Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 was officially announced earlier this week and while it looks to be a great remake of some popular PS2-era skateboarding games, one big change involving timed challenges in THPS4 might be a dealbreaker for some players.
Currently, to play hilarious Jackbox games like Bomb Corp and Survey Scramble, you need a PC, console, or mobile device. And some friends. That’s changing soon as the games make the leap to smart TVs. But you’ll still need friends.
The U.S. should not create its own Manhattan Project for AI, because such a project would invite retaliation from adversaries.
It sounded like a miracle: Nvidia’s new budget GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card, priced at just $550, would perform even better than last generation’s $1,600 RTX 4090. That was the claim CEO Jensen Huang made on stage at CES 2025 a couple of months ago. It turns out it was (mostly) bullshit, but the RTX 5070 is already…
Vanessa Marshall, Tiya Sircar, and Taylor Gray are teaming up for a Star Wars Rebels rewatch podcast.
Monster Hunter Wilds is the most streamlined game in Capcom’s long-running action-RPG series. Worried that juggling menus and harvesting laundry lists of arcane animal parts sounds too overwhelming and boring? Fear not! Monster Hunter Wilds lets you (mostly) make the experience as simple or as complicated as you want.…
Google has introduced its new, “future-looking” AI search mode, which is meant to help users find answers
Google’s first Pixel Drop of 2025 happened this week with a long list of upgrades for the company’s flagship phones, tablets, and watches. Google followed the update closely with the March 2025 Android Security Bulletin, with fixes for 43 malicious bugs—including two zero-day vulnerabilities that may actively be under “limited, targeted exploitation” on devices running Android OS.
The patches cover concerns ranging from flaws that allow attackers to gain remote code execution on vulnerable devices to issues with Qualcomm and MediaTek components. The two zero-day (highest severity) exploits are labeled CVE-2024-43093 and CVE-2024-50302, both of which are “privilege escalation” flaws. According to Bleeping Computer, the former lets attackers access sensitive data by bypassing a file path filter without any additional input from the user. The latter is an issue in the Linux kernel that allows the unlocking of confiscated devices (and has reportedly been used by Serbian law enforcement to target activists).
Zero-days are security vulnerabilities that are publicly disclosed before the developer has an opportunity to issue a patch. Even if the current exploitation is limited to these Serbian authorities, it’s important to protect your devices before additional bad actors take advantage of these flaws as well.
In most cases, all you need to do to fix security flaws on Android is update your device when you receive a notification to do so. Google issues patches for its own Pixel phones and the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code, and also alerts other manufacturers—like Samsung, Motorola, and OnePlus—when updates are on their way.
Devices running Android 10 and later may get both security updates and Google Play system updates. The current batch of patches applies to AOSP versions 12, 12L, 13, 14, and 15, and the most recent is dated 2025-03-05.
If you’re not sure whether your Android device has been updated or believe you may have missed the notification, head to your device settings to locate your Android version (About phone or About tablet > Android version) and check your update status (System > Software update or System update). Follow the on-screen prompts to download and install available patches.
The BEAD program was authorized by Congress in November 2021, and the US was finalizing plans to distribute funding before Trump’s inauguration. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the Commerce Department, developed rules for the program in the Biden era and approved initial funding plans submitted by every state and territory. The program has been on hold since the change in administration, with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other Republicans seeking rule changes. In addition to demanding an end to the fiber preference, Cruz wants to kill a requirement that ISPs receiving network-construction subsidies provide cheap broadband to people with low incomes. Cruz also criticized “unionized workforce and DEI labor requirements; climate change assessments; excessive per-location costs; and other central planning mandates.”
