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More than a decade and a half into its existence, Twitter has confirmed what was once unthinkable: an edit button is on the way. The company confirmed as much Tuesday, saying that it's been "been working on an edit feature since last year." 

The company was light on details, but it did share a mock-up of the feature, which it said it would test first with Twitter Blue subscribers. 

Developing...

For today only, you can get $50 off the Xbox Series S through camera retailer Adorama. With the discount, Microsoft’s entry-level ninth-generation console costs $250. That matches one of the best prices we’ve seen for the system to date. To take advantage of the offer, you’ll need to input the code“XBOXS2250” at checkout. Today’s promotion is only available until midnight.

Engadget awarded the Series S a score of 85 when it was first released in November 2020. We liked the console for its compact design and expansive library of Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One games accessible through Microsoft’s backward compatibility program. Since then, its library has only grown with the release of first-party exclusives like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5 and Psychonauts 2.

We called the Series S the next-gen starter pack when it came out. That aptly highlights some of its shortcomings. It only comes with 512GB of internal storage. You’ll need to buy one of Seagate’s expensive expansion cards to add additional space, and those start at $139 for the 512GB model. The Series S is also limited to 1440p and doesn’t offer the same backward compatibility experience as its more expensive sibling. We don’t think those are deal-breakers, but if you have the money to buy the Series X, it’s the more capable console.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Authorities aren't done busting dark web crime operations this week. German federal police (the Bundeskriminalamt) working with US law enforcement have seized Hydra Market, billed as the world's largest and longest-serving dark web marketplace. It reportedly accounted for about 80 percent of all dark web-linked cryptocurrency transactions and had taken about $5.2 billion in crypto since 2015. It had roughly 17 million user accounts and 19,000 sellers.

The seizure included both the servers and crypto wallets holding about $25 million in Bitcoin. The US Justice Department simultaneously charged Russia resident Dmitry Pavlov with narcotics distribution and money laundering due to his operation of Hydra servers. Hydra mainly served people in Russian-language countries hoping to buy or deal in contraband, including drugs, hacking services and stolen data. It also participated in the previously mentioned laundering as well as crypto "mixing" that made it harder to track digital currency usage.

The Treasury Department further punished Hydra and Garantex, a Russian crypto exchange, by adding them and over 100 crypto addresses to a "specially designated nationals" list. In a statement, the Bundeskriminalamt said it had been investigating Hydra with US help since August of last year.

This is far from the first time authorities have shuttered major dark web markets. They shut down previous record-setters like AlphaBay, Silk Road and most recently DarkMarket. We wouldn't count on the seizure preventing other dark web shops from taking Hydra's place, then. It could disrupt operations for a while, though, and might serve as a reminder that even the larger digital black markets can fold with little warning.

Epic Games has built a mobile app that can turn photos into 3D scans. Capturing Reality, a company Epic bought last year, created photogrammetric software called RealityCapture. It can quickly convert laser scans or images into 3D scans of assets. With the RealityScan app, Epic is hoping to give users access to the same tech right on their phone. 

The idea is that creatives will be able to scan real-world objects at any time to use in their projects. After you sign in with your Epic Games account, the app will prompt you to take at least 20 photos of an item. You can also hold down your finger on the capture button as you move around the object. 

After the app processes the images and turns it into a 3D object with the help of RealityCapture's servers, you can export the scan to Sketchfab (a 3D asset platform Epic also bought in 2021).

You'll then be able to sell the asset to other creatives or use them for your own 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality projects. Game developers might find the app particularly useful if they're in need of a particular item to place in a virtual environment. As it happens, Epic just opened up access to Unreal Engine 5.

Epic is testing a beta of the app with a limited number of iOS users before a broader, early access rollout on iPhone this spring. An Android version of RealityScan will arrive later this year.

Opera has long offered a free VPN to its browser's Android users, but now it's hoping you're willing to pay up. The software maker has launched a beta VPN Pro service for Android that, for a fee, secures connections across the entire device. That sounds much like any other paid VPN service, but Opera is promising a few advantages.

You can subscribe using an existing Opera browser and account, so you won't have to download a separate app if you're already using the free option. Opera also won't maintain data logs that might be used to track your activity. It's too soon to know if the company will live up to promises of "high-speed servers," but you can combine Opera's data-saving mode with VPN Pro to avoid running into any carrier data caps.

The VPN Pro beta is available now if you're using at least Android 6.0 and Opera for Android Beta 68.2. The price may be appealing, too. Early adopters can subscribe for $2 per month if they commit to three months, or $3 for one month. This won't be enough if you want VPN service across every device your own, but it might do the trick if you either value a more secure phone or just want to stream services in other countries.

As an audio company, JLab is known for producing affordable but interesting products. Take one of its more recent releases, the Go Air Tones. It worked with nail care brand ORLY to create a set of earbuds available in seven Pantone colors designed to match various skin tones. Its new JBuds Air Pro offer a different value proposition. Priced at $60, they feature 6mm drivers with AAC codec support built-in, IP55 certification and up to 36 hours of playtime with the included charging case. But according to JLabs, the highlight of the JBuds Air Pro is the inclusion of Bluetooth multipoint connectivity.

That feature allows you to connect the JBuds Air Pro to two devices simultaneously. In that way, you can listen to music on your computer and then answer a call that comes to your phone without jumping into the Bluetooth settings of either device.

JLab is positioning Bluetooth Multipoint as a value-add you won’t find on more expensive earbuds like the AirPods Pro. But the reality is more complicated than that. Multipoint connectivity has been a part of Bluetooth since its 4.0 release more than a decade ago, but you have to go out of your way to find headphones that support the feature. Part of that is that it’s challenging to pull off correctly. For instance, on Sony’s excellent WH-1000XM4, multipoint connectivity only works when the headphones connect to a device via AAC. Still, it’s a handy feature and one you won’t find on many earbuds, particularly ones that cost $60.

