Engadget |
- Facebook failed to spot climate misinformation from some of its worst denialist offenders
- Apple Store hostage taker demanded $226,000 in cryptocurrency as ransom
- Marvel's Netflix shows are coming to Disney+, but only in Canada for now
- Twitch says its new ad revenue program will make payouts more reliable
- Astell & Kern's first Bluetooth speaker includes a 32-bit DAC
- USPS won't be buying more electric mail trucks, despite EPA pleas
- Sony is rolling out a way to share PS5 clips from the PS App
- Investigation of VRChat finds rampant child grooming and other safety issues
- Acer's latest Swift 5 laptop features a 16:10 display and 12th-gen Intel Core
- MIT study finds neurons in epilepsy patients that only respond to singing
- Target will test curbside returns and Starbucks order pickups this fall
- Meta wants to build a universal language translator
- Meta is working on an AI 'builder bot' for the metaverse
- A new Steam tool can check your library for Steam Deck compatibility
- 'Apex Legends Mobile' launches in 10 countries next week
- Spotify debuts its first 'bookcast' from Dolly Parton and James Patterson
- How to incinerate the International Space Station
- Intel claims its 12th-gen ultraportable chips are a huge step forward
- Xbox gamers can now stream on Twitch from the console dashboard
- LinkedIn debuts its own podcast network
- Call of Duty might take a year off in 2023
- 'NieR: Automata' is being developed into an anime series
- Apple will give Siri a less gendered voice option in iOS 15.4
- Scientists create cube robots that can shapeshift in space
- Apple's 2021 iPad mini drops to $459 at Amazon
Facebook failed to spot climate misinformation from some of its worst denialist offenders Posted: 23 Feb 2022 05:36 PM PST Facebook may be failing to tag a large amount of climate misinformation posted on its site, a study released today indicates. Researchers from the Center for Counter Digital Hate analyzed 184 exceptionally popular stories from what it identified to be the top ten publishers of climate change denial content in the world (a list that includes Russian state media, The Daily Wire, Breitbart and others). It found that roughly half (50.5 percent) of the stories failed to trigger Facebook's information labels designed to flag coverage on climate change. Stories from such heavily trafficked news outlets should be the easiest targets for fact-checkers, suggesting that much more climate misinformation is evading Facebook's screening. Last year Facebook (which has since rebranded as Meta) promised to flag climate change coverage in a number of countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US. Such posts would be marked with an informational label that would direct users to the platform's "Climate Science Information Center", which contains information that debunks myths on the climate. The study's authors began their research following Facebook's May 2021 announcement that it would tackle climate change denial propaganda, and all articles included in the analysis were posted after that date. Independent fact-checkers also flag climate change stories that are false, and Facebook adds a warning label and reduces distribution. "When they rate this content as false, we add a warning label and reduce its distribution so fewer people see it. During the time frame of this report, we hadn't completely rolled out our labeling program, which very likely impacted the results," Facebook spokesperson Kevin McAllister told NPR. Facebook has made multiple efforts to scrub misinformation posted on its platform over the past few years, for topics like the 2020 presidential election, the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccines. But as Engadget and other outlets have covered, a large amount of misinformation is still able to clear Facebook's algorithms without proper labeling. But nearly a year later, Facebook's review system on climate change content is still missing the mark. I was able to post a number of different climate change stories on Facebook without hitting its algorithms, including articles entitled "Why the West Coast Heat Wave Has Nothing To Do With Climate Change" from The Federalist and "Alarmists: Global Warming Causes 'Unprecedented Cold' in Tajikistan", published in Breitbart. Facebook hasn't been specific on what type of outlets or information is eligible for an info label. Engadget has reached out for comment, and will update when we hear back. While there's some evidence that suggests efforts by social media platforms to tag misinformation and hoaxes has worked to stop their spread, a large amount of misinformation still slips through the cracks. And unfortunately, additional research indicates that the absence of these warnings (the lack of a climate information label, for instance) increases the "perceived accuracy" of content. |
Apple Store hostage taker demanded $226,000 in cryptocurrency as ransom Posted: 23 Feb 2022 03:10 PM PST Before he was apprehended by Amsterdam police, the suspect involved in Tuesday's Apple Store hostage situation demanded a €200 million (approximately $226 million) ransom paid in cryptocurrencies, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Police say they have yet to establish a motive for the 27-year-old gunman, whose identity they didn't share. What we know is that he was a resident of the city and had a criminal record before the event. He was also carrying explosives on his person at the time of his arrest. The gunman was apprehended after his hostage fled the building when a police robot delivered water to the front of the store. Police used a squad car to knock him down, causing him serious injuries. On Wednesday, he died of the injuries he sustained in his arrest. "The hostage played a heroic role by forcing a breakthrough," according to Amsterdam police chief Frank Pauw. "He acted in a split-second. Had he not done that, we could have been in for a long, nasty night." According to Engadget's research, Wednesday's incident wasn't the first time someone demanded a ransom paid in cryptocurrency to end a hostage situation. In 2017, kidnappers in Ukraine released an employee from a cryptocurrency exchange after their demand for a ransom paid in Bitcoin (valued at $1 million at the time) was met. |
Marvel's Netflix shows are coming to Disney+, but only in Canada for now Posted: 23 Feb 2022 01:54 PM PST Sure enough, Marvel's outgoing Netflix shows are coming to Disney+... but only for some viewers. Engadget has confirmed a MobileSyrupreport that Daredevil, Jessica Jones and other productions will be available on Disney+ starting March 16th, but only in Canada. If you're fortunate enough to live in the country, you'll only have to wait a couple of weeks to keep watching after the superhero shows leave Netflix on March 1st. It's not clear when these shows will be available in other countries, but Engadget understands it's just a matter of time before you can watch elsewhere. You could see this transition coming for a while. Disney said in 2017 that it would ditch Netflix in favor of an in-house service, and Netflix had cancelled all its Marvel originals by 2019. Beyond this, Disney has been dropping not-so-subtle clues about its control of the former Netflix characters, with appearances from a couple of them in Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home. If there's a looming question, it's whether or not the shows will make their way to Disney+ in other countries or to Disney-owned services like Hulu, where their not-so-family-friendly content might be a better fit. With that said, Disney risks a further split in its Marvel catalog (MODOK is on Hulu, for instance) if it hosts the Netflix shows anywhere besides its main service — it may have to accept that mature and PG fare will sit side by side. |
