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Instagram is testing a new feature called Candid Challenges, which bears a striking resemblance to BeReal, a photo sharing app popular among Gen. Z. The currently unreleased feature was spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi, a developer known for reverse engineering apps and finding early versions of upcoming updates. An Instagram spokesperson confirmed the feature is an "internal prototype," but declined to provide additional details.

According to Paluzzi, Instagram users participating in Candid Challenges will see a notification at a different time each day to snap a photo of their surroundings. Upon getting the prompt, the Instagram camera will also open with both front and rear-facing shooters, and give users a two-minute window to snap a pic. Content shared via the challenges will appear in the Stories tray.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because the functionality sounds nearly identical to BeReal, a selfie app marketed as a more candid and authentic alternative to mainstream social media platforms. The app, which originally launched in 2019, also prompts users to take a photo using their phone’s front and rear-facing cameras at a random time each day. The daily prompts also expire after two minutes, after which users can view all the photos shared by their friends that day.

It's not yet clear if or when Instagram intends to launch the feature. An Instagram spokesperson described the feature as an "internal prototype" that's "not testing externally." But the fact that the company is testing the functionality suggests it's at least considering replicating the app inside of its own service.

BeReal has a big following among Gen. Z, and has been rising in popularity over the last several months. BeReal is currently sitting in the top position in Apple's App Store, ahead of both Instagram (No. 8) and Facebook (No. 18). It's been among the ten most-popular free apps for much of this summer. 

Mark Zuckerberg has said Meta’s future relies on appealing to young adults, who are increasingly spending their time on non-Meta platforms. And while TikTok is currently its top competitor, the company is known to closely monitor its rivals and has often copied features from other services. Instagram also recently added a new "Dual" setting to its in-app camera that mimics the shooting style popularized by BeReal.

If you were hoping to while the holiday season wearing a virtual reality headset from Sony, you are sadly out of luck. Nearly six years after its predecessor debuted in 2016, Sony took to Instagram on Monday to announce that its next iteration of the console-based VR system won't arrive until "early 2023."

The company first showed off the new hardware, which includes an updated headset and revamped controllers, back in February. Built to better fit in with the PS5's smoother design aesthetics, the PS VR2 will reportedly feature softer, more forgiving ergonomics as well as offer live streaming capabilities and Cinematic Mode. 

According to a PlayStation blog last month, the new setup would run 4000 x 2040 resolution (that's 2000 x 2040 per eye) at 90/120hz while a "see-through mode" safety feature will keep wayward players from wandering too far a virtual field, similar to what Meta offers on the Quest Guardian. There's no word yet on pricing.

Neuralink is finally ready to share more about its work on brain implants. Elon Musk has revealed that Neuralink will hold a "show & tell" progress event on October 31st. He didn't provide any clues as to what to expect, but the last big demo involved a monkey playing Pong. It wouldn't be surprising to see a similar example.

A lot may be riding on this showcase. Neuralink still hasn't begun human trials, and the Food and Drug Administration hasn't said how close the company might be to receiving approval. Most of the co-founders have left the company since it was founded six years ago, for that matter. Throw in Fortune's unofficial reports of a flawed workplace culture and the event could reflect Neuralink's overall health.

The timing is apt, at least. The presentation comes just as rumors have swirled that Neuralink has offered to invest in its rival Synchron, which recently completed what appears to be the first endovascular installation of a brain-computer interface in the US. While there's no guarantee of a deal, an event like this could answer questions about Synchron's possible involvement.

Lawyers representing Elon Musk in his battle with Twitter have subpoenaed former CEO Jack Dorsey. The filing is the latest development as Musk and Twitter prepare for the October trial over Musk’s attempt to bail on his $44 billion deal to buy the company.

It’s not yet clear how Dorsey factors in to Musk's legal strategy. As noted by the Chancery Daily Twitter account, the subpoena refers to “documents and communications reflecting, referring to, or relating to the impact or effect of false or spam accounts on Twitter’s business operations.” It also references documents related to how Twitter uses mDAU or monetizable daily active users as a “key metric.” Interestingly, it also requests “documents relating to incorporating mDAU into executive or director compensation.”

Dorsey isn't the only former Twitter executive subpoenaed by Musk. Twitter’s recently ousted product chief Kayvon Beykpour and former head of revenue Bruce Falck have also received subpoenas.

