ArduinoMania

Google's Bard chatbot now has the capability to help you with programming tasks. The tech giant said that coding has been one of its users' top requests, and now it has given Bard the ability to generate, debug and explain code. Bard can now write in 20 programming languages, including C++, Java, JavaScript and Python. It now also features integration with Google's other products and can export code to Colab, the company's cloud-based notebook environment for Python, as well as help users write functions for Sheets. 

Aside from being able to generate code, Bard can now provide explanations for snippets of code. It could be especially useful if you've only just started learning programming, since it will show you why a particular block has the output that it has. And yes, Bard can now also help you debug code that isn't quite working like you want it to. 

Google admits that at this point, Bard might spit out code that "doesn’t produce the expected output" or code that's incomplete. The tech giant advises double-checking and testing its responses first. In fact, Bard can debug its own output if you find that it's returning an error — just type in "this code didn’t work, please fix it." Finally, if you're not a programming beginner but still need a help of help, you can ask the chatbot to optimize your code by making it faster or more efficient.

Google

The tech giant opened up access to its AI chatbot in March, though it still has a ways to go to reach the popularity that ChatGPT is enjoying today. To note, ChatGPT has the ability to write and improve existing code in several programming languages, as well, so Google giving Bard the capability is perhaps inevitable. Google has also been constantly improving Bard in other ways and previously rolled out upgrades powered by a new language model called PaLM. A few days ago, the company created an "experiment updates" page where you can see all the changes Bard has gone through as it adds even more features and performs bug fixes. 

Is Google’s foldable coming soon? This week, Cherlynn, Devindra and Senior Writer Sam Rutherford discuss the rumored Pixel Fold, which may debut at Google I/O next month. Also, Devindra and Sam compare the Razer Blade 16 to the Razer Blade 18, two powerful (and expensive!) gaming laptops. In other news, we dive into SpaceX’s exploding Starship rocket, and the fake AI generated collab between The Weeknd and Drake.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Topics

• Google’s Pixel Fold is rumored to launch at Google I/O – 1:25

• Sam Rutherford’s review of the Razer Blade 16 vs Blade 18 – 17:38

• SpaceX’s Starship launches, spontaneously disassembles (it blew up) – 27:20

• Montana takes a big step toward banning TikTok – 33:05

• Sega buys Angry Birds developer Rovio – 41:52

• EV News: more Tesla price cuts, Polestar 4 doesn’t have a back window – 46:15

• This week in AI: Have you heard the AI generated Drake/Weeknd collab? – 1:01:51

• Around Engadget – 1:11:26

• Working on – 1:12:39

• Pop culture picks – 1:14:48

Livestream

Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Sam Rutherford
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artist: Luke Brooks

Apple allegedly plans to release a journaling app for the iPhone, The Wall Street Journal reported. The app, codenamed "Jurassic," would align with Apple's desire to expand into healthcare, with internal documents tying journaling to improved mental health. 

This app could act as a life tracker of sorts, analyzing what your typical day is like, where you go, who you interact with and when you differentiate from a standard routine. Supposedly, it might attempt to even determine the difference between who your colleagues and friends are, using a feature called "All Day People Discovery." It could work by picking up your proximity to other individuals, though it's not clear if they would also need an iPhone and the app. 

The comprehensive information Apple may collect isn't exactly new, but could be very obvious, with a personalization feature using the data it collects to suggest relevant journaling topics. Basically, it seems that if you bring your iPhone on a run, it will suggest writing about a workout. All data could apparently be stored solely on-device, with journaling suggestions automatically deleting after four weeks. 

If Apple does release a journaling app, it could be in direct competition with Day One. The feeling and activity tracker has spent over a decade growing to 200,000 premium subscribers — much with the help of Apple. It received a 2014 Apple Design Award and received repeated App Store promotions. Paul Mayne, its founder, told the WSJ that Apple's support noticeably dropped off about three years ago, leading him to assume it was making a similar app. Apple has previously been accused of creating its own versions of popular apps — also known as Sherlocking — or taking meetings with companies only to drop off and produce something akin to their idea. 

Apple has not publicly announced anything about the alleged journaling app, and likely won't until, at earliest, its June developer conference. 

As threatened for a while, Twitter has begun removing the original blue ticks from users' profiles, which includes the likes of Beyonce, the Pope and yours truly. If the Pope wants his blue tick back, he’ll need to pay $8 per month for Twitter Blue. Businesses can receive a gold checkmark without a subscription, while government and multilateral organization accounts can get a gray checkmark. When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, however, he claimed there were too many "corrupt" verified accounts and it was necessary to drop the legacy system. He characterized Blue as a way to democratize checkmarks. That said, it’s pay-for-play now – and many notable figures, like LeBron James and Chrissy Teigan, have stated (on Twitter, hah) they’re unlikely to pay for Twitter Blue.

