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07.04.2025 17:03 The weather is turning warmer, so it's about time to hang up that winter coat with the big pockets you use to store everything. That also means things might be a bit harder to keep track of now — I lost my phone, alone, multiple times over this sunny weekend. But, now there's a potential solution: The Chipolo One bluetooth tracker. Right now, a four-pack of Chipolo Ones is down to $50 from $75 — a 33 percent discount. This sale is a record-low price for this set of our favorite Bluetooth tracker for 2025. It also offers two different color sets to choose between and is a great deal if you want multiple trackers . Beyond the convenient keyhole , we like the Chipolo One for features like how loud it is when you're searching for something — plus, it never has a delay when you press find. It's also very quick to ask if you've left something behind and works equally well with an iPhone or Android. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/a-four-pack-of-chipolo-one-trackers-drops-to-an-all-time-low-of-50-131257240.html?src=rss

07.04.2025 17:03 Anker’s lifestyle brand Eufy has already swallowed a big chunk of the robot vacuum market and now it’s got its sights on your yard. The company has been sharing details of its first two robot mowers since the start of the year, and now they’re ready to start selling them. Eufy’s E15 and E18 are designed to automate one of the most tedious jobs around the home — if you’re able to pay. I’ve been testing an E15 for the last few weeks ahead of their retail debut today and I’m fairly impressed. Early robot mowers needed a boundary wire to tell them where they were allowed to mow. But digging a trench around your lawn is time consuming, costly and less than ideal if you eventually move. It prompted companies to pivot to other methods, such as GPS or RTK to navigate. Eufy, however, is harnessing its computer vision know-how to trim your lawn with even less fuss, calling its technology “visual full self-driving,” or vFSD. Yes, I know. Anker says there are plenty of benefits in using cameras over GPS, like more reliable mowing and better obstacle avoidance. Daniel Cooper for Engadget The E15 is capable of covering lawns up to 800 square meters while the E18 will conquer lands as broad as 1,200 square meters. If you assumed, like I did, that the difference between the two is battery size, you’ll be mistaken — both have the same 4,200mAh battery, but the E18 has more on-board memory to accommodate a bigger map size. Otherwise, they are the same machine, with an adjustable cutting height between 25 - 75mm, a maximum climb of 18 degrees and a combined GPS / 4G anti-theft system. One feature I’m very partial to is that the garage comes with a rain cover, meaning fewer worries if you’re out and the weather suddenly gets a bit intense. Not that it’s necessary, since the hardware is rated IPX6 — enough to withstand being cleaned with a hose. Setting up the E15 is painless so long as your lawn is nicely mown, with the grass no taller than 3.5 inches. All you’ll need to do is fix the garage in place with some hefty ground screws, hook it up to power and connect it to your home’s Wi-Fi. Then all you’ll need to do is send it out for one or two mapping runs in order for it to get a sense of your space. Daniel Cooper for Engadget My lawn is cut into a hill, with a sunken pathway and a 1.5 meter drop at one end, which is a problem. Since it maps visually, I opted to babysit the mower during the process to make sure it didn’t hurl itself into the chasm. I also have a small lean-to wood shed with a green roof that I reckoned a computer vision system could easily mistake for grass, so I wanted to keep an eye on it. Once it had made a few too many furtive advances toward that roof, I paused the mapping, sent the E15 back to its garage and set up a keep out zone in the app before finishing the job. Once that was done, however, the E15 very easily staked out the rest of the space and made sure it could get nicely close to the path without going over. From there, you’re doing everything of note within the app. You can set the cutting height as low as 25mm or as high as 75mm, and can also set the unit’s movement and cutting speed — letting you use more power if you’re pressed for time. Plus, you can schedule mows, and if the device detects rain or too much wet in the grass, it’ll head back to base until things have dried out. One feature I’m a big fan of is that it’s the first such machine I’ve encountered that lets you set a cutting direction for stripes. It’s not that I have an issue with most robomowers’ chaotic mowing per se, but I’ve always seen striped lawns as desirable. While the unit isn’t going to give you the sort of over-manicured, inch-perfect stripes you’d find at a tennis club, you can at