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• What even is the metaverse?
• The Morning After: Facebook is now called Meta
• Twitter now lets hosts record and share audio Spaces
• Leaked photo of Facebook's Meta smartwatch shows camera notch
• TikTok tests a more direct way for users to tip creators
• Teenage Engineering made a mini ITX case called Computer–1
• Amazon will spend billions of dollars to offset holiday shipping slowdown
• Mac revenue hit an all-time high last quarter, even without new MacBook Pros
• Mercedes cars will have optional Dolby Atmos audio starting in 2022
• Meta VR headsets won't require a Facebook account to use
• Meta is retiring the Oculus brand
• Facebook is rebranding itself as 'Meta'
• 'Project Cambria' is a high-end VR headset designed for Facebook's metaverse
• VR hit 'Blade & Sorcery' comes to Oculus Quest 2 on November 4th
• 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' is coming to VR on Oculus Quest 2
• Oculus Quest 2 gets a new living room, Slack and more apps
• Facebook will invest $150 million in VR learning experiences
• Facebook's Polar app will let anyone design AR objects and effects
• Oculus' Active Pack makes your Quest 2 headset more fitness-friendly
• Facebook Messenger on Oculus will soon handle audio calls
• Facebook says it doesn’t want to own the metaverse, just jumpstart it
• Google Fi will soon offer end-to-end encrypted calls
• Panasonic GH5 II review: A vlogging classic gains speed and streaming powers
• Activision Blizzard ends forced arbitration for harassment and discrimination claims
• Google's Nest Audio hits new low of $60 at B&H Photo

What even is the metaverse? Posted: 29 Oct 2021 05:00 AM PDT For most of this year, Facebook has been talking about its plans for the metaverse, pledging to lose a lot of money in order to bolster its ambitions in the space. Yesterday, the company announced that it would rebrand its corporate identity to "Meta" in order to double down on this commitment. (And, you know, the other reason.) The metaverse, as Meta describes it, "is a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences using technologies like virtual and augmented reality." Given the number of companies who are now starting to talk about the metaverse in very real terms, we have to answer one, very obvious question: What the Hell is a metaverse? Everything that follows is, to a certain extent, meant to be read with the right number of ahs, ahems, polite coughs and other caveats. After all, a number of companies have started using the term in order to bask in the reflected glory thrown out by the metaverse hype train. Much like "Web 2.0," "The metaverse" has a loosey-goosey definition that is being used to define whatever is coming next for the internet. A virtual world that mirrors our own? Metaverse. A way to buy and sell NFTs of Elon Musk dressed as a dog? Metaverse. A new way of creating commerce and communications? Metaverse. It's likely that when we look back at the metaverse a decade or two from now, should it actually happen, it'll look vastly different to what its boosters predict. In his Founders Letter, CEO Mark Zuckerberg describes the metaverse as "an embodied internet where you're in the experience, not just looking at it." He goes on to talk about how "in this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents' living room to catch up." And then cites the benefits of that, including a reduced carbon footprint and less time stuck in traffic. The easiest and most obvious point of comparison is the metaverse as represented in pop culture. Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (where the term originates), Ernest Cline's Ready Player One and the Wachowskis' The Matrix are all examples of this virtual, digital-world-that-actually-mirrors-our-own. Those with (long) internet memories will recall projects like Second Life, which promised to do this sort of thing 18 years ago. And some folks have suggested that Roblox and Fortnite, which are both games and virtual spaces where stuff other than games takes place, are forms of metaverse. Meta's interest is clear as a way of building out its work in the virtual space through its acquisition of Oculus. Sir Nick Clegg, who after his political defenestration and inexplicable Knighting became Facebook's vice president of Global Affairs and Communications in 2018, wrote that the metaverse is designed to create a "greater sense of 'virtual presence.'" The Guardian reported that Clegg claims to use Meta's virtual presence service, Horizon Workrooms, to take his "Monday morning meetings in the metaverse with a virtual table and whiteboard." You may be thinking, then, that the metaverse will be little more than Zoom but with a requirement to spend more to own some pricey VR gear. Alexandru Voica, Meta's Technology Communications Manager in Europe, says that a better way to understand the metaverse is as "the next evolution of the internet." He used the video call we were on as an example of something that the metaverse could hopefully improve. "We're meeting in this 2D video call, and it's great compared to a phone call but it's not as good as if we were sitting together [in the real world]," he said, "The idea is, how can you take this interaction and get it as close to you and I being together [in a public space]." He added that the metaverse wasn't envisioned as supplanting real-world connections, but to make virtual experiences more lifelike. Voica added that these virtual engagements will feel a lot more real with the use of technologies like VR, AR and spatial audio. When you have a series of boxes on a Zoom screen, for instance, it's harder for your brain to process all of that information at once. In the virtual world, with people's audio directed toward you from wherever their avatar is sitting, it's easier for you to engage. Some of this feeds back to Mark Zuckerberg's 'Next Decade' manifesto from the start of 2020, where improvements in AR and VR technology will better empower remote work. Obviously that was before COVID-19 made remote work a necessity for millions of people, and before it became one of the defining culture-war non-issues this year. Another common frame of reference is Matthew Ball's essay on what a metaverse is from January 2020. At the time, he said that any metaverse would be a persistent and synchronous virtual environment with its own economy. Ball added that the metaverse would enable "would-be laborers" to "participate in the 'high value' economy via virtual labor." He cited the practice of Gold Farming — where players of a large MMO in a low-wage country works for hours to earn large amounts of virtual currency (or goods) which they then sell on to other players for real-world cash — as a current example of this "virtual labor." Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images Ball went on to say that the metaverse would also offer "unprecedented interoperability of data." A user would be able to move objects freely between worlds, like being able to take a skin for a gun in Counter-Strike and carry it over to Fortnite. To be honest, the idea that games publishers would agree to the free-sharing of their intellectual property, with all the lost profits that would entail, is the most unbelievable idea in the document. But even Epic Games' CEO Tim Sweeney is open to the idea of some cross-communication in some form or another. This July, Sweeney told The New York Times that said a "tunnel" could exist between, in this example, the virtual worlds of Roblox and Fortnite. What's not clear, however, is what a user could take from one end of that tunnel to the other beyond their own, custom-designed avatar. Voica says that this cross-sharing of IP will be vital to ensuring the success of the metaverse. He used the example of a user buying a designer jacket, as a digital item which could be worn by their avatar as they went about their day. That item doesn't have any value if you're only able to wear it in the specific designer's own virtual world. "It would be like buying a Manchester United shirt and only being able to wear it inside Manchester United's stadium," he said. And he believes that consumers wouldn't buy into a system with such a limitation, saying that "people don't want to be locked in." There's also a line of thinking that a metaverse will actually describe the unification of the digital and real worlds. AR glasses that overlay a rich data set onto the street as you go about your day, outsourcing tasks from your own brain. That will, naturally, require smart glasses with transparent displays capable of actually reproducing this data in a useful manner. Not to mention a quantum leap in computer vision, data processing and battery life to make it viable for whole-day use. This, of course, will also require a dramatic shift in how we view privacy in public and private spaces a decade on from the privacy objections raised when Google Glass was briefly en vogue. This September, The Washington Post interviewed Sima Sistani, the co-founder of Houseparty who now works for Epic Games. They said that the metaverse would be the thing that replaces Social Media to suck away all of our free time. Sistani believes that, unlike now, where people simply create images and post status updates, the next generation will enjoy collaborative experiences with one another. And that the next generation of content creators will create fresh experiences for the rest of us to enjoy, once we've paid for them. One of the things that is kinda/sorta clear, at least from the metaverse's boosters, is that the platform won't be owned by a single person or company. Instead, it will — hopefully — operate much like the internet does now, with multiple providers offering infrastructure to build a cohesive whole. Or at least, that's the theory, and there's the additional hope that decentralized technologies will help reduce the potential for a single arbiter to rule over this new frontier. Projects like Decentraland, its own virtual environment, are already working on this principle, with its economy running on Ethereum's blockchain. As The New York Times reported earlier this year, Decentraland's market has already seen real-world brokers buying up parcels of virtual real estate. And there are already art shows and casinos in operation inside Decentraland, all of which can be tied to some form of digital commerce. This is sadly at-odds with the potential for a post-scarcity digital utopia that a metaverse could theoretically foster. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel speaks with WSJ's @JoannaStern at #WSJTechLivehttps://t.co/n88FkIT5Bx — The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 19, 2021 NARRATOR He was. https://t.co/U4XnXCmeeG — jack⚡️ (@jack) October 20, 2021 Pop-culture descriptions of metaverses commonly present them less as a social good and more as a symptom of impending collapse. Even the reference onanism that is Ready Player One shows a world that has slid into economic, social and environmental decline. When asked about the metaverse, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel cited Snow Crash's "virtual world created by an evil monopolist." Not long after, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey agreed that Neal Stephenson's novel was intended as a warning, rather than a guide. [An aside, in Snow Crash, poor users accessing the metaverse through a public terminal are rendered in monochrome, and are derided by the wider society as a consequence — something that was replicated in the real-world by Fortnite players who bullied "Default" players who didn't buy custom skins for their avatars.] Now, Meta believes enough in the metaverse that it's hoisted its flag, and fortune, to the idea for the next few years. And it's hard to think that, however convenient, its metaversal ambitions are a smokescreen for the very real issues the platform is currently facing. Titles like Roblox and Fortnite provide a vague sense of how a persistent, universal online world could hold the attention of users for thousands of hours, but those are for now curated experiences. And projects like Decentraland offer a hint as to how a virtual economy would function, but nothing yet gives us a cohesive grand narrative of the metaverse which can show us where it's going. In many ways, companies like Meta are trying to put together this jigsaw without much of an idea of what it's going to look like when it's finished.