That said, James still has his ‘tick.’ According to his own tweets, Musk has apparently paid for a few Blue accounts himself – maybe he’s a big basketball fan. Will this blue tick gambit pay off?

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Michael Schumacher’s family plans to sue German tabloid for AI-generated ‘interview’

The magazine presented the transcript as real while adding easy-to-miss disclaimers.

A German tabloid tried passing off AI chat responses as legitimate quotes. Celebrity magazine Die Aktuelle published a cover story in its April 15th issue about a supposed interview with Formula One driver Michael Schumacher; only at the end does it reveal it was a hoax produced entirely by an AI chatbot. Schumacher, who suffered a severe brain injury on a family ski trip in the French Alps in 2013, hasn’t appeared publicly since, as his family guards his privacy. Schumacher’s family told ESPN it plans to take legal action against the gossip rag.

Continue reading.

SpaceX's Starship completed its first fully integrated launch, then exploded

The rocket failed to separate from its booster.

SpaceX

SpaceX has completed its first fully integrated Starship flight test after months of delays. The combination of Starship and a Super Heavy booster lifted off from SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas, facility at 9:34 AM ET after a brief hold, but it failed to separate and tumbled down in a botched flip maneuver before exploding. Success with the next test is vital given the timing for both SpaceX's own plans and NASA's exploration efforts. SpaceX is counting on Starship for lunar tourism and other commercial flights, while NASA's Artemis Moon landings are to start in December 2025.

Continue reading.

Razer Blade 18 laptop review

Overpowered and oversized.

Engadget

The Blade 18 is a beast, both physically and specification-wise. It supports the fastest components you can get on a laptop today along with a super-fast 240Hz expansive 18-inch display and excellent build quality. But with the base model starting at $2,900, it's also extremely expensive. You can get rival laptops, like the ASUS M16 with an i9 CPU and an RTX 4090 for $1,000 less than Razer’s latest laptop.

Continue reading. 

Spider-Man movies finally arrive on Disney+

Some movies won't be available for a while.

Disney+ is finally doing more to patch the Spider-Man-sized hole in its Marvel movie lineup. The streaming service is adding the first wave of Spidey movies to its US catalog in the next few weeks. Sam Raimi's trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man are available from today, while Homecoming and Venom arrive May 12th.

​​Continue reading.

• Read more about Raspberry Pi Pushed to Its Limits with Coral AI Edge TPU for Video Object Recognition
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Last month, TikTok updated its community guidelines to add policies that prohibit videos with climate change misinformation on the app. As The Daily Beast notes, the change is taking effect today, April 21st. According to the service's announcement, TikTok will no longer allow content that "undermines well-established scientific consensus" regarding the climate crisis. 

TikTok will still allow videos that tackle discussions about climate change, such as government policies related to it, as long as they don't go against scientific consensus. However, it will start deleting content that violate its new policy today, and any user searching for climate information will be directed to "authoritative information" that TikTok had decided on in partnership with the United Nations. 

Back in 2022, internet trust researchers at NewsGuard have published a report about misinformation. They had found that TikTok is full of false information about, among other topics, climate change, and looking for the term brings up search suggestions like "climate change debunked" and "climate change doesn’t exist." During the height of the pandemic, looking for COVID-19 videos would also bring up suggestions that include "covid vaccine hiv." In addition, misinformation was especially prevalent during the presidential election season in the US. TikTok had ended up removing over 300,000 election-related videos and over 50,000 videos sharing COVID-19 misinformation. 

When TikTok introduced its new policy regarding climate change, it also added new rules covering AI tech that creates content. All digitally manipulated or created media on TikTok must now come with the appropriate tag, such as "synthetic," "fake" or "altered."

The Apple Watch SE is back down to $219 again this month, just $10 more than its all time low. With a usual price tag of $249, the second-generation model is already one of the most affordable options out there for a solid smart watch. It has all the typical Apple Watch features, like crash detection, heart-rate monitoring, notifications and water-resistance. The second-gen SE also runs on the same processor as its elevated sibling, the Apple Watch Series 8. It doesn't have all of the Series 8's benefits, but its lower price makes it a more appealing option if you're looking for a simple way to dip your toe — or should we say wrist? — in. 

The current sale is available in the 40mm Starlight, Midnight and Silver small to medium models. If you're looking for something a bit larger, only the Starlight case and band are discounted to $219.

The Apple Watch SE's 44mm make also has a few sales going on, depending on what size you want. The small to medium model is $30 off in Starlight and Midnight — bringing its cost to $249 from $279. The sale flips for the 44mm medium to large model with just the Silver discounted to $249. 

If you do want a more advanced smart watch, the Series 8, with its faster charging and more comprehensive health tracking, is currently 18 percent off.  

