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Windows has frequently made managing multiple audio devices a hassle. Over the years, Microsoft has tried to improve the experience in a few ways. In 2021, for example, the company simplified how Windows 10 categorized Bluetooth devices. In spite of those efforts, it often feels like the OS doesn’t make switching between audio outputs and managing sound levels as easy as they should be. For instance, I wish Windows 11’s Quick Setting panel would allow me to adjust audio levels on a per-app basis.

Thankfully, Microsoft is finally preparing to solve that minor annoyance for Windows users. This week, the company detailed the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview and it just so happens to include a redesigned Quick Settings volume mixer. The updated interface element not only allows you to switch between audio devices but you can also use it to enable spatial sound and adjust volume output on a per-app basis, two things you can’t do with the current design. What’s more, Microsoft has added a dedicated shortcut to make accessing the feature faster. Once you have access to the volume mixer, press the Windows, Ctrl and V keys on your keyboard at the same time to open it.

"With this change, you can now tailor your audio experience with more control and fewer clicks to better manage your favorite apps," Microsoft says of the redesigned interface. As Bleeping Computer points out, the new volume mixer is reminiscent of the popular EarTrumpet mod. There’s no word yet on when Microsoft plans to roll out the latest Windows Insider features to regular users, but here’s hoping this one doesn’t take long to make its way to the general public.

Microsoft

More than a decade after the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valve is reportedly preparing to announce a new version of its landmark tactical shooter. Moreover, a beta release could arrive as early as later this month. According to esports journalist Richard Lewis (via VGC), Valve has been working on a sequel to CS:GO for some time, and that game is "about ready to go." He says the studio recently hosted a secret playtest of the first-person shooter that involved a group of professional players who flew to Seattle. According to Lewis, Valve tentatively plans to begin beta testing the game with the broader Counter-Strike community by April 1st at the latest. "The big priority is getting this out and then polishing it, fixing any bugs and bringing it up to the level people expect from CS," one of Lewis' sources told him.

As for improvements, the new Counter-Strike will reportedly feature improved graphical fidelity thanks to a behind-the-scenes shift to Source 2, the latest version of Valve's in-house game engine. Additionally, Lewis says the game will support 128-tick servers, a feature that would bring CS in line with Valorant and reduce latency. Valve is also said to have significantly improved the matchmaking experience, which should make the community less reliant on third-party services like FACEIT. Valve did not immediately respond to Engadget's comment request.

Rumors suggesting that a new Counter-Strike game is right around the corner have been going around for years, but there are a few reasons to assign more weight to this latest report. To start, Lewis has a strong track record. In 2015, he wrote a report confirming rumors that one of the leading professional CS:GO teams at the time had purposefully thrown a match. There's also corroborating evidence to support his claims. At the start of the month, a few CS:GO fans found evidence that NVIDIA's GPU drivers have included references to "csgo2.exe" and "cs2.exe" since February. 

Apple is readying to release a new 24-inch iMac as early as the second half of the year, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports the development of two new iMac models has reached “a late stage,” with Apple recently beginning manufacturing tests. Gurman expects volume production of the 2023 iMac won’t start for at least another three months, but the good news is the refreshed models will feature a handful of improvements.

Most significantly, the 2023 iMac will reportedly include Apple’s next-generation M3 system-on-a-chip. Gurman notes the new chipset is likely to offer significant performance and power efficiency gains given that it’s expected to take advantage of TSMC’s upcoming 3nm process. Other changes could involve the iMac’s internal components, some of which have reportedly been redesigned by Apple. Gurman says the company is also planning to employ a “different” manufacturing process for attaching the iMac’s stand. That said, the all-in-one will still feature a 24-inch screen and come in the same cheerful colorways as its 2021 predecessor.

Alongside a new iMac, Gurman says the company is readying to release the long-rumored 15-inch variant of the MacBook Air, as well as a refresh of the 13-inch model and its first Apple Silicon Mac Pro. He expects those Macs to arrive will arrive between late spring and sometime this summer. Less clear is whether the new MacBook Airs will ship with M3 chips. Gurman speculates “at least” the 13-inch model could feature Apple’s latest chip given that the company already offers an M2 version of the ultraportable.

