Tag: tech

  • NYT Crossword: answers for Wednesday, January 8

    Sam Hill

    The New York Times crossword puzzle can be tough! If you’re stuck, we’re here to help with a list of today’s clues and answers.

    Go Here to Read this Fast! NYT Crossword: answers for Wednesday, January 8

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    NYT Crossword: answers for Wednesday, January 8

  • NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for Wednesday, January 8

    Sam Hill

    The NYT Mini crossword might be a lot smaller than a normal crossword, but it isn’t easy. If you’re stuck with today’s crossword, we’ve got answers for you here.

    Go Here to Read this Fast! NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for Wednesday, January 8

    Originally appeared here:
    NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for Wednesday, January 8

  • NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Wednesday, January 8

    Sam Hill

    Strands is a tricky take on the classic word search from NYT Games. If you’re stuck and cannot solve today’s puzzle, we’ve got help for you here.

    Go Here to Read this Fast! NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Wednesday, January 8

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    NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Wednesday, January 8

  • NYT Connections: hints and answers for Wednesday, January 8

    Sam Hill

    Connections is the new puzzle game from the New York Times, and it can be quite difficult. If you need a hand with solving today’s puzzle, we’re here to help.

    Go Here to Read this Fast! NYT Connections: hints and answers for Wednesday, January 8

    Originally appeared here:
    NYT Connections: hints and answers for Wednesday, January 8

  • Wordle Today: Wordle answer and hints for January 8

    Sam Hill

    Trying to solve the Wordle today? If you’re stuck, we’ve got a few hints that will help you keep your Wordle streak alive.

    Go Here to Read this Fast! Wordle Today: Wordle answer and hints for January 8

    Originally appeared here:
    Wordle Today: Wordle answer and hints for January 8

  • Sony’s immersive The Last of Us experience at CES 2025 dropped me into a subway filled with zombies

    Nathan Ingraham

    As Engadget’s chief The Last of Us correspondent, I was pretty pumped to find out during Sony’s CES 2025 press conference that season two of the HBO show would come out in April. But Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann also teased an “location-based experience exhibit” that would transport participants into the tunnels of Seattle filled with Infected. That’s an area straight out of The Last of Us Part II, and today I got a chance to try the proof-of-concept experience. It was short, minimal, and a little rough, but it was also another good example of how Sony is trying to take its tentpole franchises from PlayStation and put them in entirely different experiences.

    Unfortunately, Sony had a strict “no cameras or videos” policy for this experience, so you’ll have to rely on my words and a little video the company showed about the tech behind it.

    I entered the experience with three other participants after a quick run-down of the gear we’d use: two of us got shotguns, and two got flashlights (sadly I was stuck with a flashlight). Both have a bunch of small sensors attached to the front so that they could interact with the environment we entered; the flashlight felt like a real flashlight with some sensors on the end, but the guns were crude tubes with a handle and trigger; the trigger felt pretty good from my quick test of it before we got started. There are also sensors on the barrel of the gun that detect a “pump” motion to reload it.

    The Last of Us immersive experience at CES 2025

    Once we were outfitted, an actor playing a member of an unnamed militia briefed us on the mission: some of our fellow mercenaries disappeared in the Seattle subways — perhaps kidnapped by the WLF, perhaps taken down by Infected. Our job was to find him… what could go wrong? 

    Our guide directed me and the other flashlight-holder to start lighting up the subway station — which was created by three giant screens surrounding us. The walls of the room were made of LED panels, and the sensors on the flashlights interacted with them to track my moment. I needed to be pretty close to the screens for it to recognize my flashlight, but it was pretty cool to be lighting up a virtual environment in real time. 

    The Last of Us at CES 2025
    Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

    Then, of course, a clicker scream puts the group on high alert — and given that it came from a specific location we all swing our flashlights in that direction to identify the threat. Just as in the game, though, the disgusting infected creature shambled closer to us, let out another scream and came charging forward, at which point the shotgunners blasted away with abandon. That noise brought more Infected charging into the space; I would light them up with the flashlight and my partner shot them down. 

    Things calmed down, momentarily — then a massive subway car started sliding out of its precarious place, which trigged one of the demo’s coolest effects. The floor was rigged for haptic feedback, and while we had felt it rumble at various disturbances, this was by far the biggest impact. The combo of the visuals, audio and haptics all made it feel, well, immersive. I certainly didn’t forget I was in a demo, but it was cool nonetheless. Beyond the floor haptics, Sony says that there are even scents pumped into the room to further the atmosphere, but I wasn’t able to detect anything myself.

