Meta is taking more steps to limit potentially harmful ad campaigns. The company is placing more restrictions on advertisers' ability to target teens. From February onward, Facebook and Instagram will no longer let marketers aim ads at teens based on gender — only age and location. Follows and likes on the social networks also won't influence the ads teens see.

In March, Meta will expand the ad preferences in Facebook and Instagram to let teens see fewer sales pitches for a given topic. Teens could already hide the ads from specific advertisers, but this gives them the choice of automatically downplaying whole categories like TV dramas or footwear.

The social media giant has put ever-tighter restrictions on the content teens can access. In 2021, Facebook and Instagram barred advertisers from using teens' interests to target ads. Instagram also made accounts private by default for teens under 16, and this year limited sensitive content for all new teen users. Meta has likewise limited the ability of "suspicious" adults to message teens on both platforms.

This is the second major ad policy change in a week. Just a day before, Meta rolled out an AI-based system meant to reduce discriminatory ad distribution. The technology is launching as part of a settlement with the federal government over charges that Facebook let companies target ads based on ethnicity, gender and other protected classes.

As with those earlier efforts, Meta has a strong incentive to act. The attorneys general of 10 states are investigating Instagram's effects on teens, while the European Union recently fined Meta the equivalent of $402 million for allegedly mishandling privacy settings for younger users. Governments are concerned that Meta might be exploiting teens' usage habits or exposing them to threats, including content that could lead to mental health issues. The new protections won't solve these problems by themselves, but they might show officials that Meta is serious about curbing ads that prey on teens.

I’ve been captivated by The Last of Us since I first played it shortly after it was released for the PS3 way back in 2013. Its ruined, dangerous but somehow beautiful post-pandemic world was compellingly rendered by developer Naughty Dog, and the tense combat driven by stealth and a need to conserve your resources felt more brutal and realistic than the Uncharted series the developer was known for.

But the relationship between protagonists Joel and Ellie is the true heart of the game. The story of a broken father reluctantly taking responsibility for a child who ends up becoming a surrogate daughter isn’t wildly original, nor is the game’s post-apocalyptic setting. But the development of Joel and Ellie’s relationship is filled with humor, hope, sadness and conflict, and it was brilliantly written by creators Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. Performers Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, along with the entire Naughty Dog team brought it to life, and the game has stuck with me ever since.

It’s the kind of video game that’s been begging for some sort of on-screen adaptation. Now, almost a decade after the game was released, HBO’s The Last of Us series will premiere on January 15th. The first season is led by a deep and talented cast (headlined by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie) and an equally strong creative team, including Druckmann and Craig Mazin (best known for his outstanding Chernobyl mini-series, also on HBO).

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

I’m happy to report that The Last of Us should satisfy fans of the game, and might even bring in a fresh audience. It deftly walks the line between paying loving tribute to the source material while not feeling overly devoted to it. The structure of the show is essentially identical to the game: Joel and Ellie meet in a Boston quarantine zone some 20 years after a fungal infection destroys the world as we know it. Circumstance shoves the pair together on a cross-country journey that spans the better part of a year, as Joel tries to safely get Ellie to the Fireflies, a revolutionary militia that’s been trying to find a cure for the infection.

If you’ve played the game, you’ll be familiar with the season’s nine-episode arc. But in each act of the story, Mazin has smartly identified where to expand the narrative and what to leave out. The biggest thing missing are many of the huge action set-pieces that come up throughout the game. It’s an unsurprising change, as it wouldn’t feel realistic for Joel and Ellie to survive the number of battles they face in the game; it also wouldn’t make for compelling TV. There’s still plenty of action in the show, but it’s meted out more carefully and generally only when it moves the story forward.

Unsurprisingly, everything about The Last of Us reflects the high-budget, flagship status the show seems to have at HBO. Sets and environments are epic in scale and detail, and the combination of prosthetics and digital enhancements bring the Infected to life in terrifying fashion. Although there seems to be less of an emphasis on encounters with these creatures than in the game, seeing them on screen is distressingly memorable. Details like cinematography and music (composed by Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla, who scored the games), are also masterfully executed; this is a show that oozes quality and attention to detail — much like the game itself.

Photograph by Shane Harvey/HBO

More interesting is how The Last of Us expands on the world and its inhabitants. We immediately get a more extensive look at the pre-pandemic life that Joel and his daughter Sarah inhabit. The showrunners give us more backstory and a better understanding of the different ways people survive: cooped up in a dreary Boston quarantine zone, fighting the government in a Kansas City lost to a violent militia group, or a peaceful settlement out west. The world feels a lot more nuanced than the one in the game, where almost everyone is an enemy to be overcome. Don’t get me wrong — most of the inhabitants of HBO’s The Last of Us will shoot first and ask questions later – but most encounters are about tension rather than brutal violence.