March 10th might not be for another few days, but that’s not stopping retailers like Amazon from offering Mario Day deals early. Ahead of Friday, the company has discounted a handful of Nintendo Switch titles that feature the mustachioed plumber. For instance, Super Mario Odyssey is 33 percent off, making it $40 at the moment. Meanwhile, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is $39 currently, down from $60. Given that discounts on first-party Nintendo games are rare, this is a great opportunity to fill out your Switch library.

Amazon has also discounted the more recently released Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. After a 50 percent discount, you can get the tactics RPG for just $30. If you’ve slept on Sparks of Hope, it’s one of the best Switch exclusives in recent memory. Outside of those games, it looks like Amazon will discount other Mario-themed titles, including Super Mario Maker 2 and Mario Party Superstars, closer to March 10th. So keep your eyes out for discounts on those games if you’ve been waiting to pick them up.

Last but not least, Amazon has also lowered the price of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. The Mario set is $60, down from $100, after a 40 percent discount. Home Circuit allows you to create custom racetracks throughout your home and then race around them with a camera-equipped kart piloted by Mario or Luigi.

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

There is too much internet and our attempts to keep up with the breakneck pace of, well, everything these days — it is breaking our brains. Parsing through the deluge of inundating information hoisted up by algorithmic systems built to maximize engagement has trained us as slavering Pavlovian dogs to rely on snap judgements and gut feelings in our decision making and opinion formation rather than deliberation and introspection. Which is fine when you're deciding between Italian and Indian for dinner or are waffling on a new paint color for the hallway, but not when we're out here basing existential life choices on friggin' vibes.

In his latest book, I, HUMAN: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique, professor of business psychology and Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic explores the myriad ways that AI systems now govern our daily lives and interactions. From finding love to finding gainful employment to finding out the score of yesterday's game, AI has streamlined the information gathering process. But, as Chamorro-Premuzic argues in the excerpt below, that information revolution is actively changing our behavior, and not always for the better.  

Harvard Business Review Press

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Excerpted from I, HUMAN: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. Copyright 2023 Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. All rights reserved.

Our Brain on Speed

If the AI age requires our brains to be always alert to minor changes and react quickly, optimizing for speed rather than accuracy and functioning on what behavioral economists have labeled System 1 mode (impulsive, intuitive, automatic, and unconscious decision-making), then it shouldn’t surprise us that we are turning into a less patient version of ourselves.

Of course, sometimes it’s optimal to react quickly or trust our guts. The real problem comes when fast mindlessness is our primary mode of decision-making. It causes us to make mistakes and impairs our ability to detect mistakes. More often than not, speedy decisions are borne out of ignorance.

Intuition can be great, but it ought to be hard-earned. Experts, for example, are able to think on their feet because they’ve invested thousands of hours in learning and practice: their intuition has become data-driven. Only then are they able to act quickly in accordance with their internalized expertise and evidence-based experience. Alas, most people are not experts, though they often think they are. Most of us, especially when we interact with others on Twitter, act with expert-like speed, assertiveness, and conviction, offering a wide range of opinions on epidemiology and global crises, without the substance of knowledge that underpins it. And thanks to AI, which ensures that our messages are delivered to an audience more prone to believing it, our delusions of expertise can be reinforced by our personal filter bubble. We have an interesting tendency to find people more open-minded, rational, and sensible when they think just like us. Our digital impulsivity and general impatience impair our ability to grow intellectually, develop expertise, and acquire knowledge.

Consider the little perseverance and meticulousness with which we consume actual information. And I say consume rather than inspect, analyze, or vet. One academic study estimated that the top-10 percent digital rumors (many of them fake news) account for up to 36 percent of retweets, and that this effect is best explained in terms of the so-called echo chamber, whereby retweets are based on clickbait that matches the retweeter’s views, beliefs, and ideology, to the point that any discrepancy between those beliefs and the actual content of the underlying article may go unnoticed. Patience would mean spending time determining whether something is real or fake news, or whether there are any serious reasons to believe in someone’s point of view, especially when we agree with it. It’s not the absence of fact-checking algorithms during presidential debates that deters us from voting for incompetent or dishonest politicians, but rather our intuition. Two factors mainly predict whether someone will win a presidential candidacy in the United States—the candidate’s height and whether we would want to have a beer with them.