Twitch says its new ad revenue program will make payouts more reliable Posted: 23 Feb 2022 12:55 PM PST Twitch has launched an incentive program that will guarantee select streamers a certain amount of ad revenue per month. Many creators have spoken out about the difficulties of earning a consistent living from the livestreaming platform for all but the top-tier of streamers. Unless you have a consistent base of followers, the income you earn from Twitch can vary widely from month to month. "Having a reliable floor of ad revenue should enable you to better plan for the future, whatever that may look like. We hope it's an important step towards empowering creators," wrote Twitch on its site. The new payment model, which Twitch is calling the Ad Incentives Program or AIP, offers a select group of partners and affiliates a flat payout every month. In exchange, creators agree to stream for a minimum amount of hours per month while running ads. Twitch already has tapped a select group of streamers to participate in AIP for the time being. Selected streamers will see a message on top of their Ads Manager dashboard inviting them to join the program. Twitch streamers typically earn money from a variety of different sources, including ads, subscriptions, Bits (virtual goods that viewers buy to cheer you on) and donations from followers. Not every streamer can earn money on Twitch. The platform requires a certain number of followers and broadcast hours before inviting streamers to its Affiliate program, which offers the ability for creators to monetize their streamers. Affiliates who attain enough followers and views can then take part in the more lucrative Partner program. But maintaining a consistent fan following is incredibly hard, and many creators burn out due to the many hours required. Twitch typically collects 50/50 of the revenue that streamers earn from subscriptions, a significantly worse deal than YouTube, Facebook and other platforms. Streamers will get the option to pick from different payment models, and the amount Twitch is offering each streamer will vary. In the examples Twitch laid out on its site, a user who agrees to stream for 40 hours per month can select the option of either a $100 payout to run 2 minutes of ads per hour, a $300 payout to run 3 minutes of ads per hour, or a $500 payout to run 4 minutes of ads per hour. Streamers will earn this guaranteed amount of money regardless of how many people watch. After they stream the minimum amount of hours required, they'll continue to earn revenue at their normal rate. While an earnings floor may provide some stability for a select group of Twitch streamers, a number of streamers on Twitter have already pointed out that smaller streamers (the most likely to need a source of guaranteed income) won't benefit in the least. The streamers who qualify for Twitch's new AIP program already have a medium to large fanbase who already watch their streams. But for that select group, AIP may eliminate some of the guesswork when it comes to deciding which ad strategy will work best. |
Astell & Kern's first Bluetooth speaker includes a 32-bit DAC Posted: 23 Feb 2022 12:44 PM PST Astell & Kern is still best known for keeping high-end MP3 players alive, but it's now branching out into Bluetooth speakers — and there might be reason to take notice. The Iriver (now Dreamus) brand's new Acro BE100 includes a 32-bit DAC to preserve the audio quality regardless of the source. Accordingly, it's also billed as the first Bluetooth speaker to support both the aptX HD and LDAC 24-bit codecs — you might not have to lose audio fidelity or limit your collection to one audio format. The BE100 centers on a 55W class-D amp and boasts both a four-inch Kevlar woofer as well as two silk dome tweeters. A 3.5mm aux input jack provides wired audio if wireless just isn't pristine enough. Not surprisingly, you can expect to pay for the extra quality. Astell & Kern will ship the Acro BE100 for $499 in black and white models when it ships on March 7th, with pre-orders starting February 25th. That's a huge outlay, but the BE100 also exists in a relatively niche space. Most wireless speakers approaching this price range are either party-oriented models like UE's Hyperboom or convenience-focused smart speakers like the Sonos Five. This might do the job if you're more interested in appreciating the subtle nuances of a classical piece than blasting audio around the house. |
USPS won't be buying more electric mail trucks, despite EPA pleas Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:48 AM PST The USPS is moving forward with plans to spend $11.3 billion on a fleet of next-generation mail trucks that mostly run on gas, despite requests from the EPA and Biden administration to electrify its new vehicles instead. The new trucks, which were revealed last year, feature modern amenities like air conditioning, 360-degree cameras, and collision detection. While they can be powered by either gas or electric engines, the initial order from the USPS only included 5,000 electric trucks, or around 10 percent of the entire order. "Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition," Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement. He went on to say that the agency would try buy more EVs as additional funding became available, but added that "the process needs to keep moving forward" to give postal workers more modern vehicles. Today's postal trucks, which include the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV), have been in service since the 1980s, have few safety features and abysmal single-digit fuel economy. Practically any modern truck would be an improvement, but the EPA argued earlier this month that investing in more gas vehicles would ultimately accelerate climate change and hurt American health. The USPS ultimately decided to ignore the EPA's request for supplemental environmental impact statements, and it refused to hold a public hearing about the next-gen vehicle plan. |
Sony is rolling out a way to share PS5 clips from the PS App Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:33 AM PST Sony is gradually rolling out an option to let PS5 players access captured screenshots and clips from the PS App on iOS and Android. The company started testing the feature in Canada and Japan in October. At the outset, players in the Americas will be able to view and share their PS5 captures on the mobile app. Folks in the US, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay should gain access in the coming days. Sony will expand the feature to more territories next month. Some people outside of Canada and Japan had access to the feature as of late January, according to reports, which hinted that a broader rollout was imminent.
