Netflix is making moves to expand its mobile gaming offerings. Soon, subscribers will see more shows made by Netflix made into mobile games, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, like Squid Game and Wednesday.

While mobile gaming is not entirely new to Netflix, it’s still trying to find its place in the company’s business model. Right now, the Netflix app prompts users to download and play games like Exploding Kittens: The Game or Ghost Detective on the app store where you can play on the platform. But eventually, Netflix subscribers will be able to play games directly on their smart TVs and computers. This push into gaming by the streaming giant is preceded by the company’s recent release of a dedicated controller app for iOS devices that lets a player use their phone as a gamepad with a paired TV.

Goldman Sachs, Apple’s banking partner for its credit card and high-yield savings account, is seemingly having doubts about those products. According to The Wall Street Journal, Goldman is looking to get out of the consumer lending business, which could have implications for Apple Card and the associated savings account.

The report suggests that several senior Goldman executives want the company to ditch its remaining consumer lending products — those it offers with Apple as well as the General Motors credit card. No final decision is said to have been made, though the future of Goldman’s consumer products may become a little clearer when the finance company reports its quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

Consumer lending efforts such as Apple Card may have been a mistake for Goldman. The business unit that oversees those and GreenSky (a “buy now, pay later” company Goldman bought for around $2.2 billion last year and is selling at a loss) has lost billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, Goldman has run afoul of regulators. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has investigated Goldman’s handling of credit card billing errors and refunds. Unlike with other card programs, Apple Card bills go out at the beginning of each month. That’s said to put more pressure on Goldman customer service workers who deal with complaints and billing issues. Issuing bills on a rolling basis may alleviate that strain. However, Goldman has reportedly been unsuccessful in convincing Apple to move to a more typical billing cycle.

If Goldman isn’t able to reduce expenses for its credit cards, it may try to sell the Apple and GM partnerships, according to the report. That may prove a difficult prospect, given that customers have deposited billions of dollars into Apple savings accounts. If Goldman manages to get another bank to take over the Apple partnership (including those hefty savings accounts), the Journal noted that the finance company may have to raise expensive emergency funding to cover any shortfall.

Goldman is said to have had talks with American Express about taking over its consumer products. However, Amex reportedly has concerns regarding the Apple Card’s loss rates and other factors Goldman has been attempting to remedy. Amex leaders are also said to have bristled at the fact the Apple Card operates on the Mastercard network.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/goldman-sachs-might-be-trying-to-offload-apples-credit-card-and-savings-accounts-204014759.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Goldman Sachs might be trying to offload Apple’s credit card and savings accounts

Australia has fined X (formerly Twitter) for failing to answer all its questions about child exploitation. The country’s government levied a penalty of AUD 610,500 (around $387,000) for the Elon Musk-owned company’s non-compliance with a national law requiring social platforms to disclose how they’re combating online child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

“Companies can make empty statements like ‘Child exploitation is our top priority,’ so what we’re saying is show us,” Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, told The New York Times in an interview. “This is important not only in terms of deterrence in the types of defiance we are seeing from the companies but because this information is in the public interest.”

Australian officials said neither X nor Google fully complied with the questions. While Google received a formal warning for “giving generic or aggregated information across multiple services where information regarding specific services was required,” X’s violation “was more serious.” Inman Grant said X failed to reply adequately to questions while leaving other boxes blank. “In other instances, Twitter provided a response that was otherwise incomplete or inaccurate,” she wrote.

Jerod Harris via Getty Images

The official says her department sent a notice to X (then Twitter) on February 22, asking it to fulfill its report by answering mandatory questions; she gave the company 35 days to reply. The company responded on March 29. Inman Grant wrote that she identified 14 questions (including sub-questions) where the firm failed to provide the required info. Her office sent follow-up questions on April 6. Musk’s company responded on May 5, leading Inman Grant to conclude the company had held back info in its initial response. She wrote, “It is evident from many of X Corp.’s subsequent responses that it held information required by the Notice and was capable of providing that information at first instance.”

Inman Grant wrote that the nation can seek civil penalties through the courts if X doesn’t pay the fine. And more compliance tools are on the way. “We also have more powerful systemic tools coming online next year in the form of industry codes and standards which will ensure companies are living up to their responsibilities to protect children,” she wrote.

As highlighted by The NYT, X told the Australian regulators, “Children are not our target customer, and our service is not overwhelmingly used by children.” However, CEO Linda Yaccarino recently said in a forum that Gen Z was the platform’s fastest-growing demographic, with 200 million unique monthly visitors among teens and young adults in their 20s.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/australian-regulators-fine-x-for-dodging-questions-about-csam-response-194358319.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Australian regulators fine X for dodging questions about CSAM response

The once-ubiquitous social media site Myspace is getting the documentary treatment, with a film currently in the works that chronicles the rise and fall of the house that Tom built. The movie’s a joint project between production companies Gunpowder & Sky and The Documentary Group, as originally reported by Deadline.

Gunpowder & Sky has produced a number of well-known documentaries, such as 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez and Everybody’s Everything, about deceased rapper Lil Peep. The Documentary Group’s behind shows like Amend: The Fight for America and The Deep End, a series focusing on spiritual wellness guru Teal Swan.

As for behind-the-camera talent, the film’s being directed by Tommy Avallone, who recently helmed the Barney docuseries I Love You, You Hate Me and The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons from a Mythical Man. The film will feature the social media site’s founders Tom Anderson (yes, that Tom) and Chris DeWolfe, in addition to a spate of celebrities who got their start on the platform.

Myspace was the social media site to beat before it was, well, beat by Facebook. The platform launched in 2003 and set the world on fire, becoming an important music promotional tool long before Bandcamp, Spotify and even YouTube. There was a guy named Tom who everyone was chums with. Folks agonized over which real-life friends to put in their list of top eight digital friends. There were some truly grody wallpaper options for your page, and the idea of an Internet troll wasn’t really a thing yet. It was a simpler time.

Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler said the documentary is a no-brainer for folks of a certain age bracket, noting that his colleagues at the time “were all obsessed with Myspace,” going on to say “without Myspace there’s no TikTok, no Facebook, no YouTube, no Instagram, no social media.”

