Will Apple's rumored mixed reality headset set the company up for failure, or for a future where smart glasses are everywhere? That's the big question running through my mind as we prepare for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference next week. Despite Apple's track record with disrupting nascent technology — most notably, with the iPod and iPhone — there's plenty of reason for skepticism when it comes to mixed reality. Existing mixed reality headsets like the HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap 2 are targeted mainly at corporate customers that can more easily stomach the high prices. VR headsets have arguably plateaued when it comes to the depth of their experiences and their potential market. Just look at the PlayStation VR2, which mostly recycles existing VR games.

And then there's the major problem, the one Apple needs to solve more than anything else: Why would mainstream consumers — not the geeky early adopters or impassioned gamers — want to wear something on their head for extended periods? A mixed reality headset wouldn't be like the iPod or iPhone, which expanded the possibilities of existing products but could easily slip into your pocket. It's not just like the AirPods or the Apple Watch, accessories meant to compliment Apple's existing hardware. A headset, by its very definition, would have to be an all-consuming product, a persistent reminder that you're seeing the world through Apple's eyes.

At its WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple will need to make the case for its mixed reality headset as deftly as Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone and iPod. But this time, it likely won't have a completed product meant for mainstream users. (Admittedly, the iPhone took a few years to transform into something more compelling with the addition of 3G and the App Store.) Instead, we’ll probably see an appeal to developers to help build its mixed reality ecosystem, and for consumers to have faith that it'll eventually be more affordable and truly useful.

Reporting from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman points to Apple's mixed reality headset — potentially called the Reality One or Reality Pro — being a $3,000 device with a focus on gaming, exercise and productivity. It’s said to rely on finger gestures to navigate a floating interface, and there will be a virtual keyboard along with support for physical keyboards. Additionally, Gurman notes that there will be a Digital Crown, similar to the Apple Watch, that can transition the headset from fully immersive VR into mixed reality, which will combine the digital interface with the real world using onboard cameras.

Magic Leap founder (and This Week in XR podcast co-host) Rony Abovitz sees Apple's potential headset as a major boost for the mixed reality industry. "If Apple actually reveals an XR system next week, that act alone will help to validate the belief shared by many XR pioneers that XR is the next important computing platform," he told Engadget over email. "It will take time and a number of generations to perfect, but we should see the market move more quickly after this milestone."

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

But not everyone is convinced that "mixed reality" (MR) is the way forward. Edward Saatchi, the founder of the VR studio Fable and the original founder of Oculus's Story Studio, tells me he still he's "unconvinced" about the concept of MR: "As a VR and AR creator, there are significant differences between making AR content and making VR content and it’s hard to see how an MR headset which can’t decide between AR and VR will be hugely successful."

"AR and VR present significantly different design challenges and you can’t port an AR app over to a VR app," Saatchi added. He likens it to smartphone gamepad accessories, like the Backbone and Razer Kiyo, that aim to let you play either complex console games or casual phone games. Putting those together just "doesn't quite feel right" to him.

As cloudy as Apple's intentions may seem right now, the mixed reality industry is primed for the sort of disruption the company is known for. After all, Apple didn't make the first MP3 device, or the first smartphone. But it was the first company to create a simple music store supported by the music industry, and the iPhone represented a dramatic leap forward over what the BlackBerry and other smartphone platforms offered in 2007.

"The biggest piece that Apple brings to the table with this [headset] is the Apple installed base, and the ability to leverage all of the other Apple tech with a wealth of already installed hardware," Jack Gold, President and Principal Analyst at J. Gold Associates told Engadget. "Meta doesn’t have that same ability since it’s really only a browser/software play. Apple could easily couple any headset with links (and OS updates) to iPhones and Macs and have a built-in market of millions. So Apple has a head start against anyone in the market with an installed base of users that could be easily upgraded."

Gold notes it also makes sense that Apple is focusing on developers first: "Given the price and the relatively low volumes expected, it’s much better to get [headsets] to creators than consumers, and save the consumers for follow on products with better features (which are also being debugged by the developers), and a lower price."