The Morning After: Facebook is now called Meta Posted: 29 Oct 2021 04:20 AM PDT While Facebook the social network is still Facebook, the overarching company that it created is now called Meta. Facebook Inc. is changing its name in order to distinguish its myriad parts from the social network, which has an increasingly poor reputation pretty much everywhere. Particularly in the last few weeks. While the company hopes it'll offer some degree of distraction from current sentiment (and political focus), it's not going to stop people talking about Facebook Meta. Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name during his keynote for the company's Connect event. He said: "From now on, we're going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook first." The change appears very similar to how Google, the search and tech part, was bundled inside Alphabet — a bigger company to contain all the other parts. The timing is, perhaps, even odder. The Facebook Papers — internal documents detailing the social network's major failings and issues — encompassing misinformation, hate speech and censorship, are now public knowledge. Is this a distraction or Facebook wilfully forcing its own transformation at a time when most of us are more interested in how it's going to fix its current state. If I don't want to use Facebook — why would I want to use its take on VR and the metaverse? -Mat Smith Meta is retiring the Oculus brand Facebook Portal will also be known as Meta Portal moving forward. Following the above announcement, a Facebook post from incoming CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth revealed that Meta is retiring the Oculus brand. Beginning in early 2022, the Oculus Quest will instead be known as the Meta Quest. Similarly, the Oculus App will be called Meta Quest App. According to Bosworth, the intention is "to make clear" to consumers Quest is a Meta product. "We all have a strong attachment to the Oculus brand, and this was a very difficult decision to make," Bosworth said. The name is trickling down to other physical products. Facebook Portal will also become Meta Portal. Continue reading. Teenage Engineering made a mini ITX PC case called Computer–1 The $195 chassis is already sold out. Teenage Engineering Teenage Engineering is best known for its synths, but it likes to explore other avenues, from designing wireless buds to games consoles and even an IKEA collaboration. It has announced an ITX PC case it's calling the Computer-1. The company says it has been working on the design since 2014. "It's not a ground-breaking PC case, but we like it, and use it every day," TE says on its website. Alas, iIt's currently sold out, but you can sign up to get a notification once it is available — which is what I just did. Continue reading. Mac revenue hit an all-time high last quarter, even without new MacBook Pros The iPhone remains the money-maker though. The company just reported its results for the quarter ending on September 30th, and Apple made 29 percent more revenue than a year ago — that's $83.4 billion, for those keeping track. While iPhone sales made up almost 47 percent of Apple's total revenue. While Mac revenue was only up two percent, that was just enough for Apple to say it was a new all-time high for the Mac. Continue reading. Sony has now sold 13.4 million PS5s A boost in third-party games helped offset a drop in first-party sales. Sony's PlayStation 5 sales remain relatively steady and strong, despite widespread supply shortages, with 3.3 million units sold in fiscal Q2 compared to 2.2 million last quarter. That brought total sales up to 13.4 million units, Sony announced. Game sales were also up significantly at 76.4 million units compared to 63.6 million in the previous quarter. The company has already stated that it has enough components for 22.6 million units to be sold by March 2022. That would be enough to meet its sales projections, but if sales really explode during the holidays, that could mean shortages could continue. Continue reading. Meta's first leaked product is a watch with a notch The company is reportedly working on three generations of smartwatches. Meta Bloomberg has published an image showing a Facebook/Meta smartwatch with rounded corners. It also has a notch with a front-facing camera. App developer Steve Moser found the image inside the company's app used to control its Ray-Ban Stories AR sunglasses, hinting that it could also be used to control the watch in the future. Continue reading. The biggest news stories you might have missed Raspberry Pi packs more power into its $15 Zero 2 W board 'Project Cambria' is a high-end VR headset designed for Facebook's metaverse Facebook says it doesn't want to own the metaverse, just jumpstart it Engadget Deals: Shark's self-emptying robot vacuum is nearly half off today Tesla's Sentry Mode now offers drivers a live view of their car Nikon officially unveils the 45.7-megapixel Z9 with 8K video and 20 fps burst speeds Amazon's Prime Gaming titles for November include 'Control Ultimate Edition' VR hit 'Blade & Sorcery' comes to Oculus Quest 2 on November 4th Panasonic GH5 II review: A vlogging classic gains speed and streaming powers

