Just when you thought video games were getting too serious comes Capcom with Exoprimal, an entirely new IP that will see you and your friends facing off endless waves of dinosaurs that fall from the sky. 

In an absolutely bananas trailer the publisher showed off during Sony's State of Play presentation on Wednesday, we saw a game that looks like a mix of Anthem, Dino Crisis,Dynasty Warriors and Vanquish. Each player has their own exosuit that comes with a variety of different abilities. In other words, we can't wait to play it. Capcom said it plans to release Exoprimal in 2023 on PlayStation 4 and PS5.

Twitter has begun testing two new features the company promises will improve the alt text experience on its platform. The company said it would spend about a month trialing the features, which add easy-to-access descriptions to images, before rolling them out globally at the start of April. As Twitter notes, adding a description or “alt text” to an image allows people with low vision or a cognitive disability to “fully contribute” to the platform. They’re also useful if you don’t have the fastest internet connection.

If you have access to the test, you can add alt text to an image by tapping the “Add description” button that appears after you upload a picture. As a rule of thumb, you want to be concise but descriptive when writing alt tags. You’ll then see an “alt” badge appear at the bottom left corner of the image you can tap to read the description. Twitted noted it's also working on a feature that will remind people to add descriptions to images, and said it would have more to share about that functionality "soon."

Comprehensive support for alt tags shows just how much Twitter has come along on the accessibility front. In 2020, the company famously introduced a voice note feature that didn’t come with accessibility tools like closed captioning. The company eventually apologized for its actions and went on to establish two dedicated accessibility teams. “We know these features have been a long time coming,” the company said Wednesday, alluding to that history. “We’re grateful for your patience.”

David Bennett, the first human to successfully undergo a heart transplant involving a genetically modified pig heart, has died, according to The New York Times. He was 57. It’s unclear if his body rejected the organ doctors implanted in January. “There was no obvious cause identified at the time of his death,” a spokesperson for the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the hospital that performed the procedure, told the outlet. Physicians plan to carry out a full evaluation before publishing their findings in a peer-reviewed journal.

When Bennett’s transplant was first announced, doctors treated the news with cautious optimism. And for a time, it looked like that feeling was warranted. Not only did Bennett’s body not immediately reject the organ, but he was also able to take part in physical therapy and spend time with his family. And while he was never discharged from the hospital, he did survive two months with the genetically modified organ beating in place of his human heart.

Even if doctors determine the cause of death was organ rejection, that’s no small milestone. Stephanie Fae Beauclair, one of the most famous patients to undergo a xenotransplantation procedure, survived for 21 days before her body rejected her adopted baboon heart. Part of the reason doctors were hopeful the procedure would work is that there’s a dire organ shortage in the US and many others parts of the world. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, about 17 Americans die every day waiting for an organ transplant.

Bumble has joined a growing list of American companies pulling out of Russia amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. On Tuesday, the company announced it was discontinuing operations in Russia and removing its family of dating apps from the Apple and Google app stores in Russia and Belarus.

What’s notable about Bumble’s announcement is that the company details how the decision will affect its business. In addition to Bumble, it owns and operates two other dating apps, Badoo and Fruitz. Those two are popular in Europe and they’re where Bumble anticipates it will see the most impact from its decision.

In 2021, approximately 2.8 percent of Badoo’s revenue came from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. By contrast, users from those three countries contributed to less than 0.1 percent of the revenue Bumble earned through its main app that same year. The company anticipates it will lose about $20 million in fiscal 2022 due to the conflict. To put that in perspective, the company recorded $208.2 million in revenue in fiscal 2021. 

Another important internet player is changing its relationship with Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Over the weekend, Amazon quietly stopped accepting new Amazon Web Services customers in Russia and Belarus, as first reported by The New York Times. The company announced the change in an update on Tuesday to a blog post it published last week.

“Given the current events and the uncertainty and lack of credit available in Russia right now, we’re not accepting new Russian AWS customers at this moment,” a spokesperson for Amazon told the outlet.

In practice, the move is unlikely to have a major impact on Russia. That’s because Amazon already had an existing policy in place that saw it not do business with the Russian government. It also doesn’t have any data centers or offices in Russia. Additionally, of its biggest AWS customers in the country, Amazon notes most are multinational companies with local development teams.

Still, the decision sees yet another major US tech company distance itself from the country. In recent days, Cogent Communications and Lumen, two of the largest American backbone internet providers, pulled out of Russia. That’s a move that’s expected to disrupt and slow down internet connectivity in the country. 

On Tuesday, Apple held its first event of 2022. What initially seemed like it would be a low-key affair turned into something a bit more exciting. Yes, Apple updated the iPhone SE and iPad Air, but it also had a new Mac to show off and a matching display. Here's everything the company announced at its Peek Performance keynote. 

iPhone SE

Apple

Apple opened the event with the announcement of the third-generation iPhone SE. Like its 2020 predecessor, the 2022 model looks like an iPhone 8 but features some of the company’s latest technologies, including its blazing fast A15 Bionic processor. The SE also includes a new modem that can connect to 5G networks. Additionally, Apple claims it features a “new” camera system that includes a handful of computational photography features found on the iPhone 13, including Smart HDR 4 and Deep Fusion for better low-light shots. At $429, it’s also $30 more expensive than its predecessor. Pre-orders for the iPhone SE open on March 11th, with general availability to follow on March 18th.

