The New York Times is doubling down on podcasts. The outlet announced Tuesday the launch of its long-awaited NYT Audio app. Available to download only on iOS at the moment, the software collects all of the Gray Lady’s audio journalism, including podcasts from the Athletic and Serial Productions, under one roof.

The Times first previewed the app back in 2021. At the time, it billed the software as a way to give its journalists more freedom to experiment outside of the limits imposed by platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. "This is a canvas for all of those audio stories the newsroom wants to tell but didn't quite have outlets for it before," Times Deputy Managing Editor Sam Dolnick told Axios at the time.

In addition to the outlet’s entire back catalog of podcasts, the NYT Audio will feature new content, including short audio pieces where journalists from The Times will retell how they reported a story they wrote recently. Home cooks can also look forward to listening to recipe advice from the outlet’s Cooking section. You need a digital News or All Access subscription to access the app. If you’re like me and only subscribe to the Cooking section, that won’t cut it, unfortunately. The good news is podcasts like The Daily and The Coldest Case in Laramie aren’t leaving Spotify, Pocket Casts and other platforms.

The release of the NYT Audio app comes as other companies that bet big on podcasts during the pandemic are reducing their investments. Spotify, most notably, cut 11 original podcasts, including the highly acclaimed How to Save a Planet, at the end of last year.

At long last, you can respond to posts on Instagram with GIFs. Company head Adam Mosseri announced the feature addition in his recent Instagram Channels chat with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “This is a bit of ‘finally feature,’ but we’re launching GIFs in comments today,” Mosseri told his boss.

The feature, as you would expect, allows you to comment on a post, or something someone else said, with a GIF from Giphy. That’s the same Giphy the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority ordered Meta to sell last year. Mosseri said Instagram is also testing lyrics in Reels. The feature appears to build on the auto-caption sticker Meta introduced back in 2021. Judging from the screenshot Mosseri shared, a timeline at the bottom of the interface will make for user to sync the captions properly. So there you have it, you can finally comment on a post with a GIF. Maybe this means Instagram will finally get around to making a dedicated iPad app at some point.

The US State Department has announced a reward of up to $10 million for information that leads to the arrest of a prolific hacker. On Monday, the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev, a Russian national and resident with links to the infamous Hive, LockBit and Babuk ransomware gangs. Starting as early as 2020, Matveev has allegedly targeted US law enforcement and healthcare organizations on multiple occasions.

In April 2021, for instance, he was linked to a Babuk ransomware attack that saw the computer systems of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington DC locked out. Last May, Matveev, whose online pseudonyms include Wazawaka, Uhodiransomwar, m1x, and Boriselcin, was allegedly involved in a Hive ransomware attack that targeted a healthcare NGO in New Jersey.

Separately, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions against Matveev. "Matveev has been vocal about his illegal activities. He has provided insight into his cybercrimes in media interviews, disclosed exploit code to online criminals, and stated that his illicit activities will be tolerated by local authorities provided that he remains loyal to Russia," the Treasury said.

Of the ransomware gangs Matveev is allegedly affiliated with, LockBit is among the most active and destructive. As of late 2022, the group’s malware has infected the computer systems of at least 1,400 victims, including a Holiday Inn hotel in Turkey. According to the Justice Department, the gang’s affiliates have extracted at least $75 million in ransom payments. Security researchers recently found evidence that suggests that LockBit recently began targeting Mac computers.

Apple is testing an M3 chipset with a 12-core processor and 18-core GPU, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports a source sent him App Store developer logs that show the chip running on an unannounced MacBook Pro with macOS 14. He speculates the M3 variant Apple is testing is the base-level M3 Pro the company plans to release sometime next year.

Notably, the M3 line is expected to take advantage of TSMC’s forthcoming 3nm node process. The move from 5nm to 3nm would appear to account for the increase in core density. If you recall, the M1 Pro and M2 Pro feature eight- and 10-core processors, alongside 14 and 16-core GPUs. Put another way, the M3 Pro reportedly features 50 percent more CPU cores than its first-generation predecessor. Per Gurman, Apple has gone with an even split between high-performance and efficiency cores on the new silicon. He says the chip was spotted configured with 36GB of RAM. For context, the M2 Pro starts with 16GB of memory, and you can upgrade it to feature up to 32GB of RAM.

Of course, before Apple announces the M3 Pro, the company first needs to release the standard M3 chip. “My belief is the first Macs with M3 chips will begin arriving toward the end of the year or early next year,” Gurman notes. In the meantime, Apple is expected to announce its newest Mac, the long-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air, at WWDC 2023 next month.

If a Pixel phone is your daily driver, you may want to keep a charger nearby. An Engadget reader contacted us on Sunday to report that their Pixel 6 Pro has recently been overheating and excessively draining its battery. They suspect the culprit is the Google app and an update that began rolling out on May 12th.

“I haven't touched my phone in the past hour. It's just been on a standard wireless charger,” the reader says of a screenshot (seen below) they sent of their phone’s settings menu, showing the Google app burning through the 6 Pro’s battery in the background. “Still very hot, and if I didn't roll back to a different version, I wouldn't have a net increase on my phone's battery.”

Courtesy of Engadget reader

A visit to Reddit and the Google support forums shows other Pixel users are experiencing the same issue. “It just started yesterday. Massive battery usage from Google app and to a lesser degree Android System Intelligence. I just went through and did a factory reset, reinstalled most things and it's still happening,” one Reddit user wrote. “Beyond the battery not lasting the phone is getting really warm so I know it's harming the battery and potentially the CPU.”