least see the contrast. Daniel Cooper for Engadget An additional benefit of remote control is that if it does run into an issue and you’re not at home, you can activate a remote control mode. Not only are you able to access the camera feed, but you can trigger on-screen controls to navigate out of any tricky spots it might have wound up in. It's funny, but something I didn't notice, but my in-laws did when they visited, was how shockingly quiet the E15 was. When I set the hardware running to satisfy their curiosity, they were baffled that the thing was scuttling around on the lawn making almost no noise whatsoever. It's certainly a perk, especially if you choose to set this thing off for a scheduled trim in the early morning — it's quiet enough that even the ants probably won't complain. All in all, I like the package Eufy is offering, and it even handled some of my misgivings about its computer vision system. If I have gripes, it’s not really about the E-series at all and more about this category of product generally. For a start, robot mowers may not get every square inch of your lawn, especially if some of your edges neighbor deep crevasses, like mine. That means you’ll still need to go out there every once in a while with a weed wacker to trim the borders of your turf. And I’d still love nothing more than to be able to exert more control over the initial mapping phase to eliminate some of the trial and error. I wish for a system that would let me use my phone as a tool to trace the outside edge of a space myself, to set some basic expectations. Sure, the hardware would still have to scuttle around making sure it can get where I need it to go, but it’d save some of the busywork for both of us. The Eufy E15 and E18 are available to order today from Eufy and Amazon. The E15 will set you back $1,599, while E18 is priced at $1,999. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/eufys-new-robot-mowers-use-smart-vision-to-trim-your-grass-130008542.html?src=rss

07.04.2025 17:03 Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are on sale via Amazon for just $179. This is a record-low price, as they normally cost $229. This deal is available for multiple colorways, including black, pink, beige and green. These little cuties easily made our list of the best wireless earbuds. We admired the comfortable and secure fit and the addition of the Tensor chip to handle audio and ANC processing. They also offer a hands-free way to initiate Gemini AI. However, the main reason we recommend these earbuds is that they sound great. They provide a good low-end, which is tough to do with earbuds, and crunchy highs. Google says it redesigned the entire audio system and it shows. We called out the “noticeable improvement” over the original Pixel Buds Pro earbuds in our official review. There are plenty of nifty features to set these earbuds apart from the competition. They can detect conversations and automatically adjust audio accordingly. Find My Device support is also included. They offer spatial audio with certain apps. The buds get around eight hours of use per charge, but 30 hours when considering the included charging case. There are only two downsides here. The Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are incredibly small, which is cool, that means making adjustments on their equally tiny touch panels can be difficult. Also, the original asking price of $229 is certainly high. This sale alleviates that particular issue. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/googles-pixel-buds-pro-2-are-on-sale-for-a-record-low-price-164743633.html?src=rss

07.04.2025 17:03 The iPhone’s lock screen isn’t just the place you check the time or your notifications anymore — it’s a fully customizable space where you can express your personality, highlight your favorite photos and even stay on top of your day with helpful widgets. With iOS 18, Apple has given users even more control, letting you personalize your home screen and adjust lock screen controls.. Whether you want something functional, minimal, photo-heavy or playful, we’ll walk you through exactly how to make your lock screen your own — from changing fonts and adding widgets to switching between screens throughout the day. How to create a custom lock screen To start personalizing, you’ll first need to create a new lock screen or modify an existing one. Wake your iPhone, then touch and hold anywhere on the lock screen until you feel a buzz and see the wallpaper editor. You’ll see a carousel of lock screens you’ve created. Tap the “+” button to start fresh, or swipe to an existing one and tap Customize. A gallery of wallpaper options will appear. Choose from: Photos People Photo Shuffle Emoji, Weather, or Astronomy Suggested themes like color gradients or Live Photos Once you’ve picked your background, you can dive into the fun