Even if Apple manages to build one of the most sophisticated mixed reality headsets on the market, it's still unclear what the mainstream pitch for such a device would be. For it to be truly compelling, I'd imagine the company has to go a step further from what we've seen with the Meta Quest (and the upcoming Meta Quest 3). It'll need to go beyond games to deliver experiences you can't get anywhere else.

One possibility came to mind a few weeks ago when Sightful unveiled its augmented reality laptop, Spacetop. It's basically a small computing box which, together with customized Nreal smart glasses, lets you see a 100" AR display. While I didn't get to test it in person, it's easy to imagine something from Apple offering similar functionality when connected to a Mac, iPhone or iPad.

Just imagine toting a MacBook Air to a coffee shop, slipping on a pair of mixed reality glasses, and having a 100-inch virtual window expanding out of the laptop's screen. It'd be a boon for multitaskers, as well as people who need to work on confidential material in public. (No more people peeking over your shoulder on planes!) It’ll likely be years before this is technically feasible, but that may also align with when Apple can make a more affordable headset.

Apple's vision reportedly extends beyond mixed reality to lightweight AR glasses, but it's still unclear how feasible those will be in the future. "Pure AR glasses seem like a totally logical next step, but it was 10 years ago that we all said it would take 10 years to get there, and they still don’t seem 10 years away to me," Saatchi said.

But why stop at glasses? Apple's mixed reality ecosystem could easily translate to more advanced technology that doesn’ require you to wear anything. "I think the biggest issue is still having to wear this 'thing' over your head that takes up space and makes it so I can’t really see that well (imagine trying to walk down the street with one of these things on)," Gold said. "I think in five to ten years, what we’ll see is XR that does not require this massive thing on my head to work. That’s when it gets more meaningful, using heads up displays, even 3D displays on phones, etc."

To paraphrase Dr. Emmet Brown in Back to the Future, where we're going, we won't need screens.

It’s only a few days until the beginning of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week, and we’re eager to see what the iPhone maker is cooking up. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by Engadget Senior Writer Sam Rutherford to dive into all of the Apple rumors: That fabled mixed reality headset, a potential 15-inch MacBook Air and more! But really, all eyes are on the headset. Is Apple setting itself up for failure, or for a future where smart glasses are actually a thing? Also, we discuss the late-breaking news about Meta’s Quest 3 headset, which sounds like it will offer better VR and color mixed reality support for $500.

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

• Apple’s AR Headset, iOS 17, MacOS 14 and everything else we expect to see at WWDC 2023 – 1:16

• Meta Quest 3 details drop ahead of Apple’s developer conference next week – 33:48

• Oppo debuts MR Glass Developer Edition – 37:41

• AI leaders issue dire warning on its risks, neglecting their own responsibility in its development – 41:46

• Chatbot rolled out by National Eating Disorders Association taken offline after giving bad advice – 45:37

• Working on – 52:17

• Listener mailbag – 56:41

• Pop culture picks – 58:39

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 and Joel Chokkattu

It didn't take long for me to fall in love with Street Fighter 6. Maybe it was during a particularly epic Drive Gauge parry, which filled my computer screen with explosive color, or while playing through the Yakuza-esque World Tour, as I picked fights with randos on the street. At some point, I felt like I was home again, combo-ing into Dragon Punches and wreaking havoc with Chun Li's endless arrays of lethal kicks. Street Fighter 6 proves that Street Fighter is back – it's a game primed to welcome new fans and bring old ones back into the fold.

When I talk about old fans, I'm referring to myself. I remember the sense of awe I felt when I first encountered a Street Fighter 2 cabinet at my local Burger King (my hometown was sadly devoid of arcades). The sprites were bigger than I'd ever seen and gorgeously animated. The characters were all distinct and filled with personality. And the controls opened my eyes to the possibilities beyond mere platformers.