Alongside the SE, Apple announced it would offer the iPhone 13 in two new green colors. Those too go on sale on March 18th.

iPad Air

Apple

After its glow-up in 2020, the iPad Air became one of the most compelling products in Apple’s lineup. At its Peek Performance event, Apple announced a minor refresh of the tablet that adds a couple of handy upgrades. Likely the most impactful is the inclusion of a new front-facing camera sensor that supports the company’s Center Stage feature for ensuring that you’re in the center of the frame during FaceTime calls. Internally, the 2022 iPad Air, like the 2021 iPad Pro, features Apple’s M1 chip. The company claims that should make its tablet about twice as fast as a similarly priced Windows laptop. Apple will also offer the iPad Air with optional 5G connectivity.

The iPad Air starts at $599. It will be available to pre-order starting March 11th, with general availability to follow on March 18th.

Mac Studio and Studio Display

Apple

Thankfully, Apple’s Peek Performance event didn’t only consist of refreshes to existing products. The company also had something fresh to show in the Mac Studio, a pro-level desktop that features its new M1 Ultra. Thanks to its most powerful chip to date, Apple claims the Mac Studio is up to 60 percent faster than a Mac Pro with a 28-core Intel processor in CPU tasks. Outside of performance, a highlight of Mac Studio is all the I/O it includes. On the back of the computer, you’ll find four Thunderbolt 4 connections, two USB-A ports, HDMI and 10Gbps Ethernet. Meanwhile, there’s an SD card slot and two additional USB-C connectors on the front of the computer.

Of course, power and versatility come at a cost, and the Mac Studio is no exception. It starts at $2,000 before you include upgrades and optional accessories. All in, you’re looking to pay as much as $7,999 when you include peripherals and a matching display.

Speaking of that matching display. Alongside Mac Studio, Apple announced its new Studio Display, a 27-inch monitor that features a 5K Retina panel capable of 600 nits of brightness and P3 wide color gamut coverage. It also features a built A13 processor, six-speaker sound system and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera with Center Stage. The Studio Display starts at $1,599. If you want a height-adjustable stand, that’s an extra $400. Like everything else Apple announced today, both the Mac Studio and Studio Display will ship on March 18th.

Friday Night Baseball

Apple

Provided MLB owners and the players association can agree on a new collective bargaining agreement before the 2022 season is canceled, Apple will offer two weekly doubleheader baseball games through its TV+ streaming service. Those games will be available to watch in eight countries and won’t be subject to local broadcasting restrictions.

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

At some point, most of us have had to uninstall apps to free up space on our phones. And while it’s become less of an issue in recent years with the introduction of devices that start with 64GB and 128GB of internal space, not everyone can afford to upgrade the storage on their phone. But with some luck, deleting apps on your Android device to free up space may become a thing of the past.

Google announced today it’s working on a new feature it estimates will reduce the space some apps take up by approximately 60 percent. Best of all, your personal data won’t be affected. The feature is called app archiving and will arrive later this year. Rather than uninstalling an app completely, it instead temporarily removes some parts of it and generates a new type of Android Package known as an archived APK. That package preserves your data until the moment you restore the app to its former form.

“Once launched, archiving will deliver great benefits to both users and developers. Instead of uninstalling an app, users would be able to ‘archive’ it - free up space temporarily and be able to re-activate the app quickly and easily,” the company said. “Developers can benefit from fewer uninstalls and substantially lower friction to pick back up with their favorite apps.”

Google has started making archived APKs available to developers ahead of the feature’s consumer release later this year. If you own a relatively recent and high-end device like the Galaxy S22, you probably won't get much use out of app archiving, but it's a feature that could be a significant boon for those with low-end devices.   

As expected, Apple is adding a new display to its product lineup. On Tuesday, the company announced the Apple Studio Display during its Peek Performance event. The standalone monitor features a 5K retina panel with 14.7 million pixels, 600 nits of brightness and P3 wide color gamut coverage. It also includes Apple's TrueTone technology.

Before today, Apple's most recently announced monitor was the 2019 Pro Display XDR. That's a screen that famously starts at $5,000 before you even include an optional $1,000 stand. The last time the company offered a consumer-level monitor was 2016, the year it discontinued the 2011 Thunderbolt Display.         

Developing...

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

For the first time, live sports are coming to Apple TV+. Apple announced today during its Peek Performance event it will carry Friday Night Baseball. Once Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agree to a new collective bargaining agreement, Apple will stream two games per week that will only be available on the company's streaming platform. The weekly doubleheader will be available in eight countries and you won't have to worry about local blackouts. In the US, Apple will also stream MLB Big Inning, a live show featuring highlights from regular season games. US fans, in addition to their Canadian counterparts, will also have access to a 24/7 livestream featuring game replays, news, analysis and more. For a limited time, Apple said Friday Night Baseball would be available through Apple TV+ without the need for a subscription. 

Rumors that Apple was bidding on a baseball package came out in January. By that point, the League had been in a lockout since the start of December, but it didn't seem like it would cancel any games. That was then. Now, it's unclear if there will even be a 2022 season.   

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

Over the years, 8BitDo has released a number of Xbox-specific accessories, including a controller designed for use with Microsoft’s Cloud Gaming service and a pair of media remotes for the Series X/S. And now for the first time, it’s introducing a controller that features an asymmetric stick layout.

Available in both black and white, the Ultimate Wired Controller includes a full set of Xbox-specific face buttons. It also comes with rear-facing paddle buttons you can customize through 8BitDo’s Ultimate Software on Xbox, Windows 10, Android and iOS. Other features include a built-in headphone jack and haptic feedback.

The only thing you won’t find here is the inclusion of Bluetooth or 2.4GHz connectivity, but the included USB cable is 9.84 feet long. At $45, the Ultimate Wired Controller looks like a steal. Of course, we’ll have to test it out, but the company has made some great controllers in the past. You can pre-order the Ultimate Wired Controller starting today. It’s expected to start shipping on May 31st.