part: customizing fonts, colors, widgets and more. Georgie Peru for Engadget Photos and People You can set a favorite picture as your wallpaper and tweak its color or crop to make sure you have the best view of your loved ones. Note that these steps will only allow you to select one picture — if you want a rotating selection of backgrounds, skip to the Photo Shuffle section below. Tap Photos to bring up a list of Photos and Collections. You can search for specific images, or filter by All, Featured, Live Photo, People, Pets, Nature and Cities. Once you’ve selected a photo, you then have more options. You can Pinch to Crop the image, change and customize the filters You also have the option to Add Widgets and remove the Flashlight and/or Camera. You can also set a photo as your wallpaper directly from the Photos app by tapping the Share icon, and then selecting “Use as Wallpaper.” Photo Shuffle With Photo Shuffle, you can select multiple photos that change depending on the frequency you’ve selected. Select the types of photos you want to include, e.g. People, Pets, Nature and Cities, or select an Album. Tap the Shuffle Frequency option and choose between On Tap, On Lock, Hourly or Daily. Select whether you want to “Use Featured Photos” or “Select Photos Manually.” It would be worth going through your selected photos separately to make sure they are cropped correctly . You also have the option to Add Widgets and remove the Flashlight and/or Camera. Emoji and Color If you don’t want to use a photo, you can select an emoji or color instead. Select Emoji and choose up to six emojis. Alternatively, if you want a single color, you can select the Color option. Choose between Dynamic, Grid, Large, Radial and Spiral to customize how the emoji background will appear. Once you’ve selected an emoji or multiple, you can change the color of the background. You also have the option to Add Widgets and remove the Flashlight and/or Camera. How to change the clock style The default iPhone clock gets the job done, but it doesn’t have to be boring. In iOS, you can customize the font, weight and color of the clock to match your aesthetic. This small change can have a big impact on your lock screen’s overall vibe. In the lock screen editor, tap the time. You can do this before or after you’ve personalized your lock screen with photos, weather, etc. Choose from a selection of font styles. Drag the slider to increase the font weight and tap the available fonts to see what they look like. Use the color picker or swipe through presets to find something that fits. How to add widgets to your lock screen Widgets are a game changer for lock screen productivity. Whether you want to see your calendar, the weather forecast, activity rings or even battery levels at a glance, widgets can make your lock screen both pretty and practical. Widgets are compact, but you can fit up to four small ones or a mix of two medium and one small on a single lock screen, depending on the layout. While editing the lock screen, tap the field below the time or select Add Widgets if the option appears . Choose from Apple’s widget library or supported third-party apps. Drag and drop widgets into the space where you’d like them to live. You can also tap the date above the time to change or remove the default calendar widget. Georgie Peru for Engadget How to customize controls at the bottom of the lock screen In iOS 18, Apple lets you personalize the quick access buttons at the bottom of the lock screen — the ones typically reserved for the flashlight and camera. You can set different controls for different lock screens and tie them to specific Focus modes as well. Touch and hold the lock screen, then tap Customize. Tap one of the bottom controls to select it. Tap the Remove icon , then tap the Add option to open the controls gallery. You’ll see a gallery of available buttons for tools like Calculator, Translate, Shazam, Notes and more. Pick the one you want, then tap Done. How to link a Focus mode to your lock screen One of the smartest features in iOS is the ability to link different lock screens to Focus modes. That means you can have a minimalist screen for work, a bright one for weekends and a sleep-ready design for winding down. If you don’t see Focus options when you edit your lock screen, go to Settings then Focus to set up a new one first. Touch and hold the lock screen, then tap Focus. Choose a Focus mode . That lock screen will now automatically appear when that Focus is active. How to switch between lock screens Once you’ve created a few lock screens, you can swap between them on the fly. If you’ve linked a Focus to any of them, switching lock screens will also switch the Focus automatically. Touch and hold the lock screen. Swipe left or right to cycle through your saved designs. Tap the one you want to use. How to delete a lock screen If you want to delete a lock screen you no longer want or need, you can do so very easily. Touch and hold the lock screen until the carousel appears. Swipe to the screen you want to delete. Swipe up on the lock screen. Tap the Trash icon, then confirm with “Delete This Wallpaper”. Don’t worry — this won’t delete any photos from your library. It just removes the layout. If you’re looking for more iPhone customization tips, you might also enjoy our guide on how to make the most of the iPhone’s Action Button.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-personalize-your-iphone-lock-screen-120015173.html?src=rss

