You can already get a solid deal on a Roomba robot vacuum a couple of weeks before Black Friday kicks off in earnest. iRobot’s entry-level Roomba 104 Vac robot vacuum is available for 40 percent off right now, taking its normal $250 price to a record low of $150.
In iRobot’s lineup of robot vacuums, the Roomba 104 sits on the low end, adept at vacuuming up dust and hair, but without the mopping ability of its more expensive Max, Plus or Combo counterparts. The Roomba 104 Vac makes for a great first robot vacuum all the same, though, because of its four levels of powerful suction, and easy-to-use app. Like iRobot’s other vacuums, the Roomba 104 maps and navigates your home with LiDAR, which helps it avoid obstacles. And using the Roomba Home app, you can schedule it to clean specific rooms, and even spot-clean particularly dirty spots.
An earlier version of the Roomba Vac is Engadget’s favorite budget robot vacuum, and you’ll get the same great performance out of the newer Roomba 104 Vac. That includes a specialized brush for cleaning the hard-to-reach corners of your home, and also a charging dock that the vacuum can automatically return to once it’s down charging.
This sale on Roomba vacuums comes at an admittedly difficult time for iRobot at large, with the company dealing with a serious financial shortfall as of its last earning statement. Regardless of what happens to iRobot, though, the Roomba 104 Vac’s offline mode should mean that it can clean your home and charge itself without the need of an app or an internet connection.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/this-roomba-robot-vacuum-is-on-sale-for-only-150-for-black-friday-191506560.html?src=rss
During my many hours playing Vampire Survivors I often wondered what it would feel like to have the absolutely insane bullet hell action extremely close to my eyeballs. Now my dream is being fulfilled, as there’s a VR port for Meta Quest headsets.
The appropriately-named Vampire Survivors VR costs $10 and is available for the Meta Quest 2, 3, 3S and Pro. This isn’t a game that puts you in the middle of the action, as you won’t have to duck and weave around the living room to avoid incoming hordes. Rather, it gives you a top-down view of the stage and you use a controller to navigate as you would on any other platform. This kind of tactic has worked in the past with VR titles like Demeo.
It can be played seated or standing, which isn’t true of all VR games. Also, this is a standalone version and there’s no cross-buy with other platforms. That means that save files don’t carry over. That’s a bummer, but I guess it makes sense given the uniqueness of VR. Developer Poncle has not revealed if this version will feature online co-op, which was recently announced as coming soon to the PC and console builds.
As for DLC, Vampire Survivors VR includes the base game and the Legacy of the Moonspell and Tides of the Foscari expansions. We don’t have any information regarding the status of other expansions like the cool Castlevania one or the utterly bizarre Balatro tie-in.
Vampire Survivors VR is available right now, for those willing to risk a massive headache and perhaps a spot of nausea. Poncle currently has no plans to develop it for other VR platforms, like Steam VR or Pico.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/vampire-survivors-vr-asks-what-if-the-bullet-hell-was-on-your-face-190749256.html?src=rss
Apple has introduced a new plan for developers who offer mini-apps that could see the commission rate cut in half. Under the App Store Mini Apps Partner Program, devs would pay a reduced rate of 15 percent, compared to the current 30 percent, on qualifying in-app purchases. Apple has a bunch of more detailed explanations and an FAQ about how the partner program will work and what mini apps are eligible.
Apple’s fee structure has been an ongoing subject of debate, and the company has faced global pressure from regulators to change its commission policies to prove it isn’t engaged in monopolistic, anti-competitive practices. We’ve already seen some changes at Apple this year, as its legal saga with Epic Games wound towards a conclusion and some of the App Store guidelines were changed to allow for external payment options.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-halves-app-store-fees-for-mini-apps-190251153.html?src=rss
An anonymous reader shares a report: Robinhood Markets is betting its Gen Z and millennial clientele are as eager to send out for delivery of a wad of cash as they are to order pizza or a pint of ice cream.
