EnGadget

Every video game is a miracle. Long hours, extraordinary technical and artistic requirements and cross-disciplinary collaboration: the very act of making games is difficult, and leaves room for catastrophic errors. It's a wonder any of them make it to release at all.

Fulcrum Defender, the new Playdate exclusive from Jay Ma, the co-founder of indie darling Subset Games, is one such miraculous game. It's the first new release from the studio since 2018's critically acclaimed Into the Breach. Ma began work on Fulcrum Defender following a life-changing Covid infection that has greatly diminished her quality of life and ability to do the thing she loves.

The story of Fulcrum Defender begins following a trip Ma made to Vancouver, Canada in August 2023 to see Subset co-founder Matt Davis and a few other members of the studio in-person. At the time, the team was working on more than one game. According to Ma, one of the larger, more promising projects was "struggling," but the trip led to a breakthrough. Then, she caught Covid-19. "It was pretty unfortunate timing," she said. "For the first time in a while, I was gung-ho about being able to figure this game out."

At first, Ma's latest bout with the coronavirus didn't seem all that different from her previous experiences. She returned to her home in Kyoto, Japan, quarantined and eventually recovered from the acute symptoms, but never bounced back completely. "I think it was the first day that I went out to be outside, bike, do normal things, and I just completely shut down," she said. "I couldn't get out of bed for like four days." She realized she was experiencing long Covid.

As we chatted over Google Meet, Ma frequently took long pauses to piece together her memories and find the right words to express her loss. "I'm a different person," she told me after one such break. "I walk around with a cane. I need to structure exactly how I do something outside. I need to know where all the chairs are. I walk at a grandma's pace, and I'm constantly forced to maintain awareness of my physical state, because if I do too much, it's already too late. It makes everything feel dangerous."

For the first four months of her illness, Ma couldn't work at all. "Even even when I was more used to needing to pace myself, not only was it harder to do things that used to come naturally to me, but I would also get lost in my own head," she said. She worried she might never make games again.

Subset Games

Fulcrum Defender was a chance to prove to herself she could still do the thing she loved. Subset’s Mauro López provided additional programming, and composer Aaron Cherof, best known for his work on Minecraft’s Trails and Tails update, made the music for the game. Panic contacted Ma about the project after she showed a few friends the game around the time of Kyoto's annual Bit Summit indie game festival in the summer of last year.   

"I would wake up in the morning and think about the game and make progress every day – even if it was only a couple of hours – that did something really important for my psychological state," she said.

In a preview released by Panic, Ma describes Fulcrum Defender as a game "that starts out slow and relaxing but gradually ramps up until it becomes frantic chaos." You can see the connective tissue between it and Ma's previous work. Players can earn upgrades to make their run easier. Success then depends on a combination of good aim (using the Playdate's signature crank), smart decision-making and a well thought out build. I expect it will have the same addictive "one more run" quality that Subset’s other games are known for.

This illness has shrunk my world and perception of time considerably.Jay Ma

"With Into the Breach, if I wanted to add one enemy, that one enemy would change how maps are designed, how character weapons are designed, and how scaling works," she said. "So a single new idea requires you to kind of keep everything in your head at once, and that specifically is just something that I struggle to do now." Fulcrum Defender taught Ma how much she had taken for granted the ease with which she one juggled those various dependencies in her mind.

Ma hasn't found a doctor in Japan who knows enough about the illness to offer her a conclusive diagnosis, and the state of research on long Covid in general is nascent. "They hate to make uncertain calls," she explained. The one thing she's found she can do is take frequent dementia tests to track the condition of her mind.

"I feel like I need to live with the possibility that it won't go away, so I just sort of operate with that mindset," she told me. "This illness has shrunk my world and perception of time considerably. My memory is way worse. I'll forget what happened like a week ago, and I don't really think about the future at all. And so I'm just in a constant present. It feels like I'm being forced to train to be a monk."

When I asked what her illness might mean for the future of Subset, Ma took a long time to consider her answer. "We set a rule that we will not announce anything unless we're absolutely certain it's coming out. We want to live with the freedom of being able to cancel rather than feeling we're stuck in having to release something we don't like," she said. "So Subset is doing fine, but my output has dropped to like 20 percent of what it used to be."

Subset Games

Davis, she adds, has been productive, but he too has had to adapt his work schedule, in his case due to two young kids. "If we want to make another Into the Breach-scale game, it feels like we might need more help in the long run. I need to come to terms with the fact I can't do all the art the way I used to."

Ma has been through so much, and yet Fulcrum Defender isn't a game about chronic health concerns, disability or memory loss. It seems to studiously avoid borrowing any biographical detail from Ma's life whatsoever. People will play and enjoy it knowing nothing of the challenging circumstances in which it was made. It turns out, that's the only way Ma would have it.

"I know of a lot of developers who put themselves into their game. You can see the author's intent, emotional state and the things they were processing in it. I've wondered what it would be like to make a game like that, but I have no idea how. Basically, the only thing that drives me is mechanics," she told me. "So I have no expectation, or really desire for people to see the author in the little arcade games I make. I would be very happy to never be perceived."

Fulcrum Defender — along with 11 other games — arrives as part of Playdate's second season of weekly games beginning on May 29. You can pre-order Season Two for $39 through the Catalog store.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/subset-games-co-founder-jay-ma-went-through-hell-to-make-fulcrum-defender-153028909.html?src=rss

Uber is expanding its robotaxi ambitions with the help of Volkswagen. The two companies are teaming up to offer autonomous rides in ID. Buzz vehicles. They plan to deploy thousands of the vehicles in multiple US markets over the next decade.

Testing is slated to start later this year with human safety drivers at the wheel. All going well, Uber and VW aim to start running ID.Buzz robotaxi rides in Los Angeles in late 2026. Volkswagen AG's MOIA division is supplying its autonomous driving tech.

The ID.Buzz is an electric, modern version of VW's classic Type 2 Microbus. The vehicle finally hit the US last year for a starting price of $59,995 for the base model.

Uber has been offering robotaxi rides in Waymo vehicles for a while. It's gradually been expanding the number of markets in which it offers such rides. Waymo rides are currently available via Uber in the likes of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/uber-is-adding-volkswagen-id-buzz-evs-to-its-us-robotaxi-fleet-140919926.html?src=rss

The Spacetop AR laptop made a splash when it debuted a few years ago with an intriguing pitch: What if you could have a notebook that works entirely through augmented reality glasses, without a built-in screen of its own? Unfortunately, we found the Spacetop experience to be underwhelming, and the hardware seemed like a tough sell for $1,900. Last Fall, Spacetop's creator Sightful told CNET that it was abandoning the screen-less laptop altogether and instead focusing on building AR software for Windows PCs. Now, we have a clearer sense of what Sightful is up to. 

