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Microsoft has set a date for its next gaming showcase. Its second Developer_Direct event will include more details on Avowed, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II and strategy title Ara: History Untold. Most intriguingly though, MachineGames will at long last reveal details about its Indiana Jones game, three years after the project was announced.

The Wolfenstein studio will offer up over 10 minutes of game and developer insights. Along with the first gameplay trailer, we'll learn about the story and setting and find out just how you'll control the legendary archeologist.

On the Avowed front, Obsidian will take a deep dive into some gameplay from the action RPG, which should hit Xbox and PC this year. We'll see gameplay from Oxide Games' Civilization-esque Ara: History Untold too. Last but not least, Ninja Theory will offer a behind the scenes peek at Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. Perhaps we'll finally get a release date for that title, which is slated to arrive this year.

The first edition of Developer_Direct took place last January. It was then that Microsoft both announced and suddenly released Hi-Fi Rush, one of the most highly rated games of 2023. Perhaps Microsoft will have a similar surprise up its sleeves this year.

One thing's for certain though: there won't be any updates on Activision Blizzard games. Xbox says its freshly acquired publisher will have news to share later this year.

The Developer_Direct will start at 3PM ET on January 18, and you'll be able to watch it on Xbox's and Bethesda's social channels. Afterwards, at 4PM ET, Elder Scrolls Online fans can tune in to a global reveal to find out what's coming to the MMORPG in its next major chapter.

Toronto Zoo disclosed a cyberattack on Monday, after first detecting it last week and working to mitigate the impact. The zoo reassured the public that the attack did not impact animal wellbeing and support staff, but it was still determining possible consequences for human visitors. 

Canada's largest zoo is investigating the attacker's motives and possible damage to its systems. It's unclear if any guest, member, donor or employee records were impacted. Toronto Zoo did, however, say it does not store any credit card information, so past visitors wouldn't have to worry about that. The zoo remains open for normal operations, and its website is still up and running. 

"Unfortunately, these incidents are becoming more and more common and we are grateful we took steps over the past few years to upgrade our technology infrastructure," Toronto Zoo said in a statement. It contacted the city, local police and third-party experts to help with its investigations.

But questions remain, like why would attackers target a zoo? Money usually motivates hackers, and the zoo does bring in a lot. Besides millions in donations for various projects and government grants, it also generates revenue from its 750,000 visitors each year. 

Zoos have been a target of attacks in the past, too. A cyberattack hit ZooTampa in July 2023 and the Louisville Zoo in 2022, allegedly targeting visitors' personal information. In 2015, two dozen zoos in the United States faced a coordinated attack against a vendor going after visitor credit and debit card information. 

Jabra announced on Tuesday during CES 2024 that it will roll out new features and enhancements for its Elite 10 and Elite 8 Active wireless earbuds, which launched in late 2023. The updates, which will roll out in two waves, include improvements to switching listening modes, call clarity and performance in windy conditions (among other tweaks).

The first wave of updates, due this month, will add an on-off toggle to quickly activate or deactivate Jabra’s Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), HearThrough (hearing your environment while listening to music) and Sidetone (the volume at which you hear your voice) features. Jabra’s January update will also let you customize the device name of your earbuds, something the company’s competitors in this space often include from day one. The January updates will add these features to both the Elite 10 and Elite 8 Active.

Jabra

Meanwhile, Jabra says its March update wave will optimize call clarity for the Elite 10. The company says its latest ANC noise suppression tech is better at identifying and diminishing background voices when making calls on the earbuds. Finally, the audio company says enhanced wind detection algorithms on the Elite 8 Active will boost HearThrough (Jabra’s equivalent to Transparency mode on Apple’s AirPods) performance in windy conditions. Of course, audio companies often make over-the-top guarantees about call quality and wind detection effectiveness, so we’ll need to test them first-hand before vouching for Jabra’s marketing claims.

The two phases of upgrades will be available as updates to Jabra’s Sound+ app. The Elite 10 and Elite 8 Active are available now for $250 and $200, respectively.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

A Chinese state-backed institute has found a way to identify who sent any material to another person via Apple’s AirDrop, according to Beijing's government. The institution is said to have cracked the feature to find the email addresses and phone numbers of those who send AirDrop messages as part of an effort to stamp out "undesirable content," as Bloomberg reports.