A lot has been written about the show’s two stars, Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, both of whom have some big shoes to fill. Finding two performers with on-screen chemistry who could successfully embody their respective characters was surely not an easy task. But Pascal and Ramsey’s performances both immediately connected me with the original characters while also feeling vital and essential on their own. Fans of the game should immediately find things to draw them in, while those new to the series should be quickly won over by the pair.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

Pascal’s Joel has a lot more emotional depth than Joel the video game character. Part of that is due to scripts that put more focus on his vulnerabilities and insecurities, but Pascal skillfully portrays a broad range of emotions. He’s able to show the cold, violent and skilled survivor side of Joel who’ll do anything to get what he needs while also embodying the broken spirit of a man who’s spent 20 years doing whatever it takes to stay alive. Watching Ellie bring out Joel’s more vulnerable side, and seeing how that conflicts with the hardened survivor, is at the heart of Joel’s character journey, and Pascal simply nails it. Joel is both more vulnerable than ever — and also more terrifying.

Meanwhile, Ramsey charms from their first moment onscreen as Ellie. We’re afforded a little more of Ellie’s backstory in the first episode, and it’s a great introduction to the character that immediately shows her brazen attitude toward anything that gets in her way. Much of the humor and levity comes from Ellie, and Ramsey’s performance captures the innocent resilience that only a 14-year-old could have in the face of abject horror and seemingly inescapable doom. The weight on Ellie’s shoulders grows throughout the series, and Ramsey is always up to the task of taking Ellie to the brink of breakdown before she comes back to the sense of duty she feels to care for the people she’s chosen to let into her life. Ellie’s naivety and sense of wonder gets bruised time and time again throughout the series, but both Ramsey and the scripts never let her lose it entirely.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

While both Pascal and Ramsey deliver excellent performances in their own right, the magic really happens when the two are playing off each other. Naturally, the characters start out skeptical of one another, with Joel straight-up calling Ellie “cargo” to her face. But Ellie’s fascination with seeing the world beyond the quarantine zone she’s been stuck in slowly breaks Joel down. Pascal does a great job flipping between those two sides of the character, offering up hints of compassion and concern for Ellie as a person, only to retreat into an emotionally distant protector role.

Meanwhile, Ramsey embodies the spirit of Ellie as she opens up to Joel, and seeing this side of Ellie's character is a delight. Ramsey’s ability to convincingly show Ellie’s goofy and rebellious exterior is masterfully done; it’s the tool Ellie uses most to try and win over Joel, as if she knows he’s going to give in with a smile or laugh sooner or later. Watching Pascal slowly warm to her brings out a host of different ways for the two actors to play off each other. But Ramsey is also just as convincing when demonstrating Ellie’s drive for survival is just as strong as Joel’s. That leads her to some dark places, and Ramsey shows their range as the series progresses and the challenges facing Ellie and Joel mount.

The rest of the cast doesn’t get as much screen time, but they all contribute to some compelling plot lines. The stories of Bill and Frank (played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett) as well as Keivonn Woodard’s interpretation of Sam are two of the finest examples in the series where Mazin and Druckmann deviate a bit from the original text to do something that might not work in a game but is extremely successful in a show. Their episodes are undeniable standouts, and probably the best examples of why The Last of Us is such a successful adaptation.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

The show whiffs a little bit on the pacing, as the back half of the season feels rushed. The pace naturally accelerates throughout the season toward the story’s climax, and the last two episodes are among the shortest in the season. I wish that some of the many dramatic moments near the end had more time to breathe. I don’t think a whole additional episode is necessary, but an extra ten minutes in each of the final episodes might have made things feel less constricted.

Also, it’s worth remembering that The Last of Us was an extremely violent video game, and the show does not shy away from brutality and occasional gore. It’s less overt than I expected, but each episode generally has at least one moment that’s not for the squeamish. That said, much of the human-on-human violence is pared back. With a few exceptions, it’s not too gratuitous or graphic, and a lot is implied. Regardless, I respect that large swaths of people might not be in the mood for a violent and often grim post-pandemic drama after three-plus years dealing with a real-life pandemic.

Despite those concerns, the end result is the best kind of adaptation, one that’s faithful to the spirit of the origin that also makes smart changes to fit the medium. In that way, it reminds me a bit of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, another personal favorite. While those movies made numerous deviations and changes, Jackson always framed them as a way to make the story work as well as possible in the film medium.