While AI-based internet platforms are a relatively recent type of technology, their impact on human behavior is consistent with previous evidence about the impact of other forms of mass media, such as TV or video games, which show a tendency to fuel ADHD-like symptoms, like impulsivity, attention deficits, and restless hyperactivity. As the world increases in complexity and access to knowledge widens, we avoid slowing down to pause, think, and reflect, behaving like mindless automatons instead. Research indicates that faster information gathering online, for example, through instant Googling of pressing questions, impairs long-term knowledge acquisition as well as the ability to recall where our facts and information came from.

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to fight against our impulsive behavior or keep our impatience in check. The brain is a highly malleable organ, with an ability to become intertwined with the objects and tools it utilizes. Some of these adaptations may seem pathological in certain contexts or cultures, but they are essential survival tools in others: restless impatience and fast-paced impulsivity are no exception.

Although we have the power to shape our habits and default patterns of behaviors to adjust to our habitat, if pace rather than patience is rewarded, then our impulsivity will be rewarded more than our patience. And if any adaptation is overly rewarded, it becomes a commoditized and overused strength, making us more rigid, less flexible, and a slave to our own habits, as well as less capable of displaying the reverse type of behavior. The downside of our adaptive nature is that we quickly become an exaggerated version of ourselves: we mold ourselves into the very objects of our experience, amplifying the patterns that ensure fit. When that’s the case, then our behaviors become harder to move or change.

When I first returned to my hometown in Argentina after having spent a full year in London, my childhood friends wondered why my pace was so unnecessarily accelerated—“Why are you in such a hurry?” Fifteen years later, I experienced the same disconnect in speed when returning to London from New York City, where the pace is significantly faster. Yet most New Yorkers seem slow by the relative standards of Hong Kong, a place where the button to close the elevator doors (two inward-looking arrows facing each other) is usually worn out, and the automatic doors of the taxis open and close while the taxis are still moving. Snooze, and you truly lose.

There may be limited advantages to boosting our patience when the world moves faster and faster. The right level of patience is always that which aligns with environmental demands and best suits the problems you need to solve. Patience is not always a virtue. If you are waiting longer than you should, then you are wasting your time. When patience breeds complacency or a false sense of optimism, or when it nurtures inaction and passivity, then it may not be the most desirable state of mind and more of a character liability than a mental muscle. In a similar vein, it is easy to think of real-life problems that arise from having too much patience or, if you prefer, would benefit from a bit of impatience: for example, asking for a promotion is usually a quicker way of getting it than patiently waiting for one; refraining from giving someone (e.g., a date, colleague, client, or past employer) a second chance can help you avoid predictable disappointments; and waiting patiently for an important email that never arrives can harm your ability to make better, alternative choices. In short, a strategic sense of urgency—which is the reverse of patience—can be rather advantageous.

There are also many moments when patience, and its deeper psychological enabler of self-control, may be an indispensable adaptation. If the AI age seems disinterested in our capacity to wait and delay gratification, and patience becomes somewhat of a lost virtue, we risk becoming a narrower and shallower version of ourselves.

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With Diablo IV set to arrive later this year, 2023 will be a big year for action RPGs. But there’s more to look forward to beyond this year. On Thursday, Moon Beast Productions – an indie studio founded by Phil Shenk and Peter Hu, two former Blizzard North developers – announced the hiring of Diablo series co-creator Erich Schaefer. In an interview with GamesBeat, the studio said Schaefer will serve as lead creator director on a new action RPG. Details on the project are sparse, but what Moon Beast shared with Schaefer was reportedly enough to convince him to come out of retirement.

“We have ideas for changing the genre with a different approach to progression and trying to solve some of the problems that are beholden to PvE games, especially games, like the Diablo franchise has dealt with,” Shenk told GamesBeat. All three men worked on Diablo II. Notably, Shenk is credited as the game’s lead character artist, and was responsible for designing the appearance of a few of the game’s character classes, including the necromancer and assassin. Lord of Destruction, Diablo II’s excellent 2001 expansion, features a tribute to Shenk in the form of a monster you must slay to complete one of Act V’s quests.

