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Samsung is changing its revenue-sharing policy and reducing its cut for certain apps so that developers and publishers can get more money from sales. As part of its announcements ahead of this year's upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC), the company said that it's implementing an 80/20 revenue share model for games on the Galaxy Store. Previously, Samsung had a 70/30 sharing model, wherein it took 30 percent of an app's revenue. The new model also applies to games built on the company's cloud gaming platform, which allows players to stream games without downloading them. 

By adopting the new model, Samsung is undercutting Google, which implements a 70/30 split. However, it's worth noting that Google only takes a 15 percent cut for the first $1 million dollars in revenue that the developer earns each year. The company will only take a 30 percent cut for earnings in excess of $1 million. Google also takes 15 percent for automatically renewing subscription purchases. 

Samsung's Galaxy Store is nowhere near as big Google's Play Store, but it still comes pre-installed on Samsung phones and could still be used to purchase games by millions of users around the world. An 80/20 structure would still benefit a developer even if they mainly get their business from the Play Store on Android devices. The new revenue-sharing model will take effect on May 15, 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/samsung-will-cut-its-galaxy-store-commission-to-8020-for-games-130008053.html?src=rss

The Mac Studio is Apple’s ultimate performance computer, but this year’s model came with a twist: It’s equipped with either an M4 Max or an M3 Ultra processor. The latter might seem like a step backward, since nearly all Macs (except the Mac Pro) are now equipped with M4 chips. However, the M3 Ultra is indeed Apple’s best-performing processor, which makes the new Mac Studio its fastest computer ever.

While the M3 Ultra model appears highly capable for creative pros and engineers, it starts at $4,000 and goes way up from there. I’m intrigued by that model based on benchmarks I saw elsewhere, of course. However, the M4 Max model I received for this review is the one that most people will want, as the base configuration is half the price. For power users doing tasks like video editing or designing games, it’s the Mac of choice, and it’s even a decent deal by Apple’s standards.

Hardware

The Mac Studio’s design hasn’t changed since the original M1 Ultra version from 2022. That isn’t a bad thing since the aesthetic has aged well and it takes up very little desk space. It’s about the size of two old Mac minis (prior to the recent update that made them even smaller) stacked together and has the same polished aluminum case. Everything has a premium feel, even the environmentally friendly packaging and flexible power cable.

Up front, there’s an SDXC card slot that supports UHS-II speeds (300 MB/s), along with a pair of 10Gbps USB-C ports (they’re Thunderbolt 5 on the M3 Ultra version). Around back, you’ll find four Thunderbolt 5 ports that now offer up to 15 GB/s throughput (capital B), triple the speeds of the 2023 Mac Studio with Thunderbolt 4. You also get a 10Gbps ethernet port and two USB 3.1 (Type A) slots, along with an HDMI port and 3.5mm headphone jack. All of that is enough to connect plenty of disk drives, monitors and peripherals.

Inside, the M3 Ultra version is arguably overkill with up to a 32-core CPU, eight more than the Mac Studio M2 Ultra. The GPU comes with 80 cores, another record for Apple Silicon, along with a 32-core Neural Engine for on-device AI and machine learning. Unified memory starts at 96GB and goes up to a massive 512GB (with up to 819 GB/s of bandwidth) and 16TB of SSD storage. With all those items maxed out, the Mac Studio costs a hair-raising $14,099.

Steve Dent for Engadget

The M4 Max model is more modest but still impressive. The top-end configuration comes with a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU, over 546 GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and up to 8TB of storage. These specs align pretty closely with the MacBook Pro M4 Max but at a lower price, by the way. At the $1,999 base price, you get a 14-core CPU, 32-core GPU and 16-core neural engine. All M4 Max models start with a decent 36GB of unified memory, though my test unit came with the maximum 128GB in a $3,699 configuration.

The processor, memory and storage aren’t upgradeable after purchase, so you’ll want to choose wisely when ordering. That’s a challenge in itself, as Apple isn’t very flexible with the system configurations. For example, the base $1,999 14-core M4 Max Mac Studio can only be configured with 36GB of RAM. If you want more, you need the 16-core version which automatically bumps memory up to 48GB and adds $500 to the price.

I’d say the latter option is the sweet spot at $2,499, netting you the faster processor and enough unified memory for most content creation. Engineers and others looking for even more performance may want the M3 Ultra version, as it allows for up to 512GB of RAM and puts two additional Thunderbolt 5 slots up front.

In-use: A rocketship for content creators Mignon Alphonso for Engadget

The Mac Studio with M4 Max destroyed most synthetic benchmarks, showing the highest single-core Geekbench 6 CPU score for any PC we’ve tested. It falls just below the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra on the multicore Geekbench 6 test. It even beats the latest Mac Studio M3 Ultra in single-core performance, though it’s topped by that model in multicore tests. GPU scores are similarly impressive and the ATTO disk peak throughput is the best we’ve seen to date with write speeds up to 8 GB/s.

However, the best way to evaluate a machine like this is to feed it some content creation jobs and see how quickly it chews through them. Video editing is the sternest test for most machines, so I tried Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve with a mix of 4K, 6K and 8K video (RAW and MP4) to challenge it.

All of those files easily played through in their native formats with no hiccups on a 4K timeline, thanks to the M4 Max’s ability to decode RAW and 10-bit H.264 or H.265 files on the fly. It was still able to handle real-time playback of a single layer of 8K video with color correction added and only struggled when I tried to play two or more 8K video tracks at the same time. Overall, it provides a smooth and glitch-free editing experience that enables power users to get work done quickly.

Geekbench 6 CPU

Geekbench 6 GPU

Cinebench 2024

Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025)

4,090/26,394

116,028

190/2066 | GPU 16,598

Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)

2,013/28,402

121,938

N/A

iMac (M4, 2024)

3,751/15,093

35,520

171/881 GPU 4,425

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch
(M4 Pro, 2024)

3,925/22,456

70,197

178/1,689 GPU 9,295

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch
(M4 Max, 2024)

4,054/25,913

114,112

181/2,042 GPU 16,490

Surface Laptop 7
(Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB)

2,797/14,400

19,963

123/969

Encoding is equally rapid. It took me one minute and 51 seconds to output a 3.5 minute timeline in 4K with the same mix of 4K, 6K and 8K footage using the GPU. For comparison’s sake, my MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro processor took over twice as long at four minutes and 10 seconds.