07.04.2025 17:03 Blackmagic Design has unveiled DaVinci Resolve 20, the latest version of its editing app with free and paid versions that's a popular alternative to Adobe's Premiere Pro. The update offers over 100 new features including many powered by AI, along with improved cloud support and major quality-of-life updates to the cut, edit, color and fusion pages. One of the key new features is called AI IntelliScript that can automatically generate a timeline based on the original project script. "AI IntelliScript will match the transcribed audio in media clips to the script and construct a timeline of the best selected takes, with any alternative takes placed on additional tracks for editor review," Blackmagic wrote. That new feature could drastically speed workflow for editors who often use standup or voiceover clips. Another key feature is the AI Set Extender that can create a scene extension to fill an entire frame based on a text prompt. If you want to reframe a shot or delete something, for instance, you can simply tell DaVinci Resolve what you want and it'll fill in the blanks. "Customers can even create new backgrounds behind foreground objects," the company wrote. Other new AI features include AI Animated Subtitles, AI Mulltcam SmartSwitch and AI Audio Assistant. The latter can create a "professional audio mix" with a single click, according to Blackmagic Design. Finally, the AI Detect Music Beats feature does just that, analyzing music and automatically placing beat markers in the timeline. Along with the AI stuff, DaVinci Resolve has a number of quality-of-life improvements in the cut, edit, color and fusion pages. Davinci Resolve Studio 20 now supports Apple Immersive Video on Apple Vision Pro, allowing creators to edit, color grade, mix audio and deliver Apple Immersive video capture on the company's recently launched URSA Cine Immersive camera. Blackmagic Design Other updates include improved Blackmagic Cloud support with improved collaboration tools, easier editing for vertical video, new voiceover palettes, a dedicated keyframe editor in cut and edit, a new Text+ tool, direct voiceover recording and more. On the color page, there's a new chroma warp function that lets you adjust color and saturation with a single motion. And the Fairlight audio page has a new feature that lets adjust a target clip's audio to match a reference clip, dynamic EQ to match tonality throughout a clip and Level Matcher to ensure that levels remain consistent in a given timeline. A full list of features can be found on Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve 20 product page. It's now available to download in a public beta, and as usual, DaVinci Resolve 20 is free to download while DaVinci Resolve 20 Studio costs $295 with no subscription required. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/davinci-resolve-20s-latest-ai-feature-can-create-an-entire-timeline-based-on-a-script-120009351.html?src=rss

07.04.2025 01:51 If you were wondering whether it’d be possible to ferment foods in space, the answer is apparently yes. In a study published in the journal iScience, researchers from the US and Denmark say they were able to make decent-tasting miso on the International Space Station — but the flavor and smell was distinct from that of miso made on Earth. While it still scored well in the taste tests, with similar ratings to Earth miso in qualities like umami and saltiness, the ISS miso was found to taste nuttier and more roasted than the usual stuff. The team suggests the findings reflect a sort of “space terroir,” playing off the term often used in relation to wine grapes to describe unique, location-specific flavor characteristics. For the study, the researchers sent a package containing the miso paste ingredients to the ISS in March 2020, and let it ferment for 30 days. They also started miso batches back at home in Cambridge, MA and Copenhagen, Denmark, and monitored the environmental conditions of each setup. After a month, the space miso was sent back and analyzed in comparison to the Earth batches. “There are some features of the space environment in low earth orbit — in particular microgravity and increased radiation — that could have impacts on how microbes grow and metabolize and thus how fermentation works,” co-lead author Joshua D. Evans of Technical University of Denmark said in a press release. “We wanted to explore the effects of these conditions.” Not only were there differences in flavor, including the notable roasted nuttiness of the space miso, but also in the microbial composition of the misos. The team concluded that “overall, the space miso is a miso,” but says the findings “suggest a specific fermentation environment in space.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/researchers-who-made-miso-in-space-say-it-tastes-good-but-different-215410333.html?src=rss