To use the feature, you'll need to switch it on manually on PS5 by going to the Captures tab of the settings menu and enabling Auto-Upload. On the PS App, you'll need to enable the Captures option under Library. You'll then be able to download the clips and screenshots to your phone or tablet. Your PS5 will upload all clips lasting under three minutes, as long as they're not in 4K. All screenshots taken with the Create button or Create Menu shortcuts will be uploaded too. Your screenshots and clips will only only stay on Sony's servers for 14 days after you capture them, though they'll remain on your console's storage. While that's a bit of an odd limitation, this is a useful way to get your screenshots and clips on your phone. You'll be able to share them on social media and with your friends without using the PS5's limited sharing options or transferring captures to a computer using a USB drive. |
Investigation of VRChat finds rampant child grooming and other safety issues Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:31 AM PST One of the more popular VR apps you can download through Steam and Meta's Oculus Quest Store has a child safety problem. If you're unfamiliar with VRChat, the app styles as "the future" of social virtual reality. "Our vision for VRChat is to enable anybody to create and share their own social virtual worlds," the game's developer says on its Steam store page. With some understanding of Unity, players can create their own social spaces and avatars. That means you can see a lot of creativity on display in VRChat, but there's also a dark side to it as the BBC found out. Posing as a 13-year-old girl, BBC researcher Jess Sherwood said she entered a virtual strip club where she saw adult men chase a child while telling them to remove their clothes. In many of the rooms Sherwood visited, she frequently saw condoms and sex toys on display, and on one occasion even saw a group of adult men and minors simulating group sex. She also saw instances of grooming. "It's very uncomfortable, and your options are to stay and watch, move on to another room where you might see something similar, or join in — which, on many occasions, I was instructed to do," she said. "Predatory and toxic behavior has no place on the platform," VRChat told the BBC. The developer added it was "working hard to make itself a safe and welcoming place for everyone." Part of the problem stems from the fact nearly anyone can download and play VRChat. For instance, to download the app from the Oculus Quest Store, all you need is a Facebook account. Sherwood created a fake profile to set up her account and access VRChat, and users of all ages can mingle freely without age gating. When we contacted the company, a spokesperson for VRChat told Engadget user safety was its top priority. "It is likely that, if it were reported, much of the content that you described would be removed immediately," they said. "Likewise, the users you described were acting in a way that would almost certainly lead to the termination of their accounts had they been reported to our Trust and Safety team." The spokesperson added VRChat includes a number of tools for reporting harassment. The company's Trust and Safety team has the ability to use metadata to track down problematic users. Depending on the severity of someone's actions, that team can hand out suspensions and permanent bans. Sherwood isn't the first person to notice VRChat has a child safety problem. While the game has a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, the presence of predatory adults is something you see referenced frequently in both positive and negative reviews. "Enjoyable social VR slowly being ruined by horny degenerates and ddosers," said one player with more than 2,300 hours spent in the game. "The amount of 'people' around the age of 30 attempting to do stuff like flirting all the way to trying to have e-sex with clearly underage users is alarming," said another player. VRChat isn't the only metaverse app dealing with what amounts to a harassment problem. At the start of February, Meta added a Personal Boundary feature to Horizon Worlds to give users the ability to prevent people from entering their personal space. More recently, Microsoft took the dramatic step of removing Altspace VR's social hubs. Update 3:06PM ET: Added more information from VRChat. |
Acer's latest Swift 5 laptop features a 16:10 display and 12th-gen Intel Core Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:27 AM PST Acer isn't wasting any time in making use of Intel's 12th-gen ultraportable processors. The PC maker has unveiled new versions of its Swift 5 and Swift 3 laptops that not only make use of new 12th-gen Core chips, but include a handful of upgrades of their own. Most notably, the new Swift 5 (pictured above) has switched to a 16:10 2,560 x 1,600 display whose taller ratio not only helps with vertical content like documents and websites, but helps eliminate the "chin" present on its 16:9 predecessor. The two-tone aluminum shell gives it a more premium look, too, for those moments when you want to impress executives. The revamped Swift 5 includes up to a 12-core CPU, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 2TB of SSD storage. It also meets Intel's Evo specs for 10 hours of real battery life and fast charging that delivers four hours of use from a 30-minute top-up. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and HDMI 2.1 offer solid connectivity, too. The system is heavier than its predecessor at 2.65lbs, but you might not mind given the upgraded cooling (improved twin fans and D6 heat pipes), a low-noise 1080p webcam and a trackpad made from ocean-bound plastic waste. Acer The Swift 3 (shown at middle) is a more modest upgrade. You'll have to make do with a 16:9 display (1080p or 1440p) in this 14-inch system, but you can have up to 2TB of SSD space, 30-minute fast charging and a mix of USB-C, USB-A and HDMI 2.1 ports. The 1080p low-noise webcam also makes the leap to this lower-priced model, and you'll have your choice of more colorful bodies. Be ready to wait. Acer ships both systems in June, with the Swift 5 starting at $1,499 and the Swift 3 at $850. The Swift 5's price is a steep hike from the $1,000 you would have paid for the late 2020 model, but Acer also appears to be targeting a more upscale audience — there don't appear to be many compromises. |