Lutnick’s statement yesterday confirmed that the Trump administration will end the fiber preference and replace it with a “tech-neutral” set of rules, and explore additional changes. He said: “Under my leadership, the Commerce Department has launched a rigorous review of the BEAD program. The Department is ripping out the Biden Administration’s pointless requirements. It is revamping the BEAD program to take a tech-neutral approach that is rigorously driven by outcomes, so states can provide Internet access for the lowest cost. Additionally, the Department is exploring ways to cut government red tape that slows down infrastructure construction. We will work with states and territories to quickly get rid of the delays and the waste. Thereafter we will move quickly to implementation in order to get households connected.” Lutnick said the department’s goal is to “deliver high-speed Internet access… efficiently and effectively at the lowest cost to taxpayers.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google is once again in the crosshairs of Republicans in Congress because of alleged censorship, Bloomberg writes. The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Google’s parent company Alphabet and CEO Sundar Pichai for evidence of communication between the tech company and the Biden administration.
The subpoena specifically asks for documents covering communications between Alphabet and the executive branch, along with discussions Alphabet might have had internally or with third-parties about those communications. The Committee hopes to snowball the discovery that the Biden administration made requests to Meta to remove COVID-19 misinformation into a case for “new statutory limits on the executive branch’s ability to work with Big Tech to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users,” the subpoena says.
None of these concerns are particularly new. Pichai and other tech CEOs have been brought in front of Congress to explain things like content moderation, censorship and bias before. In the past, it’s mostly seemed like a way for members of Congress to get sound bites, but the aggressive, retaliatory nature of the Trump administration might give these new demands more teeth. Helping to pay for Trump’s inauguration and showing up for photos didn’t get Google protection in the end, assuming it doesn’t manage to wriggle out of the ongoing antitrust case against it.
Tech companies might be getting attention from Congress, but the idea that the current administration might want to make censorship demands doesn’t appear to be a concern. President Trump has expressed interest in using the Take It Down Act, a bill designed to hold websites liable for hosting and not removing Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery (NCII), to eliminate any kind of speech he dislikes. The disastrous potential misuses of the law have been outlined by activists before, but the bill passed in the Senate and is now waiting to be taken up by the House.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/house-republicans-subpoena-google-over-alleged-censorship-212115140.html?src=rss
Your cup of Joe can remain eternally hot with this discounted Nextmug.
Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket lifted off Thursday from French Guiana and deployed a high-resolution reconnaissance satellite into orbit for the French military, notching a success on its first operational flight.
The 184-foot-tall (56-meter) rocket lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 11:24 am EST (16:24 UTC). Twin solid-fueled boosters and a hydrogen-fueled core stage engine powered the Ariane 6 through thick clouds on an arcing trajectory north from the spaceport on South America’s northeastern coast.
The rocket shed its strap-on boosters a little more than two minutes into the flight, then jettisoned its core stage nearly eight minutes after liftoff. The spent rocket parts fell into the Atlantic Ocean. The upper stage’s Vinci engine ignited two times to reach a nearly circular polar orbit about 500 miles (800 kilometers) above the Earth. A little more than an hour after launch, the Ariane 6 upper stage deployed CSO-3, a sharp-eyed French military spy satellite, to begin a mission providing optical surveillance imagery to French intelligence agencies and military forces.
AstroForge’s attempt to launch the first commercial deep space mission fell apart shortly after liftoff.
The latest entry in the long-running sci-fi anime series arrives on the streamer April 8 in more than 240 locations worldwide.
The agency found the area of sea ice hit its lowest monthly level for February in the Arctic, at 8% below average, and its fourth-lowest monthly level for February in the Antarctic, at 26% below average. Its satellite observations stretch back to the late 1970s and its historical observations to the middle of the 20th century. Scientists had already observed an extreme heat anomaly in the north pole at the start of February, which caused temperatures to soar more than 20C above average and cross the threshold for ice to melt. They described the latest broken record as “particularly worrying” because ice reflects sunlight and cools the planet. The agency found the area of sea ice hit its lowest monthly level for February in the Arctic, at 8% below average, and its fourth-lowest monthly level for February in the Antarctic, at 26% below average. Its satellite observations stretch back to the late 1970s and its historical observations to the middle of the 20th century.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Pimax has two PC VR headsets in development: the ultralight Dream Air and the wide field-of-view Crystal Super. The company recently offered an update on the development progress of both headsets, including an update on the shipping timeline of Crystal Super.
