Netflix has already committed to reviving Star Search for its streaming service, and now the company is turning its attention to a different type of live show: HQ Trivia. Netflix’s Best Guess Live is an attempt to revive the late 2010s app-based show with what the company is calling its first “weekday mobile game show.”

Best Guess Live will be hosted by Howie Mandel (Deal or No Deal, America’s Got Talent) and Hunter March (Sugar Rush) and will broadcast Monday through Friday at 8PM ET / 5PM PT. The game seems like it will lean on multiple choice questions much like HQ Trivia did, and will reward players who answer the fastest and play multiple times per week. Netflix’s announcement doesn’t have any specifics as to how much money will be up for grabs, but the company does promise to give away “thousands of dollars in prize money.”

HQ Trivia, started by Vine co-founders Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll, was a surprise hit when it debuted in 2017, thanks in part to its host Scott Rogowsky and the appointment-viewing nature of a daily game show you could watch on your phone. The later slow collapse of HQ was rocky enough to warrant a CNN documentary, but clearly the concept of the app fits nicely with Netflix’s growing interest in live shows and casual games.

Netflix has experimented with a growing number of live shows, including talk shows and sports programming. The company has also recently abandoned its aspirations to develop AAA games and ambitious indie titles to focus on casual experiences and games based on Netflix IP. Best Guess Live seems like a nice fusion of casual interactive experience and lightweight live content. Many people already open the Netflix app daily to find something to watch. It makes sense they’d be willing to do it for money, too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/best-guess-live-is-netflixs-take-on-hq-trivia-170000030.html?src=rss

A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake has shaken Japan, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. From a report: A tsunami as high as 3 metres (10ft) could hit the country’s north-eastern coast after the earthquake occurred offshore at 11.15pm local time (2.15pm GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and tsunamis from 20-50cm (7-18in) high were observed at several ports, JMA said.

The epicentre of the quake was 50 miles (80km) off the coast of Aomori prefecture, at a depth of 30 miles, the agency added. On Japan’s one-to-seven scale of seismic intensity, the tremor registered as an “upper six” in Aomori prefecture — a quake strong enough to make it impossible to keep standing or move without crawling. In such tremors, most heavy furniture can collapse and wall tiles and windowpanes are damaged in many buildings.

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The makers of ICEBlock, the community-based reporting app for ICE sightings and activity, are suing the federal government, alleging “unlawful threats” made by Trump administration officials led to the app’s removal from app stores. The suit centers on free speech violations and accuses the administration of coercing Apple into taking down the app in October. Google began taking down similar apps around the same time.

Josh Aaron developed ICEBlock in response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The app allowed users to pin ICE agent locations on a map as well as add notes such as what agents were wearing or the kind of vehicle they were driving. The app would then alert users within a five-mile radius of the sighting. The White House called the app “an incitement of further violence against… ICE officers” and sought its removal.

“A lesson we should all take from this is when we see our government is doing something wrong, it is our duty to stand up,” Aaron told the New York Times.

This isn’t the first time Apple has faced controversy for an app takedown. In 2019, the company removed an app that protesters in Hong Kong were using to track police after facing pressure from the Chinese government.

Apple, for its part, said it took the app down in response to “information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock.” Federal officials said the gunman who attacked an ICE facility in Dallas had used tracking apps, including ICEBlock.

“Fundamentally, ICEBlock neither enables nor encourages confrontation — it simply delivers time-limited location information to help users stay aware of their surroundings in a responsible and nonviolent way,” Aaron’s suit reads.

Engadget has reached out to Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-developer-behind-iceblock-is-suing-the-federal-government-165111674.html?src=rss

An investigation has revealed how stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to the US dollar that exist largely beyond traditional financial oversight — have become a practical tool for criminals and sanctioned individuals to move funds across borders almost instantly and convert them back into spendable money, often without detection.

A Chainalysis report from February estimated that up to $25 billion in illicit transactions involved stablecoins last year. A New York Times reporter tested the system by converting $40 cash at a crypto ATM in Weehawken, New Jersey, into stablecoins and then using a Telegram bot to generate a Visa payment card without any identity verification. The card-issuing service, WantToPay, is incorporated in Hong Kong and led by a Russian entrepreneur in Thailand; it advertises to Russians blocked by US sanctions. Britain last month arrested members of a billion-dollar money laundering network that had purchased a bank in Kyrgyzstan to convert proceeds from drug trafficking and human trafficking into Tether, the most popular stablecoin.

