The next time an asteroid threatens Earth, humanity might have a chance of saving the planet. On Tuesday, NASA announced that its experimental Double Asteroid Redirection Test successfully altered the orbit of Dimorphos. Following two weeks of data collection and analysis, the agency found that DART's impact shortened the asteroid's orbit around its parent, Didymos, by 32 minutes. Before the September 26th collision, NASA estimated DART needed to change the orbit period of Dimorphos by 73 seconds or more to call the test a success. The spacecraft beat that benchmark by more than 25 times.    

"If an Earth-threatening asteroid was discovered, and we could see it far enough away, this technique could be used to deflect it," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference the space agency held on Tuesday. "NASA has proven we are serious as a defender of the planet. This is a watershed moment for planetary defense and all of humanity, demonstrating commitment from NASA's exceptional team and partners from around the world.”

NASA launched the DART mission in November 2021. The vending machine-sized spacecraft was traveling at approximately 14,000 miles (22,530 kilometers) per hour when it crossed paths with Dimorphos nearly 68 million miles away from Earth.

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More than a year after it was first announced, Amazon has shared a trailer for Good Night Oppy. The upcoming documentary will recount the story of NASA’s Opportunity rover, or Oppy as it was lovingly known by its creators. The documentary was directed by Ryan White (Assassins), with Angela Bassett, best known for her roles in Black Panther and Contact, providing narration. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab helped with the project, sharing archival footage and knowledge of the rover’s mission.

Opportunity was one of two rovers NASA landed on the surface of Mars in 2004. What was initially supposed to be a 90-day mission turned into a 15-year adventure exploring the surface of the Red Planet. During that time, the rover helped reveal that Mars once had oceans made of water and even broke the record for the longest off-Earth drive. Along the way, it sent stunning images of Mars. Good Night Oppy will start a limited theatrical run on November 4th before it heads to Amazon Prime Video on November 23rd.

After 23 years in prison, Adnan Syed is a free man. Baltimore prosecutors on Tuesday announced they were dropping charges against the 41-year-old and subject of the hit podcast Serial, reports The New York Times. Prior to his release in September, Syed had been serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee.

The decision comes after a judge last month overturned Syed’s prison sentence on the recommendation of prosecutors, who said the state was no longer confident of the conviction. At that point, prosecutors had 30 days to decide whether to move forward with a new trial or drop charges. Where the case of Lee's murder goes from here is hard to say. In September, following a nearly yearlong investigation, the state said it had found two possible “alternative suspects.” However, the public identity of those individuals is not known yet.

While Syed maintained his innocence throughout the two decades he was in prison, it’s fair to he probably wouldn’t be free today if not for Serial. His case attracted global attention in 2014 after it was chronicled by former Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Koenig in the podcast’s breakout first season. Koenig spent more than a year investigating the specifics of Syed’s case, paying particular attention to the conduct of Cristina Gutierrez, his lawyer at the time. The issues she highlighted proved to be critical in the state's reassignment of Syed's case. 

In 2019, Maryland’s highest court found Gutierrez had failed to properly investigate an alibi witness ahead of Syed’s trial. Moreover, the recent state investigation found “reliability issues” with some of the evidence that was used to convict Syed and that prosecutors may have failed to disclose evidence that would have aided his case.

If you missed the chance to buy the Apple TV 4K when it was $70 off during Prime Day earlier this year, now is your chance to get it at that price again. For its first-ever Prime Early Access Sale, Amazon has discounted the Apple TV 4K to $109. That’s an absolute steal for one of the best streaming devices you can buy.

Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar awarded the latest Apple TV 4K a score of 90 last year. Highlights include a much improved Siri remote and a more powerful A12 Bionic chip that can output HDR video at up 60 frames per second, while also delivering improved gaming performance.

If you own a handful of other Apple devices, you’ll appreciate the Apple TV 4K’s support for AirPlay. The protocol makes sharing video, photos and music from your iPhone, iPad or Mac to Apple TV-connected television easy. With the recent addition of SharePlay, you can even use the device to participate in watch parties over FaceTime. All that to say, the Apple TV 4K shines if you’re already invested in Apple’s broader ecosystem.

