Microsoft is hoping to make Edge the browser of choice for gamers. The company is rolling out a host of gaming-related updates to most users, including perks for game streaming. A new (if long in development) Clarity Boost feature improves the visual quality of console titles when you're using Xbox Cloud Gaming on a Windows 10 or 11 PC. The spatial upscaling technology won't make you forget that it's a stream, but the sample Microsoft offered suggests it will reduce the muddy look that sometimes plagues remote games.
You won't need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for the other improvements. Windows 10 and 11 users will also see a toggle in Efficiency mode that automatically reduces Edge's resource use when you start a PC game. You might not have to close your browser to wring every last drop of performance out of your system.
Regardless of platform, there's an optional gaming-oriented homepage that points you to news, livestreams, new releases and quick access to the Xbox Cloud Gaming catalog. You can also visit a dedicated games menu that offers free-to-play arcade and casual titles to keep you entertained during uneventful meetings.
This isn't the first browser built for gamers. Opera GX launched three years ago with similar features, such as lower resource usage and quick access to livestreams. Microsoft features like Clarity Boost might be more appealing in some cases, though, and Edge's ubiquity on Windows systems gives it better odds of widespread adoption.
The Food and Drug Administration has banned e-cigarette maker Juul from selling and distributing its products in the US. It ordered the company to remove its wares from the market or face enforcement actions.
Reports earlier this week suggested that an FDA ban on Juul products was imminent. After a two-year review, the FDA rejected Juul's application to keep selling tobacco- and menthol-flavored pods as well as its vape pen.
The decision doesn't apply to Juul pens and pods that are already in the possession of the company's customers. However, it'll be difficult, if not impossible, to find those products in the near future.
In 2020, the FDA began a comprehensive review of all e-cigarette products sold in the US. It weighed up the potential benefits of vaping vs. cigarettes for adult smokers against the popularity of e-cigarettes among underage users. The agency has permitted other manufacturers to continue selling vape products, including NJOY and Vuse parent Reynolds American. To date, the agency has authorized 23 "electronic nicotine delivery systems" (to give vape pens their formal name).
In Juul's case, though, the FDA said the company's application "lacked sufficient evidence regarding the toxicological profile of the products to demonstrate that marketing of the products would be appropriate for the protection of the public health. In particular, some of the company’s study findings raised concerns due to insufficient and conflicting data – including regarding genotoxicity and potentially harmful chemicals leaching from the company’s proprietary e-liquid pods – that have not been adequately addressed and precluded the FDA from completing a full toxicological risk assessment of the products named in the company’s applications."
The agency went on to say that it doesn't have clinical information that suggests there is "an immediate hazard" linked to Juul's pen or pods. "However, the [marketing denial orders] issued today reflect FDA’s determination that there is insufficient evidence to assess the potential toxicological risks of using the Juul products," the FDA said. It noted that it's not possible to grasp the possible harms of using other pods in a Juul vape pen or the company's pods in third-party devices.
“The FDA is tasked with ensuring that tobacco products sold in this country meet the standard set by the law, but the responsibility to demonstrate that a product meets those standards ultimately falls on the shoulders of the company,” said Michele Mital, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “As with all manufacturers, Juul had the opportunity to provide evidence demonstrating that the marketing of their products meets these standards. However, the company did not provide that evidence and instead left us with significant questions. Without the data needed to determine relevant health risks, the FDA is issuing these marketing denial orders.”
Juul can appeal the decision or challenge it in court. Engadget has contacted the company for comment.
The company became the leader in the US e-cigarette market in 2018. However, sales have dropped following a string of controversies. Juul slipped to second place behind Vuse in terms of US market share. The vast majority of the company's revenue comes from the US, The Wall Street Journal noted this week.
Juul had been accused by federal agencies, state attorneys general and other officials of marketing its products to teens. The company agreed to pay eight-figure settlements related to lawsuits in North Carolina and Washington state, and faced suits in several other states.
The company halted sales of mint- and fruit-flavored vape pods in 2019 before the FDA banned most flavored variants in early 2020. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 85 percent of young people who had used e-cigarettes said they used flavored varieties. However, vaping has become less popular among teens overall. In 2019, Juul revealed a new, connected version of its vape pen that can verify a user's identity in an attempt to prevent underage use.