Police have used the AirDrop crack to identify several suspects. However, Beijing's judicial bureau has not said whether there were any arrests as a result. The approach “improves the efficiency and accuracy of case-solving and prevents the spread of inappropriate remarks as well as potential bad influences,” according to the bureau.

Those with a Mac, iPhone or iPad can use AirDrop to easily send the likes of photos, videos, documents, contacts and passwords to another nearby Apple device. Protesters used AirDrop to share pro-democracy slogans during the demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019. As MacRumors notes, Apple touts AirDrop as being secure since it employs Transport Layer Security encryption. But the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice claims an institute has found a way around the encryption.

In 2022, Apple rolled out a new limit for AirDrop in China after protesters used the feature to share anti-government messages. The company restricted the length of time users can receive a file or message via AirDrop from non-contacts to 10-minute spells. Previously, users were able to let anyone AirDrop them material over an indefinite period of time. Apple later expanded this limitation to all iPhone users, purportedly in an effort to cut down on spam in busy locations.

Meta is introducing one of its most significant privacy updates yet related to teen user protection, the company announced today. They greatly expand on previous content control measures aiming to lock down teens' privacy settings, following recent lawsuits by US states and others.

The new measures will hide content related to self-harm, graphic violence, eating disorders and other harmful topics from teens on Instagram and Facebook. Related content will now be restricted from users under 16 in their Feeds and Stories, even if it's shared by an account they follow. When teens search for those topics, they'll instead by directed to "expert resources." The company said it consulted with experts in adolescent development to determine what type of content to block. 

In addition, Meta will be automatically placing existing teen users into the most restrictive control settings, expanding on a previous update that placed only new users into that category. Those users will be unable to opt out of those settings, called "Sensitive Content Control" on Instagram and "Reduce" on Facebook.

The social media giant is also introducing notifications with prompts that direct teens to update their privacy to "turn on recommended settings." That will automatically restrict who can repost their content and tag or mention them. It'll also stop non-followers from messaging teen users and hide offensive comments.

It's the latest in a series of privacy updates designed to protect teens using Meta products. In 2022, the company introduced measures to switch users under 16 to the most restrictive content settings and added a new feature to prevent "suspicious" adults from messaging teens on Facebook and Instagram. More recently, it limited ads targeting teens based on gender.  

Today's update more significantly limits what youths can access, though, following a series of recent lawsuits against the platform. Those include a complaint filed by 41 states accusing Meta of harming the mental health of its youngest users, another filed by Seattle schools over a youth "mental health crisis" and a recent ruling that social media companies will be forced to defend teen addiction lawsuits. 

Another recently unsealed complaint filed by 33 states alleges that Meta "coveted and pursued" users under the age of 13 and has been dishonest about how it handles underage users' accounts when they're discovered. 

I'm convinced that CES is a grilling show now, and Weber is the primary reason for that. In 2020, the company demoed its SmokeFire pellet grills and Smart Grilling Hub, both of which are powered by its Weber Connect platform. The Wi-Fi-enabled tech brought remote monitoring, step-by-step guidance and other conveniences to the company's product lineup. Weber has since expanded those smart features to some gas grills, and at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, it's adding two more models to the Connect roster. 

The Searwood is an all-new smart pellet grill that will replace the SmokeFire in North America. Besides doing low-and-slow smoking and high-heat searing like most pellet grills can, this model is also designed to be used with the lid open. This allows you to use griddle inserts for breakfast and smash burgers. The Searwood has a dedicated mode that you'll enable when you need to keep the lid up, and you can set the heat level (1-10) rather than setting an overall grill temp. According to the company, a 2 would be good for something like pancakes, while a 7 might work well for bacon and 10 could be used to put a finishing sear on a steak. 

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

The company redesigned the controller on Searwood, building it to constantly monitor and adjust to better maintain the target temperature during the cook. The display offers larger numbers for the grill temp, while also showing food probe temperatures and cook time on the same panel. The larger Searwood 600 XL also displays pellet levels so you know when you need to replenish the hopper. Searwood has a wide temperature range of 180 degrees Fahrenheit to 600 degrees, so it's still capable of slow-smoked brisket, high-heat seared proteins and everything in between. 

