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.

Google’s ongoing feud with Match Group over in-app payments has spilled over to India, with potentially significant ramifications for the search giant. According to a regulatory order seen by Reuters, Match, the parent company of Tinder and Hinge, joined a group of Indian startups this week to request that the Competition Commission of India investigate Google’s User Choice Billing system. The CCI is the same regulatory body that last year barred the tech giant from requiring OEMs to bundle first-party Google apps and services with Android. The order, which the company began to reluctantly implement at the start of the year, also mandates Google to support third-party billing options.

In a complaint it made with the Alliance of Digital India Foundation, Match argues Google’s new User Choice Billing system still imposes a high “service fee” between 11 and 26 percent on app developers. The company claims the cost of using the system means Google has not complied with the CCI’s previous order. Per Reuters, the watchdog said Friday it was “of the opinion that an inquiry needs to be made." The company now has four weeks to comply with an information request from the CCI. Google did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. When Match sued the company last year over its Play Store billing policies, Google accused it of carrying out a “self-interested campaign to avoid paying for the significant value they receive” from the Android and Play Store ecosystems. 

If you’ve been eyeing Apple’s 5th-generation iPad Air for a while, now is a great time to purchase one. On Amazon, a handful of the 64GB WiFi models are $99 off at the moment. Specifically, you can get the Space Gray, Blue and Starlight colorways for $500. That’s a record-low price for the iPad Air.

Of all the different tablet models Apple currently offers, the iPad Air is the one that’s the best for most people. Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham awarded the tablet a score of 90 when he reviewed it last spring. The iPad Air features the same elegant design language as the iPad Pro while costing significantly less. It’s also no slouch, with Apple adding its M1 system-on-a-chip to the 2022 model. That’s the same processor you’ll find on some of the company’s older Mac laptops, making it more than powerful enough to handle any task you could throw at it. The iPad Air also comes with a bright and vivid 10.9-inch display, a USB-C port for charging and a battery that can power the device for about 12 hours before it needs time at the outlet. About the only issue with the iPad Air is that the base model only comes with 64GB of storage. Keep that in mind if you decide to take advantage of Amazon’s sale.

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Last Friday was the final day for PS5 owners to claim Sony’s PlayStation Plus Collection, a bundle that came with nearly 20 free games, including Bloodborne and God of War (2018). When Sony announced at the start of February the collection was going away, the company said it would instead focus on growing the PlayStation Plus library of monthly games. Unsurprisingly then, May’s PS Plus lineup is chockful of titles you can download to your console, provided you subscribe to PS Plus Extra or Premium. In all, Sony will add 19 titles to the service this month.

• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

• Humanity

• Watch Dogs Legion

• Dishonored 2

• Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

• Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin

• Tomb Raider Definitive Edition

• Rise of the Tomb Raider

• Shadow of the Tomb Raider

• Bus Simulator 21

• Evil Within 2, The

• Wolfenstein Youngblood

• Thymesia

• Rain World

• Lake

• Conan Exiles

• Rune Factory 4

• Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

• Soundfall

Even if you have already played some of the games that are about to join PlayStation Plus, this is a strong expansion for Sony. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is one of the PS5’s best exclusives, and titles like Dishonored 2 are downright classics. Separately, Sony is adding four new classic PlayStation games for Premium subscribers to check out.

• Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow

• Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light

• Pursuit Force

• Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered

You can download all the new additions to PS Plus on May 16th.

When Android 14 arrives later this year, it will bring new customization features to Google's mobile operating system. On Wednesday at the company's I/O developer conference, Android chief David Burke showed off a handful of new features for creating custom wallpapers. The tools build on the Material You design system Google introduced in 2021 by allowing users to create a custom wallpaper by picking a few of their favorite emoji.  

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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

For the first time, WhatApp is coming to smartwatches. At its I/O 2023 keynote on Wednesday, Google announced that the chat app will be available this summer on Wear OS 3 devices, including Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 and the Pixel Watch. Among other features, the smartwatch version of WhatsApp allows you to record and send voice messages. You can also use the app to send text messages and see a list of your favorite contacts.

A beta version of the software was spotted earlier in the week by 9to5Google. From that preview, we know adding a Wear OS device to your account will involve typing an eight-digit alphanumeric code provided to you through your phone. Additionally, the beta release features a circular complication that shows unread messages on your watch’s home screen. The complication also has two tiles for contacts and voice messages, allowing you to quickly send messages to your friends and family.

The news that WhatsApp is heading to Wear OS devices comes after Meta announced at the end of last month it had redesigned WhatsApp’s multi-device functionality to make it possible to use one account on more than one phone.

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