Blackmagic is finally updating the base Pocket Cinema Camera 6K with some welcome (if not earth-shattering) refinements. The company has introduced the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2 with features borrowed from the Pro model, including its larger battery, swivelling touchscreen and support for a 1,280 x 960 OLED viewfinder. You can record video for longer while improving the composition of your shots, to put it simply.
The G2 otherwise sports the same capabilities as the original Pocket Cinema Camera 6K. You'll find its namesake 6,144 x 3,456 Super 35 image sensor with 13 stops of dynamic range and a peak dual native ISO of 25,600. A Canon EF mount gives you a wide selection of potential lenses, while mini XLR inputs provide high-quality audio. PetaPixelnotes you won't get the Pro's ND filters, however, and the conservative update means you won't find continuous autofocusing or in-body stabilization.
The 6K G2 is available now for $1,995, or $500 less than its predecessor cost when new. You'll also get the full DaVinci Resolve Studio to edit your work. This is clearly a better bargain if you're looking for a reasonably compact video-focused mirrorless camera, although you may still want to look at competition like the Sony A7 IV (with continuous autofocus and built-in stabilization) if you're equally interested in taking photos.
No Man's Sky will make its long-awaited arrival on Nintendo Switch on October 7th. The Switch version was previously announced for this summer, so that marks a delay of at least a couple of weeks.
The sandbox survival title landed on PC and PlayStation 4 in 2016 and Xbox One two years later, so its Switch debut has been a long time coming. From the jump, Switch players will have access to all of the features and upgrades Hello Games has brought to No Man's Sky since its rocky launch. The game's in a much healthier place than it was at the outset.
Some players might have reservations about how well No Man's Sky will run on the Switch's aging hardware. Hello Games tried to placate concerns with a video that shows the game running fairly well on the console, though it remains to be seen what Switch performance will actually be like.
There will be physical and digital editions of No Man's Sky available for Switch on October 7th. On the same day, fans will be able to purchase a physical version for PS5 for the first time. No Man's Sky is also slated to arrive on Mac and iPad later this year.
Like a lot of people, I only recently began cycling. After more than a decade of not riding a bike, I bought my first one as an adult at the start of the pandemic and immediately fell in love with what it had to offer. Cycling was my escape from a world that didn’t make sense anymore. It has since become the primary way I stay fit, unwind after a long day and get to where I need to go.
Along the way, I’ve tried many different cycling gadgets. The entries in the list below represent some of my favorites. Outside of essentials like a helmet, multitool and spare inner tubes, you don’t need most of the items listed below to enjoy whatever time you spend on your bike or e-bike, but some will keep you safer or make it easier to achieve your fitness goals – if that’s what you want to get out of the hobby.
Knog Rear Plus Light
Knog
Cycling frequently involves sharing the road with cars, and one of the best ways to stay safe is by making yourself as visible as possible to drivers. One way to do that is with a seat post-mounted LED light. You have a lot of options when it comes to cycling lights, but one of the best in my experience is the affordable Rear Plus from Knog.
You’ll notice the Rear Plus is one of two products from Knog on this list. The reason for that is that the company makes cycling accessories that stand out for their usability and clever design. With the Rear Plus, for instance, you plug it into your computer like a USB thumb drive whenever you need to charge it, meaning you don’t need to deal with a micro-USB cable like with many other bicycle lights. What’s more, Knog claims you can get up to 40 hours of battery life from the device depending on the lighting mode you use. And since it’s so easy to charge, you’re much less likely to find yourself in a situation where you don’t have a light when the sun is about to set.
If you’re willing to spend more, an even safer option is to buy a rearview radar like the $200 Garmin Varia RTL515. In addition to being a light, it pairs with your smartphone or bike computer, with models from both Garmin and Wahoo supported, to provide visual, audible and haptic alerts when cars are approaching you. It can detect a vehicle up to 150 meters away and will more urgently warn you if one is approaching quickly. It’s not a replacement for checking your blind spots, but it will take away much of the stress involved with road cycling.