The brokerage is joining with food-and-drink delivery app Gopuff to allow customers to withdraw cash from their Robinhood bank accounts and have it brought right to their door. For a $6.99 delivery fee — or $2.99 if they have more than $100,000 in assets across their Robinhood accounts — users can skip the ATM and have money delivered in a sealed paper bag while they are at home.
It is a new feature that Robinhood first teased in March, when Chief Executive Vlad Tenev unveiled the company’s plans to roll out many traditional and — as with its cash-delivery service — unconventional banking services.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
During Disney’s latest earnings call, CEO Bob Iger spoke about next steps for the Disney+ streaming service, and he noted that the entertainment giant has had “productive conversations” with potential AI partners. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ might soon play host to user-generated short-form AI videos.
“The other thing that we’re really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user generated content — mostly short-form — from others,” Iger said. He didn’t specify which companies Disney has been in talks with or offer any particularly timeline for the arrival of gen-AI features.
There are already a bunch of ways for people to make and share AI slop videos, so this isn’t a new concept he’s touting. But it is a surprising direction for Disney, which has long been hawkish about protecting both its image and its IP. The company has already made legal moves against multiple different AI platforms, including a cease and desist sent to Character.AI and copyright infringement lawsuits against Midjourney and Hailuo. Iger said he hoped any partnership would “reflect our need to protect the IP,” and it would almost certainly be a lucrative deal for Disney. But even within the confines of its own platform, this is still quite an about-face for the company to now encourage gen-AI creations of familiar characters.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-may-start-hosting-user-generated-ai-videos-185000745.html?src=rss
It’s been clear for some time that all is not well at Ubisoft. Between games not meeting the company’s sales expectations, studio closures, downsizing elsewhere and sexual misconduct issues, it’s been a rocky past several years for the company.
But now it seems something else may be going on at the publisher. Just before it was set to hold a call with investors on Thursday, Ubisoft said it was delaying its half-year earnings report and halting trading of its shares. It has asked Euronext — the European stock market on which its shares are listed — to halt trading from November 14 until it publishes its earnings results “in the coming days.”
This could mean any number of things. Other companies have delayed earnings reports due to things like accounting issues. But halting trading of the company’s shares could portend major news, such as a sale or Ubisoft becoming a private entity again. Engadget has contacted Ubisoft for comment.
It was reported late last year that the founders of Ubisoft were looking to take the company private with the help of Tencent. That hasn’t transpired as yet, but Ubisoft (with the help of a Tencent investment) did this year form a new subsidiary called Vantage Studios. That is now overseeing Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six — three of Ubisoft’s most important franchises.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/something-funky-is-going-on-at-ubisoft-184058990.html?src=rss
We got our first glimpse of the much-anticipated second season of Fallout (adapted from the popular video game franchise) in August when Prime Video released an extended teaser. We now have the official trailer, with all the deadpan humor, explosions, and mutant atrocities one could hope for—including ghoulish Elvis impersonators in New Vegas.
(Spoilers for S1 below.)
As previously reported, in S1, we met Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), a young woman whose vault is raided by surface dwellers. The raiders kill many vault residents and kidnap her father, Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), so the sheltered Lucy sets out on a quest to find him. Life on the surface is pretty brutal, but Lucy learns fast. Along the way, she finds an ally (and love interest) in Maximus (Aaron Moten), a squire masquerading as a knight of the Brotherhood of Steel. And she runs afoul of a gunslinger and bounty hunter known as the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a former Hollywood actor named Cooper Howard who survived the original nuclear blast, but radiation exposure turned him into, well, a ghoul.
Apple CarPlay, the interface that lets you cast your phone to your car’s infotainment screen, may finally be coming to Tesla’s electric vehicles. CarPlay is nearly a decade old at this point, and it has become so popular that almost half of car buyers have said they won’t consider a car without the feature, and the overwhelming majority of automakers have included CarPlay in their vehicles.
