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'Hey, Disney' voice assistant comes to Disneyland in 2022

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 02:09 PM PST

You won't have to book a trip to Florida to try Disney's Amazon-based voice assistant. Disney has revealed that "hey, Disney" is coming to Disneyland hotel rooms sometime in 2022. As in Walt Disney World, it'll be available alongside Alexa in your room's Echo speaker and handle request ranging from amenities through to stories and jokes.

Guests will also see some more technology when they're visiting the park itself, as MagicBand+ wearables will also reach Disneyland in 2022. You can use the wristband to enter the park, make purchases and otherwise go touch-free, but they'll also use a mix of lights, haptic feedback and gesture control to enliven your experiences in certain areas. The interactions will be specific to Disneyland, so you won't have to worry about rehashed 'magic' moments.

Both additions could save time and may be helpful as a lingering pandemic still leaves some people jittery about physical contact. And to some degree, this is about updating the image of the parks themselves. Disney clearly wants to portray the parks as tech-savvy, and the combo of voice control with wristworn devices might help.

Haunting soft synth has a visualizer that stares back

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 01:12 PM PST

Love Hultén's fondness for strange synthesizers has taken a new, more modern-looking turn. The artist has unveiled Synth#boi, a hybrid soft synth and "interactive visualizer" built with help from the designer Lirona. The blocky, austere art project translates input from a MIDI keyboard to an Intel NUC PC with an S-Engine MKII sound module, a circular display and an eerie humanoid visualizer. The more you play, the more the 'person' in the visualizer lights up — it's as if the device is staring back at you and judging your performance.

And unlike many of Hultén's projects, this is something you can buy. The creator is selling 10 examples of Synth#boi as "physical NFTs" through Dissrup starting on November 22nd at 10AM Eastern. While there's no mention of pricing, we'd expect the limited run and novelty to carry a premium. It might be worthwhile, though, if you're determined to have a conversation piece that also satisfies your music-making impulses.

El Salvador plans to create an entire city based on Bitcoin

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 11:08 AM PST

El Salvador's government is throwing even more of its weight behind Bitcoin. Coindesk and BBC News report President Nayib Bukele has unveiled plans to build a "Bitcoin City" near a volcano along the Gulf of Fonseca, between La Unión and Conchagua. The metropolis will have its own geothermal power plant to help support crypto mining, and there will be no capital gains, income, payroll or property taxes, just value added tax.

The city will be shaped like a coin. While it should include the full amenities you'd expect from a city, people in La Unión could travel to work in the new development.

Bukele didn't provide a timeline for the city's creation. However, he simultaneously unveiled a $1 billion US "Bitcoin bond" where half would be used to build energy and mining infrastructure, with the rest used to buy more of the digital currency. The strategy chief for bond developer Blockstream, Samson Mow, said El Salvador would start selling crypto holdings after five years and pay an extra dividend to bond holders. With an initial 6.5 percent yield, this could represent a significant windfall for the country if all goes well.

The move is a huge gamble for a company with a gross domestic product of just over $24.6 billion in 2020. Bukele's administration is counting on Bitcoin to spur economic growth, independence and investment, but this also assumes the monetary format remains on an overall upward trajectory. It's also unclear if would-be residents and investors will flock to a Bitcoin-oriented city even with tax incentives. This is new territory for cryptocurrency, and it's not certain if there's enough support to help the project thrive.

Netflix renews 'Arcane' for a second season

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 10:29 AM PST

It didn't take long for Netflix to greenlight more Arcane. Deadlinereports Netflix has renewed the League of Legends-based series for a second season now in production. Core stars Ella Purnell (Jinx), Hailee Steinfeld (Vi) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn) are already set to reprise their roles.

There's no mystery behind the decision: the show is a success. Co-creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee said they were "beyond happy" with the reaction. The numbers also back them up — the first season of Arcane racked up nearly 34.2 million viewing hours in its first week on Netflix's new top 10 chart, making it the second-most popular TV series in any language behind Narcos: Mexico (almost 50.3 million).

The popularity isn't a shock. Both Netflix and League creator Riot Games heavily promoted the show, to the point where LoL included multiple crossovers. You knew Arcane was available if you were even vaguely interested in the game that inspired it. And yes, it helps that Arcane happens to be well-received by many accounts.

The renewal doesn't necessarily hint at a new wave of game-inspired Netflix shows. It does, however, suggest that relatively high-budget game productions have a healthy future at the streaming pioneer. Don't be surprised if Netflix takes more chances on projects like this.

Adele got Spotify to remove the shuffle button from album pages

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 09:38 AM PST

Artists have a lot of clout at streaming music services, but Adele might have more power than most. BBC Newsreports Spotify has removed the shuffle button from all album pages after Adele pressed the company to make the change in sync with the launch of 30. Albums should be listened to "as [artists] intended" as they tell "a story," the singer explained in a follow-up on Twitter.

You can still shuffle an album using the controls for individual songs. This mainly adds an extra step and pushes you to choose a first track. Rivals like Apple Music still let you tap a "shuffle" button from an album page.

There's no question some albums are meant to be played in order, including 30. It weaves a narrative around an important time in Adele's life. However, critics have already raised concerns about removing a feature to please an artist. It's one thing to recommend playing albums a certain way, but it's another to take control away from listeners to dictate that order — and what about artists who are happy to allow shuffle play?

