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Deconstructeam announced today that its upcoming divination-based game, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, arrives on August 16th. The player-choice-driven narrative adventure will be available for PC and Nintendo Switch. In addition, a new launch trailer gives us a closer glimpse at the title’s tarot deck building and weighty decision-making.

In The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, you assume the role of Fortuna, a witch imprisoned for 1,000 years on a remote asteroid after foretelling an unwelcome prediction of doom. (You join her 200 years into her sentence, although the game includes plenty of pre-exile flashbacks.) However, Fortuna’s stay isn’t as lonely as you may expect: She’s accompanied by Ábramar, a god summoned by Fortuna to help her escape and serve cold revenge on the coven. You’ll also receive a surprising number of visitors for someone floating on a space rock in the middle of nowhere.

Following Deconstructeam’s Gods Will Be Watching and The Red Strings Club, its latest entry expands on the studio’s tendencies toward philosophical and narrative experiences in dystopian settings. Much of the gameplay revolves around the narrative forks you choose (primarily through dialog trees) and the building and deployment of tarot decks, presented intricately in vibrant pixel art. You can customize the cards’ backgrounds, symbols and supporting elements, crafting a magical repertoire that feels distinctly yours. (However, you can keep the deck-creation process relatively simple if you prefer a more straightforward playthrough.) “At its core, Cosmic Wheel is a visual novel with narrative paths dictated by the player’s choices,” Jessica Conditt wrote in Engadget’s April preview.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood will cost $18 when it launches on August 16th for Switch and PC. You can pre-order it on Steam and wish-list it on GOG ahead of its arrival. (Nintendo hasn’t yet published its product listing.)

Sony has revealed the PlayStation Plus monthly games lineup for August. There’s no clear headliner here, but a trio of nifty titles are about to drop, including the incredible Zelda-ish adventure Death’s Door and a little-known golf sim called PGA Tour 2K23. Also in the lineup is Media Molecule’s long-running game-making platformDreams.

Dreams is a community-focused app that builds upon the level-creation tools first debuted in the LittleBigPlanet series. Players have used the system to make just about anything you can imagine, from VR experiences to full-fledged CGI movies. Sony even allowed some of the more popular creators to sell their works.

Unfortunately, Sony is winding down Dreams, as the company recently announced it will stop releasing updates later this year. The launch on PS Plus, however, will provide users with one last hurrah, especially given the final game on this month’s list of releases, which is another Media Molecule title. Tren is a train-based adventure game that was entirely built in Dreams and only accessible within the title. Sony calls it a “nostalgic adventure that puts you in the driving seat of a remarkable toy train, and tells a personal tale about growing up – and the transformative power of play."

These titles are all available on August 1st and you have until the final day of July to scoop up expiring games like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Alan Wake Remastered and Endling – Extinction is Forever.

Microsoft isn't done refining the interface on your Xbox console. The company is rolling out an updated home screen for Xbox Series/X and One users that theoretically puts games within closer reach while giving you more room to customize the experience. There's now a quick access menu that helps you jump to your collection, Game Pass, the Microsoft Store and common functions like search and settings. You can pin favorite games and groups, and there are curated lists of games to help discover titles. The update should reach everyone within a few weeks.

At the same time, a simpler layout creates more room for your custom background. An option can change the background to match the game you've selected in your recently played list, somewhat like PlayStation's carousel. A refreshed community row helps show what friends are doing, while media spotlights and lists help you find new content to see or hear.

It's easier to buy games, too. At the same time, PayPal has revealed that you can "soon" use Venmo to buy games, apps and subscriptions in the Microsoft Store on Xbox in the US. This will help you make use of spare Venmo funds, of course, but it will also give you a way to split payments if you can't justify an up-front purchase.

The rethink comes eight months after Microsoft began publicly experimenting with a new Xbox interface. The company has a history of frequent UI redesigns and tweaks, particularly in the Xbox One era. Sony, in contrast, is relatively conservative and rarely makes major changes to the PlayStation front end in the middle of a console cycle. Microsoft's iteration may be frustrating if you're hoping for a consistent experience, but it does suggest the company is responding to gamers' feedback and hoping to stand out in the market.