Pimax Dream Air is the company’s first effort to build an ultralight PC VR headset. First announced in December with a price of $1,900, the headset is undergoing various tweaks as the company completes the prototyping phase and moves toward an expected May release date.
In its latest update on Dream Air, Pimax says it has added speaker pods to the sides of the headset for improved audio.
The headset’s tether is also changing from a single cable that runs along the left side of the headset to a split cable that will run along both sides and then combine into one cable behind the user’s head. Pimax says this change will help with the balance of the headset.
Pimax is also moving the Dream Air’s USB-C accessory slot to the bottom of the headset to make it more accessible for clip-on accessories like trackers. And the newest iteration of the headset’s design now includes vents for active cooling, as the compact headset and displays will have plenty of heat to dissipate.
The company also says it has an early prototype of the headset’s pancake lenses, and specifies that they have a concave front surface that helps expand the headset’s field-of-view. Between that and slightly canting the lenses and displays, Pimax says it expects the final field of view to be 105° horizontally rather than the originally announced 102°.
Field-of-view isn’t the only thing that could increase, however. The company says it’s still choosing between two candidate displays. Both are micro-OLED with identical resolution. But one of the panels (from Sony) has “better optical qualities,” according to the company, but also a higher price tag. If the final version ends up using the Sony panel, Pimax says it could increase the cost of the headset “a tiny bit.”
While it’s nice to see the field-of-view go up, potentially changing already-announced specs and prices with little more than two months before the headset is supposed to ship seems to reinforce longstanding criticism that the company often gets ahead of itself in planning and execution.
Speaking of the headset’s purported May release date, Pimax indicates in this latest update that it expects to have a “proper working demo unit [of Dream Air]” in April, one month before the headset is expected to ship. And in May, the company says it’ll have a “public event” to showcase the headset.
The video concludes with the company saying, “we are fine-tuning the final parts and at the same time also minimizing the risk for delays. The Dream Air is on the way and we’ll be showing it publicly soon.”
Crystal Super is the company’s latest large form-factor PC VR headset which aims for a wide field-of-view (130° horizontal) and high resolution (3,840 × 3,840).
Crystal Super was originally announced in April, 2024, with an expected release date of Q4 2024. In the recent update, the company shares its latest projections for the headset’s release date: the end of March for the 50 PPD version and mid-April for the 57 PPD version.
Pimax says that early versions of the Crystal Super are in the hands of ‘beta testers’ who have been providing feedback. Based on that feedback, the company is seemingly regressing the Super’s headstrap design to something closer to its prior headsets: a simple over-the-head strap (instead of a horizontal strap with ratcheting adjustment) and a larger facepad for better weight distribution.
The company also addressed newly imposed tariffs that the US has placed on products from China. Pimax says it will eat the cost of the tariffs for any orders placed before they were announced (February 4th). However, the company suggests that the tariffs will increase the cost of its headsets in the future.
The post Pimax Shares Development Updates on Dream Air and Crystal Super Headsets appeared first on Road to VR.
It’s good to see the competition is heating up, and that the cover screen is getting bigger on the Z Flip.
Most Android phones ship with Google’s Gboard as the default input option. It’s a reliable, feature-rich on-screen keyboard, so most folks just keep using it instead of installing a third-party option. Depending on how you feel about circles, it might be time to check out some of those alternatives. Google has quietly released an update that changes the shape and position of the keys, and users are not pleased.
In the latest build of Gboard (v15.1.05.726012951-beta-arm64-v8a), Google has changed the key shape from the long-running squares to circle shapes. If you’re using the four-row layout, the keys are like little pills. In five-row mode with the exposed number row, the keys are collapsed further into circles. The reactions seem split between those annoyed by this change and those annoyed that everyone else is so annoyed.
Change can be hard sometimes, so certainly some of the discontent is just a function of having the phone interface changed without warning. If you find it particularly distasteful, you can head into the Gboard settings and open the Themes menu. From there, you can tap on a theme and then turn off the key borders. Thus, you won’t be distracted by the horror of rounded edges. That’s not the only problem with the silent update, though.