One must understand that before Facebook, people just expected social media sites to enjoy a few months or even years in the sun before making way for the next big thing. That’s the way it was with Myspace, Friendster, SixDegrees, Classmates and all the rest. Then along came Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, beginning the era of the “too big to fail” social media platform. Recent years have finally shown cracks in the armor of these old-school giants, with Twitter’s stark drop from relevance and generational shifts from Facebook to platforms like TikTok. In other words, massive sea changes of the kind that sank Myspace are no longer unthinkable.

There’s no release date for the Myspace documentary, nor has there been an announcement if it would run in theaters or just on a streaming platform. We’ll have to play the waiting game for a while longer.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nostalgia-alert-theres-a-documentary-about-myspace-in-the-works-183359176.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Nostalgia alert: there’s a documentary about Myspace in the works

Twitch announced today that stories are now available in the platform’s mobile app. Similar to the feature of the same name on Snapchat, Instagram and other social platforms, Twitch’s stories let streamers post photos, text or clips that expire after 48 hours. The company frames the feature as helping creators reach and stay connected with their communities while offline. It first announced the feature in July.

At least at launch, the ability to create Twitch stories is limited to partners and affiliates with at least one stream from the last 30 days. However, all users (after updating to the app’s latest version) will be able to see them at the top of the Following page. The company says access will roll out gradually to eligible streamers by the end of this week — and beyond as more creators meet the requirements.

In addition, creators with at least 30 subscribers (including gift subs) can make subscriber-only stories. Twitch recommends using this feature to “add even more value to your supporters’ subscriptions through exclusive content.”

Twitch suggests using stories for easy outreach to followers, scheduling updates and adding visual flare or fun. The mobile app will push alerts to followers when a streamer posts a story, although it also includes notification settings to control the frequency. Meanwhile, creators can see the total views and reactions for each story they post — including after they expire.

“Viewers will see your stories live alongside stories created by other streamers they follow, so post regularly throughout the week to keep your community in-the-know and up-to-date between your streams,” the company wrote in its announcement blog post.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitch-adds-stories-to-keep-followers-tuned-in-181726337.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Twitch adds stories to keep followers tuned in

LinkedIn has announced its second round of layoffs this year. The Microsoft division is shedding around 668 workers from across its engineering, product, talent and finance teams.

“While we are adapting our organizational structures and streamlining our decision making, we are continuing to invest in strategic priorities for our future and to ensure we continue to deliver value for our members and customers,” LinkedIn said in its announcement. “We are committed to providing our full support to all impacted employees during this transition and ensuring that they are treated with care and respect.”

In May, LinkedIn revealed plans to lay off 716 people and close its job search app in China. As such, LinkedIn will have cut nearly 1,400 jobs this year amid widespread layoffs across the tech industry in 2023. Microsoft, which just bought Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, laid off around 10,000 workers in the first few months of 2023.

In Microsoft’s most recent earnings report (which covers April to June), the company said that LinkedIn’s earnings had increased by five percent year-over-year. It noted that membership growth had “accelerated for eight quarters in a row” and that the platform had more than 950 million users. Microsoft is set to announce financial results for the July-September period, the first quarter of its fiscal year, on October 24.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/linkedin-lays-off-600-workers-in-second-round-of-cuts-this-year-154223614.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – LinkedIn lays off 600+ workers in second round of cuts this year

Google had a fairly generous offer for those who pre-ordered a Pixel 8 device: the company tossed in a Pixel Watch 2 or Pixel Buds Pro for free. While the new handsets are now on the market and that offer is no longer available, you haven’t necessarily missed out.

A bundle of the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2 has dropped from $1,349 to $999 at Amazon. Given that the Pixel Watch 2 costs $349, you’ll effectively be getting the wearable for free.

Along with the Tensor G3 chip and new displays, the Pixel 8 lineup offers genuinely useful AI features. Intuitive photo editing, the ability to generate a custom wallpaper and being able to remove distracting ambient noises using Audio Magic Eraser are all major plus points. We gave the Pixel 8 Pro a score of 93 in our review thanks to these factors along with others such as a major improvement to battery life, the addition of a temperature sensor and a very welcome extension of software support to seven years.

As for the Pixel Watch 2, we feel that it’s a worthy improvement over the original model that’s helping Google catch up to rival smartwatches. We gave it a score of 79 in our review, highlighting aspects such as far better battery life (which was the major drawback of the original Pixel Watch), a great heart-rate sensor and the slick design. We took issue with some of the software quirks though, along with the lack of wireless charging and the fact you need to connect to Wi-Fi to sync the device.

That’s not the only bundle Amazon has on sale. You can effectively get a set of Pixel Buds Pro for free when you buy a Pixel 8 bundle, which is currently $200 off at $699.

We gave the Pixel 8 a score of 90. Storage tops out at 256GB (you can deck out the Pixel 8 Pro with up to 1TB of storage, by comparison), the lack of mmWave 5G support and no pro camera controls were our major negatives. That said, while it doesn’t have quite as many bells and whistles as the Pixel 8 Pro, it’s still a great smartphone.

Meanwhile, we feel that the Pixel Buds Pro are Google’s best earbuds to date. In our review last year, we gave them a score of 87. They deliver solid bass and good active noise cancellation performance, but at the time of our review we felt that the call quality and transparency mode were lacking.

Google has been improving the earbuds over time with software updates. It recently upgraded them with call quality enhancements and a feature that pauses music and activates transparency mode when the Pixel Buds Pro detect that you’re speaking.

These bundles should help to offset the $100 Google tacked onto the price of each phone compared with the Pixel 7 lineup. You can check out the full Pixel 8 sale at Amazon, but you’ll need to act quickly if you’re interested in either of bundle we’ve highlighted here. The deals are only available until 11:59PM PT on October 16 or while stocks last.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-pixel-8-bundles-are-up-to-25-percent-off-at-amazon-151431384.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Google Pixel 8 bundles are up to 25 percent off at Amazon

With shipments of its Pocket handheld console finally under control, Analogue is turning its attention to a whole new retro machine. The Analogue 3D aims to be the ultimate Nintendo 64, playing original cartridges on modern 4K displays. I’d love to show it to you, but Analogue is only releasing a teaser image and a few key specs today.

The Analogue 3D is the latest in a line of consoles from the company that emulate retro hardware. All of Analogue’s machines use field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) that are coded to mimic original hardware. Rather than playing ROM files like most software emulators, Analogue consoles play original media — in this case N64 carts — without the downsides that software emulation often brings, such as increased input lag or visual imperfections.

