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25.02.2025 01:01  Everyone's favorite sorta-poker game Balatro is set to cause yet another dip in global productivity levels. The roguelike — which encourages you to bend and twist the rules of poker in all kinds of wild ways — is available on Game Pass Ultimate, PC and Standard. Apple Arcade subscribers also have access to it at no extra cost. A trailer that premiered during Monday's ID@Xbox showcase also revealed the latest batch of cosmetic crossover card decks that are now available on all platforms. They include tie-ins with Critical Role, Dead by Daylight, Assassin's Creed, Fallout, Bugsnax and Rust. Those follow collabs with the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, Stardew Valley, The Witcher 3 and Vampire Survivors. Seems like everyone wants to be pals with Balatro developer LocalThunk! Meanwhile, it emerged on Monday that PEGI, the body that runs the age rating system for games in Europe, has reclassified Balatro after determining it is suitable for players aged 12 and older. The board upped the age rating from 3+ to 18+ shortly after Balatro was released just over a year ago due to it containing "prominent gambling imagery and material that instructs about gambling," per publisher Playstack. The game was also temporarily removed from digital console storefronts in some markets. Playstack contended at the time that "Balatro does not allow or encourage gambling." Following an appeal, PEGI's complaints board has at last lowered the age rating to 12+. "Although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements that warranted a PEGI 12 rating," the complaints board concluded. Following that and a separate successful appeal for Luck Be A Landlord , PEGI plans to revise its guidelines for games that have gambling-related elements. "At this moment, any teaching or glamorization of simulated gambling automatically leads to a PEGI 18 rating," it said in a statement on Monday. "On the basis of these appeals, the PEGI Experts Group will develop a more granular set of classification criteria to handle gambling themes and the simulation, teaching and glamorization of gambling in different age categories, which will now include 12 but also keep 18 as an age category for games that simulate gambling typically played in casinos and betting halls."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/balatro-is-about-to-hook-a-lot-more-players-now-that-its-on-game-pass-192958603.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 Google is planning to end support for SMS-based two-factor authentication in Gmail, Forbes reports. Sending a code to your personal phone via text message has long been an option Google offered to verify your identity, but it has unavoidable security issues the company wants to address. The goal is to "reduce the impact of rampant, global SMS abuse," Gmail spokesperson Ross Richendrfer tells Forbes, and the solution, at least for now, is QR codes. Instead of entering your number and receiving a text with a code you need to enter, Google will throw up a QR code you need to scan with your phone. The reliance on your smartphone is still present, but now you don't have to rely on the lax security of SMS messages. Using SMS two-factor authentication is better than nothing, but text messages aren't as secure as other methods. Criminals can intercept your message just by convincing your carrier to port your number to a new phone. By tricking a provider to send multiple SMS messages to a number a criminal operation controls in a process called "traffic pumping," they can even make money on each text, Google says. Considering the volume of SMS messages the company sends to both verify users and make sure people aren't bulk-creating accounts to send spam, it's not hard to see how SMS could be problem. Ultimately, the goal for Google and other companies like it is to use passkeys and move away from passwords entirely, but adoption is slow, and making the current, much more familiar process secure is still meaningful. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/gmail-will-stop-using-sms-for-two-factor-authentication-185615193.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 It’s been well over two years, but the wait is almost over. The second season of Andor hits Disney+ on April 22. The platform just dropped a juicy trailer to get all of us Star Wars fans pumped and ready. The footage shows plenty of cool stuff, including the return of Rogue One’s chief antagonist Orson Crennic and the beloved droid K-2SO. The Death Star makes an appearance, which isn’t surprising given the ending of the first season. Mon Mothma also attends an extravagant “let them eat cake” type of party. There are a few bombastic explosions and several shots of the titular Cassian Andor walking down hallways. One thing this trailer doesn’t spoil is the plot. The footage is just a hodgepodge of cool moments, so we still have no idea what our favorite rebel spy will be getting up to in season two. To me, this is a good thing. For the uninitiated, Andor is a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and is set after the rise of the empire but before the events of the original Star Wars movie. It’s very good, with a tone that can only be described as “prestige Star Wars.” It stars Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Kyle Soller, Denise Gough and, sometimes, Forest Whitaker. Season two brings new actors into the fold, like Adria Arjona. Disney+ is doing something unique with the release schedule here. Three episodes premiere on April 22, followed by another trio each week for a month. That adds up to 12 episodes. April is a big month for returning genre TV, as season two of The Last of Us premieres on April 13.