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• John McEnroe is playing tennis against a virtual version of himself on ESPN+
• Elon Musk wants to quadruple Twitter users by 2028
• Microsoft open sources the code for 3D Movie Maker
• Alienware's QD-OLED gaming monitor is an ultrawide marvel
• Apple TV 4K with 32 GB storage falls to an all-time low of $150
• Recommended Reading: The eerie props on 'Severance'
• Federal judge dismisses Trump's lawsuit against Twitter
• Florida pension fund sues Elon Musk over Twitter deal
• Mining Capital Coin CEO indicted in $62 million crypto fraud scheme
• US Treasury issues first-ever sanctions against a cryptocurrency mixer
• Xbox’s game streaming device and TV app could arrive soon
• Amazon fires senior managers from unionized Staten Island warehouse
• Spotify's Pandora-esque Stations app will shut down on May 16th
• A new Google Cloud team is building services for Web3 developers
• NVIDIA pays $5.5 million to settle SEC charges over GPU sales to crypto miners
• 'EVE Online' and Microsoft Excel pair up for the year's hottest collab
• Razer Blade 15 review: A real treat if you've got the cash
• You can buy a gold-plated Wii originally made for the Queen
• 'Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' and 'Ms. Pac-Man' join the Video Game Hall of Fame
• UK regulator will have the power to impose steep fines on Big Tech
• How Gen Z is pushing NES Tetris to its limits
• Apple's iPad mini is $100 off, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals
• Engadget Podcast: What's up with 'Overwatch 2?'
• The Morning After: 'Fortnite' is back on iOS, kind of
• Lucid is hiking the prices of its luxury Air EVs

John McEnroe is playing tennis against a virtual version of himself on ESPN+ Posted: 07 May 2022 03:45 PM PDT Michelob Ultra and ESPN have decided to use AI to answer an enduring question: what would happen if tennis legend John McEnroe played against himself? An upcoming ESPN+ special entitled "McEnroe vs. McEnroe" will feature the 63-year-old star, who retired from singles competition in 1992, playing against a complicated, AI-trained version of himself.  According to TechCrunch, the process for the actual game is fairly involved. After the real McEnroe sends a ball over the net, the AI avatar responds to its direction and "swings" — at this point, a new ball is launched from a ball cannon, which is obscured by a smokescreen. The positioning of the ball cannon and smokescreen are designed to make the ball appear as if it's coming off the avatar's racket. The avatar itself is projected onto a hologram particle screen. This teaser below shows off a tantalizingly small amount of footage. As for how this all came together, the real McEnroe spent a day with production company Unit 9, who used full-body motion capture and scans combined with Unreal Engine's MetaHuman Creator technology. Adweek says that the McEnroe avatar and its programming are based on five different points in McEnroe's career, including his debut in 1979, his ascent to the top of the sport in 1981, and his final year as a pro in 1992. Besides the work with the real McEnroe, Unit 9 also analyzed hundreds of hours of footage from his career and recorded 308 different shots for the virtual avatar. Given that McEnroe is now 63, he'll be playing against a much younger version of himself — whether or not that means the AI will have the edge remains to be seen, of course. If this somewhat odd matchup has piqued your interest, TechCrunch says the special will air tonight, May 7th, on ESPN+ at 10PM ET.

Elon Musk wants to quadruple Twitter users by 2028 Posted: 07 May 2022 01:33 PM PDT Among the biggest questions on people's mind since Elon Musk made his bid to buy Twitter is how the service might change under his ownership. We're still a long way off from the deal becoming official, but Musk nonetheless has had to pitch investors on his vision for the company to get the funding he needs. As it so happens, the New York Times has obtained a copy of a pitch deck for investors, which gives us an idea of the preposterously grand vision that Musk has for the company. Here are a few highlights. For starters, Musk wants to grow Twitter's monthly users from the 217 million it had at the end of 2021 to nearly 600 million in 2025 and 931 million users by 2028. That's more than quadrupling its monthly users in the next six years. Musk also wants to have 104 million paid subscribers for a service only referred to as "X." There weren't any details on what sort of product X would be, but Musk has cryptically hinted at an ad-free paid Twitter experience.  Speaking of paying for Twitter, Musk's pitch deck has a lot of details on some ambitious revenue goals, as well. He believes that Twitter can quintuple its annual revenue to $26.4 billion by 2028, up from the approximately $5 billion the company made last year. And Musk wants to significantly diversify how Twitter makes money, as well. Right now, advertising makes up about 90 percent of Twitter's revenue; Musk wants to cut that to about 45 percent by 2028. His forecast would include $12 billion in advertising revenue and $10 billion in subscription revenue.  To meet those lofty goals, Twitter would obviously need a lot more paid users. Musk forecasted 69 million Twitter Blue users by 2025 and 159 million by 2028. Twitter Blue is a $3 per month service that launched in the US this past November and offers perks like ad-free news articles, the ability to undo sending a tweet and a few other small niceties. Between the mysterious product X and Twitter Blue, Musk is clearly putting a lot of importance on getting users to opt into some sort of paid Twitter experience. Finally, Musk sees Twitter making some moves in the payment space as well. He wants the company to bring in a modest $15 million in revenue from a payments business in 2023, with that number growing to around $1.3 billion by 2028. Currently, Twitter offers very limited shopping and tipping features that the NYT says make no notable impact on the company's bottom line.  The NYT didn't have any details on how Musk expects to meet these lofty goals — only that he expects big things from Twitter once his takeover is complete. Quadrupling users and quintupling revenue is an extremely tall order for a company like Twitter that's already well established. But Musk clearly didn't want to spend $44 billion on Twitter just to keep the status quo.

Microsoft open sources the code for 3D Movie Maker Posted: 07 May 2022 12:00 PM PDT Microsoft has open sourced the code for the 27-year-old program 3D Movie Maker — and it's all thanks to someone who asked on Twitter. Foone, whose Twitter profile says they're a "hardware and software necromancer," asked the tech giant for the source code to the program so they could expand and extend it. Microsoft doesn't own the BRender engine it runs on, which potentially posed a problem, but the one who does own it told Foone that he would be happy to open source it if he can find a copy. Thankfully, someone kept a copy of the engine, and Microsoft was able to release the program's code in its entirety. Hey friends - we've open sourced the code to 1995's Microsoft 3D Movie Maker https://t.co/h4mYSKRrjK Thanks to @jeffwilcox and the Microsoft OSS office as well our friends in legal and those who continue to put up with me being a nudzh. Thanks to @foone for the idea! Enjoy. https://t.co/6wBAkjkeIP — Scott Hanselman 🇺🇦 (@shanselman) May 4, 2022 3D Movie Maker, which was released in 1995, gives users an easy way to create films by placing cartoony characters and props into pre-rendered environments. According to PCGamer, Foone plans to update the program so it can run on modern PCs, as well as add features to make it easier to share the resulting videos. "I'm expecting I'll get the basic modernized version in the next month to a few months, depending on how many issues I run into," they told PCGamer. The original source code for the project is now on GitHub made available under the MIT license as open source. As RockPaperShotgun notes, the program's BRender engine was also used for games such as Carmageddon 1 & 2, so the code's release could potentially lead to fan-updated versions that can run more smoothly on modern computers.