Twitter now lets hosts record and share audio Spaces Posted: 29 Oct 2021 12:20 AM PDT Back in September, Twitter announced that it was planning to add recording and playback features for Spaces so that listeners can access shows after they air. Now, the website has rolled out the ability to a limited number of Spaces hosts on iOS and to all listeners on iOS and Android. Twitter says it's a way for hosts to extend the value of their work and to reach audiences who couldn't always keep an eye out for live conversations.  Hosts who already have access to Spaces Recording will have to toggle on "Record Space" before launching a new conversation to switch on the feature. A recording icon will be visible to everyone, including listeners, during the show. Hosts will have access to the recording for 30 days after initial broadcast, and they'll be able to share and tweet it for their followers to see. Listeners will be able to play back recordings right on their timeline — they'll also be able to share them, which could translate to more listeners and fans for hosts.  While the recording will be available for a month, hosts can delete it anytime. Twitter says it will still keep a file for up to 120 days, though, so it can check for hateful content that goes against its ToS, in case users report a recording. Twitter

Leaked photo of Facebook's Meta smartwatch shows camera notch Posted: 28 Oct 2021 08:23 PM PDT Meta — that is, the company formerly known as Facebook — may be developing a smartwatch that can take photos and videos. Bloomberg has published an image showing a smartwatch with rounded corners similar to the Apple Watch, except it also has a notch with a front-facing camera. App developer Steve Moser found the image inside the company's app used to control its Ray-Ban Stories AR sunglasses, hinting that it could also be used to control the watch in the future. Meta In addition to having rounded corners and a camera, the smartwatch appears to have a stainless steel casing and detachable straps. Moser also says that the code inside the app indicates that the watch could be called Milan and that it could allow for the photos and videos you captured with it to be downloaded on a phone.  According to Bloomberg, Meta is hoping to launch a smartwatch as early as 2022, but nothing has been finalized yet. Further, Facebook's parent company is reportedly already working on three generations of product that will be released at different times. It's not clear if the device shown in the image is one of those, or if it will even be released at all. The Verge also reported earlier this year, though, that Facebook is working on a smartwatch with a front-facing and a 1080p rear camera with autofocus. It could have a heart rate monitor and LTE connectivity, as well, though those features could be distributed across the three different models.

TikTok tests a more direct way for users to tip creators Posted: 28 Oct 2021 03:14 PM PDT TikTok is testing a new tipping feature that would give creators another way to receive gifts from their followers. The company already allows its most popular users to receive tips when live streaming, and now it's trying out something more direct. TikTok is rolling out a Tips feature to some creators h/t jera.bean https://t.co/fmrfuxdkrGpic.twitter.com/hufl2qopk2 — Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) October 27, 2021 The existence of the feature was first spotted by TikTok creator Jera Bean and later more widely shared by consultant (and former The Next Web writer) Matt Navarra. Per the clip Bean posted, those who TikTok has enrolled in the test can apply to get a Tips button on their profile page. They need at least 100,000 followers and an account that's in good standing for consideration. Notably, TikTok is not taking a cut of those tips. It's possible that could change when and if the company rolls out the feature more widely. TikTok told TechCrunch it has been testing the tool with a limited number of users. "We're always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience," a spokesperson for the company said. TikTok is far from the only social media platform to allow tipping. Twitter has had a "tip jar" feature since the start of May. More recently, it added the ability for users to send and receive Bitcoin tips. The push into tipping comes as companies look for ways to keep creators on their platforms.

Teenage Engineering made a mini ITX case called Computer–1 Posted: 28 Oct 2021 02:45 PM PDT While Teenage Engineering is best known for its synths, it frequently finds ways to surprise its fans. Its latest release is no different, but that doesn't make it any less exciting. It has announced an ITX PC case it's calling the Computer-1. The company says it has been working on the design since 2014. "It's not a ground-breaking PC case, but we like it, and use it every day," TE says on its website. "Now we'd like to share it with you." The case is made from 1mm-thick powder-coated aluminum. Like TE's recent synths, it comes in a build-it-yourself flat-pack design that involves bending some of the panels. "Think twice, bend once," the company warns humorously. With chrome handles included, the case stands 322mm or about a foot tall. Width-wise, it measures 170mm or just over six inches wide. Inside, you have enough room for an SFX power supply, a dual-slot GPU that measures under 180mm long and a CPU cooler that's about 120mm tall. It will be interesting to see what thermal performance is like on the Computer-1 since the side panels don't feature a mesh design. At $195, the Computer-1 is pricey, but about what you would expect to pay for an ITX case from a small company. You'll find more affordable options in products like the NR200 from Cooler Master, but you can easily spend as much as $200 or more on a Dan A4 or FormD T1. If you're interested in the Computer-1, you may have to wait to get your hands on one. It's currently sold out, but you can sign up to get a notification once it is available.

Amazon will spend billions of dollars to offset holiday shipping slowdown Posted: 28 Oct 2021 01:54 PM PDT While Amazon had a huge revenue surge over the past year thanks to lockdown and the resulting rise of online shopping, the company's recent earnings report shows that it might be slowing. Net sales increased 15 percent to $110.8 billion in the third quarter, which is a step down from the previous quarter's 27 percent growth rate. At the same time, Amazon also warns that global supply chain issues, labor shortages and increased shipping costs could incur "several billion dollars of additional costs" in the next quarter. Amazon shares dropped 3.8 percent in extended trading as a result. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the company wanted to minimize the impact of these issues on the customers and selling partners this holiday season. "It'll be expensive for us in the short term, but it's the right prioritization for our customers and partners," he said in a press release. This also marks Jassy's first quarter as Amazon's CEO since Jeff Bezos stepped down earlier this year. Of course, Amazon is still making a lot of money; it's the fourth consecutive quarter it has earned over $100 billion. Even if online sales have dipped, Amazon Web Services continues to be a huge money maker for the company, with a 39 percent revenue increase to $16.1 billion.