MIT study finds neurons in epilepsy patients that only respond to singing Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:12 AM PST A study by MIT scientists on a group of epilepsy patients discovered that a specific group of neurons in their brains respond only to singing — and not to instrumental music or any other type of sound. The findings of the study were published today in the science journal Current Biology. Scientists are still working to nail down the implications of the study for epilepsy patients, some of whom rely on music as a form of therapy to reduce seizures. "The work provides evidence for relatively fine-grained segregation of function within the auditory cortex, in a way that aligns with an intuitive distinction within music," says Sam Norman-Haignere, the lead author of the study and assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Given how small and specific the study's sample size is (fifteen people), there's not much we can conclude from this single study alone. But it will likely advance further studies on the link between neuroscience, epilepsy and music in the future. The study's participants were a group of fifteen epilepsy patients, all whom consented to have electrodes implanted in their skull. They were then asked to listen to hundreds of different sounds, both natural and synthesized. Scientists, assisted by fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging, observed how neurons in the auditory cortex of participants reacted to each sound. Back in 2015, the same researchers used fMRI imaging to identify what they believe are a group of neurons that respond only to music. The neurons only elicited mild reactions when hearing the sound of human voices, but fired up at the sound of instrumental or vocal music. In the new study, the researchers found that there was a special subset of neurons right next to the original group that specifically lights up when the brain hears human singing. "There's one population of neurons that responds to singing, and then very nearby is another population of neurons that responds broadly to lots of music. At the scale of fMRI, they're so close that you can't disentangle them, but with intracranial recordings, we get additional resolution, and that's what we believe allowed us to pick them apart," says Norman-Haignere. The research could also advance our understanding of the link between music and epilepsy. While certain kinds of music can reduce the number of seizures that epilepsy patients suffer from, some rare cases of epilepsy can also be provoked by music. One recent study published in Scientific Reports last year found that listening to 30 seconds of Mozart's "Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major" helped drive down the neuron activity that causes seizures in epilepsy patients. |
Target will test curbside returns and Starbucks order pickups this fall Posted: 23 Feb 2022 10:49 AM PST Target claims that its free, app-powered Drive Up curbside pickups is one of its customers' favorite services, and the company plans to test more features this fall. In select markets, customers will be able to pick up a Starbucks order or make a return without having to enter the store. The option to place a Starbucks order has been a frequent request from customers, according to Target. When you're on the way to a store, you'll be able to order items from the Starbucks menu through the Target app. A Target employee will bring your order to your car when you arrive. You can set up a return through the Target app as well and complete the process in the Drive Up lane. On top of those features, Target plans to expand its backup item program with categories like beauty products and household essentials. Customers will be able to select a wider range of secondary items in case their first choice isn't available. The company claims that, since it started offering backup options for grocery orders, its employees have been able to substitute backup items 98 percent of the time. So, even if you don't get your preferred item, it's highly likely you'll get something pretty close. |
Meta wants to build a universal language translator Posted: 23 Feb 2022 10:25 AM PST During an Inside the Lab: Building for the metaverse with AI livestream event on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn't just expound on his company's unblinking vision for the future, dubbed the Metaverse. He also revealed that Meta's research division is working on a universal speech translation system that could streamline users' interactions with AI within the company's digital universe. "The big goal here is to build a universal model that can incorporate knowledge across all modalities... all the information that is captured through rich sensors," Zuckerberg said. "This will enable a vast scale of predictions, decisions, and generation as well as whole new architectures training methods and algorithms that can learn from a vast and diverse range of different inputs." Zuckerberg noted that Facebook has continually striven to develop technologies that enable more people worldwide to access the internet and is confident that those efforts will translate to the Metaverse as well. "This is going to be especially important when people begin teleporting across virtual worlds and experiencing things with people from different backgrounds," he continued. "Now, we have the chance to improve the internet and set a new standard where we can all communicate with one another, no matter what language we speak, or where we come from. And if we get this right, this is just one example of how AI can help bring people together on a global scale." Meta's plan is two-fold. First, Meta is developing No Language Left Behind, a translation system capable of learning "every language, even if there isn't a lot of text available to learn from," according to Zuckerberg. "We are creating a single model that can translate hundreds of languages with state-of-the-art results and most of the language pairs — everything from Austrian to Uganda to Urdu." Second, Meta wants to create an AI Babelfish. "The goal here is instantaneous speech-to-speech translation across all languages, even those that are mostly spoken; the ability to communicate with anyone in any language," Zuckerberg promised. "That's a superpower that people dreamed of forever and AI is going to deliver that within our lifetimes." These are big claims from a company whose machine-generated domain doesn't extend below the belt line, however, Facebook-cum-Meta has a long and broad record of AI development. In the last year alone, the company has announced advances in self-supervised learning techniques, natural language processing, multimodal learning, text-based generation, AI's understanding of social norms, and even built a supercomputer to aid in its machine learning research. The company still faces the major hurdle of data scarcity. "Machine translation (MT) systems for text translations typically rely on learning from millions of sentences of annotated data," Facebook AI Research wrote in a Wednesday blog post. "Because of this, MT systems capable of high-quality translations have been developed for only the handful of languages that dominate the web." Translating between two languages that aren't English is even more challenging, according to the FAIR team. Most MT systems will first convert one language to text then translate that over to the second language before converting the text back to speech. This lags the translation process and creates and outsized dependence on the written word, limiting the effectiveness of these systems for primarily oral languages. Direct speech-to-speech systems, like what Meta is working on, would not be hindered in that way resulting in a faster, more efficient translation process. |
