ArduinoMania

A year later, Meta’s pivot to the metaverse is proving even more expensive. Reality Labs is losing more money than ever, Facebook’s parent company disclosed in its latest earnings report.

Reality Labs, the unit that oversees the company’s virtual and augmented reality projects, lost $3.7 billion in the third-quarter of 2022, a jump from a $2.6 billion loss a year ago and $2.8 billion last quarter. Reality Labs has lost more than $9 billion so far in 2022. And the company’s finance chief said the trend is unlikely to reverse anytime soon. “We do anticipate that Reality Labs operating losses in 2023 will grow significantly year-over-year,” outgoing CFO Dave Whener said in a statement.

That’s significant because Meta’s massive investment in Reality labs has already proved costly for the company. Meta reported earlier this year that it lost $10 billion on Reality labs in 2021. The company also confirmed that the “next generation of our consumer Quest headset” is expected to launch “later next year,” an apparent reference to a Meta Quest 3.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg also warned that the company could face “near-term challenges on revenue.” The company reported $28 billion in revenue for the quarter, which was in line with analyst expectations, but “still behind where I think we should be,” according to Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg also confirmed that Meta would continue to slash hiring as it deals with slowing revenue growth. “Some teams will grow meaningfully but most other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year,” he said. “In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today.”

Developing…

You'll have to wait a few months if you want to see Team Ninja's latest take on Nioh-style demon slaying. Koei Tecmo has confirmed that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty arrives March 3rd for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC (via the Microsoft Store and Steam). It will also be accessible through Xbox Game Pass on launch.

Wo Long is effectively Team Ninja's love note to Koei Tecmo's long-running obsession with Three Kingdoms-era China (see: Dynasty Warriors). You play a militia member fighting a demon onslaught in the later Han Period. You'll encounter famous warriors in the process. As with the Nioh series, you can expect an action-based battle system that rewards different playstyles, but is also unforgiving — when the creators talk about gaining strength by "overcoming adversity," it's safe to presume you'll die often.

You'll have something to play in the meantime, depending on your choice of platform. Sony just revealed that the remastered Nioh 2 will be one of PlayStation Plus Essential's free games for November alongside the Lego Harry Potter Collection and Heavenly Bodies.

It's not clear if Wo Long will continue Team Ninja's track record. There is a large potential audience, at least. Team Ninja has announced that the two Nioh games have shipped a combined 7 million copies since the franchise's debut in February 2017. While that won't make FromSoftware nervous (Elden Ring alone had sold 16.6 million units by July this year), it suggests the new title could have plenty of fans.

Autonomous vehicle company Argo AI is shutting down. In an earnings report, Ford (a major investor in Argo AI) noted that the company is being wound down and that it will hire engineers from the startup to expand and speed up development of Level 2+ and Level 3 autonomous driving systems.

Ford says that it made a decision to refocus its self-driving capital spending from the Level 4 systems Argo was working on (where the vehicles handles most driving operations) to Level 2+ (advanced driver assistance) and Level 3 (conditional automation) tech it's developing in-house. It noted that Argo AI wasn't able to attract new investors and that it was taking a "$2.7 billion non-cash, pretax impairment on its investment" in the company, which led to it posting an $827 million net loss for Q3.

According to TechCrunch, which first reported on Argo AI's closure, Volkswagen and Ford will snap up the company's tech and other assets. It's not clear how the automakers, which invested at least $3.6 billion into Argo AI between them, are divvying things up nor how many of Argo AI's more than 2,000 workers they plan to make employment offers to. All Argo AI employees will receive bonuses as part of their severance package, with those who Ford and VW don't keep on receiving additional payments and health insurance, according to the report.

In 2017, Ford said it would invest $1 billion into Argo AI over five years. Two years later, VW committed $2.6 billion in capital and assets toward the startup. Around that time, Ford and VW said they would work on vehicles that harness Argo AI's autonomous driving tech. Between them, the automakers held a "substantial majority" stake in Argo AI.

