ArduinoMania

When OnePlus does a mid-year refresh of its phones, typically you end up with a slightly snappier device with a handful of slight refinements. But with the new OnePlus 10T, it feels like a lot was sacrificed for the sake of going all-in on speed. Updates include a faster Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, a 120Hz display with an adaptive refresh rate, even faster charging and some tweaks for improved wireless connectivity. Unfortunately, OnePlus’ signature Alert Slider and wireless charging have been removed, and water resistance is weak. So while the 10T is a solid device with an affordable price of $649, it doesn't have the same mass appeal as some of OnePlus’ previous offerings.

Design

For the 10T's design, OnePlus recycled the template it created for the 10 Pro, but with some cost-saving tweaks. You get Gorilla Glass 5 in front and back, with the jade green model sporting the smooth, shiny finish you'd expect. But on our Moonstone black review unit, OnePlus used two different processes to add a textured finish the company says was inspired by basalt. This makes the phone sparkle in the sunlight, which might be nice for Twilight fans or people who aren't planning on immediately throwing this thing in a case. That said, I think you could get a similar effect with glitter, but more than that, it makes the back of the phone feel kind of plasticky, as if it came out of a cheap 3D printer. Don't get me wrong, this is a really minor offense, but if I was buying one, I'd go with the jade version.

The OP10T also features three cameras in back with a smoothed-out hump, a speedy in-screen optical fingerprint scanner and stereo speakers that are relatively loud, though there isn't much to say about its overall audio quality. Sadly, what you won't find is an Alert Slider, which is a feature that has been present on nearly every OnePlus phone since the OnePlus 2 way back in 2015. OnePlus claims its removal is due to space requirements for larger antennas, a bigger battery, faster charging and more, and that the slider will make a return on future devices. But all that kind of makes not having it on the 10T feel even stranger, while also removing one of the few features that gives the phone a bit of personality.

Furthermore, as a downgrade from the OnePlus 9, the 10T only gets IP-54 dust and water resistance, which is only rated to withstand a splash or two instead of a full 30-minute dunk (up to five feet) like you used to get. All around, it feels like OnePlus is regressing a bit on the design front.

Display

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The 10T packs a big 6.7-inch 2412 x 1080 OLED display with flat edges and a 120Hz refresh rate, there's very little to complain about here. Colors are bright and punchy while still delivering lovely inky blacks. Meanwhile, using a light meter I found that the OP10T's screen delivers a peak brightness just shy of 800 nits, which is great. And thanks to the addition of an adaptive refresh rate that can switch from 120Hz to 90hz or 60hz depending on the content, you also get improved battery life without impacting image quality.

Performance

When it comes to speed, one of the biggest upgrades is the move to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, which offers 30 percent better power efficiency and 10 percent faster graphics compared to the standard SD8 Gen 1. You can also configure the OP10T with up to 16GB of RAM, which OnePlus claims is enough to hold up to 35 apps open in the background, along with up to 256GB of storage.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

All this makes the phone feel rather spritely, though there's not much that can really tax a phone with flagship-level performance nowadays. Honestly, I can't think of 35 or even 20 apps I'd want to keep running all the time, and in side-by-side comparisons with SD8 Gen 1 phones, it's hard to discern much of an advantage in speed. But if you absolutely need to have the fastest silicon you can get in an Android phone, well here you go.

In addition to its new processor, the 10T also gets the same 1,000Hz touch sampling rate you get on the 10 Pro, alongside OnePlus' HyperBoost Gaming engine which attempts to smooth out any hiccups or stutters in your framerate. And for people who care about getting the best Wi-Fi speeds, OnePlus also created its Smart Link feature, which is designed to proactively seek out strong networks. This works in tandem with the OP10T's 360-degree antenna design, so you can get optimal signal strength regardless of how you're holding the phone or where your connection is coming from.

