Thursday, November 4, 2021

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Watch 15 minutes of 'Elden Ring' gameplay here at 9:45AM ET

Posted: 04 Nov 2021 05:30 AM PDT

Can't wait to play Elden Ring? While the game is still a few months away from release, FromSoftware will broadcast a 15-minute gameplay trailer later today at 10AM ET/7AM PT. You can watch the entire clip on YouTube, Twitch and right here.

For most Souls fans, this will be the best chance to see the highly anticipated RPG in action before its February 25th release date. FromSoftware plans to hold a closed network test to stress test "various technical verifications of online systems," but that will be only open to a small group of lucky players.

Today's trailer is likely to give fans a more in-depth glimpse of Elden Ring's open world. In June, director Hidetaka Miyazaki said there would be six areas linked by a hub (think: Firelink Shrine). Not all of those will be accessible from the start of the game, but each will feature a main dungeon with various smaller forts, caves and catacombs to explore. Players can expect the largest world FromSoftware has created to date.

Elden Ring will be available on PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. And like you, we can't wait to play it.

Arlo’s latest LTE camera is cheaper and captures 1080p footage

Posted: 04 Nov 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Since 2017, Arlo has been one of the few companies to offer a security camera that can work without a WiFi connection. It's not the only option in the marketplace, but it's easily the best known. And at $430, it's also the most expensive. Enter the Go 2. Not only is it more affordable than its predecessor, but it also comes with a handful of upgrades.

First, the price. Arlo plans to sell the Go 2 for $250. As for upgrades, the most notable is a 1080p camera, up from a 720p one on the first model, that features a lens with a 130-degree field of view. It also comes with a built-in spotlight, support for two-way audio and color night vision. As with its predecessor, an internal battery allows you to install the camera without the need for any wires and the weather-proof casing will protect it from the external elements.

Arlo Go 2
Arlo

The Go 2 includes both WiFi and LTE connectivity, and it can use the latter as a backup if your home wireless network suffers an outage. Otherwise, it's fully capable of running on only an LTE connection. On that note, while each Go 2 camera will come with three months of complimentary access to Arlo Secure, you need the company's subscription to use the device. If you prefer to store footage locally, the Go 2 comes with a microSD slot. Additionally, if you ever lose the camera or someone decides to steal it, it's possible to locate it through GPS.

Arlo envisions people using the Go 2 at construction sites and vacation homes. In other words, places where a stable WiFi connection may not be guaranteed. You can buy the Arlo Go 2 starting today through Verizon. It will come to additional carriers in 2022.

The Morning After: Ford electrified a classic truck to show off its EV motor kit

Posted: 04 Nov 2021 04:35 AM PDT

Both small bespoke auto customization businesses and major car manufacturers, like Chevy, are pulling out the old and putting in the new when it comes to vintage car engines. Now Ford is making a similar statement with its F-100 Eluminator concept.

It's an upgraded 1978 pickup truck with two of the company's new Eluminator electric crate motor kits. The power plants are the same as the Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition, giving the F-100 a total 480HP and 634lb/ft of torque. Ford didn't discuss performance benchmarks or range — it's likely the car body is heavier due to the era it comes from. And yes, it's a concept.

Ford is hoping, however, that you'd buy the $3,900 Eluminator motor for your project car. The automaker eventually hopes to supply everything you might need for an EV retrofit, including batteries. For now, however, just the engine is available, making it a high-level project that is probably beyond the abilities of most of us.

— Mat Smith

Amazon's Ring Alarm Pro is now available

The system starts at $250.

The Morning After
Amazon

It combines an Eero WiFi 6 with a home security system. As with most of its security devices, you can buy the system as part of several bundles. That said, if you want the router on its own, it's $250. Another option is to buy it as part of a $300 eight-piece kit that comes with a keypad and multiple sensors.

Keep in mind, you'll need a Ring Protect subscription to take advantage of many of its features. That adds cloud video storage and 24/7 backup internet for your security devices (via an LTE module in the Ring Pro base station). There's also Eero's cybersecurity subscription thrown in for fair measure, too.

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The best board games to gift this holiday season

Have some screen-free fun with your family this year.

The Morning After
Engadget

On the lookout for analog gifts? Board games are a great gift for anyone who wants to spend time with friends and family without the need for pixels. But keep the divorce-bating Monopoly in the cupboard, we have some new titles to try.

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HBO Max teases post-apocalyptic series 'Station Eleven'

Watch the teaser for the limited series launching December 16th.

HBO Max has released the first teaser video for its adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel's post-apocalyptic novel, Station Eleven. In the short video, you'll get glimpses of most of the main characters of the story as they face a pandemic that ravaged most of the planet. Ulp, relevant.

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Nintendo releases big 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' update earlier than expected

It's the game's last free major content update.

The Morning After
Nintendo

Nintendo has released its last free major content update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons over a day earlier than planned. The update is now live to download to your Switch. Version 2.0 adds several characters from old Animal Crossing titles.

One of those characters is Brewster, the quiet pigeon proprietor who'll open up the Roost Café at the museum after you do a certain favor for museum director Blathers. Kapp'n, the singing sailor kappa, is also back and will take you to remote islands on his boat. Only once a day, however. If you're waiting on that paid DLC, Happy Home Paradise is still scheduled to come out tomorrow.

Continue reading.

 

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GM's Cruise begins offering driverless taxi rides in San Francisco

Posted: 04 Nov 2021 03:35 AM PDT

GM's self-driving Cruise division has launched its fully driverless robo-taxi service in San Francisco, with co-founder and President Kyle Vogt getting the first ride. To start with, the service will be available for free to GM employees and certain members of the public, TechCrunch reported. 

