After introducing the $80 YubiKey Bio and $85 YubiKey C Bio at the start of the month, Yubico’s latest physical security is for those who want a no-frills option. At $29 or €29, the Security Key C NFC comes with almost everything you could want from a security key at a decent price. As the name suggests, it’s a USB-C key with NFC support built-in. Out of the box, it works with FIDO-compatible websites and services. That includes major platforms like Google, Twitter and Facebook. Yubico also claims it’s the most durable security key on the market. What you won't find here is support for legacy authentication platforms, but for most consumers that shouldn't matter too much. 

If you're not familiar with physical security keys, they're one of the most effective ways to protect your privacy and security when used to add two-factor authentication to your online accounts. In 2018, Google reduced successful phishing attacks on its 85,000 employees to zero thanks to a policy that mandated their use. The Security Key C NFC is available to buy today from Yubico’s website. The company also offers a USB-A version that costs $25.

At its annual Max conference, Adobe detailed some enhancements that are coming to its Lightroom and Lightroom Classic software suites. To start, the company is introducing a “re-envisioned” set of selective adjustment tools. Set to make their way to all devices where you can access Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, the tools are accessible via a newly added masking button. Much like you can do in Photoshop, they allow you to create multiple masks, including color and luminance ones. In turn, those will allow you to make precise adjustments to specific parts of a photo.

Adobe

Of course, individually masking elements of an image can be time-consuming, and so Adobe is also introducing an AI-powered tool that can automatically detect the select the subject and sky in your photos. In addition to rolling out to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom on Mac and PC, this is coming to select Android and iOS devices. And that’s where Adobe envisions it being the most useful since it should help with editing on a smaller screen.

If you like to start your edits with a preset, a new recommendation engine in Lightroom for Mac, Windows and mobile will suggest ones based on the subject of your photos. The presets will come from the Lightroom community, so you can expect to find “hundreds of thousands,” according to the company. Additionally, Adobe is introducing eight new premium presets, adding to the seven it released previously. Those are available to use in all versions of Lightroom.

Adobe

To make cropping easier on Lightroom for Mac and Windows, Adobe has added the option to select a variety of overlays for different aspect ratios. Some of the options on this front include thirds, golden ratio and diagonal.

Lastly, the company is introducing a new feature in Lightroom for Mac and Windows called Community Remix. It allows you to upload a photo edit and invite other photographers to take it in a different direction. Adobe says it plans to bring Community Remix to other versions of Lightroom in the future.

Adobe says it will begin rolling out all of the above updates starting today. They should become available to everyone by the end of the week. At its Adobe Max conference, the company also detailed updates for Fresco, Photoshop and other apps.

At the start of 2021, Sony introduced the $2,500 Xperia Pro. It was a phone the company made for video professionals. Now, Sony is back with a second professional-grade smartphone designed to appeal to photography enthusiasts. The headline feature of the Xperia Pro-I is a 1-inch sensor borrowed from the company's RX100 VII point-and-shoot camera. That's a much larger sensor than you'll find on most phones. 

To put things in perspective, the primary sensor on the Pixel 6 Pro features a pixel pitch of 1.2µm. By contrast, the main sensor on the Pro-I has 2.4µm-sized pixels, making it much better in low light. It can also shoot 12-bit RAW files and native 4K video at 120 frames per second with eye-detection auto-focus. Speaking of auto-focus, it comes with 315 points that cover 90 percent of the frame.

The Pro-I also includes one of Sony's BIONZ X imaging processors, giving it the ability to shoot up to 20 frames per second with both auto-focus and auto-exposure enabled. The fast readout speed of the sensor allows it to avoid a rolling shutter effect, a feature Sony says helps the Pro-I stand out from other phones with 1-inch sensors like the Mi 11 Ultra. Those handsets also don't have phase-detection autofocus like the Pro-I does.

Complimenting the 1-inch sensor is a 24mm lens made from glass that can switch between f/2.0 and f/4.0 apertures. Sony went with an aspherical design to make the optics as small as possible. Flanking the primary camera is a 16mm ultrawide camera and a 50mm telephoto camera. Sony says it chose that lens arrangement after consulting with photographers who told the company they wanted a setup that matched their collection of prime lenses.