Cameras

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

When it comes to photography, the 10T's cameras are one of the biggest departures from its more expensive sibling. Not only does the 10T not have any features or tuning from Hasselblad like you get on the 10 Pro, it also lacks a dedicated telephoto lens. Instead, you get a 50MP main camera based on a Sony IMX766 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide cam and a 2MP macro cam.

Thankfully, even without help from Hasselblad, the 10T's image quality is still pretty good. During the day, you get rich saturated colors and relatively sharp details. It was only after I compared the 10T's pics with similar shots from the $500 Pixel 6a that I noticed it sometimes oversharpens things a touch or exaggerates more vivid colors like the oranges on a flower. At night, the 10T holds up pretty well too, though I still have to give the Pixel 6a an advantage in low light thanks to Google's Night Sight mode. In general, the 10T captured sharp, well-lit images that were a touch behind what I shot using the Pixel 6a.

As for the other cams, the ultra-wide is totally serviceable and provides a more expansive 120-degree field of view compared to the 50MP main lens. Unfortunately, the macro cam is kind of a bust, because while it can take photos from just an inch and a half away (4cm), its low resolution and hit-or-miss focus means you’re often better off just using the main cam and cropping.

Battery life and charging

Ok, let's talk charging because while the 80-watt charging on the 10 Pro was anything but slow, the new 150-watt Super VOOC system on the 10T is ridiculously fast and actually lives up to OnePlus’ lofty claims. Starting with just a one percent charge, the OP10T added just shy of 60 percent battery in just 10 minutes, before going on to hit 86 percent in 20 minutes and 100 percent in less than half an hour. That's more than twice as fast as what you get from a lot of other high-end Android phones, including stuff like the $1,200 S22 Ultra and its slower 45-watt fast charging.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

That said, there are a number of caveats about the 10T's 150-watt Super VOOC charging you should know. The first is that you can only get these speeds when using OnePlus' included power adapter and cable. (But hey, at least you get a charging brick in the box unlike a lot of other phones.) When I tried charging the phone with two other 130-watt or higher third-party adapters, the 10T added less than 20 percent battery in 10 minutes, and that was even when using OnePlus' cable.

Additionally, because OnePlus' power brick doesn't support the 110 or 120-volt outlets that are most common in the US, charging actually caps out at 125 watts. However, if you're in Europe or India, you will get that full 150 watts. Finally, for anyone dreaming of juicing up a laptop or some other gadget with OnePlus' big brick, you should know that standard USB-PD charging is capped at 45 watts. And despite having a label on the brick that says 160 watts, regardless of where you are, charging speeds cap out at 150 watts.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

As for battery life itself, the 10T is downright fantastic. Even though it has a slightly smaller capacity than the OP10 Pro (4,800 mAh vs. 5,000 mAh), it lasted almost 22 hours on our video rundown test (21 hours and 59 minutes to be exact). That's the best time we've seen this year, even beating out the Pixel 6a's mark of 19:30.

And for those worried about what the 10T's rapid charging might do to its battery health, OnePlus says the phone has 13 temperature sensors to make sure it doesn't overheat while charging, while its duel-cell power pack helps spread electrons more evenly and efficiently. This is meant to help the 10T retain 80% battery health after 1,600 charging cycles, though obviously, we haven't had time to test that out fully.

Software

When it comes to software, nowadays most Android phone makers have gotten their custom skins in a pretty decent spot. However, with OnePlus's OxygenOS having transitioned to a platform based on Oppo's ColorOS starting with the 10 Pro and now the 10T, things can feel a bit jarring for long-time OnePlus fans. That's because while you still get things like the OnePlus Sans font, other elements like the settings menu, UI, and even some of OxygenOS 12's new sounds constantly remind you that this isn't the operating system you're used to.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

There’s a new Shelf that’s sort of like a blend between the Control Center on iPhones and a dedicated place for widgets that feels somewhat redundant. I've also noticed some odd bugs and inconsistencies like not getting a pop-up to enable file transfers when connecting the phone to a PC over USB-C. To fix this I had to manually enable Android's developer settings, which isn't something that an average user should need or have to do.