There's a reason Street Fighter's special moves have lived on: They're easy to learn, but they require practice to pull off consistently. Get good enough, though, and they start to feel like an extension of yourself. If you're a hadouken master, you may as well have lightning crackling around your fingers.

Capcom

In an effort to open up to new audiences, Street Fighter 6 takes a remarkable new approach to special moves. In addition to the classic controls fans love, there's also a "Modern" scheme, which dramatically simplifies button inputs, as well as "Dynamic" controls, which basically let you mash buttons to have the game's AI take the wheel. The modern mode replaces the six separate punch and kick buttons with three buttons for light, medium and heavy attacks. There's also a standalone special move button that activates different attacks depending on how you're holding the directional pad. This change gives you four functional buttons right on the face of your gamepad, rather than shoving some attack buttons to shoulder buttons like the classic controls.

While Street Fighter's hardcore fans may decry these options as a way to water down the series, I see them as essential to its survival. The previous entry, Street Fighter V, was widely criticized for catering to e-sports players and other diehards. It took years for a traditional arcade mode to appear, but by then many had already written the game off. Street Fighter 6, on the other hand, is a direct appeal to casual fans and the Street Fighter-curious.

That's also evident in the new World Tour mode, which involves designing your own fighter to go on a series of quests throughout an NYC-like environment. It's basically a Street Fighter RPG crossed with a Yakuza game: You'll earn experience points and level up, and you can also challenge people on the street to impromptu matches. The results are almost always ridiculous — I never got tired of seeing bored businessmen throw down — but crucially, it's also genuinely fun.

Early on, World Tour also serves as a sort of interactive training mode for new players. It helps you understand the modern fighting mode, as well as some of the finer details of street fighting. You're also coached along the way by Luke, the last character introduced in Street Fighter V, and the ostensible main character for this game. As a big brother figure, he's cocky yet supportive, a helpful combination for new players.

Even before you get into a match, Street Fighter 6 oozes style. The opening menus are a combination of neon city lights and street art, the character select theme is a catchy (if cringey) hip hop tune, and the music in every stage got my subwoofer thumping. Street Fighter 6 feels like a party that everyone's invited to, the vibes are just spot on.

Maybe that's why I had a hard time peeling myself away to deal with the real world, or to play other titles like Tears of the Kingdom. The arcade mode is breezy enough to complete in under 10 minutes. By default it includes four fighting matches and one classic vehicle destruction mini-game, and the actual gameplay feels more addictive than ever. As usual, playing through an arcade session unlocks background details for characters, but this time you also earn classic Street Fighter art, most of which hit me right in my peak ‘90s nostalgia heart.

On top of the usual super-responsive Street Fighter mechanics, there's also a Drive Gauge that unlocks a wealth of new options. You can use it to launch into attacks that throw your opponents against the wall (leaving them vulnerable to some satisfying follow-up combos), parry attacks, throw out a reversal after blocking and rush across the screen. The drive gauge, which regenerates over time and with your own attacks, can also be used to give your special moves more bite. All of the drive mechanics are relatively easy to pull off, they typically just involve hitting two buttons, but learning how to deploy them will take some time.

Super Arts, the super-powered attacks that require more complex button inputs, also make a return. (Otherwise, Street Fighter players would probably just revolt again.) They rely on a separate super gauge, and in addition to dealing tons of damage, they can be used to blow away your competitor's drive gauge.

I swapped between an Xbox Elite 2 controller and a Hori arcade stick while playing Street Fighter 6 on my PC, and both inputs felt incredibly smooth. As someone raised on SNES fighting games, I tend to favor gamepads, but I also found myself enjoying the arcade stick experience more than usual. The combination of Street Fighter 6's visuals, thumping soundtrack and overall style made me feel like I was in an actual arcade, and having a fight stick on my desk just enhanced that sensation.

In addition to Luke, Street Fighter 6 adds new characters like the Judo expert/supermodel Manon (what a concept!), and the dapper older fighter JP. It usually takes me a while to warm up to new characters, especially when I haven't had much time with the classic Street Fighter roster recently, but all of the new additions bring something to the franchise. A few are also nods to earlier characters: Kimberly is a student of the former Final Fight ninja Guy; Lily is a member of T. Hawke's Thunderfoot tribe; and Jamie takes inspiration from Yun and Yang.