Musk has claimed that Twitter has misled him and the public about the number of bots and fake accounts on the platform. Twitter’s lawyers have argued that Musk has repeatedly broken the terms of his agreement with the company. A five-day trial is scheduled to begin October 17th.

Dorsey previously endorsed Musk’s bid to buy Twitter, saying that “Elon is the singular solution I trust,” and that he was ““getting the company out of an impossible situation.” Dorsey hasn’t publicly weighed in on the ongoing legal battle or Musk’s claims about bots and fake accounts.

eBay is placing a big bet on the booming trading card industry. The company is set to buy TCGplayer — an online marketplace for trading card games — in a deal valued up to $295 million, it announced today. Launched in 2008, TCGplayer specializes in trading cards from popular franchises like Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Digimon and more. The site will operate independently after the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. eBay — which is currently the world’s largest card resale site — also noted that the deal will provide it with “strategic omnichannel capabilities like order fulfillment and cart optimization.”

The pandemic drove a surge of interest in collectible trading cards that has only recently started to slow down. Last year eBay sold a trading card every two seconds, noted The Athletic. The company has taken steps to make it easier for individuals to sell trading cards on its platform, such as adding image recognition to automate listings and authenticating trading cards worth $750 or more.

eBay has also ventured into another area of collectibles — NFTs. Earlier this year, the company launched its own NFT collection and bought digital art marketplace KnownOrigin for an undisclosed sum.  

The Video Electronics Standards Associated (VESA) wants to make buying your next monitor or TV easier, and it’s doing so by introducing a new standard. I know what you’re thinking: between DisplayPort, DisplayHDR and AdaptiveSync, aren’t there already more VESA standards than anyone can keep track of? Well, yes, but the organization’s newest certification program may help demystify one of the more opaque aspects of buying a new display: motion clarity performance.

You probably have a good sense of the problem if you recently spent time researching your next monitor or TV purchase. Using gaming monitors as an example, many manufacturers claim their products feature 1ms gray-to-gray (GtG) pixel response times, yet they don’t handle motion blur to the same standard. One of the reasons for that is that manufacturers cherry-pick GtG results that make their monitors look better on paper.

VESA

Right now, one of the best ways to find a monitor or TV that won’t look blurry when gaming and watching video is to turn to outlets like Rtings and Hardware Unboxed. They’ve developed comprehensive testing methodologies to help you cut through all the marketing. You can also rest assured they probably have the Blur Busters UFO test set as their homepage.

In the future, the process may be less time-consuming thanks to VESA’s new Clear Motion Ratio Compliance Test Specification, or ClearMR for short. The standard introduces a tiered ranking system designed to communicate the ratio of clear to blurry pixels a screen will produce when displaying a fast-moving image. For instance, a monitor with a ClearMR 7000 badge would have a “Clear Motion Ratio” range of 65 to 75 times more clear pixels than blurry ones. According to VESA, there’s a “visually distinguishable change in clarity” between tiers, and the standard will encompass a variety of consumer displays, including those you can find on laptops and tablets.

"It is our goal that ClearMR will replace existing metrics that are used in advertisements for blur-based metrics that are solely based on time, like MPRT [motion picture response time],” Dale Stolitzka, senior principal researcher at Samsung Display and lead contributor to ClearMR, told ArsTechnica. “I would be perfectly happy if I didn't see that in advertisements anymore.”

Interestingly, when certifying displays that feature backlight strobing or black frame insertion, VESA will disable those features to “prevent unfair comparisons” with products that do not include them. The organization also plans to account for overdrive by limiting overshoot to under 20 percent. With today’s announcement, ClearMR also only applies to SDR displays, but the standard will eventually evolve to include HDR screens too.

The first batch of ClearMR-certified products comprises one HP monitor and 15 LG screens, including the 32GQ850 and 27GP850.

Sony seems determined to turn every gaming property it has ever laid a finger on into a movie or TV show. PlayStation Productions has a whole heap of projects in the works and the latest, according to Deadline, is a Gravity Rush film.

The movie will be based on the 2012 PlayStation Vita game of the same name from Japan Studio's Team Gravity (the title was later remastered for PlayStation 4). You play as Kat, an amnesiac who can manipulate gravity to traverse an open world in a novel way. Kat uses her powers to protect the people of Hekseville from gravity storms and monsters. A sequel arrived on PS4 in 2017.