Meta is working on an AI 'builder bot' for the metaverse Posted: 23 Feb 2022 10:10 AM PST Mark Zuckerberg may still be explaining exactly what the metaverse is, but the Meta CEO just showed off another technology he says will be crucial to the company's vision of creating immersive environments. Meta's AI researchers are working on a voice-powered bot that allows users to change their virtual surroundings with voice commands. Zuckerberg demoed an early version of the concept, called Builder Bot, at a virtual event detailing the company's latest AI research. "It enables you to describe a world and then it will generate aspects of that world for you," Zuckerberg said. In his demo, he and another Meta employee used voice commands to create a very basic beach scene with a picnic table, clouds, and, yes, Zuckerberg's signature hydrofoil. They also added some sound effects of seagulls and ocean waves. Facebook For now though, the technology seems to be in a relatively early stage. The environment Zuckerberg generated looked much flatter and lower-res than past metaverse demos, though his legless avatar was present much like other recent demos. "As we advance this technology further, you're going to be able to create nuanced worlds to explore and share experiences with others with just your voice," he said. The builder bot is part of a larger AI project called Project CAIRaoke that aims to create the kind of conversational AI necessary to create these virtual worlds. Facebook isn't the first to experiment with this type of research. OpenAI showed off a neural network capable of generating images from text last year. But Zuckerberg said that project CAIRaoke would be central for the Meta's future. "In the metaverse, we're going to need AI that is built around helping people navigate virtual worlds as well as our physical world with augmented reality," Zuckerberg said. "When we have glasses on our faces, that will be the first time that an AI system will be able to really see the world from our perspective: See what we see, hear what we hear and more." Zuckerberg's comments come as he is trying to pivot the company from social networking to metaverse technology, a move that has so far proved to be incredibly expensive. But as the core Facebook service starts to lose users for the first time ever, Zuckerberg has said "metaverse" experiences like the company's VR Horizon Worlds will drive future growth. |
A new Steam tool can check your library for Steam Deck compatibility Posted: 23 Feb 2022 09:11 AM PST Those who were able to lock in an early shipment date for the Steam Deck are perhaps just a few days away from getting their hands on the system. To give a clearer idea of which Steam games will run on the handheld PC, Valve has set up a page where you can check whether titles in your library are compatible. After you log in with your Steam account, the tool will organize your library into a few sections. If a game is marked as Verified, it should run on Steam Deck with few, if any, hiccups. Unsurprisingly, Valve games such as Half-Life 2 and Portal 2 are deemed Verified, as are third-party games such as God of War, Death Stranding, Tetris Effect and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Those labeled Playable will run on the system but "might require extra effort to interact with or configure," according to Valve. Valheim, The Witcher 3, Inscryption and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are among those. There might be some games in your library that don't currently work on the device at all. One of those, sadly, is Fall Guys. Virtual reality games like Half-Life: Alyx and the VR version of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice won't run on it either. The tool will also say how many games in your library haven't yet been tested on Steam Deck. Valve has tested a relatively small number of Steam games thus far. According to SteamDB, 766 games have been labeled Verified or Playable, while 368 are unsupported for now. As of Wednesday, there were 64,679 games listed on Steam. Valve is continuing to test games though, so more will be labeled Verified or Playable in the coming months. The tool builds on a set of labels Valve has been adding to Steam games over the last few months. Although there are many more untested games than ones Valve has actually checked, this could still be a handy way to see whether buying a Steam Deck might be worthwhile. |
'Apex Legends Mobile' launches in 10 countries next week Posted: 23 Feb 2022 08:54 AM PST It took nearly three years, but Apex Legends Mobile is almost here — for some people, at least. Respawn has announced a "limited regional launch" next week for 10 countries that include Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Colombia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines and Singapore. You're likely out of luck if you're reading this, then, but these early adopters will get to play on both Android and iOS. The small-scale release will last through the spring and help the team refine gameplay and features before a wider launch, Respawn said. The initial mobile character roster mostly sticks to those available when Apex Legends launched in 2019, although the fast-moving Octane will also be an option. Respawn stressed that you won't see cross-play with non-mobile platforms. You'll need at least an iPhone 6s to play on iOS, while Android users will need 3GB of RAM and OpenGL 3.0 or higher graphics support. The developers have focused their Android optimizations on popular brands like Samsung, Oppo and Xiaomi. The limited debut might be frustrating if you're eager to play a Fortnite or PUBG alternative. It's easy to understand the cautious approach, however. Apex Legends is one of the few battle royale games to enjoy lasting success, and the mobile debut represents a major opportunity to expand the title's reach. A careful premiere could be key to competing with other heavyweights and keeping Apex in the spotlight for years to come. |
Spotify debuts its first 'bookcast' from Dolly Parton and James Patterson Posted: 23 Feb 2022 08:10 AM PST Spotify has released the first episodes of a new audio format it's calling the "bookcast" with help from Dolly Parton and James Patterson. The pair co-wrote a novel titled Run, Rose, Run, which has been blended with an original soundtrack written, recorded and produced by Parton. The bookcast format brings together audio storytelling with sound elements and original music. Spotify says it delivers "an immersive listening experience." Run, Rose, Run tells the story of a musician who moves to Nashville to chase her dream of making it in the music industry. Her songs are inspired by a "brutal secret" that threatens to thwart her plans. You'll be able to listen to the bookcast on Spotify for free. The first two episodes are out now, featuring excerpts from the book set to Parton's music. More episodes will arrive over the next couple of weeks, with the last six landing on March 7th, the same day the novel is released. Parton will release the soundtrack on March 4th, and the firsttwo songs are available now. The bookcast, which comes from a pair of hugely popular creatives, emerges in the wake of some notable artists pulling their music from Spotify. Neil Young and Joni Mitchell both removed their work from the platform after the former accused the company of allowing Joe Rogan to spread harmful misinformation on his podcast. Brené Brown paused new episodes of her Spotify-exclusive podcasts, while film director Ava DuVernay this month ended her podcast deal with the company before producing any shows for Spotify. It's possible the bookcast was in the works long before the Rogan controversy blew up, so it doesn't entirely seem to be a case of damage control. However, if Spotify's looking to build up some goodwill, it could go far worse than recruiting Parton and Patterson. |