07.04.2025 01:51 A Minecraft Movie has reportedly surpassed the record previously set by 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie for the biggest ever domestic box office opening of a video game adaptation. The new movie, which was released in theaters on Friday, raked in $157 million in the US in its opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A Minecraft Movie is doing well internationally, too; THR reports that it’s earned $301M altogether in its global debut. The Super Mario Bros. Movie pulled in $146 million in its domestic opening and $377 million globally. A Minecraft Movie stars Jack Black, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks and Jennifer Coolidge. And while the trailers left us with pretty low expectations in the leadup to its release, Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar found that it’s actually a pretty good kids’ movie that “delivers a decent message about championing creativity in a world that wants to beat down free-thinking non-conformists.” You can read the full review here. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/a-minecraft-movie-just-set-a-new-record-with-the-biggest-opening-ever-for-a-video-game-adaptation-in-the-us-192934482.html?src=rss

06.04.2025 21:00 Lexar this week announced what it says is the world’s first 1TB microSD Express card in time for the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo has said that the Switch 2 will only support microSD Express cards, not the regular microSD you may already have been using in your old Switch. There are three storage capacity options to choose from with Lexar’s new Play Pro microSDXC Express Card: 1TB , 512GB and 256GB . Buyers have already snatched them up fast, though, so you’ll have to wait until they’re back in stock if you want to grab one. According to Lexar, the Play Pro microSDXC Express Card offers read speeds of up to 900MB/s and write speeds up to 600MB/s. GameStop also introduced a 1TB microSD Express card alongside a 512GB and a 256GB option, all of which are compatible with Nintendo Switch 2, but those won’t ship until June when the new console arrives. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lexar-made-a-1tb-microsd-express-card-that-works-with-nintendo-switch-2-175335976.html?src=rss

06.04.2025 01:00 Meta has released the first two models from its multimodal Llama 4 suite: LLama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick. Maverick is “the workhorse” of the two and excels at image and text understanding for “general assistant and chat use cases,” the company said in a blog post, while the smaller model Scout could tackle things like “multi-document summarization, parsing extensive user activity for personalized tasks, and reasoning over vast codebases.” The company also introduced Llama 4 Behemoth, an upcoming model it says is “among the world’s smartest LLMs” — and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said we’ll be hearing about a fourth model, LLama 4 Reasoning, “in the next month.” Both Maverick and Scout are available to download now from the LLama website and Hugging Face, and they’ve been added to Meta AI, including for WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram DMs. Meta Scout has 17 billion active parameters with 16 experts, Meta says. According to Zuckerberg, “It’s extremely fast, natively multimodal, and has an industry leading, nearly infinite 10 million token context length, and it is designed to run on a single GPU.” Maverick on the other hand has 17 billion active parameters with 128 experts. The company says it beats competitors like GPT-4o and Gemini 2.0 on coding, reasoning, multilingual, long-context and image benchmarks, and stacks up against DeepSeek v3.1 on reasoning and coding. Zuckerberg is already calling the upcoming Behemoth model, which is still training, “the highest performing base model in the world,” with 288 billion active parameters, according to the company. It may not be here yet, but it’s likely we’ll be hearing a lot more about that and the Reasoning model soon; Meta’s big AI developer conference, LlamaCon, is just a few weeks away.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-introduces-llama-4-with-two-new-models-available-now-and-two-more-on-the-way-214524295.html?src=rss