"Earlier this week, I requested a ride through our Cruise app and took several back-to-back rides in San Francisco — with no one else in the vehicle," Vogt wrote in a YouTube video description. "There are lots of other Cruise employees (not just me) who are testing and refining the full customer experience as we take another major step toward the first commercial AV [ride hailing] product in a dense urban environment."

Vogt said the Cruise launched the Bolt vehicles on Monday at 11PM, and it "began to roam around the city, waiting for a ride request." He got his first ride from a Cruise Bolt EV called "Sourdough," saying the experience was "smooth." A separate video showed sections before and after the vehicle picked up passengers while it was in "ghost mode" with no one in it.

Early last month, Cruise received a California DMV permit to operate the service between the hours of 10PM and 6AM at a maximum speed of 30 MPH in mild weather conditions (no worse than light rain and fog). It's allowed to run them without drivers and charge for delivery services, but not ride-hailing. For paid robo-taxi rides, it must apply for a final permit with the California Public Utilities Commission. 

GM recently launched its "Ultra Cruise" system for passenger vehicles, promising that it will "ultimately enable hands-free driving in 95 percent of all driving scenarios." The company has spent 10 million miles testing the system, and its previous Super Cruise has generally garnered positive reviews compared to rival systems like Tesla's Autopilot.  

Crypto scammers stole $500K from wallets using targeted Google Ads

Posted: 04 Nov 2021 03:00 AM PDT

Scammers used a new type of phishing campaign, which doesn't use emails, to steal around $500,000 worth of cryptocurrency from wallets this past weekend alone. According to Check Point Research, those bad actors purchased Google Ads placements for their fraudulent websites that imitate popular wallets, such as Phantom App and MetaMask. The malicious websites have URLs close to the original's, such as "phantonn.app" — the real service's URL is "phantom.app" — with designs also copied from the real deal. 

Check Point Research
Check Point Research

The scammers will then steal the victim's passphrase if they visit the fake website and type it in. If the victim uses the fake website to create a new wallet, they will be given the attacker's secret recovery phrase. In the event that they use the recovery phrase to log in, they'll actually be logging into the bad actor's account, and any fund transferred to it will go to the scammer. For MetaMask, in particular, the fake website has the option to import an existing wallet. Since doing so requires a seed phrase, the scammers will also get access to it. 

As Check Point Research explains, the Phantom App and MetaMask are some of the most popular wallets for Solana and Ethereum. It cross-referenced Reddit forums to come to the conclusion that around half a million dollars were stolen last weekend alone, and it found 11 compromised wallet accounts containing crypto worth between $1,000 and $10,000. The scammers had already withdrawn funds from those wallets before CPR found them. 

CPR says scamming groups are now bidding on keywords on Google Ads, which is a testament to how effective the method is. It's now advising users to examine the wallet's URL closely and to skip Google Ads results altogether so as not to unknowingly fall for the scam.

Debt-laden FC Barcelona begins selling NFTs

Posted: 04 Nov 2021 02:20 AM PDT

FC Barcelona, one of football's biggest clubs, is auctioning off NFTs "based on some of the club's historic moments." Details are scarce for now, but it appears as if the club will allow fans to bid on clips of highlights in a style similar to that of NBA Top Shot. The transactions will take place through Ownix, a new Ethereum-based marketplace which will offer auctions for digital trinkets in a variety of categories. The company says that the Barcelona NFTs will be selected by a "special joint committee" and then minted, first as unique one-off auctions, and then later as a broader limited edition or collection. Ownix, which is emerging from stealth with this announcement, currently has a fairly limited selection of items to purchase, including some Squid Game and Batman-themed fan art, plus whatever the hell this is. 

Barcelona's decision to begin selling NFTs may have been prompted by the debt crisis the club is currently in, with debts reported around $1.56 billion this summer. The club's previous leadership is accused of reckless spending on a number of players on high wages that have subsequently underperformed. This summer, the club was forced into a fire sale and, due to rules on how big its wage bill could be, was unable to retain Lionel Messi, one of the world's most successful players. That NFTs are, essentially, the definition of money for old rope, means that it's the sort of financial opportunity a club like Barcelona are incapable of turning down right now. 

The club isn't alone in leaping feet-first into the cryptocurrency mire, with many major names offering "Fan Tokens" through Socios. That company offers clubs the ability to mint their own coins and use it to run engagement schemes with their fans. But, unlike real socios — the Spanish word for the members who own a real ownership stake in their club — these tokens will only allow you to take part in polls set out by the club's leadership, enter competitions, and so on. But despite the obvious limitations, Socios is already making money, and when France's Paris Sant-Germain signed Lionel Messi, part of his "welcome package" was a bundle of these tokens, believed to be worth (at the time) up to $34 million.

Nintendo lowers its Switch sales forecast due to global chip shortage

Posted: 04 Nov 2021 01:39 AM PDT

Nintendo has cut its Switch sales forecast due to ongoing semiconductor shortages, the company announced in its earnings report. It now expects to ship 24 million Switch units for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 instead of the 25.5 million units it had originally predicted. 

The issue came into focus this quarter, as Nintendo managed to ship just 3.83 million Switch consoles compared to 6.86 million during the same quarter last year. So far, its net sales for the year are down 18.9 percent to 624.2 billion yen ($5.46 billion) year-over-year. 

That's not a huge surprise, however, as Switch and software sales exploded during the COVID-19 lockdown and following that has proved to be impossible — particularly as chips and components have since become more scarce. Today's numbers don't include any sales of the Switch OLED, as the earnings only provide data up to September 30th, a full week before the updated console arrived.

Despite the revised sales expectations, Nintendo expects to match total revenue of 1,600 billion yen ($14 billion) from the previous fiscal year, thanks in part to games. It aims to sell 200 million software units, 10 million more than last year, which would help offset the console sales drop. Upcoming titles include Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl plus a Zelda-themed Game & Watch.