On the bright side, the 10T should enjoy solid software support, with OnePlus promising at least three major Android updates and four years of regular security patches. The company even says it plans to upgrade some of its phones to Android 13 later this fall, starting with the OnePlus 10 Pro, not the 10T, and moving on from there.

Availability

The OP10T will be available in Europe on August 25th starting at €699 for the 8GB/128GB config, or on September 29th in the US starting at $649. For US customers, there will also be a handful of pre-sale dates on OnePlus.com on August 3rd-6th, 10th-13th, 17th-20th and 24th-27th. OnePlus says anyone who buys a phone during early access will also be eligible for a free upgrade to the 16GB/256GB config along with zero interest if you opt for the company’s 24-month payment plan.

Wrap-up

So, the big question is should you get one? For the kind of people who crave speed, the OnePlus 10T is an interesting device. It has top-of-the-line performance, a big OLED screen and stupidly fast charging for just $650 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or $750 for the 16GB + 256GB config. Its camera quality is solid too, even though I wish OnePlus had opted for a zoom lens instead of a macro. And its battery life is truly superb.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The somewhat disappointing part are some of the cuts made to achieve all this speed. You don't get OnePlus' signature Alert Slider, there's no support for wireless charging, and its water resistance is mediocre. Another annoying wrinkle is that OnePlus has yet to detail carrier compatibility for the US (the company says more info will be available closer to launch, stay tuned for updates) .So while it's super fast, the OP10T isn't as well-rounded as phones like the Pixel 6. To complicate things even more, alongside the 10T's release, OnePlus is permanently reducing OP 10 Pro's starting price from $899 to $799. That puts the 10T in a tough spot between great values like the $500 Pixel 6a or the $600 Pixel 6 and more full-featured phones like the S22 and OP10 Pro. But if you gotta go fast and want an affordable phone with excess haste, the 10T might be exactly what you need.

When [Robot Cantina] isn’t busy tweaking the 420cc Big Block engine in their Honda Insight, they’re probably working on some other completely far out automotive atrocity. In the video below the break, you’ll see them take the concept of a ‘lean burn’ system from the Insight and graft hack it into their 1997 Saturn coupe.

What’s a lean burn system? Simply put, it tricks the car into burning less fuel when it’s cruising under a light load to improve the vehicle’s average mileage. The Saturn’s electronics aren’t sophisticated enough to implement a lean burn system simply, and so [Robot Cantina] did what any of us might have done: hacked it in with an Arduino.

The video does a wonderful job going into the details, but essentially by using an oxygen sensor with finer resolution (wide-band) and then outputting the appropriate narrow band signal to the ECU, [Robot Cantina] can fine tune the air/fuel ratio with nothing more than a potentiometer, and the car’s ECU is none the wiser. What were the results? Well… they weren’t as expected, which means more experimentation, more parts, and hopefully, more videos. We love seeing the scientific method put to fun use!

People are ever in the quest to try interesting new (and sometimes old) ideas, such as this hot rod hacked to run with a lawnmower carburetor.

Would you rather oversee your FIFA Mobile team than control your players' every last step? You now have your chance. EA has introduced a Manager Mode to the Android and iOS title that has you focusing on strategy and tactics rather than action. You choose the starting lineup, set the tactics in real-time (such as attacking or countering) and let your team play. You can even queue multiple matches as you climb the division ranks.

The corresponding game update also improves goalkeepers, adds player switching options and offers kits for 30 national teams. The upgrade is available now.

This doesn't turn FIFA Mobile into a management sim like Football Manager. You aren't scouting talent, shaping training programs or wrestling with the team's board. Think of this more as the soccer equivalent to an auto battler like Auto Chess or Teamfight Tactics — it's a slightly more relaxed experience that does more to reward situational awareness than fast reflexes.