The Mac Studio showed the same prowess with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, providing fast and fluid editing for even RAW photos that were 100MB or larger. Note that when doing GPU- or CPU-intensive tasks like video encoding, the fan will kick in and the chassis can get warm, but that didn’t happen often. In any case, the Mac Studio’s larger size and bigger fan provides better thermal performance than the Mac mini.

To test the machine’s AI capabilities, I ran a 75 minute podcast through Apple’s Whisper transcription tool and it took a minute and 32 seconds to convert it to text. The latest MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro processor took two minutes and 11 seconds for the same task, and my MacBook Pro M3 Pro did it in three minutes and thirty-seven seconds.

On top of content creation, I played Baldur’s Gate III, a game that puts moderate demands on a PC. The Mac Studio was up to the task, delivering smooth gameplay at high settings and 1440p resolution (though it was somewhat limited by the Studio Monitor’s anemic 60Hz refresh rate). I again noticed that the Mac Studio got fairly hot and the fans kicked in during gaming sessions. Still, GPU performance surpassed most PCs except those with high-end GPUs, based on a quick comparison to our recent tests and GeekBench’s database. To that end, the only thing limiting the Mac Studio as a gaming machine is the sparse choice of games for macOS.

Should you buy the Mac Studio? Steve Dent for Engadget

Content creators may wonder if they need to splurge on the Mac Studio, or if a Mac mini will do the job. After all, you can get the Mac mini M4 Pro with 24GB of RAM for $1,399 instead of the Mac Studio M4 Max and give up just a single Thunderbolt 5 port and 12GB of unified memory, saving $600.

If you regularly edit 4K (or higher) videos or render 3D graphics (or play games), you’d be better off with the Mac Studio. For less demanding jobs, a Mac mini will likely suffice. The Mac Studio M3 Ultra is another animal altogether, with the extra cores and higher memory capacity aimed at engineers or AI developers. At $4,000, it's mostly overkill for everyone else. The Mac Pro also exists, but it’s so expensive that it’s really only for studios and big companies, meaning the Mac Studio is now the high-end Mac for most professionals.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/apple-mac-studio-m4-max-review-a-creative-powerhouse-123000265.html?src=rss

I went to CES with Engadget for the first time this year and, among the robots, laptops, TVs and more robots, the most exciting products I saw were ones trying to make our homes more eco-friendly in the most low-effort ways possible. I saw an induction stove, a window-mounted heat pump, a battery back-up system and a few other promising appliances — these are user installable, work with standard 120V outlets and do their part in lowering a home’s carbon footprint. A couple are coming to market this year, while others are still on the road towards wide availability.

When I first thought of decarbonizing my home, solar panels on the roof immediately came to mind. So I took out a loan and did exactly that. Well, I didn’t do it — it took many months of the solar company filing permits on my behalf and two days of skilled technicians crawling all over my roof and installing complicated-looking boxes and tubes on the side of my house to get it done. Last month, my electric bill was $6, but it wasn’t a low-effort process.

In contrast, these new appliances I checked out don’t require calling a contractor for installation and you'll be able to get your hands on some of them later this year. Since there’s no installation, people who live in apartments and condos or otherwise can't permanently install appliances where they live can use them. But these products aren’t cheap. The hope is, as the popularity of accessible, user-installable green tech grows, the prices go down. In the meantime, I will keep daydreaming.

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

The first thing to really catch my eye at CES was a plug-in backup battery from BioLite, a brand I knew from making camp stoves that can recharge your phone. The Backup by BioLite is the company’s first non-outdoor item and comes in either a 1.5kWh size or a dual-unit 3kWh system. The single unit houses an inverter and a battery, while the “Complete” configuration adds an additional battery bank to the inverter/battery set. It mounts on a wall either vertically or horizontally and sticks out less than three inches so it can live behind a fridge — which a BioLite rep told me is a primary place the company sees it being used.

To use it, you plug the Backup into your wall and plug the fridge (or any other appliance) into the Backup. The battery steadily fills itself while also passing power to the appliance. If the power goes out, the battery automatically kicks on to power your icebox, sending an alert to the app to tell you about the outage. So far, this probably sounds more like power security as opposed to an eco solution, but because the app allows you to schedule the Backup to come on at a regular time, you can actually take one of your biggest energy hogs off the grid during peak usage times.

The Backup should start shipping this summer and it’s something I’m seriously considering. While I have solar panels, I didn’t pay the (considerable) upcharge to get batteries. With the Backup, I could schedule the fridge to run on battery power at night, then swap to direct power during the day while the sun feeds the roof panels and refills the battery. The dual-unit, Complete Backup configuration costs $3,000, but currently qualifies for a 30 percent tax credit due to its watt-hour size and the fact that you mount it on the wall (but I don’t think anyone is counting on that perk to still be a thing for long). Plus, if you reserve now, you'll get a 10 percent discount.

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

When I checked out the Backup at CES, I was introduced to two other companies BioLite had invited to share its booth, Copper and Gradient. Copper was showing off the Charlie plug-in induction stove. While researching indoor air quality for our air purifier guide, I learned that natural gas stoves aren’t just less-than-stellar in terms of ecological impact — they can also be pretty bad for our lungs. That prompted me to look into induction cooking, but I was worried my cotton-wrapped, nearly one-hundred-year-old copper wiring would not be up to the task of an upgrade.

Yes, all induction stoves are plug-ins — but nearly all of them require a 240V outlet, like a dryer uses. If you’re replacing a gas stove, chances are there’s a 120V outlet behind it. If you want to switch off of gas, you need to call an electrician to run the new wiring. That could be a simple operation — I’ve seen estimates online for as little as a couple hundred bucks. But if you have older wiring (that’s me) or if you’re renting or otherwise can’t upgrade your electrical, you might just be stuck with gas.