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/disney-just-dropped-an-explosive-trailer-for-andor-season-2-184842360.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 Apple plans to ramp up its US hiring and investments. On Monday, the company said it will hire around 20,000 workers and spend over $500 billion in the US over the next four years. In 2021, several months after former President Biden took office, Apple said it would invest $430 billion domestically over the following five years. Bloomberg notes today's announcement marks an added $39 billion in spending and an extra 1,000 jobs annually over its previous numbers. The newly announced package will include a new manufacturing facility in Houston to build servers for Apple Intelligence, which has increasingly become central to the company's plans and advertising campaigns. The Private Cloud Compute servers that handle Apple Intelligence's more complex server-AI queries use Apple M-series chips, which are still produced in Taiwan. Apple said most of the 20,000 new jobs will focus on R&D, AI and machine learning, silicon engineering and software development. The company will also expand its data center capacity in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada to help meet Apple Intelligence's growing backend needs. The company will also open an Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit, where its engineers will work alongside "experts from top universities such as Michigan State" to consult with small and medium-sized businesses on implementing AI and smart manufacturing techniques. Apple will also offer free in-person and online skills development courses. It already runs a Developer Academy in the Motor City. The announcement follows a meeting between Tim Cook and President Donald Trump last week at the White House. Trump implied that Apple was making additional investments to avoid tariffs due to the iPhone maker's heavy reliance on manufacturing in China. "They don't want to be in the tariffs," Trump said after the meeting. Apple hasn't said whether investments are related to tariffs, instead framing them as a sign of confidence in the nation's ability to innovate. "We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we're proud to build on our long-standing US investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country's future," Cook said in a press release.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-plans-to-invest-500-billion-in-the-us-over-the-next-four-years-181217017.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 My dream of a Sayonara Wild Hearts sequel might never be fulfilled, but the sudden arrival of an enhanced version for PS5 just filled my heart on a dreary Monday. Publisher Annapurna Interactive announced the upgrade for the 2019 rhythm action game during its latest showcase. The PS5 edition includes support for 4K visuals, 120 fps gameplay and haptic feedback via the DualSense controller. There's also a new unlockable mode called Remix Arcade that's only available on this PS5 version. Here, you'll try to nail high scores across random chunks of levels with no loading time between each. Developer Simogo notes that the mode will get progressively faster to add to the challenge. Simogo had some downtime while figuring out its next big project after Lorelai and the Laser Eyes and the opportunity came up to bring Sayonara Wild Hearts to PS5. The PS4 version already works on the console and the team wasn't really interested in only upgrading the fidelity. However, the studio "thought about the hardware and what type of experience that would only be possible on it and remembered that PlayStation 5 has a very fast SSD, which would allow for the type of quick loading we needed for our long lost Infinite Shuffle mode." Along with adding some new art and sound assets, the renamed Remix Arcade has "a random element that sometimes mirror the level visually to keep players on their toes," the studio said. Best of all, the enhanced edition for PS5 is a free upgrade from the PS4 version. Sayonara Wild Hearts is also available in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog. Otherwise, it costs $13. Sayonara Wild Hearts is one of my favorite games of all time, so I'm more than happy to have an excuse to play through its riotously fun, heart-mending story yet again. I'm tempted to plug my PS VR2 headset back in to let the stylized art and signature neon purple wash over my eyes as the dreamy pop soundtrack fills my ears. Here's hoping Annapurna brings the game back to iOS as well — it left Apple Arcade a few months ago. I need to have Sayonara Wild Hearts available at all times. It's not enough to have it on PS5, Steam Deck, Switch and PC .This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/an-enhanced-version-of-sayonara-wild-hearts-for-ps5-is-out-now-174752837.