BPF lets users load programs into a running kernel.
Even though BPF programs are checked by the verifier to
ensure that they stay inside certain limits, some users would still like to ensure
that only approved BPF programs are loaded. KP Singh’s
patches adding that capability to the kernel were accepted
in version 6.18, but not everyone is
satisfied with his implementation. Blaise Boscaccy, who has been working to get
a version of BPF code signing with better auditability
into the kernel for some time, posted
a patch set on top of Singh’s changes that alters the loading process to
not invoke security module hooks
until the entire loading process is complete.
The discussion on the patch
set is the continuation of a
long-running disagreement over
the interface for signed BPF programs.
The Apple MacBook Air M4 laptop is back on sale for just $799, which is one heck of a deal. This sale is for the model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. It’s available in multiple colorways, but the silver one inexplicably costs $899.
We ranked this as our favorite Apple laptop in our list of the best MacBook computers. Heck, it’s even our very favorite laptop. Full stop. The performance is exceptionally snappy, thanks to the M4 chip. We appreciated the upgraded battery life, which now lasts for around 18 hours per charge. That’s well beyond a full day of work.
The design is lightweight, but sturdy. This has become a hallmark for modern MacBook Air computers. The screen is both gorgeous and roomy, even though it’s technically just a 13-inch panel. There’s support for the P3 wide color gamut and it can reach up to 500 nits of brightness.
This is a near-perfect laptop, but there are a couple of nitpicks. There’s no USB-C port on the right side, limiting how users can arrange accessories on a desk. Also, the screen is capped with a 60Hz refresh rate. Another potential complication is the looming specter of the M5 chip. The company has already released the MacBook Pro M5, so a new MacBook Air is likely coming in the nearish future.
Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-macbook-air-m4-is-back-on-sale-for-799-183808431.html?src=rss
There was once a time where first-party apps and experiences on Apple devices were exempt from advertisements. Other app marketplaces might happily show you ads, but not the App Store. Most news sites place ads in between every other paragraph, but Apple News was an ad-free experience. Say what you wanted about Apple and its products, but you certainly dealt with far fewer ads than on other platforms. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.
Apple has slowly made ads a part of its business model in order to boost revenue. You might have noticed them already while scrolling through stories in News, or when looking for a new game on the App Store. Even the Wallet app has blasted users with notifications when Apple TV has a new movie out. It’s an odd dichotomy: At a time when Apple’s MacBooks have never been an better overall value, the company’s software is beginning to feel less user-first than ever.
Those ads are only expanding, too. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple might be bringing more ads to its platforms “as early as next year.” If so, it seems the company will start with Apple Maps. Gurman says Apple will let restaurants and businesses pay a premium to float their results to the top of search. If you’ve searched for an app in Apple’s App Store lately, you should be familiar with this experience: When I open the search tab, for example, I see Instagram at the top of the page, with an “Ad” label beneath it, on top of two other non-advertised apps. Then, when I search for an app like Reddit, it appears second, beneath an ad placement for DuckDuckGo.
Gurman says Apple’s plan here is to make the experience better than other navigation apps that offer similar ads (I immediately think of Waze, which will show ads for restaurants and businesses whenever you stop the car) and will use AI to deliver more relevant ads to the user—though Apple’s AI tech leaves something to be desired.
I’m not sure this move will do much to push Apple Maps users towards other options. If the ads experience in Apple Maps really is on a similar level to the App Store, I imagine most users won’t pay much attention to it. They’ll either ignore any results that appear with that “Ad” label, or they’ll tap on the results that seem more relevant to their search. Plus, the most obvious alternatives have ads as well, so it’s not like someone sick of seeing ads in Apple Maps would necessarily find Google Maps or Waze more appealing.