The most popular games so far this fiscal year include Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (3.6 million units sold), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (3.34 million units) and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2.22 million units). The launch of Metroid Dread came after the earnings period Nintendo is reporting today.

Despite the reduced expectations and tepid console sales this quarter, Nintendo has now sold 92.87 million Switch units to date. That's still short of the Wii, which has the company's current home console sales record of 101.63 million units shipped. However, if Nintendo comes close to matching the 11.57 million units sold during last year's holiday period, the Switch — aided by the new Switch OLED model — could finally top that mark by the end of the year. 

Nintendo releases big 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' update earlier than expected

Posted: 04 Nov 2021 01:00 AM PDT

Nintendo has released its last free major content update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons over a day earlier than planned. During its Direct presentation in October, the gaming giant announced that it's rolling out New Horizons version 2.0 on November 5th. As TechCrunch and IGN have confirmed, though, the update is now live and can be downloaded to your Switch. Version 2.0 adds quite a number of new features to the game, including characters from old Animal Crossing titles. 

One of those characters is Brewster, the quiet pigeon proprietor who'll open up the Roost café at the museum after you do a certain favor for museum director Blathers. Kapp'n, the singing sailor kappa, is also back and will take you to remote islands on his boat. You can only purchase boat rides once a day with Nook Miles, though, so you can't endlessly sail around all day. If you want to shop from new stores owned by familiar characters, you can head over to Harv's Island, which now has an open market. Reese & Cyrus' shop, for instance, will offer new types of furniture customization, while Katrina will read your fortune.

The update adds gyroid hunting and cooking activities, as well. For the latter, which will be part of DIY recipes, you can combine anything you harvest and other ingredients to create new dishes. Finally, New Horizons 2.0 introduces several quality-of-life improvements, including the ability to establish ordinances. You can make the residents get up at the time of the day you're active in the game, for example, or reduce weeds' growing rate. The update also allows you to keep more items by giving you a bigger home storage and storage sheds you can place around your island. 

In addition to the free update, Nintendo announced last month that it's releasing a Happy Home Paradise paid DLC that'll let you design vacation homes for characters on November 5th. That one isn't available yet, but it'll set you back $25 when it comes out tomorrow. 

HBO Max and Discovery+ might merge into a single platform

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 11:15 PM PDT

Back in May, AT&T spun off its WarnerMedia division and merged it with Discovery in a $43 billion agreement. The deal is on track to close by mid-2022, after which we may see its streaming services become a combined offering to subscribers. According to Gizmodo, president and CEO of Discovery Streaming and International JB Perrette has discussed the steps the company may take to reach that goal. Initially, Warner Bros. Discovery (as the merged company will be called) may offer HBO Max and Discovery+ as a bundle. In the next phase of the plan, the company may merge the two streaming services into one platform.

FierceVideo said Perette described both streaming services as an "incredibly attractive tech buffet." He expects the new company to take the best parts from both to create a new platform, as there will be "meaningful cost savings" and "meaningful consumer benefits" from combining the two services,

Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav also revealed during the earnings call that less than half of Discovery+ subscribers in the US are also subscribed to HBO Max. He said that with the right packaging, the fact that the overlap in subscribers isn't too big "provides a real opportunity to broaden the base of [the] combined offering."

When and where the joint HBO Max and Discovery+ service will initially be available remains to be seen. Discovery said it might be easier for the company to combine its streaming service with HBO Max in regions where Discovery+ isn't available yet. At the moment, it's being very selective when it comes to rolling out Discovery+ to new markets to minimize the need to re-platform two streaming services in the future. 

Google pursues Pentagon cloud contract in spite of past employee concerns

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 02:40 PM PDT

Three years after its involvement with the military's controversial Project Maven program led to employee strife within its walls, Google reportedly hopes to once again work with the Pentagon. According to The New York Times, the company is "aggressively" pursuing the Defense Department's Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability cloud contract. A Google spokesperson confirmed to Engadget it was pursuing a bid.

Announced at the start of July, the program is a replacement for the military's cancelled $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure initiative. With JEDI, the Pentagon had planned to modernize its IT infrastructure with help from Microsoft. However, the contract stalled after Amazon challenged it in court, in part over allegations former President Donald Trump had interfered with the evaluation process.

Unlike JEDI, JWCC is a multi-vendor contract that will see the military eventually working with more than one company. When the Pentagon announced the program, it said it would collect proposals from both Amazon and Microsoft. At the time, it said they were the two vendors best suited to meet its needs, but noted it was also open to working with other companies. Google did not bid on JEDI in part because of what happened with Project Maven.

The program, with help from Google, saw the military use machine learning to interpret drone footage. When the company confirmed its involvement in Maven, it said its technology was involved in "non-offensive uses only," and that it was flagging material for "human review." Outrage within the company quickly grew. Approximately 4,000 employees petitioned Google CEO Sundar Pichai to pull the company out of the project. Some workers even left Google over the episode. In the aftermath of the protest, the company did not renew its contract with the Pentagon.

It also established a set of ethical principles to guide its military AI work. Those guidelines prohibit the company from using machine learning in relation to "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people." When Google established the principles, Pichai reportedly told workers his hope was they would stand "the test of time."

In spite of those guidelines, Google is pursuing the JWCC contract. According to The Times, the company has "raced" to prepare a proposal to present to Pentagon officials on why it should be involved in the project. The contract is reportedly a priority for the company, with the outlet reporting that Google pulled employees off other assignments to work on its bid. 

"We strongly believe a multi-cloud strategy offers the department the best solution today and in the future," a spokesperson for the company said. "We are firmly committed to serving our public sector customers, including the DoD, Department of Energy, NIH, and many other government agencies, and we will evaluate any future bid opportunities accordingly."