Alienware's QD-OLED gaming monitor is an ultrawide marvel Posted: 07 May 2022 10:30 AM PDT Imagine everything you'd want in a gaming monitor — a bright and beautiful screen, a fast refresh rate for silky smooth graphics, HDR to really make things shine — and there's a good chance you'll find it in Alienware's 34 Curved QD-OLED monitor. It's one of the first screens to ship with Samsung's Quantum Dot OLED panels, and it's stacked with other features that'll make your Halo Infinite matches all the more satisfying. While it may seem a bit extravagant at $1,299, compared to Apple's $1,599 Studio Display it's practically a steal. (Or maybe I'm just telling myself that to justify buying this thing.) I'll admit this up front: I'm a sucker for ultrawide (21:9) monitors. Having a ton of horizontal space makes it easy to juggle multiple apps at once, and it's far cleaner than setting up multiple displays. So when Alienware revealed that it was finally debuting an OLED ultrawide, I was sold. While OLED has solidified its place in premium TVs, it's taken a while to reach computer monitors (we only started getting OLED laptops regularly a few years ago). What makes this monitor even more intriguing is that it has all of the benefits you'd expect from OLED — deep black levels, excellent contrast and no backlight bleeding thanks to pixels that light up individually — but the addition of quantum dots means you'll continue to see vibrant colors as the screen gets brighter. Sure, this new tech means there's another annoying display acronym to remember, but at least QD-OLED will offer some other notable upgrades. According to Samsung, it'll be able to reach up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness (like this Alienware monitor), whereas the cream of the current OLED crop reaches around 400 nits. More brightness isn't everything, especially since OLED's perfect black levels can produce some eye-blistering contrast, yet it's still a meaningful step forward as LCDs are becoming even more luminous with Mini-LED backlighting. The Alienware QD-OLED monitor, like many 34-inch ultrawide models, features a 3,440 by 1,440 resolution. Think of it as an extra-long quad-HD screen: It's not as sharp as 4K, but it's still a huge leap ahead of 1080p. And since it doesn't have as many pixels as a 4K screen, you'll be able to play many games at its native resolution without taking out a loan for an RTX 3080 Ti. There's also support for G-SYNC Ultimate, NVIDIA's adaptive refresh rate technology which helps to reduce stuttering, as well as HDR 400 True Black. Alienware says it reaches 99.3 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and it's also color calibrated at the factory, both important features if you're doing any production work. Devindra Hardawar/Engadget But enough specs, does this monitor actually look good in action? Yes, oh yes. My eyes watered while playing Halo Infinite's desert-based "Behemoth" map, it was almost as if I was watching the sun reflecting off pristine sand in person. (That was also a sign I needed to lower the brightness a bit.) I kept noticing new details about my Spartan's armor, thanks to the monitor's color accuracy and pitch-perfect contrast. It also took me a while to get used to playing Overwatch again, as my brain struggled to keep up with the QD-OLED's fast 175Hz refresh rate. The game reacted almost instantly, thanks to the QD-OLED monitor's 0.1ms response time. Compared to Dell's 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitor, which I tested for several months last year, the Alienware QD-OLED looked dramatically better no matter what I was looking at. Colors popped off the screen, even when I was just scrolling through the web or watching movie trailers, and the deep curve always kept me in the center of the action. You'll have to live with vertical black bars if you want to watch typical 16x9 videos fullscreen, but personally, I'd rather have more room to play something in the corner or side of the screen. Let your TV handle movie night — ultrawide monitors are all about multitasking. A bigger issue is the lack of support for ultrawide resolutions in some games. Elden Ring, for example, can only be played in standard widescreen resolution. (You could risk a third-party patch, but that could get you banned if you play online.) I still enjoyed the dozens of hours I spent with the game on this QD-OLED monitor, but the black bars on the sides of the screen effectively turned it into a 27-inch display. You could run the game in a window and multitask on the side, but Elden Ring is the sort of experience I'd rather devote my full attention to. At the very least, the state of ultrawide gaming is far better now than it was a few years ago. It's hard to find major titles that ignore 21:9 screens entirely, especially when it comes to shooters. While the Alienware QD-OLED's design isn't as handsome as Apple's metallic Studio Display, it features the same sci-fi aesthetic Alienware has been pushing since 2019. The case is made of plastic, but at least it feels sturdy and smooth to the touch. There's none of the cheap flexing you'd find on budget monitors. There's a tasteful oval of LED lighting on the back of the monitor, alongside a glowing Alienware logo, but it's thankfully free of the garish bling you'd find on other gaming displays. A small fan blows hot air out of the top of the monitor, which gives it a slight hum that was easily drowned out by the sounds of my gaming rig. The Alienware monitor also offers both tilt and height adjustment, something you'd have to pay $400 more to get with the Studio Display. Devindra Hardawar/Engadget When it comes to connectivity, the Alienware 34 QD-OLED includes one DisplayPort 1.4 connection (up to 175Hz), 2 HDMI 2.0 ports (up to 100Hz), and four USB 3.2 Gen 1 connections spread across the bottom and back of the display. There's also a headphone port on the bottom bottom of the monitor, and an audio line-out connection on the rear. It would have been nice to see HDMI 2.1 ports, or at the very least HDMI 2.0 connections with 120Hz support for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Clearly, Alienware is focusing on PC gamers, but some competitors offer HDMI 2.1 to make life easier for console players. At $1,299, you'll be paying a steep price for Alienware's QD-OLED monitor, but it's on par with other premium ultrawide monitors. LG's 34-inch UltraGear is currently selling for $1,243, but that's an LCD screen with a slower refresh rate. Or you could just go for LG's 42-inch C2 OLED TV for $1,399, which is one of the best screens you can buy right now. (but it's probably a bit too tall for desk work). If you're looking for a similarly-sized display on a budget, Dell's (admittedly far less impressive) 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitor is down to $500. Devindra Hardawar/Engadget Here's the thing: Even though Alienware's QD-OLED is a major investment, it's arguably a wise one that could last you for years. For the price of a premium display last year (and less than Apple's Studio Display!), you get next-generation OLED technology, an objectively gorgeous screen and all of the gaming upgrades you could ask for. It's the rare gadget that makes me grin like an absolute idiot while I'm using it, surely that's worth paying for.

Apple TV 4K with 32 GB storage falls to an all-time low of $150 Posted: 07 May 2022 08:01 AM PDT If you've been looking to grab a new Apple TV, you now have another chance to do so at a discount. The 32GB version of the Apple TV 4K device released in 2021 is now available for $150 at Amazon, or $29 less than its retail price of $179. That's the lowest price we've seen for the streaming box on the website — it was only briefly available for that much last holiday season. Buy 2021 Apple TV 4K (32GB) at Amazon - $150 We gave the 2021 Apple TV 4K a score of 90 in our review and praised it for coming with an excellent Siri remote, which we think is a great selling point for the device. It's larger than its predecessor, making it harder to lose, and we found its revamped directional pad easier to use for making fine-tuned selections. You can even use the pad as dial to scrub backwards and forwards in a video. We also found that the remote does an excellent job at interpreting our voice commands. We praised the Apple TV for its quicker performance and capability to load apps faster than before, as well. Its A12 Bionic processor gives it the capability to support Dolby Vision content, HDR videos at 60FPS and Dolby Atmos for an immersive, room-filling audio. And, if you have an iPhone or an iPad, the streaming box is probably the option that makes the most sense for you. It will allow you to beam content to your TV via AirPlay and screen mirroring, and you'll be able to use your iOS device to type in text on your TV. The Apple TV also comes in a version with 64GB of storage, though that one's not on sale at the moment.  Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Recommended Reading: The eerie props on 'Severance' Posted: 07 May 2022 07:00 AM PDT The stories behind some of the weird stuff on 'Severance' Gina Cherelus, The New York Times This quick read offers some insight on the seemingly strange objects on the Apple TV+ show, straight from series prop master Catherine Miller.  Formula One finally found a way to get Americans to care Austin Carr, Bloomberg A popular Netflix show has a lot to do with F1's rise in the States, but there's much more to the story.  TikTok's work culture: Anxiety, secrecy and relentless pressure Georgia Wells, Yoree Koh and Salvador Rodriguez; The Wall Street Journal "The employees, many of them veterans of other major tech companies, say TikTok emphasizes relentless productivity and secrecy to a degree uncommon in the industry," the report explains.

Federal judge dismisses Trump's lawsuit against Twitter Posted: 07 May 2022 05:06 AM PDT San Francisco federal district court Judge James Donato has tossed the lawsuit Donald Trump filed against Twitter last year in a bid to get his account back. The social network permanently suspended the former president's account after his supporters stormed the Capitol in January 2021. In the company's announcement, Twitter cited two of his tweets in particular that it believes were "highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the US Capitol" on January 6th last year. Trump filed a lawsuit in October, seeking a preliminary injunction on the ban and arguing that it violates his First Amendment rights. Donato disagreed and noted in his ruling that Twitter is a private company. "The First Amendment applies only to governmental abridgements of speech," he explained, "and not to alleged abridgements by private companies." The judge also rejected the notion that the social network had acted as a government entity after being pressured by Trump's opponents and had thereby violated the First Amendment when it banned the former President.  In his lawsuit, Trump asked the judge to rule the federal Communications Decency Act, which states that online service providers such as Twitter can't be held liable for content posted by users, as unconstitutional. The judge shot down that claim, as well, and ruled that the former President didn't have legal standing to challenge Section 230 of CDA. Trump is a known critic of Section 230 and proposed to limit the protections social media platforms enjoy under it during his term. The former President was an avid Twitter user before his suspension and formed his own social network called Truth Social after he was banned. Just recently, he told CNBC that he won't be going back to Twitter even if Elon Musk reverses his suspension and will stay on Truth Social instead. According to a recent report by the Daily Beast, Truth Social has 513,000 daily active users compared to Twitter's 217 million.