How to incinerate the International Space Station Posted: 23 Feb 2022 08:00 AM PST It took NASA and its partners nearly four dozen trips between 1998 and 2010 to haul the roughly 900,000 pounds worth of various modules into orbit that make up the $100 billion International Space Station. But come the end of this decade, more than 30 years after the first ISS component broke atmosphere, the ISS will reach the end of its venerable service life and be decommissioned in favor of a new, privately-operated cadre of orbital research stations. NASA The problem NASA faces is what to do with the ISS once it's been officially shuttered, because it's not like we can just leave it where it is. Without regular shipments of propellant reactant to keep the station on course, the ISS' orbit would eventually degrade to the point where it's forward momentum would be insufficient to overcome the effects of atmospheric drag, subsequently plummeting back to Earth. So, rather than wait for the ISS to de-orbit on its own, or leave it in place for the Russians to use as target practice, NASA will instead cast down the station from upon high like Vader did Palpatine. NASA is no stranger to getting rid of refuse via atmospheric incineration. The space agency has long relied on it in order to dispose of trash, expended launch vehicles, and derelict satellites. Both America's Skylab and Russia's Mir space stations were decommissioned in this manner. Skylab was America's first space station, for the whole 24 weeks it was in use. When the final 3-astronaut crew departed in early 1974, the station was boosted one last time to 6.8 miles further out in a 289-mile graveyard orbit. It was expected to remain there until the 1980s when increased solar activity from the waxing 11-year solar cycle would eventually drag it down into a fiery reentry. However, astronomers miscalculated the relative strength of that solar event, which pushed up Skylab's demise to 1979. In 1978, NASA toyed with the idea of using its soon-to-be-completed Space Shuttle to help boost Skylab into a higher orbit but abandoned the plan when it became clear that the Shuttle wouldn't be finished in time, given the accelerated reentry timetable. The agency also rejected a proposal to blow the station up with missiles while still in orbit. The station eventually came down on July 11th, 1979, though it didn't burn up in the atmosphere as quickly as NASA had predicted. This caused some rather large pieces of debris to overshoot the intended Indian Ocean target South-Southeast of South Africa and instead land in Perth, Australia. Despite NASA's calculations of a 1 in 152 chance that a piece of the lab could hit someone during its de-orbit, no injuries were reported. Mir's deorbit went much more smoothly. After 15 years of service it was brought down on March 23rd, 2001, in three stages. First, its orbit was allowed to degrade to an altitude of 140 miles. Then, the Progress M1-5 spacecraft — basically an attachable rocket designed specifically to help deorbit the station — docked with the Mir. It subsequently lit its engine for a little over 22 minutes to precisely put the Mir down over a distant expanse of the Pacific Ocean, east of Fiji. As for the ISS' oncoming demise, NASA has a plan — or at least a pretty good idea — for what's going to happen. "We've done a lot of studies," Kirk Shireman, deputy manager of NASA's space station program, told Space.com in 2011. "We have found an orbit and a change in velocity that we believe is achievable, and it creates a debris footprint that's all in water in an unpopulated area." According to NASA standards — specifically NASA-STD-8719.14A, Process for Limiting Orbital Debris — the risk of human casualty on the ground is limited to less than 1 in 10,000 (< 0.0001). However, a 1998 study conducted by the ISS Mission Integration Office discovered that an uncontrolled reentry would carry an unacceptable casualty probability of between .024 to .077 (2 in 100 to 8 in 100). A number of controllable decommissioning alternatives have been discussed over the decades, including boosting the ISS farther into orbit in the event of an unexpected evacuation of the station's crew. "We've been working on plans and update the plans periodically," Shireman continued. "We don't want to ever be in a position where we couldn't safely deorbit the station. It's been a part of the program from the very beginning." Beginning about a year before the planned decommissioning date, NASA will allow the ISS to begin degrading from its normal 240-mile high orbit and send up an uncrewed space vehicle (USV) to dock with the station and help propel it back Earthward. The ultimate crew from the ISS will evacuate just before the station hits an altitude of 115 miles, at which point the attached USV will fire its rockets in a series of deorbital burns to set the station into a capture trajectory over the Pacific Ocean. NASA has not yet settled on which USV will be employed. A 2019 plan approved by NASA's safety council, ASAP, relied on Roscosmos to outfit and send up another Progress spacecraft to do what it did for the Mir. However, that vehicle might not actually be available when the ISS is set to come down because Russia's commitment to the ISS program terminates in 2024. In April of last year, Russian state media began making noise that the country would abandon the station entirely by 2025, potentially stripping parts from this station to reuse in its upcoming national station and leaving the ISS without a reliable way to break orbit. The ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle or NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, though still in development, are both potential alternatives to the Progress. "NASA is continuing to work with its international partners to ensure a safe deorbit plan of the station and is considering a number of options," spokeswoman Leah Cheshier told UPI via email in 2021, declining to elaborate on what those options might entail but adding that any deorbiting mission would be "shared by the ISS partnership and is negotiation-sensitive at this time." The fall of the ISS is sure to be a spectacle on par with the international hubbub surrounding Skylab's demise, but is still nearly a decade away and there is plenty of science still left to do. According to the January 2022 International Space Station Transition report:
More than half of the experiments performed aboard the ISS nowadays are for non-NASA users, according to the report — including nearly two dozen commercial facilities — "hundreds of experiments from other government agencies, academia, and commercial users to return benefits to people and industry on the ground." This influx of orbital commercial activity is expected — and being actively encouraged — to further increase over the next few years until humanity can collectively realize Jeff Bezos' dream of building a low Earth orbit mixed-use business park. |
