Month: February 2024

Here’s what this means for Apple Pay Later loan borrowers now and in the future.

If you’re not happy with Google’s Android assistant, you can now replace it with Copilot.

Add a new grill and a new air fryer to your patio with the Blackstone 28-inch propane griddle with air fryer combo, which is $100 off at Walmart today.

The Razer Blade 14 is one of the best gaming laptops around and it’s currently on sale at Razer. Here’s why you need it.

Video game company Electronic Arts will lay off 5 precent of its workforce according to a report it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. More than 650 EA employees will lose their jobs as a result of the move, part of a broader restricting that will see the company cutting back on office space and ending work on some video games.

EA’s cuts are the latest in a long line of layoffs that have rocked the video game industry since last year. In 2023, more than 10,500 video game workers lost their jobs, and more than 6,000 people in the industry were cut in January 2024 alone. The video game companies that have laid off workers so far include Microsoft, Riot Games, and Unity among many others. On Tuesday, Sony announced that it was laying off 900 people from its PlayStation division, roughly 8 percent of its headcount.

In a memo sent to EA employees, CEO Andrew Wilson wrote that the company is “streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere.” EA expects to finish making the cuts by early next quarter, the memo says. The cuts, Wilson adds, will let EA focus more on its “biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities.”

One of the games that the move will directly impact is a Star Wars first-person shooter being worked upon by Respawn, a game development studio that EA acquired in 2017, according to IGN. “It’s always hard to walk away from a project, and this decision is not a reflection of the team’s talent, tenacity, or passion they have for the game,” EA Entertainment president Laura Miele reportedly told staff in a note. “Giving fans the next installments of the iconic franchises they want is the definition of blockbuster storytelling and the right place to focus.”

Update, February 28 2024, 5:45 PM ET: This story has been updated with more details of the canceled Star Wars game.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ea-is-laying-off-over-650-employees-221221637.html?src=rss

You can grab a three-pack of Google’s Nest Cam Indoor / Outdoor for $100 off. Best Buy is offering the battery-powered security cameras for nearly a record-low price. The cameras record in 1080p HDR with night vision and magnetic mounting, making your home security setup as close to painless as possible. Usually $450, you can get the trio of cameras for only $350. (And Best Buy Total members can drop it down to $300.)

The Nest Cam can differentiate between people, animals and vehicles, processed locally on the device. You can receive alerts on your phone when it detects any of those types of movement, and you can choose which alert types you get in the Google Home app. A premium feature, Familiar Faces, learns trusted people and notifies you accordingly. (It requires a $8 monthly Nest Aware subscription.)

Like most products in this category, the Nest Cam has a built-in speaker and mic, allowing you to check in with visitors and hold a remote conversation. The camera’s HDR capabilities make seeing details in bright sunlight easier, while a night vision mode (using six built-in infrared LEDs) makes things clearer in the dark. The camera is water-resistant and rated IP54.

Google estimates each camera’s battery will last about seven months between charges, provided it only records around two to four events per day. (You can buy a $35 weatherproof cable if you prefer a wired setup.) The three-pack includes three Nest Cams and magnetic mounting plates, three wall plates, six wall anchors and the appropriate screws.

Best Buy’s deal expires Wednesday evening, so you’ll want to act soon if you’re in the market for new security cameras.

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/three-packs-of-googles-nest-cam-security-cameras-are-100-off-today-215952131.html?src=rss

TikTok is being forced to take down more music from its platform as a royalties spat with Universal Music Group (UMG) rumbles on. UMG recently yanked recordings it owns or distributes from TikTok including tracks from the likes of superstars Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and The Weeknd. The standoff is now impacting songs published by UMG.

“We are in the process of carrying out Universal Music Group’s requirement to remove all songs that have been written (or co-written) by a songwriter signed to Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), based on information they have provided,” TikTok said in a statement. “Their actions not only affect the songwriters and artists that they represent, but now also impact many artists and songwriters not signed to universal.” TikTok added that it is still committed to “reaching an equitable agreement” with UMG.

Due to an issue called split copyrights, if a UMPG-contracted writer has contributed to a song in any way, that track has to be removed from TikTok. So artists who have collaborated with the likes of Swift, Adele, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Ice Spice, Elton John, Harry Styles and SZA will see their songs disappearing from TikTok and being muted on videos that currently use them. The move will prevent more artists from plugging their work on the most important platform for promoting music.

According to the BBC, UMG removed around three million songs from TikTok after an agreement over its recording catalog expired. UMG’s deal with TikTok over its publishing catalog (which covers some four million songs) ends later this week, at which point all relevant tracks will have vanished from the short-form video service.

Update 2/28 3:30PM ET: Added confirmation that TikTok is removing songs by UMPG-contracted songwriters.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-is-muting-more-songs-amid-its-tussle-with-universal-music-161839190.html?src=rss

Panic just held a games showcase for its portable Playdate console, revealing over a dozen upcoming exclusives. The company also announced a March 12 release date for the long-anticipated Mars After Midnight, which is likely the console’s first marquee title.