As for online play, I was only able to try Street Fighter 6's multiplayer for a few short sessions, but all of my matches felt smooth and lag-free. Of course, the experience will likely be different once hordes of desperate players show up. A new dedicated Battle Hub also serves as an online space for interacting with other players using your World Tour avatar. You can queue up for matches at arcade cabinets, play older games like Final Fight and Street Fighter 2, and even jump into matches with other player's avatars. I enjoyed the social element of Battle Hub, and it made multiplayer matches far more appealing than just queuing up against faceless players.

Street Fighter 6's many modes and fighting options may feel overwhelming to new players, but it's ultimately a celebration of everything that makes Street Fighter great. Franchises like Mortal Kombat have their extreme gore and (surprisingly) robust storytelling to rely on. The joy of Capcom's series has always been around hanging out with your friends, perfecting your combos and special moves, and learning the intricacies of your favorite characters. Street Fighter 6 is a reminder that Street Fighter is for everyone, and that's a beautiful thing to behold.

It’s a bigger than usual AI week for Microsoft, thanks to its Build developer conference. This week, we chat with Panos Panay, Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer, about Windows Copilot, a new “AI assistant” headed to Windows 11. Is this just a smarter Clippy, or will AI actually transform the way we use Windows? Also, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss what’s up with Apple’s Mixed Reality headset as we gear up for WWDC in a few weeks.

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!

Subscribe!

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Topics

• Microsoft announces AI in just about everything at Build 2023 – 1:42

• Devindra’s interview with Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay – 11:28

• Processing the interview with Panos and other headlines from Build – 33:57

• Bloomberg report on Apple’s AR headset reveals significant divisions within the company – 45:55

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announces his Presidential bid in a glitch-filled Twitter Space with Elon Musk – 56:00

• Amazon’s Fire Max 11 looks read to do actual work – 1:03:22

• What we’re working on – 1:08:01

• Pop culture picks – 1:09:59

Livestream

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

Unlike Meta, Microsoft doesn't need to change its name to prove it's committed to an entirely new tech platform: It's doing so through action. After debuting its AI-infused Bing search engine earlier this year, the company unveiled the Microsoft 365 Copilot for Office apps. And even before those consumer reveals, Microsoft delivered an AI tool for developers in 2021 with GitHub Copilot. Today at its Build developer conference, Microsoft is making the inevitable next step: It's making AI an integral part of Windows 11.

The new Windows Copilot tool lives in the Windows sidebar and, just like Bing's AI chat, you can use it as a super-powered search engine by typing in general questions. But true to its name, it's also deeply integrated with Windows. You can ask it to accomplish tasks within the OS — like turning on the night light mode, or changing your desktop background — without fishing around for specific settings. Windows Copilot can also function as a genuine virtual assistant by summarizing documents, or launching a photo app to accomplish a few edits before sending it off to a group of your coworkers. Cortana would never.

Lucas Jackson / reuters

"I think about Windows and the role of AI as such an opportunity," said Panos Panay, Microsoft Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer, in an interview with Engadget ahead of Tuesday’s launch. "We have hundreds of millions of people [using Windows], bringing the power of AI to Windows 11 gives you the opportunity to not only get more creative and get more productive, but ultimately just let every Windows user become a power user."

Windows Copilot, which will be available to preview in June, also has the potential to reach far more users than the revamped Bing. The company's search engine clearly received plenty of buzz thanks to AI — Microsoft said it hit 100 million daily active users a month after the AI chat feature launched — but according to StatCounter, Bing has also lost market share over the past few months. It hit 7.2 percent in April, down from a recent high of 9.92 percent last October.

That's not entirely surprising, though. Microsoft's battle against Google has always seemed like a hopeless endeavor. The company launched its first attempt, MSN Search, in 1998 soon after Google arrived, and amid Yahoo's dominance as the go-to web portal. MSN Search turned into Live Search, which ultimately evolved into Bing in 2009.