Until now, that hasn’t included Tesla. CEO Elon Musk doesn’t appear to have opined on the omission, though he has frequently criticized Apple. In the past, Musk has said the goal of Tesla infotainment is to be “the most amount of fun you can have in a car.” Tesla has regularly added purile features like fart noises to the system, and it has also integrated video games that drivers can play while they charge.
For customers who want to stream music, Tesla has instead offered Spotify, Tidal, and even Apple Music apps.
TikTok introduced a new “bulletin board” feature for creators that allows them to blast out updates directly to their followers’ inboxes. The idea is similar to broadcast channels on Instagram or Telegram’s one-way messaging feature.
People who opt to join a creator’s bulletin board will receive updates in their TikTok inbox. Updates can include text, links, polls or photos; as well as other TikTok posts or lives. Followers who join a board can react to messages but won’t be able to comment or reply like a typical DM or post. According to TikTok, the feature could be especially useful for musicians and artists, as it allows them to share new songs and give fans a way to “pre-save” an upcoming release.
For creators with a large following, having a bulletin board could help streamline their ability to interact with fans without having to wade through an overloaded inbox or post separate video updates. It also gives them a way to get their work (including links to non-TikTok content) in front of their biggest fans without relying on the whims of the app’s recommendation algorithm.
Bulletin Board is available now to all creators over the age of 18 with 50,000 or more followers. TikTok users can find and join bulletin boards on creators’ profiles.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktoks-new-bulletin-board-feature-lets-creators-send-updates-to-their-fans-inboxes-181000448.html?src=rss
Mozilla announced on Thursday that it is building an AI Window for Firefox, a new opt-in browsing mode that will let users interact with an AI assistant and chatbot. The feature will become one of three browsing experiences in Firefox alongside the existing classic and private windows. Users will be able to select which AI model they want to use in the AI Window, according to a post on the Mozilla Connect forum.
The company opened a waitlist for users who want to receive updates and be among the first to test the feature. Mozilla described the AI Window as an “intelligent and user-controlled space” that it is developing in the open through community feedback. Users who try the feature and decide against it can switch it off entirely.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Red Dead Redemption will finally be available on mobile devices, but only for Netflix subscribers. This was discovered by prolific news source and deals curator Wario64, who also revealed a release date of December 4. The game will be free to play on both iOS and Android devices and will include the zombie-centric DLC Undead Nightmare.
Red Dead Redemption coming to Netflix on Dec 4th
iOS https://t.co/gXKy5edObR
Android https://t.co/eg6RhKhsAt https://t.co/7JJPR7nx6W pic.twitter.com/W07ZrVhXhl— Wario64 (@Wario64) November 13, 2025
That same leaker has also discovered an ESRB website with ratings for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and the Switch 2, so it’s likely that Rockstar’s open world western is heading to current-gen platforms. We don’t have a release date for these ports. It’s already available for the PS4 and the original Switch.
It’s worth reiterating that this is the first Red Dead Redemption from 2010, and not the sequel. It’s still a great game, despite not quite reaching the highs of Red Dead Redemption 2.
This is just the latest team-up between Netflix and Rockstar. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition became available on Android and iOS for Netflix subscribers back in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/red-dead-redemption-is-coming-to-mobile-for-netflix-subscribers-180557451.html?src=rss
Google really wants you to use its AI to help you do your holiday shopping, and to that end, it’s finally letting AI Mode and Gemini directly link you to products. The new feature is powered by Google’s “Shopping Graph,” a list of 50 billion products that also informs Google’s Shopping tab, and it’s available to everyone on both desktop and mobile starting today.
Here’s how it works: In Google search’s AI Mode or the Gemini app/website, you can ask a question or send a prompt about a physical product, like “Help me find an espresso maker that has a steam wand, is affordable, and is good for beginners.” If the AI can find relevant product information in the Shopping Graph, it’ll then give you a short writeup and pop up a few product suggestions along with shopping information, like pricing and user reviews. Clicking on any of these tiles will then open a sidebar with sites where you can purchase the item.