Florida pension fund sues Elon Musk over Twitter deal Posted: 06 May 2022 06:00 PM PDT Elon Musk's $44 billion buyout of Twitter is facing its first legal challenge. A Florida pension fund is suing Musk and Twitter, arguing that the deal can't legally close until 2025 due to the billionaire's stake in the platform. The proposed class-action lawsuit — filed today by the Orlando Police Pension Fund in the Delaware Chancery court— also declares that Twitter's board of directors breached its fiduciary duties by allowing the deal to go through. In addition to Musk and Twitter, the lawsuit also named former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and the company's board as defendants. In a message to Engadget, Tulane Law School's Professor Ann M. Lipton says the lawsuit raises "some very novel issues" under Delaware corporate law. Under a law known as Section 203, shareholders who own more than 15 percent of the company can't enter a merger without two-thirds of the remaining shares granting approval. Without this approval, the merger can't be finalized for another three years. The fund's lawyers state that Musk initially owned roughly 10 percent of Twitter's shares, which would seemingly not make Section 203 applicable. But, the fund argues, Musk formed a pact with Morgan Stanley (which owns 8.8 percent of shares) and former CEO Jack Dorsey (who has 2.4 percent) to advance the deal. The combined stake of these parties allegedly makes Musk and his allies in the takeover deal an "interested shareholder" under Section 203 — which, if the court agrees with the underlying reasoning presented in the case, means the merger must either be delayed or get approval shareholders representing at least two-thirds of the company's ownership.  "Section 203 is not often litigated, and so the issue of whether Musk's relationship with these parties actually counts for statutory purposes is an unsettled question and it will be interesting to watch how it unfolds," wrote Lipton. More details of Musk's highly complex $44 billion buyout of Twitter have been made public since the social media platform accepted the billionaire's offer last month. The New York Times reported that Musk promised investors returns of nearly five to ten times their investments if the deal went through. Parts of the deal are being scrutinized, including its reliance on foreign investors and whether Musk bought shares in the company specifically to influence its leadership. But antitrust experts say the merger is unlikely to be blocked by the FTC. The agency will decide in the next month whether to quickly approve the merger or launch a lengthier investigation.

Mining Capital Coin CEO indicted in $62 million crypto fraud scheme Posted: 06 May 2022 04:00 PM PDT Mining Capital Coin CEO and founder Luiz Capuci Jr. was — in an indictment unsealed yesterday — accused by the DOJ of allegedly running a $62 million global investment fraud scheme. He's the latest of severalcrypto company heads who have recently been similarly charged. Through his company, Capuci convinced investors to purchase "Mining Packages," a global network of cryptocurrency mines that promised a certain return on investment every week. But instead of using investors' funds to mine cryptocurrency as he promised, the DOJ alleges that Capuci diverted the funds to his own cryptocurrency wallets. Another MCC product known as "Trading Bots" operated under the same false pretenses. Capuci claimed that the bots operated in "very high frequency, being able to do thousands of trades per second" and promised investors daily returns. "As he did with the Mining Packages, however, Capuci allegedly operated an investment fraud scheme with the Trading Bots and was not, as he promised, using MCC Trading Bots to generate income for investors, but instead was diverting the funds to himself and co-conspirators," wrote the DOJ in its indictment. MCC seemed to have all the workings of a pyramid scheme. Capuci recruited affiliates and promoters to lure investors. In return, he promised the promoters a number of lavish gifts, including Apple watches, iPads and luxury vehicles. Currently the FBI's Miami Field Office is investigating the case. The DOJ has charged Capuci, who is from Port St. Lucie, Florida, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of 45 years. In a review of the cryptocurrency mining platform, crypto blogger Peter Obi noted that the combination of MCC's $50 monthly fee for membership and its steep 3% withdrawal fee meant that investors were unlikely to make a profit unless they referred other investors. He pointed out that such a referral process was "particularly worrying" because it was consistent with other past crypto scams. Indeed, a number of crypto leaders have been accused by authorities of running Ponzi schemes in recent years. Earlier this year the DOJ indicted Bitconnect founder Satishkumar Kurjibhai Kumbhani for allegedly running a $2 billion Ponzi scheme — believed to be the largest virtual currency pyramid scheme in history. Capuci never registered his company with the SEC. The agency today issued a fraud alert for the company. According to the SEC press release, Capuci and his associates successfully convinced 65,535 investors to purchase mining packages worldwide and promised daily returns of one percent, paid weekly for over a year. In total, the group netted $8.1 million from the sale of the mining packages and $3.2 million from initiation fees.

US Treasury issues first-ever sanctions against a cryptocurrency mixer Posted: 06 May 2022 01:35 PM PDT Cryptocurrency mixers are sometimes used to help online criminals launder their stolen money by hiding its true origins, and the US Treasury is now ready to clamp down on them when hostile governments are involved. The department has issued its first sanctions against a Bitcoin mixer, Blender.io, for allegedly and "indiscriminately" helping North Korea launder over $20.5 million in crypto from the $620 million Axie Infinity heist and other crimes.  The measures block all Blender property in the US (or controlled by US residents), as well as US-linked transactions and any entities where blocked people have majority control. On a basic level, blocks create an audit trail and prevent sanctioned entities' funds from changing hands. The sanctions come after officials pinned the Axie Infinity theft on Lazarus Group, an outfit frequently linked to the North Korean government's cybercrime and cyberwarfare efforts. North Korea has been repeatedly accused of hacking banks and cryptocurrency holders to evade international sanctions and finance its weapons programs. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control also used the opportunity to identify four digital wallets Lazarus reportedly used to launder the rest of the Axie Infinity crypto. The perpetrators relied on one "getaway" wallet for the crime itself. The agency stressed that most cryptocurrency activity was legal, and that it was only targeting mixers that aid criminals. However, there's a not-so-subtle warning here: the US is willing to sanction crypto service providers if they tolerate state-backed hackers, not just the nations directing those hacks.

Xbox’s game streaming device and TV app could arrive soon Posted: 06 May 2022 01:10 PM PDT It's been 11 months since Microsoft confirmed it's making a dedicated game-streaming device and a smart TV app for the Xbox ecosystem. The company hasn't announced many more details about either since then, but a new report suggests they could arrive in the coming months. The streaming device, which can be plugged into a TV or monitor, will have either a stick or a puck design, according to GamesBeat. In other words, it'll look like an Amazon Fire Stick or a Chromecast. It's believed that you'll not only be able to stream games from Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with the device, but also use it to watch movies and TV shows. Meanwhile, Microsoft is said to be working with Samsung on an Xbox app for that company's TVs. Some of Samsung's 2022 models support game streaming services like Google Stadia and NVIDIA GeForce Now. It wouldn't be surprising at all to see an Xbox Cloud Gaming app on those TVs too. Both the TV app and streaming device are expected to arrive within the next 12 months. They form part of Microsoft's Xbox Everywhere strategy. The name is self-explanatory — the company wants to reach gamers wherever they are, even if they don't have an Xbox console or a capable gaming PC. The project took another step forward this week with the addition of Fortnite to Xbox Cloud Gaming this week. That offers people a way to stream the all-conquering battle royale on smartphones (yes, even iPhones), tablets and PC. What makes this different from other streaming games from Xbox is that it's free. You don't need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to stream Fortnite — just a Microsoft account. Microsoft says it's interested in offering more free-to-play titles via the cloud, so perhaps the likes of Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone and the multiplayer side of Halo Infinite will be available at some point. We might not have to wait much longer to hear about the next steps for the Xbox Everywhere initiative. A big Xbox and Bethesda showcase will take place on June 12th, and there could be more than game announcements and trailers in store.