Microsoft has always been a company that's dabbled in search, but it's not a search company. But Windows is another matter entirely. It's a product with a devoted user base, many of whom have decades of experience with the OS. According to Microsoft, there are over 1.4 billion monthly active devices running Windows 10 or 11. (And of course, that doesn't include the PCs running older Windows versions.) Microsoft previously tried to bring Bing's AI capabilities into the Windows taskbar in February, but that ultimately just amounted to a shortcut that launched Bing's AI chat in the Edge browser. Windows Copilot actually weaves AI into the core Windows 11 experience.

"There's so much depth in this product from the '90s on," said Panay. "Our job is to responsibly, of course, push it forward to users that need both the past and need to get to the future [...] We have so many kinds of users that use Windows in its simplest form, like browsing, Mail, and Office [...] And then we've got the hardcore devs who get right down to the depth of the product. And I think both are so vital to the platform. But now I think every developer can move forward as an AI developer and every user can be a power user on Windows. I think it just makes Windows that much better."

Windows Copilot is currently a text-only tool, but Panay envisions it evolving into something you can interact with on your own terms. It has the potential to be the powerful voice assistant that Cortana, the Siri competitor Microsoft pushed for years, never amounted to. (And to be fair, pretty much every virtual assistant ended up being a disappointment. Siri remains confounding and inaccurate, while Google's Assistant is mainly useful for preemptively delivering information, rather than dealing with voice commands.)

Microsoft

The simple, text-based approach to AI also makes sense for Microsoft. For many users, Windows Copilot will be the first time they've interacted with any sort of generative AI product. Better to let general users warm up with a few text strings before overwhelming people with voice commands. And hopefully by the time Microsoft adds voice support, it'll be closer to the Star Trek computer than the frustrating assistants of yore. (I'm dreaming of the day when I can shout at my computer to look up information as I'm writing feverishly on deadline, or ask it to transcribe and summarize a meeting.)

Windows Copilot, just like Bing Chat, will also support the same third-party plugins that OpenAI's ChaptGPT uses. That means any developer will be able to easily connect their apps to AI, an essential move to make these products more useful. Every software platform needs a thriving third-party ecosystem to survive — just think of what iOS or Android would be like if you were stuck using only Apple or Google's apps.

"AI is going to be the single largest driver of innovation for Windows in the years to come," said Panay. "It's going to change the way you work, change your interaction models to make it easier. It's going to understand so much about what you need."

Microsoft

Panay stressed that Microsoft is also focused on making your AI interactions secure and private. Windows Copilot could end up juggling some sensitive information if you start asking questions about specific health questions, for example. A potentially bigger concern is misinformation: Windows Copilot and Bing Chat can answer your questions confidently, but it may not always be accurate. And it's a bigger problem than standard web searches since it's unclear where AI chatbots are pulling information from.

"We have to approach AI with innovation but also optimism," Panay said when I asked about how Microsoft is planning to deal with AI misinformation. "To your point, we have to prioritize both people’s safety and privacy. Also, at the end of the day, if you do it in a frame of humility, where we're always learning, this is going to be vital to your point."

It's clear that Microsoft still has plenty to learn from Windows Copilot. The preview period, which kicks off next month, is a chance for the company to see how it's used in the wild, and to make adjustments before it's officially released. Panay says that the Bing team is already working to make sure its results come from grounded references, and that they're also holding to Microsoft's responsible AI standards.

Microsoft

According to Shilpa Ranganathan, a Microsoft Corporate Vice President leading the Windows team, the company has been talking a lot about how Copilot results are displayed, as well as communicating the uncertainty of some answers to customers. “We're going to build it into the experience as a learning experience for us as well […] I don't want to take a path that allows us to lose trust with customers,” she said. “We believe that's most important. I'd rather say, hey, we're not 100 percent sure. Help us make this better or if this didn't help you, I would like feedback now so that we never show this to another customer again.”