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 As the world turns, so do the console generations. The Nintendo Switch is over seven years old, so it’s due for a refresh. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors have been swirling for years, but now we have some signs of life. The company officially revealed the sequel to its most successful home console ever in a brief trailer on January 16. The Switch 2 looks functionally very similar to the original system, albeit with a larger display, magnetic Joy-Cons and a sleeker design. The company also reaffirmed that the upcoming console will be backwards compatible with Switch games. While the reveal did confirm some rumors and have a few interesting details for those who were paying close attention, Nintendo is still largely keeping its cards close to its chest. We'll have to wait until a special Nintendo Direct at 9AM ET on April 2 for all the juicy information. Annoyingly, that date is a Wednesday and not a Two-sday. The Nintendo Switch 2 was announced on January 16 The rumor mill had heavily suggested that Nintendo would pull back the curtain on the Switch 2 on January 16, and that turned out to be the case. The company hasn't changed the core form factor. It's a portable console with detachable Joy-Cons. The Switch 2 can be placed in a dock for big-screen gaming. There are some significant differences from the original console, however. The most obvious one is that the next-gen Joy-Cons will no longer slide into place mechanically. Instead, they'll attach to the main unit magnetically. There is a small connector that's likely used to charge the controllers and perhaps remove the need to link them via Bluetooth. It's unclear at this point if Joy-Cons from the original system will be compatible with the Switch 2. One other big change is the addition of a second USB-C port on the top of the device. That should make it much easier to plug in accessories while the Switch 2 is docked. It's great to see that Nintendo has kept the headphone jack as well. Let's just hope that Bluetooth headphone support is live from the jump this time and Nintendo doesn't leave everyone waiting four years for that feature. The kickstand is getting an upgrade as well. As with the Switch OLED, it spans the length of the console. But, according to the trailer, this one looks fully adjustable, so you can tweak the viewing angle to one that works for you. However, there are still a great many unknowns regarding the upcoming console. We don't really know the specs yet, or what type of display it uses. We also don't know anything about battery life, the UI or launch games. We'll likely learn a whole lot on April 2. When will the Nintendo Switch 2 come out? 2025. That's all we know for sure at this point. It's highly unlikely that Nintendo will release the console before the dedicated Direct on April 2, and not only because that's at the start of Nintendo's next financial year. However, accessory manufacturer Genki, which has been a major source of leaks in recent months, claims the console will be released in April. Other reports have put the release window sometime in June. In any case, we should learn the release date during the April 2 Direct if we haven't already by then. When can I try the Nintendo Switch 2? Nintendo is planning a worldwide roadshow to let gamers go hands-on with the console. These events start in New York and Paris on April 3-6, with others taking place throughout the following two months. That lends credence to some suggestions that Nintendo will release the Switch 2 in June. Ticket registration for the Switch 2 Experience events in the US starts on January 17 at 3PM ET and will remain open until January 26. A Nintendo Account is required to sign up. Nintendo will randomly select the recipients of the free tickets. The full list of Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events is as follows: North America: New York, April 4-6, 2025 Los Angeles, April 11-13, 2025 Dallas, April 25-27, 2025 Toronto, April 25-27, 2025 Europe: Paris, April 4-6, 2025 London, April 11-13, 2025 Milan, April 25-27, 2025 Berlin, April 25-27, 2025 Madrid, May 9-11, 2025 Amsterdam, May 9-11, 2025 Oceania: Melbourne, May 10-11, 2025 Asia: Tokyo , April 26-27, 2025 Seoul, May 31-June 1, 2025 Hong Kong, To be announced Taipei, To be announced Will the Nintendo Switch 2 have some weirdness? Everything we've seen and so far about this console has been fairly, well, traditional. It looks like the original Switch, but better. That's awesome, but will there be any of that unpredictable Nintendo magic? Maybe! There are two puzzling additions that folks can't make hide nor hair of. Genki, the accessories manufacturer, just published a landing page for their Nintendo Switch 2 accessories. This landing page features a video that includes a very detailed look at a Switch 2 mockup. pic.twitter.com/Db7RSk4YlQ— Bob