Amazon fires senior managers from unionized Staten Island warehouse Posted: 06 May 2022 12:31 PM PDT Amazon fired a number of senior managers from its JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island on Thursday, only a month after workers voted to unionize. The New York Times reported that the company axed more than half a dozen senior-level workers on Thursday, many of who were involved in union organizing. A number of anonymous employees told the NYT that they believed the firings were retaliatory. JFK8 is the first and currently the only unionized Amazon warehouse in the US. In a statement to Engadget, Amazon said the workers were fired as a result of "management changes." "Part of our culture at Amazon is to continually improve, and we believe it's important to take time to review whether or not we're doing the best we could be for our team. Over the last several weeks, we've spent time evaluating aspects of the operations and leadership at JFK8 and, as a result, have made some management changes." Other Amazon workers have recently gotten the pink slip, allegedly due to their union involvement. Just a couple of weeks ago, four recently terminated Amazon employees filed charges with the NLRB, alleging that they were being punished for supporting a union. Last month the NLRB ordered Amazon to reinstate Gerald Bryson, a worker at the JFK8 facility who was fired due to what Amazon alleged was his violation of a company language policy. But the NLRB's judge was not convinced by this argument, and accused Amazon of performing a "skewed investigation" of Bryson and retaliating against him for his union work. Just yesterday, Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls testified before the Senate Budget Committee and met with President Joe Biden. The Biden administration has expressed reserved support for unionization efforts by Amazon, Starbucks and other workers. In his testimony before the Senate, Smalls argued that the federal government should avoid awarding Amazon contracts due to its labor practices. "We cannot allow Amazon or any other employer to receive taxpayer money if they engage in illegal union-busting behavior and deny workers' rights," said Smalls.

Spotify's Pandora-esque Stations app will shut down on May 16th Posted: 06 May 2022 11:42 AM PDT Spotify's experimental Stations app is soon to be no more. The company says it will shut down the app on May 16th. It took a leaf out of the Pandora playbook with Stations, as the app and web player offered a way to listen to curated playlists in a radio-style format. Stations debuted in Australia in 2018 and arrived in the US the following year. The app has now been removed from the App Store and Google Play Store. The company says it often conducts tests to "create better listening experiences" for users. Our "Spotify Stations Beta was one of those tests," Spotify told TechCrunch. "We will be sunsetting the current feature, but users will be able to easily transfer their favorite stations and enjoy a similar radio experience directly within the Spotify app." If you're a Stations user, you'll be able to move the stations you want to keep over to the Spotify app. You'll find them in your library in a folder called Spotify Stations.  Those who enjoyed the app and its streamlined design may be disappointed by the move. However, the company noted that the radio feature in the main app offers a similar feature — it can create an ad-hoc station based on any artist, song, album or playlist.

A new Google Cloud team is building services for Web3 developers Posted: 06 May 2022 10:32 AM PDT Google is putting together a team to build backend services for blockchain developers. The company is hoping to make Google Cloud Platform the primary destination for those who want to run Web3 apps. "We're not trying to be part of that cryptocurrency wave directly," Google Cloud vice president Amit Zavery told CNBC. "We're providing technologies for companies to use and take advantage of the distributed nature of Web3 in their current businesses and enterprises." Zavery told staff in an email (which was viewed by CNBC) that the Web3 market is "already demonstrating tremendous potential with many customers asking us to increase our support for Web3 and crypto related technologies." This isn't quite Google's first foray into this space. In January, it announced a Digital Assets Team and said it would look into ways of allowing Google Cloud customers to make and receive crypto payments. On an earnings call the following month, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the Cloud unit was exploring support for blockchain projects. The new team will comprise employees who have been involved in Web3 projects either at Google or on their own time, according to Zavery. He said Google may create a system that will enable other companies to make it easy for people to look into blockchain data. Google's tools will be compatible with other platforms like Amazon Web Services, Zavery said. There's an element of incongruity here. A core aim of the Web3 movement is making the web decentralized and shifting power away from major companies like Google, Amazon and Meta. Still, Web3 developers need to host their apps and services somewhere, and Google wants to be their first choice.

NVIDIA pays $5.5 million to settle SEC charges over GPU sales to crypto miners Posted: 06 May 2022 10:05 AM PDT It's no secret these days that GPU makers profited from the early cryptocurrency mining boom, but NVIDIA is now facing some repercussions as a result. The company is paying $5.5 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission charges it failed to disclose that crypto mining played a "significant" role in its surging revenue from GPU sales throughout fiscal 2018. NVIDIA allegedly violated both the Securities Act and Securities Exchange Act when it didn't reveal that its success was tied to a "volatile business," potentially misleading investors who might have thought this was the result of the firm's usual gaming-focused strategy. The SEC's order also said NVIDIA misled investors by acknowledging that crypto demand did affect other aspects of its business at the time. That implied mining wasn't a significant part of the gaming business' success where it was for other products, according to the regulator. NVIDIA will have to abide by a cease-and-desist barring it from future rule-breaking. An NVIDIA spokesperson declined to comment. The brand has increasingly seen crypto mining as more of a liability to its gaming GPU sales than a benefit, though. It started limiting the mining capabilities of RTX GPUs in 2021 in a bid to free up cards for the intended audience. The company even launched dedicated mining cards that year in a bid to satisfy crypto fans without cutting into demand for its GeForce GPU line. The payment is tiny for a company that made $7.6 billion in its most recently reported quarter. With that said, the modest settlement was somewhat expected given an unsuccessful past attempt to demand compensation. Tom's Hardwarenoted in March 2021 that a judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing NVIDIA of deceiving investors — it was no secret many GPUs were destined for crypto miners, the judge ruled. While the SEC found wrongdoing, it was going to have a harder time showing that NVIDIA caused enough damage to warrant a large penalty.

'EVE Online' and Microsoft Excel pair up for the year's hottest collab Posted: 06 May 2022 09:11 AM PDT EVE Online has often been derided as a "spreadsheet simulator." Many dedicated players use spreadsheets to keep track of data like profit margins and to calculate fleet damage output at certain ranges. Developer CCP Games is now leaning into the spreadsheet lifestyle even more with official Microsoft Excel support. The studio revealed at EVE Fanfest that it reached out to Microsoft and the pair are now building an extension that will pull data from the long-running MMO into an Excel spreadsheet. The news went over well with the crowd: CCP showed an early prototype of the tool in action and said more details would be revealed later this year. This arguably isn't the first time the studio has embraced spreadsheets. EVE Online has a UI-only mode that ditches 3D space battle graphics for pure data with a spreadsheet-style view. Sure, other details about the future of EVE Onlinewereannounced at Fanfest, including a bunch of upcoming narrative arcs, a feature to help newcomers pick their class, visual upgrades and a Spanish-language client. But direct integration with Excel could be the biggest quality of life upgrade for the game's most fervent fans. This is arguably the best update EVE has ever done. https://t.co/efIV91ffDS — VisualGrime (@TheVisualPine) May 6, 2022