Essentially, it’s like using Google’s Shopping tab, but with a virtual shopping assistant (or, let’s be real, a salesperson) you can turn to for more context about what you’re seeing. Some queries will even let you click a checkbox on their product tiles so you can mark off to ask follow-up questions. For instance, you could check off two product tiles and ask the AI to compare them, or ask which is cheaper or has better reviews.
According to Google representatives at a press event, the company is hoping this will make it easier for shoppers to buy gifts for friends or relatives that are traditionally hard to shop for, and that it will make shopping easier by letting people search using natural language.
When I tested out this new tool, it generally worked out, but I did encounter a few hiccups. The biggest was that it was hard to get the AI to recognize certain products as topics it could surface tiles for. For instance, asking for “Popular Nintendo Switch games under $60” just gave me a list of games, but no links to purchase them. I assume this is because the AI thought I was simply asking for general advice about what to play instead of shopping, but no amount of rewording would prompt the tool to show me product tiles, even when I explicitly asked for them.
I also ran into problems when it came to natural language searches. At the aforementioned press event, Google gave journalists example questions to ask the AI in order to try the new feature, but I found only the questions that called out specific types of products would give me tiles to click on.
For instance, a question like “Give me Christmas gift ideas for my sister who loves knitting and reading” wouldn’t trigger the new feature, but “show me ottomans that can be used as coffee tables” would. Even the example Google used in its blog announcing the feature wouldn’t work for me—asking for Christmas gift ideas for a college student who likes to run gave me generic answers like “running shoes” and “moisture-wicking socks,” but didn’t show any specific examples that I could buy.
That shouldn’t stop you from getting gift ideas from the AI, but it does mean that when you’re ready to buy, you’ll want to ask a fresh question that asks for a specific type of product, rather than ideas for a specific person. It’s a bit of an extra step for something that’s supposed to take the guesswork out of the buying process.
With those caveats in place, I still see most users still sticking to the regular shopping tab, where they can be sure they’ll get product links every time. But Google’s hoping that integrating shopping into AI Mode will eventually give users the best of both worlds, allowing them to make more specific searches than they could without AI, and also allowing the AI to call on training data the shopping tab doesn’t have access to, like Reddit posts and website reviews.
Now I just need to find a way to convince my family that all my thoughtful gift ideas didn’t just come from a robot.
Google recently decided that the freedom afforded by Android was a bit too much and announced developer verification, a system that will require developers outside the Google Play platform to register with Google. Users and developers didn’t accept Google’s rationale and have been complaining loudly. As Google begins early access testing, it has conceded that “experienced users” should have an escape hatch.
According to Google, online scam and malware campaigns are getting more aggressive, and there’s real harm being done in spite of the platform’s sideloading scare screens. Google says it’s common for scammers to use social engineering to create a false sense of urgency, prompting users to bypass Android’s built-in protections to install malicious apps.
Google’s solution to this problem, as announced several months ago, is to force everyone making apps to verify their identities. Unverified apps won’t install on any Google-certified device once verification rolls out. Without this, the company claims malware creators can endlessly create new apps to scam people. However, the centralized nature of verification threatened to introduce numerous headaches into a process that used to be straightforward for power users.
BrianFagioli writes: Popular privacy firm Proton is floating a plan on Reddit that should unsettle anyone who values privacy, writes Nerds.xyz. The company is considering recycling abandoned email addresses that were originally created by bots a decade ago. These addresses were never used, yet many of them are extremely common names that have silently collected misdirected emails, password reset attempts, and even entries in breach datasets. Handing those addresses to new owners today would mean that sensitive messages intended for completely different people could start landing in a stranger’s inbox overnight.