Today, Sightful is officially launching Spacetop for Intel-powered Windows AI PCs, following a short trial launch from January. For $899 you get a pair of XREAL's Air Ultra 2 glasses and a year of Spacetop's software. Afterwards, you'll have to pay $200 annually for a subscription. The software works just like the original Spacetop concept — it gives you a large 100-inch AR interface for doing all of your productivity work — except now you're not stuck with the company's middling keyboard and other hardware.

Spacetop might be compelling to AR fanatics who already own Intel AI PCs like the Surface Laptop Pro for Business, or a Dell XPS machine with the Core Ultra 7 chip. But if you don't have one of those computers, you'll have to add it to Spacetop's already high cost. And don't forget about prescription lenses: Those will run you $50 for single-vision and $150 for progressive.

Spacetop doesn't support Intel chips without NPUs, as its AR interface requires constant AI processing. It doesn't work AMD or Qualcomm's AI CPUs, either. The company partnered with Intel to optimize Spacetop for its platform, which included help with understanding Intel's NPU architecture as well as tweaking its chips to help the AR software run better. In a conversation with Engadget, Sightful CEO Tamir Berliner noted that the company might pay more attention to other chip platforms if it gets similar attention. 

As for Mac support, Berliner said in a statement to Engadget: "Yes, we plan to create a version of Spacetop for Mac — the timing is still TBD based on a lot of different factors regarding laptops, silicon, compute power, glasses, and more. We will be excited to share more news when we are able.”

Given its price and the strict PC requirements for using it, Spacetop clearly isn't meant for a wide audience. But there are potential benefits for early adopters. Its large AR screen could make it easier to multitask without large monitors, and it's also easier to focus on your apps since Spacetop vastly simplifies the Windows 11 interface. There are some obvious privacy benefits, too, since no one else can see what you're looking at in AR.

The big downside, though, is that you'll have to get used to wearing Xreal's large Air 2 Ultra glasses. When we demoed it at CES, we found it to be an improvement over previous Xreal frames, thanks to their sharp 1080p micro-OLED displays and wider field of view. The Air 2 Ultra are also notable for having 6DoF tracking, which allows you to move around AR objects. While sleeker than the Vision Pro, the glasses are still pretty clunky, and you'll also have to snap in additional prescription frames if necessary.

I'll need to see this latest iteration of Spacetop in action before making any final judgments, but it's clearly a more viable concept as an app that can work on a variety of laptops. Nobody wants to buy bespoke hardware like the old Spacetop laptop, no matter how good of a party trick it may be.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/spacetop-ar-is-now-an-expensive-windows-app-instead-of-a-useless-screenless-laptop-140030911.html?src=rss

Perplexity has rolled out an update for its iOS app, giving iPhone users access to its AI voice assistant that was initially released for Android users earlier this year. Its voice assistant can perform tasks for the user by browsing the web or accessing other apps for them. If they ask the assistant to find them a table for a specific restaurant, for instance, Perplexity can launch the OpenTable app with the number of people, the date and the time already filled out. The user still has to perform the final action and book a reservation, but it's already laid out for them — all they have to do is click the button. 

Users can also ask the assistant to draft emails for them for specific contacts, which they'll have to send themselves, and create reminders for them on the calendar. They can ask it to recommend them spots they could visit, such as restaurants serving food they want to eat, and Perplexity will mark locations on the map. Of course, they can ask the assistant to do web searches for them, such as finding specific videos that Perplexity can open on the YouTube app. 

As The Verge notes, Perplexity's voice assistant works on older iPhones, unlike Apple Intelligence that only works on the company's more recent models. The iOS assistant also doesn't have the capability to look at the world for the user and tell them what they're seeing yet, though the feature is already available on Android and could make its way to iPhones in the future. 

Introducing Perplexity iOS Voice Assistant

Voice Assistant uses web browsing and multi-app actions to book reservations, send emails and calendar invites, play media, and more—all from the Perplexity iOS app.

Update your app in the App Store and start asking today. pic.twitter.com/OKdlTaG9CO

— Perplexity (@perplexity_ai) April 23, 2025

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexitys-ios-app-gets-an-ai-voice-assistant-130035088.html?src=rss

In case you're wondering how Moore's Law is doing, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC) just unveiled its latest 1.4-nanometer (nm) A14 process that will enter production in 2028. The technology promises a 15 percent performance boost, plus a 30 percent reduction in power draw compared to 2nm processors set to go into production later in 2025, TSMC said. The 1.4nm tech is likely to be used in processors for Apple, Intel and AMD.

The performance gains are thanks to a 20 percent logic density improvement over 2nm tech. The company's 2nm process saw similar improvements over the 3nm chips, so the 1.4nm chips could be up to 30 percent faster and 60 percent more efficient than current chips. 

Apple's chips today are based on TSMC's 3nm process, and the upcoming iPhone 17, including a rumored ultra-slim version, will reportedly use that as well with the third-generation N3P node. So, Apple won't likely switch to TSMC's 2nm tech for another two years, as MacRumors pointed out.

That in turn means Apple won't likely employee 1.4nm tech in mobile and desktop devices for three or more generations and it could be that long before we see it in AMD and other processors as well. However, TSMC usually has multiple generations of a given node (with small improvements in each), and Apple has been adept at boosting performance of its Silicon design before switching to smaller processes. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/tsmc-shows-off-14nm-chip-tech-that-will-appear-in-future-iphones-and-other-devices-121955292.html?src=rss

Pizza ovens are having a moment. Companies like Ooni have popularized the ability to make restaurant-quality pies at home by giving you ovens that get hot enough for various pizza styles. Some burn wood while others run on gas, and some options can even do both with the proper accessories. I’ve broken down what to look for when you’re shopping for a pizza oven along with my top picks for the best pizza oven in various categories. If you prefer to stay in your kitchen, I’ve got options for you too. Plus, there’s a list of the pizza ovens on my upcoming slate of reviews.

Table of contents

• Best outdoor pizza ovens for 2025

• Best indoor pizza ovens in 2025

• What to look for in a pizza oven

• How to prepare before outdoor cooking

• Upcoming pizza oven reviews

• The best pizza accessories for the oven you already have

Best outdoor pizza ovens for 2025

Best indoor pizza ovens in 2025

Let me preface this section by saying you probably already have an indoor option that you can use to make some great pizza. Whether that’s the main oven in your kitchen or a multi-function countertop unit, with some affordable accessories, you can easily up your game without spending $1,000 on a dedicated appliance. For example, my Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer has a convection pizza setting that automatically adjusts cook time based on the size, oven temperature and whether the pie is fresh or frozen. A key consideration here is size. These things are massive, about the size of a large microwave, so you likely won’t want to keep them out all the time unless you have a huge kitchen.