Further reading: China’s Central Bank Flags Money Laundering and Fraud Concerns With Stablecoins.

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If you’re getting bored with your Galaxy phone, there are changes on the horizon. Samsung announced One UI 8.5 on Monday, Dec. 8, the latest update for Galaxy devices. At present, this new update is only out in beta, but select Galaxy users can try it out right now. Here’s what’s new, according to Samsung.

Proactive Quick Share

With One UI 8.5, Quick Share can automatically identify people in photos. While that sounds a bit creepy, the idea is to proactively offer sharing recommendations to the people who are featured in any given photo. Say you hit Quick Share on a family photo you took over the weekend. Rather than manually enter all of the contacts you’d like to share that image with, the feature can identify each, and automatically suggest sending the image to those contacts. It should speed up sharing pictures with groups of people after you take them, but, again, a little unsettling.

Photo Assist updates

Credit: Samsung

The Gallery app’s Photo Assist feature is getting some upgrades in One UI 8.5. As of this version, Photo Assist now supports “uninterrupted editing.” That means you can make your AI-generated edits without needing to save in between each change. Previously, each edit would produce an entirely new image, so this makes the feature a bit more like a traditional photo editor. In addition, you’ll be able to view all of the AI images you made in your edit history, and choose the one you like the most.

Side note: Samsung says Photo Assist’s Generate Edit feature requires an internet connection as well as a Samsung Account login. The feature also places a watermark on the image, so other people will know it was manipulated or generated with AI.

Audio Broadcast

Credit: Samsung

One UI 8.5 now supports sharing audio to other devices via Auracast, following Google’s wider support for the standard back in September. If you have any LE Audio-supported devices, like headphones or speakers, you can use Audio Broadcast to share media from your Galaxy. This isn’t limited to music, podcasts, or audio from videos, either, as Samsung says you can also broadcast your Galaxy’s microphone to LE Audio devices, too.

This feature is limited to Galaxy S25 devices, even after One UI 8.5 rolls out to other Galaxy phones.

Storage Share

Credit: Samsung

If you have a number of Samsung Galaxy devices, you might find Storage Share useful. This One UI 8.5 feature lets you manage your files across other devices, including tablets, PCs and even TVs, in the My Files app on your smartphone.

Enhanced Security Controls

Samsung is also expanding One UI’s security features with this latest beta. The company is rolling out updates to Theft Protection with One UI 8.5, an existing feature that can lock your device if it’s lost or stolen. That way, whoever picks it up won’t have access to your data, or won’t be able to erase the device and set it up as their own. In that same vein, Samsung is also launching Failed Authentication Lock, which locks the display after too many failed verification attempts. If a thief tries too many PIN combinations, or the fingerprint scanner fails too many times, your screen will lock them out.

How to try the beta on your Galaxy

While you can apply for the beta program today, first, consider the risks. Like all beta software, this version of One UI is currently in testing, which means there may be bugs and glitches that could interrupt your experience using your smartphone. If you understand these risks (and back up all important information ahead of time), here’s what you need to know.

First, this beta is only open for Galaxy S25 users in the U.S., Germany, India, Korea, Poland, and the UK. If you have an S24 or older, you’ll need to wait for Samsung to roll out the One UI 8.5 beta more widely, or for the full release down the line.

Next, you’ll need to apply to join the beta from the Samsung Members app. If you don’t have the app yet, download it from the Play Store, then follow the instructions to enroll in the beta.

Almost every bit of bike testing I’ve done starts out the same way. After assembling the bike, I set the seatpost to its maximum possible height, take it on a short test ride, and try to figure out new and creative phrasing to describe the same old problem: The frame isn’t quite big enough to accommodate my legs. While I’m on the tall side at a bit over six feet (~190 cm), I’m definitely not abnormally large. Yet very few e-bike manufacturers seem to be interested in giving people my height a comfortable ride.

So imagine my surprise when, within two blocks of my first ride on the XPress 750, I had to pull off to the side of the street and lower the seat. This was especially notable given that the XPress is a budget bike (currently on sale for just under $1,000.00) that is only offered in a single frame size. So kudos to Lectric for giving me a comfortable and enjoyable ride, and doing so with a lot of features I wouldn’t expect at this price point.

That said, hitting that price necessitated some significant compromises. We’ll discuss those in detail so you can get a sense of whether any of them will get in the way of your riding enjoyment.