Naturally, the Apple TV 4K supports all of the most popular streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu and Apple TV. It’s true you could buy a more affordable device like the $40 Roku Express 4K to access those same platforms. However, the Apple TV 4K offers nearly unmatched picture quality thanks to its A12 Bionic Processor.

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This might be your best chance to save money on a 2021 iPad Pro. Ahead of its Prime Early Access Sale, Amazon has discounted the 256GB 12.9-inch model by 25 percent to $899. The more affordable 11-inch iPad Pro is also on sale. However, it appears Amazon only has stock of the 512GB variant. After a 23 percent discount, the 11-inch model is $849, down from $1,099. The promotion applies to both Silver and Space Gray colorways across both 11-inch and 12.9-inch models. 

The iPad Pro is one of the most powerful tablets you can buy at the moment. Engadget awarded the 2021 model a score of 87, praising the device for its speedy M1 processor and mini-LED screen that makes watching HDR content an absolute joy. At the time, it felt like iPadOS wasn’t a perfect match for the iPad Pro's powerful hardware, but with iPadOS 16 on the way and new multitasking features like Stage Manager part of the release, the tablet is about to become more capable.

One thing to keep in mind is that Apple may refresh the iPad Pro later this month. Persistent rumors suggest the company plans to introduce a model that features an M2 processor, MagSafe charging and a handful of other upgrades. For that reason, you may want to wait if you want to buy the most powerful iPad possible. However, if you’re mainly interested in getting the most value for your money, then it’s hard to go wrong with the current M1 model.

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Epic Games and Match Group are attempting to expand their lawsuits against Google to include additional allegations against the search giant. In a motion filed on Friday with the District Court of California, the two companies accused Google of paying off developers that had the means and ability to create competing Android app stores.

Specifically, Epic and Match point to agreements like Project Hug. The initiative, later called the “Apps and Games Velocity Program,” saw Google spend millions of dollars to keep some of Android’s most popular developers on the Play Store, according to a complaint filed by Epic last year.

“Some of these agreements were intended to, and did, stop developers from launching competing app stores,” the motion states, adding Google committed a “per se” violation of the Sherman Act, the primary US antitrust law. Under the Sherman Act, per se violations don’t require a plaintiff to show how a certain behavior negatively affected the market since it’s generally accepted such actions reduce competition (price fixing, for instance, falls under that category).

Google told Engadget it would oppose the motion. “Epic and Match are adding more inaccurate claims to their failing lawsuits and we’re looking forward to setting the record straight in court,” a company spokesperson said.

“The program on which Epic and Match base their claims simply provides incentives for developers to give benefits and early access to Google Play users when they release new or updated content; it does not prevent developers from creating competing app stores, as they allege,” they added. “In fact, the program is proof that Google Play competes fairly with numerous rivals for developers, who have a number of choices for operating systems and app stores.”

The motion comes after both Epic and Match reached temporary agreements with Google earlier this year to ensure their apps remain on the Play Store while they resolve their litigation. In a countersuit Google filed in June, the company accused Match of attempting to pay “nothing at all” for access to the Play Store. Google’s store fees have also drawn scrutiny from the Department of Justice and a group of more than three dozen states.

Kanye West’s return to Twitter has been short-lived. Less than a day after Elon Musk welcomed him back to the platform, the rapper saw his account suspended for posting an antisemitic message. On late Saturday night, West, who goes by Ye now, said he would go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” In the same message, West defended himself, suggesting he wasn’t antisemitic because “black people are actually Jew.”

According to BuzzFeed News, it took some time before Twitter removed the hateful tweet. However, as of Sunday, it’s no longer possible to see the message on West’s timeline. “The account in question has been locked due to a violation of Twitter’s policies,” a company spokesperson told Engadget.

The suspension comes after West’s Instagram account was similarly restricted by Meta. In a post that has since been deleted, West shared a screenshot of a message he sent to Sean “Diddy” Combs where he implied the rapper was being controlled by a group of powerful Jewish people, reports NBC News. 

