Kojima Productions is making a game with Elle Fanning (The Great). The studio announced the collaboration as part of an elaborate teaser campaign that began back at the Tokyo Game Show in September. At the time, it shared an image featuring a face obscured in shadow with the tagline “Who Am I?” On Friday, fans got an answer to that question when PAX Aus attendees found a QR code with a link to the Kojima Productions website. The webpage hosts an updated version of the image that features a portrait of Fanning.
Kojima subsequently shared a tweet implying there would be more teasers and an eventual reveal to follow. As for what they point to, Polygon suggests Friday’s teaser is most likely tied to a Death Stranding sequel. In May, actor Norman Reedus shared in an interview he had “just started” work on a second game in the series. Although Kojima Productions has yet to formally announce the title, a producer with the studio shared Kojima’s tweet using the hashtag #DeathStranding. That tweet has since been deleted.
However, it’s worth noting Kojima is working on at least one “completely new game” with Microsoft. The “Where Am I?” image the auteur shared may also point to “Overdose,” a horror game Kojima is reportedly making with Death Stranding and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actress Margaret Qualley. Either way, Kojima is likely to share more information about his next project at The Game Awards on December 9th since he has a long history with host Geoff Keighley.
Atlus surprised gaming fans this past summer when it shared that it would release its beloved Persona series on Xbox Game Pass. It then followed that announcement with the news that Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal would make their way to other modern platforms as well.
At the time, the company said P5R would be the first of the three games to arrive, with the two older titles to follow in 2023. On Saturday, ahead of Persona 5 Royal’s October 21st release on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Xbox Game Pass, Atlus announced that it would release Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden to additional platforms on January 19th, 2023. For the former, that means PlayStation 4 (and PS5 through backward compatibility), Nintendo Switch, Steam and Xbox Game Pass. For the latter, it’s those same platforms minus Steam where P4G has been available since 2020.
The expanded availability means a lot more people will have the chance to experience the Persona series. Before Atlus announced it was bringing the franchise to more platforms you had to out of your way to play the older titles. For instance, before its 2020 Steam release, Persona 4 Golden was only available on PlayStation Vita. For P3P, meanwhile, your options were either PlayStation Portable or, more likely, PS Vita through backward compatibility.
Rivian has notified customers that it's recalling 13,000 EVs — or almost all of the electric trucks and SUVs it has ever delivered — due to an issue that could render drivers unable to steer and control their vehicles. The company issued the recall after becoming aware of seven reports wherein a fastener connecting the steering knuckle to the vehicle's upper control arm "may not have been sufficiently torqued," according to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.
In the letter sent to customers, Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe said the company is recalling vehicles despite the small number of reported defects "out of an abundance of caution." He said the fastener could become loose in "rare circumstances" and lead to loss of steering control, but that there had been no reported injuries related to the issue.
At the moment, Rivian has two models on offer, which are the R1T truck and the R1S SUV, but it also makes electric delivery trucks for its minority owner Amazon at its factory in Normal, Illinois. Like most players in the auto and tech industries, the global supply chain woes over the past couple of years impacted its production capability. It even tried to raise the price of its R1T pickup truck by $12,000 due to inflation and component shortages earlier this year, though it quickly reversed the decision after customer backlash.
In July 2022, the automaker reported that it had almost doubled its production output to 4,401 vehicles for the second quarter of the year compared to the first. That's a fraction of other automakers' output — rival company Tesla, for instance, manufactured 258,580 EVs within the same period — but it's a positive step towards achieving its goal of producing 25,000 vehicles in 2022.
This recall isn't expected to prevent the company from reaching that goal, and the automaker is hoping that it can check all affected vehicles within 30 days. Rivian told customers that they can bring their vehicles to service centers to have the fasteners in their vehicles tightened within minutes. The company also said that they can send mobile repair vans to customers. Those experiencing possible symptoms for the issue, such as noise and vibration, may want to look into that option.
It has been two years since EA announced it was working on a replacement for its Origin PC client, and it's now starting to roll out the new app to Windows users. The publisher claims that the EA app, which has just concluded its open beta phase, is its fastest and lightest PC client to date.
EA is promising a streamlined design and suggests navigation will be easier. It seems the app has improved social features as well, since you'll be able to connect your EA account to platforms including Steam, Xbox and PlayStation — which could come in handy for games with cross-play support, such as Apex Legends and FIFA 23. You'll have a custom EA ID that should make it easy for your pals to recognize you.