Still, the principle of Apple adding more ads onto an inherently expensive experience leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I personally prefer other navigation apps to Apple Maps, but Apple’s app has seemed like a solid choice in recent years, especially in terms of privacy. Adding ads to the mix changes that, and not only cheapens the experience, but makes me question what Apple plans on doing with my navigation and location data here. I would hope the company that makes one of the only somewhat private streaming boxes on the market would find a way to keep Maps private while serving ads, but only time will tell.
Mathematicians have identified the first shape that cannot pass through itself. Jakob Steininger and Sergey Yurkevich described the Noperthedron in a paper posted online in August. The shape has 90 vertices and 152 faces. The discovery resolves a question that began in the late 1600s when Prince Rupert of the Rhine won a bet by proving one cube could slide through a tunnel bored through another. Mathematician John Wallis confirmed this mathematically in 1693.
The property became known as the Rupert property. In 1968, Christoph Scriba proved the tetrahedron and octahedron also possess this quality. Over the past decade, researchers found Rupert tunnels through many symmetric polyhedra, including the dodecahedron and icosahedron. Mathematicians had conjectured every convex polyhedron would have the Rupert property. Steininger and Yurkevich divided the space of possible orientations into approximately 18 million blocks and tested each. None produced a passage. The Noperthedron consists of 150 triangles and two regular 15-sided polygons.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Wild Zone 17 and its pride of Pyroar is not for the faint of heart
The post <em>Pokémon Legends: Z-A</em> Has A Terrifying Death Trap Fans Keep Warning Others To Avoid appeared first on Kotaku.
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Walmart joins Best Buy in announcing its Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale early. This year, Walmart seems to take a page out of Best Buy’s strategy and split the sale into smaller ones. Here’s everything we know so far about Walmart’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale for 2025.
Walmart will hold three sales, all called “Walmart Deals Events,” from November to December, according to their press release. The sales will be a combination of online and in-store for members and non-members.
The events will take place on three different dates:
Walmart Black Friday Deals Event 1: November 14–16
Available online and in stores for the entire event
Walmart+ members get five hours early access online beginning Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. ET
Walmart Black Friday Deals Event 2: November 25–30
Online only: November 25–27
Online and in stores: November 28–30
Walmart+ members get five hours early access online beginning Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. ET
Cyber Monday: December 1
Online only
Walmart+ members get five hours early access online beginning Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. ET
Walmart says that you can expect up to 60% off top brands and thousands of deals under $20. The sale will include toys, electronics, home products, fashion, and beauty from brands like Delonghi, Apple, LEGO, Dyson, La Roche Posay, Levi’s, and Barbie. Here is a list Walmart dropped on their press release:
98” TCL QLED 4K Google TV – Was $1,798.00, Event Price $998.00
Barbie Malibu Travel Playset – Was $21.88, Event Price $12.00
Calvin Klein Obsession 3 Perfume – Was $97.00, Event Price $31.50
Cate & Chloe Lauren 18k White Gold Plated 22mm Hoop Earrings with Swarovski Crystals – Was $130.00, Event Price $15.99
Cozy Haven Faux Fur Throw Blanket – Special Buy, Event Price $13.00
Cricut Explore 3 Bundle – Was $410.00, Event Price $197.99
Dreo 1500W Portable Space Heater – Was $99.99, Event Price $38.99
Dyson V12 Detect Slim Cordless Vacuum Cleaner – Was $729.00, Event Price $399.99
Ford 24V Ride-on – Was $599.99, Event Price $299.99
Goodyear Reliant All-Season Tire (entire line) – Event offer $30 off per tire
Govee 65” LED Lights – Was $99.00, Event Price $69.99
Keurig Iced Essentials – Was $79.00, Event Price $44.97
KONG Classic Stuffable Dog Chew Toy, Medium – Was $13.99, Event Price $11.96
L’ange Hair Styler – Was $119.00, Event Price $48.30
LEGO Speed Champions 2-pack – Was $44.98, Event Price $25.00
Melissa & Doug Chunky Puzzles – Was $13.99, Event Price $7.00
Men’s & Women’s Levi’s Signature Denim – Was $24.98, Event Price $15.00
My Texas House Glitter Trees (set of 3) – Was $159.66, Event Price $78.00
Philips Norelco 7200 Electric Razor – Was $99.96, Event Price $79.96
Reebok Women’s Sport 2-piece set – Was $40.00; Event Price $25.00
Scoop Women’s Knee-High Kitten Heel Boots – Was $52.00, Event Price $30.00
Sportspower Bounce Pro 14′ Round Trampoline with Safety Enclosure – Was $229.00, Event Price $149.00
At the moment, only Best Buy has officially announced its Black Friday sale, but you can expect Target and Amazon to have competing sales as well.