Panay hopes to get to a point where "as a product maker, I have the confidence that what we're handing to our customers is exactly what they need when we launch into the full availability [of Windows Copilot]." He added, "It's about humility. If you give it time and the right innovation, then we can get to that point of creating the guardrails needed to keep it safe and remove the misinformation."

Given the state of the web today, where less reputable websites employ a variety of SEO tricks to rank higher in search results, it’s unclear if we’ll ever be truly rid of AI misinformation. The next content war will be entirely focused on websites vying for placement within AI search results. The problem for users is that it’ll be harder to tell if bad information is coming from a seemingly reputable source, rather than an obviously scammy website filled with junk content.

Windows Copilot has the potential to fundamentally reshape the way we use Windows. But hopefully, it won’t erode user trust in the process.

To say that I loved NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti is an understatement. It was the ideal balance of price and performance — something that became even more true when GPU prices fell back down to Earth. With NVIDIA's RTX 40-series cards skyrocketing to pricey new heights, I began to worry that the company was drifting away from affordable GPUs. Well, worry not. The $399 RTX 4060 Ti proves that NVIDIA can still deliver plenty of value under $500.

To be clear, it's not the dramatic leap forward that the 3060 Ti was (and if you have one of those cards, just sit tight for now!). But if you're still running an RTX 2060 GPU, or something older, the 4060 will be a worthwhile upgrade. It excels at gaming in 1080p with ray tracing at high framerates, and it can also handle 1,440p decently in less demanding games.

We reviewed the 8GB 4060 Ti, but there's also a model with 16GB of VRAM coming in July for $499. And if you're looking for the cheapest option, there's also a $299 plain 4060 on the horizon too. Judging from the current Steam stats, I'd wager that card will end up being the most popular. But the $399 model may make sense if you want to future-proof a bit, even if you don't plan to move beyond 1080p gaming.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The Founder's Edition 4060 Ti we're reviewing has the same basic cooling setup as the rest of the 40-series: A premium metal case surrounding a bevy of heatsink fins, along with dual rear fans. The GPU is noticeably lighter than the RTX 4070, and its dual-slot design makes it ideal for small-form factor systems. Under the hood, the 8GB 4060 Ti is powered by 4,352 CUDA cores, and it can reach up to 2,535 MHz boost clock (up from a 2,310 MHz base clock). One major upgrade is its 32MB of L2 cache, a huge step forward from 4MB on the previous two generations of '60 cards.

I knew the RTX 4060 Ti was a winner as soon as I started benchmarking Cyberpunk 2077. It averaged 86.4 fps in 1080p with ultra ray tracing settings and DLSS 3 enabled. That's smooth enough to look great on any monitor, especially if it supports NVIDIA's G-SYNC frame synchronization, which would help to reduce screen tearing. Without ray tracing, Cyberpunk hit an impressive 158 fps. (I'd rather take the ray tracing over those extra frames for a single-player game, though.)

In 1,440p, Cyberpunk hit a steady 60fps with ultra ray tracing settings and DLSS 3. That would still look great on most screens if you're not chasing the dream of high frame rates. The 4060 Ti clearly isn't meant to be a 1,440p card with ray tracing, but it's capable in a pinch.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

I saw similar results in Halo Infinite: The 4060 Ti averaged 148 fps in 1080p with maxed out graphics settings, and a serviceable 83 fps in 1,440p. If you think you'll be spending more time in 1,440p, you may want to consider going straight to the $599 RTX 4070. (While the extra RAM on the 16GB 4060 Ti sounds nice, I wouldn't bet on that making a dramatic difference in 1,440p.) Thanks to its excellent cooling setup, the GPU never went beyond 65 Celsius after extensive benchmarking. 