05.04.2025 20:20 Amazon's new feature could make it easier to get into the latest release in a series, especially if it's been some time since you've read the previous books. The new Recaps feature is part of the latest software update for the Kindle, and the company compares it to "Previously on..." segments you can watch for TV shows. Amazon announced Recaps in a blog post, where it said that you can get access to it once you receive the software update over the air or after you download and install it from Amazon's website. Amazon didn't talk about the technology behind the feature in its post, but a spokesperson has confirmed to TechCrunch that the recaps will be AI generated. Shortly after the feature rolled out, users talked about it on social media, wondering if Amazon is using generative AI to write series summaries. They expressed concerns about the use of generative AI, especially about the possibility of the technology hallucinating plot elements that aren't actually in the books. "We use technology, including GenAI and Amazon moderators, to create short recaps of books that accurately reflect book content," Amazon spokesperson Ale Iraheta told the publication. Iraheta assured TechCrunch that Amazon's recaps are accurate, but of course, use it at your own risk. At the moment, the Recaps feature is available for best-selling English-language book series on all Kindle devices in the US. To know if your favorite series has one, look for the "View Recaps" button within the series page in your Kindle library. It will soon be available for the Kindle app on iOS, as well. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/amazon-will-use-ai-to-generate-recaps-for-book-series-on-the-kindle-170018503.html?src=rss

05.04.2025 20:20 UK-based Jaguar Land Rover says it’s pausing shipments to the US after President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on passenger vehicles and other auto imports. The pause will be in effect this month, the Associated Press reports. While the full impact of the tariffs remains to be seen, analysts have said the move could ultimately drive up the cost of new and even used cars. “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands,” Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement to AP. “As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.” Trump’s tariffs go well beyond the auto industry, and we’re only seeing the beginning of how the US’ trading partners will respond. The president announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on “all countries” this week, and some will face even higher “reciprocal” tariffs. Among the immediate effects, Nintendo has delayed pre-orders of the new Switch 2 in the US.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/jaguar-land-rover-pauses-us-shipments-while-it-figures-out-a-plan-for-trumps-tariffs-172512506.html?src=rss

05.04.2025 20:20 Jamie Siminoff, who founded Ring and started the company in his garage, is back at Amazon after leaving the company as its CEO in 2023. Siminoff joined Amazon when the e-commerce website acquired Ring in 2018, but he left in 2023 and founded another startup that he sold to lock maker Latch Inc. When he left Amazon two years ago, he said that invention was his true passion. Now, he's taking on the role as the vice president in charge of not just Ring, but also Amazon's smart home camera unit Blink, the company's in-garage delivery operations called Key and the Amazon Sidewalk low-bandwith, long-range shared network. Siminoff is replacing Elizabeth Hamren, who took over his role two years ago. Hamren used to be the COO of Discord and was also an executive at Microsoft and at Meta. According to Bloomberg, she's still looking for new opportunities from inside and outside the company. In a post welcoming him back posted on the Amazon website, Siminoff briefly and broadly talked about his plans for the divisions he's heading. He plans to focus on security, on making people feel their "homes are safe, even when they’re thousands of miles away." Siminoff also wants to make sure Amazon's experiences related to home security "work seamlessly across different types of devices." In addition, he talked about how he's going to explore the use of artificial intelligence in Amazon's products and services in the future. "The AI transformation happening right now is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and I think we’re super well positioned with helpful and practical AI features like Smart Video Search," he said. "It's just the start here — we're just scratching the surface of what we can do with AI — and I look forward to digging into this with the team even more."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/ring-founder-jamie-siminoff-is-back-at-amazon-to-run-its-video-doorbell-unit-130009731.html?src=rss