Welcome to our first update to Engadget’s best games list for PlayStation 5. As always, we have looked for games that generally offer meaningful improvements over their last-gen counterparts when played on PS5, or are exclusive to the system. Our 2022 update sees two third-party titles – Deathloop and Final Fantasy VII Remake – join the overwhelmingly Sony fray. We'll be updating this periodically, so, if a game's just been released and you don't see it, chances are that the reason for its absence is that we haven't played through it yet. Either that or we hate it.

Astro’s Playroom

Sony

It’s odd to start a best games list with a title that comes free with the console, but if you’re anything like my son, who swiftly deleted Astro’s Playroom to make space for various Call of Duty titles, I’m here to tell you to give the pack-in title another shot. Astro’s Playroom is a love letter to both 3D platformers and the PlayStation itself. It’s also, to date, the title that makes the best use of Sony’s DualSense controller, with incredible haptic feedback and clever usage of the pad’s adaptive triggers. (Although, eight years on, I’m still not convinced anyone has found a compelling reason for that touch pad.) It’s a game that even completionists can finish within six hours or so, but those six hours were among the most fun I’ve had with the PS5 so far.

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade

Square Enix

We thought it would never happen. Final Fantasy VII was an iconic JRPG that’s credited with opening up the genre to the west. It peppered the Top 10 lists of the best games of all-time and introduced the long-running Japanese RPG series to polygons, 3D maps, and countless other innovations of 32-bit consoles. 23 years later, and three PlayStation iterations later, Square Enix dared to remake, not remaster, the game. It would be, contentiously, episodic, expanding out the story of Midgar and the opening part of the game into a single game.

It’s all very different. It’s also gorgeous, with a modern battle system that no longer focuses on static characters and menu choices. Somehow, and we were ready to be underwhelmed, the battle system works. FF7R’s fights are slicker and more enjoyable than those in Final Fantasy XV, the latest entry in the series. Each character, from iconic mercenary Cloud through to eco-terrorist Barret and flower girl Aerith, play in entirely different ways, using the space between themselves and enemies in very different ways. Some sub-missions and distractions feel like they’re there solely to eke some more hours out of your playthrough, but the world of the original has been thoughtfully reimagined, so it’s a minor complaint.

For anyone that bought the PS4 iteration, the upgrade to PS5 is free. However, it costs money to gain access to the PS5-exclusive DLC chapter featuring ninja Yuffie. Offering another battle style to experiment with and master, two new extra chapters run alongside the events of the first installment of this remake. Moments of the game feel like they were built to tease how capable the newest PlayStation is, with Yuffie zipping down poles through vertiginous levels, wall-running and mixing up long-range and short-range attacks in a completely different way to Cloud, Aerith and the rest. It suffers a little from trying to tie in FF7 lore from old spin-off titles, but it’s a satisfying distraction as we wait for the second part – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – to arrive in 2023.

Demon's Souls

Sony

Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls remake won’t be for everyone — no Souls game is. The original Demon’s Souls was a sleeper hit in 2009 on the PS3, establishing the basic formula that would later be cemented with Dark Souls, and then aped by an entire industry to the point where we now essentially have a “Soulslike'' genre. Today, that means challenging difficulty, grinding enemies for souls to level up, the retrieval of your corpse to collect said souls, a labyrinthine map to explore and, if you’re doing Soulslike right, some show-stopping boss fights to contend with. As a progenitor to the genre, Demon’s Souls has most of those in abundance. But rather than a huge sprawling map, it uses a portal system, with mini labyrinths to work through. Its bosses are also not quite on the level of impressiveness or difficulty of a more modern Dark Souls game.

Bluepoint has been faithful to the original, then, but graphically Demon’s Souls is a true showcase of what the PS5 can do, with gorgeous high-resolution visuals, smooth frame rates and swift loading. While the graphics certainly catch your eye, it’s the smoothness and loading times that are the most impactful. The original ran at 720p, and… depending on what you were doing 25 to 30 fps, while the remake lets you pick between a locked 30 or 60 fps at 4K or 1440p. And in a game that will likely kill you hundreds of times, waiting two seconds to respawn instead of thirty is transformative.