Analogue started out with boutique recreations of Neo Geo and NES hardware, before targeting a more casual audience with systems that mimicked the SNES and Genesis. Its most splashy release to date is the Pocket, which emulates a variety of handhelds. There’s also the TurboGrafx-like Analogue Duo, which was announced in 2020 and, after some delays, will apparently ship this year.

That may seem like a disparate group of consoles, but there is one thing that ties them together: they’re all pretty primitive. If you’ve been around a while, you’ll remember consoles being referred to as 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and so on. A lot of that was marketing, but the hardware of 8-bit systems is broadly less complex to recreate than that of 16-bit systems, and so on. As the first true “64-bit” console on the market, the N64 is by far the most complex system Analogue has tackled to date. Its 64-bit 93.75MHz CPU was wild for a $200 console — even if most developers still wrote 32-bit code for it — and its Silicon Graphics “reality coprocessor” was the stuff of (extremely nerdy) playground legend. They made the T-rex from Jurassic Park with (better versions of) that thing!

The Analogue 3D is described as a “reimagining” of Nintendo’s console, and the company is promising 100 percent compatibility with carts from all regions. It will output at 4K resolution with Original Display Modes that target “reference quality recreations” of specific CRTs and PVMs. To translate, that means Analogue is building filters that might, for example, make a modern OLED or LCD display feel more like a dope mid-’90s Sony Trinitron TV. No word on whether they’re baking in a recreation of the weird LG TV with legs I played on for most of the ’00s.

Internals aside, the N64 has a small library of games and a mistake of a controller, but there are some classics in there. On the first-party side, The Legand of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask have both held up to decades of scrutiny, and Mario 64, some camera issues aside, is as fun to play in 2023 as it was in 1996. Then there’s Paper Mario, Mario Kart 64, F-Zero X, Star Fox 64, Super Smash Bros. and countless others. Rare also did some fantastic work on the N64 with the likes of GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. 

Quality third-party titles were harder to come by, but Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Mischief Makers, Harvest Moon 64 and the Turok games are all worth checking out. (I personally spent more time playing Horse in an average port of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater than any of these, but there’s no accounting for taste.)

One thing very few people remember fondly is the N64’s three-paddled controller, which at the time felt fine but boy was it not. The Analogue 3D will have four controller ports, just like the original N64, but it thankfully also supports Bluetooth and 2.4G wireless connectivity. 8BitDo will be releasing a companion controller for the console, which is all-but invisible in the picture above. After some toying around in Photoshop, it appears to be very similar to the company’s Ultimate controller, but with C-buttons where the regular face buttons would be, the A+B buttons replacing the right analog stick and a big ol’ start button in the middle.

There’s no word yet on price — early Analogue machines cost a lot, but its more recent efforts have been more palatable. The Analogue Duo, which has a CD drive inside, cost $250 when pre-orders went live, so it seems a fair guess to say it’d be in the same price range — though you’ll need to budget for a couple of controllers no matter the price, as Analogue doesn’t supply them with any of its systems.

The Analogue 3D is currently slated to ship in 2024, and knowing Analogue, pre-orders will open some time in the next few months and sell out almost immediately.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-analogue-3d-is-a-nintendo-64-for-modern-times-150020872.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Analogue 3D is a Nintendo 64 for modern times

For my money, web-swinging around New York City in Marvel’s Spider-Man is perhaps the singular best game mechanic I’ve come across in the last decade or so. It feels so incredibly right, and almost everything else in that game is built off it. I never really wanted to use fast-travel features, because swinging around was much more fun, and finding hidden missions and helping citizens in trouble as you traverse NYC is almost as rewarding as following the game’s main story. Of course, a great mechanic isn’t enough to make a great game, but Spider-Man is one of the most successful open-world style games I can think of, because it felt packed without being overwhelming.

My first impressions of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was that developer Insomniac Games turned everything up to 11, packing in more. The map is about twice as big as the original, adding in a chunk of the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens to go along with Manhattan, and the web wings offer a new way of traversing the huge map. There are more playable characters, as you spend nearly equal time jumping between OG Spider-Man Peter Parker and his protégé Miles Morales. Peter and Miles have more special moves than ever before to turn the tides in combat, and there are more skills for them to learn. Conversely, enemies have a lot more ways to mess you up, if you’re not careful.

As such, my main concern for Spider-Man 2 was that Insomniac tried to pack in too much — take what happened to the Assassin’s Creed series with AC: Valhalla as a cautionary tale. However, now that I’ve finished the game, and completed about 75 percent of all the activities and quests available, I can confidently say that Insomniac has built a tight, compelling game with a storyline that ends up with serious momentum, making it all but impossible to put down through the second half. It’s just as satisfying as ever to play as the two Spider-Men, whether you’re flying around NYC or taking on hordes of bad guys. And while the story sucked me in, there are hosts of other things for a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to do for the city’s citizens, including substantial side quests and smaller activities that enhance the story and your capabilities.

Just like the first game, Spider-Man 2 wastes no time hitting you with a bombastic action sequence that kicks off the game’s main plot. This time, Pete and Miles take on classic villain Sandman, who escapes transport to the city’s prison for super-villains and rampages throughout the streets, getting larger and more difficult to manage. As with the intro of most games, this is meant to teach you the capabilities of the two playable characters, and it does so without feeling too heavy-handed or disconnected from the main meat of the game.

It’s not long before we learn of a new threat to the city: Kraven and his band of hunters are tracking down super-villains for sport and causing plenty of distress while they do so. Perhaps most significantly, they’re trying to return Dr. Curt Connors to his menacing alter-ego, The Lizard, a move that has serious implications for Peter, Miles, Pete’s girlfriend MJ Parker and their friend Harry Osborne. Harry was mentioned but not seen in the first game, as he was ill and in recovery through some very experimental treatment that has returned him to his friends in this episode.

In the first third of the game, the traditional action sequences are augmented by a few flashbacks as well as sections of the game that are more about atmosphere and character-building – like one where teenaged Pete and Harry sneak through their high school, or a sequence where Pete, MJ and Harry enjoy a night at a lovingly-rendered version of the Coney Island boardwalk before things inevitably go awry. Those sequences were a little hit or miss, as they did steal away a bit of momentum – but they also provided a break from the pattern of “travel across the city, investigate, beat up bad guys.”