After an LED light, you’ll want to make sure you have a bell installed on your bicycle. I know what you’re thinking: can’t you just warn people when you’re about to ride past them. The answer is yes, but they probably won’t hear you or react quickly, especially if they’re talking to someone at the time. You’ll be surprised how much more effective a bell is at communicating with pedestrians than your voice. I find one is also invaluable when you’re faced with a driver waiting to make a turn.
For an “aero” option that won’t look out of place on a carbon road bike, consider the Knog Oi Luxe. It’s easy to install and features a slick design that won’t clutter your cockpit. For something with more classic styling, look to the Spurcycle Original Bell. Both produce distinct sounds that cut through traffic and other noises.
There’s a good chance you’ll want to carry your phone and other belongings with you when you set out on your cycling adventures, and that’s where a handlebar bag can come in handy. The amount of choice here is endless, with nearly every major cycling brand offering at least a few different models.
Another option is to support a local company in your area. On that front, there have never been more independent bagmakers than there at this moment. In the US alone, you have companies like Swift Industries, PS Bagworks and Roadrunner Bags making thoughtful and durable cycling bags of all shapes and sizes. Seriously, a quick Google search and you’re bound to find someone sewing cycling bags in your local area. And if all you want is a foolproof recommendation, consider the Handlebar Bag Mini from Ornot. It’s the perfect size for carrying a phone, sunglasses and a few snacks, and like all of the company’s products, the quality of materials and craftsmanship is second to none.
At some point, you’ll need to leave your bike in a place where you can’t keep a constant eye on it. Since 2020, I’ve used a Kryptonite Kryptolok to lock my bike up, and so far it has yet to be stolen (knock on wood). A lot of people swear by Kryptonite locks and I like the one I bought for its no-fuss key mechanism. It also comes with a holder you can mount to one of your bike’s bottle cage mounts.
Even if you only consider yourself a casual cyclist, you should use an app like Strava to record your rides. Like with any activity, it can be easy to get discouraged with cycling, particularly if you finish a ride where you feel like things didn’t go your way. But here’s the thing, you’re getting better whether you realize it or not.
When I first started cycling in the summer of 2020, I was averaging a speed of about 15km per hour. I can now do about 23km per hour. I know that because I have a record of nearly every ride I’ve gone on since I bought my first bike at the start of the pandemic. And it’s all thanks to Strava.
The best part of the app is that you don’t need to pay for its annual $60 premium subscription to get access to some of its best features. Recording your rides is free, and the company recently made its Beacon feature, which can automatically notify your loved ones of your location, available to all smartphone users. In my view, it’s worthwhile upgrading to Strava’s premium tier if you think you’ll get value out of its route-building tool. It uses the company’s data to generate routes in your nearby vicinity, and I find it’s a good way to add some variety to your rides.
In your phone, you already own one of the most useful cycling accessories you can buy. Not only can it point you in the right direction when you get lost but you can also use it with apps like Strava to track your rides. In those instances, it can be useful to have easy access to your phone when you’re on the saddle. That’s where a handlebar phone mount can be invaluable.
One of the most secure options I’ve tried is made by Quad Lock. The company’s system involves a case made specifically for your make of phone and a dual-stage locking mechanism that ensures both case and device stay firmly affixed to your bike. They also offer both stem and out front mounts, with the option to orient your phone horizontally – making it a great fit for Zwift.
Another option is to buy a dedicated bike computer such as the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt. The Bolt offers turn-by-turn navigation and an interface that’s purpose-built for cycling. That means the inclusion of tactile buttons that make it possible to interact with the device by feel alone, even when you’re wearing cycling gloves. Plus, a $300 bike computer is a lot more affordable to replace than a high-end smartphone if you end up in a crash. Just make sure you go for the V2 version. Wahoo recently updated the Bolt to add USB-C charging and a color screen.
If you already own some variation of everything else on this list, then you’re probably at the point where you’re considering a power meter so you have a more consistent way of measuring your fitness gains.
To be clear, the majority of people, even those for whom cycling is their primary form of exercise, don’t need a power meter. But if you’re absolutely set on buying one, Garmin makes one of the best options. The company’s Rally pedals offer several advantages over other models. They’re much easier to install than power meters that replace either your bottom bracket or crankarms. All you need is a pedal wrench. Additionally, with Garmin offering the Rally pedals in Shimano SPD, SPD-SL and Look Keo versions, there’s a good chance you won’t have to replace your existing clipless cleats to use them. Garmin also offers a conversion kit that allows you to use the spindle mechanism across multiple bikes. With a price tag that starts at $649, they are expensive, but also one of the most versatile options on the market.
The following article discusses spoilers for The Elysian Kingdom.
There’s a genre of writing best embodied by the serial escalation of premises found on forum threads in certain corners of the internet. It’s the sort of energy that imbues this week’s Strange New Worlds as it takes a one-episode detour into a fantasy parody. Not content with dropping the crew into a swords-and-sorcery romp, they’re all tasked with playing against type! Oh, and the only people who can save them is an awkward buddy-cop duo of the noble Doctor and the grouchy engineer! Shut this off five minutes or so before the ending and this could easily be the second best episode of the show’s first season.
The Elysian Kingdom is both the episode’s title, and the subject of the book Dr. M’Benga has been reading to his terminally ill daughter Rukiya throughout the series. She’s annoyed by the ending, which requires the noble king to choose what thing he’s willing to give up at the conclusion of the story. M’Benga tells her, when he’s cured her, she can rewrite the story any which way she chooses. And before you can say gee, that foreshadowing was a bit on the nose, the Enterprise gets caught up in the nebula it’s been studying, unable to move.
By the time the doctor gets to the bridge, the ship has been covered in tapestries and ye olde tiki torches. Everyone bar him (and, as it turns out, Hemmer), has been mind-wiped into becoming characters from the book. Pike is a cowardly courtier, La’an is a comedy Disney princess, Uhura is the big villain and Spock is an evil wizard with a Fabio wig and two-day stubble that reminds us all Ethan Peck is, in fact, hot under that goofy Vulcan haircut.
Marni Grossman / Paramount+
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Star Trek lean into its often-denied campy side and, as I’ve said before, it’s a groove Strange New Worlds works well in. The fact the series feels confident enough to do this just eight episodes into its first run speaks volumes about how the creative team are doing. (You just know there’s a whiteboard in the writers’ room with Musical Episode(?) written up top, and I’m here for it.) If there’s a downside, it’s that the ensemble is big enough that some actors get short-changed in their moments to play out of character. Of course, none of this would work without Babs Olusanmokun’s central performance to hold the story together, aware of the ridiculousness of the situation but remaining true to M’Benga’s inner turmoil.
Of course, I wouldn’t be writing about Strange New Worlds if there wasn’t also a small list of annoyances. The tone reminds me a lot of Futurama’s glorious M*A*S*H parody with iHawk, the robot with a Maudlin / Irreverent switch on his side. This episode wants the switch to be jammed at both ends, mixing high camp with a meditation on, uh, something.
We must now talk about the ending, (again, spoiler warning) which is such a weird left turn that it makes my scalp feel itchy just thinking about it. The denouement of the episode sees the sentient nebula offer to take Rukiya off the ship and cure her illness, allowing her to live a life of fantasy in the stars. She appears, moments later, as an adult, telling her father about her life and reassuring him he made the right decision to let her go. Suitably resolved, he’s back at work minutes later.
Marni Grossman / Paramount+
Sorry, it doesn’t sit right. I can understand the notion of giving up your kid to save their life, and parents have thrown kids from burning buildings on that basis. But the idea he’d make that decision in about half a minute’s conversation with a sentient space cloud with unclear motives? M’Benga has spent the whole season so far working to find a cure for Rukiya, and was even given a promising lead just two weeks back. This storyline has been seeded through enough of the series that this feels like it’s the creative team course-correcting.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say the abruptness of this is the resolution of a production problem. My guess is that nobody realized just how quickly children age, making it difficult for Sage Arrindell to play a child trapped in temporal stasis. It’s the reason Malcolm David Kelly left Lost at the end of its first season: You can’t pretend everyone has spent just 40 days on the island if the kid visibly ages a year since they shot the pilot. (I assume, too, the episode was shot on the standing Enterprise sets as a way of saving cash for the finale unless those gorgeous period costumes rinsed through the show’s substantial budget.)