God of War

Sony

Sony's God of War series had laid dormant for half a decade when its latest incarnation hit stores in early 2018, and for good reason. Antiquated gameplay and troubling themes had made it an ill-fit for the modern gaming landscape. No more. SIE Santa Monica Studio's God of War manages to successfully reboot the series while turning the previous games' narrative weaknesses into its strengths. Kratos is now a dad, the camera is now essentially strapped to his shoulder and Sony has what is sure to become a new series on its hands.

The first outright PS4 game on this collection, God of War has at least been patched for better performance on PS5, allowing it to output at 4K/60. For those subscribed to PS Plus, this one’s available for free as part of the PlayStation Plus Collection on PS5.

Ghost of Tsushima: The Director's Cut

Sony

This tale of samurai vengeance is like Japanese cinema come to life. There are multiple betrayals, the sad deaths of several close allies, tense sword fights, villages and castles under siege, and even a ‘Kurosawa mode’ black-and-white filter you employ for the entire game. The world of feudal Japan, with some creative liberties, is gorgeous, with fields of grass and bullrushes to race through on your faithful steed, temple ‘puzzles’ to navigate around and fortresses to assess and attack.

As you make your way through the main story quest, and more than enough side quests and challenges, you unlock more powerful sword techniques and stances, as well as new weapons and forbidden techniques that are neatly woven in the story of a samurai pushed to the edge. It still suffers from one too many fetch quests, artifacts scattered across Japan’s prefectures, but the sheer beauty of Ghost of Tsushima tricks you into believing this is the greatest open-world game on PlayStation. Don’t get me wrong — it’s up there.

With the new Director’s Cut edition on the PS5, you also get dynamic frame-rates up to 60 FPS, ensuring the game looks and feels even more like a tribute to Japanese cinematic auteurs of the past. There are also DualSense tricks, like a bow that tangibly tightens as you pull on trigger buttons, and subtle rumble as you ride across the lands of Tsushima, Director’s Cut adds a new, surprisingly compelling DLC chapter. As you explore the Iki isle, the game adds a few more tricks to Jin’s arsenal, and deepens the relationship and history between the game’s hero and his father.

Without spoiling what happens, the game smartly threads the original story into the DLC, ensuring it feels solidly connected to the main game, despite DLC status.

Deathloop

Arkane Studios/Bethesda

Deathloop, from the studio that brought you the Dishonored series, is easy enough to explain: You’re trapped in a day that repeats itself. If you die, then you go back to the morning, to repeat the day again. If you last until the end of the day, you still repeat it again. Colt must “break the loop” by efficiently murdering seven main characters, who are inconveniently are never in the same place at the same time. It’s also stylish, accessible and fun.

While you try to figure out your escape from this time anomaly, you’ll also be hunted down by Julianna, another island resident who, like you, is able to remember everything that happens in each loop. She’ll also lock you out of escaping an area, and generally interfere with your plans to escape the time loop. (The online multiplayer is also addictive, flipping the roles around. You play as Julianna, hunting down Colt and foiling his plans for murder. )

As you play through the areas again (and again) you’ll equip yourself with slabs that add supernatural powers, as well as more potent weapons and trinkets to embed into both guns and yourself. It’s through this that you’re able to customize your playstyle or equip yourself in the best way to survive Julianna and nail that assassination. Each time period and area rewards repeat exploration, with secret guns, hidden conversations with NPCs and lots of world-building lore to discover for yourself.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Ultimate Edition

Sony

Finally, you don't have to pick up Spider-Man 2 on the GameCube to get your web-slinging fix anymore. For almost 15 years, that game was held as the gold standard for a Spider-Man game, and I'll let you into a secret: It wasn't actually that good. Marvel's Spider-Man, on the other hand, is a tour de force. Featuring the best representation of what it's like to swing through New York City, well, ever, Insomniac's PlayStation exclusive also borrows liberally from the Batman: Arkham series' combat and throws in a story that, although it takes a while to get going, ends up in a jaw-dropping place.