But the Copper Charlie can run on a standard outlet thanks to the (big!) 5kWh battery inside. In short, the battery fills itself when you’re not cooking. When you fire up a burner or the oven, the battery kicks in to make up the difference between what a standard outlet can supply and what the induction appliance needs. In a power outage, it can cook three to five meals.

It also looks swanky, with deep blue enamel inside the oven and reclaimed wood on the knobs and handle. The price tag is swanky too; Like the Backup, the Charlie currently qualifies for a tax credit to bring the cost as low as $4,200, but if you don’t count on that, you’ll pay around $6,000. That’s not unheard of for an induction cooker, but it's not cheap. Still, if it’s between that and never getting off gas, I’d consider it.

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

Biolite’s other booth-mate at CES, Gradient, showed off their own plug-in appliance, the Gradient All-Weather window heat pump. I’ve been curious about heat pumps after learning that heating represents the biggest energy demand for most homes. Surprisingly, cooling requires significantly less energy (though it’s often the largest electricity draw as many homes use a gas or fuel oil for heat).

Heat pumps work similarly to AC units, running a refrigerant (Gradient uses a more eco-friendly one) that travels through compression coils, absorbing and releasing heat as it moves from indoors to outdoors. To heat a home, the coils draw heat from the outdoor air (yes, even when it’s cold outside) and release the heat inside. To cool the air, the heat pump performs that process in reverse. Gradient claims a 30 percent higher efficiency over window air units. When it comes to heating, that ratio could go significantly higher, especially if it’s replacing fossil fuel combustion.

Again, no professional installation is required, any standard 120V outlet will work and it also looks far more attractive than window AC units. Instead of replacing your view with a grille and some vents, the saddle bag design hangs down on either side of a window and creates a nice shelf for plants or other bric-a-brac.

But here’s the bad news: Despite being at the Consumer Electronics Show, these window units aren’t yet available to consumers. Gradient told me they’re currently focusing on business-to-business sales to help grow the company and have a bigger impact on greenhouse emissions. But there’s still hope that a direct-to-consumer, plug-and-play heat pump will one day come to be.

Zoltux

Of course, all of this electrification is less beneficial if your area relies on non-renewable resources for grid power, so I was curious to see if any solar generation products at CES had the same user-instalable ease. One company, Zoltux, is working on a plug-in solar kit for US homes based on the “balcony solar” technology that’s popular in parts of the EU, particularly Germany.

Basically, you clamp a solar panel on a balcony, or any other sun-facing spot outside your home, and plug it into a microinverter which syncs the PV energy to the grid, allowing a standard outlet to feed power to your home. Zoltux is only in the launch phase and the company will have plenty of regulatory and technical issues to overcome in bringing plug-and-play solar kits to homes in the US, but I’m wishing them all the luck.

Jackery

As for what currently exists, companies like Jackery, Anker and EcoFlow — all of which were also at CES — have made user-friendly solar panel/portable power station combos for years. The power stations combine the battery, inverter and charge controller in one and have a simple plug for the panels which can be daisy chained to expand how much power you can generate. You can use the slew of outlets on the power stations to recharge electronics, power lights and even run small appliances. It’s not as elegant as something that feeds into your existing electrical system, but it’s one low-effort way to stir in a little solar to your power mix.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/sister-can-you-spare-12000-to-help-me-decarbonize-my-home-120041774.html?src=rss

Your Apple Watch is already a powerful tool on your wrist, but the right accessories can make it even better — whether you’re looking to boost its battery life, upgrade its style or make it more convenient to use. From a stylish sport loop that keeps things comfortable during workouts to a sturdy charging stand for your bedside, there are plenty of ways to enhance your experience.

If you're rocking a Watch Ultra 2 and need a rugged silicone band for outdoor adventures or have a Watch SE and just want a sleek way to charge it, there’s an accessory for every situation. If you’re always on the go, a power bank with wireless charging can help keep your watch topped up without needing to hunt for an outlet. No matter which Apple Watch you own, the best accessories can make daily use more seamless and add a little extra style and functionality along the way.

Best Apple Watch accessories for 2025

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-apple-watch-accessories-133025270.html?src=rss

Meta has notched an early victory in its attempt to halt a surprise tell-all memoir from a former policy executive turned whistleblower. An arbitrator has sided with the social media company, saying that the book’s author should stop selling and publicizing the book, which went on sale earlier this week.

The drama stems from Careless People, a new book by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former policy official at Facebook who Meta says was fired in 2017. Described by its publisher as an “explosive insider account,” Wynn-Williams reveals some new details about Mark Zuckerberg’s push to bring Facebook to China a decade ago. She also alleges that Meta's current policy chief, Joel Kaplan, acted inappropriately, and reveals embarrassing details about Zuckerberg’s awkward encounters with world leaders

The book was only announced last week, and Meta has waged a forceful PR campaign against it, calling it a “new book of old news.” Numerous former employees have publicly disputed Wynn-Williams’ account of events that transpired while she worked at Facebook.

Meta also filed an emergency motion with an arbitrator in an attempt to block the book, arguing that Wynn-Williams had violated a non-disparagement agreement with the company. In a decision, the arbitrator said that she should immediately stop making disparaging comments about Meta and stop “further publishing or distributing” the book. It’s unclear what exactly this means for the book, which is already on sale. The publisher, Flatiron Books, which was also named in Meta’s complaint, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. “This urgent legal action was made necessary by Williams, who more than eight years after being terminated by the company, deliberately concealed the existence of her book project and avoided the industry’s standard fact-checking process in order to rush it to shelves after waiting for eight years.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-trying-to-stop-a-former-employee-from-promoting-her-book-about-facebook-004938899.html?src=rss

Google is pushing back on a bill that would make Utah the first state in the US to have a law requiring app stores to conduct age verification of their users. The company has formally requested the state's governor to veto the bill, passed by the state legislature last week, as it urges states to consider a different approach to app safety.

In a blog post from Google public policy director Kareem Ghanem, the company said the Utah law poses “real privacy and safety risks” and that states shouldn’t rush to pass laws “pushed by Meta” and other social media companies. Instead, Ghanethe says that Google has proposed an “alternative legislative framework” that would allow the developers of potentially “risky” apps to request “age signals” from app store owners like Google.