Argo AI had been testing its tech on public roads in the US and Germany. In May, it commenced driverless operations in Austin and Miami without a safety driver at the wheel. Lyft was among the companies that were looking at deploying Argo AI-powered vehicles. Just last month, Argo AI announced a number of tools and services designed to support autonomous delivery and robotaxi operations.

It's not clear what prompted the apparent closure of Argo AI — Engadget has contacted the company for comment. However, creating a robust and safe self-driving system is not exactly an easy challenge. Full Level 5 autonomy is still at least several years away from becoming truly viable for the mass market. To that end, Ford said in its earnings report that "the auto industry’s large-scale profitable commercialization of Level 4 advanced driver assistance systems will be further out than originally anticipated."

General Motors is on track to secure 100 percent of the electricity it needs to power all of its US facilities with renewable energy by 2025. On Wednesday, the automaker announced it recently finalized the sourcing agreements it needs to make that feat a reality. The announcement puts GM on track to meet the most recent renewable energy target it set for itself late last year. Previously, the company had planned to power all of its US facilities with renewables by 2030. GM claims its accelerated transition will allow it to avoid producing an estimated 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions between 2025 and 2030.

As of today, GM’s energy portfolio includes sourcing agreements with 16 renewable energy plants across 10 states. The company is also working on increasing the efficiency of its factories and offices, as well as building out its on-site power generation capabilities.

“Securing the renewable energy we need to achieve our goal demonstrates tangible progress in reducing our emissions in all aspects of our business, ultimately moving us closer to our vision of a future with zero emissions,” said Kristen Siemen, GM’s chief sustainability officer.

While GM is on track toward an impressive feat, it’s worth taking a moment to contextualize what today’s announcement means in the bigger picture. Firstly, the company operates offices and factories outside of the US. Today’s announcement doesn’t cover those facilities. Secondly, even when you factor in all of GM’s buildings, they’re only a small part of the company’s total carbon footprint.

According to its most recent sustainability report, Scope 1 and 2 emissions account for only two percent of GM’s total emissions. For those who aren’t familiar with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, it’s an accounting system many companies use to source and track their emissions. The Scope 1 category includes all pollution produced directly by an organization. Scope 2, meanwhile, encompasses indirect emissions created from the electricity, heating and cooling it buys. The majority of GM’s emissions, a whopping 98 percent, aren’t produced by its facilities. Instead, they come from the company’s supply chain and the consumers using its cars.

To be fair, GM is working on reducing those emissions. In the summer of 2021, the company announced it would invest a total of $35 billion through 2025 toward electric and autonomous vehicle development. That said, the transition is something that will take time. By 2030, GM plans for EVs to account for 40 to 50 percent of the cars its sells in the US.

iCloud has been available on the web for a long time, but you might not have rushed to use it given a basic and sometimes clunky interface. You might have a reason to give it another look, though. Apple has introduced a beta iCloud web client that presents far more info at a glance, with a customizable tile layout that reflects your priorities. It's easier to switch between apps thanks to launchers on the home page and menu bar, and you can quickly start tasks (such as writing email or adding calendar events) thanks to another menu option.

The revamp also improves access to iCloud+ features like custom email domains and Hide My Email. And if you're panicking at the thought of lost info, a "Data Recovery" tool will help you reclaim bookmarks, calendars, contacts and iCloud Drive files deleted within the last 30 days. Except for iCloud Drive, you can restore from specific moments in time. Some features still need to be controlled through Apple hardware, including Family Sharing, HomeKit Secure Video and Private Relay.

Apple hasn't said when the new iCloud web interface might leave beta testing. We've asked the company for comment and will let you know if we hear back. However, the tech firm pitches this as an upgrade for customers whose only Apple product might be an iPhone — you can more readily access content and manage services through your Windows PC's browser.

This redesign probably won't persuade Android users to switch, and the individual web apps haven't changed much. The beta may encourage you to stick to the Apple ecosystem, though. Combined with web access to services like Music and TV+, it also shows that Apple is eager to court users who can't (or just don't want to) run dedicated apps on their platforms of choice.

