though it stems from a deal between Amazon MGM Studios and Crystal Dynamics to develop shows and movies based on Tomb Raider. There's no release window for the series as yet, but Amazon says it will premiere in more than 240 countries and territories. The company's games division is also publishing Crystal Dynamics' next Lara Croft adventure, while a long-awaitedanimated Tomb Raider series is slated to hit Netflix this year.
Prime Video has also lined up a docuseries about EA's blockbuster Madden NFL games. EA Sports will open up its vault of rare and unreleased footage for the project. A documentary crew will follow the development of the next game in the series.
These are just some of the many announcements that Prime Video is making today as it tries to win over advertisers at its upfront event. A pop culture version of Jeopardy! is on the way to the service, which will host its first NFL Wild Card Playoff game in January. A Legally Blonde prequel series called is coming too.
Elsewhere, Prime Video renewed its hit show The Boys for a fifth season, announced a live-action Spider-Man Noir show starring Nicolas Cage and revealed the first trailer and release date for the second season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. In addition, a documentary following the last 12 days of Roger Federer’s professional tennis career is coming to Prime Video on June 20.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-tomb-raider-series-from-phoebe-waller-bridge-is-on-the-way-to-prime-video-153636273.html?src=rss
As if it wasn’t already clear enough that streaming is basically just cable by another name at this point (though it's arguably less expensive for now), many of the top services are banding together to create bundles. A package combining Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV+ is expected to debut later this month. This StreamSaver bundle will be available to Comcast customers, according to CEO Brian Roberts.
While Roberts didn’t reveal how much the package will cost or what tiers of each service it will include, he said StreamSaver will offer them “at a vastly reduced price to anything available today.” According to Variety, he told attendees at MoffettNathanson’s Media, Internet and Communications Conference that the aim was to “add value to consumers” and take dollars away from competing streaming services.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-vastly-reduced-netflix-peacock-and-apple-tv-bundle-is-coming-this-month-135815744.html?src=rss
This is a function that Apple is introducing in the wake of the bloc's Digital Markets Act coming into force. It won't be a free-for-all, however. Developers who want to let users download iOS apps from their websites will need to opt into new App Store rules that will mean they have to pay a fee for each user after hitting a certain threshold. They'll also need to have a developer account that's in good standing and to have an app that had more than a million iOS installs in the EU in the previous year.
There's another notable update in iOS 17.5 in the form of a new feature called Repair State. In a nutshell, this will mean that iPhone users no longer need to turn off Find My when they send in their iPhone for repair.
Elsewhere, there are some changes on the Apple News+ front. The app now at long last has an offline mode, so you can use it to catch up on some reading while you're on a flight and don't feel like paying for Wi-Fi. The Today feed and News+ tab will work without an internet connection.
Apple is also moving beyond crosswords and deeper into the daily word game trend popularized by the likes of Wordle. Quartiles is a Boggle-style original game for Apple News+ subscribers. You'll connect tiles of various word combinations to create words and score points. You'll be able to share your scores with other players.
Apple
Last but not least, Apple has the latest incarnation of its annual Pride collection in honor of the LGBTQ+ community, including a Pride Radiance watch face and iOS and iPadOS wallpapers. You'll be able to customize these with a range of colors.
You'll see the colors trace numerals of the watch face and react as you move your Apple Watch. A matching Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop will be available to order on May 22 for $99. The iPhone and iPad backgrounds spell out "Pride" in bold beams of color and move when you unlock the device.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ios-175-is-here-with-support-for-web-based-app-downloads-in-the-eu-192624433.html?src=rss
A group of Amazon workers in Quebec have formed the first union at one of the company's Canadian warehouses. On Friday, the province's labor tribunal granted union accreditation to workers at the DXT4 warehouse in Laval, a Montreal suburb. It determined that a majority had opted to unionize after signing union cards.
A group of some 200 workers are organizing as the Laval Amazon Workers Union under the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), which represents around 330,000 people across a variety of industries in Canada. A general assembly to decide on a constitution, bylaws and representatives will take place in the coming days. A consultation with union members will then take place to agree on a list of demands.
The union says Amazon is legally required to come to the negotiation table to hash out a contract. However, it expects Amazon to appeal the labor tribunal’s decision after allegedly attempting to stop the unionization efforts.