The statement is the first time Google has publicly opposed the bill, which would make Apple and Google responsible for age verification and parental permission features for children under 18. A spokesperson also confirmed that the company requested that Utah Governor Spencer Cox veto the bill. Cox has previously signed off on laws that imposed age verification and parental permission requirements on social media companies, though the measures were revised and later blocked by a judge. A spokesperson for Cox didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

While it’s not surprising that Google is opposing the law and others like it (there are at least eight other states considering similar measures), it’s notable that the company is proposing its own parameters for a law that would take into account what kind of content is available in a given app, which would place more of a burden on social media companies.

Ghanem argues that not all apps should be subject to age verification. “This level of data sharing isn’t necessary — a weather app doesn’t need to know if a user is a kid,” he writes. “By contrast, a social media app does need to make significant decisions about age-appropriate content and features.” He also argues that app store safety proposals should come with a ban on all personalized ads to anyone under 18, pointedly noting that "other companies" should follow Google's lead on the issue.

Google obviously has a vested interest in not being responsible for age verification of its users, which would impose significant logistical and legal risks for the company. But many other privacy and digital rights groups have also opposed age verification laws.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-asks-utahs-governor-to-veto-the-states-app-store-age-verification-bill-233733280.html?src=rss

Inflation eased a bit in February to 2.8% year over year, according to the latest consumer price index. That number was 3.1% in January. The category that’s most responsible for keeping inflation stubborn and sticky is shelter, which rose enough to account for nearly half of the monthly CPI increase.

Meanwhile, inflation for food at home, mostly what consumers buy at the grocery store, came in flat — literally 0%. That’s good news for consumers. So why does a trip to the supermarket still feel so bad?

“There was no change in grocery prices, but there was a lot of movement within categories,” said David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University.

So much movement within categories that a lot of the bad — price hikes — canceled out a lot of the good — price drops.

In February, beef was up nearly 2.5% from January. And of course, eggs were up nearly 10.5%. Meanwhile, lots of categories were down. Bacon fell more than 2%, fruits and vegetables 0.5%.

“From a data perspective, you know, it’s good news,” Ortega said.

Good news because if you’re a little flexible with your grocery list, you can stick to your budget. Maybe skip ground beef and go for chicken.

But doing that kind of math does not make consumers feel good, said Charlotte Ambrozek, a food economist at the University of Minnesota.

“Our preferences are what they are. They’re really hard to move,” she said.

That’s especially true for lower-cost, higher-value items like eggs. “Two things matter: The price of eggs matters, but the price of the thing that I’m substituting also matters,” Ambrozek said.

An alternative like breakfast sausage might be too big of a price leap. And for bakers, there isn’t a perfect substitute for eggs at all. 

Plus, after years of high prices and grocery cart trade-offs, people are tired, said Ricky Volpe, an agricultural economist at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

“I think consumer sentiment for food prices right now remains pretty negative,” he said.

Remember, between 2020 and 2024, food prices rose by nearly 24%.

“I think a lot of consumers continue to wait for food prices to come down,” he said. “It’s worth pointing out they almost never do.”

And that just feels bad. Even for people whose wages are keeping up.

As health-conscious consumers shift away from traditional sugary sodas, major beverage retailers are jumping into the market for prebiotic soft drinks — drinks that contain dietary fibers that feed friendly bacteria in the gut — dominated by startups Olipop and Poppi.

Olipop’s co-founder and CEO announced a $1.8 billion valuation after a new investment round led by J.P. Morgan Private Capital. Coca-Cola has already released a prebiotic soda called Simply Pop, and PepsiCo is planning to enter the market. The prebiotic soda market is growing, particularly among Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012.

“Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke to Laura Cooper of The Wall Street Journal about the growing market for “gut pop.” Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kai Ryssdal: Gut pop. What is this?

Laura Cooper: You’ve probably seen it in the supermarket, maybe walked by it, didn’t know what it was. But they’re prebiotic sodas, so like Olipop and Poppi. A lot of people know Poppi from their two Super Bowl commercials this year and last year, and yeah, Gen Z really enjoys it.

Ryssdal: Clearly I must have just spaced out during those Super Bowl commercials, because I have no memory of them. What are they supposed to do, this prebiotic thing, just to get the biology out of the way?

Cooper: I’m not a doctor, but I spoke to a lot of dieticians and gastroenterologists about this. And so essentially, prebiotic versus probiotic: Probiotic, you might know — kombucha, yogurt, things of that nature. This soda is prebiotic because it contains dietary fibers that feed bacteria already living in your system, and probiotic puts more microbes into your system. This is feeding what’s already inside your body. And when you think about prebiotic soda and any perceived health benefits you could get from that digestive health, people are all in on trying it. So, you know, as opposed to maybe having just a regular Coca-Cola or a Pepsi, people are, they’re still having those, just not as often.

Ryssdal: These things are going to cost me two and a half bucks a piece — did I read that right?

Cooper: It really depends where you’re buying them. But yeah, soda has similar pricing, depending on what you’re buying. There’s actually something at Walmart called “modern soda,” and this falls under that, an aisle where all these drinks live together.

Ryssdal: Coke and Pepsi clearly see this, and they say, “We got to get in on this.”

Cooper: Oh, 100%. I mean, Coca-Cola already put out their first prebiotic soda called Simply Pop. I tried the strawberry at a conference. Very strawberry. It has a lot of juice in it. It also has just things that are different from Olipop and Poppi. I believe it’s Vitamin C for one, and Zinc. So PepsiCo, I believe plans to enter this space as well. It is definitely, you know, it’s picking up steam with Gen Z. And as you know, Gen Z is a share of the market everyone wants to get a piece of.

Ryssdal: Hey, do you drink these things on the regular?

Cooper: I drink soda. I have drank these. I just don’t drink a ton of them, but I’ve tried them all, especially in reporting this, I drank a lot of them and have spoken to a lot of people who are just huge fiends of this.