Mars After Midnight is a game created by renowned developer Lucas Pope, the guy behind Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn. Both of these titles were critically acclaimed and commercially successful.

Mars After Midnight looks to take a few cues from Papers, Please, as you play as a door guard of an alien colony tasked with letting people in. The lo-res graphics look stunning, which is a calling card of both Pope and the Playdate itself. It also makes use of the console’s adorable little crank.

However, Lucas Pope’s latest creation wasn’t the only news to come from today’s presentation. Panic also showed off 16 games that are scheduled to hit the platform “in 2024 and beyond.” These include a cool-looking rogue-like/golf hybrid called Faraway Fairway, the pixel-art brawler Midnight Raider and a sci-fi RPG named For Home, among 13 others.

Company CEO Cabel Sasser also took the time to reiterate that the Playdate console is actually now available to purchase, with no wait times. This was a long time coming and Panic says it has finally “caught up” with the more than 70,000 preorders.

The Playdate online store, called the Catalog, is approaching its one-year anniversary. To celebrate, Panic is holding its first-ever storewide sale from March 7 to March 14. Many of the titles are already pretty cheap, so console owners will likely have a field day here.

For the uninitiated, the Playdate is a truly unique portable gaming console. It’s cute and bright yellow, with a manually-operated crank that’s used as an additional control mechanism in many games. Each $200 console comes with 24 free titles, with two unlocking each week for 12 weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lucas-popes-mars-after-midnight-hits-the-playdate-console-on-march-12-193110110.html?src=rss

Samsung’s upcoming microSD card will offer a dramatic speed boost. The company’s 256GB SD Express microSD — Samsung’s first SD Express card — can read data at up to 800 MB/s, significantly faster than the microSDs you can buy today. However, we don’t yet know how much it will cost, and the card won’t be available until later this year.

The 256GB SD Express microSD will have (theoretical) sequential read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, which is over 2.5 times as fast as the read speeds in UHS-II microSD cards and 1.4 times faster than SATA SSDs. So, at least in theory, Samsung’s new card should be noticeably faster than the cheapest solid-state drives.

Samsung added heat management capabilities to help keep temperatures in check. “To ensure stable performance and reliability for the small form factor, Dynamic Thermal Guard (DTG) technology maintains the optimum temperature for the SD Express microSD card, even during long usage sessions,” the company wrote in a press release announcing the new card.

Samsung (perhaps unsurprisingly) is shoehorning the almighty “AI” buzzword into the card’s zippier speeds. “With our two new microSD cards, Samsung has provided effective solutions to address the growing demands of mobile computing and on-device AI,” Samsung VP Hangu Sohn wrote.

The company’s Galaxy S24 series goes big on AI, but Samsung hasn’t included a microSD slot in its flagship phones for the last four generations. (Nor has most of the rest of the smartphone playing field.) So, while future AI-powered devices could benefit from the extra speeds, Samsung’s current batch of high-end phones aren’t on that list. In addition, although SD Express is backward compatible, not many devices (yet) support SD Express, which requires an extra row of pins on the host device. In other words, the card’s full potential won’t be realized until we have new gear to support it.

Samsung

Although unrelated to the speedy SD Express card, Samsung also unveiled a new 1TB microSD with UHS-1 speeds. “Samsung’s new 1TB microSD card stacks eight layers of the company’s 8th generation 1-terabit (Tb) V-NAND within a microSD form factor, realizing the high-capacity package that used to be possible only in SSDs,” the company wrote. The 1TB card includes protection against water, extreme temperatures, drops, X-rays and magnets.

Samsung’s zippy 256GB SD Express microSD card will launch “later this year,” while the 1TB UHS-1 microSD arrives in the third quarter of 2024. The company hasn’t said how much either will cost.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-new-microsd-card-is-faster-than-some-ssds-191251687.html?src=rss

Substack newsletter writers and readers can now send direct messages to each other. The company says this was a highly requested feature and it adds to the platform’s slate of social networking tools.

You’ll find DMs in the Chat tab on the app and website. You can start a private conversation from that tab, someone’s profile page or by selecting the Share option on a note or post. When you get a DM, Substack will let you know in the app and by email.

By default, DMs from people you’re connected to will land in your inbox and those from others will drop into a Requests folder. Writers can restrict incoming DM requests to paid or founding subscribers. Free subscribers who try to message you will then see a prompt to become a paid subscriber. Writers can include a “send a message” button on their posts if they wish.

If you’ve blocked or banned someone, they won’t be able to send you a DM. You can also turn off DMs entirely by disabling message requests in your settings. If you receive a message that breaks Substack’s rules, you can report it. 

Substack has added a number of social networking features over the last year or so, such as the X-like Notes function for short-form posts. It also last week updated a system that allows writers to recommend other scribes to readers.

The platform came under fire last month over its handling of pro-Nazi content. It removed five newsletters that promoted white nationalist and Nazi views. However, some prominent newsletter writers left Substack in protest over its approach to content moderation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/substack-has-direct-messages-now-184154827.html?src=rss