05.04.2025 14:50 The official launch of Apple’s iOS 18 brought with it some fresh ways to customize your iPhone’s home screen. Rather than leaving unwanted apps hanging around like a bad smell in places you don’t want them, users can now take full control of app placement and make their home screen their own. Whether you're looking to add useful widgets, reorganize your apps or get rid of the ones you never use, customizing your iPhone home screen can help your device feel a little more unique. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to everything you can do to make your iOS 18 home screen look better and work the way you want. How to add, edit and remove widgets Widgets provide a convenient at-a-glance view of an app’s data or functionality, giving you quick access to information and reducing the need to open the app itself. A well-placed widget allows you to check the weather, view your calendar or access music controls, all without opening an app, giving your thumb a well-earned rest. Everybody loves a good shortcut, and with iOS 18, you can add, edit, or remove widgets easily, letting you jump straight to the information that matters. To add a widget: Touch and hold an empty area on your home screen until the app icons start to jiggle. Tap the Edit button in the top-left corner and select Add Widget. Scroll or search for the widget you want, then tap it. Swipe left or right to choose a size . Tap Add Widget to place it on your screen. Drag it to your preferred spot, then tap Done . To edit a widget: Press and hold the widget you want to change. Tap Edit Widget . If Edit Widget isn’t available, you can cycle through the icons for different placement and layout options. Adjust settings like what calendar it shows, which location for the weather, etc. These options will be unique to each app’s widget. To remove a widget: Press and hold the widget. Tap Remove Widget, then confirm. Rob Webb for Engadget How to move apps and widgets on the home screen Shuffling your home screen apps and widgets is also a cinch thanks to iOS 18’s customization overhaul. It’s a simple but useful way to personalize your iPhone’s home screen and declutter your wallpaper, so your loved ones' faces don’t become buried underneath a wall of app icons. Tap and hold on any app to reveal a menu. Select Edit Home Screen, where you can move the apps across pages by dragging them to the edge of the screen. Tap Done when you're finished. You can also stack one app on top of another to automatically create a folder . How to customize apps and widgets on the home screen Moving your most-used apps into prime position is all well and good, but if you’re going for a particular aesthetic with your home screen, the default appearance of an app icon can sometimes spoil the overall look. Luckily, in iOS 18, you can exert more control over how your apps look, including the option to change app icon colors and how widgets are displayed. To customize your app icon colors: Press and hold on the home screen and tap Edit at the top. Choose Customize to change background colors or apply a different layout. However, bear in mind that not all app icons can change color. If these steps don’t work for you, you may be left with the odd rogue app icon, sticking out like a sore thumb. In which case, you can hide the app icon from view, while still being able to access it easily from the app library. How to lock or hide an app Security is a top priority, particularly when it comes to your smartphone. You might have certain apps you want to keep private and for your eyes only. If so, you’ll be happy to know that there are two ways in which you can prevent unwanted eyes on your apps. You can hide or lock an app behind a passcode or Face ID; this prevents unauthorized access and keeps your apps in a Hidden folder. Similarly, you can remove apps entirely from the home screen, still allowing you to view them in your App Library. To lock an app: Long-press the icon of the app you want to lock on the home screen. Select Require Face ID . Confirm your selection by pressing Require Face ID . To hide an app: Long-press the icon of the app you want to lock on the home screen. Select Require Face ID . Confirm your selection by pressing Require Face ID Tap Hide and Require Face ID , then tap Hide App. How to organize your apps in folders Folders are a great way to declutter your home screen and keep similar apps grouped together. If you’re the type of person who likes to keep things tidy and organized, storing your apps in folders is a good way to do it. To create a folder: Drag one app icon over another, and iOS 18 will automatically create a folder with both. Tap the name to rename the folder . Drag in additional apps if you want. To remove a folder: Move all the apps out of the