    The Last of Us immersive experience at CES 2025

    Then we got the obligatory cameo from The Last of Us Part II co-protagonist Ellie and her companion Dina, as they scrambled away from Infected who start chasing them down. One knocked Ellie down and started ripping at her throat until Dina caught up and pulled it off her, at which point they sprinted away. Unfortunately, the disturbance brought a massive swarm of monsters coming at us, which brought on the big battle of the experience. I started illuminating the hordes and my companion blasted them down, but then dozens started overwhelming the screens and the screams got more and more intense until everything cut to black as our crew was overrun. That’s that! 

    I’m not judging the experience too harshly, because Sony was clear both in its press conference and before we tried it that this is a very early proof of concept. The main thing that pulled me out of it was that the space we were in is static — there’s no way to run away or move beyond the boundaries of what we were presented with. And then, as I mentioned, you needed to be relatively close to the “walls” for them to recognize the flashlight or gun, which meant that if you backed up to take in the scope of the space you gear might not work. 

    The other thing is that I think the barrier to it being truly scary or more immersive is that I couldn’t ignore the fact that the threat was on a screen rather than in the room with me. There’s no doubt that having full control in an environment like this would be a wild way to play a game like this, but it was all just a little too on the rails and removed from the space I was in.

    I’m trying to track down anyone from Sony who can tell me more about the genesis for this idea as well as where they see it going in the future. But Sony and Naughty Dog have already brought The Last of Us to a variety of other media, and this feels like a more high-tech vision of what Sony did in conjunction with Universal Studios when it brought the franchise to the Halloween Horror Nights that happens at the theme parks. Whether this is a one-off curiosity or something we see down the line in a more complete fashion, though, remains to be seen.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sonys-immersive-the-last-of-us-experience-at-ces-2025-dropped-me-into-a-subway-filled-with-zombies-140010550.html?src=rss

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    Sony’s immersive The Last of Us experience at CES 2025 dropped me into a subway filled with zombies

    Originally appeared here:

    Sony’s immersive The Last of Us experience at CES 2025 dropped me into a subway filled with zombies

  • A closer look at the slick Honda 0 SUV and Saloon prototypes at CES 2025

    Sam Rutherford

    Last year, Honda teased its first two homegrown EVs with the Series 0 Saloon and Space-Hub. But now at CES 2025, those vehicles are getting one step closer to production by graduating from concepts to prototypes while getting updated names along the way: the Honda 0 Saloon and 0 SUV.

    But while we wait for them to officially hit the road sometime in 2026, I wanted to take a closer look at the evolved styling of Honda’s upcoming electric cars. Particularly the 0 SUV, not only because it’s gotten a much larger facelift, but lets admit it, it’s what we in the crossover-hungry US really want.

    The Honda 0 SUV and 0 Saloon at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

    On the outside, the Honda’s 0 SUV looks like a mix between the Polestar 3 and the Hyundai Ioniq 9. It’s got a really minimalist, almost spaceship-like design that eschews that teardrop shape you see in a lot of other EV SUVs for something slightly boxier. This gives you more headroom for rear seat passengers and tons of extra vertical cargo space in back. The SUV’s pixelated headlights help reinforce its digital pedigree while I think Honda did a much better job in back of trying to make a clean and simple rear end without ending up a huge blank slate like on the Ioniq 9.

    The 0 SUV’s overall proportions almost make it look like a tall, lifted wagon, especially when sat next to the 0 saloon. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Inside, Honda continues with the clean lines, though I wouldn’t necessarily read much into the general placement and look of its screens and dash. Like a lot of pre-production cars, those details are very much subject to change before its design is properly finalized. Same goes for those side-view cameras, which due to US laws, still don’t comply with regulations. However, Honda’s streamlined cabin does line up with the company’s “Thin, Light and Wise” design philosophy, which includes the move to a steer-by-wire driving system instead of relying on more traditional physical linkages.

    But enough talking, let’s check out the cars.

    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025.
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 Saloon prototype at CES 2025
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 Saloon prototype at CES 2025
    Photo by Sam Rutherford
    The Honda 0 Saloon prototype at CES 2025
    Photo by Sam Rutherford

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/a-closer-look-at-the-slick-honda-0-suv-and-saloon-prototypes-at-ces-2025-134550129.html?src=rss

    Go Here to Read this Fast! A closer look at the slick Honda 0 SUV and Saloon prototypes at CES 2025

    Originally appeared here:
    A closer look at the slick Honda 0 SUV and Saloon prototypes at CES 2025

  • This spinning VR chair at CES 2025 somehow didn’t make me feel like throwing up

    Cheyenne MacDonald

    A spinning VR gaming chair sounds like it would be an at-home vomitron. The virtual reality environment tends to make some people (like me) queasy as it is, so adding synchronized full-body rotation seems like a recipe for disaster. I was kind of prepared for the worst when I decided to try out the $800 Roto VR Explorer at CES 2025, which uses a head-tracker that attaches to the top of Meta Quest devices and other headsets to make a swivel chair turn in whatever direction you’re looking. But against all odds, I ended up having a pretty good time.