“First and foremost, this is a great victory for the men and women from Latin America, Chad, the Maghreb and Asia who were not afraid to stand up for their rights,” CSN president Caroline Senneville said in a statement. “Over the past few months, Amazon has pulled out all the stops to block our unionization campaign, flooding the workplace with scaremongering messages. DXT4 workers have given us all a lesson in courage. Of course, we hope it spreads.”
Amazon claimed in a letter to the labor tribunal on May 6 that the accreditation would not "respect the interests of its employees." The company argued that some workers signed union cards after being misled and that some aspects of the Quebec labor code run contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"We believe that all people should have the right to inform themselves and to vote according to their situation and convictions at the time," Amazon spokesperson Barbara M. Agrait told the CBC. "If a simple majority of people at an employer have joined a union at any point, then there's no vote and representation is automatic for all employees — including maybe dozens or hundreds of employees who didn't even know it was being considered."
Amazon has long been accused of attempting to upend unionization efforts at warehouses in the US and Europe. In 2022, workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, became the first in the company to form a union. But the Amazon Labor Union does not yet have a contract with Amazon, and reports suggest it's running low on funds ahead of a leadership election.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-workers-become-the-first-to-unionize-at-one-of-the-companys-canadian-warehouses-180447875.html?src=rss
Apple and Google's long-in-the-works effort to alert people to unwanted Bluetooth trackers that may have been planted on them has come to fruition. The companies have developed an industry standard called Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers. This makes it possible to alert someone via iOS or Android if they're being tracked with one of those devices.
When an unknown Bluetooth device is seen moving with someone over a period of time, they'll get an alert that reads “[Item] Found Moving With You," no matter which platform the tracker is paired with. Apple and Google are rolling out the capability in iOS 17.5 and across Android 6.0 and later devices starting today.
The companies announced a partnership to tackle this issue last May with backing from industry partners such as Samsung and Tile. Apple says that Chipolo, Eufy, Jio, Motorola and Pebblebee are among the companies who say that their future Bluetooth tags will work with the new standard.
Not long after Apple started selling AirTags three years ago, stories of bad actors using the devices to track people and steal cars started to emerge. Apple quickly started working on ways to make it harder for stalkers to use AirTags illicitly and it refined its approach to that over time. The company also released an Android app in late 2021 to help folks find out if an AirTag had been planted on them, but the new approach will take an OS-level approach to warning people about unwanted trackers across both platforms.
Apple has been hit with legal challenges over AirTag stalking. In March, a San Francisco judge rejected the company's effort to dismiss a class-action lawsuit over the issue.
The timing of the Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers alert rollout is intriguing. There have long been rumors that Google was working on its own Bluetooth tracker. With its I/O developer conference taking place on Tuesday, perhaps such a device is about to come to light.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-and-google-roll-out-a-cross-platform-feature-to-tackle-unwanted-bluetooth-trackers-172411423.html?src=rss
Apple last week refreshed its iPad lineup by upgrading the iPad Pro and iPad Air. The latter got its first hardware update in over two years. The latest iPad Air is powered by an M2 chipset and it ships on May 15. If you’re interested in picking one up and haven’t yet done so, you’re in luck. You’ll get a $30 discount on the M2 iPad Air if you preorder one at Amazon. The discount is available on select models such as several colorways of the base 11-inch iPad Air with 128GB of storage, which drops to $570. The purple 256GB variant of the 13-inch iPad Air is also $30 off at $870.
The M2 is one of the two major changes to the iPad Air this time around. The chipset is about 50 percent faster than the M1, according to Apple, so the latest model should be noticeably zipper than the previous generation. However, the iPad Pro is now significantly more powerful than the Air, as the high-end models arriving this week run on the new M4 chipsets, making them the first Apple devices to do so.
The screen is the other major change to the iPad Air. Not only is the base model’s display 0.1 inches larger, making it a tidier 11 inches, there’s a 13-inch variant of an iPad Air for the first time. That means the iPad Air has the same screen sizes as the iPad Pro (which is now somehow thinner and lighter than its mid-range sibling).
There’s one other immediately noticeable change to the iPad Air. The front-facing camera is now positioned along the landscape edge. That should make video calls a bit more palatable for those who tend to have their iPad in that orientation, including those who use keyboard attachments.