Google will reportedly find out if it qualifies to make a bid sometime in the next few weeks. The question then becomes if the contract is compatible with its AI guidelines, and what effect that will have on its employees. Those principles leave room for it to work with the military on projects that involve things like cybersecurity, and it already has contracts in place to help the Defense Department with pilot training and Navy ship maintenance. 

If it obtains the contract, Engadget has learned the company anticipates it could help the Defense Department with cloud services like hosting, storage and networking, in addition to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Specifically, the Pentagon could use Google's data analytics capabilities to predict and monitor forces like climate change and the current pandemic. Any custom AI work the job involves will need to be vetted through the company's guidelines. It also expects it could work with the Pentagon on more prosaic issues like security, employee travel and finance. 

Tesla's latest patch hints at cloud-synced driver profiles

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 02:15 PM PDT

Tesla is preparing for a world where your driver profile can follow you across different cars, be it your personal EV or a rental. The car maker has added a Cloud Profiles section in its latest software release, which points to an "Enable Vehicle Sync" option for backing up driver profiles, Tesla Software Updates reports. The news isn't a huge surprise, as Elon Musk previously said cloud-synced profiles were on the way. 

For a tech-focused car company like Tesla, giving its customers a simple way to bring their settings to multiple vehicles simply makes sense. That's particularly true after Hertz announced it would be buying 100,000 Teslas for its rental fleet. Though Musk was quick to point out that order hasn't been placed yet, it's not hard to imagine a world where anyone can easily rent a Tesla. They'd be easier to maintain than gas-powered cars, and the Model 3 is already cheaper than many luxury vehicles. 

And sure, for the truly privileged, cloud profiles could also make it easier to synchronize settings across multiple vehicles. According to Tesla Software Updates, synced settings include your display brightness, Autopilot and navigation options. It'd also be helpful to have your Stopping Mode synchronized, as that seriously changes how Tesla's braking functions.

Boeing gets FCC approval for a satellite broadband network

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 01:54 PM PDT

Boeing is edging closer to competing with satellite internet providers like SpaceX and (eventually) Amazon. The FCC has authorized Boeing's application to launch a satellite broadband constellation. The network would serve home, business and government customers in the US and worldwide. The satellites would sit talk to each other as well as the ground, although the FCC rejected Boeing's bid to use certain frequencies for satellite-to-satellite chatter.

The company hasn't said when its satellite network would launch or what capabilities it would offer. Boeing would operate at much higher altitudes than SpaceX's Starlink, however. The majority of the constellation, 132 low Earth orbit satellites would fly at an altitude of 656 miles. A batch of 15 non-geostationary orbit satellites, meanwhile, would operate between 17,000 and 27,500 miles. Starlink operates at altitudes between 215 and 350 miles. That might increase lag, although real-world performance might vary.

The project has been in development for a long time. Reutersnotes Boeing first asked for approval back in 2017. It has also faced some pushback — in 2019, SpaceX called on the FCC to either limit or completely dismiss Boeing's plans over the potential for "harmful interference."

It may take a while before any satellite service is ready. All the same, it's easy to see Boeing remaining patient. Satellite broadband could help the transportation giant make the most of its space unit and mitigate the impact of delays or other problems with its businesses. There's also the simple matter of jumping into the satellite internet field before it's too late. Amazon, SpaceX, OneWeb and others are either launching satellites or have clear plans. If Boeing waits much longer, it could miss out on important customers.

Amazon's Ring Alarm Pro is now available

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 11:39 AM PDT

First announced at the end of September, the Ring Alarm Pro is now available to order online. In an email to Engadget, Amazon said it began shipping the device to customers this morning. It combines an Eero WiFi 6 with a home security system.

As with most of its security devices, you can buy the system as part of several bundles. That said, if you want the router on its own, it's $250. Another option is to buy it as part of a $300 eight-piece kit that comes with a keypad and multiple sensors. Keep in mind you'll need a Ring Protect subscription to take advantage of many of its more features. The Pro tier will set you back $20 a month or $200 per year upfront. It comes with features like cloud video storage, professional monitoring and Alexa Guard Plus.

Twitter finally shows previews for Instagram links

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 10:47 AM PDT

You no longer have to tap an Instagram link in Twitter to see what you'll get. Twitter has started rolling out preview cards for Instagram links in its official apps and the web. If someone shares an Insta post, you'll see a thumbnail of the imagery you can expect when you tap that link. You may know if a photo is like-worthy without leaving your Twitter timeline.

The move puts an end to a long-running feud. Instagram's Twitter photo integration vanished in 2012, and neither social network has had a strong incentive to use preview cards in the years since. Twitter would rather you post photos directly on its service, while Instagram clearly has motivations to keep you using its platform whenever possible. Those issues apparently aren't much of a problem at this stage.

It's not clear what prompted the decision. We've asked Instagram for comment. Either way, it's good news if you're a social media fan — there should be less guesswork and more attention for your posts.

Facebook has a new plan to help creators avoid Apple's App Store fees

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 10:43 AM PDT

Facebook is rolling out another bonus program as it tries to bring more creators into its platform. This time, the company is focusing on subscriptions, which it says will help creators avoid Apple's 30 percent commission on in-app purchases.

The social network is launching a web form for subscriptions, so individual creators can direct fans to subscribe outside of the app using Facebook Pay rather than Apple's in-app purchases. "When people subscribe using this link, creators will keep all the money they earn (minus taxes)," Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post.

Additionally, the company is introducing a bonus program that will pay creators between $5 and $20 for each new subscriber who signs up between now and the end of the year. Creators can earn up to $10,000 in bonuses, Facebook wrote in a blog post. The new bonus program is "invite-only in all 27 markets where the subscriptions feature is available to creators," Facebook said, noting it wants to expand the program to more people "in the coming months."