Seven major automakers have banded together to create a new charging network in North America, with an eventual target of 30,000 high-powered charge points near urban and highway locations. The companies involved with the venture include BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes and Stellantis. The venture issued a statement on the move, saying they are trying to “accelerate the transition to electric vehicles” and “make zero-emission driving even more attractive.”

The goal of this venture is 30,000 new charging points, and the companies say they will “leverage public and private funds” to get there. After all, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimates that the country will need around 182,000 fast chargers to accommodate the massive influx of EVs hitting the roads by 2030. This venture represents a good portion of these needs.

These stations will use the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard and the North American Charging Standard (NACS). It’s worth mentioning that Tesla’s superchargers use the NACS charging type and the company recently opened up the technology to other EV manufacturers.

This new joint program will formally begin operations sometime this year, assuming it clears regulatory approval conditions, and it plans on opening up its first stations next summer. Each site will boast multiple chargers and plenty of amenities, like canopies, restaurants, restrooms and integrated brick-and-mortar retail stores.

EV sales are expected to contribute to more than 50 percent of total automobile sales by 2030, so the more charging stations available, the better. To that end, some of the companies involved in this venture are also striking out on their own to build more charging stations. GM, for instance, promises to build 40,000 charging stations at car dealerships throughout the US and Canada.

NASA and DARPA have chosen aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin to develop a spacecraft with a nuclear thermal rocket engine. Announced in January, the initiative — in which BWX Technologies will provide the reactor and fuel — is dubbed the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO). The agencies aim to showcase the tech no later than 2027 with an eye toward future Mars missions.

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) has several advantages over chemically propelled rockets. First, it’s two to five times more efficient, allowing ships to travel faster and farther with greater agility. In addition, its reduced propellant needs leave more room on the spaceship for storing scientific equipment and other essentials. It also provides more options for abort scenarios, as the nuclear engines make it easier to alter the ship’s trajectory for a quicker-than-expected return trip. These factors combine to make NTP (perhaps) the ideal Mars travel method.

“These more powerful and efficient nuclear thermal propulsion systems can provide faster transit times between destinations,” said Kirk Shireman, VP of Lunar Exploration Campaigns for Lockheed Martin. “Reducing transit time is vital for human missions to Mars to limit a crew’s exposure to radiation.”

NASA / DARPA

The NTP system will use a nuclear reactor to heat hydrogen propellant rapidly to extremely high temperatures. That gas is funneled through the engine’s nozzle, creating the ship’s thrust. “This nuclear thermal propulsion system is designed to be extremely safe and reliable, using High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuel to rapidly heat a super-cold gas, such as liquid hydrogen,” BWX said today. “As the gas is heated, it expands quickly and creates thrust to move the spacecraft more efficiently than typical chemical combustion engines.”

To help quell concerns about radioactive leaks in the Earth’s atmosphere, NASA and DARPA plan not to power up the reactor until the ship has reached a “nuclear safe orbit,” where any tragedies would occur outside the zone where it would affect Earth. The agencies aim for a nuclear spacecraft demonstration by 2027, launched from a conventional rocket until it reaches “an appropriate location above low earth orbit.”

Nuclear reactors will also likely play a key role in powering future Martian habitats, with NASA testing small and portable versions of the tech as far back as 2018.

Before NTP propels the first humans to Mars, it could find use on much shorter flights, as nuclear-powered spacecraft could also make transporting material to the Moon more efficient. “A safe, reusable nuclear tug spacecraft would revolutionize cislunar operations,” said Shireman. “With more speed, agility and maneuverability, nuclear thermal propulsion also has many national security applications for cislunar space.”

The Overture Maps Foundation, a group founded by Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and TomTom, has released an initial open dataset that will help developers build mapping apps and other location-based tools. The "alpha" set includes worldwide info for over 59 million places, 780 million unique buildings, road data from OpenStreetMap and borders.