Alternatively, the writers planned this out and it was always meant to be something that resolved itself within the first season. In that case, I’m forced to wonder who in the world thought that a father just handing over his kid in such an arbitrary fashion was a smart emotional beat. Unless it’s one of those situations where more emphasis was placed on the surprise of it, rather than the logic, narratively or emotionally. To me, it feels a bit like yet another Strange New Worlds episode where, much as I want to offer praise, there’s always something that leaves me a bit cold.
If you're looking to upgrade to a speedy, compact desktop, Apple's Mac Mini M1 is a good option. The machine is back on sale at Amazon right now for $570 thanks to a coupon that knocks $99 off its price. That's the lowest price we've seen on the desktop that runs on Apple's M1 chipset, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
Yes, we're on M2 machines at this point, but only a couple of Apple computers run on that updated processor (and only the M2 MacBook Pro is even available right now). The Mac Mini M1 remains the most affordable way to get an M1 device in your home, too, as the latest iPad Pros that share the same processor start at around $799. The desktop is powered by an eight-core CPU and eight-core GPU, plus a 16-core Neural Engine. While we haven't given the Mini M1 the full review treatment, you can expect it to run similarly to the MacBook Air M1, which is speedily and efficiently.
While the Mac Mini M1's design isn't anything to write home about, that almost works to its advantage. Apple didn't change much from the Intel version, keeping the machine a sleek, square box interrupted only by a couple of ports: two Thunderbolt ports, two USB-A connectors, an Ethernet port, one HDMI port and a headphone jack.
The biggest issue we have with the desktop is its lack of upgradeability — its RAM and storage are soldered in place, so you're stuck with the amount that you initially purchase. RAM is arguably more crucial than storage here, since you can always connect an external SSD to the Mini M1 if you need to offload important files. If those limitations don't bother you, the Mac Mini M1 could be a great replacement for your aging desktop.
Spotify has expanded its old Concert Hub and added more features to make it easier to find information and tickets for live events in your location. The streaming service sources listings for the hub, now called Live Events Feed, from its ticketing partners that include Ticketmaster, AXS, DICE, Eventbrite and See Tickets, among other companies. During the height of COVID-19 lockdowns, the Concert Hub helped users find at-home or studio performances, podcast recordings and other online performances. Turns out Spotify was studying user behavior at the same time.
Sam Sheridan, Product Manager for Live Events Discovery, said Spotify spent the past two years studying the music industry and its users. One of the most important behaviors the company noticed was that fans would engage with artists on the platform and then leave to search for concert listings or to follow them on social media to be able to stay on top of any upcoming tour dates. "We think the Live Events Feed is an opportunity to help close this loop," Sheridan said.
If you don't see the Live Events Feed in your app, simply search for "live events." You'll see a listing of all the performances in your area, and clicking on any of them would lead you to an interface that includes a link where you can find and buy tickets. If the artist you're listening to has an upcoming tour date, Spotify will show you that event in-app while you're listening. Spotify has also built a new messaging tool that can notify you about upcoming concerts based on your listening habits. Don't worry — you can tweak your notification preferences so you don't have to get messages if you don't want to.
Sheridan says Spotify will work "to even further integrate event discovery directly into the app" to make it more intertwined with the listening experience, so we'll likely see more updates to Live Events in the future.
Instagram is testing new age verification methods including asking followers to vouch for your age and even using AI that can estimate your age via a video selfie. It's part of a push to ensure users are at least the minimum 13 years old and "to make sure that teens and adults are in the right experience for their age group," it announced.
For the "social vouching" system, Instagram asks three mutual followers of the user to confirm their age. Those followers must be at least 18 and have three days to respond to the request. Users can still verify their age with pictures of ID cards as well.