Creators can send fans a promotional link for signing up outside of the App Store.
Facebook

Zuckerberg, who has had a long-running feud with Apple, has made the so-called "App Store tax" one of his top talking points about the iPhone maker. The company already created a workaround for businesses to circumvent in-app purchases for paid events, and has told creators Facebook won't take a cut of their earnings until 2023. On Wednesday, Zuckerberg said creators would also be able to download their subscriber lists in order to have "more ownership of their audience."

Winning over creators has become an increasingly important priority for Facebook, which already announced plans to funnel $1 billion into creator programs by the end of next year. The company sees creators as key to fending off rivals like TikTok and YouTube, and winning back the "young adult" demographic. Newly disclosed documents show that Facebook and Instagram are facing increasing declines in the number of younger users on its platform. The trend has worried executives and stumped researchers, who have so far been unable to turn the numbers around.

Samsung's designer jeans only have a pocket for the Galaxy Z Flip 3

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 10:04 AM PDT

Do you bristle at the thought of using a large pants pocket to hold your equally huge phone? No? Samsung has a solution for you regardless. As Techspot reports, Samsung Australia and Dr Denim have unveiled a pair of limited edition blue jeans, the Z Flip Pocket Denim, that ditches the usual pockets (they're stitched shut with a big "Z") in favor of one designed to hold a Galaxy Z Flip 3. It's really a promo for the foldable phone, but Samsung insists this minimalism could be the "next big trend." That conspicuous blank space on your thighs helps "frame the legs," if you believe the marketing spin.

Only 450 pairs are available, but they come in men's and women's styles. You also won't be paying much of a premium, either. Pay AUD $1,499 (about $1,112 US) and you'll get both the Flip 3 and the jeans to match.

Whether or not you find the jeans chic or gauche... they're probably not the wisest investment. Never mind that you're buying jeans that are only intended to hold one phone — what happens if you need keys or a wallet in your front pocket? We'd add that the pocket you do get leaves your phone partially exposed, which screams "steal my phone" in a way no ordinary pocket would. If you're really determined to leave your mark on the fashion world, you're probably better off buying a Flip 3 Bespoke Edition and flashing it around whenever you make a phone call.

Indiegogo will review crowdfunding campaigns before they launch

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 09:52 AM PDT

Indiegogo has announced some big changes for its crowdfunding platform. The biggest move is that it's transitioning from an open platform to a closed one, with the goal of eventually vetting every campaign before it goes live. In a blog post, Indiegogo's vice president of product and customer trust Will Haines noted that when the company started in 2008, the idea was to let anyone raise money for just about any purpose with few restrictions.

"However, I've learned that 'open' is not what our community wants," Haines wrote. "Crowdfunding is not shopping — people generally understand that now — but it also shouldn't be a leap in the dark. And it certainly can't be scamming. Our community of backers is the reason that anything happens on Indiegogo, and they are counting on the platform to be a safe, trusted space to engage with innovation."

As such, Indiegogo will scrutinize projects more closely before those seeking funding can push their campaigns live. Under what the company is calling The Guidepost Program, Indiegogo will do more to ensure that projects have a viable plan to follow through and fulfill their rewards.

Haines stressed that Indiegogo can't guarantee every campaign will deliver on its promises, but it "can protect backers from unfeasible projects and outright scams. We now have the resources and expertise to apply this level of scrutiny to all of our largest campaigns and will expand it to every campaign moving forward."

Indiegogo has expanded its trust and safety team to help it screen campaigns, and it formed a review board to oversee the riskiest campaigns and the "most impactful" decisions made by the trust team. In addition, the company has teamed up with GoFundMe to create the Crowdfunding Trust Alliance. The group's goal is to share best practices and discuss industry trends, and it aims to enlist other reputable crowdfunding platforms.

One feature that's on the way to Indiegogo is the Trust Loyalty Program. This will highlight campaigns from creators who have run successful projects in the past. Haines wrote that Indiegogo will "tailor our vetting to match the historical risk level of these entrepreneurs."

There have been many crowdfunding-related scams and allegationsof fraud over the years, as well as campaigns for products that don't seem to pass the smell test. It's likely a net positive that Indiegogo is getting more serious about screening campaigns, even if some legitimate projects might fall through the cracks. In any case, it's still wise to exercise caution whenever you consider contributing to a campaign, since there's always going to be at least a little risk.

Microsoft's Edge browser is now 'stable' on Linux

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 09:15 AM PDT

Yes, you read that correctly: Microsoft has officially released a web browser for Linux. Ars Technicareports the software behemoth has finally released its first stable version of Edge for Linux. The Chromium-based browser is available either through Microsoft's website (in .deb and .rpm formats) or through the command line using a Linux package manager.

The Linux version has been a long time in coming. Microsoft was testing the Edge variant in its Dev and Beta channels for about a year, and it's arriving more than two years after the Mac and Windows versions. It's not clear what prompted the wait, although Linux has historically had little consumer PC market share.

The feature parity is largely intact, at least. You unsurprisingly won't find an Internet Explorer compatibility mode (only Windows has that), but you can sync tabs, bookmarks, passwords and extensions. This may be your browser of choice if you use Linux on a personal system but want the browser setup from your Windows PC at work.

The release is symbolic of how Microsoft's relationship with Linux has changed over the years. The company was notoriously antagonistic in the early 2000s, when CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux "a cancer" on intellectual property and otherwise treated it as a threat to Windows. Internet Explorer effectively served as a deterrent to would-be Linux switchers as many IE-optimized sites wouldn't run properly on Linux browsers without significant effort, if they ran at all.