Wulff January 8, 2025 Keen eyes will have noticed a new button on the bottom of the right Joy-Con. It it not yet clear what this does. Could it initiate voice chat during gameplay? Could it calibrate the controllers? Could it create a room-sized hologram of Bowser in your living room? We'll have to wait and see. Now onto the updated Joy-Cons. There appears to be a new sensor on the connecting side of each controller. It looks a whole lot like an optical sensor, which is what a computer mouse uses. This has led to speculation that players will be able to flip the Joy-Con over and use it like a mouse. Of note: the trailer shows the Joy-Cons moving along a flat surface, connector side down and looking suspiciously like a mouse. But why would anyone even want this? I can think of three words. New Mario Paint. Genki reveal isnt a mockup, its straight up just the Switch 2, optical sensor is literally flashing in this shot @Stealth40k #Switch2 pic.twitter.com/COeLsonqMd— Ash  January 8, 2025 Mouse control isn’t the only “too strange for any company but Nintendo” rumor floating around. A patent filed by the company suggests you can swap the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons, snapping them onto either side of the console. That would align with the magnetic Joy-Con attachment scheme. But much like the weird mouse rumors, it doesn’t necessarily align with, well, any logical reason for why you’d want to do that. The patent suggests it could allow for more user choice in where the headphone jack is. But since it’s Nintendo, the company that brought us Labo cardboard peripherals and the Game Boy Advance e-reader attachment, we have to wonder if there are… quirkier designs at hand. Is the Nintendo Switch 2 backwards compatible? The company confirmed in November 2024 that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be backwards compatible. It will also feature access to Nintendo Online, so users will be able to play all of those old retro titles. In the initial Nintendo Switch 2 press release, Nintendo reiterated that physical and digital Switch games will work on the new system. However, it noted that "certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2." More details about which games those are will be revealed later. Will old games be enhanced in any way? The original Switch has, to put it mildly, struggled to run some of the late-generation software that's come down the pike. Could these games be enhanced to take advantage of the increased horsepower of the Switch 2? We have no idea. We also don't know if any of these releases will receive graphical upgrades, perhaps taking advantage of upscaling tech. What will the cartridges taste like? You may remember that the original Switch cartridges taste absolutely awful. This was on purpose, to discourage folks from putting the games in their mouth. Will the successor follow suit and continue to dip cartridges in a foul-tasting bitter coating? Only time will tell. What about specs? The rumors regarding specs are all over the place, so it’s tough to pin down. We know one thing for sure: It’ll be more powerful than the ancient Switch hardware, which was already antiquated back in 2017. One analyst allegedly got a hold of a spec sheet from the Korean United Daily News that said the Switch 2 would boast an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal eMMC storage. This tracks for me, as these specs are about as underpowered in 2024 as the original Switch was in 2017. However, some reports do indicate that the console will include 12GB of RAM. Another source suggests that the eight-core CPU will be packaged inside an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC . Given the current Switch runs on an NVIDIA chip, that makes a lot of sense. The CPU will be more powerful, but it's the Switch 2's new GPU that will be a major differentiator. It's all-but-confirmed that the Switch 2 will support DLSS, NVIDIA's "deep learning supersampling" upscaling tech, which would allow the console to render games at a low resolution internally while outputting a high-resolution image. There are still questions about the Switch 2 and DLSS: Will the system support newer DLSS features like frame generation? Will existing games be automatically tidied up by NVIDIA's algorithm? Regardless of the exact implementation, DLSS upscaling will be a huge leap over the rudimentary techniques available to Nintendo Switch developers. As for the display, there are many conflicting rumors. Early reports from solid sources suggested the Switch 2 would have an 8-inch display LCD display. The Switch 2's display certainly looks larger than that of the original Switch in a side-by-side comparison in the reveal trailer. Some folks have worried that the Switch follow-up may actually be too big, especially for kids. Certain analysts have suggested this would be an OLED screen, while others have said it would be a Mini-LED display. A Mini-LED display is basically an LCD display that has a backlight made of mini-LEDs rather than edge lighting. This allows for local dimming, making the blacks more black. I’m hedging my bets here. I think it’ll be a standard LCD, to cut