Ridley Scott's production company Scott Free Productions is reportedly working on the movie. Emily Jerome, the writer of upcoming thriller Panopticon, is working on the script. Anna Mastro, who helmed Disney+ film Secret Society of Second Born Royals and episodes of many notable TV shows, is onboard as director.

The Gravity Rush project underlines just how serious Sony is about expanding its gaming IP into the realms of film and television. It finally released an Uncharted movie earlier this year and over the weekend, it emerged that a Days Gone film is in development. That's on top of shows based on Twisted Metal,God of War and the Horizon games, as well as upcoming Gran Turismo and Ghost of Tsushima movies.

Last, but by no means least, a show based on The Last of Us is coming to HBO next year. The network released the first footage from the series in a sizzle reel on Sunday. With The Last of Us Day fast approaching, we likely won't have to wait long for a full trailer.

NBA 2K23 isn't the only major sports game that 2K will release in the next couple of months. The publisher has revealed that PGA Tour 2K23 will arrive on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Steam on October 11th. Two versions will be available on that date: the deluxe edition and the Tiger Woods edition. 2K will release the standard edition on October 14th.

This is the first game in 2K's PGA Tour series since it brought in Woods last year to work with HB Studios as an executive director and consultant. Not only is Woods one of the most successful golfers of all time, he was also the face of EA Sports' golf games for 15 years.

As you might expect, Woods is a playable character in PGA Tour 2K23. Other pros who are available at the outset include Justin Thomas, Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Brooke Henderson. More will be added later. There are 20 licensed courses — including South Course of Wilmington Country Club, The Renaissance Club and St. George’s Golf and Country Club — and you'll be able to create your own.

You can try new casual modes, including Topgolf, where you hit targets and try to achieve the highest score. Online modes include custom tournaments and full seasons with friends. There's also a Clubhouse Pass (with free and premium tiers) that will include post-launch content.

Both the deluxe and digital-only Tiger Woods editions include the PS4 and PS5 versions, or Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game. Other bonuses include virtual currency and cosmetic items. If you pre-order the standard edition (or buy the other two editions) you'll receive a bonus pack that includes NBA legend Michael Jordan as a playable character.

Since the launch of Google TV almost two years ago, Google has been busy adding new features to the platform – including, most recently, iOS support. So if you feel the company has neglected the product from a performance and stability standpoint, the latest Google TV update is for you.

To start, Google says new CPU and cache management optimizations will reduce the time it takes for the “For you” tab to load on startup. Similarly, navigating within a tab and switching between multiple ones should feel more responsive after installing the latest update. A faster Live tab should also result in you seeing less of Google TV’s loading animation. Google says switching to kids profiles will take less time as well. But best of all, the software will now use less RAM, leading to a smoother viewing experience.

If you’ve been using Google TV for a while, you’ll also appreciate the storage enhancements included in this latest update. Google has added a “Free up storage” option to the Setting menu to make it easier to clear the program’s cache and uninstall apps you’re not using. The feature is already available on Chromecast with Google TV and coming to smart TVs soon. The company has also made under-the-hood tweaks that should reduce the number of errors users see when attempting to install new apps. Lastly, there’s a new automated process that will free up space on your device so that you can install more apps.

Google has begun rolling out the above enhancements to users. If you don’t see them immediately, it may take them a few days to reach your device.

Companies already use The Game Awards to pitch related movies and shows, but now the event will officially recognize those productions. Organizers have revealed that the 2022 Game Awards will take place December 8th with a new Best Adaptation category. Companies will receive statuettes for any project that translates games to "popular media," including movies, TV series, podcasts and books.

The event will not only retain an in-person component, but extend that to theaters. The Game Awards will offer a live "IMAX Experience" in cities worldwide. While more details are due in the months ahead, it's safe to presume you'll get a richer audiovisual presentation as you watch ceremonies and game trailers.

The creation of an adaptation category isn't surprising. This year has had a flurry of game-inspired media, including the long-in-the-making Halo TV series, a well-received Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie and an anticipated (if unspectacular) Uncharted film. This gives The Game Awards a chance to capitalize on the trend, of course, but it could also reward those studios that do justice to favorite gaming franchises.