Ryssdal: A word about the magnitude here. You point out that the co-founder and CEO of Olipop announced a valuation with a new round of investment, puts that company at like, $1.8 billion, which is, I mean, that’s not peanuts.

Cooper: Last month they raised money, I believe it was raised with J.P. Morgan in the lead. So, you know, this is a big business. Is it, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-sized business? Unclear. But Coca-Cola already put out their first prebiotic soda, called Simply Pop, and PepsiCo, I believe, plans to enter this space as well. It’s definitely picking up steam and getting a following. And I think that all the big guys are aware that they want to be involved with this. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dr Pepper was also interested.

When it goes live, iOS 18.4 will allow some users to set a default navigation app other than Apple Maps. The software of choice can be set from the Settings app by going to Apps, then to Default Apps, then to Navigation. This way, users can opt for a program like Google Maps or Waze to be automatically opened when you're getting directions.

This sounds like a useful update that lots of iPhone owners would appreciate. But not all of them will be able to take advantage. Default navigation choice will only be available in the EU. The change was previously noted by Apple earlier in the month as part of its broader response to the bloc's Digital Markets Act.

There are some preferences iPhone owners in the US can set for default programs. Currently, Americans get options for setting the to-go apps for email, messaging, calling, call filtering, browser, passwords and codes, contactless and keyboards. And they've been thrown a bone in iOS 18.4, with the added choice to set a default translation app.

Across the Atlantic, however European users can make more impactful choices around their Apple use. Most notably, they can use alternative app stores. Some features that were sparked by compliance with the Digital Markets Act have been rolled out in other markets, such as third-party access to the near-field communication that powers functions like tap-to-pay. Having an international consumer base will often lead to situations where different laws and regulations create different user experiences around the world. But at the rate EU users are getting a better experience, either initially or permanently, over Apple's home market, these instances are feeling more like an accepted strategy rather than edge cases.

iOS 18.4 is still in beta; the final version is expected to release in April.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/ios-184-introduces-a-new-default-navigation-app-choice-but-only-in-europe-223408294.html?src=rss

Know how a lot of small business owners are feeling more hesitant about hiring lately? Well now we have a glimpse into how workers are feeling.

A new survey from Glassdoor found that employee confidence dropped in February to the lowest it’s been in nine years. Just over 44% of workers feel good about how the next six months are looking at their own company. 

The hard economic data published recently, like the latest jobs report, shows the labor market is still solid.

“But of course, a jobs report is looking backward. Some of the forward-looking measures are the stock market, as well as various confidence surveys,” said Jed Kolko, an economist who focuses on the labor market.

He said those forward-looking measures are not so solid. And it’s worth paying attention to how consumers, employees and business leaders are feeling, because how people feel can affect how they act.

“People who might be worried that they could lose their job might cut back on spending even before it happens. That, in turn, can slow economic growth,” he said.

As economic uncertainty rises, Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor, said anxiety tends to rise too. And confidence tends to fall.

“Everybody hates uncertainty,” he said.

These days, Glassdoor found, people are increasingly worried about their own job security — especially those who work in government.

“There are a lot of workers who are seeing headlines about layoffs and worried about it affecting them,” Zhao said.

And people aren’t just concerned about being laid off themselves.

“We also see a lot of workers who talk about the downstream impacts of layoffs,” he said. “Feeling the pressure to pick up work that somebody who was let go would have done. And so there’s a lot of people who are talking about layoffs in the context of overwork, stress and burnout.”

None of this is a great sign for the economy, according to labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards.

“Recessions tend to tell us that they’re coming,” she said. “They give us lots of warnings that they’re on their way.”

Falling confidence is one of them.

When we start seeing those warnings, she said, “policymakers have the chance to adjust … what they are telegraphing in order to try and prevent that recession from taking hold. What’s most troubling about the economy right now is that the messaging coming from the White House has already been, ‘Sometimes painful things have to happen.'”

Instead of trying to make people confident again.

Big banks of batteries are an important part of the renewable energy transition. Their role is to store power generated when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing so that it can be used when it’s dark or the wind is calm.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. made good progress on the battery storage front in 2024 — capacity grew 66%. And almost twice as much could be added to the grid this year.

A battery storage system isn’t much to look at. “It’s just, you know, a large, unremarkable set of rectangular structures hanging around,” said Michael Craig at the University of Michigan.

But inside those unremarkable rectangles are lithium-ion batteries. 

Seth Feaster at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said they have something pretty remarkable: “The ability to time-shift power.”

This means storing up power generated when demand is low, then pushing it out into the grid when demand is high. 

A lot of these battery systems are up and running in Texas. Feaster said that the other morning at about 5 a.m., “the market power price in Texas was below $20. But once you hit about 6:30, 7 o’clock, as demand increases, power prices jump.”

So a power company could have charged its batteries on the cheap at 5 a.m. “and then gotten two or three or four times that price for that power during the morning period of peak demand.”

The costs associated with batteries have come down, said Joshua Rhodes at the University of Texas at Austin, thanks to their widespread use in electric vehicles, laptops, smartphones and storage systems. 

“The price of lithium has gone down by, like, 80%. The cost of batteries to install, you know, has gone down by a factor of two or three,” said Rhodes.

Battery storage has also benefited from government incentives — including a tax credit in the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act. The GOP-controlled Congress could repeal it. But, said Allison Feeney at Wood Mackenzie, “even if the IRA phases out earlier or goes away entirely, we’ll still see strong storage installs, but they just won’t be probably as high.”

They could stay strong, she said, because demand for electricity is likely to increase. And battery storage is, for now, a cheaper way to meet that demand. 

But there’s one more wild card on the price side, Feeney said. You guessed it — tariffs.

Straining the limits of wall space and most reasonable people's budgets, Samsung is now selling a March Madness bundle of eight "premium Samsung TVs" that you can get for $10,000, a savings of more than $6,000. Samsung suggests the new "Buzzer Beater" bundle will let you dedicate a TV to each channel March Madness games will air on so that you don't have to fiddle with Multi View or keep your remote handy to stay on top of your favorite college basketball teams.