The map layers are packaged in a recently-launched Overture map format that's meant to be standardized and interoperable between platforms. The group is mainly sharing the data at this stage to get public feedback, rather than to support complete products.

The foundation was formed in December last year by a range of companies that include geospatial and mapping firms in addition to tech giants. While open map data isn't a new concept, Overture believes the collective effort is necessary to deliver accurate, up-to-date info that's no longer practical for any one organization to provide. Ideally, a newcomer won't have to worry about supplying outdated or incomplete directions.

Overture is quick to warn that there's still a lot of work left before its material is truly ready. Upcoming releases will include more open data, greater interoperability and the use of a stable ID system that will help map builders consistently add content. You might not see apps relying much (if at all) on the alpha dataset, but it serves as a starting point that gives app creators an idea of what's possible.

Google has historically dominated the mobile navigation app market, with Google Maps and Waze together claiming a clear majority of use in recent years. Apple Maps, meanwhile, tends to get nearly all the remaining share. There's not much room for challengers, and they normally need massive resources just to be competitive. Overture's open data could make it much easier to produce viable alternatives, even if they're unlikely to unseat Apple or Google any time soon.

Samsung didn't only have new phones to show off at its Unpacked event. The company took the opportunity to reveal the Galaxy Watch 6 too. The latest wearable starts at $300, but Amazon is sweetening the deal. If you lock in a pre-order there, you'll get a $50 Amazon gift card. Note that the offer only applies to the Bluetooth models, and not the LTE or Watch 6 Classic variants. You'll get a free fabric watch band as well. The Watch 6 will be available starting on August 11th.

The Bluetooth model does not, unfortunately, feature the return of the rotating bezel (you'll need to plump for the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic for that), but there are still some other interesting updates. During our hands-on time with it, we found that a new one-click mechanism makes it much easier to swap between certain bands.

The standard Watch 6 is available in sizes of 40mm and 44mm. The screen is much sharper and brighter this time around. It has a maximum brightness of 2,000 nits, so you shouldn't have much trouble seeing the display on a sunny day. Samsung has also upgraded the processor and added a larger battery. The company claims you'll get up to eight hours of use after eight minutes of fast charging. 

The sleep-tracking and coaching features have seemingly been upgraded, while there's a new Personalized Heart Rate Zone feature that aims to help you attain the fitness results you're looking for. Meanwhile, Samsung Wallet has replaced Samsung Pay to make the device compatible with digital IDs, boarding passes and event tickets.

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Samsung has only just unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5, but there are already deals to be had if you lock in a pre-order on Amazon. Those who pre-order the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will get a $200 Amazon gift card as well as a free storage upgrade from 256GB to 512GB. That should somewhat make up for the foldable's high base price of $1,800.

We've had some hands-on time with the Z Fold 5. There's a new hinge that all but eliminates the gap between the two halves of the screen and it reduces the device's overall thickness to 13.5mm. The Flex Hinge still has IPX8 water resistance, according to Samsung.

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform chipset and it has 12GB of RAM. The 6.2-inch OLED cover screen and main 7.6-inch display both have 120Hz refresh rates. The camera array includes a 50MP main lens, a 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom.

So far, we feel that the Z Fold 5 has improved multitasking, but rivals such as Google and Oppo are catching up to Samsung on the foldables front. The high price doesn't help, but at least the Amazon pre-order deal takes the sting out of that a bit. The Z Fold 5 will ship on August 11th.

Meanwhile, you'll get a $150 Amazon gift card when you pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5. A free storage upgrade to 512GB can be all yours too. The Z Flip 5 starts at $1,000 and it will also be broadly available on August 11th.

Samsung's latest clamshell foldable has a 3.4-inch external screen, which is nearly four times the size of the one on the previous model. It also boasts a Flex Hinge to minimize the crease between the two halves of the 6.7-inch, 120Hz AMOLED main screen.

