Month: February 2024

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Foamstars hides surprising fun and strategic depth under its unfortunately grating presentation.

The Echo Show 10 offers a larger display and more features than the Echo Show 8, but is it worth the hefty price tag? Here’s a look at both to help you decide.

Jump into the world of virtual reality with the Meta Quest 2 and this deal, which offers one of the lowest prices we’ve seen on the VR headset.

Meta is testing a new feature that will allow Threads users to see what kinds of conversations are trending on the platform. The app has begun testing “today’s top topics” in the United States, Mark Zuckerberg shared in a post on Threads.

The feature will surface “timely topics that others are discussing” and will appear in search and interspersed between posts in the app’s For You feed, according to Meta. Specific trends will be “determined by our AI systems based on what people are engaging with right now on Threads,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said.

Interestingly, Threads will surface trends related to politics and elections. The company said last week that it would no longer suggest political content in its recommendations unless users choose to opt-in. But Meta has confirmed that restriction won’t apply to its trending feature. “Political content can be a topic,” a Meta spokesperson told Engadget. “We will only remove political topics if they violate our Community Guidelines or other applicable integrity policies.”

The addition of trends has been a long-requested update for many Threads users hoping to make the service more usable as a source for real-time information and updates. The feature was previously spotted in an employee version of the app, but it was unclear if Meta would roll it out more broadly considering Mosseri’s desire to avoid “encouraging” conversations about “politics and hard news.”

Though AI will determine much of what is surfaced, it sounds like the Meta does plan to do some curation of what appears as a “top topic.” A team of “content specialists” will “ensure that topics do not violate our Community Guidelines or other applicable integrity guidelines, and that topics are not duplicative, nonsensical, or misleading” a Meta spokesperson said.

For now, “today’s top topics” is only a “small test” but Zuckerberg said the feature would arrive in more countries and languages “once we get it tuned up.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-is-testing-a-trending-topics-feature-on-threads-201812349.html?src=rss

Apple has launched a Vision Pro update that solves one of its most confounding issues at launch. Starting in visionOS 1.0.3, available Monday, headset owners who forgot their passcodes can reset their device and start over with a fresh install. Previously, owners who lost their passcodes had to visit an Apple Store — or ship the device to AppleCare customer support — to use their $3,500 device again.

Today’s new software is the first visionOS update to arrive since the mixed reality headset has been available to customers. The first two came before its public launch when only reviewers and developers had it. MacRumors first reported on today’s software update.

Apple’s official release notes read, “This update provides important bug fixes and adds an option to reset your device if you’ve forgotten your passcode.” It isn’t clear why Apple launched expensive hardware with a feature that required a visit to a physical store if it only took a couple of weeks to provide a much easier workaround that more closely aligns with the rest of its products. 

Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar views Apple’s $3,500 headset as a blend of fascination and frustration — better for developers or wealthy Apple fans than the general public. “That’s pretty much the Vision Pro experience in a nutshell,” Engadget’s Senior Editor wrote. “Wonder and frustration. A peek into the future that’s limited by the hardware that exists today — even if that hardware is among the best we’ve ever seen.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-no-longer-have-to-visit-an-apple-store-if-you-forget-your-vision-pro-passcode-194538095.html?src=rss

The internet has been buzzing the last couple of weeks with rumors that Microsoft will begin publishing Xbox first-party games on competing consoles. The company promised it would soon share more details about its “vision for the future of Xbox” and that looks to be coming on February 15. Phil Spencer will appear on the Official Xbox Podcast to share “updates on the Xbox business.”

The episode drops at 3PM ET and it’ll also feature Sarah Bond, President of Xbox, and Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios. Those are three big names, so this could be a real barnburner of a podcast episode.

We don’t know what the team has in store, but there have been all kinds of rumors flooding the web, from Hi-Fi Rush coming to the Nintendo Switch to Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle showing up on the PS5. It’s somewhat unusual for one of the big three to outsource first-party titles to competing platforms, but it’s not unheard of. Sony puts many of its biggest games on Steam and there are already some former Xbox exclusives on the Switch, like Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel.

Many fans, however, have used these rumors to fuel wild speculations that Xbox is about to exit the console business entirely. This isn’t likely, even if the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles have underperformed when compared to the Switch and PS5. The company held an internal townhall last week and Spencer reportedly told employees that it has no plans to stop making consoles and that Xbox systems would continue to be a large part of its overall strategy, according to games reporter Shannon Liao.

Also, Game Pass is still a huge selling point for Xbox consoles, with a May 2023 survey indicating that 32 percent of gamers subscribe to the service. There were over 33 million subscribers back in 2022, and that number’s likely to have grown since then.

Microsoft isn’t exactly struggling, even when you factor in the games division. As a matter of fact, the company’s gaming revenue was up an impressive 49 percent for Q2 2024, due primarily to the Activision acquisition deal. A recent earnings report indicated company revenue of $62 billion (up 18 percent from last year) and profits of $21.9 billion.

Even with those numbers, however, Microsoft’s gaming division is still laying people off left and right. The company just slashed 1,900 jobs from its Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax (aka Bethesda) teams. If it’s looking for the constant growth that modern capitalism requires, dropping some of its more popular titles onto other consoles isn’t exactly the worst idea in the world. In any event, we’ll find out Thursday afternoon.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/phil-spencer-will-address-xbox-multiplatform-rumors-on-february-15-193755729.html?src=rss

AMD’s Navi 48 GPU could be looking at a late 2024 release at a cheaper price than the high-end Nvidia 40-series, giving Team Green some trouble.

Tech companies are doing their utmost best to convince you that an AI PC is the thing you need the most in your life, right now, in exchange for your money. What is an AI PC? Who cares!