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Tech giants including Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon have all extended the estimated useful lives of their servers and AI equipment over the past five years, sparking a debate among investors about whether these accounting changes are artificially inflating profits. Meta this year increased its depreciation timeline for most servers and network assets to 5.5 years, up from four to five years previously and as little as three years in 2020. The company said the change reduced its depreciation expense by $2.3 billion for the first nine months of 2025. Alphabet and Microsoft now use six-year periods, up from three in 2020. Amazon extended to six years by 2024 but cut back to five years this year for some servers and networking equipment.

Michael Burry, the investor portrayed in “The Big Short,” called extending useful lives “one of the more common frauds of the modern era” in an article last month. Meta’s total depreciation expense for the nine-month period was almost $13 billion against pretax profit exceeding $60 billion.

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Paramount has been none too pleased about Netflix striking an $82.7 billion deal to buy much of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Now, Paramount is making a hostile takeover bid for WBD. It’s making its pitch directly to WBD shareholders with an all-cash offer of $30 per share that expires on January 8.

Late last week, the WBD board unanimously accepted Netflix’s offer of $27.75 per share. That breaks down to $23.25 per share in cash and another $4.50 per share in Netflix stock. Netflix’s overall bid is valued at $82.7 billion, while Paramount’s totals $108.4 billion.

There’s a key difference when it comes to the Paramount offer, as it’s for all of WBD. The latter is scheduled to split into two companies next year. Netflix only wants the Streaming and Studios side of WBD’s business, which includes HBO Max and the Warner Bros. film, TV and game studios.

Paramount is after the whole shebang, including WBD’s cable channels (Global Networks). “WBD’s Board of Directors recommendation of the Netflix transaction over Paramount’s offer is based on an illusory prospective valuation of Global Networks that is unsupported by the business fundamentals and encumbered by high levels of financial leverage assigned to the entity,” Paramount said in a press release on Monday.

As of the end of September, WBD was carrying $34.5 billion of gross debt. It planned to saddle the Global Networks company (aka Discovery Global) with most of that. The Paramount offer includes financing from the Ellison family and RedBird Capital, but it would be taking on more debt to secure a deal for WBD. The bid includes “$54 billion of debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo” (Engadget’s parent company).

In a letter sent to WBD CEO David Zazlav before the company accepted Netflix’s offer, Paramount questioned the “fairness and adequacy” of the sale process. It asked whether WBD was acting in the best interest of shareholders after the management team allegedly appeared to favor the Netflix offer.

“Despite Paramount submitting six proposals over the course of 12 weeks, WBD never engaged meaningfully with these proposals which we believe deliver the best outcome for WBD shareholders,” Paramount said. “Paramount has now taken its offer directly to WBD shareholders and its Board of Directors to ensure they have the opportunity to pursue this clearly superior alternative.”

Paramount — which Skydance bought for $8 billion this year — also claims that its offer is likely to face less regulatory scrutiny than the Netflix offer, which wouldn’t close until sometime after WBD splits in two later in 2026. According to CNBC, Paramount executives believe that the company’s smaller size and cozy relationship with the Trump administration will help streamline the regulatory process. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said that Netflix’s bid for WBD has “got to go through a process, and we’ll see what happens. But it is a big market share. It could be a problem.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/paramount-makes-a-108-billion-hostile-takeover-bid-for-warner-bros-discovery-152248473.html?src=rss

Meta has agreed to make changes to its “pay or consent” business model in the EU, seeking to agree to a deal that avoids further regulatory fines at a time when the bloc’s digital rule book is drawing anger from US authorities.

On Tuesday, the European Commission announced that the social media giant had offered users an alternative choice of Facebook and Instagram services that would show them fewer personalized advertisements.

The offer follows an EU investigation into Meta’s policy of requiring users either to consent to data tracking or pay for an ad-free service. The Financial Times reported on optimism that an agreement could be reached between the parties in October.

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Amazon’s budget Blink smart home brand is adding AI-generated video descriptions as a new benefit for subscribers. Blink Video Descriptions are text descriptions of the motion doorbells and cameras capture, and they’ll be available in beta starting today, November 17.

Not unlike Ring Video Descriptions, a feature offered on Amazon’s other smart home brand, Blink’s AI-generated descriptions are supposed to be a concise way to check out what’s happening in and around your home. Any kind of motion can produce a video clip and a notification in the Blink app, but video descriptions should help weed out which ones are worth watching and worrying about.