We gave the iPad Air a score of 91 in our review, dubbing it Apple's best tablet overall. The base storage increase (it has double the base storage of the previous generation), faster chip and reorientation of the front-facing camera are all major plus points. The 13-inch option is great too, particularly for those who want an iPad with a larger display without having to splash the cash on an iPad Pro.
Not all connected speakers have a voice assistant built in. The Sonos One SL, for instance, doesn't have a microphone. So, if you want to use your voice to control such devices, you may need to pick up a secondary smart speaker, such as Amazon's Echo Dot. As luck would have it, that little Alexa-enabled device is on sale for $28. That's 44 percent off and just $5 more than the record-low price.
That's not to say the Echo Dot isn't a decent speaker in its own right. In fact, we think it's the best smart speaker under $50.
Amazon has been steadily improving the Dot's audio quality over the years and the most recent version from 2022 pumps out far louder and clearer audio than could be reasonably expected from a sub-$50 speaker. The globe-shaped speaker has some physical buttons, including ones for volume control and another that mutes/unmutes the microphone if you don't want Alexa to remain alert for voice commands at all times.
If you'd prefer to save a few extra bucks, you could instead opt for the Echo Pop. That Alexa-enabled speaker is currently half off at $20. The colorful speaker also has a mic mute switch. It could prove to be a handy bedside speaker for listening to podcasts or a sleep story when it's time to nod off.
A Prince of Persia game from the studio behind Dead Cells was supposed to hit early access on PC on May 14. That’s no longer the case. Evil Empire says The Rogue Prince of Persia’s debut is delayed until later this month, and it’s because of a little game called Hades II.
Soon after a technical test wrapped up, Supergiant Games released Hades II into early access on Monday. It skyrocketed up the Steam charts and quickly reached a peak of 102,000 concurrent players. Evil Empire suggested that “everyone and their mom” is playing Hades II, including its own team, so it’s getting out of that game’s way.
“While we have every confidence in The Rogue Prince of Persia, it’s not every day that a game in the same genre as you, which is one of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2024, will release into early access a week before you plan to do the same,” Evil Empire wrote on X. “We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe that this short delay is the best decision for us and our early access journey.“
As it happens, the delay will also give Evil Empire some extra time to polish up The Rogue Prince of Persia. While the whole point of releasing a game in early access is to get feedback from players on a project that’s far from the finished article, developers still want their games to be in as good a shape as possible when the public goes hands on with them for the first time.
Evil Empire says it can “add even more cool things” and try to squish some bugs before the game’s debut. The team also has a bit more time to test and refine the “hefty” day one patch.
The new early access date for The Rogue Prince of Persia, which will cost $20, is May 27. However, Evil Empire somewhat jokingly suggested the release date may shift again if Hollow Knight: Silksong suddenly arrives in the meantime.
Getting out of Hades II’s way is a smart idea given the two games are both roguelikes. It’s nice to see Evil Empire being transparent about the reasons for the delay too. But there are a bunch of other indies that were released this week that reviewed well and have been overshadowed at least to some degree by that blockbuster sequel.
Another Crab’s Treasure (a cute spin on From Software's Soulslike format), PS1-style survival horror Crow Country, sci-fi title 1000xResist and adorable-looking adventure Little Kitty, Big City all debuted to strong reviews this week. So too did Animal Well, a Metroidvania about which the word “masterpiece” has been invoked by some reviewers (though that’s actually the number one best-selling game on Steam at the time of writing, just above Hades II).
The train doesn’t stop there as some other buzzed-about indies are arriving over the next couple of weeks, including Lorelei and The Laser Eyes (we’re very excited about that one) and Paper Trail. There’s another one coming next week that I’ve been playing and is worth checking out, though I can’t talk about it just yet.
Although there might not be too many AAA games from the likes of Sony, Microsoft and EA dropping at the minute, there’s a lot of fascinating stuff going on in the indie scene. So maybe go check some of those games out if you haven't already.
Update 5/13 11:42AM ET: Added pricing and the new early access release date for The Rogue Prince of Persia.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-rogue-prince-of-persia-is-delayed-because-hades-ii-is-a-juggernaut-144229150.html?src=rss