The publisher says that it will soon invite Origin users to switch over to the new app. As you might imagine, all your stuff will be present, including your games, save data and friends list. It's worth noting that the new client will only be available on Windows PC for now. If you're a macOS user, you'll continue to use the Origin for Mac app for the foreseeable future. However, EA noted that it will have more to share on that front in the coming months.
Ukrainian forces have reportedly been dealing with Starlink outages as they try to take back Russian-occupied areas. Some of the outages, which are said to have caused a severe loss of communication over the last several weeks, occurred as troops broke through the frontline into territory controlled by Russia as well as during battles, a Ukraine government official told The Financial Times.
The cause of the apparent outages are not yet known. Engadget has contacted Starlink owner SpaceX for comment.
Starlink outages were reported in the four regions that Russia annexed last month following referendums, the legitimacy of which have been disputed. As the Financial Times notes, there's a significant Ukrainian counteroffensive in those areas.
Some terminals are said to have not been working in areas near Khariv, which Ukraine has almost entirely liberated, amid a push into Luhansk, one of the regions that Russia has claimed. However, military officials claimed this week that Starlink terminals were working in freshly liberated areas east of Izyum and in southern Kherson, according to the report.
Ukrainian troops have been using the terminals to stay in contact, operate drones and receive intelligence while stationed in parts of the country that don't have other secure networking options. Soon after Russia's invasion, SpaceX, with the help of American taxpayers, sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine for both military and civilian use.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk warned Ukrainians to exercise caution while using Starlink. Researchers pointed out that Russia may be able to use signals from the terminals for targeting purposes. Meanwhile, Musk this week caused anger and concern in Ukraine and among the country's allies when he suggested that referendums should be held to determine the Russia-Ukraine border. He also claimed SpaceX has spent $80 million to support Ukraine through Starlink.
Toyota is finally back on track with production of the bZ4x, its first EV. Reutersreports the company has restarted manufacturing of the electric crossover after fixing a defect that could see wheels come loose during hard braking or sharp turns. The company also said it fixed a previously unannounced flaw with poorly installed airbags that could fail or cause injuries.
The automaker said it tackled the wheel issue by replacing the hub bolts and ensuring the new parts were tightened properly. There was no mention of when sales would resume in the US, although Japanese customers can once again lease the bZ4x (their only option for driving the car) starting October 26th. Subaru also hasn't said how it will address American sales of its equivalent model, the Solterra, although it hadn't reached US buyers before the defect emerged.
The short-term financial damage of the fix was relatively limited. Toyota recalled just 2,700 vehicles worldwide, most of them in Europe. Even the buybacks and credits would be modest for a company that sold nearly 28,000 Camrys in the US alone last month. Only 232 bZ4x examples have sold in the US this year.
The bigger concern is the effect on Toyota's reputation. The company has long been accused of being slow to embrace EVs, and only expects them to represent a third of yearly sales by 2030 where many rivals anticipate more. The recall only worsened the situation by taking the recently-launched machine off the market for more than three months. Toyota still has to prove that it can make a successful EV, and the wheel flaw certainly hasn't helped.
Like Instagram, Facebook and so many others, Signal is hopping aboard the Stories bandwagon. The privacy-focused messaging app started beta testing an ephemeral Stories feature this week. Users can share videos, images and text-based messages with their friends. Stories will vanish after 24 hours.
As with the rest of the platform, Signal’s Stories have end-to-end encryption. Users can choose who to share them with. Along with groups and custom friends lists, you may opt to share a story with all of your connections (your contacts and anyone else you’ve spoken with one-on-one). If you opt to post a story to a group, others can react, reply to and share it.
For now, the only people who will see Stories are other beta testers. If you don't want to see Stories in Signal, you can switch them off in the settings. This will prevent you from posting Stories of your own, though.
It remains to be seen whether Stories can help Signal to get people spending more time in the app or even to bring in new users. Instagram famously aped one of Snapchat's most-used features with its take on Stories. They're now a core part of the Instagram experience. Not every platform that has tried Stories has stuck with it, though. In 2021, Twitter and LinkedIn both ditched their Stories features after less than a year.
Google's latest streaming dongle is so similar to the previous one that when I first opened it up, I experienced a little deja vu. The new Chromecast with Google TV still has a puckish oval design, it comes packaged with an identical remote and even the OS powering everything is (largely) unchanged. The only major difference (at least on the outside) is updated packaging that features a label that says "HD." So instead of supporting 4K displays, this new more affordable Chromecast is aimed squarely at people looking to stream shows and movies on 1080p screens. And from where I'm sitting, that's just fine, because while it's limited to HD content, this thing delivers essentially the same great watching experience that we loved on the original.