What to look for in a pizza oven

When shopping for a home pizza oven, you’ll first want to consider what types of pies you plan to make. Most portable outdoor pizza ovens from the likes of Ooni, Solo Stove and others use wood and are primarily designed for the high-heat cooking required for light and airy Neapolitan-style pizzas. We’re talking high temperatures up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. These units can certainly cook different styles at cooler temperatures, but the learning curve is easiest when you’re running them wide open with a full load of wood.

You'll also want to consider alternate fuel types. If you purchase a propane or natural gas burner, you can adjust temperatures easily by turning a knob. For this reason, I recommend you spend the extra $100 or so on that accessory. This dual-fuel option makes your pizza oven a lot more versatile and gives you the option to still have a freshly fired pie when you don’t feel like messing with wood or charcoal. If you only want to cook with gas, there are models available that only use propane or natural gas.

The other key consideration for aspiring pizza makers is size. Most companies make ovens that fit 12-inch pizzas, a perfect size for a personal pan pizza. They’re also great for pizza parties, since people can customize their own without having to pick off toppings they don’t like. If you want to make larger pizzas or plan to use your oven for other things (pans, etc), consider a larger version that can accommodate more than just small pies. The interior dimensions – or at the very least the pizza stone size – will be listed on most product pages.

How to prepare before outdoor cooking

Making quality pizza at home requires a considerable amount of counter or table space. You’ll need room to stretch and prep your pizza dough, lay out your mozzarella, other cheeses and toppings and load pies onto a peel. Of course, some folks will be comfortable working in the tight confines of a small kitchen, but I’ve found it much easier to use extra space to make sure I’m not constantly moving things around during the various steps in the process.

It’s also less hassle to set up your pizza-making station in close proximity to your oven. As a pizza-baking beginner, I did the running back and forth from the kitchen to the back porch. It’s far from ideal. It’s difficult to maintain your fire (if using wood or charcoal) when you’re unable to watch it closely. The good news is a patio table can be easily converted into a pizza station with a large cutting board. This also gets your oven off the ground so it’s easier to access.

Ooni sells tables for its ovens that also offer shelving and storage for peels and other accessories. Solo Stove has a rolling stand for its Pi oven too, with small side shelves and a spot for your propane tank underneath. Of course, you can find other tables and stands to suit your needs, just make sure they can withstand any heat that may radiate from the bottom of the oven while cooking. Most ovens are either well insulated or don’t project too much excess heat toward the table, but you can never be too careful. For that reason, a stainless steel or metal surface is a good choice to set up an outdoor model.

Most of these ovens cook quickly at high heat, especially if you’re making Neapolitan pizza. Having everything you need nearby so you can keep tabs on the oven and quickly make the next pizza will ease a lot of unnecessary headaches. When your cook time is two minutes or less, you don’t want to venture too far.

Upcoming pizza oven reviews

Ooni recently updated its Koda line with the Koda 2 and Koda 2 Pro. Both feature the company’s latest burner technology among their improvements alongside slightly larger cooking areas. The Koda 2 Pro comes with an Ooni Connect Digital Temperature Hub display that can send updates to your phone via Bluetooth. The Koda 2 doesn’t, but you can easily add one if you’re willing to pay for the accessory. The Koda 2 is available now, but the Koda 2 Pro is still on the way. Since the smart connectivity is what I’m most interested in, I’m waiting to review the Pro.

Current Backyard debuted as a new company at CES 2024. Initially focused on electric grills, it returned to Las Vegas this year with an electric pizza oven. The $599 Model P offers five different cook modes for various styles and uses, along with a maximum temperature of 850 degrees Fahrenheit. Top-mounted and under-stone heating elements ensure even cooking and Current Backyard says the Model P will recover quickly between pies. The company’s app also offers a Pizza Build Calculator to help you determine cook time and temperature based on your chosen style and ingredients. The Model P is likely to be the next pizza oven to go through a thorough review.

The best pizza accessories for the oven you already have

If you want to make good homemade pizza that rivals that of your favorite pizzeria (and without spending hundreds of dollars on a dedicated oven), you can definitely do it with the oven you already have in your kitchen. With a few gadgets, you can improve your game without splurging on a Breville, Ooni or Solo Stove. First, I’d recommend a high quality baking steel or stone.

Baking stones are great for getting better browning on the bottom of your pies than a pizza or sheet pan. You can also use them for bread, cookies and other items. The stone absorbs heat to cook pizza quickly, like the inside of a brick oven, which leads to a charred crust. They’re also more affordable compared to baking steels. Those metal slabs do have one key advantage: higher heat conductivity. This means a steel will cook your pizzas faster since it can absorb more heat from your oven. While baking steels can be used as griddles on your stovetop and for other types of baking, they’re not ideal for some leavened breads.

The second item you’ll want is a pizza peel. These come in all shapes and sizes, made out of a variety of materials. I typically use a bamboo or wooden peel when topping and launching my pizzas and then a metal one for retrieving them. I’ve found that dough doesn’t stick as easily to bamboo during prep and the metal resists the high heat of the oven when turning or retrieving a finished pizza (bamboo will burn). There are also perforated peels which allow both steam and excess flour to escape. A peel is a great tool for loading and turning pizzas, getting them in the back of the oven, and since you’ll typically be cooking them with your oven at 500 degrees or hotter, using something like parchment paper to move them around won’t work.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/best-pizza-oven-141550352.html?src=rss

Strava has had a few new developments recently, including buying personalized running plan app Runna. Now, it has launched a new training feature for distance runners called Performance Predictions, which gives estimated finish times for difference race lengths. 

The app will now offer possible times for a 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon — so, now, it's not only your own goals you have to live up to but Strava's as well. No pressure. Strava is providing these predictions using a machine learning model (shocking) which looks at over 100 data points from the individual and the performance of similar runners on the app. The times should change after every run and based on rest periods. 

Strava claims that users logged almost 1 billion runs on its app last year, so it should be helpful to some (and apply added pressure to others). Subscribers can access it in Strava's Progress tab. It will also show you how much those numbers have recently changed based and your average time per mile. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/strava-can-predict-your-race-finish-times-120007844.html?src=rss

If you were hoping to avoid the chaos that has accompanied the Switch 2 launch by pre-ordering directly from Nintendo, that may not make it arrive any faster. In an update on its website, Nintendo says that it's seeing "very high demand" for the console, so "your invitation email may arrive after the Nintendo Switch 2 launch" set for June 5th. That may delay the shipment until after that date as well, the company said. 