If you decide to go all-in, the Buzzer Beater bundle includes a 98-inch Crystal UHD 4K TV, a 65-inch Neo QLED 8K TV, three 65-inch Neo QLED 4K TVs and three 55-inch QLED 4K TVs. The image in Samsung's press release somehow imagines all of the TVs will fit on one giant wall, but however you arrange them, you'll want to be quick. Samsung is offering the deal while supplies last, and you'll want to find a way to get them all installed by March 18, when the first March Madness matches actually start.

Samsung

Samsung's bundle gets you a sampler platter of the company's display technology, but if you're looking for a less expensive way to get a new TV, Samsung has several normal deals available, too, including on its Neo QLED TVs, which use Mini LEDs to offer and overall brighter and more contrast-y look. You can get a 43-inch Neo QLED TV for as low as $900, $600 off their usual $1,500 starting price. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-new-march-madness-tv-bundle-pushes-the-boundaries-of-reason--and-walls-212310298.html?src=rss

Intel has a new leader at the helm, hoping to change course after a challenging period for the chipmaker. The company announced today that Lip-Bu Tan will serve as its new CEO effective March 18. He assumes the mantle from interim Co-CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle (MJ) Johnston Holthaus, who took over after the abrupt retirement of Pat Gelsinger late last year.

"Intel has a powerful and differentiated computing platform, a vast customer installed base and a robust manufacturing footprint that is getting stronger by the day as we rebuild our process technology roadmap," Tan said. "I am eager to join the company and build upon the work the entire Intel team has been doing to position our business for the future."

As part of his appointment, Tan will also rejoin Intel's board of directors. He had previously been a board member, but quit after two years in August 2024. While the move was publicly credited as a personal decision by Tan, sources suggested he was frustrated by Intel's risk-averse strategy and culture.

Tan is a veteran of the semiconductor and software industries. He spent more than a decade as the CEO of Cadence Design Systems, as well as 19 years on the company's board of directors. Tan has a long history as a tech investor as a founding managing partner of Walden Catalyst Ventures and chairman of Walden International.

Intel attracted negative press in the past year for issues with CPU instability, followed by a huge number of layoffs. But the heart of its problems date much farther back, and it could take more than just a new CEO to fully right the ship.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intel-names-lip-bu-tan-its-new-ceo-211216526.html?src=rss

Cleaning up from one of the largest wildfire disasters in recent history takes a while. 

The first phase of the cleanup around Los Angeles involved removing truckloads of hazardous household stuff, including propane tanks, batteries and paint cans. All of that went to landfills designated to take hazardous waste. 

The cleanup is now in phase two, which involves removing all the remaining debris. And it is not going very far at all — in fact, a lot of it is staying right in LA County, just hundreds of yards from homes, parks and schools.

That’s not particularly popular with the people who live there.

That’s why dozens of protesters spent a recent afternoon blocking the entrance of the Calabasas Landfill about 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles. LA County selected this landfill to receive the ash and dirt that was left over from the wildfires after household hazardous materials got cleared. That’s the job of the Army Corps of Engineers, which didn’t respond to a request for comment. LA County’s Sanitation Department said in a statement that all the toxic stuff gets separated out of the debris headed here.

“They cannot guarantee that it’s nonhazardous. And our argument is there’s no way to sort through the ash,” said resident Kelly Martino. She said this is a local, municipal landfill not designed to receive hazardous waste. “At this landfill, you’re not even allowed to throw away a paint can or an Energizer battery.”

Finding all the toxic stuff in the ash and soil is a tall order. Some of it might still be in there, including asbestos, lead, PFAS, arsenic and mercury.

“What I’m concerned about as a pediatrician is that in years to come, we are going to see more cases of cancer and tumors and autoimmune issues and illnesses and diseases, just from the environmental exposure of these contaminants,” said Calabasas-based Dr. Tanya Altmann, who’s with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Thousands of residents live within a mile of this landfill.

“It’s in the immediate vicinity of five schools. It’s 100 yards away from a park used by kids every single day,” said Dallas Lawrence, president of the local Las Virgenes Unified School District Board of Education.

Until a few weeks ago, the waste wasn’t supposed to go there, because it was coming from too far away. But the LA County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to allow it temporarily. The board also expanded the number of tons of waste it can take every day.

The bordering city of Calabasas filed for a preliminary restraining order to stop the trucks, but the court denied it. Under current circumstances, the county is allowed to send this waste to landfills it wouldn’t normally go.

“The ordinance in 2020,” said Calabasas Mayor Peter Kraut, “was specifically designed to allow for an expedited cleanup in the event of an emergency declared by the governor.”

There are upsides to doing things this way: This landfill is closer to some of the fire-devastated areas than the alternatives. That means truck trips are shorter, so the cleanup goes faster and doesn’t require as much diesel fuel. The state can stop it at any time if there’s a threat to public health.

“The Palisades homeowners and business owners are entitled to a speedy cleanup. What I don’t want to see is a speedy cleanup and a health hazard brought into the city of Calabasas,” said Kraut.

After about an hour, police arrived and broke up the protest. On the last day of February, the landfill received its first loads of debris. Calabasas and its residents have filed lawsuits to try and stop it, but while they wait for the courts, the trucks keep coming.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly proposed — and reneged on — plans to impose tariffs on other countries, giving whiplash to both consumers and the stock market. 

Tariffs are a tax that U.S. importers pay to the U.S. government. To make up for that tax, these importers either eat the costs or pass them along to you in the form of higher prices. 

On the very day he was inaugurated, Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. First, they were postponed for 30 days. Then, they went into effect on March 4, only for Trump to decide a couple of days later to halt tariffs on many imports from Canada and Mexico for one month. He also granted a one-month reprieve to U.S. automakers. 

Trump has also threatened tariffs on the European Union, which exports products like pharmaceutical products, automobiles and alcohol to the U.S., and he’s announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on other countries in order to match the rates they’ve set. 

Currently, the following tariffs from the second Trump administration are in effect: 25% taxes on all steel and aluminum imports and 20% taxes on Chinese imports. 