Razer Blade 15 review: A real treat if you've got the cash Posted: 06 May 2022 09:00 AM PDT Luxury probably isn't the first word that comes to mind when you think about gaming laptops, especially with some looking, shall we say extra, with flashy light bars and dot matrix displays embedded in their lids. But with its excellent performance, superb build quality, understated design and a very luxurious price, the Razer Blade 15 really feels like it's crossed the line into portable gaming opulence. Design Now it's true the 2022 Blade 15 looks almost identical to previous models, which has some folks feeling like it's in need of a facelift. But even after all these years, I still love the Blade 15's clean lines and sturdy aluminum chassis. That said, I do wish Razer would add full RGB support to the backlit logo on the lid. I know neon green is sort of Razer's thing, but on a premium machine like this, it just seems weird you can't set it to whatever color you want. Sam Rutherford/Engadget Inside, the Blade has a large glass trackpad that's one of the best you can get on a Windows laptop. New for 2022 are larger keycaps along with Razer's signature per-key Chroma lighting. Another subtle design tweak is that instead of having a distinct cut-out for the laptop's up-firing speakers, this year Razer used lasers to etch the grille directly into the deck which improves rigidity while maintaining that minimalist aesthetic. There's also a new 1080p webcam for 2022, which is a welcome upgrade from the 720p cams on older systems. And finally you get a plethora of connectivity, including two USB-C ports (including one with Thunderbolt 4), three USB-A ports, HDMI, headphone jack, and even a full-size SD card reader. Display Sam Rutherford/Engadget On our $3,700 review unit, there's a 15.6-inch 240Hz QHD display, which offers a great balance of size and resolution. I just wish it was a tiny bit brighter. Razer says all of the Blade's LCD displays are supposed to pump out around 300 nits of brightness. But using a lightmeter, I measured closer to 275 nits. That's fine for most situations, though if you're in a sunny room, colors may appear slightly washed out. Alternatively, Razer offers 144Hz and 360Hz panels on other models. And just this week, Razer announced a new 240Hz OLED option, so there's a wealth of displays to choose from. Performance and gaming Moving onto performance, Razer offers the latest 12th-gen Intel H-series CPUs and Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs. The downside is that these components don't come cheap, with the 2022 Blade 15 starting at $2,500 for an i7-12800H, 16GB of RAM and an RTX 3060 Ti, before topping out at a wallet-quivering $4,000 for a fully-loaded model with an i9 chip, 32GB of RAM and a 3080 Ti. Sam Rutherford/Engadget Now, I should point out that configs top out at just 1TB of storage. But for those who want even more room, the Blade 15 features two M.2 slots, only one of which is populated out of the box. So if you're willing to remove the laptop's bottom panel and SSD cover, tossing in another drive should be pretty straightforward. Just remember to use single-sided modules, because double-sided M.2 sticks won't fit. You get what you pay for, though, because the Blade 15 can game with the best of them. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the highest graphics settings at 1920 x 1080, our Core i7, RTX 3080 Ti unit hit 124 fps, which is just a touch lower than the $1,800 Asus Flow Z13, and that's with its optional $1,400 mobile graphics dock. (That's a grand total of $3,200 for those keeping count.) Results were similar in other titles too, with the Blade 15 hitting 86 fps in Metro Exodus on high settings, and 81 fps in Forza Horizon 5 on Ultra. Battery Life Sam Rutherford/Engadget Really, the Blade 15's biggest weakness (aside from its price) is battery life. On our local video rundown test, it lasted just 5 hours and 42 minutes. That's similar to what we got from the Asus Flow Z13 (5:38), which if you'll recall is a PC gaming tablet. But compared to more traditional rivals, the Blade 15 lasted than three hours less than the Alienware x14 (7:57) and four hours shorter than the Asus Zephyrus G14's (9:45). And in the real world, it's not much better. The Blade 15 struggled to make it through two games of Teamfight Tactics back-to-back, which entailed about an hour and 15 minutes of relatively light-duty gaming. I should also note that when you're running off the battery, the Blade's performance takes a hit too, with framerates in Shadow of the Tomb Raider dropping down to around 45 fps. Laptop Battery life Razer Blade 15 (2022) 5:42 Asus Flow Z13 5:38 Alienware x14 7:57 Asus Zephyrus G14 9:45 The other annoyance is Razer's charging brick. While the proprietary connector is forgivable given its 230-watt power adapter, its right-angle design means if you plug it in wrong, you're going to block at one or possibly two of the laptop's USB-A ports. Honestly, high-wattage power delivery over USB-C can't come soon enough. Wrap-up Sam Rutherford/Engadget While the Blade 15 isn't quite as sleek or portable as the latest breed of 14-inch gaming machines, there's something to be said for having a big, luxury alternative. Sure, it's really expensive, and its 15.6-inch screen and 4.4-pound body mean you might not be able to throw it in your typical messenger bag. But it's got top-notch components, a strong frame that exhibits basically zero flex, and impressive performance in a slick and (comparatively) subdued design. Well, aside from that big glowing logo. In a way, the Blade 15 is a fantastic take on a modern desktop replacement, especially for people like me who don't want to lug around a giant 17-inch rig. Unlike the ROG Flow Z13, you don't need to worry about a separate graphics dock to get peak framerates. And thanks to a wealth of ports, you can leave all of your dongles and adapters at home. So while the Blade 15 doesn't make sense for anyone on a budget, if you've got the funds, this thing is a real treat.

You can buy a gold-plated Wii originally made for the Queen Posted: 06 May 2022 08:15 AM PDT You now have the chance to own a truly one-of-a-kind Nintendo Wii... provided you have the well-stuffed bank account to match. Kotakureports Dutch collector and Consolevariations owner Don is auctioning an infamous 24 karat gold-plated Wii bankrupt game developer THQ intended to deliver to Queen Elizabeth II in 2009. The system was meant as a promo piece for the forgettable mini-game collection Big Family Games, but never made it to Buckingham Palace due to an "understandably strict" royal gift policy. It returned to THQ, and popped up in 2017 after a collector obtained it from a studio contact. The unnamed owner eventually sold to Don.  Don first tried to sell the golden Wii on eBay in October 2021 with an asking price of $300,000. The marketplace shut him down, however, as a policy change flagged accounts that sold items at prices far outside of their usual range. The new auction is at Goldin, which doesn't have similar reservations. You'll want to brace yourself if you're considering a purchase. Bidding has already reached $2,000 as of this writing, and we'd expect it to climb much higher (if not necessarily to $300,000) by the time the auction closes the evening of May 21st. This also isn't a mint-condition item, as there are signs of "scattered" gold chipping. And given that Nintendo shut down online multiplayer and Wii Shop services years ago, you probably won't do more with this machine than stare at it lovingly through a glass case. Nonetheless, it won't be surprising if someone snaps up this Wii. Unlike many special edition consoles, this is a genuinely unique device with a story behind it. And like Nintendo World Championship cartridges or similar rarities, it's as much a snapshot of a moment in gaming history as anything else. The 24K gold Wii was the product of an era when audacious publicity stunts were still relatively commonplace in the game industry, and the new owner will likely remember that period for a long time to come.

'Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' and 'Ms. Pac-Man' join the Video Game Hall of Fame Posted: 06 May 2022 08:04 AM PDT The Strong National Museum of Play has revealed the Video Game Hall of Fame class of 2022. This year's quartet of honorees are Ms. Pac-Man, Sid Meier's Civilization, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Dance Dance Revolution. The finalists that just missed out on a spot this time are Assassin's Creed, Candy Crush Saga, Minesweeper, NBA Jam, PaRappa the Rapper, Resident Evil, Rogue and Words with Friends. All of those are classics in their own way, but it's hard to argue with any of the four picks. Ocarina of Time made it into the Hall of Fame as a first-time nominee. The first 3D Zelda title is widely regarded as one of the best games of all time, and it remains the highest-scoring game ever on Metacritic. It paved the way for the last two and a half decades of action games. Ocarina of Time walked so Breath of the Wild could run. Influential simulation and strategy title Sid Meier's Civilization was first named as a finalist back in 2016 and again in 2019. Arcade icons Ms. Pac-Man and DDR each made the shortlist once before. They join the likes of Super Mario Bros., Doom, Mortal Kombat, Tetris and Animal Crossing. As Eurogamer notes, Zelda and Pac-Man are the first two series with more than one entry in the Video Game Hall of Fame, though Super Mario Kart is in there as well.

UK regulator will have the power to impose steep fines on Big Tech Posted: 06 May 2022 06:50 AM PDT The UK's recently established Big Tech regulator will have extensive authority to punish giant companies it deems anti-competitive. As TechCrunchnotes, the country's Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has revealed that the Digital Markets Unit will have the power to levy fines of up to 10 percent of a company's worldwide annual turnover if it doesn't honor codes of conduct, plus up to five percent of daily turnover for each day the violations continue. Firms will also have to make it easier to switch between platforms (such as mobile devices and social networks), break away from default apps (including search) and take more control of data sharing. Big Tech will also have to report acquisitions to the Competition and Markets Authority before they close to determine if any "further investigation" is necessary. The DMU could block acquisitions meant to stifle competition, reducing the chances that the unit has to regulate when damage has already been done. The CMA might not have ordered Meta to undo its acquisition of Giphy, as an example. The moves may require tech heavyweights to notify smaller companies when they change algorithms that could hurt their business, the DCMS said. Google might have to warn stores if changes will affect search rankings, for example, while Meta could alert media outlets if they'll be less prominent in Facebook's feed. App creators, meanwhile, could also expect "fairer and more transparent terms" for offering their wares. The UK also intends to borrow cues from Australia and Canada by ensuring that news publishers are "paid fairly" for online content. The DMU could intervene to address pricing disputes, for instance. While the CMA clarified that it will consult with everyone involved before implementing a conduct code, it already saw a need to address an "imbalance of bargaining power" that let online platforms strong-arm publishers. The effectiveness of the DMU will depend on the exact codes put in place, and it doesn't yet have the authority DCMS promised. It's not yet clear when that will happen. If the new promises hold up, though, they could mandate sweeping changes at large tech companies. Apple and Google might have to loosen restrictions on apps and operating system defaults, while the likes of Amazon and Meta may have to increase transparency and be cautious when changing recommendation algorithms. While fines taking a cut of global turnover are nothing new, the DMU's maximum penalties are particularly steep and could leave Big Tech with little choice but to fall in line.