Samsung's The Frame — the smart TV that looks like art when it's off — just hit a record low price. As part of Samsung Week, a deals event running through November 1st, the 55-inch Samsung Frame comes in at $998, which is hundreds lower than it was Prime Day a few weeks ago. While these sets are still on the expensive side when on discount, they're hard to beat if you want a TV that blends into your space better than a standard black box.

As a TV, the Frame delivers the vivid, high-res quality with a QLED 4K panel, along with the intuitive smart TV interface of Samsung's Tizen OS. But the real draw here happens when the TV is off. In Art Mode, The Frame displays images from an extensive gallery of artwork. Pick from classic oil paintings from artists you'd find in the Louvre or modern photography from rising stars. I have an earlier model of The Frame and have surprised more than one visitor when I switched my "art" to an episode of Owl House.

One caveat is you'll need a Samsung Art Store subscription (currently $8 per month) to access the entire collection, as only a small subset is available for display without it. 

To really sell the idea that you're displaying art instead of a TV, The Frame comes standard with anti-reflective glass and a separate CPU to keep a low, flush-mounted profile. The CPU connects via a thin cable that's hard to spot, especially if you drop it behind the wall when mounting the TV. 

Getting a sub-$1,000 price point on the 55-inch model was unheard of before now. And currently, all sizes, up through the massive 85-inch, are deeply discounted. If the Frame isn't your style, or you're looking for an outdoor-friendly TV, Samsung Week discounts have also knocked down the prices of the Terrace TV and even some of the company's projectors. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Duolingo isn't just about helping people learn languages anymore. The company has released Duolingo Math on iOS, over a year after it first teased the app. Naturally, Duolingo Math shares a lot of DNA with the language apps, including colorful animations and interactive exercises in bite-sized, gamified lessons.

There are two main components to the app: an elementary-level math curriculum that goes over classroom topics and a brain-training course aimed at adults, with more advanced topics and a focus on improving mental math skills. The former covers topics such as multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, areas, geometry and measurements. The brain-training side has similar topics with tougher exercises. Duolingo hopes to help folks learn practical skills, such as converting between ounces and pounds.

Duolingo conducted a survey into math anxiety. It found that 93 percent of adults in the US have experienced some anxiety over math, while around half of high schoolers have "very high math anxiety." With its latest app, it aims to make math "accessible and fun" for everyone.

While this is far from the only math learning app around, Duolingo's name carries some weight with many folks. Like Khan Academy, Duolingo Math is free. The app is available on iPhone, iPad and some iPod Touch devices and it's only in English for now. The company hasn't revealed when it will be available on Android.

If you've been thinking about adding cameras to your connected home setup, this is a great time to dive in. Amazon's Blink Mini cameras are down to $30 for a pair, which is the usual price for just one camera. It's an all-time low and matches the deep discount Amazon ran for October's Prime Day. 

The cameras take clear and sharp 1080p video, which you can stream to your phone or a smart display like Amazon's Echo Show. Since Amazon owns Blink, they work with Alexa, allowing voice control over the units from any compatible device. They also pair nicely with Blink's doorbell, acting as a chime when someone rings it. 

The Minis are motion activated (as opposed to always-on) and can alert you when movement's detected. With built-in speakers and a mic, you can both hear and talk to people (or pets) remotely using your phone or another Alexa-enabled smart device. The cameras will work without a subscription, but if you want to save video clips, you can opt for the Blink Subscription Plan (currently $30 per year for the basic plan). 

The only caveat is that Blink Minis are wired cameras, so you'll need to set them up somewhere near an outlet — but you'll never need to remember to change the batteries.

If you want cameras outside too, it's worth mentioning that the Blink Outdoor cameras are back on sale as well. Single packs are down to $60, and the multi-camera bundles are discounted too, with the best deal on the three- and five-camera bundles (both 50 percent off). 