Below is an update timeline of where tariffs stand:

March 12: Trump’s planned steel and aluminum tariffs go into effect. His administration reinstates 25% tariffs on all steel imports and raises tariffs on all aluminum imports to 25%. 

In response, the European Union announces that it will impose retaliatory tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. goods, including steel, aluminum, textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods. 

Canada is also planning to impose tariffs on $21 billion worth of U.S. goods. The United States’ trading partner has already imposed 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods, which includes certain types of meat, wine, orange juice, pajamas and footwear. 

March 11: The premier of Ontario, Canada, agrees to halt a 25% surcharge on electricity that the province supplies to Minnesota, New York and Michigan. Trump says he will double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50%, but rolls back his plan after the premier backs down on plans to impose a surcharge on Canadian electricity.

March 10: In response to Trump’s tariffs, the premier of Ontario, Canada, announces that Ontario will charge 25% more for the electricity it supplies to Minnesota, New York and Michigan. 

March 6: Trump postpones 25% tariffs on many products from Canada and Mexico for one month, but Canada is committed to keeping retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports in place. Canada has a plan to set 25% tariffs on $155 billion worth of imported U.S. goods, and has already imposed tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods.

March 5: The Trump administration announces that U.S. automakers are exempt from tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico for one month, as long as they follow rules set forth by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. 

March 4: Planned 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico go into effect, ending the 30-day pause on these taxes. The Trump administration also slaps an additional 10% tariff on China, meaning Chinese imports now face a tariff of 20%. 

China announces it will impose 15% tariffs on U.S. imports, including chicken, pork, soy and beef, that will take effect on March 10. These tariffs are on top of the 10%-15% tariffs China imposed in February. 

During a joint address to Congress, Trump also says the U.S. might impose a 25% tariff on copper. 

Canada announces it plans to move forward with its plans to set 25% tariffs on $155 billion worth of imported U.S. goods, and has already imposed tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods. That $30 billion worth of goods includes certain types of meat, wine, orange juice, pajamas and footwear. 

Feb. 27: The European Union says it will fight Trump’s plan to impose 25% tariffs on EU imports, targeting the U.S. bourbon, jean and motorcycle industries. 

Feb. 26: Trump threatens to impose 25% tariffs on imports from the European Union. Trump says the planned 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect on April 2, although a White House official walks back that claim and says they’re still set to go into effect in early March. 

Feb. 13: Trump signs a memorandum calling for the development of a reciprocal tariff plan. These reciprocal tariffs would ensure that U.S. tariff rates on other countries match the rates that countries have imposed on U.S. exports. 

Feb. 10: China’s retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. go into effect. The country imposes a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products, and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars. 

Trump announces plans to reinstate 25% tariffs on steel imports and raise tariffs on aluminum imports to 25% “without exceptions” on March 12. 

Feb. 4:  Trump’s 10% tariffs on China go into effect. China announces it plans to retaliate against the U.S. by imposing a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products, and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars. 

Feb. 3: Trump agrees to a deal with Canada and Mexico, pausing 25% tariffs on both countries for 30 days, but tariffs on China are set to go into effect. Canada agrees to appoint a fentanyl “czar” and create a joint strike force with the U.S. to tackle organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering, according to a tweet from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mexico agrees to reinforce the U.S.-Mexico border with 10,000 troops from its National Guard to curb drug trafficking, especially fentanyl. 

Trump hints the European Union could also face tariffs. 

Feb. 1: The White House announces that Trump is planning to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and a 10% tariff on China, which are set to take effect on Feb. 4.  Energy from Canada, specifically, will face a 10% tariff. 

Mexico announces it plans to respond with its own tariffs against the U.S., although it does not specify what those tariffs will look like. Canada says it plans to impose 25% tariffs on $155 billion worth of goods. 

Jan. 20: Trump announces that he plans to put 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, on Feb. 1. While Trump threatened to place tariffs on China prior to Inauguration Day, he does not mention any concrete plans for China. 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the centerpiece of March's PlayStation Plus game catalog entries. The critically acclaimed metroidvania title is accompanied by Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions, UFC 5, Arcade Paradise and the, uh, unforgettably titled Bang-on Balls: Chronicles. Meanwhile, you'll need a PS Plus Premium subscription to play the return of glorious PS1-era Mech-piloting action in the first three Armored Core games. This month's arrivals will all be available from March 18.

Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is, by all accounts, a terrific game. It has all the series' elements like tight parkour controls, swordplay and challenging platforming (with a healthy share of magical secrets). Throw in its striking visual style with a rich color palette, and you have something special. Engadget's Lawrence Bonk found it to be "a fantastic metroidvania that could easily sit next to some of the classics of the genre, like Hollow Knight and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night."

FromSoftware

It even has a handy "memory shards" feature that other metroidvania titles would do well to copy: Capture a screenshot of an area you want to return to later and pin it to your map. Lest the neat mechanic make things too easy (something the genre rarely has to worry about), you only get a limited number of memory shard slots.

Despite receiving rave reviews across the board, The Lost Crown reportedly only sold around 300,000 copies during its first few weeks after launch, so Ubisoft did its Ubisoft thing and disbanded the team that made it. (Sigh.) Although that means we almost certainly won't see more DLC or a sequel, at least most of its developers are still working at Ubisoft on other projects. And hey, there's another Prince of Persia game to look forward to as early as next year.

Bandai Namco

Other highlights for Extra and Premium members include Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions, which gives fast-paced arcade soccer a striking visual makeover (and a storyline!), and the nostalgic management sim (with bonus mini-games) Arcade Paradise.

You'll also get the indie platformer Bang-On Balls: Chronicles, which is a bit like taking a 3D Kirby game, cutting most of the transformations and adding quirky, slapstick humor (like optional flatulence). There's also UFC 5 if you're into EA Sports' take on bare-knuckle brawling.

FromSoftware

Basking in the glow of the acclaimed 2024 entry Armored Core: Fires of Rubicon, Sony is turning back the clock to the series' roots. PS Plus Premium subscribers can play Armored Core (1997), Armored Core: Project Phantasma (1997) and Armored Core: Master of Arena (1999) for the first time on their modern PlayStation consoles (PS5 and PS4).