Intel claims its 12th-gen ultraportable chips are a huge step forward Posted: 23 Feb 2022 08:00 AM PST After unveiling its beefy H-series 12th-gen laptop chips during CES, Intel is finally ready to shed more light on its new U and P-series CPUs for ultraportables. And, much like AMD's upcoming Ryzen 6000 chips, it looks like Intel is aiming to deliver a huge performance boost, while consuming less power than last year's hardware. The big takeaway? It's going to be an interesting year for ultraportable PCs, which could offer enough power to play a few games and give Apple's custom processors some serious competition. With the Core i7-1280P, Intel's fastest 28-watt P-series CPU, the company claims you'll see up to 70 percent faster multithreaded performance than last year's i7-1195G7. Notably, Intel says it also offers better multithreaded performance than the Core i9-11980HK, one of its fastest processors from 2021, while consuming around half as much power. And of course, that also means it beats out the Ryzen 7 5800U from last year (Intel didn't have access to AMD's new processors for benchmarking, naturally). Like the rest of its 12th-gen lineup, Intel's U and P-series chips are a new hybrid design that combines Performance cores (P-cores) and Efficient cores (E-cores) on a single die. The i7-1280P is a 14-core chip (6 P-cores along with 8 E-cores) that maxes out at 4.8GHz on its P-cores. Its 28-watt base power consumption puts it in thin and light territory, but it can scale up to 64-watts to reach Max Turbo speeds. (That's for when you're plugged in and not worrying about energy consumption as much.) Intel's 12th-gen U-series processors, which are targeted at the slimmest ultraportables, are spearheaded by the Core i7-1265U. That's a 10-core chip (2P and 8E) that also maxes out at 4.8GHz. Its 15-watt base power consumption is on par with previous U-series chips, but it can go up to 55-watts to reach its Max Turbo speed. While Intel's hybrid design is clearly a leap forward for the P-series CPUs — the i7-1280P is around 20 percent faster than last year's chips in the Crossmark benchmark — we're still waiting to see how the U-series chips will compare. It's surprising that Intel still isn't saying much about U-series performance, but we'd wager there would be a significant speed bump from the architecture changes alone. The 12th-gen laptop CPUs will also feature Intel's Xe graphics, though it doesn't seem like much has changed since last year. The P and U-series chips will still offer up to 96EUs (execution units). According to Intel's benchmarks, the i7-1280P hits 82fps in Grand Theft Auto V and 53fps in Chorus while playing with medium graphics settings in 1080p. With high quality settings, it sees up to 115fps in League of Legends and 81 fps in Rocket League—but that's not a huge surprise for less demanding titles. While we're still waiting to get our hands on new systems with Intel and AMD's latest ultraportable hardware, the landscape feels far more exciting than last year, when Intel's 11th-gen CPUs were a pretty ho-hum upgrade. Perhaps 2022 will finally be the year ultraportables can finally solve most of our gaming needs. |
Xbox gamers can now stream on Twitch from the console dashboard Posted: 23 Feb 2022 07:44 AM PST Microsoft is following up on a promise to improve Twitch livestreaming on Xbox consoles. As of today, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One owners can stream on Twitch directly from the system Guide. Once you've linked your Twitch account, you just have to choose a "go live now" option to start broadcasting. You also have access to some streamer-friendly options, including the bitrate, resolution, title and separate audio levels for your game and microphone. The integration is smart enough to automatically pause your feed and change show titles if you switch games, and you can decide whether or not you want viewers to hear your party chat. Your Xbox friends can also choose to receive alerts when you go live on Twitch. This kind of tie-in wasn't surprising. Microsoft shut down Mixer nearly two years ago, leaving Xbox users without a truly integrated livestreaming option. The Twitch app filled that gap, but required significantly more steps to go live. This makes it more viable to stream on an Xbox, and might help Microsoft compete against Sony's relatively strong Twitch support on the PS4 and PS5. |
LinkedIn debuts its own podcast network Posted: 23 Feb 2022 07:00 AM PST LinkedIn is delving deeper into the podcast world. It's debuting a podcast network that features in-house shows from the LinkedIn News team as well as programs from industry figures. The shows, unsurprisingly, are geared toward a professional audience. They focus on areas including understanding tech, managing mental health and explaining the hiring process. Reid Hoffman, the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, will co-host a podcast about personal entrepreneurship called The Start-Up of You that will premiere this spring. The company says the LinkedIn Podcast Network is a pilot and builds on the success of Hello Monday, a podcast produced by LinkedIn News in which host Jessi Hempel delves into the evolving nature of work. The shows are ad-supported and the initial sponsor is Verizon, Engadget's former parent company. The podcast network ties into LinkedIn's other products — such as newsletters, live events, videos and posts — with the idea that hosts and audiences will be able to keep conversations going outside of the shows. Listeners will be able to check out the podcasts on LinkedIn directly if they follow the hosts and subscribe to their newsletters. The shows will also be available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms. |
Call of Duty might take a year off in 2023 Posted: 23 Feb 2022 06:52 AM PST You might be waiting a while for the next big Call of Duty game after this year. Bloomberg sources claim Activision is delaying the 2023 Call of Duty release after Vanguard "failed to meet" sales targets. Executives reportedly fear they're releasing games in the franchise too quickly, and that Black Ops Cold War may have eaten some demand for the newer title. The free-to-play Warzone might also have affected sales of the paid releases. Activision is said to be working on projects that would cover the absence, including a new free-to-play online game as well as a slew of extra content for the flagship Call of Duty game arriving in late 2022. Treyarch is believed to be working on the delayed game and would help with the free-to-play offering. The delay isn't connected to Microsoft's purchase of Activision, according to the tipsters. That deal isn't expected to close until 2023. The publisher didn't confirm or deny the delay in a statement to Bloomberg. Instead, the spokesman promised an "exciting slate" of paid and free Call of Duty "experiences" for 2022, 2023 and the years ahead. Activision would share more when the "time is right," according to the representative. The company had already revealed that this year's release is an Infinity Ward-developed sequel to the 2019 Modern Warfare reboot. The rumored delay comes as Ubisoft is said to be converting an Assassin's Creed Valhalla expansion into DLC as it looks to fill a void between Valhalla itself and the online-oriented Infinity. While the circumstances behind the shifting schedules are different, there's a common element: both major publishers are struggling to maintain the annual release schedules for their signature franchises. There's no guarantee the companies will slow their releases from this day forward, but they might not be quite as predictable as in years past. |