Schaefer told GamesBeat Moon Beast currently employs about 12 people, making it smaller than many of the other studios working in the ARPG genre. The good news is Schaefer has plenty of experience leading small teams. At Runic Games, he made Torchlight with a team of about 25 people. "I want to work on projects that are fun and genuinely try to do something different," Schaefer said. "It’s impressive what the Moon Beast team has built in such a short time. It fired up my imagination with possibilities, and that's a huge part of why I wanted to come aboard."

One of 2022’s most surprising films will soon be available to stream. On Friday, NBCUniversal took to Twitter to announce that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will hit Peacock on March 10th. As Gizmodo notes, the Shrek franchise spinoff has had an incredible run since arriving in theaters at the end of last year. To date, the film has grossed nearly $450 million, making it one of the most financially successful movies of 2022. It has also been a hit among critics, leading to a Best Animated Picture nomination at this year’s Oscars.

The Last Wish will join other Shrek films on Peacock, including the 2001 original and 2010's Shrek Forever After, the final entry in the mainline series. You can also use Peacock to watch a handful of other DreamWorks classics, including The Prince of Egypt. Unfortunately, NBCUniversal is making it harder to check out Peacock’s library of content for free. The service recently stopped offering its previously available free tier to new subscribers. Comcast subscribers will also lose free access to the platform later this year.

FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried may be stuck using a dumb phone for the foreseeable future. In a letter seen by Bloomberg, prosecutors involved in his criminal case said Friday that Bankman-Fried’s lawyers had agreed to modify the terms of his bail agreement. Provided the judge overseeing the case agrees to the changes, SBF will be restricted to using a “non-smartphone” without internet connectivity. Unless a lawyer is present, he will also be forbidden from contacting current or former FTX and Alameda Research employees. Additionally, SBF won’t be able to use encrypted messaging apps, including Signal.

The proposed restrictions come after Bankman-Fried allegedly attempted to contact the general counsel of FTX’s US subsidiary over Signal at the start of the year. “I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other,” he said in one message, according to the Justice Department.

Earlier in the week, Nishad Singh, FTX’s former director of engineering, pleaded guilty to federal fraud and conspiracy charges. Singh is the third of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against him. At the end of last year, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Zixiao "Gary" Wang pleaded guilty to fraud charges and said they would cooperate with investigators.

According to Bloomberg, District Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail and send him to jail before the start of his trial after learning that the disgraced entrepreneur may have influenced potential witnesses. Last month, Kaplan also banned Bankman-Fried from using a virtual private network (VPN) after his lawyers said he used one to watch a football game. According to Reuters, Kaplan said he did not want SBF "loose in this garden of electronic devices.”

Under the modified bail agreement, SBF would be allowed to use a laptop to surf the web, but his access would be filtered through a VPN that would limit him to two categories of websites. One category would include resources his defense team says are critical to his case. The other features a list of 23 websites SBF could use to order food, read the news and watch streaming content. No word yet if the proposed restrictions would limit him from playing League of Legends. 

Chipmakers hoping to tap into the Biden administration’s $39 billion semiconductor manufacturing subsidy program will need to sign agreements promising they won’t expand production capacity in China. The requirement was among a handful of funding conditions the US Commerce Department outlined this week after announcing it would begin accepting applications for money from the CHIPS Act in late June. Congress passed the $280 billion measure last July in a rare show of bipartisan cooperation and set aside $52 billion in tax credits and funding for US semiconductor firms to expand domestic production.

“Recipients will be required to enter into an agreement restricting their ability to expand semiconductor manufacturing capacity in foreign countries of concern for a period of 10 years after taking the money,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters, per the Financial Times. Raimondo did not name China by name. However, the superpower is among the nations the US government considers a “foreign country of concern.”

Additionally, Raimondo said CHIPS Act recipients cannot “knowingly engage in any joint research or technology licensing effort with a foreign entity of concern that involves sensitive technologies or products,” a requirement likely designed to discourage domestic firms from signing agreements like the one Ford recently announced with China’s CATL.

“I also want to be clear that no CHIPS dollars can be spent on stock buybacks,” Raimondo said. “This is about investing in our national security, not enabling these companies to use our money to increase their profits.” The Commerce Department will also require companies applying for more than $150 million to outline how they plan to provide affordable childcare to workers, a funding condition Raimondo said reflects the current labor market. In some instances, the agency may require those same recipients to return some of the money they receive from the CHIPS Act to the government if they generate excess profits.