Once you get past its camera, the Xperia Pro-I is essentially a souped-up Xperia 1 III. Internally, the phone features a Snapdragon 888 supported by 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. You can add up to 1TB of additional storage with the help of a microSD card. Powering everything is a 4,500mAh battery Sony claims will allow you to use the Pro-I for a full day on a single charge. Inside the box is a 30W power adapter that can charge the phone to 50 percent in 30 minutes.

The Pro-I also features the same 6.5-inch OLED that came on the Xperia 1 III. It's a 4K display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 21:9 aspect ratio. On the audio front, the Pro-I not only comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, but it also includes Sony's LDAC and DSEE technologies.

All of those capabilities come with a hefty price tag. In the US, Sony plans to sell the Xperia Pro-I for the eye-watering price of $1,800. The way the company sees it, you're effectively getting a flagship phone and RX100 VII for less than the price of buying those devices separately. However, the Xperia Pro-I isn't a one-to-one replacement for the RX100 VII. Sony's point-and-camera outputs images at 20.1-megapixel, using the full readout from its sensor. The Pro-I uses a crop because taking advantage of the entire sensor would necessitate a much larger lens than would be feasible to include on a smartphone. 

Pre-orders for the Xperia Pro-I open on October 28th, with general availability to follow in December.  

Google has announced a policy change to push YouTube creators to produce and publish higher-quality content for kids. Starting next month, the company will demonetize channels that primarily target young people or market themselves as "made for kids" if the content they upload is of low quality. By YouTube's definition, that can include overly commercial videos and ones that encourage bad behaviors. Per the new guidelines, YouTube warns those videos may see limited or no ads. Additionally, the company says violating its new content guidelines could lead to removal from the YouTube Partner Program. 

The move is part of a recent push by Google to make YouTube and YouTube Kids a more appropriate destination for children and their families. At the start of the year, the company announced the availability of expanded parental controls for tweens and teens. More recently, it implemented new safety measures to protect kids across its various platforms. One of those changes saw the company change the default upload setting for users between the ages of 13 and 17 to the most private option available. 

"Our ultimate goal is to foster a safe and enriching environment for families while rewarding trusted creators who are making high-quality kids and family content," Google said of this latest policy change. It may take some time before the new guidelines elevate the quality of content on YouTube. So it doesn't hurt to keep an eye out on what your children are watching. 

If you’ve ever damaged your phone, you may have run into a situation where you found it difficult to find a place that can repair it. Samsung is trying to help owners of its flagship devices avoid that situation with a newly announced Best Buy partnership. Starting on October 26th, more than 100 Best Buy stores across the US will begin offering Galaxy S and Galaxy Note repairs. Then, early next month, those same locations will start repairing Samsung’s Galaxy Z foldables.

If you bring your phone into one of the stores, they’ll be able to help with front and back screen replacements, battery swaps as well as port and camera repairs. Best Buy’s Geek Squad will complete the repairs with parts and training provided by Samsung.

For the South Korean company, this partnership is all about expanding its repair footprint. The 100 Best Buy stores add to the more than 550 in-person authorized care locations the company already has in place across the US. They won’t help you if you own a more affordable Samsung device like the Galaxy A52 (and you may not like the idea of the Geek Squad handling your device), but it’s still a step in the right direction. Outside of Apple, most tech companies have struggled to make it easy for their customers to find in-person support, and that's something that can have a significant impact on someone's relationship with a brand.

Zoom’s live transcription feature is now widely available to all free users. Previously it was a feature you had to pay to access, but toward the start of the year, Zoom said it would roll it out to everyone. Now that it's here, free users don’t need to request access from the company if they need the tool for their meetings. If you’re in a call and want to request the host turn on live transcription, you can do so by using the meeting toolbar.

At the moment, the feature only works in English, but support for more languages is on the way. In September, Zoom said it would offer automated closed captioning in a total of 30 languages over the next year. The company is also working on adding live translation for 12 languages over that same time frame.