Nintendo opened the ability to "register your interest" for purchasing a Switch 2 earlier in Japan and a staggering 2.2 million people applied to pre-order the console. It's now making the same offer to North American users and had initially promised to send out the first batch of pre-order invitations on May 8th. For at least some people, that may now slip nearly a month or more.

Nintendo suggested visiting its launch partners, but as we've seen so far, that process has also been challenging. So far, Amazon doesn't even have an order page for the Switch 2 and customers are having trouble ordering from other retailers like Walmart, Target and Best Buy. 

Should you wish to apply to pre-order, beware that Nintendo hasn't made the process easy, likely to dissuade scalpers. You must have a purchased a Nintendo Switch Online membership yourself, have had any paid Nintendo Switch Online membership for at least 12 months, have opted in to share gameplay data and have at least 50 total gameplay hours. 

Nintendo delayed the original launch date from April 9 to April 24 due to concerns over Trump's tariffs. It remains to be seen whether Nintendo underestimated Switch 2 demand in other territories like the US as much as it did for Japan — but given the current frenzy, that seems likely. To see full details on how to pre-order, check Engadget's article with all the details. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-warns-its-own-preorder-invites-may-arrive-after-switch-2-launch-100048014.html?src=rss

If you're serious about capturing clean, professional-sounding audio while you're out and about, your phone’s built-in mic probably isn’t cutting it. Whether you’re shooting quick videos, recording interviews on the go or want your voiceovers to sound crisp, investing in a dedicated phone mic can make a huge difference in your content quality.

These days, there’s no shortage of compact and capable microphones made specifically for mobile devices. From solo creators filming on their smartphones to roving interviewers working on tight setups, a portable mic can be a game-changer. Some plug directly into your phone, while others use a wireless microphone system to give you more freedom to move — especially handy for things like vlogging or walk-and-talk shoots.

For content creators who want to elevate their sound without hauling around a full recording rig, today’s mobile mics offer plenty of smart features. You’ll find models with multiple transmitters for two-person setups, stereo capture modes for immersive sound and even a charging case that keeps everything powered on the go. Just make sure to check compatibility with your device before buying — not every mic works seamlessly across Android and iPhone.

Whether you're after something simple and compact or need a high-quality microphone for more polished productions, we’ve rounded up the best mobile microphones you can buy right now.

Best phone mics for 2025 Lavalier mics James Trew / Engadget

The obvious benefit of a lapel microphone is size. Their small profile makes them perfect for presenting to the camera with the flexibility to move around while maintaining consistent audio quality. If you’re a budding TikTok or vlogger it’s definitely worth having one of these mini microphones in your bag. And if you don’t want to be tied down to cables, there are plenty of great wireless lavalier microphone options with convenient adapters.

The main trade-off, however, is that they’re only good for recording the person they’re attached to. If you have two people talking and only one is wearing the mic, you’ll only get good audio for one half of the conversation, so for multi-person recordings you’ll need a mic for each guest and a way to record them at the same time, so costs can go up quickly.

Fortunately, lapel mics have become a very competitive market with good, viable options costing as little as $14.95. For an absolute bargain with a long cord and some connectivity accessories, the Boya BY M1 is hard to argue with. But, while these budget choices are great value, if you want something that should either last longer, is more versatile or just sounds better it’s worth paying a little bit more.

A word on wireless mic

Recently there has been an explosion in cell phone microphone systems, but there's one wireless mic we really like. DJI's Mic 2 system provides some important upgrades from its predecessor. Notably, it can connect directly to your smartphone via Bluetooth, and it sports improved AI noise reduction and a bigger touchscreen.

Adapters

So we’ve already touched on this with the AI Micro, which is an adapter of sorts. One of the first things you might bump up against when dealing with mobile audio accessories is TRRS vs TRS connectors. Simply put, 3.5mm TRS is what you might know as the age-old classic headphone jack while TRRS became common for its support for headsets and inline mics. You can easily tell them apart as TRS connectors have two black bands on them while a TRRS has three.

For you, the budding creator, it can be a bit of an annoyance as many 3.5mm lavaliers are going to be TRS and won’t work when plugged into your phone’s headphone adapter. Sometimes your lavalier might include what you need in the box, but otherwise, you’ll want to pick up a TRS to TRRS adapter like this. Of course, some smartphone-specific mics have TRRS connectors already – for those, you’ll want a cable that goes the other way should you want to use it with other devices like a DSLR.

Shotgun mics James Trew / Engadget

You may be more familiar with shotgun microphones when it comes to video recording. It’s the style of microphone most often found atop a DSLR or mirrorless camera, but they make great companions for other portable devices too, your cell phone included.

The benefit of a shotgun is that they tend to be highly directional, which makes them perfect for podcasts, recording instruments, foley sounds and much, much more. For us mobile recordists, another benefit is that they tend to be light and portable, perfect for slipping into a backpack or even a laptop bag. Even better, there are some great mobile-specific options.

Desktop and USB mics go mobile James Trew / Engadget

Mobile-specific mics are great, but there’s nothing stopping you from using your cell phone microphone or another you might already have (if it’s somewhat portable). You’ll definitely need to do a little dance with some adapters, but that’s half the fun. Below are a couple of recommendations for “regular” microphones that pair well with a phone and then the cables and adapters that you’ll need to get setup. There are even some wireless systems that make it easy to record on the go.

A word on cables James Trew / Engadget

Connecting USB microphones directly to phones is rarely as simple as just one cable, although that’s starting to become more common. In general, Android makes this simpler, but also, thanks to the wide range of manufacturers and software versions you can’t always guarantee things will work smoothly.

The iPhone is a whole other situation. USB microphones have a good chance of working via the USB camera kit we mentioned earlier, but that’s still inelegant sometimes. Frustratingly, some USB-C to Lightning cables will play nice with microphones, but sadly most will not – including Apple’s own. One confirmed option is this cable from Fiio or this generic alternative. These are inexpensive enough that it’s worth having a couple around if you work with audio a lot (they of course can also be used to charge your phone as a bonus).

Other mobile microphones to consider

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-mobile-microphones-for-recording-with-a-phone-154536629.html?src=rss

If you're a frequent Photoshop user, there's a good chance you've run into this scenario. You open the program after a long break to edit an image, but this being Photoshop we're talking about, there are about five different ways to complete the task before you and you can't quite remember the way you learned to do it. Adobe is trying to make it easier to use its flagship app with the introduction of a built-in AI agent that can navigate Photoshop and complete tasks for users. At its Adobe Max London event today, the company demoed this agent, showing how it can automate multi-step workflows.      

Users can access the tool from the redesigned Actions panel. If you've used an AI chat bot before, the interface will be familiar. There's a text box for users to input what they want the agent to do for them, with a list of suggested prompts above. Once you hit enter, the tool will display all the steps needed to complete your request, allowing you to follow along as it does the work for you. Judging by the demos Adobe shared with press before the event, the agent can complete nearly any task you might turn to Photoshop to do. In one example, the tool first applies a color gradient to text, and then does the same for the background behind it. 