Blink Outdoor cams are our current favorite wireless security cameras, running on AA batteries, which will power a camera for about a year. They come with a mount and are, of course, weatherproof, so you don't have to mount them under an eave or overhang, which lets you angle them at exactly what you want to see. And like the indoor version, these let you see, hear, and talk to whomever is in front of the camera, and it can all be controlled via Alexa, either with the app or your voice. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Sony has launched the $3,900 A7R V, its latest mirrorless camera designed to shoot portraits, landscapes and other subjects that require as much resolution as possible. The new model carries the same 61-megapixel resolution as the A7R IV, but has a much more powerful new Bionz XR processor that allows for improved AI autofocus, better shake reduction and 8K 24p video. 

The key improvement is in the autofocus, as the A7R V is Sony's first camera to introduced something called "human pose estimation." The system can see 20 different points in the human body and and thus figure out where the eye is supposed to be. That allows it to accurately track someone who might be moving and turning away from the camera, and keep tracking them even if they disappear from view for a moment. On top of that, it can now pick out different subjects like cars, trains, plains, animals and insects.

Though the A7R V is primarily targeted at photographers, it's much better at video than ever, too. Where the A7R IV was limited to 8-bit 4K at 30fps with either cropping or line-skipping, the A7R V now shoots 8K video at up to 24 fps, along with 6.2K without line-skipping or pixel binning. With the same heatsink as the A7S III, it allows for unlimited 4K recording and up to 30 minutes of 8K capture.

It can also handle supersampled 10-bit 4K video using the entire sensor width at up to 30 fps, or at 60fps with a 1.2x crop. You can also capture 16-bit RAW video to external recorders at up to 4K 60p. 

Sony has upgraded to the in-body stabilization (IBS) system from 5.5 to 8 stops, now matching what Canon can do with its similarly-priced EOS R5. And in lieu of the tilting display used in the A7R IV, the new model has a fully articulating screen that makes it more useful for high-angle shooting, video and more. 

The A7R V shoots at the same 10fps speeds as before, which is impressive for such a high-resolution camera. However, it can now shoot compressed RAW files rather than just uncompressed as before. The buffer can also handle up to 583 shots, letting you shoot for a large amount of time in a burst. 

Sony

It has a long list of other attractive features, including a class-leading 9.44-million-dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) and dual card slots that accept either speedy (but expensive) CFexpress Type A or UHS-II cards. Another new feature is pixel shift multishot (tripod use only) for compositing 16 shots into one 240.8-megapixel image using AI processing to automatically detect and correct movement between frames. 

The list continues with AI-powered white balance, focus stacking of up to 299 frames for increased depth of field, Sony's Cinetone color profile for a more film-like look, an updated body with dials and controls similar to the A7 IV, USB-C charging with Power Delivery and native webcam compatibility. The Sony A7R V is set to arrive in December for $3,900. 

Sony

CD Projekt Red recently announced a whole bunch of projects it has in the pipeline, including multiple entries in The Witcher series. One of those had the codename "Canis Majoris" and it was then confirmed to be a "full-fledged" Witcher game developed in Unreal Engine 5 by an external studio. Now, CDPR has shed more light on the project. As it turns out, Canis Majoris is actually a remake of the first title in the series.

Polish studio Fool’s Theory is remaking The Witcher under CDPR's supervision. It's in the early stages of development, so the game is likely at least a couple of years away. CDPR says it will be a while before it starts talking about the project in more detail. However, it confirmed that Fool's Theory is rebuilding The Witcher Remake from the ground up using the same toolset that CDPR is utilizing for other games in the series. For what it's worth, the Fool's Theory team includes developers who worked on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Going back to where it all began for CDPR makes a lot of sense. The Witcher came out in 2007 and while it was fairly well received, it arguably wasn't until The Witcher 3 (and the Netflix show based on the source novels) that the franchise reached a much higher level of popularity. It's not a stretch to imagine that players who came into the series later would be curious about Geralt of Rivia's earlier adventures.

What's more, The Witcher was only released for PC and Mac. While PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were announced at one point, they never came to fruition. It seems unlikely that CDPR wouldn't release console versions this time, given the larger audience of players it can tap into. Meanwhile, the current-gen version of The Witcher 3 is slated to arrive by the end of the year.