I feel the same way about The Last of Us. It’s not a one-to-one retelling, and I’m thankful for that – it wouldn’t have made for good TV. Instead, Craig Mazin took his love for Druckmann’s story and converted it to a show that many will enjoy, regardless of whether they’ve played the game. And for those of us who already love The Last of Us, this adaptation stands toe-to-toe with the original. There are tons of stunning moments that bring me directly back to what I love, but each episode also has a number of moments that surprised and delighted me, even though I know the overarching plot inside and out. It’s more than I could have hoped for, and I’m very excited that people who don’t play video games will get a chance to experience Joel and Ellie’s story through this excellent series.

Well CES is officially underway. The floor is open and hordes of PR reps, journalists and eager entrepreneurs are coursing through the arteries of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Of course even before the LVCC opened its doors today there’s been plenty of news coming out of CES 2023.

Sony

Sony held its big press conference Wednesday night, covering everything from high-end cinema cameras and nano satellites, to video game movies and accessible controllers. The company’s Project Leonardo controller will offer a variety of customizable buttons and other hardware in a kit built for those with limited motor ability. Like Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive controller, Project Leonardo reflects a growing trend in tech, especially in the gaming industry, to better serve those living with disabilities.

The Sony announcement that made the biggest splash though, might have been that the endlessly delayed Gran Turismo movie is coming out in 2023. Personally I’m not a big fan of the Gran Turismo series, or racing games in general, but even I got a bit excited watching the trailer. The camera work in the upcoming Neill Blomkamp film is shaping up to be pretty intense.

And in a weird bit of synergy, Sony also unveiled a car of its own, the newly christened “Afeela” concept which was born out of partnership with Honda. The first Sony Honda Mobility vehicle won’t be ready for the road until 2026 at least.

AMD

AMD also made a splash two CPUs and a GPU. The beefiest of the bunch is definitely the new Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU which packs an insane 144MB of cache using the company’s 3D V-Cache technology and reaches boost speeds of 5.7GHz. The other two AMD announcements focused on the mobile side, including the first RDNA 3 GPUs for laptops and a lineup of performance-focused Ryzen HX CPUs.

Razer

Another company focusing on raw power this CES was Razer which announced two new laptop models – the Blade 16 and Blade 18. They’re loaded to the brim with high-end components like Intel Core-i9 HX chips and NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line RTX 4090 graphics cards.

But personally I think the most interesting feature is the Blade 16’s dual mode screen that can run either 4K at 120Hz and peak brightness of 1,000 nits or full HD plus at 240Hz and 600 nits, depending on whether speed or resolution are more important at that particular moment.

Razer also finally gave us a release date for its Edge cloud gaming handheld which will land on January 26th.

Lenovo

Sam Rutherford / Engadget

The biggest dump of news, though, probably belongs to Lenovo. It announced two laptops, a giant tablet, an e-ink notepad and even a “Think” branded phone. The ThinkPhone finally brings some of Lenovo’s enterprise expertise to bear on Motorola mobile devices while the Smart Paper tablet syncs handwritten notes with audio recordings, so you can scrub through a lecture and immediately see the notes associated with that moment.

The most unique device, though, is the dual screen YogaBook 9i. Sure, we’ve seen plenty of concept dual-screen machines before, but the 9i isn’t a pipe dream, it’s an actual product that will go on sale later this year. Lenovo will even bundle all the accessories you need to make the most of its form factor, including a foldable stand, a stylus and a bluetooth keyboard.

You can simply use the foldable as is and pull up a virtual keyboard on the bottom screen, or you can attach the physical one to the screen and use the exposed bit of the display either as touchpad or to show widgets. But you could also set it up as basically a portable dual-screen workstation with the displays either side by side or stacked one over the other.

Google

Google

Switching to the world of automobiles, Google was finally ready to put its major overhaul of Android Auto on display and has started rolling it out to users. The new UI has a split screen mode and puts Maps in easier reach at all times.

And speaking of Maps, Google debuted a new HD version that will be coming to the Polestar 3. These higher-resolution maps will be useful for Pilot Assist, but might prove essential for future self-driving features. Unfortunately, no word on when or if the HD Maps will be coming to other vehicles.

Stellantis

Last, but not least, Stellantis revealed its Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept truck. In the grand tradition of truly outlandish concept vehicles showing up at CES the Revolution BEV has an augmented reality heads up display, a collapsable steering wheel, some sort of 3D animated avatar that the driver can interact with and will even follow you around like some sort of sad puppy dog if you want.

On the more practical side it also sports four wheel steering and an 800 volt architecture that would allow it to get up to 100 miles of charge in just 10 minutes. Of course, you’ll never actually be able to buy the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept. But there is supposedly a Ram 1500 BEV coming in 2024 that will be loosely based on this.