Mac revenue hit an all-time high last quarter, even without new MacBook Pros Posted: 28 Oct 2021 01:51 PM PDT Apple has made a lot of substantial tweaks to its product line up the last two years or so, and it appears to be making the right moves here. The company just reported its results for the quarter ending on September 30th, and Apple made 29 percent more revenue than a year ago — that's $83.4 billion, for those keeping track. As usual, the iPhone led the way. iPhone sales made up almost 47 percent of Apple's total revenue, and iPhone revenue of $38.9 billion was up 47 percent year over year. But it's worth remembering that last year, the iPhone 12 series was delayed and didn't go on sale until October (or November, in the case of the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max). This year, all four iPhone 13 models went on sale simultaneously, in mid-September. While that's only a few weeks of the quarter, it likely helped fuel that massive growth. The iPad, too, had a strong quarter. While revenue of $8.25 billion makes it the smallest of Apple's five main product categories (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Services, and "Wearables, Home, and Accessories") the iPad category grew 21 percent year over year. The Mac, on the other hand, was flat — revenue of $9.2 billion was only up two percent — but that was just enough for Apple to say it was a new all-time high for the Mac.  Apple's Services business has been growing steadily for years, so it's not surprising that this quarter's revenue of $18.3 billion was an all-time high, as well. But for the Mac, it's interesting to see it hit that high-water mark without new MacBook Pro models on the market to help move the needle. Now that the new MacBook Pro has been released, it'll be worth seeing how it affects Mac revenue overall next quarter. The wearables, home, and accessories group also grew in strong but not spectacular fashion (up 12 percent). But just like with the Mac, next quarter could be huge for that segment — the new Apple Watch Series 7 and third-generation AirPods just went on sale and it's easy to imagine those products making a big impact.  As usual, Apple is holding a call with investors at 5PM ET, and we'll be listening in to see if CEO Tim Cook has anything of note to share this quarter.

Mercedes cars will have optional Dolby Atmos audio starting in 2022 Posted: 28 Oct 2021 01:45 PM PDT You won't have to buy a Lucid Air if you want a car with more immersive Dolby Atmos. Mercedes will equip its cars with Atmos audio on all models that use both its latest MBUX interface (introduced with the latest S-Class) and an optional Burmester 3D or 4D sound system. Whether or not you'll driving, you'll hear compatible music in a vertically enhanced sound field — it might not sound like a "live concert" as Mercedes claims, but it should be a step up from the usual stereo playback. The 4D system includes 31 speakers, six of which create the 3D effect from above. Another four "near-ear" speakers sit in the front seats, and all four seats have two sound transducers (aka exciters) each. Throw in 1750W of total power (including an 18.5-liter subwoofer) and you'll likely be happy regardless of the audio processing. Just don't plan on buying an Atmos-equipped car right away. The format will first be available in the Mercedes-Maybach in summer 2022, and the S-Class soon after. Other models will follow, but you might not want to count on buying an A-Class with Atmos any time soon.

Meta VR headsets won't require a Facebook account to use Posted: 28 Oct 2021 01:19 PM PDT The Oculus name may be no more, but there is at least one piece of good news in Facebook's decision to rebrand itself as Meta. You won't need a Facebook account to use its Quest headsets. That tidbit of information was nestled in a post from soon-to-be Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth detailing what the rebranding means for the company's various products.     "We're working on new ways to log into Quest that won't require a Facebook account, landing sometime next year," Bosworth said. "This is one of our highest priority areas of work internally." Meta announced in August 2020 it would eventually require all Oculus owners to log into their devices with a Facebook account. At the time, the company said people it would start prompting people to merge their Oculus and Facebook accounts starting in October 2020. Under that plan, Oculus owners would have had until January 1st, 2023 to continue using their headsets without a Facebook account. After that point, Meta said the devices would continue working, but warned some games and apps would not. Unsurprisingly, the Oculus community immediately hated the decision. "What the fuck," said one of the more tame comments an Oculus owner posted in the comments section of the blog post detailing the policy change.

Meta is retiring the Oculus brand Posted: 28 Oct 2021 12:42 PM PDT Earlier today, Facebook announced it was rebranding itself as Meta. When CEO Mark Zuckerberg first shared the news during the company's Connect event, it wasn't clear how broadly it planned to adopt the name across its product portfolio. But now we have a much better idea thanks to a Facebook post from incoming CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth. For one, Meta is retiring the Oculus brand.     Beginning in early 2022, the Oculus Quest will instead be known as the Meta Quest. Similarly, the Oculus App will be called Meta Quest App moving forward. According to Bosworth, the intention is "to make clear" to consumers Quest is a Meta product. "We all have a strong attachment to the Oculus brand, and this was a very difficult decision to make," Bosworth said. "While we're retiring the name, I can assure you that the original Oculus vision remains deeply embedded in how Meta will continue to drive mass adoption for VR today."  As part of the rebranding, Meta is also backpedaling on its unpopular decision to require Facebook logins to use Oculus headsets. Bosworth said the company is working on new ways to allow people to log into the platform, and that will roll out sometime next year. "This is one of our highest priority areas of work internally," he added. Additionally, the name will filter to other products, including Facebook Portal. Moving forward, the company plans to call its smart display Meta Portal.    The possibility that the Oculus name would disappear is likely something fans have had in the back of their minds since Facebook acquired the company in 2014. For better and worse, the company that once existed is no more. It's now a cog in Meta's ambitions to create a metaverse.

Facebook is rebranding itself as 'Meta' Posted: 28 Oct 2021 11:21 AM PDT Facebook, the social network, will no longer define the future of Facebook, the company that will now be known as Meta. Facebook Inc. is changing the name in order to distinguish its beleaguered social network, which has an increasingly poor reputation around the globe, from the company that is pinning its future on the promise of a "metaverse." "Our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can't possibly represent everything that we're doing today, let alone in the future," Zuckerberg said. "From now on, we're going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook first." Zuckerberg announced the new name during a virtual (meta-virtual?) keynote for the company's Connect event. Under its new arrangement, Facebook and its "family of apps" will be a division of the larger Meta company, which will still be led my Zuckerberg. The restructuring bears some similarities to when Google restructured itself into Alphabet, the holding company that now operates Google, along with its "other bets" like DeepMind and Nest. Facebook previously said it plans to separate Facebook Reality Labs, its AR and VR group, from the rest of the company when reporting its financial performance. In a new statement it added that its"corporate structure" won't be changing. The company is also changing its stock ticker from FB to MVRS beginning in December. Facebook The company is positioning the name as more reflective of its future ambitions to evolve from social network to metaverse company. Zuckerberg is still defining exactly what being a "metaverse company" means for its main platform and users, but augmented and virtual reality is central to the vision. The company has already shown off an early version of one project, called Horizon Workrooms, that allows people to conduct meetings in VR. The company also previewed new "Horizon Home" and "Horizon Venues" experiences. (All of the company's social VR products will fall under the larger "Meta Horizon" brand, according to a post from incoming CTO Andrew Bosworth.) And, earlier this month, the company announced plans to hire 10,000 new workers in Europe in order to build out its metaverse. The name change also comes at one of the most precarious moments in the company's history. The social network is reeling from the fallout of the "Facebook Papers," a trove of internal documents collected by a former employee turned whistleblower. The documents have been the basis for a series of complaints to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the source of more than a dozen reports about the company's failings to stem the tide of misinformation, hate speech and other harms caused by the platform. Facebook The new name also means that the iconic Facebook "thumbs up" will no longer be the company's official logo or on the signage at its headquarters. (Incidentally, the role of "likes" and other reactions in enabling hate and anger on Facebook has been a central narrative of the Facebook Papers disclosures.) In a blog post about the design of the new name and logo, the company said the new logo was optimized for 3D experiences and "designed to be experienced from different perspectives and interacted with." It's worth noting that the new name doesn't change anything for the main Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp services, which will be known by their existing names. But the services could get more metaverse-oriented experiences with time. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said that users could expect "a more immersive Instagram experience in the metaverse." Bosworth also notes that some "relevant products and services" would be rebranded as well, such as the Portal lineup, which will eventually take on "Meta Portal" branding. The company also plans to "retire" the Oculus name, with the VR products taking on the Meta identity.