costs, with an OLED or Mini-LED model coming later down the line. However, Mini-LED screens are slightly cheaper than OLED displays, so that’s certainly a possibility at launch. As for resolution, recent reporting suggests that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That's much better than the OG Switch. More tenuous “leaks” have intimated that the Switch 2 could also support a faster microSD card standard known as microSD Express. This allows for significantly faster transfer rates than the common UHS-I cards supported by the Switch today. It’s technically been around for several years, but we’ve only recently started to see microSD cards that take advantage of the spec hit the market. We actually tested one of them from SanDisk for our microSD card buying guide and found it could reach sequential read speeds up to around 900 MB/s. With the current Switch, microSD transfer speeds top out closer to 100 MB/s. So, in theory, all of this could bring a sizable boost in load times and general storage performance for the Switch 2 . But again, these rumors are far from concrete. It’s also worth noting that microSD Express cards cost significantly more than what we usually see today — the SanDisk card we tested, for instance, starts at $45 for just 128GB of storage. How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost? We don't have too much information regarding price but we do have plenty of history to work with. The original Nintendo Switch launched at $300, which is pretty much the "magic number" when it comes to Nintendo console releases in recent years. The Wii U also came in at $300. However, there are plenty of rumors circulating that Nintendo could be upping the asking price for the Switch 2. Numerous outlets have reported it'll be $400, or potentially even more expensive. However, the same analysts who say the console will be $400 were also fairly certain it would be out by the end of 2024 and, well, that didn't happen. Dipping back into history, there is some precedence for a price uptick. The GameCube was $200 and the Wii was $250. The Wii U and Switch increased to $300 and, well, numbers like to go up. A $400 price tag would make it nearly as expensive as a PS5 and Xbox Series X. That would also put it at the same price as the 256GB LCD Steam Deck. Again, we should get confirmation of the price during the April 2 Nintendo Direct. Do we know about any launch games? Not so much. The reveal trailer offered a peek at a new Mario Kart game. Nintendo released Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U over a decade ago and it's been milking that cash cow ever since, having sold more than 64 million copies of the game across that console and the Switch. It's definitely time for a new entry! It's certainly been a long time since we’ve gotten a proper 3D Mario adventure as well, so a new one could be a launch title. That would be one heck of a system seller. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. Past as prologue, we can expect something from Ubisoft and an off-the-wall title like 1-2-Switch. If there’s a gimmick or hook involved with the console, we’ll also get a game that takes advantage of that. A dual release of Metroid Prime 4, just like Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess before that, is also a possibility. It's all but nailed on that we'll learn much more about the Switch 2 launch lineup during the April 2 Nintendo Direct, which starts at 9AM ET. You'll definitely want to set your Alarmo for that one. That's everything we know about the Nintendo Switch 2 today. We'll update this article with rumors we trust and with information we gather directly from sources. Any changes made to the article after its initial publishing will be listed below. Update, February 24, 2025, 12:30 PM ET: This story has been updated to include speculation about storage and information about the new microSD Express standard. Update, January 24, 2025, 12:36 PM ET: This story has been updated to include speculation about price, potential game enhancements and the taste of cartridges. Update, February 5, 2025, 9:30AM ET: This story has been updated to note the time when the April 2 Nintendo Direct starts. Jeff Dunn contributed to this report.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-is-launching-soon-heres-everything-we-know-so-far-153308958.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 Blendo Games' latest installment of interactive weirdness, Skin Deep, is due to hit Steam on April 30, after nearly seven years of development. Skin Deep is a first-person sci-fi shooter, but it doesn't look like any of the dramatic space operas or realistic, precision-based games that generally flood this genre. Skin Deep takes place on a futuristic cargo starship managed by an insurance corporation and filled with its clients' valuables, and you're the cryogenically frozen security officer kept on board in case something goes awry. Space pirates ambush the ship, your body thaws, and a non-linear game of shooting, sneaking, sabotaging and smelling ensues, all presented in Blendo's signature blocky 3D style. Skin Deep features a mix of puzzles, madcap comedy and action scenes, and