Proton says it’s just gathering feedback, but the fact that this made it far enough to ask the community is troubling. Releasing these long-abandoned addresses would create confusion, risk exposure of personal data, and undermine the trust users place in a privacy focused provider. It’s hard to see how Proton could justify taking a gamble with other people’s digital identities like this.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Approximately every five to seven months, I am possessed by a desire to “see if I like running.” I suit up in activewear and my best shoes, jury-rig my apartment keys into the hair tie holding up my ponytail, and optimistically set off down Manhattan’s FDR Drive. After some time, the results of my experiment are clear: I still hate running and remain convinced anyone who says it’s “euphoric” or “relaxing” is a Nike-sponsored liar.
Some things do impact the enjoyability of running, however, like listening to guided runs. Peloton’s guided runs have increased my likelihood to get (and stay) on the treadmill in the gym, for instance, and I have been choosing running over cycling as my cardio far more often than I did before discovering that section on the Peloton app. Baby steps—or, rather, baby strides.
If you feel like I do about running, guided runs are the way to go. Peloton and other running apps can be pricy, so I found some great guided run channels for free on YouTube. The only thing better than a little help is a little free help.
Get Fit Done is a small but mighty channel with 12,000 subscribers that, unlike a lot of others I used, requires almost no fiddling around to find the guided runs. GFD has compiled a bunch into a playlist.
They’re about 30 minutes, use popular songs, and guide you through the entire half hour clearly. A narrator tells you when to speed up and slow down, gives you a few tips here and there, but also shuts up so you can hear the music, which I appreciate. The audio quality on the narration isn’t incredible, but you can hear it just fine. This is my favorite one because it’s straightforward and no-nonsense while still being fun and motivational. Bonus: The channel also includes other kinds of videos, like guided cycling workouts. I love a good YouTube spin class and these are up there with my other favorites in terms of quality.
When you follow along with müüv, which has just under 4,000 subscribers, you’ll notice there’s no music or anything. It’s just pure instruction, which is great if you want to focus only on your running or listen to your own music (though you’d need two devices for that, so this is best for when you’re on a treadmill).
Certified trainers take you through interval walks and runs of varying lengths, plus there are also cycling and other kinds of exercises available. With these, the goal isn’t getting lost in music; rather, you’re following an expert-led plan that keeps you on track with your progressive running goals.
Everyone responds differently to different motivators, so even though I’m not someone who enjoys virtual scenic cardio sessions, I know plenty of people do; the scenic rides on Peloton are massively popular. You can replicate that experience with running by following along with The Run Experience, where coaches take you on a jog through beautiful scenery, giving guidance, tips, and motivation along the way.
With nearly 700,000 subscribers, this is one of the more popular ones I found. Generally speaking, the videos are probably better suited to be played on your iPad while you jog on a treadmill, so you can focus on the footage, but even if you’re running it on your phone while you hit the pavement, you still get the benefit of being guided through your intervals by a running coach.
Does a video need amazing production and top audio quality to deliver useful fitness information? No, but it’s nice, which is why I like EatMoveRest. The guided runs are designed for treadmill use but can be taken outside and the video and audio are crisp, so you can hear and see precisely what you need to be doing. With 174,000 subscribers, this channel is well-rounded. You get a variety of workouts, recipes and food tips, and even some family vlogs, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Maybe you don’t want any guidance, any words, or any music. Maybe, you just want to zone out and pretend you’re on a mountainside or jogging by the river when you’re actually in your crowded gym. If that’s you, I recommend Virtual Running Videos, the aptly named channel with a little under 100,000 subscribers.
They are typically about 45 minutes to an hour long, but you can go as long as you want because there’s no guidance on intervals or anything like that. You get to go at your own pace, which might be best for you if you’re just starting out or having an active rest day.
Many of the channels above are full of 30- or 45-minute runs, but what about when you only have a few minutes or you just want a running warmup before you get to other exercises? IBX Running, with about 60,000 subscribers, can help you out.
With videos for beginners, HIIT routines, endurance runs, and more, this channel has it all, but it also offers these up in varying degrees of time. Why not hop on the treadmill for a 10-minute HIIT run? If you want or need, there are longer ones, too, making this a solid one-stop shop.