With the launch of the PS5, Insomniac released a Miles Morales spin-off game, which follows the eponymous character as he attempts to protect NYC in Peter Parker’s absence. Both parts are available packaged together as Spider-Man Ultimate Edition— it has a longer name than that but let's not — and benefit from improved framerates, resolution and ray tracing (although not necessarily all at the same time!) With the full graphical package enabled, you’ll be playing at 30 frames per second in 4K, or you can pick between a pair of performance options: 4K/60 with no ray tracing, or 1080p/60 with ray-tracing. Whatever mode you pick, you’ll benefit from loading times that finally make the game’s fast travel system… fast.

Resident Evil Village

Capcom

Resident Evil Village is delightful. It’s a gothic fairy tale masquerading as a survival-horror game, and while this represents a fresh vibe for the franchise, it’s not an unwelcome evolution. The characters and enemies in Village are full of life — even when they’re decidedly undead — and Capcom has put a delicious twist on the idea of vampires, werewolves, sea creatures, giants and creepy dolls. The game retains its horror, puzzle and action roots, and it has Umbrella Corporation’s fingerprints all over it. On PS5, the game is gorgeous and it plays nicely with the DualSense controller, adding haptic feedback to weapons and terrifying situations alike. It simply feels like developers had fun with this one, and so will you.

Returnal

Sony

Returnal is a third-person action game, a roguelite, a bullet-hell shooter and very hard, perhaps not in that order. The setup is basically that you’re stuck in a death loop, but you’re aware of it, and must learn the patterns and weaknesses of enemies — and master your own — in order to progress. As Devindra Hardwar explains, it leans heavily on the dark sci-fi of Alien, Edge of Tomorrow and Event Horizon but makes something new and unique in the process.

It’s made by the team behind Resogun, Nex Machina and Super Stardust HD, and you can tell, for better or worse. As you’d expect from a team that’s spent the past decades making shooters, the movement, gunplay and enemy attack patterns are incredibly well tuned. But on the flipside, from a studio used to smaller productions, the complexity and ambition of Returnal leads to a lack of polish that some may find unacceptable in a $70 game. If you can look past that, there’s a hell of a game waiting for you here.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Activision

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice isn't just another Dark Souls game. FromSoftware's samurai adventure is a departure from that well-established formula, replacing slow, weighty combat and gothic despair for stealth, grappling hooks and swift swordplay. Oh, and while it's still a difficult game, it's a lot more accessible than Souls games — you can even pause it! The result of all these changes is something that's still instantly recognizable as a FromSoftware title, but it's its own thing, and it's very good. While the game has yet to receive a proper PS5 upgrade, the extra grunt of Sony’s next-gen console does allow the game to finally run at a locked 60fps — something the PS4 Pro couldn’t handle.

Don't expect to find a Tinder date in the metaverse any time soon. The Vergereports Match Group chief Bernard Kim has asked Tinder's Hyperconnect unit (acquired in 2021) to scale back its metaverse dating plans. In his shareholder letter, Kim said "uncertainty" about success with virtual worlds required that the team "not invest heavily" in the metaverse. Match further blamed the Hyperconnect purchase for a $10 million operating loss in the latest quarter where it made a $210 million operating profit in the same period a year earlier.

The company is also taking "a step back" on plans to introduce its in-app Tinder Coins following questionable test results, Kim said. While he didn't scrap the digital currency outright, he wanted it to "more effectively contribute" to Tinder's bottom line. Any virtual items would have to be a serious contributor to Tinder's next phase of growth, the executive added.

Tinder is facing a leadership upheaval at the same time. CEO Renate Nyborg is leaving the company after joining last September. It's not clear why she's leaving, but Kim said Match was looking for a replacement.