I won’t spoil how it happens, but the unofficial first act ends with Peter coming into possession of the fabled black symbiote suit, which greatly enhances his powers in combat in a way that’s both fun and also a little distressing. If you know anything about Spider-Man lore, you probably know where the story is going. But without going too deep, I can say that Insomniac created a familiar take on the tale of Spider-Man and Venom that nonetheless has a number of unexpected twists. Like I said earlier, I was positively glued to the game, particularly in the second half. The combination of the compelling story and outstanding gameplay elements simply made it hard to stop playing.

Let’s get into that gameplay. Sony and Insomniac have made a big deal about the fact that you can quickly swap between Peter and Miles to have different Spidey-experiences, and it’s as simple as holding a button down when you’re in the open-world part of the game. But the structure of the story dictates that you’re usually either Peter or Miles as the “lead” character for the main quests. The same goes for some of the side quests and activities you’ll find around NYC; there are plenty that you can achieve as either Pete or Miles, but some require you to switch to a specific character.

There are a number of major set-pieces throughout the game, including the Sandman intro, that blend action between the two Spider-Men. You’ll shift seamlessly between the two characters depending on what the action calls for, but you can’t just switch on the fly. It’s all pretty scripted, which makes sense but is still a little bit of a bummer. And while Miles and his crew of friends that were introduced in 2020’s mini-sequel Spider-Man: Miles Morales get plenty of screen time, the story and action lean slightly more towards Peter. If I had to guess, I’d say you control him for 60 percent of the main story. Miles fans shouldn’t be too disappointed, though, because you get to control him through a few of the game’s most intense and thrilling moments.

Insomniac did a great job of both streamlining and expanding combat. Peter and Miles each have four special attacks you can slot that regenerate through combat, giving you some options for discovering and picking your favorite moves. A lot of the gadgets from the first game return, but they’re easier than ever to access. Previously, if you wanted to use a gadget you’d have to hold R1 and switch from your web-shooters to another option. Now, web-shooters are always triggered by mashing R1, but you can hold R1 and hit one of the four face buttons to activate your slotted gadgets. It’s a great quality of life improvement that makes it a lot easier to deploy everything in your arsenal when you’re in a big battle.

The special attacks are likewise triggered by holding L1 and pressing a face button, and these are the main ways to differentiate between Peter and Miles. Otherwise, their combat skills and abilities are pretty similar, and there are lots of upgrades you can make to increase your health bar or the amount of damage you deal that apply to both characters. There’s a shared Peter and Miles skill tree as well as individual ones for each character that focus on their particular special moves. I was worried managing all this was going to get old and overly complicated, but I never felt overburdened by the variety of choices I could make, thanks partially to the fact that the game is generous about dolling out skill points to redeem.

Some of those skill upgrades relate to traversal — how far you travel when swinging from a web line or how fast you boost off an object. There’s a new skill you can use to web-slingshot yourself into motion, which is great to use when you’re on the ground and want to get moving quickly. But the web wings are the biggest change to how you get around NYC, and they’re a delight to use. Tapping X deploys the wings, and you can search for wind tunnels and updrafts to keep you moving quickly and well above street level.

Web-swinging is still my favorite move, but the wings come in extremely handy for some specific missions, including the wild on-the-river chase that Sony showed off a few months ago. Using the wings almost makes piloting the Spider-Men feel like you’re driving a race car, as you can turn corners a lot quicker and with more precision than I anticipated. It’s a totally different experience than web-swinging, and eventually I found myself switching between both techniques to build up speed or tackle certain geographical challenges as I explored the map.

Probably my biggest complaint with the gameplay is something I remember noticing in the first game: There are more than a few moments where the big climax of an action sequence takes place only in a cutscene, where the player has no control or input into what’s on the screen. I get that there are some sequences that are so far outside of the move set players have that they need to be cutscenes, but the game is otherwise so good at immersing you in large-scale conflicts that it’s jarring to be completely pulled out of the action.

Unlike the previous two games, Spider-Man 2 is exclusive to the PS5;the original was built for the PS4 while Miles Morales had a simultaneous release on both consoles. Insomniac didn’t waste any of the horsepower it had to play with here: the game looks incredible. As with many AAA games, you can pick a “fidelity” mode that runs at 30 fps with full 4K graphics and effects like ray tracing, or scale things down a bit for a higher frame rate (up to 120 fps, if your TV supports it) in “performance” mode. As usual, I went for high frame rates, but spent time in both. Rest assured that, whatever your preference, this game is a graphical stunner, with intricately detailed character models — massive bad guys like the Lizard are particularly stunning.

The city, meanwhile, looks gorgeous whether it’s at sunset or in the train, whether the streets are filled with tourists and pedestrians or deserted from the latest calamity. Local landmarks like Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden and Avengers Tower are rendered lovingly, and the new boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn have their own distinct identities in the game just as they do in real life. I’m looking forward to spending more time just exploring the cities and taking in all the detail Insomniac included, probably while using the expansive Photo Mode for some virtual photography.

Insomniac also took advantage of the DualSense controller’s features like adaptive triggers and impressive haptic feedback. There’s a pleasing amount of tension when using the triggers to swing around the city, as well as a number of times when you’ll need to perfectly balance the amount of pressure you’re putting on the triggers to execute a move. As with most games, the DualSense features don’t radically change the experience, but they enhance it in ways that you might not immediately realize but would notice if they went away.

In the last few years, I’ve had an increasingly hard time coming up with original ways to describe Sony’s first-party games. In the PS4 generation, games like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War and Spider-Man all combined excellent storytelling with huge worlds and outstanding gameplay. As such, the recent sequels have all felt like they had to up the stakes and make longer, more complicated games. While I love God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West, I also occasionally felt they were just trying to do too much.