'NieR: Automata' is being developed into an anime series Posted: 23 Feb 2022 06:22 AM PST The much-lauded action-RPG NieR: Automata is being developed into an anime series, Square Enix has announced. A teaser trailer shows a potential glimpse of how it will look (and not much else), and the developers also tweeted an image of the lead character 2B and her Pod companion robot. It appears that the story will closely follow the plot of the original game. "The stage is a distant future in which human beings are routing to the moon in front of the overwhelming force of 'machine life forms' that aliens unleash," according to the developer's blog post. "The '2B' belonging to the newly organized android unit 'Yorha' will put himself into a fierce battle to recapture the Earth." The first game didn't make money, according to director Yoko Taro, but the follow up was a hit that received general praise for the stunning, trippy graphics, frenzied gameplay and highly original ideas. In other words, it seems like a perfect game to get the anime treatment. It will be produced by Square Enix and Aniplex, the studio behind Fullmetal Alchemist and Sword Art Online, but there's no other information to speak of. Given that Sony owns Aniplex, though, it's reasonable to assume it might appear on Crunchyroll or Funimation. |
Apple will give Siri a less gendered voice option in iOS 15.4 Posted: 23 Feb 2022 06:05 AM PST Apple's iOS 15.4 will bring more than AirTag anti-stalking messages and direct iPhone contactless payments. Axios has confirmed the latest iOS 15.4 beta includes a less gendered Siri voice option for English speakers. The voice, recorded by a member of the LGBTQ community, was meant to increase the diversity of Apple's assistant. This should give users more choices for a "voice that speaks to them," Apple said in a statement. It's not certain if or when the voice will be available in other languages. Apple also didn't say when the finished iOS 15.4 might be ready, although the company is rumored to be holding an event in early March that might provide a fitting opportunity to release the new software. The move comes roughly a year after Apple's last big push to make Siri more inclusive. As of iOS 14.5, Siri no longer defaulted to a female voice — you had to pick during the setup process. Apple also added two Black voice options to supplement existing choices. This latest update builds on that formula — it's not clear how long Apple will continue to expand Siri's horizons, but we wouldn't be surprised to see more changes. |
Scientists create cube robots that can shapeshift in space Posted: 23 Feb 2022 06:00 AM PST Scientists from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the University of Calgary have developed a modular robot system that can morph into different shapes. ElectroVoxels don't have any motors or moving parts. Instead, they use electromagnets to shift around each other. Each edge of an ElectroVoxel cube is an electromagnetic ferrite core wrapped with copper wire. The length of each ElectroVoxel side is around 60 millimeters. The total cost is just 60 cents. When the polarity of a magnet is changed, the edges either attract or repel each other. That causes the cubes to shift into a different orientation. Printed circuit boards and electronics inside each cube control the direction of each electromagnet's current. The robots have two basic types of movement. They can pivot around the edge of another cube, or traverse from one ElectroVoxel to the next. A software planner can be used to program reconfigurations. A user can highlight specific magnets, control the speed of cube's movements and ensure they won't collide with each other. The researchers say possible to control up to 1,000 ElectroVoxels with the software. Users can tell the blocks to shift into different shapes, such as turning from a chair into a couch. They can decide which cube should move in which direction, and the software will determine the electromagnetic assignments needed to carry out the task. The scientists tested ElectroVoxels in microgravity on a parabolic flight. They found the robots can operate in low-gravity environments. As such, the researchers say ElectroVoxels could be used to alter and create structures in outer space. MIT CSAIL They suggest the robots could change the inertia properties of a spacecraft, which might mitigate the need for extra fuel for reconfiguration. That, the scientists say, remedies many challenges linked with launch mass and volume. They hope the system will eventually enable a range of space-related use cases, such as augmenting and replacing structures over a series of launches, and building temporary structures to assist astronauts and help with spacecraft inspections. A future version of ElectroVoxels could allow the creation of self-sorting storage containers. However, to allow the robots to more easily reconfigure in Earth's gravity, the researchers say more detailed modeling and optimization would be required. "While the potential benefits in space are particularly great, the paradox is that the favorable dynamics provided by microgravity mean some of those problems are actually also easier to solve — in space, even tiny forces can make big things move," said Martin Nisser, a PhD student at CSAIL and lead author on a paper on ElectroVoxels. "By applying this technology to solve real near-term problems in space, we can hopefully incubate the technology for future use on Earth too." |
Apple's 2021 iPad mini drops to $459 at Amazon Posted: 23 Feb 2022 05:38 AM PST If you know a small tablet will fit into your life easily, chances are you've considered the iPad mini in the past. Now, you can grab the latest model for $40 less at Amazon, which has the 64GB space gray model for $459. Unfortunately, that's the only color at that price right now — the 64GB starlight model is $25 off and down to $474, while the purple and pink models are hovering around $489-$499. Discounts like these typically don't stick around very long, so we recommend grabbing the mini soon if you've had your eye on it. Buy iPad mini (64GB, space gray) at Amazon - $459The iPad mini may be small, but it packs a lot of power. It's even more capable than the base iPad with its A15 Bionic chip and Neural Engine, 12MP ultra-wide front camera with Center Stage, 5G connectivity and USB-C port for charging. Apple totally redesigned the mini this time around, making it look like a smaller version of the iPad Air. It has an 8.3-inch 2,266 x 1,488 resolution Liquid Retina screen that's almost edge-to-edge, flat edges and a fingerprint-toting power button. Not only does the new mini feel more modern than ever before, but it also handled everything we threw at it, including light gaming, online shopping, video streaming, FaceTime calls and note-taking with the second-generation Apple Pencil. FaceTime calls are even better on the small tablet, too, thanks to the Center Stage feature on the front-facing camera. It automatically pans and zooms to keep you in the middle of the frame even while you're moving around and chatting at the same time. As far as battery life goes, the iPad mini lasted about 12 hours on a single charge in our testing, which is two hours longer than Apple's estimate. Admittedly, an 8-inch tablet won't work for everyone, but those who know that the e-reader-sized device is exactly what they're looking should consider grabbing one in Amazon's latest sale. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice. |
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