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The Rabbit R1 is finally here, and it's yet another useless AI gadget. Sure, at $199 with no monthly fee, it's a lot cheaper than the $699 Humane AI Pin. But the R1 is slow, hard to use, and doesn't actually do much. The much-promised "Large Action Model" mostly powers things you can easily do on your phone. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Sam Rutherford chat with CNET's Lisa Eadicicco about the Rabbit R1 and whether AI devices are necessary at all. Just like cameras, the best AI device is the one you always have with you: your smartphone.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

Topics

• Rabbit R1 review: appealing design, underwhelming performance – 0:49

• Tesla lays off Supercharger development team leaving future of the network unclear – 25:28

• FCC fines U.S. wireless carriers $200m for selling customer location data – 30:05

• Razer will refund all Zephyr mask purchases over false N95 filtering claims – 32:52

• Drake deletes track featuring an AI clone of Tupac Shakur’s voice – 35:16

• Working on – 36:23

• Pop culture picks – 40:18

Subscribe!

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Livestream

Credits 

Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Sam Rutherford
Guest: Lisa Eadicicco from CNET
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

The Rabbit R1 is finally here, and it's yet another useless AI gadget. Sure, at $199 with no monthly fee, it's a lot cheaper than the $699 Humane AI Pin. But the R1 is slow, hard to use, and doesn't actually do much. The much-promised "Large Action Model" mostly powers things you can easily do on your phone. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Sam Rutherford chat with CNET's Lisa Eadicicco about the Rabbit R1 and whether AI devices are necessary at all. Just like cameras, the best AI device is the one you always have with you: your smartphone.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

Topics

• Rabbit R1 review: appealing design, underwhelming performance – 0:49

• Tesla lays off Supercharger development team leaving future of the network unclear – 25:28

• FCC fines U.S. wireless carriers $200m for selling customer location data – 30:05

• Razer will refund all Zephyr mask purchases over false N95 filtering claims – 32:52

• Drake deletes track featuring an AI clone of Tupac Shakur’s voice – 35:16

• Working on – 36:23

• Pop culture picks – 40:18

Subscribe!

• iTunes

• Spotify

• Pocket Casts

• Stitcher

• Google Podcasts

Livestream

Credits 

Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Sam Rutherford
Guest: Lisa Eadicicco from CNET
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

Tom Clancy's XDefiant is almost upon us. Ubisoft is releasing the free-to-play first-person shooter on May 21 for the Xbox Series X|S, the PS5 and PC through Ubisoft Connect. The developer is kicking things off with the preseason version of the game, which is scheduled to last for six weeks before XDefiant's first season officially starts. Ubisoft announced the game way back in 2021, promising team-based matches with a focus on gunplay that will include elements from other games in the Tom Clancy universe.

The preseason will offer five different game modes with 14 maps, 24 weapons and five playable factions inspired by Ubisoft's other franchises. Players will need to choose their faction before the match begins and before they respawn. They must also choose their primary and secondary weapon — their options include assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns and sniper rifles — and a grenade. To customize a weapon, they can add barrel and muzzle attachments, such as sights and grips. 

Each faction will give players access to two active abilities, one passive buff and another ultra ability that they have to charge up while the match is ongoing. Libertad, one of the available factions, puts a focus on healing, while members of the Cleaners faction can use fire to burn their opponents. Echelon players can reveal enemy locations with their stealth technology, whereas Phantoms' abilities can block damage. The last faction available, DedSec, is for those who want to play as hackers. 

When the first season launches, Ubisoft is adding four new factions, 12 new weapons and 12 new maps to the game. According to the Year 1 roadmap the developer shared last year, it expects to roll out four seasons with the game's first year, with each one adding more new content meant to keep players engaged, invested and more likely to come back and keep playing.

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Elon Musk has made no secret that he’s not a fan of the block button. Now, X is changing how blocks work on its platform, though it’s (for now) stopping short of Musk’s wish of nuking the feature entirely.

Instead, X is tweaking the visibility of replies in the context of a block. Previously, a user could block someone on X and still reply to their posts. And the person who was blocked wouldn’t be able to view that reply or know the person who had blocked them was engaging with their posts. That’s now being rolled back so that users will be able to see direct replies even if the person posting has blocked them. In a post from X’s engineering team, the company said the change is “part of our ongoing commitment to aligning the block feature with our principles as a public town square.”

The post also hinted that there may be more changes coming to blocks, which is one of the most widely used safety features on the service. “Our goal is to allow users to control their experience while maintaining the public visibility of posts,” the company said. That would seem to align with previous comments from Musk, who has said on multiple occasions that a public-facing “block” feature “makes no sense” and that “block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature,’ except for DMs.”

For now, the changes to blocking aren’t that drastic. In fact, they may even be welcomed by some users who want more visibility into what people are saying about them on the platform. But the fact that X is starting to change the visibility of previously blocked content could also be a sign of more significant changes to come.

Microsoft says the April security updates for Windows may break your VPN. (Oops!) “Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update (KB5036893) or the April 2024 non-security preview update,” the company wrote in a status update. It’s working on a fix.

Bleeping Computer first reported the issue, which affects Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2008 and later. User reports on Reddit are mixed, with some commenters saying their VPNs still work after installing the update and others claiming their encrypted connections were indeed borked.

“We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release,” Microsoft wrote.

There’s no proper fix until Microsoft pushes a patched update. However, you can work around the issue by uninstalling all the security updates. In an unfortunate bit of timing for CEO Satya Nadella, he said last week that he wants Microsoft to put “security above else.” I can’t imagine making customers (temporarily) choose between going without a VPN and losing the latest protection is what he had in mind.

At least one Redditor claims that uninstalling and reinstalling their VPN app fixed the problem for them, so it may be worth trying that before moving on to more drastic measures.

If you decide to uninstall the security updates, Microsoft tells you how. “To remove the LCU after installing the combined SSU and LCU package, use the DISM/Remove-Package command line option with the LCU package name as the argument,” the company wrote in its patch notes. “You can find the package name by using this command: DISM /online /get-packages.”

Audible is testing a cheaper subscription tier in Australia that sounds like an answer to Spotify’s audiobook push. Like the more expensive plan, the new Standard membership gives you one free title per month. But, similar to gaming services like PlayStation Plus, you lose access to the books you claimed under the plan if you cancel.

As reported by Bloomberg, the Audible Standard plan costs AUD 8.99 (US$5.90) per month, significantly lower than the AUD 16.45 monthly cost of the Premium Plus plan in Australia ($14.97 in the US). Despite the lower cost, Audible Standard subscribers down under can still claim one audiobook per month to add to their library, which they can download and listen to online or off.

But the catch is, unlike Audible Premium Plus, Standard members’ free audiobook credits don’t roll over to the next month if they don’t use them. (So, if you forget to claim a book in May, you’ll still only have one credit to use in June.) In addition, the audiobooks you chose on the Standard plan will have a lock icon next to them after you cancel. To listen to them after canceling, you’ll have to buy them at full price or resubscribe.

Another difference between the plans is Audible Standard members won’t get full podcast access. “Audible Standard members can listen to many podcasts for free,” an Audible FAQ about the plan reads. “Some Audible Original podcasts aren’t available with Audible Standard membership though.”

Spotify launched an audiobook feature last year that challenged Audible’s established model. Spotify Premium subscribers in the US can stream 15 hours of books monthly through their ad-free music plan. The service also offers an audiobooks-only tier (with the same 15-hour cap) for $10 monthly. If the allotted time isn’t enough, Spotify users can buy a 10-hour top-up. A single audiobook often lasts around seven to 11 hours.