That’s not the case with Spider-Man 2. It’s a perfectly balanced game with gorgeous graphics, delightful combat and traversal systems, a compelling storyline and characters, plenty of challenge and a huge map to explore. Perhaps most importantly, though, it’s just fun. In a year where I’ve struggled to connect with games that I expected I’d love, it was a relief to play Spider-Man 2 and immediately get sucked into the world. Whether or not you’ve played Insomniac’s earlier Spider-Man games, anyone should be able to jump into Spider-Man 2 and immediately feel like a superhero.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/marvels-spider-man-2-review-the-rare-game-thats-both-bigger-and-better-140002497.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 review: The rare game that’s both bigger and better

As gaming laptops and dedicated portable consoles like the Steam Deck eat up all of the press, it’s easy to forget the humble tower desktop. Alienware sure hasn’t, as it just announced the latest refresh to its popular Aurora line of mid-tower gaming desktops. The Aurora R16 is a legit monster that the company says can overclock to an incredible 6.1GHz to handle even the most advanced modern gaming applications.

As a matter of fact, Alienware says this is the company’s first system to reach beyond 6Ghz. This is due to the inclusion of an Intel Core 14th Gen processor, a two UDIMM memory architecture and a custom motherboard based on the Intel Z690 chipset. You can overclock via a BIOS switch to fly past that 6GHz benchmark.

Gaming PCs are also largely defined by the GPU, and the R16 ships with the scarily-powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card with 24GB of GDDR6X memory, though that’s the top-of-the-line model. You have plenty of GPU options here, all the way down to the GeForce RTX 3050 with 8GB of GDDR6 memory. You can also choose up to 64GB of DDR5 XMP memory and up to 4TB of SSD storage.

Aurora desktops have been a mainstay with PC gamers since 2009, but this latest release represents a near-total redesign. The R16’s inspired by the industrial form factor of the company’s Legend 3 gaming laptop. You get a nifty cube design that’s 40 percent smaller than last year’s R15, while still emphasizing accessibility and user upgrades. The chassis ships with either a solid door or a clear side panel so you can marvel at all of those sweet techy innards. The new cube shape also makes it easier to find the perfect spot on or under your desk.

With all of that new power comes new thermal regulation requirements. The R16 boasts larger air-intakes and exhausts than the R15, with hexagonal side vents and a new vertical stadium to provide a larger surface area for airflow. The top face also features a larger surface area for the purposes of exhaust. All told, the company says these upgrades contribute to a seven percent reduction in overall temperature when compared to the R15, despite the added power. You also have your choice of air-cooled or liquid-cooled CPUs.

The R16 also integrates with the company’s Alienware Command Center 6.0 software suite, a first for desktops. This software lets you adjust nearly every aspect of the PC, from the AlienFX lighting, thermal regulation, game presets and much more. As for user upgrades, you have two DIMM slots for memory, 2x M.2 PCIe slots for SSD storage and an additional 3.5” HDD slot. All configurations also support Wi-Fi 6E and 2.5 Gbps ethernet.

The Alienware Aurora R16 will be available for purchase tomorrow and starts at $2,200. This is for a bare-bones model, however, so you could potentially pay hundreds more for access to each and every bell and whistle.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/alienwares-new-aurora-desktop-can-overclock-to-an-astounding-61ghz-130059365.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Alienware’s new Aurora desktop can overclock to an astounding 6.1GHz

It used to be that if you dreamed of reaching 6GHz speeds with your hot rod desktop CPU, you’d have to try your luck with overclocking and all of the potential instability and cooling demands that required. Earlier this year, Intel released the Core i9-13900KS, which hit 6GHz right out of the box. Now, the company is doing it again with its fastest 14th-gen desktop CPU, the i9-14900K. That frequency is just a short-lived “Thermal Velocity Boost” speed, which isn’t sustained for very long, but it’s still something Intel can lord over AMD.

These 14th-gen chips, to be clear, are different from Intel’s recently announced 14th-gen Core Ultra processors for notebooks. Understandably, Intel is focusing on efficiency for its mobile lineup, whereas its desktop chips are all about raw power (and 6GHz bragging rights). You can look at the 14th-gen desktop hardware as a last gasp for Intel’s existing architecture, where the company doesn’t mind pushing power demands to out-bench AMD. (The i9-14900K consumes as much as 253 watts, just like its predecessor.)

Intel’s highest-end 14th-gen chip may get most of the attention, but discerning gamers may be more interested in the i7-14700K, which now features 20 cores (8 performance and 12 efficiency) and reaches up to 5.6GHz “Turbo Boost Max 3.0” speeds. Perhaps most importantly, its $409 price tag is well below the 14900K’s $589.

When it comes to benchmarks, Intel claims the 14900K is up to 23 percent faster than AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X3D while playing Starfield in 1080p. The company also says that chip is up to 54 percent faster than the same AMD hardware while multi-tasking between After Effects and Premiere Pro. (That comparison may be a bit unfair, since Intel tested an Auto Reframe task in Premiere Pro that works together with its UHD graphics, something that AMD’s graphics don’t help with.)

Perhaps more useful than raw benchmark comparisons, Intel also says the i9-14900K was able to reach over 100fps in Total War: Warhammer III while playing, streaming and recording in 1080p with ultra graphics settings. That game is also optimized specifically for its 14th-gen hardware, so you can’t expect the same results with every title.

If you’re still eager to overclock, Intel is also making that easier with its new XTU AI Assist feature, which will only be available on the i9-4900K. In a demo for media, an Intel representative showed off how the XTU app can quickly determine the ideal processor core voltages, motherboard power settings and “other tuning knobs” to determine safe performance speeds. They noted that Intel had trained its AI overclocking model on hundreds of CPUs, as well as a variety of motherboard and cooler options (including a bit of liquid cooling). Once the AI tuning process is complete, you can roll with its suggested settings or use them as a baseline for further overclocking.

One feature you won’t see in these new 14th-gen chips? An NPU (neural processing unit) for AI acceleration. Oddly enough, the company’s upcoming Core Ultra mobile chips will feature an NPU, which enables things like Windows Studios Effects for AI-powered background blurs in video chats. It makes sense for Intel’s first NPU to appear in its new architecture, whereas the 14th-gen desktop chips are beefed-up versions of last year’s hardware. Still, it’s a bit odd for its priciest desktop hardware to miss out on something mere laptops will see next year.