Flash forward two decades and it's a different story. The company is now much more focused on services than Windows, and that means making offerings like Microsoft 365 and Windows 365 as accessible as possible. Microsoft needs to be friendly to Linux users to keep them from using rivals like Google Workspace — Edge for Linux could be worthwhile if it leads to years of subscription fees, even if users have no plans to switch to Windows.

ASUS' Vivobook Slate is a 2-in-1 laptop with an OLED display for $600

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 09:00 AM PDT

ASUS is preparing to ship what it claims is the first 13.3-inch Windows 2-in-1 laptop with an OLED screen. The Vivobook 13 Slate OLED is able to display 1.07 billion colors, according to ASUS. The widescreen display has a 16:9 aspect ratio with 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage.

The screen has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and is DisplayHDR True Black 500-certified, so it should deliver deep black levels. In addition, the display has a 0.2ms response time and up to 70 percent lower blue light levels than an LCD screen, ASUS claims.

The detachable is not entirely about the screen though. There's a quad-speaker Dolby Atmos system that ASUS says uses a smart amplifier to deliver maximum possible distortion-free volume. The company claims it works at levels up to 3.5 times louder than a standard amplifier.

ASUS Vivobook 13 Slate OLED.
ASUS

The Vivobook 13 Slate OLED has WiFi 6 support, which could come in handy for cloud gaming, as well as a quad-core Intel processor up to 3.3 GHz, up to 256GB of SSD storage and up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. There are two USB-C ports, a 3.5mm combo audio jack and a microSD card reader, as well as a front 5MP camera and rear 13MP camera.

A full-size keyboard, cover stand and ASUS Pen 2.0 are included as standard. The cover stand has a 170-degree hinge and the keyboard has 1.4 mm key travel. With both attached, the device weighs just over three pounds. Meanwhile, the new stylus has swappable pen tips and you can store it in a magnetic pen holder.

The device can run for over nine hours on a single charge, according to ASUS. It also claimed you can recharge the battery to 60 percent of capacity in around 39 minutes via USB-C. 

The ASUS Vivobook 13 Slate OLED will be available in December. It will start at $600. Some variants will be available next year, including editions that ASUS designed with the help of artists Steven Harrington and Philip Colbert.

Adidas made Xbox 360 sneakers you can actually buy

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 08:54 AM PDT

In October, Microsoft and Adidas partnered to celebrate the Xbox's 20th anniversary with the first-ever pair of official Xbox footwear. For fans of the company's original 2001 console, the Forum Tech sneakers were a treat with their nostalgic green and black colorway. There was just one problem with the shoes: you couldn't buy them. Thankfully, that's not true of their latest collaboration, which will be available to buy in the US and Canada.

Microsoft describes the Xbox 360 Forum Mid as a "love letter to one of the most iconic gaming consoles in gaming history." That means plenty of details Xbox 360 fans will appreciate. Most noticeable is the Xbox button on the outer side of the shoes, but there are other fun touches, including the straps that replicate the console's optical drive. Another nifty inclusion is that each pair comes with four additional pairs of laces in red, yellow, green and blue, so all four controller face button colors are represented. Oh, and expect Easter Eggs. 

Sales of the Xbox 360 Forum Mid shoes will start on November 4th at 10am ET. You can grab them from the Adidas website. If you don't fancy yourself a sneakerhead, Microsoft is releasing other commemorative products to mark the Xbox brand's 20th birthday. On November 15th, the company will come out with a translucent Xbox Series X/S controller and headset.

'Metroid Dread' reminded me why Metroid is an essential series

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 08:10 AM PDT

Nintendo occasionally milks some of its big franchises, but Metroid is generally not one of them. In fact, Metroid Dread is the first all-new game in the series since the divisive Metroid:Other M arrived in 2010. As the fifth mainline, side-scrolling game in the series, Dread has a lot to live up to. And while it's not a total reinvention of the franchise, like Metroid Prime was 19 years ago, it also does a great job of avoiding the pitfall of feeling like a retread, an issue that occasionally plagues Nintendo's other flagship franchises.

If you've played any of the previous side-scrolling Metroid games, Dread will be familiar. As usual, Samus Aran loses all her powers and needs to escape an underworld maze, fighting baddies and retrieving power-ups that let you explore new sections (or old parts of the map you couldn't get through before).

That's a well-trodden path, but Nintendo flipped things this time with the E.M.M.I. encounters, terrifying robotic enemies that stalk you through specific parts of the map. They can't be killed until you explore their area to find a weapon power-up that puts you on equal footing. At first, I was worried that these encounters would be too frequent, or too hard to escape, but developer MercurySteam did an excellent job balancing out the E.M.M.I. areas. Escaping from the dreaded robots by leaving the zones they patrol isn't too tough, and you don't have to spend so long in their areas that the whole game devolves into stealth tension.

On the other hand, if you get caught by an E.M.M.I., that's pretty much it. You have one chance to block their lethal attack, and I've only done it right once. I've probably gotten caught several dozen times and have never made it out alive. Fortunately, the game just resets you to the door entering the E.M.M.I. zone if you fail, so you won't lose much progress.

Metroid Dread
Nintendo

Meanwhile, I've had a blast exploring the dank tunnels and caverns that make up the world of Dread. As with most Nintendo games, the atmosphere and art style are top-notch, even if Dread doesn't hold a candle to the more technologically advanced titles on the Xbox Series X or PS5. When I play a game that is this well-designed and thoughtful about what it does with the technology available to it, I don't worry about counting pixels. That said, it also looks extremely impressive docked to my 4K TV.

Most of the gameplay hallmarks of Metroid titles are here, including power-ups like charged shots, the morph ball, the missile cannon and plenty of other returning favorites. But there's enough new here, like the grapple beam and screw attack, to keep the game feeling fresh.