As part of the new design, Weber opted for a cast aluminum construction for the Searwood like it has used for its gas grills. That brings enhanced weatherproofing, but it also helps with more even distribution of heat. The company's Flavorizer bar is still inside and a reconfigured pellet hopper helps with fuel loading. Weber also brought over its Pull and Clean drip pan system to this pellet grill, making grease and ash removal easier. The company even says you won't need a shop vac to clean Searwood, a claim I look forward to testing. 

The Searwood 600 and Searwood 600 XL will be available for $899 and $1,199 this spring. Both of those are cheaper that the second-gen SmokeFire models the company currently offers. 

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

In addition to a brand new smart pellet grill for CES, Weber also added tons of connected smart features to its high-end Summit gas grills. Before now, if you wanted access to remote monitoring and the step-by-step guidance of built-in Weber Connect while cooking with gas, you had to buy a Genesis model. The company has greatly expanded its smart features for the Summit, via tech it calls SmartConnect. This setup allows you to use either your phone or the grill's large, full-color touchscreen display to set and change grill temp, select your cooking method (direct on indirect) and monitor quick start and preheating so you know when the grill is ready. You can also keep tabs on fuel levels, continuously view cooking progress, get alerts when food is ready and shut down the grill without touching it. 

Depending on which cooking method you select, the display will show you where you need to place your food to achieve the proper results. You do still have to approach the grill to turn it on, which is done with a single press after you set your desired temperature. All of the old burner knobs are gone as the new Summit automatically sets the level based on your temp and cooking method selections. There are up and down buttons for manually adjusting the burners though, as well as a dedicated button for igniting the top-mounted infrared broiler. But, you can also do that by swiping right on the touch display. The adjustable top grate also has the cooking area for the broiler outlined so you know where to place food for the best results.

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

Another aspect of the SmartConnect tech is the ability to control gas flow to individual burners. The setup constantly monitors and immediately reacts to temperature changes to maintain the desired level and prevent over or undercooking foods. There's an integrated electronic gas valve system that serves as the foundation for SmartConnect, continuously sensing flame presence across both the main burners and the broiler. It can also automatically trigger re-ignition as needed or shut the grill down when it isn't achieved. 

Weber redesigned its fuel-monitoring tech underneath the Summit too. Now there's a scale of sorts that more accurately measures gas levels. There's ample storage space underneath and a built-in rotisserie base along with a side burner for cooking sauces and sides. The Summit works with Weber Crafted accessories like a pizza stone to expand the capabilities of the grill even further. 

The 2024 Weber Summit grills will be available this spring in the US starting at $3,899. 

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Formlabs has rolled up to CES 2024 in Las Vegas with its customary bundle of announcements for its class-leading 3D printers. The company unveiled several new tools and materials at this year's show, but the most interesting has to be its Premium Teeth Resin, yet another foray into the dentistry world. It’s intended to be used to create 3D-printed dentures as well as for temporary restorations that sit on implants like All-On-X. The company says it’s already been registered with the FDA as a Class II biocompatible material, and has had its longevity validated.

This isn’t the first step the company has made into the dentistry space and already offers the tools to make dentures. It’s a natural venue for 3D-printing, and Formlabs, given the need for customization and its work in building a wide variety of materials for use. Premium Teeth Resin takes this a step further, with the company saying it can be color-matched to existing teeth so it won’t be as noticeable if you’re rocking a falsie. It's available to order now, although we'd advise against anyone attempting to do their own dentistry. 

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Laptop RAM is facing a conundrum. The SODIMM standard — which is basically a shrunken form of desktop RAM modules — is almost 25 years old and facing an upcoming speed wall. With the demand for thinner machines, laptop makers have also started soldering LPDDR RAM directly onto motherboards, or bundling it into mobile SoCs like Apple Silicon, both of which make upgrades impossible. At CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Micron says it's the first to market with a compelling alternative: LPCAMM2 RAM modules using LPDDR5X.

Sure, it's an acronym salad, but there's a chance that Micron's technology, along with other LCAMM2 offerings, could be a huge memory upgrade for laptops. The news comes after the JEDEC standards body officially published the CAMM2 standard in December, and Samsung claimed it was the first to announce an LPCAMM module last September.