    In addition to enhancing the experience of seated VR gaming, the chair is actually supposed to help with issues like motion sickness, because, according to the press materials, “the signals from your inner ear will match what your brain is expecting from the visual cues.” Still, I was a little nervous, and it didn’t help that as we approached the booth, the first thing we saw was an empty chair spinning on its own in the corner like an omen.

    The Roto VR Explorer is a Made for Meta product, meaning it’s optimized for Quest, but it’ll work with standalone headsets like those in the HTC Vive family and “soon” the Apple Vision Pro. The chair itself weighs 66 pounds, so it felt really sturdy to sit in, and it has a rumble pack under the seat to bring haptic feedback to the rest of your body instead of just in your hands from the controllers. The head tracker, which looks like a flattened Poké Ball, clips onto the top strap of the headset.

    After the Roto team gave me the rundown and got me set up in the chair with a Quest 3, I selected my VR experience — the 2018 interactive documentary about the universe, Spheres — and got going. It was, without a doubt, a little weird at first when I turned my head to follow the path of rippling auroras and felt my body rotate as if I were a spice jar on a lazy Susan. But for the most part, it didn’t have that disorienting feeling of the ground shifting underneath you. (It was definitely lagging a bit on the congested show floor, which did lead to some out-of-sync, jerky movements). It only took a minute or so for me to stop focusing on the fact that I was in motion and just go with it.

    The Roto VR Explorer chair and head tracker at CES 2025
    Jessica Conditt for Engadget

    For something like Spheres, where you’re just sort of moseying through beautiful visuals and curiously interacting with the virtual environment, the Roto VR Explorer is actually really nice. If you’re in a faster-paced setting, like a first-person shooter, it’s only going to ramp up the tension. I tried turning my head quickly to the side back and forth a few times to see how it would work with that sort of movement, and it really goes when it’s running smoothly. The chair moves at max speed of 21 revolutions per minute, but you can reduce this with the controllers if that gets to be too much.

    I fully expected to be doing a lot of deep breathing to get through the demo, but there actually never was a point that I felt nauseated. And when I got up out of it and reentered real life, I didn’t feel any more wobbly-legged and confused than I usually do after spending time behind a headset (though I’m sure using it for a few hours straight would change that). I’m mostly just relieved I didn’t throw up in front of a bunch of strangers. 

    There are plenty of situations in which a person might want or need to do their VR gaming sitting down, and the Roto VR Explorer chair offers a pretty fun way to bring the immersion to another level. It’s available for purchase now, with upgrade packages — including Pro Flying and Pro Racing — expected to follow in August 2025.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/this-spinning-vr-chair-at-ces-2025-somehow-didnt-make-me-feel-like-throwing-up-133040191.html?src=rss

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    This spinning VR chair at CES 2025 somehow didn’t make me feel like throwing up

    Originally appeared here:

    This spinning VR chair at CES 2025 somehow didn’t make me feel like throwing up

  • Former Annapurna Interactive staff are reportedly taking over publisher Private Division’s game portfolio

    Kris Holt

    Ex-employees of Annapurna Interactive who quit en masse last year have reportedly found their next project. According to Bloomberg, the team is taking over the games and franchises of Private Division, a former Take-Two label that published indie games.

    A new enterprise that doesn’t have a name as yet is said to have been formed and it appears that some of the remaining 20 or so employees of Private Division will be laid off as part of the transition. Take-Two said in November that it had sold Private Division (which published The Outer Worlds and physical copies of Hades) to an unnamed buyer, reportedly a private equity firm called Haveli Investments.

    Haveli is said to have brought in the former Annapurna employees in recent weeks and handed them the keys to Private Division’s portfolio. That includes an upcoming cozy life sim based on The Lord of the Rings called Tales of the Shire, the Kerbal Space Program series and a new project from Game Freak, which is best known for making Pokémon games.

    The entire Annapurna Interactive staff quit last summer after discussions to spin out the publisher from parent company Annapurna Pictures fell apart. The company then set out to replace the team.

    Annapurna has a stellar track record in the indie realm, having published a string of highly regarded games such as Stray, Sayonara Wild Hearts, What Remains of Edith Finch, Cocoon and (slightly confusingly) Outer Wilds. So there’s reason for optimism that its former staffers can do great things with the Private Division portfolio. Fingers crossed that this also somehow portends a future for OlliOlli and the brilliant Rollerdrome. Both were developed by Roll7, a now-shuttered studio that was under Private Division’s umbrella.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/former-annapurna-interactive-staff-are-reportedly-taking-over-publisher-private-divisions-game-portfolio-133033714.html?src=rss

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    Former Annapurna Interactive staff are reportedly taking over publisher Private Division’s game portfolio

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    Former Annapurna Interactive staff are reportedly taking over publisher Private Division’s game portfolio