In most tests, the 4060 Ti performed slightly better than the two and a half-year old RTX 3070. That card retailed for $499, but its street price was far higher long after its debut. The 4060 Ti makes a more impressive performance leap when compared to the 3060 Ti, but again it's not big enough to demand an immediate upgrade.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

For the most part, the RTX 4060 Ti seems like a reward to gamers who stuck with their older GPUs for years. It'll be a welcome introduction to the world of ray tracing for GTX 1060 owners. And for people upgrading from the RTX 2060, the performance leap with DLSS 3 will be dramatic. If you're on the fence, though, it may be worth waiting to see how the rest of AMD's Radeon RX 7000 family looks. Recent rumors point to more of those Radeon cards appearing next month.

While I'm more excited to see what NVIDIA can eke out from its $299 RTX 4060, the 4060 Ti remains a solid ray tracing performer that many gamers can actually afford. 

BlackBerry has everything Apple's Tetris film lacked: human drama grounded in actual history, without the need to spice things up with car chases and fantastical storytelling. On the face of it, the rise and fall of Research in Motion's keyboard-equipped smartphone may not seem inherently compelling. But the brilliance of the film — directed by Matt Johnson, who also co-wrote it with Matthew Miller — is that it makes the BlackBerry's journey feel like a genuine tragedy.

It's driven by two dramatically different people: RIM’s co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis, a nebbishy genius of an engineer, and Jim Balsillie, a ruthless and perpetually angry businessman. They struggled on their own, but together were able to rule the mobile industry for more than a decade. And then came the iPhone, which instantly reversed their fortunes.

Like many former titans, RIM fell victim to the innovator's dilemma. As described by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, it's what happens when large and successful companies are entirely focused on iterating on existing products and appeasing customers. That leaves room for a more nimble newcomer to come along and develop something revolutionary that the incumbents could never have imagined.

In this case, it's Apple's iPhone, which lands like a nuclear bomb in the technology world. The film shows Lazaridis and his engineering team watching Steve Jobs' iconic iPhone keynote in disbelief. Lazaridis is the genius protagonist we've seen come up with the idea of a handheld, keyboard-equipped pocket computer that's efficient enough to run on unused, low-bandwidth wireless signals. Even after BlackBerry takes off, we see him have another stroke of inspiration with BlackBerry Messenger, a service that delivered free messaging to RIM's customers at a time when carriers charged 10 cents per SMS text. It was a brilliant maneuver that made BlackBerry users even more loyal, since BBM wasn't accessible on any other device.

IFC Films

Even though he was no stranger to game-changing innovation himself, Lazaridis didn't think the iPhone would work. It was too expensive. It didn't have a physical keyboard. And it was built to gobble up mobile data (something RIM took pains to avoid). Who would want that? Turns out everyone did. While the iPhone was indeed pricey at launch, carrier subsidies made it easier to stomach. Its large screen, (eventual) App Store and revolutionary OS made up for its touch-based keyboard. And it arrived just as 3G networks were rolling out, which gave carriers more of an incentive to charge customers for data instead of cellular minutes. Just as the BlackBerry gave us a glimpse of an always-connected world in 1999, the iPhone promised to put the full power of the internet in your pocket.

Spoilers for real life, I guess: BlackBerry dropped from having 20 percent of the global smartphone market share in 2010 to 0 percent in 2017, according to Statista. For people who weren't around for the company's heyday, the film serves as a valuable history lesson.

Crucially, though, it's not just like reading a Wikipedia entry. Johnson tells us exactly who Laziridis and Balsillie are from the very first scenes of the movie. As Laziridis and his RIM co-founder Doug Fregin prepare for a pitch meeting with Balsillie, he can't help but notice a buzzing intercom in the room. It's made in China, which to him is a red flag for bad engineering. So, almost without thinking, Laziridis tears it open and fixes a defective component. Balsillie, meanwhile, spends that time scheming to take the limelight away from a co-worker, simply because he thinks he's smarter than everyone around him.

While that first meeting doesn't go well, it's almost as if Laziridis and Balsillie's lives are destined to intertwine. The engineer needs someone with business smarts to sell his vision, and the business man needs something hot to sell. As played by Jay Baruchel (This is the End, How to Train Your Dragon), Lazaridis is practically a poster child for socially awkward engineers. Glenn Howerton, meanwhile, channels the childish energy of his It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia character to portray Balsillie as a coked-up ball of rage. He may get results, but he also has the uncanny ability to turn every room into a toxic workplace.