Maybe for people who have obsessively played the Metroid series before, Dread will feel like more of a retread. But while I'm familiar with the core components of these games, the first-person Metroid Prime is the game I know the best — I never beat the original game, or the highly-regarded Super Metroid on the Super NES. If you're like me, don't let that stop you from trying Metroid Dread. There's a reason so-called Metroidvania games are still popular. 

And if you haven't tried one before, getting the newest installment in the series that helped define the genre is a great way to get your feet wet. Most importantly, it doesn't feel like MercurySteam and Nintendo just checked the boxes for this game. Indeed, the skill that MercurySteam brought to Samus Returns (a remake of 1991's Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Game Boy) is on display here; Nintendo definitely picked the right developer to make the first mainline Metroid game since 2002. It's an inspired addition to a series that already has an impressive legacy. Just don't get cocky — run like hell if an E.M.M.I. tracks you down.

US bans trade with security firm NSO Group over Pegasus spyware (updated)

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 07:53 AM PDT

Surveillance software developer NSO Group may have a very tough road ahead. The US Commerce Department has added NSO to its Entity List, effectively banning trade with the firm. The move bars American companies from doing business with NSO unless they receive explicit permission. That's unlikely, too, when the rule doesn't allow license exceptions for exports and the US will default to rejecting reviews.

NSO and fellow Israeli company Candiru (also on the Entity List) face accusations of enabling hostile spying by authoritarian governments. They've allegedly supplied spyware like NSO's Pegasus to "authoritarian governments" that used the tools to track activists, journalists and other critics in a bid to crush political dissent. This is part of the Biden-Harris administration's push to make human rights "the center" of American foreign policy, the Commerce Department said.

The latest round of trade bans also affects Russian company Positive Technologies and Singapore's Computer Security Initiative Consultancy, bot of which were accused of peddling hacking tools.

We've asked NSO Group for comment, although its official media contact address produced an error. The company has strongly rejected claims of enabling abuses in the past, including denials that Pegasus was used to target murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. NSO said it had blocked access for previous abuses, and it even hired a libel attorney who accused investigative journalists and their partners of misinterpretation and making unfounded assumptions.

The Commerce Department claims to have evidence of NSO's actions, though. The net effect is the same. NSO isn't necessarily doomed. Like blocklist member Huawei, though, it may struggle to operate without access to any American partners it used before.

Update 11/3 12PM ET: An NSO Group spokesperson told Engadget the company was "dismayed" by the decision, and claimed its tools helped the US by "preventing terrorism and crime." NSO said it would call for a reversal of the ban and reiterated claims it had the "world's most rigorous" human rights and compliance systems. You can read the full statement below.

NSO Group is dismayed by the decision given that our technologies support US national security interests and policies by preventing terrorism and crime, and thus we will advocate for this decision to be reversed. We look forward to presenting the full information regarding how we have the world's most rigorous compliance and human rights programs that are based the American values we deeply share, which already resulted in multiple terminations of contacts with government agencies that misused our products.

The best board games to gift this holiday season

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 07:44 AM PDT

Board games are a great gift for anyone who wants to spend time with friends and family without staring at the TV. They're interactive, fun, and you get to tell everyone to put away their phones and tablets for a while. But instead of pulling out the same old classics like Monopoly and Scrabble, we recommend giving some new titles a try. Here, we've compiled a list of games that you might not have heard of, but will still make excellent gifts this holiday season. Some are perfect for fantasy and video game nerds, while others are likely to be a hit with the whole family.

Trails: A Parks Game

The Trails board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Keymaster Games

Trails is a great little board game for anyone who loves hiking or even just the idea of it. In Trails, players hike on picturesque nature paths while gathering resources, taking pictures and encountering wildlife, earning points along the way. Whoever gets the most points wins. The art in this game is beautiful, featuring 11 national park illustrations from the Fifty-Nine Park Print series. Trails makes an especially great game for nature lovers, as a portion of every game sale is donated to the National Park Service.

Buy Trails at Target - $20

Sleeping Gods

The Sleeping Gods board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Red Raven Games

If your loved one is a fan of open-world video games such as Skyrim or No Man's Sky, Sleeping Gods could well be the perfect board game for them. In this cooperative game, you and up to three friends play the part of Captain Sofi Odessa and her crew, who find themselves lost in the Wandering Sea. With a game atlas of connecting maps and a thick choose-your-own-adventure style storybook, players will have to explore the land to uncover its secrets, fight beasts, complete quests and make game-changing decisions. It all adds up to an engrossing and immersive experience sure to please anyone who loves a good story.

Buy Sleeping Gods at Amazon - $85

Marvel United

The Marvel United board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / CMON

MCU fans will definitely appreciate it if you give them Marvel United, a game where the player and their friends have to work together to defeat the forces of evil. They can take on the role of one of seven heroes such as Captain America, Iron Man and Black Widow, each with their own unique powers and abilities. To win, players must choose their cards carefully and also collaborate with their partners to combine each other's actions whenever possible. They'll have to fight off henchmen, rescue civilians and, of course, take down one of three super villains: Red Skull, Ultron or Taskmaster. If X-Men is more their style, you could get them the Marvel United: X-Men version instead, where they get to play as characters like Professor X, Cyclops and Storm.

Buy Marvel United at Amazon - $35

Canvas

The Canvas board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Road to Infamy

Canvas is perhaps one of the prettiest board games we've ever seen — it's so lovely that we almost want to hang the cover on a wall. It's apropos because in Canvas, players are painters in an art competition. They collect art cards, layering them on top of one another to create their own unique "painting." As they do so, certain icons will be revealed or hidden, which will determine the resulting score, depending on the objectives for that round. It might sound confusing, but Canvas is a beginner friendly game that should make a great gift for art lovers of all stripes.