If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber who relies on ESPN for football games, or maybe you never miss an episode of Dancing with the Stars (which airs on ABC), you’re probably getting frustrated with the ongoing Disney feud. The two channels, along with other Disney-owned channels like Freeform and FX, have been off air since October 30, which is just over two weeks.
While no resolution has been reached yet, the two large streaming companies are still negotiating the new pricing terms. One analyst has estimated that Disney is losing upwards of $4 million per day while the holdout continues. “We’re ready to go as long as they want to,” said Disney’s CFO Hugh Johnston on CNBC while discussing the company’s quarterly earnings. Disney, of course, is trying to maximize the fees it gets for its channels, while YouTube claims Disney is “proposing costly economic terms,” which could result in higher subscription prices.
But there’s good news: YouTube has made good on its promise to offer a $20 credit to subscribers — you should’ve received an email from YouTube about it. However, it’s not automatic so you’ll need to claim it first — here’s how to do it.
YouTube TV already costs you at least $83 a month, so take advantage of the $20 credit while you can. Here’s what you need to do.
Open YouTube TV in a web browser and go to your Membership Settings in the upper-right corner.
Go to the bottom of the menu and click Updates.
Click “Claim credit” on the Updates screen.
You should see a confirmation screen showing you’ve claimed the credit. It will be applied to your next bill, likely in December.
If the two can’t reach an agreement, you may be looking to cancel your YouTube TV subscription (or at least pause it until there’s a resolution). Here’s how to do it.
Open YouTube TV in a web browser and go to your Membership Settings.
Click Membership.
Click Manage.
Click Cancel Membership, and then click Cancel to confirm.
In the same settings, you can also pause your subscription until YouTube cuts a deal with Disney. Go to Settings > Membership > select the number of weeks you want to pause your subscription, and then click Pause.
That’ll at least give you more time to decide whether it’s worth keeping your account or closing it out.
Your $20 credit just goes to your next YouTube TV bill. But if you view that as “$20 more to spend on streaming this month,” you can put that budget towards some fairly straightforward workarounds, including ESPN’s new standalone service, Fubo (a YouTube TV competitor) and several more. Check out the best ways to watch ESPN and ABC during the YouTube TV blackout for more.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/how-youtube-tv-subscribers-can-get-their-20-credit-while-disneys-espn-and-abc-remain-off-the-air-172824463.html?src=rss
Meta is revamping Facebook Marketplace in an effort to make it more appealing to “young adults” on the platform. The updates includes new collaborative shopping features, as well as AI-generated suggestions and “insights” about specific listings.
Now, would-be buyers can create Pinterest-like “collections” of Marketplace listings and invite friends to join. These collections can then be shared elsewhere on Facebook or on WhatsApp and Messenger. People will also be able to invite their Facebook friends to join messages with sellers, which Meta says will make it “easier to coordinate pickup, negotiate prices, and get answers to your questions.” Facebook is also making Marketplace listings themselves more social, with the ability to add comments and reactions. And while I’m not sure many Facebook users are clamoring for this, it seems like it could seriously up the meme potential for accounts like @insanefbmarketplace.
And, because it’s 2025 and AI is in just about every other part of Facebook, the company is also adding “AI insights” to listings. This will allow Meta AI to offer up suggestions for questions to ask sellers about the items they’ve listed. (Importantly, though, it looks like the default first-message suggestion is still a variation of “is this still available,” which I’ve always found to be one of the more annoying quirks of using Marketplace.) The company is also experimenting with vehicle-specific “insights” from Meta AI as car shopping is apparently one of the most popular use cases for Marketplace among younger adults.
All of the updates are part of Meta’s years-long mission to make Facebook cool — or, at least, useful — for “young adults.” And the company has long touted Marketplace as one of the more popular features among that demographic. The company has also experimented with local events, a friends-only feed and bringing back the Facebook “poke.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-trying-to-make-facebook-marketplace-a-social-shopping-experience-170000682.html?src=rss