Today, Zwift launched a new “Big Apple Badge Hunt” mini-challenge featuring four routes from the New York map expansion that also launched today. Ride all four routes to complete the challenge and earn XP bonuses! Read on for details…
The Challenge features four routes from today’s New York map expansion. The routes are sorted by length on the challenge screen, but you can do them in whatever order you’d like:
You will receive a 500 XP bonus for each route you complete in the challenge. (Keep in mind, if this is your first time riding each of these routes, you’ll also receive an XP bonus for earning that route’s achievement badge.)
Read more about Zwift levels and unlocks >
To join the Challenge, just click its card on the home screen. If you return to the home screen after doing this, you’ll see the card now shows your progress. If it’s showing your progress (0/4, 1/4, etc) you know you’re signed up!
Once you’ve joined the Challenge, completing one of the Challenge routes in any sort of activity (free ride, workout, group ride, race) will mark the route as completed and earn your bonus XP.
Pro tip: “stacking” mini challenge requirements lets you earn bonus XP even faster. For example, you could ride The Ultimate Warmup from the FTP Check Challenge on one of the routes for this challenge and get credit for finishing both!
This challenge is live from October 27-December 31. (We recommend finishing before the final day, though, as the Challenges sometimes end at an unexpected time on the last day.)
Post below!
Google has teamed up with the United Service Organizations (USO) to help deployed service members stay in touch with their families in a different way. As part of a pilot program, the company is bringing Google Beam, its 3D video communication tech, to USO service centers in the US and other countries starting in 2026.
Google suggests that Beam can help military families who are separated by many miles feel like they are in the same room. While family members can keep in touch with deployed loved ones through group chats and video calls, chatting via Beam could help them feel closer together, if the tech works as well as promised.
We got our first look at Beam — then known as Project Starline — in 2021. The holographic teleconferencing system uses 3D imaging, spatial audio and adaptive lighting to make video chats more immersive. Beam is primarily intended for enterprise clients (the first such device costs $25,000), but it’s interesting to see Google exploring other applications for the tech.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/google-is-bringing-beam-its-3d-video-conferencing-tech-to-deployed-service-members-174500517.html?src=rss
Battlefield 6 is getting a free battle royale mode on October 28. This follows numerous leaks that have been popping up ever since the mainline game hit store shelves on October 10.
It’s called Battlefield: RedSec, though we don’t have too many gameplay details. It’s free for everyone and you don’t need the full-priced game to play. That much we do know. This puts it in direct competition with Call of Duty’s own free-to-play battle royale, Warzone.
Eyes up.
Plates on.#REDSEC arrives tomorrow at 8:00 PT / 15:00 UTC �� set reminder: https://t.co/xuRd1LETVr pic.twitter.com/Lpi7sufuay
— Battlefield (@Battlefield) October 27, 2025
We can assume some gameplay elements, as it’s a battle royale. It’ll likely feature players heading to a large map and battling one another until the last person is left standing. You know the drill. EA dropped a short teaser that seems to show four different classes of soldier to choose from.
We don’t know how or if this battle royale will interact with the main game. Warzone typically includes a story that ties into whatever’s going on with Call of Duty’s seasonal content drops. To that end, Season 1 of Battlefield 6 also releases on October 28. This update includes new maps, modes, vehicles, guns, attachments and cosmetic items.