Buy Canvas at Amazon - $45

Space Invaders

The Space Invaders board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Buffalo Games

Space Invaders is an enjoyable dexterity game for the whole family, even for those who don't remember playing the classic arcade title of the same name. In this game, players have to work together to defeat descending aliens plus the UFO mothership before their health runs out. But instead of smashing buttons, they'll take turns launching battle tokens with a mini catapult, and each player has a special ability they can deploy as well. It all adds to a bunch of silly fun that anyone aged eight and up can partake in.

Buy Space Invaders at Target - $20

Summer Camp

The Summer Camp board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Buffalo Games

Another excellent family game is Summer Camp, which will have your loved ones recalling fond memories of canoeing, making friendship bracelets and roasting marshmallows. In this game, players are racing against each other to earn merit badges in different categories such as adventure, arts and crafts, cooking, friendship, outdoors, games and water sports. They'll want to buy the right cards, build the best combos and beat their opponents across the finish line to get the most points possible. It might not be as fun as actually being at summer camp, but hey, at least they won't get eaten by mosquitos while playing.

Buy Summer Camp at Target - $25

Summoner Wars 2nd Edition

The Summoner Wars 2nd Edition board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Plaid Hat Games

If your loved one isn't new to the world of tabletop gaming, then consider giving them Summoner Wars 2nd Edition, a tactical dueling card game that pits them against a rival to see which one will reign supreme. Players take on the role of powerful summoners that each control a large army of units in the form of cards, which are then placed in a head-to-head board. They also choose one of six different factions, each with unique attacks and moves. Some wield dark magic that can drain enemies, while others utilize brute strength to force their way through. If they're really into combat games with a lot of tactics and strategy, Summoner Wars would make a thoughtful gift. The only downside is that you'll have to gift this a bit late as it comes out on January 12, 2022.

Buy Summoner Wars at Amazon - $49

Wrath of the Lich King: A Pandemic System Board Game

The World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Pandemic Game board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Z-Man Games

For those who are really into World of Warcraft but might not have a lot of board gaming experience, Wrath of the Lich King: A Pandemic System Board game is the perfect introduction to the pastime. Based on a WoW expansion of the same name, players will take on the roles of legendary characters such as Thrall, Varian Wrynn, Sylvanas Windrunner, Tirian Fordring and Jaina Proudmoore, all of which will be familiar to anyone who's ever played WoW. They'll travel around the frozen continent of Northrend, completing quests and setting up strongholds in order to defeat armies of the undead and, eventually, the Lich King himself.

Why the long name? Well, the game utilizes similar mechanics found in Pandemic, a much beloved board game about eradicating the world of diseases. Those who are already familiar with Pandemic should be able to learn the game quite easily as a result, though Wrath of the Lich King has enough differences that it won't feel like the same thing.

Buy Wrath of the Lich King at Target - $60

Cuphead: Fast Rolling Dice Game

The Cuphead Fast Rolling Dice Game board game for the Engadget 2021 Holiday Gift Guide.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Cuphead

One of the most popular video games in 2017 was Cuphead, a run-and-gun style video game that features a hand-drawn 1930s art style. If you know someone who loved it when it came out, they might be interested in this card and dice version of the same game. Players play as Cuphead, Mugman, Elder Kettle or Ms. Chalice, and will attempt to defeat a gauntlet of bosses by rolling dice. Players can roll the dice as many times as they want per round, but there's one problem: the time limit. It all adds up to a chaotic experience that really emulates the insane adrenaline rush of the original video game.

Buy Cuphead at The Op - $50

Ford electrified a classic F-100 truck to showcase its EV motor kit

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 07:05 AM PDT

Chevy isn't the only one electrifying vintage cars to sell you on aftermarket EV motors. Ford has introduced an F-100 Eluminator concept that upgrades the circa-1978 pickup truck with two of the company's new Eluminator electric crate motor kit. The powerplants, taken from the Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition, give the F-100 a total 480HP and 634lb/ft of torque. Ford didn't discuss performance benchmarks or range, but it's safe to presume you could smoke some sports cars with that kind of power.

The truck has more customizations beyond the EV motors, including the vertical center-stack touchscreen from the Mach-E. You'll also see custom aluminum Forgeline wheels, a billet aluminum dash from JJR Fabrication and avocado-tanned leather from MDM Upholstery. This may look like a classic truck, but it's not appointed like one.

You can't buy this concept, as you might have guessed. Instead, Ford would rather you buy the $3,900 Eluminator motor for your project car. The automaker eventually hopes to supply everything you might need for an EV retrofit, including batteries, controllers and traction inverters. You'd only want to buy the motor right now if you have the resources to complete the rest of the puzzle yourself. This does, however, hint at a future where many beloved combustion engine cars can get a second life through an EV transplant.

F-100 Eluminator concept truck interior
Ford

Amazon's Alexa-powered indoor air quality monitor alerts you to pollution

Posted: 03 Nov 2021 07:00 AM PDT

Amazon still isn't done announcing Alexa-powered smart home gadgets this year. The company has unveiled a $69 Smart Air Quality Monitor (shown at right) that checks your household for carbon monoxide, dust, humidity, temperature and volatile organic compounds. If the air is unhealthy, Alexa will let you know through either its mobile app or an Echo device. You'll know to open a window or turn on an air purifier without having to check the monitor yourself.

You can ask Alexa about the air quality at any given moment. Display-equipped devices like an Echo Show or your phone will provide a detailed breakdown of the findings.

You'll have to be a bit patient. The Smart Air Quality Monitor is available to pre-order now, but the first orders don't ship until sometime in December. All the same, the wait could be justifiable if you prefer the Alexa ecosystem and worry that your indoor air quality is affecting your health.
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