The basics
I'm not going to bore you with the typical design section, because the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) is incredibly straightforward and almost a carbon copy of its predecessor. There's the Chromecast itself which plugs directly into your TV via HDMI, a separate remote with a built-in mic and Google Assistant button for voice controls and a power adapter with a USB cable that you can use in case your TV can't supply enough juice using only HDMI.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Setup is incredibly straightforward too. Thanks to an update in Android 12 for TV (which comes pre-installed), there's a new sign-on process that works by using your phone to scan a QR code in the Google Home app. This cuts out the tedium of having to enter your credentials, connect to WiFi and so on. Though, if you'd like to do things manually, that's still an option too.
Once the Chromecast is up and running, you can log into your favorite streaming apps as normal and then dive into some of the more advanced settings like HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) which allows the Chromecast to do stuff like automatically turn on when you fire up your TV. You can also use Google's controller pairing setting to program the Chromecast's remote to mirror important functions like adjusting the volume or switching inputs. That means if you're like me and you have a relatively simple setup, you might even be able to stash your TV's remote in a drawer and rely completely on the Chromecast, which is a great way to cut down on clutter.
The streaming experience
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
When it comes to finding something to watch, things couldn't be simpler. There's a dedicated row across that top that makes it easy to find shows, movies, apps and purchased content, along with a Live tab that works with a handful of streaming TV services (YouTube TV, Pluto TV, Sling TV, Philo), so you can jump into currently airing program straight from the main home screen.
Naturally, as this model is focused on 1080p content, you won't get support for 4K videos. But even with the HD model's relatively lightweight specs (just 1.5GB of RAM with an Amlogic S805X2 chip), performance felt very similar to what you get on the original Chromecast with Google TV. Upon startup, there's often a bit of lag as the dongle loads the OS and pulls down art for content recommendations. And if you pay attention, you might also notice some small hitches when you switch between apps or settings really quickly. But generally, things are smooth, especially during playback, which is when it really matters.
The other notable feature you won't get on this new cheaper Chromecast is support for Dolby Vision. That said, this omission doesn't feel like a huge deal as a lot of 1080p TVs (particularly older ones) can't handle that anyway. At least there’s still support for HDR10.
Other new additions in Android 12 for TV
As the first device to feature Android 12 for TV pre-installed, the new Chromecast includes a number of handy quality-of-life improvements that will eventually make their way to other Google TV devices. These include the ability to adjust the text scaling (from 85 percent up to 130 percent), options for matching your content's framerate (which is set to auto by default) and some additional surround sound controls. And just like Android 12 on phones, you'll also get a little pop-up when the Chromecast activates its mic, so there's no confusion about when it's listening to you.
Wrap-up
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
With the Chromecast with Google TV (HD), it's clear the company didn't try to do too much. And that's totally OK, because the original blueprint works fine. It’s just tailored for 1080p screens here. You get the same great UI, a nifty compact remote that covers all the basics, and more than good enough performance — all for just $30. So if you've got an aging set or secondary display that could benefit from a modern streaming TV OS (and haven't already invested in another streaming platforms), the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) is the watch buddy you need.
Months after reaching a deal, the White House has taken official steps to protect data transfers between the US and European Union. President Biden has signed an executive order directing the government's efforts to implement the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The approach mainly requires that intelligence agencies "take into consideration" privacy and civil liberties before seeking data, and only conduct surveillance when there's a clearly defined need to address national security concerns.
Intelligence gatherers will also need to update their policies on elements like data handling, with reviews keeping them in line. There will also be a "multi-layer" review process for EU residents' privacy violation complaints. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) will investigate possible lawbreaking through its civil liberties officer, while the Attorney General will use a new Data Protection Review Court to review the results of those investigations and make binding rulings.
The Data Privacy Framework is a response to the EU Court of Justice striking down the Privacy Shield agreement in 2020. The court found that the pact gave the US too much leeway to surveil EU data, and wasn't consistent with privacy requirements effectively equal to European law. The US balked at this rejection, arguing that it cast doubt on companies' ability to legally transfer data.
The European Commission will still need to examine the framework to determine if it offers enough protection. Between this and law enforcement-oriented agreements with countries like Australia and the UK, though, the US is quickly firming up its approach to international data sharing — albeit with concerns that spies might still have too much power.
Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale is coming next week and we've already started to see a number of preview deals pop up. Devices like the Echo Show 5, Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Kindle Paperwhite have been discounted ahead of the event, and we expect to see more deals on Amazon gadgets during the two-day event. You can also pick up either of Samsung's latestfoldables for hundreds of dollars less than usual, or Google's Pixel 6a for only $349. And if you're in need of a new robot vacuum, a handful of Roombas are on sale right now, too. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Kindle Paperwhite
A bunch of Kindle devices are on sale right now, including the Paperwhite Signature Edition for $135 nd the standard Kindle Paperwhite for $100. We named the Signature Edition the best e-reader, period, thanks to its bigger, more responsive screen, adjustable brightness and warm light, and its wireless charging capabilities, but the regular Paperwhite doesn't fall too far behind it. If you can safely skip wireless charging and the auto-adjusting light, the standard Paperwhite is a good pick.
The previous-generation AirPods Pro have dropped down to $170 at Amazon, which is 32 percent off their usual rate. These are still great earbuds, despite the introduction of the second-gen models a few weeks ago, and we like their solid sound quality, good ANC and comfortable fit.
Apple's 2021 iPad mini is back on sale for a record low price of $400. We consider it to be the best small tablet available now, and we gave it a score of 89 for its modern design, solid performance, Center Stage cameras and USB-C charging.
The previous-generation Apple Watch SE is down to a record low of $199. We consider it to be the best starter smartwatch for most people, and we gave this version a score of 88 for its comfortable design, responsive performance and handy watchOS features.
If you pre-order the new Google Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro through Amazon, you can choose to get a $100 or $200 (respectively) with your purchase. Check back on Engadget for our full reviews for both phones in the coming days, but if you know you want to upgrade to one of Google's latest handsets, you can do so and get some extra spending money to use at Amazon in the process.
Amazon's Echo Show 5 is on sale for a record low of $35, while the Echo Show 8 is down to $70. These smart displays are arguably the most versatile in Amazon's lineup. The Show 5 makes a great smart alarm clock thanks to its compact size, while the larger Show 8 works well in a living room, on a kitchen countertop and many other places throughout the home.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is 36 percent off and down to only $35 right now. This is the most powerful of Amazon's streaming sticks, with support for WiFi 6 and picture-in-picture view that lets you check out security camera feeds directly from your TV.
Amazon's Fire HD 10 is half off and down to $75, while the new Fire 7 tablet is down to $45. If you're looking for a super affordable slab that you can check email, shop online and do other basic things with, the Fire 7 should serve you well. But we'd recommend spending the extra money on the Fire HD 10, since it offers an HD screen, better performance and a longer battery life.
Google's already affordable Pixel 6a is $100 off and down to only $349 right now. We gave the handset a score of 89 for its attractive design, excellent cameras and long-lasting battery.
The 512GB version of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is on sale for $1,500, which is 22 percent off its normal price. We gave Samsung's flagship foldable a score of 86 for its brighter main screen, upgraded cameras, sleeker hinge and improved battery life.
You can still pick up the 256GB Galaxy Z Flip 4 for $900, which is the standard price of the base model, so you're essentially getting the extra storage for free. We gave the handset a score of 86 for its more durable design, improved hands-free applications and longer battery life.
iRobot's Roomba 694 is 27 percent off and down to $199, which is close to its record-low price. It's our favorite budget robot vacuum thanks to its strong cleaning power, slick design and easy to use mobile app. iRobot's higher-end Roomba j7+ and s9+ machines are also on sale for $599 and $799, respectively.
You can pick up the Fitbit Versa 3 for $50 less than usual at Wellbots when you use the code FITBIT50 at checkout. This smartwatch gives you all-day activity and sleep tracking, plus advanced features like blood oxygen monitoring, built-in GPS, an always-on display and more.
Fitbit's Sense smartwatch is $70 off at Wellbots when you use the code FITBIT70 at checkout. We gave Fitbit's most powerful smartwatch a score of 82 for its big, bright display and comprehensive health tracking tools.
Lenovo's Smart Clock Essential with Alexa is a whopping 57 percent off and down to only $30. If you prefer a more minimalist smart alarm clock, this is the one to get. Its screen shows the time, date and weather, and it will automatically dim depending on the light levels in your room. It also has a handy tap-to-snooze feature, plus you can use its Alexa capabilities to set alarms, control smart devices and more.