folder, and it will disappear once it’s empty. How to remove or delete apps The struggle is real when it comes to app bloat, and sometimes a bit of a spring clean is needed. If your home screen needs a bit of freshening up, you can kick a seldom-used app to the curb, or at least kick it off your home screen. To remove an app from the home screen : Tap and hold the app icon. Tap Remove App. Select Remove from Home Screen. When you want to use that app, navigate to the App Library or swipe down from the top of your home screen to search for it. To delete an app completely: Tap and hold the app icon. Tap Remove App. Select Delete App, then confirm. To re-download a deleted app: Open the App Store, search for the app and tap the download icon. Rob Webb for Engadget A few more tips to personalize your home screen space Widgets Smart Stacks: Using this feature, you can combine multiple widgets into a stack you can swipe through. To do this, just drag one widget on top of another of the same size. App Library shortcuts: If you want a cleaner home screen, you can remove most apps and rely on the App Library or the search tool to launch what you need. Focus mode customization: Each Focus mode can have its own custom home screen. This is a useful tool for separating your work life from your personal life.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-customize-your-iphones-home-screen-in-ios-18-120100872.html?src=rss

05.04.2025 00:11 Mewgenics, the cat-breeding RPG that was originally announced as a follow-up to Super Meat Boy, is coming out in 2025, based on a new trailer shared by IGN and the game's updated Steam page. A blend of a turned-based RPG and twisted cat simulator, Mewgenics started as the next project from Team Meat, the development duo made up of Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. Team Meat teased Mewgenics throughout 2013, but ultimately put the game on hold in 2014 to focus on finishing Super Meat Boy Forever, a mobile sequel to Super Meat Boy. When McMillen ultimately left Team Meat in 2018 to focus on supporting The Binding of Isaac, Mewgenics came with him, and the game has been slowly making its way to release since then. If the trailer is any indication, repeatable, turn-based battles have become a big part of Mewgenics, but McMillen's trademark gross-out animation style remains intact . If you're looking for more information about how the game has changed since it was announced over a decade ago, McMillen and co-developer Tyler Glaiel have kept up a relatively regular cadence of blog posts on Steam covering different aspects of the development process. We should also see a lot more of the game soon: In their latest update, Mewgenics' developers shared that IGN is publishing hands-on coverage of the game in May.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-creator-of-binding-of-isaac-will-release-a-new-game-mewgenics-this-year-211049653.html?src=rss

05.04.2025 00:11 Early this year, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would be ditching its long-running fact checking program, claiming that it has enabled too much “censorship” on the company’s apps. Now, Meta has set an end date for fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram and Threads . “By Monday afternoon, our fact-checking program in the US will be officially over,” Meta’s recently elevated policy chief Joel Kaplan announced in a post on X. “That means no new fact checks and no fact checkers.” Instead, Meta has been slowly ramping up Community Notes. Meta began allowing potential contributors to sign up in February. It began testing the system, which will initially be powered by the same algorithm as Community Notes on X, earlier this month. But the crowdsourced fact checks have yet to appear publicly on posts. It sounds like that’s also about to change with the official end of Meta’s existing fact checking partners. “The first Community Notes will start appearing gradually across Facebook, Threads Instagram, with no penalties attached,” Kaplan said. Though Meta has said it wants to eventually end fact checking entirely, the company has said relatively little about its plans for Community Notes outside of the US. That may be because officials in other countries, like Brazil and the European Union, have already expressed concern about how the change could affect the flow of disinformation around the world. Meta’s push to end fact checking in the US came early this year alongside several other policy changes that marked a notable rightward shift for the social network just as President Donals Trump took office. The company also ended corporate DEI programs, rolled back hate speech protections on its services and added a close Trump ally to its board.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-entering-its-post-truth-era-on-monday-202858791.html?src=rss