alongside the first-person gunplay, there's a sneeze mechanic and a stink system that sometimes leaves little smelly clouds in your wake, alerting nearby pirates to your presence. It's like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, but with fewer medieval peasants and way more space cats. Did we mention there are a bunch of cats that you have to save on the ship? Because there are, and some of them are dressed in little cowboy outfits. For the odor mechanics, players become stinky only when it makes sense narratively, like when they're expelled from the ship's trash shoot alongside all the fish bones and rotten things. Your smell clouds subside once you figure out how to wash up. Sneezing follows a similar in-game logic. Blendo Games "If you're crawling through a dusty vent your little sneezy air level will increase, then you'll do a big sneeze noise," Chung told Engadget in 2021. "And there's a bag of pepper that we have. If you shoot it, a big cloud of pepper flies out. You can pick up a pepper bag and throw it at someone and they'll start sneezing." Skin Deep is the most action-focused game that Blendo has ever made. The independent studio, led by Brendon Chung, has a lineup of award-winning titles under its belt, including Quadrilateral Cowboy, Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving. These titles tend to highlight clever puzzles and polygonal oddities, and Skin Deep is the first Blendo project to feature first-person shooter mechanics. That's not to say FPS development is a new idea for Chung. He got his start in game development by customizing levels in Doom, Quake, Half-Life, Quake 2 and Doom 3 when he was a kid, and FPS games are often what he's drawn to as a player. He's still using a modified port of id Software's Doom 3 engine, idTech4, to make Skin Deep. "I've played like a bazillion FPS games because I just really enjoy them," Chung said in 2021, "but I feel like there's so much that can be explored and that I wish these games would explore." You know, like well-dressed cats and stink systems. Blendo Games When we talked with Chung four years ago, the Skin Deep FAQ page read, "Is Skin Deep going to take 4+ years of development time like your previous game Quadrilateral Cowboy?" And the answer was, "I hope not." Today, there's an " " added to that response. Development on Skin Deep started around July 2018, according to the FAQ. Skin Deep is published by Annapurna Interactive and it's heading to Steam on April 30. A new demo is live now on Steam, as part of the Steam Next Fest hullaballoo. Steam Next Fest runs from February 24 at 1PM ET to March 3 at 1PM ET, showcasing a ton of fresh game demos and developer insights on the storefront.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/blendo-games-oddball-sci-fi-shooter-skin-deep-hits-pc-on-april-30-173010803.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 The 8BitDo M Edition Retro Mechanical Keyboard is now 40 percent off at Woot, down to $60, the lowest it's ever been. It’s a newer version of the Retro 108 Mechanical Keyboard that ships with a pair of programmable "Super Buttons" which resemble gigantic versions of the A and B buttons on an old game controller. This 87-key keyboard has top-mounted hot-swappable PCBs, making it perfect for enthusiasts who like to tinker with their keyboards. It boasts three connection modes: wired, wireless 2.4Ghz and Bluetooth, and you can use the top left knob to swap between them. For users who want to do some custom key mapping, 8BitDo offers its Ultimate Software V2. However, it’s only available on Windows. You can still use this keyboard on Mac, but the software won’t work. Woot has more discounted products as part of its video game sale. Aside from some peripherals, many games are also on sale. Of note, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is down to $45, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is discounted to $42. The sale will only last five days, or until supplies run out. 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/deals/8bitdos-m-edition-retro-mechanical-keyboard-is-40-percent-off-right-now-164852149.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 Apple’s fantastic stylus, the Pencil Pro, is on sale via Amazon for just $99. This is $30 off, which translates to a discount of 23 percent. This isn’t the lowest price we’ve ever seen for this item, but it’s close. The Apple Pencil Pro is the company’s latest and greatest stylus. It allows for a number of squeeze-based gestures that can be adjusted via a drop-down menu during use. It also includes a gyroscope to detect when the stylus is rolled, which makes it easier to change the orientation of shaped pen and brush tools. Of course, it supports pressure sensitivity. There's even a haptic engine to deliver vibration-based feedback when the pen is being used. And, maybe most conveniently, it works with Apple's Find My network. After all, stylus pens are small and easy to lose. All of this new tech has been squeezed into a package that’s actually lighter than the second-gen Apple Pencil. The primary downside here is the price, which has been mostly alleviated by this sale. Before making a purchase, double-check to ensure that your iPad supports the Pencil Pro. It's only compatible with some of the company’s latest tablets, including the 11- and 13-inch iPad Air , and the 11- and 13-inch iPad Pro . It also works with the newest iPad Mini. 