Adobe

At the same event, Adobe showed off a new version of its Firefly app, which brings together all of the company's AI image, video, audio and vector generation tools in one easy to find place. The redesigned Firefly is available to use on the web today, with Android and iOS apps coming soon. Additionally, each part of the app is powered by new underlying models that offer better performance. 

With image generation, for instance, Adobe is offering two new in-house systems, the imaginatively named Firefly Image Model 4 and Firefly Image Model 4 Ultra. Of the former, the company says it can produce 2K resolution images, making it possible to print what the model generates. Adobe claims both systems offer best-in-class human rendering. All of Adobe's own models are commercially safe, meaning they weren't trained on copyrighted material, and creative professionals can feel safe using them. 

"By unifying image, video, audio and vector generation and providing unmatched creative control, Firefly empowers creative professionals to work more productively and with an unmatched degree of precision," Adobe said. "Seamlessly integrated with Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Express and Adobe’s other creative applications, it offers AI-powered assistance throughout every stage of the content creation process – from ideation through production."

Adobe

If Adobe's models aren't thing, the company is also — for the first time — offering third-party models directly within the Firefly app. With today's announcement, some of the more notable options include Google's Imagen 3 and Veo 2 models, as well as ChatGPT image generation, with more to come later. As part of Adobe's agreements with Google, OpenAI and other model providers, those companies have agreed to not use data from Adobe users for training their future AI systems.   

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/adobes-new-ai-agent-can-show-you-how-to-use-photoshop-090049772.html?src=rss

As nice as it is to have a projector wired up in your home cinema, the flexibility a portable model offers is equally valuable. It means you can set up an impromptu big screen in your back yard during those glorious long summer evenings. But portable projectors also carry that whiff of not being as good, or being compromised, with less powerful sound and vision. It’s this issue that Nebula is looking to tackle with its latest flagship portable projector, the X1, which is designed to offer the power of a home projector in the body of a movable one.

The X1 is a triple-laser unit promising 4K UHD, Dolby Vision video with 3,500 ANSI lumens that should easily fill a 300-inch screen. You can place it on a stand, table or the floor, with the array capable of tilting up to 25 degrees to find wherever you’ve placed your screen. There’s a 14-element glass array inside the body, which the company says should provide reliable image quality for the life of the unit. It’s flexible, too, with an optical zoom letting you cast on a screen up to 200 inches wide from between 13 and 22 feet away.

Nebula

The other big problem with projectors is the sound quality, but Nebula thinks it’s solved that issue as well. The X1 not only has a quartet of side-firing internal speakers, but you can pay a little more to pick up a pair of wireless 80W satellite speakers with their own built-in batteries. Each satellite connects to the X1 over Wi-Fi and has a rated battery life of eight hours, plus they’re IP54 rated to ensure they won’t break if your movie night gets interrupted by a rain shower.

Nebula is also proud to boast that the X1 is the company’s first portable projector to get its own internal liquid cooling system. Liquid cooling is commonplace on higher end wired projectors, and Nebula says that its inclusion here enables it to get the fan noise down to 26 dB. That may or may not be a good thing depending on the talent levels of your friends given you can also buy a pair of wireless karaoke microphones with a rated battery life of 40 hours.

The rest of the spec list is what you’d expect, with the X1 running Google TV, plus a pair of HDMI ports (one with eARC). It’ll be available to purchase in the US on May 21 for $2,999, while the accessory pack on its own will set you back $999, but early birds can grab both between May 21 and June 20 for $3,298. It’s a similar situation in the UK, where it’ll be ready to buy on May 21 for £2,199.99, with the accessory pack costing £500, but if you order between May 21 and June 15, you’ll get both for £2,350.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/nebulas-new-x1-4k-portable-projector-is-liquid-cooled-233025705.html?src=rss

The PlayStation 5 is getting a software update that brings back the looks of yesteryear. After fans applauded the move to apply the appearances of past Sony generations to their consoles' home screens during the PlayStation 30th anniversary last year, the company said it was working on making those permanent aesthetic options. That promised return of the four retro UI looks is the highlight of the upcoming PS5 update.

Unfortunately, the start-up audio chimes that accompanied each generation are not coming back. But the visual part can be changed at will under the Appearance tab of the Settings menu.

The other big component of the upcoming software update is a feature called Audio Focus that can help increase immersion during a play session while using headphones or headsets. With these presets, players can choose to boost the voice, the low pitch sounds, the high pitch sounds or the quiet sounds. You can also set whether the amount of amplification is weak, medium or strong.

The PS5 update will begin its global rollout on April 24.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/retro-playstation-ui-options-return-permanently-to-the-ps5-230337414.html?src=rss

Microsoft promised in a strange ad campaign last year that it would bring Xbox Game Pass to more than just its own gaming brand's hardware thanks to Xbox Cloud Gaming. One of the previously announced platforms that it said would gain the ability to run Xbox Game Pass was smart TVs from LG. Today, LG announced that the Xbox app will begin rolling out to a collection of its smart TVs in 25 countries this week.

The Xbox app is compatible with select LG screens and monitors. According to the press release, the available models include "2022 OLED TVs, 2023 OLED, QNED, NanoCell and UHD TVs…which have been updated to software version 23.20.01 or higher." It will also be made available at a later date on LG's StanbyME screens. Once downloaded, the app allows members of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to stream select titles they already own or to access titles from the Game Pass library.

LG is the latest electronics manufacturer to offer the Xbox experience without the need to physically own an Xbox. Samsung has already done the same, and Amazon's Fire TV also has an Xbox app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/lg-smart-tvs-are-getting-xbox-game-pass-this-week-200422697.html?src=rss

Meta AI, the most interesting thing you can do with Ray-Ban Meta glasses, will soon be available to more people. The company's Live Translation feature is rolling out to all the product's markets, and Live AI (where you can hold a free-flowing conversation about what you're looking at) will soon be available in the US and Canada. In addition, glasses owners in the EU can finally use Meta AI with their high-tech specs.

Live translation, previously available in early access, is now rolling out in every region where Ray-Ban Meta glasses are available. Handy for trips abroad or chats with locals who speak a different language, the AI-powered feature speaks a translation in your preferred language in real time. You can also view a translated transcript on your phone.

Live translation is available in English, French, Italian and Spanish. And if you download your preferred language pack in advance, you can use it without a Wi-Fi connection or even mobile data from your paired phone. You can launch the feature by saying, "Hey Meta, start live translation."