Those who have tried contacting Google report the company’s support staff haven’t been very helpful. Some users say rolling back to an older version of the Google app hasn’t fixed the problem for them. “Actually ended up with an even older version from May 10, still draining the battery,” writes one Redditor. The reader who contacted us suspects the problem may be server-side. “Google app keeps wrecking the battery regardless of version, and I've rolled all the way back to May 1st,” they write. “I don't know how to see if the app is trying to call home or on a loop with something like that, but the symptoms remain the same.”

Google did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. If the Google app is at fault here, it wouldn’t be the first time a software update has caused headaches for Pixel users. Last May, Google had to patch the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro after an earlier update caused the phones to produce much weaker haptic feedback. The year before the company paused the rollout of its December Pixel update after users found it was making their phones drop calls.

On the eve of potentially one of the most consequential elections in the country’s history, Twitter began blocking posts in Turkey. “In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today,” the company tweeted on Friday, in English and Turkish. “We have informed the account holders of this action in line with our policy. This content will remain available in the rest of the world.” 

Twitter didn’t say which tweets it was blocking, and the company no longer operates a communications department Engadget could contact for more information. Predictably, the decision to comply with a censorship request from the Turkish government has put a spotlight on Elon Musk’s free speech beliefs. On Friday, Musk, who named Linda Yaccarino as the next CEO of Twitter that same day, lashed out at Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias when he suggested the decision “should generate some interesting Twitter Files reporting.”

“Did your brain fall out of your head, Yglesias? The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?” Musk tweeted at Yglesias.

As The Washington Post notes, Sunday’s election could have significant ramifications for Turkey. After two decades in power, Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces the most credible threat to his presidency in recent memory. Ahead of Sunday’s contest, most polls showed opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu had a slight lead on his opponent. If elected, Kilicdaroglu has promised to reshape the country’s domestic policy. Erdogan’s defeat could also have a profound impact on Turkey’s relationship with other powers in the region, including Russia and NATO. Per CNN, If one candidate can’t win more than 50 percent of the vote, the country will hold a run-off election on May 28th. As of the writing of this article, Erdogan holds an 11 percentage point lead on Kilicdaroglu, though that could change as more ballots are counted.

Apple’s second-generation Pencil stylus is one of the best accessories you can buy for an iPad Pro or iPad Air, but at $125, it’s not the most affordable purchase. So it’s worth noting when the stylus is on sale like it is right now at Amazon. At the moment, you can get the Apple Pencil for $85, or 34 percent off what it normally costs. The Pencil’s previous low price was $89, so this is a new all-time low for the accessory. The timing is perfect too since the iPad Air is also on sale this weekend.

The Apple Pencil is a must-have if you’re a visual artist, photographer or designer, but it’s also handy if you enjoy jotting down notes or journaling. You can customize the Pencil’s double-tap feature to suit your needs, and, with built-in pressure sensitivity, you can add as much or as little detail to an illustration as you want. Best of all, you charge the second-generation model by attaching it magnetically to your iPad, a big improvement from the goofy design of the previous model.

On that note, just keep in mind the 2022 iPad does not support the second-generation Apple Pencil. For older iPads, Apple has a handy compatibility list if you’re unsure if the second-generation Pencil will work with your tablet.

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In little more than a year, Elden Ring has sold approximately 20.5 million copies. That’s according to an investor report spotted by a ResetEra forum user (via Eurogamer). “Repeat sales of existing titles such as Elden Ring were strong, especially overseas, [with] worldwide sales reaching 20.5 million,” Bandai Namco writes in the document. The publisher adds that it expects “a pullback” in repeat sales of the game. However, if Elden Ring can sell a few million more copies, it will land among the best-selling games of all time, a list that includes titles like God of War (2018) and Grand Theft Auto V.

The milestone comes a year after Elden Ring had the best-ever opening for a FromSoftware title. In just 18 days, Bandai Namco sold more than 12 million copies of the action RPG. Pretty good for a game that was expected to sell about 4 million copies in five days. The ongoing strong performance of Elden Ring bodes well for FromSoftware’s next game, Armored Core VI. When it arrives this August, the title will be the first entry in the Armored Core series in nearly a decade.

Apple has begun offering a free one-month trial for MLS Season Pass. The promotion is available in every country where you can sign up for the streaming package, and both new and returning monthly subscribers can take advantage. Apple says the offer will remain available through the end of October, meaning it roughly overlaps with what’s left of the MLS season. After the trial is over, your subscription will automatically renew, unless you cancel it beforehand. MLS Season Pass costs $15 per month. If you’re an Apple TV customer, you’ll get a discounted rate of $13 per month.

It’s worth noting the Apple TV app isn’t limited to Apple devices. You can also install it on Roku devices, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Chromecast, Amazon Fire devices, Android TV, cable streaming boxes (including those from Comcast and Verizon) and smart TVs from Samsung, Vizio, Sony, LG and Panasonic. 

Meta has patched a Facebook bug that saw the social network send automatic friend requests when users would visit any profile. In a statement the company shared with The Daily Beast on Friday, Meta apologized for the glitch. “We fixed a bug related to a recent app update that caused some Facebook friend requests to be sent mistakenly,” a Meta spokesperson told the outlet. “We’ve stopped this from happening and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Predictably, the glitch generated equal amounts of amusement and confusion. Many quickly pointed out that the technical oversight temporarily made it impossible to “Facebook stalk” other users. More worryingly, some found that Facebook sent friend requests to people they were trying to block. Notably, news of the bug comes after Meta said it would lay off 10,000 employees. Mark Zuckerberg’s “Year of Efficiency” will see the company reduce its workforce by at least 21,000 by the end of 2023.