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When we got our hands on Apple's $1,599 Studio Display last month, one issue soon became apparent: the webcam offered pretty subpar image quality. Apple said it was working on a fix, and now that software update is starting to make its way into the wild as part of the latest macOS Monterey beta.

"An update to the Studio Display firmware is now available with today's beta release of macOS Monterey 12.4," Apple said. "This beta update has refinements to the Studio Display camera tuning, including improved noise reduction, contrast and framing."

In his review of the Studio Display, Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar wrote that the webcam was "surprisingly grimy" and images captured with it appeared as though they were "covered in a layer of Vaseline." That's despite the Studio Display having a 12-megapixel sensor and an A13 chip to help with image processing.

Apple doesn't typically take long between rolling out a beta and reading a new version of an OS publicly, so this update will likely be available to all Studio Display owners soon. Once you've installed the latest macOS Monterey beta or the upcoming public build on your Mac, you can update your connected Studio Display by going to System Preferences then selecting Software Update.

Ahead of the June 23rd release of Sonic Origins, Sega announced today it would delist the standalone digital versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD. Outside of a handful of Nintendo-related exceptions (for instance, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will continue to be available through the recently announced Switch Online Expansion Pack), you won’t have the option to buy those titles through marketplaces like Steam as of May 20th. If you don't already own those titles after that date, you'll need to obtain them by buying Sonic Origins, which will remaster and bundle them together.    

The announcement comes just days after Sega shared the first details on the different versions of Sonic Orgins it plans to sell. In a chart that has since been roasted endlessly, the company revealed some of the collection’s new features would be locked behind DLC and special editions of the game. If you want the full experience, you must pre-order the “Digital Deluxe” version of Sonic Origins. Contrast that to the original releases of the games included in the collection: those shipped as complete games without the need for you to pay extra for additional features.

Google is making good on its promise to deliver the first Android 13 beta in April. The company has released Android 13 beta 1 for Pixel devices ranging from the 4 to the 6 and 6 Pro. The inaugural beta only includes three new features (two of them for developers), but there are now more granular permission controls for shared media files.

Beta 1 also includes all the upgrades from Android 13 Developer Preview 2, including a requirement that apps ask for permission to send notifications. You'll also find a new photo picker, Bluetooth LE audio and support for MIDI 2.0 instruments over USB.

Anyone can install the beta. As before, though, you probably won't want to load this release on a primary phone. While betas are generally more reliable, Google doesn't expect to focus on platform stability until June and won't release the finished Android 13 until sometime after July. This is meant more for developers who want apps ready by the time the operating system is available to the public.

As it is, these early Android betas don't typically include every user-facing feature. Google didn't show Android 12's Material You redesign until I/O 2021, months after the first previews arrived. While the beta is still useful, it may be worth waiting for I/O 2022 in May if you're mainly interested in top-level changes.

Sony is gearing up to roll out the revamped PlayStation Plus in the coming weeks. Ahead of the new tiers being introduced, the company is reportedly placing more demands on certain developers. According to Game Developer, it's asking studios working on games with a price point of at least $34 to create timed trials that last at least two hours.

The report suggests that Sony informed studios of the directive through its developer portal and without advance warning. They can reportedly release their timed trial (which will need to be available for at least a year) up to three months after their game hits the PlayStation Store. The policy is said not to apply to previously released games, titles that will be sold for less than $34 or PlayStation VR2 games.

The highest tier of the overhauled subscription service, PS Plus Premium, will include access to time-limited game trials. Sony started testing such trials on PS5 in October. It granted players access to Death Stranding: Directors Cut for six hours and Sackboy: A Big Adventure for five hours at no extra cost.

While many folks appreciate game demos and being able to try out a title before paying for it, this move will require studios to dedicated precious time and resources to create the timed trials. That'll surely put more strain on smaller developers. 

It's not clear why Sony decided on a $34 threshold for this policy, but there's a case to be made that developers selling games at a higher price point are more likely to be larger studios with more resources. Engadget has contacted Sony Interactive Entertainment for comment.

Sony will be aware it has to make sure PS Plus Premium delivers good value to users. That tier will cost $18 per month, $50 per quarter or $120 per year (the lowest tier is the same as the current version of PS Plus and won't have a price increase).

The new PS Plus service is different from Xbox Game Pass in that none of the tiers will offer first-party games on their release day. Offering trials of many new and recent games on top of a library of several hundred games from every generation of PlayStation may make up for that, at least to some extent.

For the first time, the UK’s annual Proms classical music festival will feature a concert dedicated to video game compositions. On August 1st, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, led by conductor Robert Ames, will perform a selection of music from Battlefield 2042, Dear Esther, Kingdom Hearts, Shadow of the Colossus and other influential titles.

“Fantastic worlds, epic adventures, complex characters and huge moral choices – the universe of computer gaming is a natural match for orchestral music, and in the 21st-century games have created a huge and passionate global audience for some of the most vivid, ambitious and inventive music currently being written for symphony orchestra,” the BBC writes of the upcoming concert.