Meta

US and Canadian users can now use Meta's Live AI feature, which lets you ask questions about your surroundings without saying "Hey Meta" every time. (You can even interrupt it.) Another feature previously only available in beta, live AI lets you chat with your glasses in natural language about your environment, asking it to explain things like missing ingredients for a meal or the best wine to pair with it. You can say, "Hey Meta, start live AI" to begin.

In addition, Meta AI is finally rolling out to all of the product's supported countries in the European Union. And starting next week, EU countries will get the visual search feature that can answer individually prompted questions about your surroundings, but (unlike Live AI) can't perform a free-flowing conversation with interruptions.

The glasses' Instagram integration is also expanding. Meta says you can soon send and receive Instagram DMs, photos, audio calls and video calls on your Ray-Bans. They already supported calls and messages through WhatsApp and Messenger and your phone's messaging app, so the glasses now have a solid list of communications options. You can start by saying, "Hey Meta, send a message to [your recipient's name] on Instagram."

Meta

Music app support is expanding beyond the US and Canada. The company is rolling out support for Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and Shazam in the product's non-North American regions. Once the update is live, you can ask your glasses things like, "Hey Meta, what's the name of this song?" or "Hey Meta, when did this album come out?"

Although no major hardware upgrades were announced today (the next revision with a screen is rumored to launch later this year), Meta and Ray-Ban are rolling out new styles for the second-gen glasses. These include new Skyler frame and lens color combinations, including the cat-eye-shaped Shiny Chalky Gray with Transitions Sapphire lenses and the "more timeless" Skyler Shiny Black with G15 Green lenses and Skyler Shiny Black with Clear lenses.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/meta-is-bringing-smart-glasses-live-translation-and-ai-to-more-people-184546291.html?src=rss

Discord CEO and co-founder Jason Citron has announced that he's stepping down from his leadership role at the chat app and being replaced by Humam Sakhnini, a former executive from Activision Blizzard. Citron will remain on Discord's board of directors, and fellow co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy will continue acting as the company's chief technology officer.

"From the very beginning, our mission has been about bringing people together around games," Citron said in a statement. "It’s a mission I’ve dedicated my career to, and I'm confident that passing the torch to Humam is the right evolution for Discord's future." While initially pitched as a way to talk to friend's before, during and after playing games, Discord has morphed into a much larger and more general social platform, serving "more than 200 million monthly active users worldwide," the company says.

There's an important financial context to Citron's move. The New York Times reported in March that Discord was meeting with investors to take the company public. Sakhnini has experience acting as a leader of a public company. He was also the President of King Digital — the creator of Candy Crush and other popular mobile games — after the company was acquired by Activision Blizzard. A veteran executive could be a natural fit to usher Discord to an IPO. Citron didn't deny the plan when GamesBeat asked if the company would go public: "As you can imagine, hiring someone like Humam is a step in that direction."

Just a few years ago, Discord was reportedly in talks to be acquired by Microsoft, which seemed like a natural fit alongside Xbox. The rumored $10 billion deal fell through, but both Xbox and PlayStation platforms got Discord integration.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/discords-ceo-and-co-founder-is-stepping-down-181851778.html?src=rss

The wait is (kind of) almost over. Ghost of Yōtei will be available for PS5 on October 2. This is a sequel to the 2020 hit Ghost of Tsushima and was first announced last year. It’s a PS5 exclusive, as it’s developed by Sony-owned Sucker Punch.

It doesn’t follow the story of Ghost of Tsushima. Rather, it’s an original adventure with new characters that's set in a new era. Ghost of Yōtei takes place in Hokkaido, Japan in the early 1600s. This is over 300 years after the events of the first game.

It’s still an open-world adventure, though Sony promises "even more freedom and variety than in Ghost of Tsushima." For instance, you can hunt down the six big bads in whatever order you choose. There’s a new trailer that reveals the basic story beats and some gameplay. It looks pretty darn fun.

Preorders will open up on May 2 at 10AM ET for those in the US. This being a modern console game, there are a few different editions to choose from. There’s the Standard Edition, which is just the game, that costs $70. The Digital Deluxe Edition adds in-game bonuses, like armor, weapons and costumes. That one costs $80.

Sony

The Collector’s Edition, which costs a whopping $250, comes with all of the aforementioned in-game items, but that’s just the beginning. It also ships with physical items, like replicas of the protagonist’s mask, katana and sash. Sony is calling this the best Collector’s Edition it has ever produced. All preorders, no matter which edition, receive a "unique in-game mask" and a handful of PSN avatars.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/ghost-of-yotei-comes-to-ps5-on-october-2-165531467.html?src=rss

As Big Tech pours countless dollars and resources into AI, preaching the gospel of its utopia-creating brilliance, here's a reminder that algorithms can screw up. Big time. The latest evidence: You can trick Google's AI Overview (the automated answers at the top of your search queries) into explaining fictional, nonsensical idioms as if they were real.

According to Google's AI Overview (via @gregjenner on Bluesky), "You can't lick a badger twice" means you can't trick or deceive someone a second time after they've been tricked once.

That sounds like a logical attempt to explain the idiom — if only it weren't poppycock. Google's Gemini-powered failure came in assuming the question referred to an established phrase rather than absurd mumbo jumbo designed to trick it. In other words, AI hallucinations are still alive and well.

Google / Engadget

We plugged some silliness into it ourselves and found similar results.

Google's answer claimed that "You can't golf without a fish" is a riddle or play on words, suggesting you can't play golf without the necessary equipment, specifically, a golf ball. Amusingly, the AI Overview added the clause that the golf ball "might be seen as a 'fish' due to its shape." Hmm.

Then there's the age-old saying, "You can't open a peanut butter jar with two left feet." According to the AI Overview, this means you can't do something requiring skill or dexterity. Again, a noble stab at an assigned task without stepping back to fact-check the content's existence.

There's more. "You can't marry pizza" is a playful way of expressing the concept of marriage as a commitment between two people, not a food item. (Naturally.) "Rope won't pull a dead fish" means that something can't be achieved through force or effort alone; it requires a willingness to cooperate or a natural progression. (Of course!) "Eat the biggest chalupa first" is a playful way of suggesting that when facing a large challenge or a plentiful meal, you should first start with the most substantial part or item. (Sage advice.)

Google / Engadget

This is hardly the first example of AI hallucinations that, if not fact-checked by the user, could lead to misinformation or real-life consequences. Just ask the ChatGPT lawyers, Steven Schwartz and Peter LoDuca, who were fined $5,000 in 2023 for using ChatGPT to research a brief in a client's litigation. The AI chatbot generated nonexistent cases cited by the pair that the other side's attorneys (quite understandably) couldn't locate.