There's little doubt Tinder is dealing with an uncertain future. On top of the Tinder loss, Match forecast a only small growth and said it was still grappling with changes in behavior prompted by the pandemic. While there was a jump in activity in the second half of 2021 as vaccines made it safer to meet others, there hasn't been a similar spike in 2022. The willingness of first-timers to try online dating hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels, Kim said. The exec hopes more aggressive product rollouts will spur newcomers, such as live video and "alibi" dating services.

The streaming service Paramount+ is coming to the The Roku Channel as a premium option later this month, the maker of set-top boxes announced today. For those who are unfamiliar with The Roku Channel, the free entertainment channel is available on most streaming devices (with the exception of Apple TV) and offers a menu of premium add-on services such as Showtime, Starz, AMC+ and more.

Adding Paramount+ to the mix will give Roku Channel users access to live sports via CBS Sports, including live NFL games and most regular and postseason games in their local market. International soccer fans will be able to view live UEFA club competition matches, Europa League and World Cup qualifying matches and other live matches. And of course, users will have access to a mountain of other content, including popular CBS shows like Evil and The Good Wife, as well as a number of original Star Trek series.

In the completely saturated streaming universe, Paramount+ is still a relatively new player (the service rebranded from CBS All-Access back in March.) But the company formerly known as ViacomGlobal has packed a lot of content onto the newbie streamer. It also attempted to grow its audience by offering free trials for T-Mobile and Xbox Game Pass users. Such efforts seem to have paid off: Paramount+ reached 40 million subscribers this May, putting it in the same league as Hulu and HBO Max’s US subscriber base.

As far as content offerings go, there’s no difference between signing up for Paramount+ via the Roku Channel or downloading the streamer’s standalone app on your streaming device. The price tiers for Paramount+ are also identical on the Roku Channel, which is $4.99 per month for the ad-supported version, and $9.99 per month for the ad-free version. However, there is a free seven-day trial for Paramount+ on the Roku Channel, which will give users who haven’t tried the service a chance to sample its offerings.

Google is making it easier for people to find and support Asian-owned businesses in their communities. Starting today, US merchants can now add an "Asian-owned" label to a verified Google business profile, which will appear in Search and Maps queries.

The move is part of Google's efforts to support historically marginalized communities. It previously rolled out labels for Black-owned, Latino-owned, veteran-owned, women-owned and LGBTQ+ owned businesses. 

In addition, the company says its Grow with Google initiative, along with the non-profit US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, will help another 10,000 Asian-owned small businesses learn digital skills. To date, they've assisted more than 20,000 Asian-owned businesses with workshops on things like e-commerce, analytics-driven decisions and design.

Since introducing its Super Cruise advanced driver assistance suite in the Cadillac CT6 back in 2017, General Motors has worked steadily to expand the number of lidar-mapped roads that the system can handle hands-free. The SuperCruise Network first expanded from 130,000 to 200,000 miles of divided highways in 2019, and will soon double in size — to 400,000 miles across the US and Canada — by the end of the year, GM announced on Wednesday. 

The Super Cruise system — and its successor, Ultra Cruise — relies on a mix of high-fidelity LiDAR maps, GPS, and onboard visual and radar sensors to know where the vehicle is on the road. So far, those maps, which dictate where features like Hands-Free Driving can operate, have only included major, divided highways like interstates with the big median barriers. Smaller, undivided public highways — aka State Routes — were not included, in part because of the added ADAS challenges presented by oncoming traffic, until now.

"This expansion will enable Super Cruise to work on some additional divided highways, but the big news is this the bulk of the expansion will allow Super Cruise to operate on non-divided highways," David Craig, GM's Chief of Maps, said during Tuesday's call. "These non-divided highways are typically the state and federal highways... that connect the smaller cities and townships across the US and Canada."

GM

These will include Route 66, the Pacific Coast Highway (aka CA Route 1), the Overseas Highway (aka US Route 1) and the Trans-Canada Highway. "if you look at I-35 which is the interstate that runs North and South up the middle of the United States, and look to the West, you will see that the Super Cruise coverage currently is just the major interstates, which is fairly sparse," Craig continued. "But in the expansion, you can see that it's just a spiderweb of roads covering the entire area. All the little townships are going to be connected now." 