With the number of Apple Watch deals on right now, it's a good time to look around and see which is the best smart watch model for you. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Ahead of Street Fighter 6's launch on June 2nd, 2023, Capcom has unveiled a new free playable demo for PS5 and PS4, the company announced. It will let you play the first part of the World Tour mode and create an avatar for use in the main game. The demo arrives next week on April 26th, with more details in the video below. 

The developer also unveiled the first four playable characters for the game's first year: Rashid (summer 2023), A.K.I. (autumn - 2023), Akuma (spring 2024), and Ed (winter 2024). 

Capcom also detailed the single-player Street Fighter 6 modes. As mentioned, one is called is World Tour. There, you can level up avatars, explore Metro City and other locations, and interact with famous characters from Street Fighter and Capcom lore. some of those include Haggar, Carlos Miyamoto and others. World Tour mode is shown in the video below. 

We learned previously that the upcoming entry to the fighting franchise will come out for the PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The game will include Luke, a key DLC character for Street Fighter V, as well as fan favorites Ryu and Chun-Li. Capcom previously described Luke as "a key player in the future of Street Fighter" who would help expand its world. The playable demo should give us a good feel for the game, so fans will likely want to check it out when it arrives on April 26th.  

Ubisoft and developer Red Storm Entertainment have given us a closer look at The Division Heartland by releasing a cinematic trailer for the upcoming game at the publisher's Division Day event. The trailer introduces Silver Creek, the rural town that will serve as the backdrop for the free-to-play title, along with a new villain named Killian Tower who had disavowed the Division and killed his whole team. Players will assume control of an agent who tracks down Tower to rural America in a bid to find out why their former commander went rogue. 

The companies have yet to announce a launch date for the survival-action shooter, but fans can register at the game's official website for a chance to participate (and get five friend invites) for an upcoming closed beta. When the game does come out, it's expected to be available on consoles, PC and the cloud. 

Ubisoft has also revealed its roadmap for The Division 2 Year 5, which will start with the launch of Season One: Broken Wings wherein players have to rescue civilians taken hostage. Broken Wings will introduce a new free rogue-lite mode called Descent. Up to four people can play the mode together, though they'll have to start out without gear or any specialization available on the main game. While Season One of the online game isn't available yet, players can check out Descent mode on its Public Test Server starting today. 

Finally, Ubisoft has announced that the next test phase for The Division Resurgence mobile game will take place this summer. Fans can sign up for the chance to participate right now, and those who do will get access to a special Joint Task Force cosmetic outfit when Resurgence launches. 

Blizzard is giving gamers another chance to try Diablo IV before its official arrival. The game’s Server Slam will give console and PC players 48 hours to explore the prologue and Act I as the publisher prepares its infrastructure for the dungeon crawler’s highly anticipated June 6th launch.

The Server Slam will take place from May 12th at 12 PM to May 14th at 12 PM PDT. It will be open to players on Windows PC, PS5 / 4, Xbox Series X / S or Xbox One. The event will support couch co-op, cross-play and cross-progression, and you can play as all five character classes, including Barbarian, Druid, Sorcerer, Rogue and Necromancer.

The two-day event will limit character progression to Level 20, after which you’ll no longer receive Ability Points (but you can still earn new gear). In addition, if you played during the game’s Early Access or Open Beta periods, your progress won’t carry over to Server Slam — nor will progress from the Server Slam transfer to the game’s launch.

Blizzard is giving Server Slam participants a challenging boss fight in Ashava, described as “one of the Burning Hells’ most fowl machinations.” The monster with “two razor-sharp arm blades, scales stronger than plate mail, and hell-bent on ripping through all who interrupt her quest to bathe Sanctuary in poisonous bile” should present a formidable challenge for Level 20 and under players. However, anyone taking her down will seize the Cry of Ashava Mount Trophy, which will roll over to the final launch. Additionally, you’ll get another chance to earn the trophies from the first two beta weekends, including the Initial Casualty Title (reach Kyovashad with one character), the Early Voyager Title and Beta Wolf Pack Cosmetic Item (both requiring reaching Level 20 on one character).

Blizzard is opening pre-downloads for Server Slam two days before the event, on May 10th at 12 PM PDT. You can read the full installation instructions here, and if you participated in the earlier betas (and didn’t uninstall it), you’ll see an update for Server Slam available to download.

Engadget’s Igor Bonifacic tried Diablo IV during a December preview and the more recent betas and was left cautiously optimistic. It revealed impressive attention to story and gameplay detail as the upcoming title slows its pace while still adhering to the franchise’s familiar roots. However, we’ll have to wait and see if Blizzard can “stick the landing,” given the publisher’s hit-or-miss record in recent years — and memories of the fiasco that was Diablo III’s 2012 launch.