Spotify has an incentive to make changes like this, at least. Adele's lead single for 30, "Easy On Me," broke a single-day Spotify streaming record previously held by K-pop megagroup BTS. While Spotify hasn't outlined its rationale, the company probably isn't eager to antagonize one of its most important musicians and risk losing customers.

Meta delays full Facebook and Instagram message encryption to 2023

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 08:42 AM PST

Meta's push for a more private experience will take longer than the company initially hoped. According to The Guardian, safety head Antigone Davis wrote a commentary for The Telegraph warning that the rollout of default end-to-end encrypted messaging in Facebook Messenger and Instagram was delayed to "sometime in 2023." The social media firm had originally planned for the move to wrap up as soon as 2022, but it wanted the extra time to "get this right," Davis said.

The extra privacy is already enabled in WhatsApp, but Facebook Messenger and Instagram still require that you start an encrypted chat ("Secret Conversations" in Messenger). Meta, then Facebook, started a broader push toward encryption and other privacy features in 2019.

The delay could lead to awkward timing, at least in the UK. The country is enacting a safety law in 2023 that will require tech companies to prevent abuse and safeguard children. While it doesn't require encryption backdoors, current UK home secretary Priti Patel hasn't been shy about opposing default encryption — she claimed it would "severely" limit law enforcement's ability to pursue criminals. Meta might face pressure to change its plans by the time the law takes effect.

Davis said Meta would still have the power to detect abuse through a combination of unencrypted info and user reports. The delay might also offer time to reassure governments and head off potential conflicts. Chat encryption isn't under immediate threat, then, but the longer timeframe adds some uncertainty.

Apple Watch SE and Fitbits drop to all-time low prices at Amazon

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 06:58 AM PST

Today could be a very good day to buy wearable tech as a gift. Amazon is discounting a few smartwatches and fitness trackers, most notably the Apple Watch SE. Apple's 'starter' wristwear is on sale for an all-time low price of $219, a full $60 off. You'll have to buy a 40mm GPS model with a silver aluminum case and Abyss Blue Sport Band to reach that price, and you'll have to act quickly — this could sell out soon.

Buy Apple Watch SE on Amazon - $219Buy Fitbit Sense on Amazon - $200Buy Fitbit Charge 5 on Amazon - $130

There are also discounts to be had if you're either an Android user or not particularly attached to Apple's wearables. The Fitbit Sense smartwatch is also on sale for an all-time low price of $200 (normally $300), while the Fitbit Charge 5 tracker is down to $130 (typically $180).

The Apple Watch SE at this price is an easy choice if you have an iPhone. It only costs slightly more than the old Series 3, but it boast a much larger screen, speedier performance and more powerful software. You won't get the always-on display or advanced health tech of models like the Series 7, but that won't matter if you're just looking for a good smartwatch to track workouts, answer calls or check the weather.

Fitbit's devices, meanwhile, are fine choices if you're focused on health. The Sense is a bit sluggish and and may take some time to learn, but its extensive health features (including stress tracking) could easily make it worthwhile. The Charge 5, meanwhile, offers many smartwatch-level perks in a tracker-level design. Just remember that Fitbit's data doesn't directly funnel into third-party platforms like Apple Health.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

Nintendo bundles 'Mario Kart 8' with the Switch for Black Friday

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 06:00 AM PST

We all know that Nintendo doesn't discount its games often, so Black Friday ends up being one of the few times you can snag a great deal on its consoles and first party games. This year we're looking at a nice bundle for the Nintendo Switch itself nearly identical to the one it offered last year, which packages a Switch with a digital copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and three months of Nintendo Switch Online. 

Mario, Link, Isabelle, Squid Girl
Nintendo

Those two freebies will normally cost you $68 by themselves, but they come included in this package for the standard Switch console price of $300. Take note that this is the regular Switch and not the OLED edition, which still costs $50 more (if you can find one) and doesn't come with a free game.

Buy Nintendo Switch bundle at Amazon - $300Buy Nintendo Switch bundle at Best Buy - $300

Also on sale are a slew of first-party titles from Nintendo, including the recent classic Breath of the Wild alongside other great titles like New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Maker 2, Paper Mario: The Origami King and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. Also included? Engadget staff faves like Astral Chain and Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which both made our year-end best-of list back in 2019.

However, the two heavy-hitters to look out for are Ring Fit Adventure and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Engadget senior editor Devindra Hardawar and editor-in-chief Dana Wollman had pretty nice things to say about the former, which was perennially out of stock in 2020 as players stuck at home used it to stay in shape.

Buy Ring Fit Adventure at Amazon - $55Buy Ring Fit Adventure at GameStop - $55Buy Ring Fit Adventure at Best Buy - $55
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Nintendo

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, essentially a remote control vehicle that lets you turn your home into a real-life Mario Kart course, gets the biggest discount of all: Normally it's a $100 game, but this week it's down to a tidy $60 at selected retailers.

Buy Mario Kart Live Home Circuit at Amazon - $60Buy Mario Kart Live Home Circuit at GameStop - $60Buy Mario Kart Live Home Circuit at Best Buy - $60

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

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