GM

GM executives explained on a press call Tuesday that every new Super Cruise-enabled GM vehicle that rolls off the assembly line will be equipped with the full 400,000-mile capabilities, as will 2021 and 2022 GM vehicles outfitted with the VIP (Vehicle Intelligence Platform) architecture, such as the Escalade and CT5, via OTA update later in 2022. Vehicles with Super Cruise but without VIP which cannot eventually upgrade to Ultra Cruise, such as the early model CT6s, will receive a smaller update. 

There will be no impact on the annual Super Cruise subscription cost, but you will have to have the Super Cruise hardware already installed. GM execs on the call noted that folks who bought SC-capable vehicles during the chip shortage that didn't actually have the SC hardware installed cannot go back and get the system retrofitted in after the fact to take advantage of this update. In all, GM hopes to offer nearly two dozen Super Cruise-enabled vehicle models by the 2023 model year

Samsung debuted its Freestyle smart projector earlier this year at CES as a portable home theater gadget with auto focus and auto leveling features, making it easier to watch anything, anywhere. Normally priced at $900, the Freestyle projector is down to $798 at Amazon right now, which is just about $100 off. Samsung also has it for nearly the same price. The only time we've seen the projector cheaper was when it went on sale for $650 at Woot in a one-day sale back in April. If you missed the chance then, now's a good opportunity to grab the Freestyle while it's decently discounted.

The Freestyle is really best for those that want a portable projector as it weighs only 1.83 pounds and can be easily picked up and moved from spot to spot around your home. Its stand can rotate nearly 180 degrees and its auto focus and auto leveling features help align what you're watching, so you could project a movie onto your ceiling, your wall and a number of other places without the picture looking too wonky. The Freestyle projects images with a 1080p resolution with a size range of 30 to 100 inches, making it easy to adjust the image to fit the surface you're working with. Along with built-in Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby voice command support, it also has 360-degree audio, so you won't need to plug in external speakers for sound.

If you'd rather invest in a new TV than a projector for your home theater setup, some of Samsung's 2022 smart TVs have also been discounted on Amazon. The 85-inch Class Neo QLED Mini LED 4K TV is a whopping $700 off and down to $3,298, which is an all-time low. This set uses Mini LED technology to produce bolder, brighter colors and higher contrast, plus it supports a 120Hz refresh rate, 4K AI upscaling, Dolby Atmos and Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby voice controls. Elsewhere, Samsung's 65-inch Q80B Series QLED 4K set is $200 off and down to $1,298, while the 65-inch Class Neo QLED 8K Mini LED TV is $500 off and on sale for $4,498.

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

An unknown actor has drained over 8,000 internet-connected wallets in an ongoing attack on the Solana blockchain ecosystem. According to Blockchain auditor OtterSec, the attacks were still ongoing when it posted an update in the evening of August 2nd and that they had affected multiple wallets, including Phantom, Slope, Solflare and TrustWallet, across a wide variety of platforms. 

As TechCrunch notes, the bad actor seems to have stolen both Solana tokens and USDC stablecoins, with the estimated losses so far amounting to around $8 million. OtterSec is now encouraging users to move all their assets to a hardware wallet, and the Solana Status Twitter account echoed that advice, adding that there's no evidence "cold" wallets have been impacted.

The Solana Status account has also revealed that an exploit allowed a malicious actor to drain funds from the compromised wallets and that it seems to have affected both their mobile versions and extensions. Engineers from multiple ecosystems have already banded together to work with security researchers to identify the root cause of the exploit, which is yet to be discovered. 

People in the crypto industry have several theories, though, with some believing that the bad actors got access to private keys through a supply chain attack, because the attacker was able to sign, or initiate and approve, transactions on behalf of the victims. Others warning that the exploit has caused the widespread compromise of private keys and that revoking wallet approvals won't help at all.