Battlefield: RedSec will be available for download on various gaming platforms at 11AM ET. This could end up being a pretty big hit for EA, as the main game managed to sell 7 million copies in three days.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/battlefield-6s-free-battle-royale-mode-arrives-on-october-28-174419086.html?src=rss
Apple is moving ahead with plans to bring advertising to its Maps app. Starting next year, businesses will be able to pay for more prominent placement within search results, according to Bloomberg [non-paywalled source]. The approach mirrors Search Ads in the App Store, where developers purchase promoted slots based on user queries. Apple has said the sponsored results will remain relevant to searches.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Samsung’s Galaxy XR is finally here, and with it, a perfect middle-ground of price and features to simultaneously turn up the competitive pressure on both Meta and Apple.
Over many years I had been patiently waiting for Apple to launch its own headset in order to finally give Meta some real competition. Even though the Quest and Vision Pro headsets are so far apart in price, there’s already plenty of examples of Meta adding or improving features on its headset in direct response to Apple’s work.
But there’s only so much competitive pressure that a $3,500 headset can put on a $500 headset like Quest 3. In the end, they aren’t in the same price class (hell, they aren’t even in adjacent price classes), and the potential audience for each headset doesn’t have a huge overlap.
But now we have Galaxy XR which has managed to land right in the middle of Quest and Vision Pro, on price and features. This is a single headset that’s bringing new competition to both of these other headsets.
On the lower end, Quest 3 is primarily a gaming machine.
Thanks to Galaxy XR’s optional controllers (and Android XR’s compatibility with OpenXR and Unity), it has the potential to be just as much of a gaming machine as Quest 3. We’ll have to see if the headset gets enough traction to get a critical mass of VR game ports from the Quest library, but that path is at least much more straightforward for developers than it is to port a Quest game to Vision Pro.
On the much higher end, Vision Pro is a ‘spatial computing’ machine focused on media, browsing, and flatscreen productivity.
Thanks to Android XR’s replication of Vision Pro’s major features, it has the potential to do most of the same tasks—like media playback, browsing, and flatscreen productivity—at a much lower cost.
In a way, Galaxy XR is proving that it can do much of what Vision Pro does at a fraction of the cost, while also supporting the gaming-focused capabilities of Quest. If the finished product is polished enough to actually be worth using, it’s in the perfect position to put real competitive pressure on both Meta and Apple at the same time.
That’s not to say that Quest 3 doesn’t also do many of the things Vision Pro does at an even lower cost. But it’s origin as a ‘gaming console’—and its lack of access to the massive flat app libraries of Google’s Play Store or Apple’ App Store—has left it with some notable deficiencies in the ‘spatial computing’ department.
Competition is always good for consumers as it tends to mean better products at lower prices, which accelerates the pace of innovation.
The consumer XR industry has been firmly in the Quest 3 and Vision Pro era for the last two years or so. Things have been steady, but nothing has moved the needle enough to bring a step-change in the number of users. For that, the industry is going to need to offer smaller, cheaper, and better headsets.
Galaxy XR’s fusion of the gaming capabilities of Quest and the spatial computing capabilities of Vision Pro is just the right thing, at the right time, to accelerate and take XR to its next phase of adoption.
The post Galaxy XR is the Headset the Industry Needs to Take Its Next Major Step appeared first on Road to VR.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is number one, but can you guess the rest of the list? I doubt you get number 12 right
The post The PS2 Turns 25 Years Old And Here Are Its Best-Selling Games appeared first on Kotaku.
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Five years after its debut, Apple’s first M1 MacBook Air still holds up as one of the most important laptops the company ever made. Back in 2020, this was the machine that introduced Apple Silicon to the world, replacing Intel chips with a homegrown design that ran cooler, faster, and quieter. Currently, a refurbished 13.3-inch model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage is available for sale on StackSocial for $384.99. It carries a Grade-A rating, which means the condition should be close to mint, although there may be minor signs of handling, such as small scuffs on the case. At this price, the bigger trade-off is that it’s sold as a final sale with no warranty.