'Project Cambria' is a high-end VR headset designed for Facebook's metaverse Posted: 28 Oct 2021 11:12 AM PDT Facebook is working on a new high-end VR headset codenamed Project Cambria. The company teased the device during its recent Connect conference on Thursday. It plans to release the headset sometime next year. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it will be a separate "high-end" product from the company's $299 Quest 2 headset. It will also cost more than that device. Cambria will include capabilities that currently aren't possible on other VR headsets. New sensors in the device will allow your virtual avatar to maintain eye contact and reflect your facial expressions. The company says that's something that will allow people you're interacting with virtually to get a better sense of how you're feeling. Another focus of the headset will be mixed-reality experiences. With the help of new sensors and reconstruction algorithms, Facebook claims Cambria will have the capability to represent objects in the physical world with a sense of depth and perspective. Cambria will also feature new optics that the company said will increase visual fidelity. Facebook promised to share more details about the headset next year. In the meantime, it mentioned that third-party developers are already working on experiences for the device.

VR hit 'Blade & Sorcery' comes to Oculus Quest 2 on November 4th Posted: 28 Oct 2021 11:02 AM PDT Blade & Sorcery has been a strong showcase for VR, but it has a drawback: its PC-only nature has meant occasionally tripping over wires while you fight your fantasy battles. Thankfully, that won't be an issue for long. Warpfrog has unveiledBlade & Sorcery: Nomad, a stand-alone game coming to the Oculus Quest 2 on November 4th for $20. The basic concept remains the same — it's a "sandbox" brawler with immersive swordplay and magic — but the developers are taking advantage of the freedom that comes with a stand-alone headset. The familiar Sandbox mode is now fine-tuned for room-scale VR. There's also a Dungeons mode that challenges you to fight through "semi-procedurally generated" chambers. In 2022, there will also be a mode with progression that rewards frequent play. This probably won't get you to spring for a Quest 2 by itself. It might tip the balance if you were already curious about titles like GTA: San Andreas, though, and it may serve as a good introduction to what VR can do. If nothing else, it shows what's possible when you aren't tied to a computer.

'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' is coming to VR on Oculus Quest 2 Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:48 AM PDT One of the most-loved entries in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series is coming to VR. On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a port of 2004's GTA: San Andreas is in development for the company's Quest 2 VR headset. "This new version of what I think is one of the greatest games ever made will offer players an entirely new way to experience this iconic open world in virtual reality," Zuckerberg said during the event. Zuckerberg didn't say when Quest 2 owners can expect to play the game. The blog post the company published after the event also didn't provide many other details either. "This is a project many years in the making, and we can't wait to show you more of it," the company said. Whatever form the final product takes, it's likely to look a lot like the Resident Evil 4 remake Facebook and Capcom released last week. Expect the company's Oculus Studios division to rework various elements of the game to make the PlayStation 2-era game more practical and comfortable to play in virtual reality.

Oculus Quest 2 gets a new living room, Slack and more apps Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:36 AM PDT Oculus Quest 2 users will see a new living space: Horizon Home, a more social version of the virtual living room that pops up when you slip on your headset. Instead of just being a pretty and sterile virtual environment, you'll be able to invite friends to hang out in your Horizon Home space. The idea is that you'll be able to do things together, like dive into VR videos or play multiplayer games. Eventually, you'll be able to build and customize your Horizon Home space too. It's all part of the company's drive to focus on the metaverse, something Mark Zuckerberg talked about at length during today's Facebook Connect conference. For the first time, Facebook is also opening the Oculus Store to 2D apps like Slack and Dropbox. You'll be able to access them from within Horizon Home, so you won't have to take off your headset to keep tabs on your work chat. And of course, there will be apps for Facebook and Instagram as well.

Facebook will invest $150 million in VR learning experiences Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:15 AM PDT Virtual reality can be a powerful teaching tool, but it's only as good as the content available for the medium. Facebook is looking to grow the availability of content for VR learning as part of its efforts to shift its focus on the metaverse, and it has created a US$150 million fund to achieve that goal. The social network has announced that it's spending that much to reach its VR learning goals over the next three years at its Connect 2021 event.  Since Facebook is hoping to build a robust ecosystem for learning in the metaverse, it plans to do more than just create immersive educational experiences. Part of the money will go towards training augmented reality and virtual reality creators, so they can make their own experiences. Facebook is working with Unity to teach people the skills necessary to create educational VR content — mainly, it's using Unity's "Create with VR for Educators" tool with Quest 2 devices to teach nonprofits and educational institutions. In addition, it's working with several educational institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities, as well as non-profits to create immersive experiences for them. Finally, Facebook says it's taking steps towards increasing people's access to educational VR materials. After all, all that work will go to waste if nobody ends up using them to learn new things. Mark Rabkin, VP of Oculus, said in a statement: "VR isn't all fun and games. If you've ever traveled the world with Wander, explored Japan with Tokyo Origami, or admired the heavens in Titans of Space PLUS, then you know that VR can be a powerful tool for education as well...A lot of work exists between where we're at now and where we see the metaverse in the future. We're excited, and we hope you'll come with us on the journey."

Facebook's Polar app will let anyone design AR objects and effects Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:15 AM PDT As part of its broad vision of becoming a metaverse-focused company, Facebook announced Polar, a free iOS app that makes it easy for just about anyone to create AR filters, effects and 3D objects. Think of it like an easy-to-use implementation of the company's Spark AR platform for developers. The goal is to give creators a simple tool to design custom AR effects — perhaps glowing demonic eyes, or 3D text of your personal hashtag or slogan — that they can deploy across the web, or share with their followers.    The company plans to launch a closed beta program later this year, so it'll likely be a while before it's open to everyone. But if Facebook wants the metaverse to thrive, it'll need to loop in creators to help make some meme-worthy content. Let's just hope there's also a way to pay people for this free labor.

Oculus' Active Pack makes your Quest 2 headset more fitness-friendly Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:15 AM PDT You can soon use an Oculus Quest 2 headset — due to be rebranded as "Meta Quest 2" in early 2022 — for VR workouts without it being quite so... grimy. Oculus has previewed an Active Pack for the Quest 2 that will make it easier to use the headset as part of your fitness routine. New grips for the Touch controller should keep them from flying out of your sweaty hands, while an exercise-ready "facial interface" will be easier to wipe down after an intense session. The Active Pack won't be available until sometime in 2022. Quest 2 fitness apps will get some meaningful updates before then, though. FitXR will get a new fitness studio before the end of 2021, while Player 22 by Rezzil will offer hand-tracked bodyweight exercises in a similar time frame. Oculus' fitness shift isn't completely surprising. The pandemic led many people to shift their workouts to VR, and not all of those people will return to the gym. If Oculus can pitch the Quest 2 as a fitness tool, it could boost adoption among people who wouldn't have previously considered a VR headset.