Blink says Video Descriptions will be supported on all existing Blink doorbells and cameras, provided you’re paying to be a Blink subscriber for at least $4 a month or $40 a year. That means if you’ve scooped up one of the new Blink 2K+, Blink Outdoor 2K+ or Blink Arc cameras, you’ll be able to take advantage of the feature.

Blink Video Descriptions start rolling out to subscribers today in beta, though not in Illinois, possibly due to the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/blink-budget-security-cameras-will-support-ai-powered-video-descriptions-143000725.html?src=rss

Paramount Skydance is launching a hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after it lost out to Netflix in a months-long bidding war for the legacy assets, the company said Monday. CNBC: Paramount will go straight to WBD shareholders with an all-cash, $30-per-share offer. That’s the same bid WBD rejected last week, according to people familiar with the bid who asked not to be named because the details were private. The offer is backstopped with equity financing from the Ellison family and the private-equity firm RedBird Capital and $54 billion of debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo Global Management.

“We’re really here to finish what we started,” Ellison told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” Monday. “We put the company in play.” On Friday, Netflix announced a deal to acquire WBD’s studio and streaming assets for $72 billion. David Ellison-run Paramount had been bidding for the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery, including those assets and the company’s TV networks like CNN and TNT Sports.

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Cyber Monday has come and gone, but you can still get a great deal on a smartwatch with the Google Pixel Watch 4 marked down to $300 from $350. At almost 15 percent off, this is the lowest we’ve ever seen it.

The Pixel Watch 4 was just released in October and is our smartwatch of choice for users with Pixel phones. In our hands-on review we scored it 86 out of 100, taking note of its fast recharge time, health and fitness tracking, repairable design and gorgeous display.

The curved display sits under a domed glass cover and sports an impressive 3,000 nits of peak brightness, well beyond the 2,000 nits max of the Apple Watch Series 11. This makes the Pixel Watch 4 about 50 percent brighter than the previous generation, and thanks to smaller bezels the display is about 10 percent bigger.

The new generation also adds dual-frequency GPS, updated processors and a custom haptic engine. It also boasts a more repairable design thanks to a case that can be easily unscrewed to replace the display or battery. We did find the gesture based raise-to-talk Gemini feature a little gimmicky, and users should note that the watch must be connected to the internet for Gemini to work.

Thanks to all this, we named the Pixel Watch 4 the best smartwatch for Android users. It’s as good a workout companion as a daily watch and offers peace of mind with emergency SOS via satellite. If you’re an Android user in the market for a smartwatch, this is one of the best deals available now.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-google-pixel-watch-4-is-cheaper-than-ever-right-now-141715083.html?src=rss

Prime Video dropped an extended teaser for the fifth and final season of The Boys—based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson—during CCXP in Sao Paulo, Brazil. And it looks like we’re getting nothing less than a full-on Supe-ocalypse as an all-powerful Homelander seeks revenge on The Boys.

(Spoilers for prior seasons of The Boys and S2 of Gen V below.)

Things were not looking good for our antiheroes after the S4 finale. They managed to thwart the assassination of newly elected US President Robert Singer, but new Vought CEO/evil Supe Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) essentially overthrew the election and installed Senator Steve Calhoun (David Andrews) as president. Calhoun declared martial law, and naturally Homelander (Antony “Give Him an Emmy Already” Starr) swore loyalty as his chief enforcer. Butcher (Karl Urban) and Annie (Erin Moriarty) escaped, but the rest of The Boys were rounded up and placed in re-education—er, “Freedom”—camps.

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Amazon used its annual re:Invent cloud conference in Las Vegas to pitch a vision of the workplace where AI agents serve not as tools but as “co-workers” and “teammates,” even as the company proceeds with eliminating roughly 14,000 corporate jobs in its second major workforce reduction in recent years.

AWS CEO Matt Garman predicted on stage that autonomous “frontier agents” could represent 80 to 90% of enterprise AI value. Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of applied AI solutions, described a future where companies manage “teams” of agents capable of working autonomously for hours or days while humans shift into supervisory roles. Amazon has already deployed agentic systems across tens of thousands of its own engineers to triage outages and propose fixes. The company calls these systems “teammates” rather than tools. CEO Andy Jassy has warned that AI would shrink Amazon’s workforce, though a spokesperson attributed the current cuts to “reducing bureaucracy” and “removing layers” rather than AI deployment.

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