Intel’s 14th-gen desktop chips will be available from retailers and system manufacturers on October 17th.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intel-hits-6ghz-again-with-its-14th-gen-desktop-cpus-130007286.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Intel hits 6GHz (again) with its 14th-gen desktop CPUs

TikTok is the latest social media company to announce its plan for mitigating misleading and violent content in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. A point-by-point blog post details recent steps, such as the creation of a command center “that brings together key members of our 40,000-strong global team of safety professionals, representing a range of expertise and regional perspectives, so that we remain agile in how we take action to respond to this fast-evolving crisis.” The company’s statement follows similar ones from Meta and X — both companies had received letters from the European Union’s regulatory commissioner detailing misinformation concerns. 

Additional steps outlined by TikTok include hiring “more” moderators who speak Arabic or Hebrew and regularly updating its automatic detection systems to identify graphic or violent content so as not to expose users or moderators. To that end, TikTok has expanded the well-being care available for frontline moderators. Notably, a moderator sued TikTok in 2021 for mental trauma, alleging that she would view between three and ten videos at once that featured horrific events like school shootings and cannibalism. 

Users should also now see opt-in screens over graphic imagery that is being kept on the platform for “public interest” reasons and further restricted Live eligibility in an attempt to limit misinformation. Speaking of falsehoods circulating on the internet, TikTok reiterated that it removes spliced content that users have edited to be misleading. 

TikTok reportedly took down about 500,000 videos and ended 8,000 livestreams occurring in Israel and Gaza between the initial attacks on October 7 and the statement’s October 15 release. Moving forward, the company plans to roll out misinformation warnings in English, Hebrew and Arabic when certain terms are searched. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-details-how-its-taking-action-against-israel-hamas-misinformation-115753575.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – TikTok details how it’s taking action against Israel-Hamas misinformation

Are you waiting for an even more powerful Apple laptop? Well, you might have to hold on a little longer. Apple’s M3 MacBook Pro may arrive at the beginning of 2024, with the M3 MacBook Air likely to follow a few months later. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who had predicted that a MacBook Air with the new chip could appear as early as October.

Gurman reports the 13-inch and 15-inch M3 MacBook Airs are now in the engineering verification test (EVT) stage. M3 MacBook Pros, on the other hand, are further along in the process and “nearing mass production.” If you want even more power, MBPs with M3 Pro and M3 Max are also progressing, so expect to see them in the first half of 2024.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

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Chevy’s first hybrid Corvette isn’t what you think

Test-driving the E-Ray hybrid.

The 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray’s hybrid drive isn’t here to raise the efficiency of this iconic sports car. It’s only here to make it faster: 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds and a quarter-mile in 10.5 faster. The electric motor up front adds 160 horsepower to the 495 from the LT2 V8 engine in the back. It even helps the handling.

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US labor board says X illegally fired a worker in retaliation for critical tweet

It was over Elon Musk’s return-to-work policy.

The National Labor Relations Board has accused X (formerly Twitter) of retaliating against software engineer Yao Yue for attempting to organize workers in the wake of the new policy. After Musk gave then-Twitter employees an ultimatum in November 2022 to return to the office, Yue urged others not to resign in response but instead “let him fire you.” Yue was fired five days after tweeting about it and writing a similar post on Slack. In terminating her, the complaint filed by a San Francisco branch of the NLRB alleges the company violated federal labor laws by “interfering with, restraining and coercing employees” exercising protected rights.

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Netflix’s Squid Game reality show premieres on November 22

The winner gets a $4.56 million prize, with minimal risk of bloodshed.

Netflix’s Squid Game reality show will premiere on November 22, just in time for Thanksgiving, so you can celebrate the holiday by watching a reality show adaptation of a dystopian drama with a pretty on-the-nose message about late-stage capitalism. One that’s utterly ignored here.

Continue reading.

Engadget Podcast: Meta Quest 3 and Pixel 8 reviews

With special guest, Norm Chan from Tested.

The Meta Quest 3 is here, and it’s the best standalone VR headset we’ve ever seen. But is that enough to make people care about virtual reality? In this episode, Devindra and Senior Writer Sam Rutherford chat with Tested’s Norm Chan about the Quest 3 and Meta’s mixed reality future.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-you-might-have-to-wait-for-an-m3-powered-macbook-pro-and-macbook-air-111504463.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Morning After: You might have to wait for an M3-powered MacBook Pro and MacBook Air

Minecraft is turning 15 next year and we’ve been given insight into how popular it still is in the lead up: the game has now sold more than 300 million copies. To put that in perspective, Grand Theft Auto V is not even a close second, with over 185 million copies sold. Even its slightly later release (2013) doesn’t do much to make up for the gap — especially considering Minecraft surpassed the 200 million mark in 2020. 

Mojang Studios announced the achievement during a Minecraft Live event that shared new features coming to the game, like a trial chamber that has traps and mobs coming at you along a series of rooms and corridors. A new Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC and Planet Earth DLC are also in development and will be available on November 7 and early next year, respectively. 

“As we approach the 15th anniversary, Minecraft remains one of the best-selling games of all time with over 300 million copies sold,” said Helen Chiang, head of Mojang Studios. “[Its] a milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all placing our first blocks.”

The exact launch date of Minecraft is a bit confusing. Game developer Markus Persson, commonly known as Notch, first made Minecraft available to the public in 2009 (the anniversary being celebrated), but the game wasn’t officially released until late 2011. Persson used the initial launch as an opportunity to better the game, keeping track of feedback and releasing alpha and beta updates in 2010 under his new company, Mojang. Jens Bergesten took over as lead designer at the end of that year, and in November 2011, the official Minecraft game launched on iOS.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/minecraft-has-now-sold-over-300-million-copies-094225081.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Minecraft has now sold over 300 million copies

If Apple does release a cheaper Vision Pro headset, it’s likely to be a stripped-down version with fewer external cameras, no EyeSight feature and an iPhone chip in place of the current Mac chip. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter that the company is looking at these options as ways to bring the cost down to between $1,500 and $2,500 for a lower-end model. Apple Vision Pro, which is set to begin shipping in early 2024, currently starts at an eye-watering $3,500.

In an earlier report, Gurman said the cheaper Vision Pro would also use lower resolution displays inside the headset. The big indication now is that it may drop the external display that enables its signature EyeSight feature, according to Gurman. EyeSight projects the wearer’s eyes onto an outward-facing OLED display so anyone who approaches can see where their attention is focused. It was one of major selling points in Apple’s Vision Pro announcement, though it isn’t exactly mission critical.