The JBuds Air Pro are available to order today from the JLab website.

Snap isn't done teaching Snapchat users how to communicate using sign language. The social media service has introduced an ASL Alphabet Lens that, as the name implies, significantly expands the American Sign Language learning experience. You'll still learn how to fingerspell your name using individual letters, but you now also get to practice the ASL alphabet and play two games to test your knowledge.

As before, Snap is using SignAll's AI technology (including computer vision and machine learning) to recognize your hand gestures. Snap relied solely on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing team members to develop the lens.

You can use the lens on Android and iOS by either scanning the Snapcode (below) or looking for "ASL Alphabet" in the Lens Explorer. For Snap, the goal remains the same. This is about using augmented reality to help more people communicate online and, of course, expand Snapchat's audience in the process.

Snap

Rocket Lab is developing Electron as a reusable orbital launch vehicle and it has revealed details about the next step of the program. After the rocket’s 26th launch, which is scheduled for later this month, the company will attempt to snatch the first stage out of mid-air with a helicopter.

The mission has a 14-day launch window starting on April 19th. Electron is scheduled to lift off from a launchpad in New Zealand and will carry satellites for a number of companies. 

Around an hour before launch, the helicopter will move into position approximately 150 miles off the coast. Two and a half minutes after lift off, the first and second stages of the rocket will separate, with the latter carrying the payload to orbit. The first stage will descend back to Earth. It will deploy a drogue parachute at an altitude of 13 km (8.3 miles) and its main parachute at an altitude of roughly 6 km (3.7 miles).

The Sikorsky S-92 helicopter will then attempt to retrieve the stage by snagging a hook onto the parachute line. If all goes as planned, Rocket Lab will analyze the stage to see if it's suitable for another launch. Rocket Lab has carried out three successful recoveries of Electron's first stage from the ocean on previous missions. 

"Trying to catch a rocket as it falls back to Earth is no easy feat, we’re absolutely threading the needle here, but pushing the limits with such complex operations is in our DNA," Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said in a press release. "We expect to learn a tremendous amount from the mission as we work toward the ultimate goal of making Electron the first reusable orbital small sat launcher and providing our customers with even more launch availability.”

The company first tested the mid-air retrieval process in March 2020, when it dropped a first stage from one helicopter and another successfully snagged the parachute on the first attempt. Just over two years later, it's finally ready to try capturing the first stage of the rocket after a full launch.

Twitter is once again tightening its rules to address how its platform is handling the war in Ukraine. The company said Tuesday that it will no longer allow official government or government-affiliated accounts to tweet photos of prisoners of war “in the context of the war in Ukraine.”

The policy will apply to photos published "on or after April 5th," according to an update in Twitter's rules. Government accounts sharing such images will be required to delete them, said Yoel Roth, Twitter’s Head of Site Integrity. “Beginning today, we will require the removal of Tweets posted by government or state-affiliated media accounts which share media that depict prisoners of war in the context of the war in Ukraine,” Roth said.

“We’re doing so in line with international humanitarian law, and in consultation with international human rights groups. To protect essential reporting on the war, some exceptions apply under this guidance where there is a compelling public interest or newsworthy POW content.”

In a blog post, the company added that in cases in which there is a “compelling public interest” for a government account to share photos of prisoners of war, it would add interstitial warnings to the images.

While the new rules apply to official government and government-affiliated accounts, Twitter noted that it will take down POW photos shared by anyone with “with abusive intent, such as insults, calls for retaliation, mocking/taking pleasure in suffering of PoWs, or for any other behavior that violates the Twitter rules.”

Additionally, Twitter is taking new steps to limit the reach of Russian government accounts on its platform. Under a new policy, the company will no longer “amplify or recommend government accounts belonging to states that limit access to free information and are engaged in armed interstate conflict,” Roth said. “This measure drastically reduces the chance that people on Twitter see Tweets from these accounts unless they follow them.”

It’s not yet clear if or how Twitter plans to enforce this policy for contexts other than the war in Ukraine. In a blog post, the company left open the possibility that it would apply the rules to situations “beyond interstate armed conflict” but didn’t elaborate.

“Attempts by states to limit or block access to free information within their borders are uniquely harmful, and run counter to Twitter’s belief in healthy and open public conversation,” the company wrote. “We’re committed to treating conversations about global conflicts more equitably, and we’ll continue to evaluate whether this policy may be applied in other contexts, beyond interstate armed conflict.”

The changes are the latest way Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced Twitter to adapt its content moderation rules as tries to suppress Russia-backed disinformation. The company has already taken steps to limit the visibility of Russian state media outlets and turned off advertising and recommendations in both Russia and Ukraine. Russia has blocked Twitter since March 4th.

Crystal Dynamics has “just started development” on a new Tomb Raider game, the studio announced today on Twitter. It didn’t share what the game will be called nor when fans can expect to play it, but it did note that it will run on Epic’s new Unreal Engine 5. After working on the mediocre Marvel’s Avengers, the project will see Crystal Dynamics return to the franchise it spent more than a decade making popular again.

It would also appear to signal the end of the studio’s in-house Foundation engine, which powered Rise of the Tomb Raider and the most recent mainline entry in the series, 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics said the move to UE5 would help the studio take its “storytelling to the next level.” The next Tomb Raider joins a handful of games already announced for UE5. Those include the next Witcher game and Black Myth: Wukong. Of that group, only the latter has a release date, with Chinese developer Game Science Studio aiming to get it out sometime in 2023.