But Micron and Samsung didn't get to LPCAMM on their own. Sensing a clear need for a new spin on RAM designs, Dell has been developing an in-house alternative to SODIMMs (Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Modules) over the past few years dubbed CAMM, or Compression Attached Memory Module. Instead of large memory sticks, CAMM places memory chips on a module that's screwed into a PC's motherboard. The result is memory that takes up far less space, and has the potential to be faster and dramatically more efficient since it can reach the CPU with shorter traces. Dell tested out non-standard CAMM modules on the Precision 7670 in 2022, which led to a bit of an internet firestorm.

Micron claims its modules with LPDDR5X RAM (available in 16GB to 64GB) take up 64 percent less space than SODIMM memory, use 61 percent less power and are 71 percent faster in PCMark 10 essential workloads. The CAMM2 standard supports both DDR5 for mainstream machines, as well as LPDDR5 and 5X for "a broader range of notebooks and certain server market segments," according to JEDEC. LPDDR has been more common in laptops because it can run at low power levels while still offering high-speed data transfers.

In addition to the speed and power benefits, CAMM2 modules re-open the doors for RAM upgrades and repairability for consumers and IT workers, something that has been lost as soldered memory has become more common. As much as we love Apple's latest MacBooks, the inability to add more RAM will always keep them from being truly perfect. 

The only downside with CAMM2 is that swapping out the modules requires dealing with several screws. That's a small price to pay for the possibility of upgrades, in my opinion, and those screws also make RAM far more secure than SODIMMs. (As an IT worker, I often had to reseat laptop RAM modules several times a month. I don't miss those days.)

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

The long, cold winter days of January are meant for shutting out the world, and to properly do so, you need a great pair of headphones. Fortunately, Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones are currently on sale for £300, down from $400 — a 25 percent discount. If you've considered them in the past, now is the time to pick up a pair: Our favorite wireless headphones are about $30 less than their typical sale price and have very rarely dropped lower. The only slight caveat of this deal: It's only available on the classic Black Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones.

We have been rightfully obsessed with Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones since they first came on the scene in May 2022. They earned a 95 in our review thanks to features like their 30-hour battery life and improved noise canceling with double the number of processors and microphones for ANC compared to its predecessor, the M4.  

The WH-1000XM5's sound quality has improved with the help of new 30mm carbon drivers, providing more clarity and a punchier bass. Even using the DSEE extreme has almost no impact on the condition of what comes through the speakers. Sony also cut the headphone's weight by a minimal 0.14 ounces, yet it has a much lighter feel and better weight distribution overall. Even the synthetic leather ear cushions are snug and comfortable.

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Nanoleaf, the company best known for its modular wall lighting tiles, is now moving outside your house. As part of CES 2024's avalanche of smart home news, the company unveiled its first exterior lights designed to bring extra visibility to your home. It also announced the Orchestrator app that creates a light show synced up to your playlists and songs. 

The new Outdoor String Lights and Permanent Outdoor Lights are the company's first exterior lighting products, bringing "the magic of dynamic gradients and warm ambience to your home's exterior spaces, lighting up patio areas, backyards and gardens all year round," the company said. 

Nanoleaf also announced a new Smart Multicolor Lightstrip for indoor use. All the new panels work with the Nanoleaf app and integrate with the company's other products in terms of controls and customizations. You can also group products together to schedule automations using Matter hubs "and paint your own animations with multiple colors... for a stunning gradient effect," Nanoleaf said. The new products are set to arrive in Spring 2024, with pricing to be revealed at a later date.

Nanoleaf

The Orchestrator software, meanwhile, can create color and light shows using real-time music analysis and beat detection. It supposedly goes beyond existing music visualizers that simply pick up audio within a space by connecting directly to your computer's sound source to provide the "most accurate real-time audio-visual experience," the company said. In other words, you'll get light shows synced up perfectly to your preferred music apps, including playlists and songs. 

Orchestrator, set to arrive in Spring 2024, works via the Nanoleaf desktop app and is compatible with any music streaming platform or audio player. The company also announced that its Skylight Smart Modular Ceiling Light announced last year is now on pre-order at $250 for the Smarter Kit (3 panels), and $70 for each expansion pack (1 panel).