The American Jewish Committee condemned the post and comments West made during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier in the week. "The behavior exhibited this week by Kanye West is deeply troubling, dangerous, and antisemitic, period,” the organization said on Twitter. “There is no excuse for his propagating of white supremacist slogans and classic antisemitism about Jewish power, especially with the platform he has.”

After his Instagram suspension, West took to Twitter to lash out at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. That post is still on the platform.

Apple will more widely adopt USB-C across its product portfolio over the next few years, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says he expects the company to transition all of its wireless earbuds, including the recently refreshed AirPods Pro, to the charging standard by 2024. Additionally, Apple could refresh accessories like the Magic Mouse with USB-C – and a more intuitive design, one would hope – as early as next year.

The reported shift would put most of Apple’s products in compliance with the European Union’s upcoming USB-C mandate. Earlier this week, the European Parliament voted to make the port the common charging standard across the bloc. Once enacted, the legislation will make it so that any new phones, tablets and headphones released in the EU will need to feature USB-C for charging by the end of 2024. The mandate will extend to laptops in the spring of 2026.

In May, Gurman reported that Apple had begun testing USB-C iPhones ahead of the EU adopting the proposed legislation. At the time, he warned that if the company were to proceed with the change, “it wouldn’t occur until 2023 at the earliest.” He now says the iPhone 15 line “is essentially a lock” to receive USB-C next fall.

However, Apple’s switch to USB-C may be short-lived. Gurman expects the company to transition the iPhone and iPad “entirely” to inductive charging “at some point in the next few years.” He notes the company may see the technology as a way to get around the EU’s legislation since it doesn’t cover wireless charging.

Of course, if you’ve been following the Apple rumor mill for long enough, you’ll know that a portless iPhone is something the company has reportedly been thinking about ever since it removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 in 2016. Since then, however, Qi charging has created a few problems for Apple – including, most notably, the high-profile cancelation of AirPower in 2019.

With New York Comic Con underway this weekend, Paramount shared a new trailer for the final season of Star Trek: Picard. After the previous teasers mostly played up the nostalgia of the principal cast of The Next Generation returning to the franchise, the new trailer finally offers a look at season three’s story. And judging from the clip, Picard will end with a bang.

The trailer opens with Starfleet facing an entirely new threat in the form of an alien vessel called the Shrike. What follows is a fun series of scenes that sees Admiral Jean-Luc Picard recruit his old friends, some of them a little less than willing, to face a villain played by Pulp Fiction’s Amanda Plummer. There’s something satisfying about seeing how characters like Worf have changed in unexpected ways in their later years. Even more unexpected are the two cameos at the end of the trailer. Daniel Davis is back as holographic Professor Moriarty, while Brent Spiner will play Data’s evil Android twin, Lore.

Alongside a new trailer for Star Trek: Picard, Paramount also shared fresh teasers for season five of Discovery and the midseason return of Prodigy. The latter will debut on October 27th, while the former is expected to arrive sometime next year. The final season of Picard will begin streaming on February 16th, 2023.

When the next Call of Duty arrives on October 28th, fans will need to connect a phone number to their Battle.net account to play the game. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, newly created Overwatch 2 accounts, and newly created Call of Duty: Modern Warfare accounts require a phone number,” says a recently updated support page spotted by PC Gamer.

News of the requirement comes following a week of controversy around SMS Protect, the phone-linking system in use by Overwatch 2 and soon Modern Warfare II. After a bumpy launch that saw a DDoS attack prevent many from playing Overwatch 2 on its release day, Blizzard announced it would scale back the requirement. Where the studio previously said all players would need to link a phone number to their Battle.net account, now that requisite only falls on new Overwatch players. In part, the system has been controversial because “certain pre-paid” numbers could not be used in conjunction with SMS Protect. Before Friday, players with service from mobile providers like Cricket Wireless found they could not play the game.

At the moment, it’s unclear if all Warzone 2.0 players will need a mobile phone number to play that game once it arrives on November 16th. Since 2020, Infinity Ward has required all free-to-play Warzone users on PC to go through a two-factor authentication process. Activision Blizzard did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for clarification and comment.