Performance-wise, the 8-core CPU of the M1 MacBook Air outperforms older Intel-based MacBooks, making it snappy enough for tasks such as word processing, streaming, and light photo or video editing. The 8-core GPU won’t compete with newer M3 or M4 models for demanding graphics tasks, but it’s fine for casual gaming and creative apps. Battery life was a major selling point in 2020, and it remains impressive today, with up to 15 hours of wireless web or 18 hours of video playback. For students or remote workers, this means all-day use without needing to hover near an outlet. Your mileage may vary depending on use.
That said, there are some limits worth considering. The 256GB SSD fills up quickly if you frequently use large files, so cloud storage or external drives may be necessary. The 720p webcam shows its age in an era where most laptops have transitioned to 1080p or higher resolution. And while the two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports are versatile, they may feel restrictive if you’re used to plugging in multiple accessories without a hub. On the bright side, the Retina display remains crisp at 2560×1600 resolution, the backlit Magic Keyboard is comfortable, and Touch ID enables quick logins. For under $400, this MacBook Air makes sense if you need a reliable everyday laptop and can live without the latest Apple hardware.
Federal investigators who are looking into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) tech have requested information from the company about the Mad Max mode it added to the system. The company has claimed that Mad Max offers “higher speeds and more frequent lane changes” than its Hurry speed profile.
“NHTSA is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told Reuters. “The human behind the wheel is fully responsible for driving the vehicle and complying with all traffic safety laws.”
When it opened a fresh probe into FSD earlier this month, the NHTSA said the tech had “induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws.” Some Tesla vehicles with FSD engaged are said to have run red lights and driven against the flow of traffic.
Tesla initially offered a Mad Max mode in 2018, before FSD was available. The company revived Mad Max this month and it didn’t take long before there were reports of Tesla vehicles that were using the mode rolling stop signs and driving above speed limits.
Earlier this year, when Tesla CEO Elon Musk was at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump administration initiative reportedly culled NHTSA staff. As part of that, DOGE was said to have fired three people who were part of a small team that worked on autonomous vehicle safety.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/federal-investigators-are-looking-into-teslas-mad-max-mode-which-reportedly-defies-speed-limits-170913959.html?src=rss
Quest’s new Immersive Home system has a Blumhouse Forest background for Halloween.
Meta Horizon OS v81, which rolled out this month, got rid of all the legacy Quest VR home environments and replaced them with a new “Immersive Home”, powered by Meta’s new Horizon Engine. The new Immersive Home is a singular core environment that launched with four background scenery options: Horizon Central, Midnight, Valley, and Oceanarium, each a combination of nearby 3D assets and a skybox.
For Halloween, Meta has now added a fifth background scenery option: Blumhouse Forest.
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Footage captured by UploadVR.
Blumhouse is the studio behind the biggest horror movie franchises of the 21st century, including Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister, The Purge, Split, Get Out, M3GAN, and the cinema adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Earlier this year, Blumhouse released a Horrorverse world in Meta Horizon Worlds, with social experiences based on M3GAN, The Purge, Wolf Man, The Black Phone, and more.
And just a few weeks ago, it released Blumhouse Enhanced Cinema, a Quest 3 app which lets people in the US rent M3GAN or The Black Phone to watch them in custom VR environments with tailored immersive effects.
You can activate the new Blumhouse Forest background scenery in Quest’s Immersive Home by pressing the left Touch controller’s menu button or pinching your left index finger to your left thumb.
Google’s long-awaited AI health coach is nearly upon us, as a preview version is launching tomorrow for some Fitbit Premium users in the US. This will only be for Android devices at first, but the company promises an iOS version is in the works.
This is a Public Preview version of the software, so think of it like a beta release. Google says it’ll incorporate user feedback to “add, change or improve features and capabilities.” The company warns users that this is a “new experience, so initially, there will be some gaps.”
