Even in 2025, Google.com still knows how to have fun. If you tend to rely on your browser’s address bar for Google Search, you might miss the company’s latest “Doodle.” But today, Oct. 30, if you head to the Google homepage, you’ll find a Halloween-themed surprise: a fully playable PAC-MAN game, outfitted with spooky mazes and characters.

The Halloween part makes sense, seeing as the holiday is tomorrow. But why PAC-MAN? As it happens, this year marks the game’s 45th anniversary. For this Doodle, Google says it partnered with PAC-MAN’s parent company, Bandi Namco Entertainment, to feature a celebratory PAC-MAN game on the homepage.

If you’re familiar with PAC-MAN, you won’t have any trouble getting into Google’s version. This is the core PAC-MAN experience players have navigated since 1980: You control PAC-MAN through a maze, eating all the dots along the way. If you crash into one of the four ghosts floating around the maze (Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde), you die, unless you eat an “Power Pellet,” in which case you’re free to eat the ghosts. According to Google, this game has eight levels, with four haunted-house mazes.

I do appreciate the effort that went into this experience. Sure, the PAC-MAN gameplay is the same as ever, but the Halloween-themed mazes are fun. I also love the attention to detail with the graphics: The visuals have scan-lines, which sells the retro look. You won’t be getting 4K crispy pixels in this game, and that only makes it feel like you’re back at your local arcade.

Google says the game is only available today (Oct. 30) and tomorrow (Oct. 31) from the homepage, though I would hope it will be made available elsewhere (Google Doodle games are typically archived). But if you want to give it a shot, try it out now just in case.

Norton Security has some reliable products, but its VPN isn’t one of them. In my Norton VPN review, I argued that it’s only really worthwhile if you can get a discount on it as part of a Norton 360 package — and even in that case, you should only use it for non-sensitive activities due to some holes in Norton’s comprehensive privacy policy.

That’s a lot of conditions, so I’d understand if you’re here because you’ve decided Norton VPN isn’t for you. Read on to learn your options for cancelling this VPN, getting a refund and replacing it with a better provider.

How to turn off Norton VPN auto-renewal

The simplest way to cancel Norton VPN is to stop your subscription from automatically renewing. That way, you’ll have until your plan expires to look for a new VPN. Note that the steps below are the same no matter how you got Norton VPN, whether on its own or as part of Norton 360 — though they only apply if you subscribed through the Norton website, not an app store.

1. Sign into your account at my.norton.com. You’ll be taken to your account dashboard with your subscriptions tab visible. If it’s not, click on My Subscriptions.

2. On your subscriptions hub, find the plan you get Norton VPN through. Click the words Manage Renewal or Cancel Subscription Renewal.

3. In the window that appears, click Unsubscribe. Select a reason for cancellation (no need to be truthful) and click Next.

4. At this point, you’ll have to wade through several pleas for you to stay. Stand firm and keep clicking through until you can click No thanks, cancel my subscription.

5. Continue clicking Next until you see a confirmation that auto-renewal has been turned off. Wait 24 hours for the change to take effect.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

If you change your mind after turning auto-renewal off, you can turn it back on again anytime before the subscription expires. For those who bought through an app store, there’s no way to turn off auto-renewal; you can only cancel the subscription altogether. See the end of the next section to learn how to do that.

How to cancel Norton VPN and get a refund

You can request a refund on any annual subscription for 60 days after paying. Monthly subscriptions can only be refunded once, within 14 days of paying — if you renew a monthly plan then decide to cancel, you’re out of luck.

The only way to get a refund is to contact Norton directly. If you’re ready to go cold turkey, follow these steps.

1. In a browser, open support.norton.com.

2. Scroll down until you see nine buttons arranged in a 3×3 grid. Find the second button down in the left-hand column, Contact us, and click on it.

3. Enter the email address for your Norton account. Check that inbox for a verification code, then enter it in the next box and click Verify.

4. When the live chat asks you what you need help with, select Purchase & Billing, then Request refund. Give a reason in the dropdown menu.

5. As usual, be persistent until you get a message in writing that your refund will be processed. Wait at least three days for the money to appear.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

If you subscribed through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, you’ll have to cancel through the same platform where you started. Just go into the subscriptions page of the store’s mobile app, find your Norton VPN subscription and click the Cancel button beside it. After that, just follow the prompts, then request a refund using the steps above.

How to uninstall Norton VPN

To get your money back from Norton, you can’t just shut off auto-renewal. You’ll have to cancel your plan immediately and delete all Norton apps from your devices. I recommend following these steps even if you aren’t eligible for a refund, since Norton software is notoriously hard to uninstall and will crop back up if you don’t completely root it out.

On Android and iOS, uninstalling Norton VPN is relatively easy — after cancelling your subscription, delete it like you would any other app. Things are a bit trickier on the desktop OSes. On Windows, hold the Windows key and press R to make a black box appear. Type appwiz.cpl and hit Enter. A list of programs should appear; click on Norton VPN, then click Uninstall/Change and follow the instructions.