How Gen Z is pushing NES Tetris to its limits Posted: 06 May 2022 06:00 AM PDT In the fall of 2018, tucked away in a side hall at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, seven-time Classic Tetris World Champion (CTWC), Jonas Neubauer, found himself against the ropes. 37-year-old Neubauer, the Tony Hawk of Tetris, was two games down to teenage rookie Joseph Saelee. To stage a comeback, he now had to win three games in a row, a monumental task that would require every last drop of focus. As his third game came to an unsuccessful end, Neubauer's strained expression appeared to dissolve from frustration to the realization that his long reign as champion could be over. Neubauer may have lost in three straight games to 16-year-old Saelee, but the real defeat – for the Tetris old guard at least – was the arrival of a new era for the world's most played game. An era that would upend over 30 years of convention and redefine, quite literally, how the game is played. Saelee's disruptive victory, or one like it, was inevitable. Neubauer played Tetris just like you or I do – holding down the D-pad to move the pieces (a technique called "delayed auto shift/DAS" in competitive Tetris lingo). He just happened to do it with a level of skill beyond almost anyone else. Saelee played differently. He used a style called "hypertapping" – a contorted mix of fingers and thumbs designed to sidestep the game's built-in speed limit – and it allows you to move pieces much faster than DAS. Saelee didn't invent the technique, but he coupled it with enough skill to secure his victory over Neubauer and, with it, would kick start its popularity in competitive play. "So 2018, it was just Joseph [tapping]. 2019, honestly, it still hadn't quite taken over yet." Adam Cornelius, CTWC Co-founder told Engadget. "2020 was the year that it totally flipped, by then, there was like, 100 kids who were tapping." Tetris, invented in 1984 by software engineer Alexey Pajitnov, is considered by many to be the perfect puzzle game – easy to learn, difficult to master and endlessly playable. It exploded in popularity in 1989 after its debut on the NES and release as the pack-in title for the Game Boy. Tetris has since been officially released on over 65 platforms and holds the Guinness world record for the most ported video game. Despite all that, there's possibly never been a more exciting time for fans of the game than right now. "Classic Tetris" usually refers to the NES port of the game. It's considered the gold standard original and is the version played in the CTWC tournaments. This means original NES consoles, controllers and big old CRT TVs. "A lot of people make fun of us in the comments. They're like, can't you afford new TVs?" Cornelius told Engadget. This not only ensures authenticity, it creates a level playing field. Other competitions, like Classic Tetris Monthly are more relaxed about what hardware/emulation you can play with, but CTWC and any world records will usually be played on original Nintendo consoles. There's a slight concession allowing for a special version of the game that's modified to allow for higher scores (often done with a Game Genie) and you'll understand why later. Saelee's victory at the 2018 CTWC finals may have surprised everyone, but it didn't happen in a vacuum. Interest in the game had been steadily growing since the tournament's inaugural event in 2010, which was also the subject of a documentary: Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters (directed by Cornelius). The film followed a rag tag bunch of high-ranking players toward the climax of the first CTWC event. The winner? Jonas Neubauer. CTWC soon found a home at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo and grew in size every year. In 2016, another newcomer found their way to the final against Neubauer, who was competing for his 6th title. That player, Jeff Moore, was having the run of his life, scoring repeated Tetrises much to the amazement of the commentators. "Boom, Tetris for Jeff" they yelped every time he slid a long bar down the right hand side of the screen. "The commentators got so overly excited about this new dark horse candidate, Jeff, that they kind of said, 'Boom, Tetris for Jeff' maybe a little excessively. And people just stumbled across the video [on YouTube]" Cornelius said. Cutdowns were made and t-shirts were printed. "Boom, Tetris for Jeff" was just the right sort of silly in the right sort of venue (YouTube) to pique the interest of younger eyes and kickstart a growing appetite for competitive classic Tetris videos. "There are a lot more young players getting into the game, especially since Joseph Saelee won the world championship, because he kind of blew up the scene in terms of teenagers and stuff." Christopher "Cheez" Martinez, told Engadget. Cheez, as he is known in the Tetris community, is one of those teenagers. He found the game via Saelee's world championship win video and then another recommendation about Tetris Effect. At 16 years old, he's exploring a game that was already twice his age. Like many other of the new, teenage players, his progress has been remarkably fast. Greyj/Getty Images (modified) Before there were competitions like CTWC, there were two white whales for elite classic Tetris players. The main one was the "maxout." The NES version of the game only has a six digit scoreboard meaning 999,999 is the highest score obtainable, but reaching that was difficult, not least because of the second elusive goal: beating level 29 (aka the "kill screen"). As anyone who has played any version of Tetris will know, one of the main dynamics is that you clear lines to advance to the next level, as you do the blocks fall faster than the level before. In NES Tetris, level 29 is when the game reaches its maximum speed and was widely considered impossible to beat when DAS was the only play style. This, in turn, meant that if you were playing for a maxout you had to get there before level 29. The maxout was officially first achieved by Harry Hong in 2009, but it's widely accepted that another old school player, Thor Aackerlund, achieved it earlier, but in a time long before video phones, YouTube and social media. Aackerlund also claimed to have reached level 30 (albeit briefly) but myth about the achievement meant it'd be many years before the kill screen was truly considered beaten. After Hong's maxout in 2009, a slow trickle of players started achieving the goal each year. Until you get to 2019, at which point the number exponentially accelerates. "It took me a year, I progressed pretty slowly compared to a lot of the players now actually. People are maxing in like four or five months. It's kind of ridiculous." Cheez said. He achieved his first maxout in 2019 and was the 65th player ever to do so. Today, around 400 people have reached the magic million points.. As for passing the level 29 "kill screen." This was, at one point, considered almost impossible. A hard wall that could not be surmounted due to how the game was designed. DAS simply cannot move the pieces to either edge fast enough, meaning that once the "stack" is above a certain height math takes over and failure is guaranteed. Despite that glimpse of level 30 by Aackerlund, kill screen's reign of terror truly ended when Saelee reached a verified level 33 just months after winning his first world championship. Yet, despite the two main goals of high-level Tetris no longer being out of reach, these achievements seem almost quaint by today's standards. As DAS gave way to hypertapping, the once impossible soon became a a rite of passage for elite players. But with the limitation of the kill screen now removed, the theoretical score limit was also eliminated. While level 29 probably was intended to be the last level (the level counter breaks once you hit 30 and the speed no longer increases no matter what level you reach) hypertapping was perhaps still not quite fast enough to allow players to progress much further. Cheez had other ideas. Greyj/Getty Images (modified) While he had made a name for himself as a player with hypertapping, Cheez eventually found a video of someone using a technique that doubled the inputs for one press. "They would put their thumb down, and they would hit on the bottom and the top into their other thumb, and you would get two inputs with the same motion pretty much. So I kind of took inspiration from that in like, late 2020. And rolling became a thing." "Rolling" is a strange technique to watch. Most players rest the controller on their thigh or knee, many wear a single glove and then "strum" the controller from below with one thumb on the D-pad. However you get there, though, you can move pieces left and right even faster than with hypertapping. It's such an efficient technique, Cornelius says, that some fans consider it cheating. It's entirely legal in CTWCs eyes as it is done with unmodified NES hardware and nothing but your hands. Rolling is so effective, it's allowing players to dismantle the current limits of the game. Remember how Saelee achieved the first level 33 in 2019? Well when I interviewed Cheez for this story the new record for the highest level was 63 – kill screen and then some. By the time I clicked publish, that record has been smashed again, with an eye-watering level 95 now the goal to beat. This rapid advancement isn't just about new world records, it's fundamentally changing how the game is played, strategically and physically. Competitive classic Tetris is all about the score. Not the number of lines or how many Tetrises you make, just who scores the most points in a best of three game. In the old world, the kill screen's hard limit forced players to focus on efficient play, scoring as many Tetrises as possible before level 29. In the era of rolling, pros are training by starting at level 29. This is where the Game Genie comes in as the original version of the game just can't count above 999,999 which you'll definitely need it to once you get to this level. If you hone your skills on the fastest level possible, that becomes the new normal and you can theoretically play indefinitely. That's how we can go from the impossible kill screen to a level 95. But this also presents some challenges for the burgeoning esport, something Cornelius is all too aware of. "I predict that in, maybe it's this year, maybe it's in five years, but sometime very soon, everyone's always going to max out on level 28. And they're always going to get to level 50. And tack on another million points. And it's really just going to be this… who flinches first, who messes up first, is really all that matters" he said. This is already happening, at least on the record-setting circuit. Shortly before I interviewed Cheez he had recently set a world record for the highest score: 2.3 million which casually included a level 61 and a total of 551 lines cleared – both also new world records at the time. All of these have since been beaten, and by considerable margins. The game is now at the stage where players are looking to more niche or specific goals and records to break – such as the highest score achieved with a level 29 start – because these are the areas of the game yet to be broken wide open. In early 2021 something unexpected rocked the Tetris community. On January 5th, at 39 years old, Neubauer collapsed and died of a sudden cardiac arrhythmia of undetermined cause. The game's most iconic character was gone, and with him the last champion DAS player. "Jonas' passing is a big part of the story and he was a friend of mine" Cornelius said. "Obviously, nothing compares to the loss in general. But for the Tetris scene, it was really cool to have one person from the old guard who could really hang with all the kids. Despite renewed interest in the game from a much younger generation, Tetris is still somewhat of a fringe esport. You'll find games featured on ESPN and it has obviously been growing in popularity, but prize pools remain modest compared to more popular games like Counter-Strike or League of Legends. "The highest paying tournament is CTWC right now. And the first place prize is $3,000. So it's no Fortnite but it's kind of a decent sum of money anyway." Cheez said. When I asked him if he'd consider doing this full time should that become an option, he was diplomatic. "Honestly, it's hard to predict the future of the scene but like if the money gets good, I might try to make it a job at some point, but I don't know how stable it would be." Cornelius is a little more optimistic about where the future could lead. "You know, when you watch an Olympic sport, you don't watch to see someone beat everyone else by double, you're seeing people winning by these tiny, tiny, tiny margins that are almost imperceptible," he said. "I think that's where Tetris is headed, where the players are all going to converge on a point where they all play exactly the same. And there is one ideal way to play and we're witnessing them try to just add, just push it a little bit further every year." Cheez, for his part, made it to the semifinal for April's Classic Tetris Monthly event and will no doubt be looking to beat his 2020 top seven placing at CTWC after finishing 21st in last year's event. One thing's for certain, whoever wins will likely be a roller meaning Cheez's mark on the tournament and the game in general is indelible. Thanks to the pandemic, CTWC was forced to take the competition online. This year's plans aren't confirmed yet, but the hope is to return to an in person event if possible. Current world champion Michael "Dog" Artiaga is set to return to defend his title. After Saelee's 2018 victory, he won again in 2019. Dog took the title the next two years and there's a host of players ready to take his crown. Dog is widely considered the one to beat, especially after recording a 2.2 Million high score on a level 29 start. Because today's Tetris begins where the old game left off.