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This year's summer edition of Samsung Unpacked was busy, to put it mildly. The company not only introduced its latest wave of foldable phones, but major updates to its smartwatch and tablet lineups. But don't worry if that's a lot to take in — here's everything Samsung introduced at its event.

Watch the highlights of Galaxy Unpacked summer 2023 

If 7AM Eastern was too early for you to watch live, don't worry. We've cut down Samsung's summer Unpacked presentation to a more reasonable nine minutes. You can watch the highlights of the keynote here, including all the major product introductions. 

Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In a slight twist, the highlight of the foldable phones this year was the "entry" clamshell device, the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The new model has a much larger 3.4-inch external display than its predecessor, letting you reply to messages, use Wallet and otherwise handle tasks that previously required opening the phone. A new hinge design also eliminates the gap when the handset is closed. You can also expect a speedier custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and double the storage. It starts at $999, and is available for pre-order through Samsung and Amazon ahead of its August 11th release. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 5, meanwhile, is an iterative (if still welcome) update. The book-style foldable delivers a thinner, gapless design with a brighter primary display, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and improved multitasking abilities. It ships August 11th starting at $1,799, and you can pre-order it now through Samsung and Amazon.

Galaxy Watch 6

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The biggest update at summer Unpacked was arguably for Samsung's smallest computing device. The company unveiled a Galaxy Watch 6 family that makes some much-requested improvements to the Wear OS timepieces. Most notably, the rotating bezel is back — buy a Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and you can scroll through apps and widgets with a tactile feel. Both watches offer larger, brighter displays, upgraded processors, larger batteries and a "one-click" strap swapping system.

The Galaxy Watch 6 line arrives August 11th. You can pre-order through Samsung and Amazon starting at $300 for the base model and $400 for the Classic.

Galaxy Tab S9

Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget

Samsung catered to fans of high-end Android tablets at unpacked by introducing the Galaxy Tab S9 range. While the design hasn't changed much (mainly slimmer bezels), it's still a significant upgrade with dynamic refresh rate AMOLED screens, the custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, more powerful speakers and even IP68 water and dust resistance for both the tablet and included S Pen.

The series goes on sale August 11th, with pre-orders open at Samsung and Amazon. The 11-inch Galaxy Tab S9 starts at $800, while the 12.4-inch Tab S9+ begins at $1,000. The enormous 14.6-inch Tab S9 Ultra costs at least $1,200.

Seven years after Bumble launched Bumble BFF, the company is finally giving users their own app for making friends. Bumble has announced the release of Bumble For Friends, an app dedicated solely to finding friends in your area. The company started testing the app earlier this year in the United Kingdom and select regions of Asia, Mashable reported. 

Bumble For Friends will function almost exactly like Bumble BFF (which makes up 15 percent of Bumble's monthly active users, a Bumble spokesperson told TechCrunch). However, there will be no need to download a dating app — something coupled-up users will likely be happy about. Like a dating app, though, you create a profile with a mix of photos, information about yourself and responses to prompts. It can include things like if you drink, your political affiliation, your relationship status and why you're looking to make friends. Your Bumble For Friends profile will also have space to share some of your interests, like dogs or dancing — one of the things Bumble uses to help match you with potential friends.

There is one new feature on Bumble For Friends: the option to create a group chat. Basically, if you think any of your matches would also get along, you can add two or more of them to a group chat. To use this option, go into the conversations tab and pick a Bumble-suggested activity or add your own. You can also just give the group chat a name (which you can edit later on) if you don't want to pick what to do. From there, you can invite matches and get talking. Invitees will receive a notification about the chat showing them your chosen title or the potential activity.

Bumble For Friends is free to download on Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store. You can create a new account or log into your existing one and have your profile and matches transferred over. At that point, your Bumble BFF account will disappear from the original app, but you can still use Date or Bizz modes. Bumble doesn't seem to be forcing anyone to switch to the new app, so you can still keep all your accounts in one place if you prefer.