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/deals/the-apple-pencil-pro-is-back-on-sale-for-99-162456898.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 In another sign that the Trump administration will be friendlier toward the cryptocurrency industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission is dropping an investigation into Robinhood. The agency has informed the company that it won’t move forward with any enforcement action, Robinhood said on Monday. In May last year, Robinhood received a Wells Notice from the SEC indicating that the agency’s staff was going to recommend enforcement action against it. The company had faced potential charges of violating securities law through its crypto listings and sales. Under the Biden administration, there was some momentum for cryptocurrency to be considered and regulated as securities; Trump's policy goals seem to signal the opposite. "Robinhood Crypto always has and will always respect federal securities laws and never allowed transactions in securities," Dan Gallagher, Robinhood’s chief legal, compliance and corporate affairs officer, said in a statement. "As we explained to the SEC, any case against Robinhood Crypto would have failed. We appreciate the formal closing of this investigation, and we are happy to see a return to the rule of law and commitment to fairness at the SEC." Robinhood added that it was looking forward to working with the SEC to develop a clearer and more "tailored" regulatory framework for digital assets. The company introduced its crypto wallet in 2022, but it has faced regulatory trouble. New York officials handed the crypto side of Robinhood's business a $30 million fine in 2022 and in 2024, the company reached a $3.9 million settlement with California over crypto withdrawal claims. Meanwhile, just last month, Robinhood agreed to pay $45 million to settle SEC charges related to record keeping, trade reporting and other alleged rule violations. Last week, Coinbase said the SEC was dropping a case against it. In a lawsuit filed during the Biden administration, the agency had accused that company of running an unregistered securities exchange.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-sec-is-dropping-an-investigation-into-robinhood-160629179.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 Google's Veo 2 model was announced last December, and now we have an idea of what using it will cost. According to its pricing page: 50 cents per second of footage. Veo 2 is presently limited to two-minute clips in up to 4K resolution — a fair sight more than the 20-second, 1080p clips generated by ChatGPT's Sora model. It's somewhat more difficult to compare the two on pricing as Sora uses a subscription-based approach. The staggering $200 ChatGPT Pro plan entitles a user to 500 videos per month, while the Plus plan caps things at 50 videos and hobbles the maximum quality and length to 720p and five seconds, respectively. Veo 2 users, meanwhile, just pay piecemeal whenever they choose. Big-budget feature films cost many multiples of Veo's pricing per second to produce, but that's not really what the model is currently seeking or able to compete with. Google is already testing Veo 2 as a means to quickly generate backgrounds for YouTube Shorts through its Dream Screen feature. It are also likely to take a bite out of the stock footage industry, where high-quality clips can cost 100 times what a Veo 2 clip would. Of course, those clips are typically free of weird artifacts and mangled hands.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/each-second-of-googles-veo-2-ai-video-footage-will-cost-50-cents-155419146.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 20:01 If you're on the market for a power bank that can serve your laptop in addition to all your mobile devices, the Baseus Blade is one of our favorites. It already starts off pretty affordable at $100, but Engadget readers can get it for $47.59 thanks to an exclusive coupon code. To get the full discount, you'll need to clip the 10 percent coupon on the store page and then use the code BGAEY8HX at checkout to bring the final price down to $47.59. The Baseus Blade is our pick for the best budget laptop power bank. Thanks to the slim form factor and light weight , it's easy to slip into a bag next to your laptop. It has a decent array of ports, with two USB-C and two USB-A slots. There's support for 100W fast charging via the USB-C ports. You can also track charging speed and time on an LED display. The power bank has a capacity of 20,000mAh, which is enough to charge a fifth-gen iPad Air 1.5 times over or a 14-inch MacBook Pro to 80 percent, per Baseus. In our testing, we found that it could top up a 16-inch MacBook Pro's battery from 10 percent to 62 percent in just over an hour. You can also use it to juice up a portable games console, such as a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck. There's certainly a trade off compared with beefier power banks that have a larger capacity. But in terms of bang for your buck, the Baseus Blade isn't bad at all, especially when you factor in the convenience of the slim, 0.7-inch design. 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/deals/pick-up-one-of-our-favorite-power-banks-while-its-on-sale-for-52-percent-off-160430876.html?src=rss