On a Mac, open your Applications folder and find Norton VPN. Click the app icon and drag it to the trash. This should start a separate program called Norton Uninstaller. Click OK, enter your password if asked, then click Uninstall. Finally, you’ll need to restart your computer to finish uninstalling.

Norton VPN alternatives

Once you’ve dispensed with Norton VPN, you can get started with a provider that fits your needs better. Proton VPN, my current top pick in our guide to the best VPNs, takes privacy more seriously than Norton and has superior app design and speeds. Surfshark is the fastest VPN, NordVPN has the best features and ExpressVPN is the friendliest for beginners.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/how-to-cancel-norton-vpn-uninstall-it-and-get-your-money-back-150000872.html?src=rss

Google will offer 18-month free access to its Gemini AI service for all 505 million telecom users of India’s Reliance Jio, a tie-up that follows similar freebies from rivals including OpenAI to boost adoption in the world’s most populous nation. From a report: The move also comes weeks after Google committed to invest $15 billion in AI infrastructure capacity in India, its biggest investment yet in the critical South Asian market.

[…] The Gemini offer will give Jio users free access to the advanced model of the AI app, two terabytes of cloud storage, and its image and video generation models, in an 18-month offering that is otherwise priced at 35,100 rupees ($399). The companies on Thursday also announced AI partnerships that targeted Indian businesses.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The US inched one step closer to taking over TikTok’s algorithm after President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.

Neither leader confirmed that China has agreed to the terms of Trump’s proposed deal, which would create a US version of TikTok that licenses the Chinese-owned algorithm. But the Chinese Commerce Ministry provided a statement following the meeting; translated, it indicates that “China will properly resolve TikTok-related issues with the United States.”

Trump, who has long vowed to “save” TikTok, was notably silent on Thursday, but US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi that “we finalized the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval.” According to Bessent, the deal will “finally” be resolved over the “coming weeks and months,” Reuters reported.

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A number of US government agencies are backing a potential move by the Commerce Department to ban TP-Link routers, according to The Washington Post. Multiple sources familiar with internal deliberations spoke with the publication on the condition of anonymity, including a former senior Defense Department official.

A months-long interagency process involving the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense took place this summer to consider the sweeping move. Investigations into the company stemming from national security concerns have been taking place since at least last year.

At the heart of the potential ban is a concern that TP-Link retains ties to China, despite splitting from Chinese corporation TP-Link Technologies to become a standalone entity in 2022. A spokesperson for TP-Link denied any Chinese ties, saying “any adverse action against TP-Link would have no impact on China, but would harm an American company.”

US officials told The Washington Post they are concerned because under Chinese law, TP-Link must comply with Chinese intelligence agency requests and may even be pressured to push malicious software updates to its devices. US-based TP-Link Systems said the company is “not subject to the direction of the PRC intel apparatus.”

TP-Link routers are among the most popular in the United States, with the company claiming 36 percent of US market share. Earlier this year however, former American cybersecurity official Rob Joyce testified before Congress that TP-Link’s market share was roughly 60 percent, thanks in part to selling its equipment below cost in order to drive out competition.

The potential ban of TP-Link products is another in a long list of bureaucratic moves or discussions that have come against the backdrop of trade negotiations between the US and China. While a potential breakthrough in these talks was achieved today, a source for The Washington Post said a ban on TP-Link products remains a bargaining chip for the administration.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/us-government-is-getting-closer-to-banning-tp-link-routers-145528317.html?src=rss

Sticking to a workout schedule is tough even when everything is going normally and you have a pretty standard daily routine. Once you add travel into the mix, it can feel impossible. Sure, hotels have fitness centers, but if you’ve ever gone to one only to learn it’s nothing more than a few dumbbells and an ancient treadmill, you know how aggravating those can be. There are two apps I use to stick to my routine and prioritize my health while I’m on the road, but I use them quite differently.

ClassPass

After discovering last month that ClassPass houses a little-known, but varied, selection of at-home workout classes to stream, I happily re-downloaded the app for the first time in years. If you’re not familiar, you buy monthly credits that you can redeem at gyms and fitness studios, trading a handful of credits for, say, a yoga or HIIT class. (You can also use it for salon and spa services, which is a cool upgrade that app has gotten since I last used it.)

I used it all around my neighborhood in New York City for a month, checking out all the boutique studios near me, and found some I loved and others I was glad I didn’t spend full price on a trial class for. But last week, when I was home visiting my mom in North Dakota, I checked ClassPass—and sure enough, yoga, barre, spin, and Pilates classes came up. I hadn’t entirely expected it to work; it’s one thing for a well-populated location like Manhattan to have a bunch of offerings on there, but Bismarck? Yes, Bismarck! I went to a barre class and it was awesome, exactly what I needed to stay on track with my workout schedule and destress after a disastrous night of airline mishaps.