According to Gurman, a follow-up to the premium Vision Pro is in the works already, too. That will have EyeSight, and potentially a more lightweight design that opts for built-in prescription lenses for those who need it rather than the Zeiss inserts it’s working with now.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-may-cut-eyesight-display-and-mac-chip-for-its-cheaper-vision-pro-204548008.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple may cut EyeSight display and Mac chip for its cheaper Vision Pro

Apple’s M3 MacBook Pro may arrive in the beginning of 2024, with the M3 MacBook Air to follow a few months later, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman had previously predicted that a MacBook Air featuring the new chip might see an October launch, but he now says it seems to be shaping up for a release between next spring and summer “at the earliest.”

In the latest installment of his Power On newsletter, Gurman reports that the 13-inch and 15-inch M3 MacBook Airs are now in the engineering verification test (EVT) stage. M3 MacBook Pros, on the other hand, are further along in the process and “nearing mass production.” According to Gurman, “The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips have reached the DVT stage — short for design validation test.” This puts them on track for release “between early and spring 2024,” he notes. Apple released its 2023 MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips in January.

Gurman’s report also contradicts rumors from this weekend that Apple will introduce new iPads this week. Supercharged and 9to5Mac reported that the iPad Air and iPad mini are getting chip upgrades, with the former adopting the M2 chip and the mini upgrading to A16 Bionic. In his report, Gurman says upgrades along these lines are in development, but writes, “I don’t believe updates of any significance are imminent.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-m3-macbook-pro-and-macbook-air-will-likely-both-be-released-next-year-185124991.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple’s M3 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air will likely both be released next year

Netflix just dropped the official trailer for its upcoming Scott Pilgrim anime, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. The highly anticipated eight-episode series brings back the original cast from the 2010 movie, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and counts Bryan Lee O’Malley — creator of the comics it’s all based on — as a co-writer and executive producer. Edgar Wright, who directed the movie, is also on board as an executive producer. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off will be released on November 17.

We’re not quite done with the busy fall season of tech events. It’s Baidu’s turn to reveal what it has been cooking up. The company will host its Baidu World showcase on October 16th at 10PM ET.

After several years of holding the event entirely virtually, Baidu is returning to an in-person format with “real-world demos and experiences” for the first time since 2019. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the direction almost every major tech company has gone in recent times, there will be a significant focus on artificial intelligence.

Baidu says it will discuss “a range of AI-native applications and the latest advances in foundation models.” That suggests we’ll learn more about what’s next for ERNIE Bot, its large language model and generative AI chatbot. The company may also have more to share about the impact of artificial intelligence on its self-driving initiatives.

The two-hour event will open with a keynote address from Baidu co-founder and CEO Robin Li. You can watch a live stream of Baidu World 2023 below.

Siri and Alexa were only the beginning. As voice recognition and speech synthesis technologies continue to mature, the days of typing on keyboards to interact with the digital world around us could be coming to an end — and sooner than many of us anticipated. Where today’s virtual assistants exist on our mobile devices and desktops to provide scripted answers to specific questions, the LLM-powered generative AI copilots of tomorrow will be there, and everywhere else too. This is the “voice-first” future Tobias Dengel envisions in his new book, The Sound of the Future: The Coming Age of Voice Technology.

Using a wide-ranging set of examples, and applications in everything from marketing, sales and customer service to manufacturing and logistics, Dengel walks the reader through how voice technologies can revolutionize the ways in which we interact with the digital world. In the excerpt below, Dengel discusses voice technology might expand its role in the aviation industry, even after the disastrous outcome of its early use in the Boeing 737 MAX.       

Excerpted from THE SOUND OF THE FUTURE: The Coming Age of Voice Technology by Tobias Dengel with Karl Weber. Copyright © 2023. Available from PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

REDUCING THE BIGGEST RISKS: MAKING FLYING SAFER

Some workplaces involve greater risks than others. Today’s technology-driven society sometimes multiplies the risks we face by giving ordinary people control over once-incredible amounts of power, in forms that range from tractor trailers to jet airplanes. People carrying out professional occupations that involve significant risks on a daily basis will also benefit from the safety edge that voice provides — as will the society that depends on these well-trained, highly skilled yet imperfect human beings.

When the Boeing 737 MAX airliner was rolled out in 2015, it featured a number of innovations, including distinctive split-tip winglets and airframe modifications that affected the jumbo jet’s aerodynamic characteristics. A critical launch goal for Boeing was to enable commercial pilots to fly the new plane without needing new certifications, since retraining pilots is very expensive for airlines. To achieve that goal, the airliner’s software included an array of ambitious new features, including many intended to increase safety by taking over control from the crew in certain situations. These included something called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which was supposed to compensate for an excessive nose-up angle by adjusting the horizontal stabilizer to keep the aircraft from stalling— a complicated technical “hack” implemented by Boeing to avoid the larger cost involved in rewriting the program from the ground up.

The 737 MAX was a top seller right out of the gate. But what Boeing and its airline customers hadn’t realized was that the software was being asked to do things the pilots didn’t fully understand. As a result, pilots found themselves unable to interface in a timely fashion with the complex system in front of them. The ultimate result was two tragic crashes with 346 fatalities, forcing the grounding of the 737 MAX fleet and a fraud settlement that cost Boeing some $2.5 billion. Additional losses from cancelled aircraft orders, lowered stock value, and other damages have been estimated at up to $60 billion. 

These needless losses — financial and human — were caused, in large part, by small yet fatal failures of cockpit communication between people and machines. The pilots could tell that something serious was wrong, but the existing controls made it difficult for them to figure out what that was and to work with the system to correct the problem. As a result, in the words of investigative reporter Peter Robison, “the pilots were trying to retake control of the plane, so that the plane was pitching up and down over several minutes.” Based on his re-creation of what happened, Robison concludes, “it would have been terrifying for the people on the planes.”

When voice becomes a major interface in airliner cockpits, a new tool for preventing such disasters will be available. In traditional aviation, pilots receive commands like “Cleared Direct Casanova VOR” or “Intercept the ILS 3” via radio from dispatchers at air traffic control. After the pilots get this information, they must use their eyes and hands to locate and press a series of buttons to transmit the same commands to the aircraft. In a voice-driven world, that time-wasting, error-prone step will be eliminated. In the first stage of voice adoption, pilots will simply be able to say a few words without moving their eyes from the controls around them, and the plane will respond. According to Geoff Shapiro, a human factors engineer at the former Rockwell Collins Advanced Technology Center, this shift trims the time spent when entering simple navigational commands from half a minute to eight seconds — a huge improvement in circumstances when a few moments can be critical. In the second stage, once veteran pilots have recognized and accepted the power of voice, the plane will automatically follow the spoken instructions from air traffic control, merely asking the pilot to confirm them.