The AI part requires you to take a video selfie, which Meta-owned Instagram then shares with a company called Yoti (it doesn't provide any other information to Yoti, only the image, it says). "Yoti's technology estimates your age based on your facial features and shares that estimate with us. Meta and Yoti then delete the image. The technology cannot recognize your identity — only your age," Instagram says in the blog post.
Despite those reassurances, the system is bound to be controversial. Users widely distrust both Facebook and Instagram with their data, to start with. On top of that, Yoti's age recognition AI has higher errors depending on your gender, age range and skin tone.
Yoti's system is already used by the UK and German governments to detect age using deep learning after being trained on "hundreds of thousands" of pictures, Yoti cofounder Robin Tombs told Wired last year. Much like other neural networks, though, how it works is a bit of a black box, so even the company doesn't know exactly which facial characteristics it uses. Yoti has a YouTube demo (above) where it applies makeup to young users to see if the system can still correctly guess their ages (it can).
You can try Yoti's age estimation yourself — I found that it made me considerably younger (four years) when I took off my glasses, so your own mileage may vary. In general, it's the least accurate (plus or minus 3.97 years) when used on female faces with dark skin and the most accurate (2.38 years) with light-skinned male faces.
Instagram says it aims to use AI to understand people's ages to "prevent teens from accessing Facebook Dating, adults from messaging teens and helps teens from receiving restricted ad content, for example." It looks like this is just the start, as well, as the company said it plans to expand the use of it "widely across our technologies."
The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to stop Juul from selling e-cigarette products in the US, and the decision could come soon, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Along with other e-cigarette makers, Juul submitted its products to the FDA for review in 2020. The agency was looking into the possible benefits of vaping as an alternative to cigarettes, but the popularity of the products among young people has had the opposite result.
Beyond the FDA, Juul has faced multiple lawsuits costing tens of millions of dollars over accusations of marketing to minors. In reaction to the news report yesterday, many vapers have apparently rushed to stock up on Juul supplies ahead of the possible sales ban.
Nothing's debut transparent-shelled Phone 1 smartphone won't be coming to the US, the company confirmed to PCMag. "While we’d love to bring Phone 1 to the entire community around the world, we're focusing on home markets, including the UK and Europe," the company said in a statement.
Nothing hopes to make it big in America one day: "We have big plans to launch a US-supported smartphone in the future," the company added. The challenge could be lasting long enough to follow up its debut phone with another device. It’s very hard to launch a new smartphone — especially if you’re a new company.
It’s another weird new MacBook from Apple. The new M2 chip gives the MacBook Pro a nice performance boost, but its Retina Display lacks ProMotion and the thin bezels we’d expect from a computer today. And with just two USB-C ports, it’s hard to recommend as a machine for professionals. Most of us would be better saving up a little bit more for the 14-inch MacBook Pro with a far better screen and more ports.
In a blast from the past, you can pay for your ride with cash — kind of. Lyft has introduced an option to pay for rides using cash. Visit 35,000-plus stores like Walmart, ACE Cash Express and Kroger and you can present a barcode or ID number to turn physical money into a balance accessible through the Lyft app or website. You'll have to scan approved identification after requesting your first ride.
At Amazon’s re:MARS conference, Alexa’s senior vice-president Rohit Prasad exhibited a startling new voice assistant capability: the supposed ability to mimic voices. Amazon framed this copycatting ability as a way to commemorate lost loved ones. It played a demonstration video in which Alexa read to a child in the voice of his recently deceased grandmother. An Amazon spokesperson told Engadget the new skill can create a synthetic voiceprint after being trained on as little as a minute of audio of the individual it's supposed to be replicating. So far, there's no timeline whatsoever as to when or if this feature will be released to the public.
We launched our @EngadgetDeals Twitter account two years ago, and now we’re expanding our deals to a new newsletter — don’t worry The Morning After is going nowhere. You can subscribe now to get the latest deals on our favorite consumer electronics delivered to your inbox regularly — the first issue goes out later today. Expect some pretty major deals, like up to 46 percent off Amazon’s Omni Fire TVs and the first discounts on the latest product launches, like Sony’s LinkBuds S, which have dipped under the $180 mark.