BlackBerry succeeds by making us care about Laziridis and his cadre of geeks, and by making Balsillie’s antics relentlessly entertaining (even when he’s being a complete jerk). But what’s most impressive is that it gives the story of Research in Motion a compelling dramatic shape: the rise of the genius, the defeat of his enemies (Palm’s potential hostile takeover of the company is particularly harrowing) and the inevitable downfall. It’ll forever change the way you view BlackBerry. And for the tech titans of today, the movie is a textbook example of how quickly you can fall from grace.

This week, we’re focusing on Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), an annual event meant to promote the need for accessible tech solutions. Cherlynn returns to tell us what Apple, Google, Adobe and others are doing to make their products more useful for people with disabilities (and, it turns out, many general users too). We also discuss Sam Altman’s trip to Congress, and why we’re not entirely impressed with the OpenAI CEO’s calls for AI regulation. Finally, we explain why the BlackBerry movie is one of the best films about tech ever made (take that, Tetris!).

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

• Tech companies highlight new features for Global Accessibility Awareness Day – 1:27

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman goes to Congress and advocates for A.I. regulation – 34:24

• Amazon announced a bunch of hardware: new Echo Buds, Echo Show and Echo Pop – 45:10

• Montana’s TikTok ban has been signed, scheduled to go into effect in 2024 – 49:04

• Working On (and Cherlynn’s experience on the ground at Google I/O) – 53:55

• Pop culture picks – 1:04:44

Livestream

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

It’s a huge week for news: Google I/O happened, and we finally got a close look at the Pixel Fold and the company’s latest AI plans. Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham also joins to discuss his review of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the follow-up to one of the greatest games ever made. (No pressure, Nate!) We also chat about Nintendo’s confirmation that it won’t be announcing any new hardware until next year, and the perils of chatbots serving as the latest avatars for Hindu gods in India.

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!

Subscribe!

• iTunes

• Spotify

• Pocket Casts

• Stitcher

• Google Podcasts

Topics

• Google’s Pixel Fold was finally announced (it’s $1,799) – 1:25

• Also announced at Google I/O: a ton of Bard integration in search, Pixel Tablet and Pixel 7a – 14:43

• Nate Ingraham’s Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review – 39:29

• Nintendo says no new hardware will be announced this year – 52:51

• Roku is doing home security now – 56:40

• AI Updates: Religious chatbots run the risk of sparking violence in India – 58:12

• Working on – 1:03:45

• Pop culture picks – 1:05:43

Livestream

Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Nathan Ingraham
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artist: Luke Brooks and Joel Chokkattu

Expect to see better looking Android TV apps, as well as more offerings from developers, in the future. At Google I/O today, the company announced the alpha version of Compose for TV, a framework that will make it easier to build attractive Android TV apps with less code and more intuitive tools. Google says developers will be able to bring over their existing code, and by moving to Compose it should be easier to update apps moving forward. The framework has direct access to the Android APIs — which most devs are already used to — and will support code from existing Android mobile and tablet apps. Google is also unveiling a set of TV design guidelines to help developers optimize their apps for big screens.    

Google has certainly come a long way when it comes to home entertainment. Its first Google TV platform, released in 2010 before the rise of streaming services, fizzled and died. It bounced back with the cheaper and far more popular Chromecast, which eventually led to Android TV, a platform that now houses a revived "Google TV" interface. 

When it comes to streaming platforms, Apple still has more tools for developers to build attractive TV apps, but it's nice to see Google making an effort. It's not like there's much competition from Roku or Amazon's Fire TV devices. Android TV's true power is its ubiquity, much like Android itself. According to Strategy Analytics, Android TV shipped on more devices than any other streaming platform last year. (Even my Formovie projector has Android TV built-in.)

Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2023 right here.