A voice-interface solution integrating the latest capabilities of voice-driven artificial intelligence can improve airline safety in several ways. It gives the system self-awareness and the ability to proactively communicate its state and status to pilots, thereby alerting them to problems even at moments when they might otherwise be distracted or inattentive. Using increasingly powerful voice-technology tools like automatic speech recognition and natural language understanding, it also allows the airplane’s control systems to process and act on conversational speech, making the implementation of pilot commands faster and more accurate than ever. It facilitates real-time communications linking the cockpit, air traffic control, the airline carrier, and maintenance engineers to remove inconsistencies in communication due to human indecision or misjudgment. In the near future, it may even be able to use emerging voice-tech tools such as voice biometrics and real-time sentiment analysis to determine stress levels being experienced by pilots —information that could be used to transmit emergency alerts to air traffic controllers and others on the ground.

Voice technology won’t eliminate all the traditional activities pilots are trained to perform. But in critical moments when the speed of response to messages from a control tower may spell the difference between survival and disaster, the use of a voice interface will prevent crashes and save lives. This is not a fantasy about the remote future. Today’s planes have all the electronics needed to make it possible. 

One field of aviation in which safety risks are especially intense is military flying. It’s also an arena in which voice-enabled aviation is being avidly pursued. Alabama-based Dynetics has received $12.3 million from DARPA, the Pentagon’s storied defense-technology division, to develop the use of AI in “high-intensity air conflicts.” The third phrase of the current three-phase research/implementation program involves a “realistic, manned-flight environment involving complex human-machine collaboration” — including voice communication. 

The US Air Force is not alone in pursuing this technological advantage. The next generation of the MiG-35, the highly advanced Russian fighter jet, will apparently feature a voice assistant to offer advice in high-pressure situations. Test pilot Dmitry Selivanov says, “We call her Rita, the voice communicant. Her voice remains pleasant and calm even if fire hits the engine. She does not talk all the time, she just makes recommendations if the plane approaches some restrictions. Hints are also provided during combat usage.”

Voice-controlled flying is also in development for civilian aircraft. Companies like Honeywell and Rockwell are designing voice interfaces for aviation, with an initial focus on reducing pilot workload around tedious tasks involving basic, repetitive commands like “Give me the weather at LAX and any critical weather en route.” More extensive and sophisticated use cases for voice tech in aviation are steadily emerging. Vipul Gupta is general manager of Honeywell Aerospace Avionics. He and his team are deeply focused on perfecting the technology of the voice cockpit, especially its response speed, which is a crucial safety feature. Their engineers have reduced the voice system’s average response time to 250 milliseconds, which means, in effect, that the system can react more quickly than a human pilot can.

Over time, voice-controlled aircraft systems will become commonplace in most forms of aviation. But in the short term, the most important use cases will be in general aviation, where single-pilot operators are notoriously overloaded, especially when operating in bad weather or congested areas. Having a “voice copilot” will ease those burdens and make the flying experience safer for pilot and passengers alike.

Voice-controlled aircraft are also likely to dominate the emerging field of urban air mobility, which involves the use of small aircraft for purposes ranging from cargo deliveries to sightseeing tours within city and suburban airspaces. New types of aircraft, such as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) are likely to dominate this domain, with the marketplace for eVTOLs expected to explode from nothing in 2022 to $1.75 billion in 2028. As this new domain of flight expands, experienced pilots will be in short supply, so the industry is now designing simplified cockpit systems, controlled by voice, that trained “operators” will be able to manage.

Vipul Gupta is bullish about the future of the voice-powered cockpit. “Eventually,” he says, “we’ll have a voice assistant where you will just sit in [the aircraft] and the passenger will say, ‘Hey, fly me there, take me there. And then the system does it.’”

As a licensed pilot with significant personal experience in the cock- pit, I suspect he will be right —eventually. As with most innovations, I believe it will take longer than the early adopters and enthusiasts believe. This is especially likely in a critical field like aviation, in which human trust issues and regulatory hurdles can take years to overcome. But the fact is that the challenges of voice-powered flight are actually simpler in many ways than those faced by other technologies, such as autonomous automobiles. For example, a plane cruising at 20,000 feet doesn’t have to deal with red lights, kids dashing into the street, or other drivers tailgating.

For this reason, I concur with the experts who say that we will have safe, effective voice-controlled planes sooner than autonomous cars. And once the technology is fully developed, the safety advantages of a system that can respond to spoken commands almost instantly in an emergency will be too powerful for the aviation industry to forgo.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hitting-the-books-the-sound-of-the-future-tobias-dengel-publicaffairs-143020776.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Hitting the Books: Voice-controlled AI copilots could lead to safer flights

Anyone sitting on a mountain of cryptocurrency can now use it to buy a Ferrari in the US. According to Reuters, the luxury carmaker is working with the crypto payment processor BitPay to accept bitcoin, ether and USDC for purchases stateside, which customers were apparently begging for. Europe is expected to get the same treatment in early 2024, with other regions to follow.

There won’t be any upcharges for those paying with crypto, Ferrari’s Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera told Reuters, and BitPay will convert those payments to traditional currency at the time of the transaction to avoid any issues of volatility. Galliera said the move will help the company reach “people who are not necessarily our clients but might afford a Ferrari.”

Just last year, Ferrari announced a commitment to more sustainable operations, including reducing its environmental footprint, and embracing the notoriously energy-intensive cryptocurrencies would seem to go against that. But, the company insists this doesn’t get in the way of its mission. Galliera cited recent strides in improving crypto’s carbon footprint, like heavier reliance on renewable energy sources, and told Reuters, “Our target to reach for carbon neutrality by 2030 along our whole value chain is absolutely confirmed.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-buy-a-ferrari-with-crypto-in-the-us-if-thats-your-thing-214639691.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – You can now buy a Ferrari with crypto in the US, if that’s your thing