And don’t worry, there’s still plenty more to come from CES – We’ve only just begun scouring the floor for hidden gems. So for all the details on anything you might have missed, check out our comprehensive coverage on Engadget.com or our YouTube channel. And stay tuned more from CES 2023.

TikTok users in the US and the UK can now tag movies and TV shows in their videos. Each tag (up to five can be included per video) will point to an in-app page that includes details from the film or series, as well as some related videos.

This is all powered by a new partnership with IMDb, which is providing info including cast members, directors, genres, release dates, runtimes and user ratings for each movie and show. TikTok users can add films and TV series to the favorites tab of their profile too.

You can tag a show or movie when you tap the "add link" option right before you post a video. If you select "movie and TV," you'll be able to search the more than 12 million titles that are on IMDb and add the one you're looking for.

This should come in useful for users who share a lot of movie and TV-related posts, as well as those looking for content about their favorite titles. So, if you share a clip from The Menu, a meme from The White Lotus or a Glass Onion explainer, you may not need to reply to people who drop a "what is this from 💀" in the comments. They can just tap the tag for more details (and then maybe watch The Menu, because it's a blast).

Apple TV+ has offered a sneak peek at the second season of Foundation and revealed when the sci-fi series will return. More episodes of the show, which is based on Isaac Asimov's series of books of the same name, will premiere this summer and will introduce the second crisis.

The clip opens with one of the main characters, Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell), waking up in a stasis chamber that just happens to be in space. It's a compelling start to a teaser that's packed with eye-catching imagery. A terrifying creature pops up at the end, so be mindful of that if you're jumpy.

The first season of Foundation arrived in the fall of 2021, so fans have had to wait quite a while for it to come back. Jared Harris and Lee Pace are among the stars who are returning for season two.

Apple's latest Fitness+ updates are here, and it looks to be one of the biggest January releases for the service since it launched. A key new addition is kickboxing as a total-body cardio workout type, with sessions of 10, 20 and 30 minutes. It'll be led by two Fitness+ trainers, Jamie-Ray Hartshorne and Muay Thai fighter Nez Dally, the first woman to compete in Thailand wearing a hijab.

Another key addition is the addition of Beyoncé to the Artist Spotlight series, including songs from her latest album, Renaissance. Starting January 9th, seven new workouts with her music will be available across cycling, dance, HIIT, Pilates, treadmill and yoga, Apple said. Fitness+ is also rolling out Artist Spotlight offerings from Foo Fighters (January 16) and Bad Bunny (January 23rd). 

Apple

Also on tap are new episodes of Time To Walk, that helps motivate you on walks with stories from noted individuals like Dolly Parton, Shawn Mendes and others. The latest walk features actor Jamie Lee Curtis, as she "reflects on the importance of embracing life’s most unexpected moments, the transformative power of serving others in need," and more, Apple wrote. Other guests arriving soon are Amber Ruffin, Jason Segel, José Andrés, Nina Hoss, Colman Domingo, Nathan Chen and Sheryl Lee Ralph. 

Fitness+ is also unveiling a new meditation theme, Sleep, joining the existing library that includes Calm, Gratitude, Resilience, and Creativity. Those include a new program called "Introduction to Meditations for Sleep," with four 20-minute meditations that conclude with five minutes of relaxing music. 

And finally, it's adding two new collections for inspiration and goal-setting. Those are "6 Weeks to Restart Your Fitness," featuring a blend of workouts to help users onramp back into fitness after the holidays, available January 9th. The other is "Level Up Your Core Training," with 10- and 20-minute core workouts using dumbbells, coming on January 23.

When you browse Apple Books for your next audiobook, you might come across a few titles with a note that says they were "Narrated by Apple Books." That's because the tech giant has released a catalogue of titles that make use of its new AI-powered digital narration service. The company said the service uses the advanced speech synthesis technology it developed "to produce high-quality audiobooks from an ebook file." 

According to The Guardian, Apple approached independent publishers who may be interested in teaming up for the project's launch in recent months. Authors were reportedly told that the company behind the technology would shoulder the costs of turning their books into audiobooks and that they would be earning royalties. Apple, as secretive as ever, apparently remained unnamed at that point of the process and required partners to sign non-disclosure agreements. 

In its announcement, Apple touched on how commissioning voice actors and producing audiobooks could cost writers and publishers thousands of dollars. For independent authors, especially those just starting out, it's not always possible to spare that much money. But thing is, the audiobook market has grown tremendously in recent years — it earned $1.6 billion in sales in 2021, and experts reportedly believe the market could be worth over $35 billion by 2030. Authors wouldn't only be missing out on potential income by not creating audiobook versions of their titles, but also the opportunity to build their brand and following while the market is still growing. 