Facebook Messenger on Oculus will soon handle audio calls Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:15 AM PDT Since the start of the year, Oculus Quest and Quest 2 owners have had the ability to use Messenger to chat with their Facebook friends. When using the app today, you can type out a message, send pre-written phrases or use voice-to-text to communicate. Soon, you'll also be able to call your friends.  At its Connect conference, Facebook announced it plans to bring audio calling to the platform. Later this year, the app will allow you to call contacts on any other Messenger-enabled platform. In the future, it will also allow you to invite your friends to hang out in VR destinations together. Facebook is likely to share more details about voice calling soon.

Facebook says it doesn’t want to own the metaverse, just jumpstart it Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:15 AM PDT Here's what Facebook's metaverse isn't: It's not an alternative world to help us escape from our dystopian reality, a la Snow Crash. It won't require VR or AR glasses (at least, not at first). And, most importantly, it's not something Facebook wants to keep to itself. Instead, as Mark Zuckerberg described to media ahead of today's Facebook Connect conference, the company is betting it'll be the next major computing platform after the rise of smartphones and the mobile web. Facebook is so confident, in fact, Zuckerberg announced that it's renaming itself to "Meta." After spending the last decade becoming obsessed with our phones and tablets — learning to stare down and scroll practically as a reflex — the Facebook founder thinks we'll be spending more time looking up at the 3D objects floating around us in the digital realm. Or maybe you'll be following a friend's avatar as they wander around your living room as a hologram. It's basically a digital world layered right on top of the real world, or an "embodied internet" as Zuckerberg describes. Before he got into the weeds for his grand new vision, though, Zuckerberg also preempted criticism about looking into the future now, as the Facebook Papers paint the company as a mismanaged behemoth that constantly prioritizes profit over safety. While acknowledging the seriousness of the issues the company is facing, noting that it'll continue to focus on solving them with "industry-leading" investments, Zuckerberg said:  Devindra Hardawar/Engadget "The reality is is that there's always going to be issues and for some people... they may have the view that there's never really a great time to focus on the future... From my perspective, I think that we're here to create things and we believe that we can do this and that technology can make things better. So we think it's important to to push forward." Given the extent to which Facebook, and Zuckerberg in particular, have proven to be untrustworthy stewards of social technology, it's almost laughable that the company wants us to buy into its future. But, like the rise of photo sharing and group chat apps, Zuckerberg at least has a good sense of what's coming next. And for all of his talk of turning Facebook into a metaverse company, he's adamant that he doesn't want to build a metaverse that's entirely owned by Facebook. He doesn't think other companies will either. Like the mobile web, he thinks every major technology company will contribute something towards the metaverse. He's just hoping to make Facebook a pioneer. "Instead of looking at a screen, or today, how we look at the Internet, I think in the future you're going to be in the experiences, and I think that's just a qualitatively different experience," Zuckerberg said. It's not quite virtual reality as we think of it, and it's not just augmented reality. But ultimately, he sees the metaverse as something that'll help to deliver more presence for digital social experiences — the sense of being there, instead of just being trapped in a zoom window. And he expects there to be continuity across devices, so you'll be able to start chatting with friends on your phone and seamlessly join them as a hologram when you slip on AR glasses. A simulated preview of Horizon Home. Facebook But, of course, the metaverse won't be built in a day. At Facebook Connect today, the company announced several ways it's moving towards making it more accessible. For one, Facebook will be transforming the Oculus Quest's Home interface into "Horizon Home," a more fully featured environment where you can invite friends and hang out virtually. Eventually, you'll also be able to build and customize your home space. The Venues app is also becoming "Horizon Venues," where it'll continue to serve as Facebook's prime spot for live virtual events. (The company also says NBA games are coming back to Venues in early November.) The company is also making a major push for developers: its new Presence Platform offers through APIs that'll allow devs to make more inventive VR apps. The Insight SDK will let them take advantage of the Quest 2's cameras to bring the real world into VR; the Interaction SDK opens up the door for more hand-tracking interactions; and the Voice SDK will — you guessed it — let you use your words in more ways. The Insight SDK, in particular, could reshape what Quest VR experiences could look like. It includes Spatial Anchors, which will let virtual objects persist across sessions in a space. So if you placed a VR pet bunny on your coffee table, it should always be there every time you logged into an app. Additionally, there's a Scene Understanding feature, which can help developers get a better sense of your physical space. A character talking to you in VR could, for example, wander around your living room without bumping into furniture. Facebook When it comes to augmented reality, Facebook also has plenty of upgrades in store for its Spark AR platform. For one, it's planning to launch an iOS app called Polar that'll let people design their own AR effects and objects without any coding. It's aimed at creators, who could use it to build unique 3D signage or makeup effects that their followers can apply. More experienced devs will also be able to create Geo-anchored objects, which are tied to specific locations in the real world, as well as AR effects that track your hands and body. They can also try out building group video chats for Messenger, something that'll eventually be supported in other apps.   Like HoloLens and HTC Vive, Facebook plans to make a bigger push into enterprises with Quest for Business. It's a way for employees to log into Quest 2 headsets with secure work accounts (it's probably not great for your boss to see how often you're playing Beat Saber, after all). Since they're meant for office environments, IT departments will also be able to manage work accounts, specific devices and integrate their own security features. The key is that it's all going to be accessible on consumer-grade Quest 2 headsets, Facebook won't have to make entirely new hardware for work environments. The company plans to take it slow with Quest for Business. It's currently being tested with a few companies now, and a wider beta is expected to come next year. At this point, Facebook isn't planning to officially roll it out to every company until 2023. Quest for Business will replace the previous Oculus for Business program, which required a special $799 Quest 2 headset. Facebook already showed off one way remote meetings could be handled better with Horizon Workrooms, and that app is going to get better later this year with customizable workrooms. And when it comes to productivity, the company is also opening up the Oculus Store to 2D apps like Slack, Dropbox, Instagram and Facebook. You'll be able to dive into those apps right from your Horizon Home screen. It's convenient, but it's also a cheeky way to keep you from taking off your headset just to answer a Slack message. Not everyone would want to spend a whole workday wearing a VR headset, but it's not hard to imagine how future AR glasses could let you dive into Slack and Office apps just about anywhere. They'll just be 2D projections floating around you, things that nobody else would be able to see. That may seem like science fiction today, but 15 years ago, so did the idea of having a touchscreen-enabled supercomputer in your pocket with blazing fast wireless internet.  As Zuckerberg sees it, the metaverse will ultimately lead to a more natural relationship with technology (while, of course, giving us another way to buy digital goods). "It's not about you spending more time on screens," he told press before making a hasty retreat. "It's about making the time we spend better and I think you know screens can't really convey the full sense of presence."