The pair's response to the judge's discipline? "We made a good faith mistake in failing to believe that a piece of technology could be making up cases out of whole cloth."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/you-can-trick-googles-ai-overviews-into-explaining-made-up-idioms-162816472.html?src=rss

For those of us who've been on the internet for decades, today is a big milestone: the 20th anniversary of the first video uploaded to YouTube. That happened way back on April 23, 2005, only about a year and a half before Google made the shrewd move of purchasing the site. That first video is the all-time classic 19-second clip "Me at the zoo," the kind of video that came to define early YouTube. It's grainy, short and has no production values to speak of. Fast forward a few decades and YouTube has no peer in terms of its sheer volume of audiovisual content —the company says that a mind-boggling 20 trillion videos have been uploaded in the last 20 years, and 20 million are updated daily.

With all that in mind, Engadget's staff put their heads together to pick out the videos that have meant the most to them over the years. Not surprisingly, there's some weird stuff here, a lot of it from the early days of the platform. Apparently the stuff that really resonates with us isn't polish or production, but the raw, oddball stuff that couldn't have existed anywhere else. 

Ambient Renders

I test a whole bunch of portable batteries for Engadget. A power bank can refill a dead smartphone in one to two hours, but thanks to annoying technology “advancements” it takes around 20 hours to drain a phone again. I’m constantly playing YouTube videos on my tester handsets with the screen brightness cranked all the way up to make them die faster (these poor phones). My favorite videos to use are from Ambient Renders. Each one is eight or so hours of painstakingly rendered, mostly nighttime views from the windows of fancy lofts in modern-day big cities, cozy bedrooms of the distant past and sci-fi futurescapes. The soundtracks are soft rain, lonesome wind, crackling fires, distant thunder and the rumble of passing transport pods.

I often return to a Warm Cozy Cabin With a Relaxing Fire and Gentle Wind — a candle-lit bedroom with huge windows overlooking snow-covered pines, with a couple of mugs steaming in the corner. The subtle movements and details really come to life when you play them on a TV. There are a ton of these types of videos on YouTube and, lately, the creator has taken to adding “not made with AI” disclaimers to the video descriptions. It’s plain to see these are made with love and skill. The intricacy is stunning and even the sci-fi views are anchored in realism. — Amy Skorheim, senior reporter

Canadian, Please | gunnarolla & Julia Bentley

I was trying to remember the first YouTube video I was obsessed with and honestly couldn't tell you. Between communitychannel, Jake and Amir, Michelle Phan, Wong Fu Productions and many more, I have too many likes and faves to count. But I can tell you that I've been jamming to Gunnorolla's "Canadian, Please" since before it became cool to want to be Canadian. This certified bop was something I replayed over and over; I've memorized the lyrics and the song haunts me in my dreams, too. My more modern favorites change every month, but I currently adore CinemaSins, Scary Interesting, Wilko Rehashed, Psychology in Seattle and The School of Life. Oh and also, don't go looking for my channel from when I was a regular vlogger in the 2000s. Don't. — Cherlynn Low, managing editor

Carl Lewis National Anthem Fail

YouTube isn’t just for watching new videos of celebrities embarrassing themselves. You can also revisit humiliations from way before the video site’s inception!

Take this spectacular(ly bad) national anthem performance by Olympic sprinter Carl Lewis. Ahead of a 1993 regular-season NBA matchup between the Chicago Bulls and New Jersey Nets, the gold medalist stepped on the court to demonstrate the vocal talent we were deprived of as he wasted his prime years racing.

This video only includes snippets of Lewis’ belting (as in whipping listeners with a belt) rendition. But you still get his overly embellished opening note, self-aware “Uh oh!” after making a sound you’d expect from an animal being stepped on and an (ultimately unfulfilled) promise to make up for it.

As a bonus, this version includes SportsCenter anchor Charlie Steiner’s inability to keep his composure after the clip rolls. That’s followed by his Dad Joke-worthy commentary that Francis Scott Off-Key wrote Lewis’ rendition. — Will Shanklin, contributing reporter

Dog of Wisdom

It's almost 10 years later and I still reference this video every couple weeks. I can't offer higher praise than that. — Anna Washenko, contributing reporter

Food Wishes

One of the great things about YouTube, to this day, is the massive number of tutorial videos. I’ve used it to learn how to tie a tie, record music, put together furniture and where to dispose of that furniture when it’s given up the ghost. It also taught me how to cook. This is primarily thanks to one man. He goes by Chef John, but his channel is called Food Wishes. 

I’m fairly sure he’s the very first cook to capitalize on the platform, as he’s been making recipe videos pretty much since the beginning. This spaghetti with clam sauce tutorial is over 18 years old. I chose this particular video because I remember a trio of occasions in my life where I whipped out this recipe to amaze friends, family and (gasp) would-be romantic partners. His simple, charming and no-nonsense approach to cooking has always clicked with me, and I’m not alone. He has over four million followers on the platform and still cranks out videos to this day. His channel is a great reminder of how useful YouTube can actually be. — Lawrence Bonk, contributing reporter

John Frusciante - 09 - New Dawn Fades

My favorite YouTube video, the one I return to year after year, is a bootleg of the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s John Frusciante playing Joy Division’s “New Dawn Fades” at a solo show in Amsterdam at the start of the century. Say what you will about his main band, but John Frusciante is easily one of the greatest living guitarists, and this video — shot in 2001 and uploaded to YouTube less than a year after the platform went online in 2005 — is the perfect showcase of his many talents as a musician.

The footage is grainy, like so many videos from the era, but what counts is you can hear nearly every nuance of his performance. With his beloved Martin 00-15 acoustic guitar, Frusciante plays two melodies at the same time in his trademark syncopated style, all the while singing Ian Curtis’ lyrics with so much emotion.

As a teenager, Frusciante’s performance inspired me to no end. I spent countless summer hours trying to learn and emulate his playing style. In 2006, I even bought an issue of Guitar World magazine because it came with a DVD that included an interview with Frusciante and a lesson from the man himself on how to play "Under the Bridge". I probably should have known someone would upload that video to YouTube. It would have saved me a few bucks.

Looking back at my favorite video all these years later, it captures what’s best about YouTube. You can find nearly every performance in music recording history. Frusciante’s performance of "New Dawn Fades" could have easily disappeared with the passage of time. Instead, it will now exist as long as YouTube does, waiting to inspire someone else. — Igor Bonifacic, senior reporter

Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away (lyrics)

YouTube is home to an endless stream of poignant art, thought-provoking video essays and open windows to other people’s lives. More than that, though, it’s home to a lot of really dumb shit. Most of that shit is bad, as forgettable as it is lazy. But when someone puts in the work to make their dumb idea as dumb as possible, when they are enlightened by just how dumb their idea could be... that’s when the magic happens.