“From 8-Bit to Infinity” will take place at the historic Royal Albert Hall. If you imagine you’ll find yourself in London this summer, tickets start at £14. And if not, the BBC plans to broadcast the concert on August 5th. The full program will be announced at a later date. 

You no longer have to hold back if you've wanted to tip YouTube creators with a Super Thanks. YouTube has made the tipping feature available to all eligible creators in the 68 countries where the service's Partner Program exists. As a viewer, you now have the option to customize the comment that appears when you tip, whether you're watching on desktop or mobile.

Super Thanks is the latest form of YouTube's long-running efforts to get fans directly supporting video producers. You can spend between $2 to $50 to show your appreciation and get a specially-colored comment to highlight your contribution. YouTube takes a 30 percent cut, but this is theoretically easier for creators than linking a separate crowdfunding service (such as Patreon) and hoping viewers contribute.

The feature joins the livestream-oriented Super Chat. While it's still soon to say if the expanded Super Thanks will see much uptake, it could give some creatives a stronger incentive to post videos on YouTube instead of limiting themselves to TikTok, Twitch and other platforms where some form of tipping is already widely available.

For a while now, Instagram has allowed you to pin your favorite Stories to the top of your profile as a way to save them beyond their expiry date. And the company may soon allow you to do the same with posts to ensure they stand out in their own way.

As noted by TechCrunch, Instagram recently began testing a feature that allows users to highlight specific posts above their photo grid. If you’re among the people the company has enrolled in the trial, you can access the feature by tapping the three dots icon at the top of a post and selecting the new “pin to your profile” option. “We’re testing a new feature that lets people feature posts on their profile,” Instagram told the outlet.

Evidence the company was considering adding a way to highlight regular posts was first spotted in January by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi. A handful of other social media platforms – including Twitter and TikTok – allow you to highlight posts in much the same way. As you can imagine, it’s a feature that’s particularly helpful for people who post a lot and want to showcase their best work.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will have another mission after it drops off a sample from the asteroid Bennu. The agency has extended the probe's mission to have it study the near-Earth asteroid Apophis for 18 months. The mission will be renamed OSIRIS-APEX (OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer), and the craft will maneuver toward the space rock 30 days after its September 24th, 2023 Earth fly-by. It won't gather a sample, though. Instead, it will blast the surface with thrusters to expose the subsurface for examination.

Apophis originally drew interest over fears it would strike the Earth in 2029. Researchers put that worry to rest, but it's still a highly valuable subject. It will have the closest approach of any known asteroid its size (about 1,000ft), and scientists are eager to study the effect of Earth's gravitational pull on the object. And unlike Bennu, which is tied to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, Apophis is associated with the regular chondrite variety.

The extension won't come cheap. A visit to Apophis will add $200 million to the cost ceiling of a mission that's already expected to cost $1.16 billion. Even so, it might be worthwhile if it helps humanity better understand asteroids and the risks they may pose to Earth.

Starting today, you'll start seeing a new section within Play Store listings that show information on how apps collect, store and share data. Google first announced the feature in May 2021 and gave us a glimpse of what it would look like in July. In the data safety section, you won't only see what kind of data the app will collect, but also if the app needs that data to function and if data collection is optional. It will also show why a specific piece of information is collected and whether the developer is sharing your data with third parties.

The developer can also add information on what security measures they practice, such as if they encrypt data in transit and whether you can ask them to delete your information. In addition, the section will show whether an app has validated their security practices against a global standard. And, for parents and guardians of young kids, it can also show whether an app is suitable for children. 

Google

Google says it's rolling out the feature gradually, and the section will start showing up for you in the coming weeks if you don't see it immediately. Take note that the tech giant is giving developers until July 20th to have a data section in place, so some apps might still not have one even if you're already seeing the feature on other listings. 

Samsung has expanded its lineup of T7 portable SSDs with a more rugged version. For one thing, the T7 Shield has improved drop resistance. Samsung says it should be able to survive a fall of 9.8 feet, in part thanks to rubberized exterior protection for the aluminum body. It's also IP65-rated for rain, dust and crush resistance.

The SSD is said to have low heat conductivity and it offers read/write speeds of up to 1,050MB/s and 1,000MB/s, respectively. Samsung says those are the fastest possible speeds for the USB 3.2 Gen2 standard (though the SSD comes with both USB Type C-to-C and Type C-to-A cables). The company claims the T7 Shield is almost 10 times faster than external HDDs and almost twice as fast as SATA-based portable SSDs.

As with other T7 models, the Shield is compact, measuring 88 x 59 x 13 millimeters. It weighs 98 grams. Along with computers, it's compatible with gaming consoles, mobile devices and broadcast cameras. The drive also has hardware encryption.

The T7 and T7 Touch are among our favorite portable SSDs, in part because of their zippy speeds and form factor. This more rugged version could become popular among travelers and action sports enthusiasts.

The T7 Shield has black, beige and blue color options. It's available worldwide today. The 1TB version costs $160, while the 2TB model is $290.

Samsung