For the uninitiated, Google’s AI health coach is exactly what it sounds like. This is an AI chatbot intended to help users reach fitness and health goals. The company boasts that the tech is “secure, personalized and grounded in science.” Everything starts with a five to ten minute conversation with the coach to assess health and fitness goals.
The coach can be a sounding board for personal health, fitness and sleep goals, but also acts as a personal trainer. Google says it can be used to review and adjust fitness plans, check progress, get advice on trends and create workouts. To that last point, the company says the chatbot can create workouts based on pre-existing constraints. For instance, users can ask the bot to make a workout that can be done in a cramped hotel room.
The coach can also be used to brainstorm questions to ask a doctor and to track and analyze a number of sleep metrics. The bot provides a “detailed sleep analysis” and can allegedly understand patterns and trends that can impact sleep. All of this data can be accessed via the app.
Being as this is a preview build, it won’t roll out to everyone tomorrow. Eligible Fitbit Premium users will receive notification that the software is ready to use. It works with any Pixel Watch or Fitbit device.
The entire Fitbit app is being redesigned to focus more on AI and this is a large piece of the puzzle. Google promises integration with its health coach across every aspect of the app.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-ai-health-coach-will-soon-be-available-to-some-fitbit-premium-users-170022769.html?src=rss
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Nothing says Halloween quite like an ominous countdown. Right now, subscribers to YouTube TV, the company’s live TV service, are waiting to learn if they’ll still have access to Disney-operated channels, including ABC and ESPN, come Oct.31. It’s the latest conflict in ongoing fee disputes between Google and its various content providers, but even if Disney takes its ball and goes home, you won’t be left entirely without options.
According to Variety, if Disney and Google are unable to reach a deal by the end of Thursday, all Disney networks will vanish from YouTube TV on Oct. 30 at midnight ET. These include Disney Channel, ESPN, ABC News, Disney Jr., FX, FXX, FRXM, NatGeo, Freefrom, and even local ABC stations.
It’s not the first time YouTube has been through something like this. Last February, Paramount made a similar threat before eventually reaching an agreement that saw no pause in customer access to its channels. Since then, YouTube has had similar conflicts with Fox Corp., NBC Universal, and Univision, with only the Spanish-language network failing to reach a deal before its channels went dark.
What’s happening here all comes down to licensing fees. To offer channels like the cable providers it’s trying to replace, YouTube TV has to continually pay fees to content providers, and occasionally, those providers propose higher fees. That leaves YouTube in a bit of a lurch, as it tries to navigate between paying a fair price to its partners while also avoiding raising prices for its subscribers.
Disney told Variety that, “[t]his is the latest example of Google exploiting is position as the expense of their own customers,” implying that Google was risking stripping away channels its customers had paid for by refusing to compensate Disney with “fair rates.” Google in turn argues that giving into Disney’s “costly economic terms” would force the company to “raise prices on YouTube TV,” as well as leave the service in a rough spot when compared to Disney’s own Live TV offering, Hulu + Live TV.
Personally, I wouldn’t take either company’s statement too seriously, at least if the earlier Paramount and NBC Universal conflicts are anything to go by—there’s a good chance a deal will be reached before YouTube TV subscribers are affected. But as with those earlier conflicts, YouTube is willing to make it up to its customers if they lose access to Disney content.
“If it [Disney content] remains unavailable for an extended period of time, we will offer subscribers a $20 credit,” YouTube said. That would be enough to subscribe to a month of the Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN bundle with ads, although YouTube hasn’t said if the credit will be recurring.
Currently, a YouTube TV Base Plan starts at $72.99/month for your first three months, then jumps up to $82.99/month after that, making it slightly less expensive than Hulu + Live TV in the long term ($64.99/month for the first three months, then $89.99/month after that). Whether prices will stay the same if Disney pulls its channels remains to be seen.