This Lenny Kravitz “remix” by all-around web artist Neil Cicierega — which turns the funk rock hit into an ode to dragonflies and having sex with candy bars, all while aping a “my first Windows XP slideshow” aesthetic — is a prime example of the “good dumb” I’m talking about. It is completely of the internet, something that could only result from one weirdo out there with a silly idea and some video editing software. It is so stupid, but also inspired, so it always works for me. — Jeff Dunn, senior reporter

Rancid Stool - Low Music video

Damn, who is that handsome young man having the worst day of his life in glorious 280p? Oh wait, that would be me.

Way back in the day, my buds and I made a music video for a Foo Fighters song for a contest. Needless to say, we didn't win, but we had an absolute blast all the same. Making something silly with your friends is really fun. Who could have imagined?

Some [mumbles] years later, the video is still one of my favorite things I've ever done. Yes, the editing stinks (my bad), it doesn't make a whole lot of sense narratively and the name of our would-be production company is very regrettable.

Still, I'm really proud of what we put together. Every time I watch it, I get the urge to start making fun videos again. Maybe I’ll actually do that someday.

P.S. Screw you and your magnificent mustache forever, Chad Sexington. —Kris Holt, contributing reporter

Shining Movie Trailer Parody

In the age of AI, fake movie trailers have become something of a spam epidemic on YouTube. But as someone who distinctly remembers swapping video files to friends and coworkers via email with Quicktime or AVI files attached — yes, it was exactly the bandwidth and security nightmare it sounds like — I still rank this hand-edited Shining remix near the top of my YouTube Mount Rushmore. The romcom take on Kubrick's horror classic dates back to at least 2005, but it seems to get rediscovered by new fans every few years, and rightly so — it's a gem. — John Falcone, executive editor

Star Trek: Tik Tok

Lots of people have made music videos out of unexpected crossovers like this, but Star Trek: Tik Tok still stands out to me as the best. Every clip from the original 1960s series is paired to perfection with the lyrics, and Captain Kirk is a weirdly fitting analogue for Kesha's late 2000s party girl.

When I watch it now, I think this video captures the scrappy ethos of what it meant to go viral during the early days of YouTube. It was about creativity, not content creators. People were making weird and funny shit just for the heck of it. Every now and then you'd stumble on a video that resonated and it lived in your head rent-free for years. And what can I say, I still think this track is a banger. — A.W.

We Like The Moon

The first YouTube video I saw that left me totally agog at what the human mind is capable of was "We Like the Moon." I didn’t have a TV at the time so had no idea Quiznos had used the concept in their commercials. When I saw it on my friend's computer in 2006 or so, I was coming at it fresh. I remember a giddiness rising in my soul and a goofy smile plastering my face. It felt like we were living in a world of limitless creativity and possibility where fun was a guiding principle and “good” didn’t mean access to funding, expensive equipment, technical prowess, or even a decent voice. My partner and I sang it, and still sing it, whenever the moon, marmots, chopsticks or zeppelins are mentioned. Now, I realize strangely proportioned, animal-like monstrosities raving off-key about nonsense is old hat at this point. But I will never forget when this was first played for me. — A.S.

Where the Hell is Matt? 2008

This is the third of Matt Harding's videos of himself dancing badly in various scenic locations around the world, and the first in which he encouraged bystanders to dance with him — equally badly, with some exceptions. I have no defenses against large groups of people doing the same thing simultaneously in multiple locations.

Oddly specific, I know, but in a society obsessed with dividing and categorizing, it reminds me of our common humanity. This video never fails to bring a tear to my eye, from the subtle political statements (Tel Aviv and East Jerusalem were not placed right next to each other by accident) to the sheer obvious joy of everybody involved. I even like the music. — Sam Rutherford, senior reporter

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/engadgets-favorite-videos-from-20-years-of-youtube-162004518.html?src=rss

Intel is reportedly preparing to further reduce its headcount, this time by laying off more than 20 percent of its employees. It could announce a plan to do so as soon as this week. The struggling company had 108,900 employees at the end of last year, so it may be set to cut tens of thousands of jobs. According to a Bloomberg source, the aim of the downsizing is to streamline management operations and refocus Intel with an engineering-driven culture.

Last August, Intel said it would cut more than 15,000 jobs to reduce costs. In fact, the company, which has been slow to embrace the industry's shift toward artificial intelligence, has been significantly reducing its headcount since 2022 amid declining sales.

These latest purported layoffs would mark one of the first major restructuring measures since Lip-Bu Tan became CEO in March after the sudden departure of Pat Gelsinger. The company is set to report its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. Companies that are restructuring often announce layoffs around the time they release earnings reports.

Tan has also pledged to sell off assets that aren't core to Intel's goals as he tries to turn the business around. Last week, it emerged that Intel is selling off a majority stake in chipmaker Altera for $4.46 billion. That deal is expected to close later this year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intel-may-be-preparing-to-lay-off-20-percent-of-its-staff-161557058.html?src=rss

Amazon’s Project Kuiper is reportedly way behind schedule, according to an investigation by Bloomberg. This is the company’s satellite internet service, which intends to rival SpaceX and Starlink. The issue seems to be one of scale, as the company has had trouble increasing production of the actual satellites.

The reporting indicates that the Kuiper team has only managed to manufacture a few dozen of these satellites. As a comparison, there are currently over 7,000 Starlink satellites in orbit. The initial production of the Kuiper satellites was delayed until the tail-end of last year, so Amazon hasn’t had too much time to ramp things up.

Beta testing didn’t start until earlier this year. Amazon had planned for an initial launch on April 8 for 27 satellites, but that got delayed until April 28.

Project Kuiper hopes to eventually provide broadband connectivity to at least 400 million households, in addition to providing service in remote areas. However, it needs to launch over 3,000 satellites to reach that goal. Additionally, it secured a government contract with a deadline to put 1,600 satellites in orbit by next summer. Insiders suggest that it will probably have to seek an extension from the FCC.

"We’ve designed some of the most advanced communications satellites ever built, and our primary objective is to build and launch enough of them to begin delivering service to customers later this year," an Amazon spokesperson told Seeking Alpha. "Our manufacturing schedule is on track to support this target, and we’ll continue to increase our production and launch rates as we begin a full-scale deployment of our network."

It did manage to launch a pair of prototype satellites into space in late 2023. This was followed by successful tests of an optical mesh network that linked the two satellites in low Earth orbit. 

The company is scheduled to conduct a number of launches throughout the year, with help from Arianespace, Blue Origin and SpaceX. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, will handle the April 28 launch. Amazon hasn’t indicated why satellite production has hit this hiccup. We reached out to the company and will update this post when we learn more.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/amazons-starlink-rival-project-kuiper-is-reportedly-way-behind-schedule-153514471.html?src=rss