Google Fi will soon offer end-to-end encrypted calls Posted: 28 Oct 2021 10:00 AM PDT If you're a Google Fi subscriber, the next time you phone someone your call may be protected by end-to-end encryption. The MVNO will start rolling out support for the privacy-minded feature to Android phones in the coming weeks. Once it's available on your device, it will kick in automatically anytime you call another Fi subscriber. You'll know you're about to make an encrypted call thanks to the special audio and visual cues Google has added to the phone app. A lock icon will appear on your screen as you're about to be connected to your contact, and it will remain on-screen during the call. You'll also hear a different ring tone when you're dialing someone who has a compatible device. If it wasn't already clear, how much value you will get out of encrypted calling will depend on how many of your friends and family also happen to be Fi subscribers and they're using Android phones. As things stand, there's a chance you may never hear the ringtone that indicates your call is secure. In that way, encrypted calling on Fi is much like RCS was a few years ago. It's a protocol without support from carriers. If you're concerned about keeping your calls private, your best bet is to look elsewhere. That said, it's a nice-to-have and way for Google to differentiate its wireless service.

Panasonic GH5 II review: A vlogging classic gains speed and streaming powers Posted: 28 Oct 2021 09:46 AM PDT Panasonic's GH5 was such an iconic vlogging camera that Panasonic unveiled two Micro Four Thirds successors to replace it. The $2,500 GH6, due to arrive later this year, has major upgrades like 4K 120p and even 5.7K video. The other is the model I'm reviewing today, the $1,700 GH5 II. As the name suggests, the GH5 II is more of a refresh, with the same 20-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor. However, it has an all-new processor that delivers significant improvements in speed, video quality and AI smarts. Best of all, it's $300 less than the GH5 was at launch. The big question is whether it's worth getting this model, waiting for the GH6, or even purchasing an older GH5 that's now steeply discounted. To find out, I tested the GH5 II's new features, video quality, autofocus and more — here's what I found out. Body and handling Steve Dent/Engadget If you're already familiar with the GH5, you'll be very comfortable with the GH5 II — the bodies are nearly identical. That's a good thing, because it still out-handles many newer cameras, thanks to the excellent grip and logical control positions. There are a few key changes, though. While the rear display is a little smaller at 3 inches instead of 3.2 inches, it has slightly more resolution and is significantly brighter. That fixes one of the biggest issues with the GH5: its relatively dim display. The electronic viewfinder (EVF) carries the same 3.68 million dot resolution and .76x magnification, but has double the refresh rate at 120Hz. That makes a noticeable difference in image quality; more so than a resolution bump in my opinion. However, it also drains the battery a touch faster. Another nice improvement is the addition of USB-C PD compatibility that can charge the battery more quickly. And it comes with a more powerful DMW-BLK22 battery, the same one found in the company's full-frame S5 camera. While it's still CIPA-rated for 410 shots like the GH5, it delivers a few more minutes of video recording. Steve Dent/Engadget The GH5 II has better menus than the GH5, gaining those introduced on the GH5s. It's a color coded, tabbed menu system with hints to find the option you're looking for. It also has the info panel from Panasonic's pro Varicam models (also available on the GH5s), that show important settings at a glance. Another feature for pro shooters is dual zebra controls that let you check two levels at once, like highlights and skin tones. As with the GH5, the new model has dual UHS II card slots, but they now support the maximum V90 (300 MB/s) speeds. That'll ensure stable capture if you're using the new All-I 4K video settings at up to 400 Mbps, or let the buffer clear faster if you're snapping photos. Video performance There are several subtle, but important changes to the video capabilities of the GH5. A key one is an update to the image stabilization system. It now delivers up to 6.5 EV of shake protection, up by 1.5 EV over the GH5. When working with compatible lenses and using the IS boost mode, it's designed to provide more steady shots, even if you're walking or moving. No in-camera stabilization system is ever going to beat a gimbal. However, the GH5 II does a better job than most mirrorless cameras I've tried at smoothing out walking or running, provided you're reasonably careful. More importantly, it makes handheld camera pans and other motion smoother than the GH5 does. If you need some extra stabilization, there's an electronic mode that does help, though it crops in slightly. Another key change is with the autofocus system. In general, continuous autofocus for video is faster and smoother than before, though you'll still see a tiny bit of hunting or wobble that's unavoidable with a contrast-detect-only AF system. As before, the system works better at higher frame rates when it has more information to work with. Steve Dent/Engadget The GH5 II also brings some AI autofocus smarts that couldn't be added via firmware to the GH5 because of its relatively old processor. It offers double the face and eye-tracking speeds, and can pick up focus when a face is tilted away from the camera. It can recognize heads and human bodies, making tracking more feasible if a person is turning or moving towards or away from the camera. It adds new animal tracking features that can handle most pets and some types of wildlife, as well. With these features enabled, it's easier to keep someone in focus if they or you are moving. Again, this works best at higher frame-rates, but overall, the improved focus hit rates make the camera more practical for vlogging or run-and-gun work, especially for solo operators. Animal tracking is also pretty useful, particularly if pets and/or kids are running around. Is the GH5's subject tracking as good as on Canon or especially Sony's latest mirrorless cameras? No, because both of those brands use phase-detect systems that can nail focus directly without any wobble. Sony's latest models, particularly the A1 and A7S III, also have uncannily fast tracking capabilities that Panasonic has yet to match. Still, the new model is a big step up from the GH5 and certainly good enough for many types of projects. Video quality Steve Dent/Engadget Video made the GH5 popular, as it was far ahead of the competition for the price when it first arrived. Five years on, it's getting pretty old, though, so a new processor helped Panasonic boost the GH5 II's specs in line with what it's done on full-frame models like the S5. To that end, the new model now offers 10-bit 4:2:0 4K and C4K (4,096 x 2,160) video at up to 60 fps, rather than just 8-bit video at 60p as before. That makes it better for slow-mo or high frame-rate video if you want to use log or HDR video settings. Like the GH5, it can also handle 6K 30p anamorphic (4,992 x 3,774) with 10-bit, 4:2:0 color settings. And where All-I capture was limited to 24/25 fps on the GH5, the GH II can now do it at up to 30 fps. Though the GH5 II comes with VLog-L shooting out of the box, it's limited to 12 stops of dynamic range rather than 13 like Panasonic's BGH1 box camera and other recent models. Panasonic also introduced two new video modes, Cinelike D2 and Cinelike V2, that let you shoot log-like video with less hassle. Those deliver slightly more saturated colors and improved skin tones than the original Cinelike D and V modes. Like other newer models, the GH5 II shows a red frame around the screen while recording, along with aspect ratio guides and a TikTok-style portrait video mode. With the same sensor, the GH5 II has pretty much the same readout speeds, so as before, rolling shutter is present but well controlled. Steve Dent/Engadget The GH5 II can now capture video simultaneously to an external recorder over the HDMI port, unlike the GH5. However, it can't capture RAW video like the S5, for instance. Hopefully, that and the limited VLog-L dynamic range will be addressed in future firmware updates. With all those tweaks, the GH5 II delivers sharp video with high levels of color accuracy for demanding work. It handles skin tones well and colors are natural and accurate. Low-light shooting is not its strong point, though, due to the smaller sensor size. For that, you'd be better off with either the GH5s or one of Panasonic's newer full-frame models. The new video quality changes are subtle, but could be helpful for certain types of work. Overall, it delivers the video quality everyone liked from the GH5, plus a little more. Live Streaming Steve Dent/Engadget A key new feature for the GH5 II is the ability to broadcast live on the web, either using WiFi or a USB-C. The latter will require a firmware update that essentially allows the GH5 II's USB-C port to be used as a wired LAN connection, however. You can either stream to a smartphone via WiFi using the Lumix Sync app, or stream directly over WiFi without the need for a PC or phone. The latter requires you to use the Lumix Network software for PC or Mac to write your streaming settings to an SD card. Since it uses the RTMP/RTMPS standard, it supports YouTube, Facebook and other services. Better still, it supports camera audio as well as video. Live streaming does require a robust connection, however, as I struggled to maintain a livestream in the countryside with a 16 Mbps connection. You won't want to use the maximum 1080p 60 fps settings unless you have internet speed well above 16 Mbps. Photos With the same sensor as the GH5, the GH5 II delivers much the same image quality and photo shooting specs, including 12 fps burst shooting speeds. Where it has improved, though, is in the autofocus features, particularly with tracking. The G9 was always a better photo camera than the GH5, as it had a noticeably quicker autofocus system. However, the GH5 II's new processor means faster AF calculations, so the hit rate with continuous burst shooting is higher. It can also do face and eye tracking more quickly, and as with video, can handle head and body tracking, too. With those changes, I was able to get more burst action shots in focus than I could with the GH5, whether shooting people, dogs or horses. At the same time, it tends to nail exposure more accurately than the original model. Image quality is largely along the same lines as video, with low-light capability that gets pretty noisy above ISO 3200 or so, but sharp, color-accurate photos in good light. As before, it's best not to let your highlights get too blown out as they're difficult to recover when shooting RAW. Wrap-up Steve Dent/Engadget The GH5 II is a worthy upgrade to the original, bringing enough improvements and new technology to justify its existence. Given that the all-new GH6 model is coming soon as well, it's clear that Panasonic is still committed to small sensor, video-centric mirrorless cameras. Video has modestly improved, and it's better for handheld shooting thanks to the improved stabilization. Autofocus is still a drawback but it's faster and more reliable than before. It would be nice if it supported RAW external capture, but that's probably not a dealbreaker for most users. It can handle stills reasonably well, though it's not the camera's strong point. Other cameras have caught up with the GH5 II in terms of video performance, but most, like the Canon R6 ($2,500) and Nikon Z6 II ($2,000) are more expensive. Fujifilm's $1,700X-T4 is a better choice if you want a larger sensor and shoot a lot of photos, but it lacks the streaming capabilities. Its biggest rival may be the original GH5 that can now be found for $1,300, if you don't need the video streaming or other features. In any case, the GH5 II is now the best Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera for video. At least until the GH6 comes along.