24.02.2025 05:10 Apple introduced its first in-house cellular modem, the C1, last week with the announcement of the not-so-budget iPhone 16e, and while it didn’t get into too much detail about it, the company reportedly has some big plans for future iterations. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, “Apple intends to eventually meld the modem component into the main processor.” Integrating the modem into the main processor could have energy and cost benefits, but that design is still a ways off. We’ll likely see the C2 and C3 without it first, which the company is already testing according to Gurman, and the integrated design won’t follow until “2028 at the earliest During its unveiling, Apple called the new C1 modem its “most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone.” The $599 iPhone 16e also has an A18 chip and supports Apple Intelligence, even if that’s not what people actually wanted out of it. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-reportedly-plans-to-combine-its-modem-with-future-processors-as-a-single-package-225159519.html?src=rss

23.02.2025 23:51 Netflix dropped a blooper reel this weekend from the first season of its live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender show, giving fans a look at some cute behind the scenes antics while they wait for the next season. The first season was released a year ago, and Netflix announced shortly after that the show had been renewed for two more. There’s no release date yet for the new episodes, but the streaming service said on Saturday that production for the second season is underway. The third season will be its last. It's been 1 year since the release of Avatar: The Last Airbender, so here's the official blooper reel to celebrate! pic.twitter.com/lFDjuW1if4— Netflix February 22, 2025 News surrounding Avatar: The Last Airbender has been surprisingly plentiful this week. On top of the updates from Netflix, Deadline reported that there’s a new animated series on the way that’ll pick up after the events of The Legend of Korra. That series will be called Avatar: Seven Havens. And, Magic: The Gathering announced an Avatar crossover coming out in November. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-releases-bloopers-from-avatar-the-last-airbender-and-says-season-2-production-is-underway-215253100.html?src=rss

23.02.2025 23:51 You’ve heard of roguelike, you’ve heard of Soulslike, but have you ever heard of Rootlike? Root Bear is one of those games that just perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Playdate; it’s silly as hell, uses the crank and will engage your competitive side as you rack up tips from soda-drinking bears and try to beat your own high score. The game has been a massive success, so it’s no surprise to see it’s now inspired the development of other games in its style. Well, one game at least. Pup Cup, which recently arrived on the Playdate Catalog from developer Ledbetter Games, is a “Root-like score-chaser” where instead of serving soda to bears, you’re making delicious sweet treats for dogs . In Pup Cup, you have 60 seconds to earn as many tail-wags as possible from the dogs who show up to your whipped cream stand. Some might want a towering heap, while others just want a little taste. The key is to fill the pup cup only to the height of the little box hovering over it, or the “Good Boy Zone,” by putting the crank in the forward position. If you serve too much, whipped cream is going to splat all over the place. But too little will leave the dogs disappointed, and who wants that? There’s also Bork Mode, in which you can pet the dogs and add toppings, like a squeaky rubber duck, to earn yourself some more time. This makes things a little more complicated, though, as you have to pay attention to the D-pad icon that will briefly flash next to the dog in order to know which button to press, and you have to coordinate this correctly with the timing of your pour. Pup Cup is a feel-good take on Root Bear. The gameplay is a little more relaxed, and it’s hard not to smile at the rotation of cute dogs popping up on your screen. Some of them wear outfits and accessories, and they may end up with a swirl of whipped cream on their nose. Each dog has its own little anxiously waiting animation, and happy customers will give you heart eyes when their orders have been fulfilled. It’s adorably goofy. You might even encounter a familiar knife-wielding goose or robotic dog. As if all that wasn’t wholesome enough, the team also went out and served pup cups to dogs IRL during the Puppy Bowl. You can get Pup Cup on the Playdate Catalog for $3.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/if-you-liked-the-playdate-game-root-bear-you-should-check-out-pup-cup-201408441.html?src=rss