Apple's iPad mini is $100 off, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals Posted: 06 May 2022 05:45 AM PDT As the first week of May comes to a close, a number of our favorite gadgets remain on sale, with some at record-low prices. Apple's latest iPad mini is the cheapest we've seen it at $400, while most AirPods have been discounted. Also, a bunch of Kindles are on sale at Amazon and you can still pick up a Roomba from iRobot for hundreds of dollars less than usual. Here are the best tech deals this week that you can still get today. iPad mini Valentina Palladino / Engadget Apple's latest iPad mini is $100 off right now and down to $400, which is the lowest we've seen it. We still consider it to be the best small tablet. you can get, and the 2021 version earned a score of 89 from us for its modern design, solid performance, improved front cameras and USB-C charging. Buy iPad mini at Amazon - $400 AirPods Pro Apple's AirPods Pro are back on sale for $175, which is 30 percent off their normal price. We gave them a score of 87 for their improved fit, good audio quality and solid ANC. Buy AirPods Pro at Amazon - $175 AirPods (2nd gen) Engadget If you still prefer the original design to Apple's AirPods, you can grab the second-gen earbuds for $100 right now. That's 37 percent off their normal rate and only $10 more than their record-low price. We gave them a score of 84 for their improved wireless performance and solid battery life. Buy AirPods (2nd gen) at Amazon - $100 AirPods Max Engadget The high-end AirPods Max are $100 off and back down to $449. While not an all-time low, it's close to the best price we've seen. We gave the cans a score of 84 for their excellent sound quality, good ANC and handy onboard controls. Buy AirPods Max at Amazon - $449 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Animal Crossing: New Horizons is cheaper than ever right now at $40. That's $20 off its normal price and the lowest we've seen it. Nintendo's first-party games rarely go on sale like this, so if you haven't picked up the cozy title yet, now's the time to do so. Buy Animal Crossing at Amazon - $40 Elden Ring FromSoftware Both the PS5 and PS4 versions of Elden Ring are still $10 off and down to $50 — a pretty good discount for a popular new title. The game has been widely acclaimed since it came out, despite some performance issues that have now been resolved. You could easily get lost in its open world, intriguing story and challenging gameplay. Buy Elden Ring (PS5) at Amazon - $50Buy Elden Ring (PS4) at Amazon - $50 Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Both the 40mm Galaxy Watch 4 models are $76 off and down to a new record low of $174. We gave the Galaxy Watch 4 a score of 85 for its bright, crisp display, comprehensive head tracking and improved third-party app support. Buy Galaxy Watch 4 at Amazon - $174 Kindle Paperwhite Engadget Amazon's latest Kindle Paperwhite is 25 percent off and down to an all-time low of $105. It has a number of improvements over the previous model, including a larger screen with more front lights, an adjustable warm light and USB-C charging. Also, the standard Kindle is down to $55 and the Kindle Oasis is on sale for $200. Buy Kindle Paperwhite at Amazon - $105Buy Kindle at Amazon - $55Buy Kindle Oasis at Amazon - $200 Echo Show 8 Engadget Amazon's Echo Show 8 is back down to an all-time low of $90 right now, while the tiny Echo Dot is on sale for only $28. The Show 8 is one of our favorite smart displays and we gave it a score of 87 for its minimalist design, lovely screen and good sound quality. These deals are part of a larger Amazon device sale that may have some good gift options if you're still on the hunt for a Mother's Day gift. Buy Echo Show 8 at Amazon - $90Buy Echo Dot at Amazon - $28Shop Amazon device deals LastPass Premium LastPass Through May 9th, new and free LastPass users can upgrade to a paid account and save 20 percent. That will bring a Premium membership down to around $29 annually instead of the usual $36, while Families would cost about $38 annually and Business down to $58 per user each year. Subscribe to LastPass Samsung 2022 Frame TVs Sam Rutherford/Engadget Samsung's latest Frame smart TVs have been discounted on Amazon, so you can grab the 55-inch model for $1,297, which is $200 less than usual. A few size options are on sale, so you can choose the one that fits best in your home. It's rare to see sales on the latest TV models, and these new Frames have a new matte finish that helps reduce reflections, so they will hopefully blend even more into your home when you have them on Art Mode. Shop Samsung 2022 The Frame TVs Roomba 694 iRobot's affordable Roomba 694 is still on sale for $180 right now, which is a record low. This is one of our favorite budget-friendly robot vacuums thanks to its easy to use mobile app, good cleaning power and sleek design. Buy Roomba 694 at Amazon - $180 Roomba j7+ The Roomba j7+ robo-vac and the Roomba s9+ are both $200 off right now and down to $599 and $799, respectively. These are both advanced machines from iRobot, with the j7+ sporting a pet poop detection feature, while the s9+ has the strongest suction power of all of the company's robot vacuums. Both also come with clean bases, so you won't have to empty their dustbins manually after each cleaning job. Buy Roomba j7+ at Amazon - $599Buy Roomba s9+ at Amazon - $799 Beats Fit Pro The new Beats Fit Pro earbuds are $20 off and down to $180. That's one of the best prices we've seen all year, and they earned a score of 87 from us for their comfortable fit, punchy bass, solid ANC and loads of handy features. Buy Beats Fit Pro at Amazon - $180 Beats Studio Buds The Beats Studio Buds are back down to a record low of $100. We gave them a score of 84 for their tiny, comfortable design, balanced sound and quick-pairing on both Android and iOS. Buy Beats Studio Buds at Amazon - $100 Jabra Elite 4 Active Jabra's new Elite 4 Active earbuds are $20 off and down to $100, which is a new record low. The budget-friendly Elite 3 are also on sale and down to only $60. We gave the Elite 4 Active a score of 84 for their comfort fit, solid sound quality and customizable ANC, while the Elite 3 came in at 88 thanks to their good battery life, reliable onboard controls and comfortable fit. Buy Elite 4 Active at Amazon - $100Buy Elite 3 at Amazon - $60 New tech deals Anker Eufy RoboVac 11s Anker's Eufy RoboVac 11s is on sale for $150 thanks to a discounted price and an extra $50 coupon on the product page you can clip before adding the item to your cart. We consider it to be one of the best cheap robot vacuums you can buy due to its slim frame that helps it get under furniture, good suction power and included physical remote which lets you change cleaning modes, set schedules and more. Buy Eufy RoboVac 11s at Amazon - $150 JBL Charge 5 JBL's Charge 5 Bluetooth speaker is down to $150, which is only $20 more than its all-time low. This earned a spot in our portable Bluetooth speaker guide thanks to its bright sound, long battery life and USB-C port for charging. Buy JBL Charge 5 at Amazon - $150 Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Engadget Podcast: What's up with 'Overwatch 2?' Posted: 06 May 2022 05:30 AM PDT So does the Overwatch 2 beta live up to all of the hype and anticipation? This week, Jessica Conditt joins Devindra to chat about Blizzard's long-awaited sequel and why she thinks it's worth the wait. Also, we discuss why you should care about data privacy given the current wave of anti-abortion legislation, and why the Embracer Group is gobbling up so many developers. Engadget · What's up with Overwatch 2? Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News! Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Google Podcasts RSS Topics Overwatch 2 beta brings some freshness to a stale game, but is it enough? – 1:15 What does the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade mean for online privacy in the US? – 13:28 Swedish game company Embracer buys several Square Enix studios – 17:47 Sonos is reportedly working on a $250 sound bar called the Ray – 21:46 Obi-Wan trailer drops for May the 4th – 23:19 Engadget's coverage of Formula-E races in Monaco – 24:53 Working on – 27:14 Pop culture picks – 29:59 Video livestream Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Jessica Conditt Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh

The Morning After: 'Fortnite' is back on iOS, kind of Posted: 06 May 2022 04:15 AM PDT Microsoft has partnered with Epic Games to make Fortnite playable, for free, on Xbox Cloud Gaming. No subscription required. So long as you have a Microsoft account in one of 26 streaming-enabled countries, you can play the battle royale title through the web browser on an iPhone, iPad, Android device or Windows PC. The streaming version supports both controllers and touch. Creative mode is also free although you'll need to pay if you want to fight AI villains in the Save the World campaign. Microsoft also said it would "look to bring" other free-to-play titles to Xbox Cloud Gaming. It's not the first workaround — NVIDIA has also allowed its cloud gaming subscribers to stream Fortnite on Apple devices. Microsoft, however, has a bigger audience of casual gamers, making this a bigger deal. It also sided with Epic when the company went toe-to-toe with Apple over App Store restrictions and costs. — Mat Smith The biggest stories you might have missed Apple, Google and Microsoft commit to 'end-to-end' password-free sign-ins Apple's AirTag 4-pack has never been cheaper 'Star Trek: Picard' could only exist on a streaming service The best work-from-home and office essentials for graduates Meta will limit hiring this year due to slowing revenue growth DuoVox Mate Pro: A fun but imperfect night vision camera Google Assistant can now automatically change passwords Google acquires MicroLED startup Raxium to help boost its AR ambitions The maker of TurboTax owes customers $141 million It 'cheated' them out of free tax services. TurboTax maker Intuit will pay $141 million "for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free," the New York Attorney General's office wrote in a press release. The company must refund nearly 4.4 million consumers who used TurboTax's Free Edition between 2016 and 2018, then discovered they had to pay to file. Many didn't realize they could have used the IRS Free File program available in a separate product, which costs nothing. Intuit released a statement expressing no regret and said the required ad changes would have little impact on its business. Continue reading. 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' says the quiet part out loud It's done with being subtle. The long-awaited third live-action Star Trek series in recent years makes its debut on Paramount+. But, while Discovery carried the burden of being the first Star Trek show in 12 years and Picard saw the return of a beloved character after 17 years, Strange New Worlds appears to pitch itself, in many ways, as a return to the Star Trek of the past, beyond just more episodic storytelling. Continue reading. Lenovo's new Slim series laptops feature updated AMD or Intel processors There's also a laptop that Lenovo claims is carbon neutral. Engadget Lenovo's big spring laptop refresh includes a new generation of Slim clamshell laptops in the US (which confusingly share the Slim branding with older, unrelated models). These include the Slim 9i, the Slim 7i and Slim7i Pro X, the Slim 7i Carbon and the Slim 7. The last of those come with an AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processor rather than the Intel chips inside its sisters, while the Slim 9i claims to be carbon neutral. Continue reading. Starlink users can now take their internet terminal on the road That connected 'vanlife.' Starlink A new Starlink feature called Portability allows users to temporarily use Starlink when they're away from home. In the US, Portability will cost $25 per month. That's on top of the regular service fee, which SpaceX recently bumped up to $110 per month. The hardware now costs $599 for those without a pre-order. There are some caveats: It's not worth taking a terminal on a transatlantic trip. Starlink says the feature is only available when users are on the same continent as their registered service address. They'd also have to ship it… Continue reading.

Lucid is hiking the prices of its luxury Air EVs Posted: 06 May 2022 03:25 AM PDT In its earnings report, Lucid has announced that it's boosting the prices of its luxury Air EV lineup as much as 13 percent, TechCrunch reported. The Air Grand Touring model will rise $15,000 to $154,000, the Air touring will jump $12,400 to $107,400 and the cheapest Air Pure model will go up $10,000 to $87,400. The new prices will not affect the 30,000 current reservation holders. "Similar to many companies in our industry, we continue to face global supply chain and logistics challenges, including Covid-related factory shutdowns in China. We are working closely with our suppliers to mitigate the impact of disruptions," said Lucid CFO Sherry House in a statement. "While any extended disruptions could result in an impact to our production forecast, today we are reiterating our 12,000-14,000 vehicle production forecast for 2022 based on the information we have at this point combined with our mitigation plans." Lucid still expects to start deliveries of the $179,000 Air Grand Touring Performance model in June (the price of that model remains the same), with the Air Touring and Air Pure models following later this year. Production on the Project Gravity SUV will commence in Q1 2024, said Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson.  Rising prices for EVs are an industry-wide issue at the moment due to the Ukraine war, COVID-related factory shutdowns and more. Tesla recently raised prices on all models, with the base Model 3 rising $2,000 to $46,990. Rivian also hiked prices on its electric pickups, with the R1T rising $12,000 — but it backed off on applying them to pre-orders as it had planned, following an outcry.  Lucid also announced that it made $57.7 million revenue last quarter thanks to deliveries of 360 vehicles, the most it's made so far. The company expects to keep losing money while it builds out its manufacturing plants in Arizona and Saudi Arabia, but it has $5.4 billion in cash as a buffer.

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