With Halo Infinite’sDecember 8th release date fast approaching, Microsoft has shared a new six-minute trailer that offers an in-depth look at the game’s single-player component. The last time the company provided an extended preview of Infinite’s campaign was during its Xbox showcase in 2020. That trailer was poorly received, with most fans agreeing the game’s visuals looked dated. In the aftermath of that reveal, developer 343 Industries said they had work to do, and Microsoft subsequently delayed the game to 2021.

In this latest preview, you can see the visuals have gotten an update (look at Craig the Brute). But what hasn’t changed too much is the emphasis on sandbox gameplay. During a community Q&A back in March, 343 Industries said they were inspired by levels like The Silent Cartographer from Halo: Combat Evolved to design the game in a way that would allow players to accomplish objectives with creativity. 

You see that ethos on display in the second half of the trailer. Master Chief stumbles upon a Banished outpost he has to take out. You can use his grappling hook to move around the facility quickly and pull enemy weapons and explosives to augment your current arsenal. Vehicles play an important part in the overall gameplay loop, as do abilities you can purchase for Master Chief. 

All of the different gameplay elements come together to form something that looks like it will offer a classic but more open Halo experience. It’s just too bad you won’t be able to play the campaign with a friend, at least not at launch.

On Tuesday, October 26th, Carli Lloyd will play her final game as part of the US women’s national soccer team when it takes on South Korea in a friendly match. In honor of the event, Fox Sports will stream a dedicated “CarliCam” that will follow Lloyd throughout the contest. You’ll be able to watch the game from that vantage point through the Fox Sports app, as well as the network's Facebook and YouTube accounts. It will also air the first 10 minutes of the match on Twitter.

Back in August, Lloyd announced she would retire from professional soccer by the end of the year. Over her 17-year career, she has been one of the most dominant players in the sport. She scored the gold medal-winning goals in both the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2015 and 2016, she was named the FIFA Player of the Year. More recently, she helped Team USA secure the bronze medal at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with a pair of goals in a match that ended with a four-three score. While Tuesday will mark Lloyd’s final game with Team USA, she’ll play out the remainder of the NSWL season with Gotham FC before finally hanging up her jersey.

Overwatch hero Jesse McCree has a new name, and, no, it’s not Deadeye Dave. As promised, Blizzard has renamed the gunslinger in the aftermath of his real-life namesake leaving the studio back in August. As of October 26th, McCree will be known as Cole Cassidy.

“To make the new Overwatch better — to make things right — he had to be honest with his team and himself.” Blizzard said in a tweet. “The cowboy he was rode into the sunset, and Cole Cassidy faced the world at dawn.”

The real Jesse McCree left the studio after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued Activision Blizzard for fostering a “frat boy” workplace. While not directly named in the complaint, McCree reportedly took part in the infamous "Cosby Suite" where Blizzard employees, including former World of Warcraft creative director Alex Afrasiabi, allegedly harassed women. When it first announced the name change, Blizzard said it wanted to find one that better represented Overwatch’s ideals. It also promised it would no longer name in-game characters after employees.

Alongside the name change, Blizzard is testing two potential changes to Cassidy’s kit. It may tweak his Deadeye ultimate to make it more deadly and allow players to use his Combat Roll in midair. The latter change should help with avoiding vertical knockback abilities from heroes like Doomfist and Wrecking Ball. You can try out the tweaks by launching Overwatch’s Experimental mode.

For a while now, Discord has offered a feature called Rich Presence. It’s an API developers can use to connect their games to Discord and make it easier to jump into them from the chat app. We’ve mostly seen studios add the integration to individual titles, but now EA is doing it at the launcher level.

Starting today, its EA app will allow you to connect your Discord account. Once you link the two together, your Discord contacts will not only see that game you’re playing through the EA app but they’ll also know how long you’ve been at it and the specific game mode you’re in at the moment. They’ll also see if you’re ready to group up to play something different. That last point is important since it might help push your friends to play a game they hadn’t planned to when they first launched Discord.

You can connect your accounts by navigating to the settings menu in the EA app, and then clicking on “My account” followed by “Connected accounts.”