Tag: tech

Shipping estimates for Apple Vision Pro slipped to March within the first hour of pre-orders.

Are you the proud new owner of a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra? If so, it’s important to protect it with a case. Here are our favorite S24 Ultra cases on the market.

Building your own custom GPT is a great way to make a chatbot that works exactly how you want it to and knows what you need it to. Here’s how to make one.

Palworld has sold a million copies in just over eight hours, according to developer Pocketpair. The game has been on our radar for a while, thanks to its unique ‘Pokémon with guns’ premise, and it looks like launch day has been an absolute success.

It’s been so successful, as a matter of fact, that the game’s servers have been buckling under the stress of millions of gun-toting PokéMasters. The developer urges patience and says it’s “working to resolve this ASAP!” The sheer number of downloads and concurrent players have made this the biggest Steam launch of the year so far, according to GamesRadar.

These figures only refer to Steam. The early access version of Palworld also launched on Game Pass, so the number of downloads is likely much higher than advertised, as there are no Xbox Series X/S numbers. It looks like many people have been jonesing for a dark and gritty take on everyone’s favorite pocket monsters.

And boy, is this game dark and gritty. Instead of releasing unwanted monsters, called Pals, back into the wild, you murder them with a cleaver. You can also sell your “Pals” into slavery, eat them and, of course, battle them to the death. One of the game’s trailers shows piles of Pal corpses stacked up, reaching into the heavens. The whole thing seems to be a satirical riff on the very nature of Pokémon, which is a game franchise in which you force your very good friends to fight just to further your own reputation.

Palworld has gotten pretty good reviews so far, and this is an early access build, so the devs will likely refine the gameplay in the coming months. In the meantime, you can pick it up on Steam for $27, until it reverts to its normal price of $30. It’s also a day-one Game Pass release, so boot up your Xbox and give it a go. Just try to keep the murder count down. Or not.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pokemon-with-guns-satire-palworld-sells-over-a-million-copies-in-eight-hours-175638179.html?src=rss

Ford says it’s cutting production of the F-150 Lightning due to lower than expected demand. As of April 1, the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center (the Michigan plant where the electric pickup is built) will transition from two production shifts to one. That will have an impact on roughly 1,400 workers.

The automaker says it will transfer around half of those to its Michigan Assembly Plant, where it’s putting together a third crew to build more of the Bronco and Bronco Raptor, as well as the new Ranger and Ranger Raptor to meet demand. The company is hiring another 900 workers to fill that shift.

The rest of the affected F-150 Lightning workers will be reassigned to different roles at the Rouge plant or Ford’s other facilities in the region. That is, unless they take up a retirement incentive offer.

Ford didn’t say by how much it’s reducing production of the F-150 Lightning. However, by moving from two shifts to one, that indicates output will drop roughly by half, which aligns with recent reports. According to CNBC, Ford planned to cut production from around 3,200 units per week to 1,600.

The automaker retooled the Rouge facility in 2023 so that it would have an annual F-150 Lightning capacity of up to 150,000. However, demand hasn’t kept up. While sales of the EV were up by 55 percent last year, it hasn’t been selling as quickly as it did previously.

The company says that it expects EV sales to continue to grow globally this year, but at a lower rate than previously anticipated. With that in mind, as well as the fact Ford is readying next-gen EVs, the company has decided to pull back on F-150 Lightning production for the foreseeable future. 

That isn’t the only EV Ford has scaled back on either. In November, it slashed production of the Mustang Mach-E.

“We are taking advantage of our manufacturing flexibility to offer customers choices while balancing our growth and profitability. Customers love the F-150 Lightning, America’s best-selling EV pickup,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said. “We see a bright future for electric vehicles for specific consumers, especially with our upcoming digitally advanced EVs and access to Tesla’s charging network beginning this quarter.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ford-is-cutting-f-150-lightning-production-due-to-waning-demand-173838340.html?src=rss

It’s a big day for people who like to spend a small fortune on consumer technology, as Apple opened up pre-orders for its $3,500 Vision Pro headset earlier on Friday. If you’re looking to save some cash on a new gadget, though, we’re back with another installment of our weekly deal roundup. This week’s highlights include a spate of pre-order discounts on Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 phones, which come with a bonus gift card and free storage upgrade at Amazon and Best Buy. Beyond that, Google’s Pixel 8 phones are up to $200 off, while Apple’s AirPods Pro are still at a low of $189. If you’re on a tighter budget, a few affordable keyboards, webcams and wireless earbuds we like are also near the lowest prices we’ve seen. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today. 

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/samsung-galaxy-s24-ultra-pre-orders-include-a-200-gift-card-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-172928966.html?src=rss

Minisforum S100-N100 is a stick PC that runs on Power over Ethernet (PoE).