Activision Blizzard ends forced arbitration for harassment and discrimination claims Posted: 28 Oct 2021 08:14 AM PDT Following months of pressure from employees and workers, Activision Blizzard says it will no longer employ forced arbitration in sexual harassment and discrimination claims. CEO Bobby Kotick announced the policy change in a letter to employees the company shared on Thursday. Kotick said the publisher will also implement a new company-wide zero-tolerance harassment policy. In the future, any employee who is found to have violated the rule will be fired immediately. Additionally, they'll forfeit any future compensation, including equity awards. "Our goal is to have the strictest harassment and non-retaliation policies of any employer, and we will continue to examine and tighten our standards to achieve this goal everywhere we do business," Kotick said. The executive outlined three other steps Activision Blizzard will take to create a safer and more diverse workplace. Over the next 10 years, it will invest $250 million in programs that create opportunities in tech and gaming for under-represented communities. Additionally, the company to plans to hire more women and non-binary people. According to Kotick, approximately 23 percent of all employees at Activision Blizzard identify as part of those groups. Its goal is to increase that number by 50 percent to more than one-third across the entire company within the next five years. Kotick also promised the company will share annual reports on progress it makes toward pay equity. Separately, the executive said he has asked Activision Blizzard's board of directors to reduce his total compensation to $62,500 per year until it feels like he has met the diversity and safety goals outlined above. Today's announcement sees Kotick and Activision Blizzard meeting many of the demands employees put before the company when they began protesting its actions in the wake of California's sexual harassment lawsuit. When employees first staged a walkout in July, they demanded the end of forced arbitration, greater pay transparency and new hiring policies designed to increase representation across the company. "This is a great start, and there's still work to do," said Jessica Gonzalez, one of the employees involved with the A Better ABK advocacy group. "We can lead the charge as an industry standard. Victories and still pushing."

Google's Nest Audio hits new low of $60 at B&H Photo Posted: 28 Oct 2021 08:07 AM PDT Update 1:38pm ET: The limited-time sale at B&H Photo has ended. Black Friday has come a few weeks early for Google fans. A bunch of Google devices are on sale today at B&H Photo, including the Nest Audio smart speaker, which is only $60 right now if you go for the chalk or charcoal colors. That's $40 off its normal price and the lowest we've seen in a long time. The second-gen Nest Hub is half off, bringing it down to $50, while the Nest Hub Max is on sale for $180. Buy Nest Audio at B&H - $60Buy Nest Hub (2nd gen) at B&H - $50Buy Nest Hub Max at B&H - $180 If you're an Android user or a Google Assistant fan, you can't go wrong with the Nest Audio as your main smart speaker. It earned a score of 87 from us and we considered it to be a steal at its normal $100 price point. Not only does it have solid sound quality on its own, but two paired together in stereo mode sound even better. We also like its minimalist design and how speedily the Google Assistant responds to commands. Either of the Nest Hubs on sale would make great additions to your smart home, but which you choose will likely depend on how much you value affordability and sound quality. The second-gen Nest Hub is a great deal at $50 because you're getting a faster device overall, much improved audio quality and new sleep tracking abilities. For the latter, if you put the Nest Hub next to your bed, it'll track how long you've been asleep and even if you snore during the night. And regardless of where it sits in your home, the smart display can show video camera feeds from Nest Cams, so you can see who's at your front door without actually answering it. As for the Nest Hub Max, it's the better choice if you want a smart display that can also hold its own against some high-end speakers. It includes two front-facing tweeters and a rear-facing woofer and they work together to pump out strong, clear sound. It's not a replacement for a couple of Sonos speakers spread throughout your home, but it's one of the best options if you want one device that can be your main speaker and smart display. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

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