In the next three months, I’m going to West Virginia, Nebraska, and Mississippi. That’s how your vacation schedule looks when you’re on a mission to visit all 50 states (and I only have eight to go). According to ClassPass, I’ll be able to take a yoga class in Charleston, do HIIT in Omaha, and book time at a pickleball court in Biloxi. All of that beats a hotel fitness center by a mile. Even the smallest cities are well-represented on this app and you can get a real, full class experience wherever you are.

Peloton

I am a dedicated Peloton user and the app gets daily use from me, even if I’m only using it to track my outdoor walks. If you can’t find the time or transportation to get to an in-person class, you have loads of options through Peloton, many of which can be completed in your hotel room, like yoga or stretching.

There are guided walks available so you can take yourself on a mindful explorative journey around wherever you are, but you can also find loads of hotels that have Peloton cardio equipment. Usually, the Bikes or other equipment are in a fitness center, but I’ve seen hotels that even have them available in-room.

Even if you can only devote 10 minutes to working out, it’s better than nothing and keeps you in your groove, which is why I value the Peloton app so much. I did, of course, use it to track the barre class I took in Bismarck, plus the Les Mills Body Pump and Solidcore classes I took there, too.

To the south of the Monte Cristo mountain range and west of Paymaster Canyon, a vast stretch of the Nevada desert has attracted modern-day prospectors chasing one of 21st-century America’s greatest investment booms.

Solar power developers want to cover an area larger than Washington, DC, with silicon panels and batteries, converting sunlight into electricity that will power air conditioners in sweltering Las Vegas along with millions of other homes and businesses.

But earlier this month, bureaucrats in charge of federal lands scrapped collective approval for the Esmeralda 7 projects, in what campaigners fear is part of an attack on renewable energy under President Donald Trump. “We will not approve wind or farmer destroying [sic] Solar,” he posted on his Truth Social platform in August. Developers will need to reapply individually, slowing progress.

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Donald Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, have agreed to a one-year pause on the punitive Trump-instated tariffs that are at the heart of the ongoing trade war between the two superpowers. Among the issues discussed when the two leaders met face-to-face in the South Korean city of Busan were China’s chokehold on rare earth metals and the export restrictions on NVIDIA’s AI chips.

Trump had previously made some characteristically explosive threats that he would impose new 100 percent tariffs on imports from China as a retaliation to Xi’s tightening grip on rare earths, the processing of which is almost entirely controlled by China. These materials are essential for manufacturing everything from smartphones and EVs to military equipment. As part of the (for now) temporary truce, China reportedly agreed to pause the new measures for the next 12 months in exchange for Trump lowering Chinese tariffs by 10 percent.

According to The New York Times, Trump said he had discussed semiconductors during his talks with Xi, and “did not rule out” the possibility of allowing NVIDIA to sell AI chips to China. The American company was allowed to resume selling its H20 chips in China in July after an initial ban earlier in the year, only for Beijing to reportedly respond by instructing its largest tech companies not to do business until a national security review had been completed. The leaders did not discuss the possible availability of Blackwell chips — NVIDIA’s most advanced AI chip to date that is currently in development and possibly a motivating factor in China’s apparent indifference to the H20 architecture — at their meeting in South Korea.

There was also no resolution on TikTok and its future in the US. The last we heard, the Trump administration claimed to be close to agreement that would see the US gain majority ownership of the Chinese-owned social media giant where it was operating on home soil, but nothing has been finalized at the time of writing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/us—china-trade-talks-see-one-year-pause-on-punitive-tariffs-140550358.html?src=rss

LG and Ubisoft have teamed up to bring the motion-controlled rhythm game Just Dance Now to LG Smart TVs. The game will be available from December in the LG Gaming Portal for LG TV users in the US and Europe running webOS 22 or later, with no additional hardware required.

Just Dance Now originally launched in 2014 as a mobile app for iOS and Android, before Ubisoft brought the game to Apple TV a year later. A main series spinoff aimed at people who don’t own a console, Just Dance Now offers a library of hundreds of songs that span decades of music, which you’ll be able to access for free for a limited time each day. If that just isn’t enough dancing time to satisfy you, you can subscribe to one of Ubisoft’s paid plans or purchase song packs.

Just Dance Now was originally designed to be played using your phone as a controller, with your handset of choice functioning much like the Wii Remote did in the very first Just Dance game back in 2009. In the LG Gaming Portal version of the game, the motion-sensing LG Magic Remote becomes the peripheral, so you really don’t need any extra gear.

Ahead of the December launch, the Just Dance Now app will be available in beta, allowing players to try three songs on the first day, followed by one daily for the remainder for the two-week trial. Ubisoft hasn’t announced the release date for the beta yet.

The LG Gaming Portal is gradually becoming a viable alternative to a console for people with a casual interest in games. The cloud version of Xbox Game Pass joined the platform back in April, and the new and improved GeForce NOW app introduced up to 4K 120Hz game streams on LG TVs a few months ago.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/just-dance-now-is-coming-to-lg-smart-tvs-140042944.html?src=rss