The innovative (and highly customizable!) mech series laid the groundwork for the 2024 entry, which Engadget's Igor Bonifacic praised as "an incredible achievement in game design and thematic cohesion, and, I think, a promise of what we can expect from FromSoftware's next generation of talent."

This month's PS Plus games will be available from March 18. You can read the full list of entries on the PlayStation blog.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-highlights-marchs-ps-plus-lineup-194545416.html?src=rss

Sorry to everyone who was waiting for Sonos to release a streaming video device — it seems that's not happening anytime soon. The company is said to have canceled the long-expected product, which was reportedly far along in development.

Sonos leadership announced the cancellation in an all-hands call on Wednesday, according to The Verge. Interim CEO Tom Conrad says that, "for now," the company won't enter the streaming video market. The team that was working on the project, codenamed Pinewood, is set to be reassigned to other projects.

It was reported last month that Sonos could start selling the device this year for between $200 and $400. Pinewood was rumored to have a unified software experience with universal search for shows and movies from various streaming services like Netflix, Max and Disney+. Pinewood was believed to have Sonos Voice Control integration and to act as an HDMI hub for home entertainment devices such as game consoles. And, of course, the box would have synced with Sonos soundbars and speakers.

Per the report, Pinewood's cancellation leaves Sonos without a major new product to start selling in the second half of 2025. Instead, it seems that the company will double down on rebuilding its reputation and the performance of its software after the disastrous rollout of a new mobile app in 2024.

That fiasco led to the ouster of former CEO Patrick Spence and other executives. Sonos also fired hundreds of workers as part of a restructuring plan.

Engadget has contacted Sonos for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/sonos-reportedly-scraps-its-long-expected-streaming-video-device-193445993.html?src=rss

iRobot, the creator of the Roomba and the company that popularized robot vacuums in the first place, told investors on Wednesday that it has "substantial doubt about [its] ability to continue."

Beyond declining sales — the company reported that revenue decreased 47 percent in the US over the prior year in its fourth quarter earnings — iRobot is also struggling to pay off its debts. The company took on a $200 million bridge loan to stay afloat while it waited for its $1.7 billion acquisition deal with Amazon to be approved, which it's still paying off.

The European Commission ultimately investigated the acquisition in 2023, and rather than address its concerns, Amazon terminated the deal and paid out its $94 million termination fee. That wasn't enough to eliminate iRobot's problems, though. The company now plans to review its options and see if it can find another way to stick it out, including "refinancing the company's debt and exploring a potential sale or strategic transaction."

The timing is particularly unfortunate given the line of new robot vacuums iRobot recently announced. The company has a new robot for most price points, but the Roomba 105 Vac Robot series, which are supposed to feature 70 times more suction than past models, and the Roomba Plus 505 Combo Robot + AutoWash Dock, which is able to clean corners better and has a dock that washes and heat-dries the robot's mop, stand out as notable improvements. The company is also adopting lidar sensors across the board, something that was missing from previous robots and should allow for better, more accurate mapping.

It's possible new products help iRobot get to a better place financially — the company still makes robots we recommend, after all — but that doesn't change the fact that its facing stiff competition from companies like Roborock and Dreame, who are both getting much more adventurous with what their robot vacuums can actually do.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/irobot-has-new-roombas-but-it-doesnt-sound-confident-itll-be-around-to-sell-them-191747458.html?src=rss

The second season of the fantastic detective dramedy Poker Face starts streaming via Peacock on May 8. There’s a trailer and it spotlights the many guest stars that will be showing up as suspects in the second season. These include folks like John Mulaney, playing a cop of some kind, and early 2000s heartthrob Katie Holmes.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Fans of the first season know that Poker Face loves itself some guest stars. Giancarlo Esposito, Awkwafina, Justin Theroux, Cynthia Erivo and Melanie Lynsky will all be showing up in this new batch of episodes.

For the uninitiated, Poker Face is (basically) an old-school “mystery of the week” show, recalling genre classics like Columbo. It stars Natasha Lyonne as a gritty New Yorker (duh) as she wanders the country solving crimes. She has a near-supernatural ability to tell when someone is lying, which helps a lot.

The show was created by Rian Johnson, who polarized the Star Wars fandom with The Last Jedi before going on to make those well-regarded Knives Out movies. Two of those films have already aired on Netflix, with a third on the way. He also made some indie flicks earlier in his career, like Brick and Looper.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/poker-faces-season-two-trailer-features-guest-stars-like-john-mulaney-and-katie-holmes-184741470.html?src=rss

Many people using older Chromecast devices experienced a shock in recent days when their units lost the ability to cast content. The company ended the brand last year, which led folks to think that this was a planned obsolescence of some kind. Here’s some good news. It’s just a software issue and Google is working on it.

The company sent an email to users to say that its engineers are "working to resolve this as soon as possible, and will keep you updated when there is more to share.” Google was fairly vague in its wording here, but at least we know a fix is coming.

Yikes, Google really fumbled.
RIP Chromecast. pic.twitter.com/XTLulM3EAy

— DLLN (@DLLNBRAND) March 12, 2025

The issue primarily impacts older Chromecasts and the Chromecast Audio device and prevents them from casting. Google says the cause of the problem has been identified but didn’t reveal any specifics.

However, it has cautioned users to not factory reset impacted Chromecast devices. This will lock users out of the gadget entirely. Google has suggested it would help these people, because performing a factory reset would likely be one of the first troubleshooting steps, but hasn’t provided a time frame.

One Reddit user claims to have found the problem that caused the devices to lose functionality, noting that it was “most definitely due to the certificate baked into the Chromecast having expired.” This person said that the certificate specified it would no longer be active after March 9 and, well, that’s the day before many models started failing.

For the uninitiated, the issue causes an “untrusted device error” whenever someone tries to cast on certain models. The only option is to dismiss the error, which disables casting. Impacted units include the 2nd-gen Chromecast from 2015 and the Chromecast Audio.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/google-apologizes-for-chromecast-outage-and-promises-a-fix-172103579.html?src=rss