The tech giant said its digital narration technology will make audiobook creation more accessible. There is truth in that, and if the project turns out to be successful, it could change the future of audiobooks. Books narrated by a digital voice aren't exactly new, though, and they're typically hard to listen to due to how robotic they sound. David Caron, a co-producer at a large audiobook publisher in Canada, also raised an important point in his statement to The Guardian: "The narrator brings a whole new range of art in creating audiobook... They're creating something that is different from the print book, but that adds value as an art form."

At the moment, Apple offers authors two digital voices to choose from: One soprano and one baritone. They sound pretty human, based on the samples the company shared, but the sound clips were short and might not be a genuine representation of the whole audiobook's quality. Apple is only accepting books in the romance and a limited number of other fiction genres for now. The books must already be available on Apple Books, must be in English and must pass and editorial review. It's working to expand AI narration's availability, however, and will soon offer it to nonfiction and self-development authors. The company will also launch two more digital voices for those genres. For now, you can listen to audiobooks that use Apple's AI by searching for "AI narration" in Apple Books.

So that's what Gran Turismo is really about. The first Gran Turismo teaser shows off sleek cars and angles ripped straight out of the game franchise, all from the lens of District 9 director Neill Blomkamp. Blomkamp helped introduce the short video during Sony's CES 2023 show, where executives played up their plans to adapt even more game franchises to film and television. Gran Turismo is due to hit theaters on August 11th.

The film is based on a true story, apparently — it follows a teenage Gran Turismo player who uses his sweet gaming skills to become a real-world racecar driver. The teenager is played by Archie Madekwe (Simon from Midsommar), and the movie also stars David Harbour (Stranger Things), Orlando Bloom (the early 2000s) and Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice).

The Gran Turismo movie has spent some time in development hell — much like the video game series itself, which has a reputation for being delayed. A version of the film was completely scrapped in 2018 after spending five years in development, and Blomkamp is the second director to be attached to a Gran Turismo project. However, things have moved quickly since development on the current movie started in May 2022, with filming wrapped by that December.

Gran Turismo isn't the only game-film crossover project in the works at Sony. There's a whole HBO series based on The Last of Us premiering January 15th, a Twisted Metal show heading to Peacock, and a film based on Ghost of Tsushima still to come.

Disney+ is bolstering its IMAX Enhanced films, including some Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, with another audio option. The streaming service will enable IMAX signature sound by DTS on select titles this year, offering viewers high-fidelity audio to go with the expanded aspect ratio.

You'll need compatible equipment to hear DTS audio, however. At the outset, some IMAX Enhanced-certified TVs from manufacturers such as Sony and Hisense will support DTS on Disney+, as will certain AV receivers from the likes of Denon, Marantz and JBL. However, you don't need any particular devices to view IMAX’s expanded aspect ratio of 1.90:1, which offers up to 26 percent taller pictures during certain sequences.

Some may find that the addition of DTS audio will help them to better replicate the IMAX experience at home. DTS will provide a higher bitrate alternative to Dolby Atmos, but many folks prefer the latter. In the near future, you may be able to watch a Disney+ movie in either audio format and decide for yourself.

Meanwhile, Disney+ has announced when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is coming to the platform. You'll be able to stream the most recent MCU movie at home starting on February 1st. The film will have IMAX Enhanced support.

In 2019, Twitter instituted a fairly strict ban on political and cause-based ads, effectively blocking politicians and organizations like PACs from running ads that prop up candidates, promote ballot measures or ask for donations. Now, the company is reversing that policy, announcing through the Twitter Safety account that it will relax those advertising rules.

Previously, almost all political ads were banned, and cause-based ads that covered subjects like climate change or abortion were subject to various restrictions. The latter were barred from being marketed to custom audiences and age groups, for instance — and while raising awareness to topics was permitted, advocating support for specific legislation was not.

The announcement didn't go into detail about the ad rules, stating instead that the plan is bring Twitter more in line with the political advertising standards of "TV and other media outlets." Although it's not completely clear what that means, its worth noting that TV and broadcast markets that use the public airwaves are required to follow certain FCC rules regarding political advertising that Twitter may not be subject to.

Either way, the change could help Twitter make up for the advertisers who left in the weeks following Elon Musk's purchase of the platform, which saw brands like GM, Audi, General Mills and others pause advertising. As for Twitter, the social media company says that its making the policy change because it believes that "cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics."