Now that 5G phones are more affordable, Qualcomm wants to make those low-cost devices more desirable. The company has introduced three new systems-on-chip that all promise improved performance for budget 5G hardware. The star is easily the Snapdragon 695. This 6nm-based sequel to the 690 adds much faster millimeter wave 5G (important for carriers like AT&T and Verizon) while delivering up to 30 percent faster graphics and 15 percent speedier CPU tasks. Your next mid-range phone might be that much better-suited to gaming and giant downloads.

The Snapdragon 480 Plus and 778G Plus, meanwhile, are iterations of the 480 and 778G that deliver minor gains to CPU and GPU performance through increased clock speeds. Think of them as tune-ups for entry-level and upper-mid-range phones, respectively — you won't have to make do with a chip several months old.

There's also a lone LTE chip, the Snapdragon 680, that shares the 695's 6nm process without the added costs of 5G. It's aimed at markets where 5G service is either limited or too expensive.

All four parts are due to reach shipping products before the end of 2021. Honor, Motorola, Nokia (that is, HMD Global), Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi all expect to use one or more of the new Snapdragons in their phones.

There's a pragmatism at work. The 6nm parts (including the 778G Plus) help Qualcomm continue to serve a large chunk of the smartphone market despite limited supplies of 5nm parts like the 780G. It doesn't have to rely on truly old process lStill, it's notable that the chip maker is launching so many speed-bumped chips in the first place — the company is clearly determined to fend off heavyweights like MediaTek that thrive on budget and mid-range hardware.

The FCC might soon have its first permanent woman leader. A New York Timessource says President Biden is "expected" to nominate current acting chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to a permanent position as soon as today (October 26th), making her the first female to lead the commission. The nomination wouldn't be a surprising move given her existing title, broad support and alignment with White House policies on issues like net neutrality, but it would still represent a milestone for the agency.

Whether or not Rosenworcel is confirmed is another matter. The Senate must confirm Rosenworcel to make her appointment official, and she could face staunch opposition from Republicans who are both historically anti-regulation and eager to reclaim FCC control. The party could retake the majority in the commission if Rosenworcel and an empty commissioner position aren't confirmed by the end of 2021.

If Rosenworcel is confirmed, though, she would contrast sharply with the last permanent FCC chair, Ajit Pai. While much of Rosenworcel's work as acting chairwoman has focused on easy-to-pass rules on issues like robocalls, she has been a strong proponent of net neutrality and other efforts to keep big telecoms in check. That's largely the opposite of Pai, who dismantled neutrality and generally sided with incumbent telcos. Don't be surprised if Rosenworcel used a permanent appointment to undo more of Pai's work, at least so long as she has the votes.

If you're going to buy NFT art, it's important to know that you're buying the real thing — and Adobe thinks it can help. It's updating Photoshop on the desktop with a beta Content Credentials feature that, among other upgrades, helps you establish the authenticity of your NFTs. Once artists link their crypto wallets and social media accounts to Content Credentials, buyers can check that the wallet used to produce artwork is the same wallet that minted it.

Adobe has partnered with a handful of NFT marketplaces to enable the feature, including KnownOrigin, OpenSea, Rarible and SuperRare. There's no mention of whether or not other marketplaces will participate in the future.

Content Credentials can be helpful even if you're uninterested in NFTs. An opt-in Photoshop feature attaches edits and identity info to images, adding transparency and (hopefully) quashing concerns about deception. Adobe Stock assets now include credentials, and they'll be visible in Behance. Adobe also hopes to release an open source developer kit that lets anyone fold Content Credentials into their products, expanding its use well beyond Creative Cloud users.

There's little doubt Adobe wants to become a mainstay of the NFT world with this move. All the same, it could be genuinely important if the technology continues to grow. The value of NFT art is highly dependent on its authenticity. The Photoshop addition could help more artists 'stamp' their projects, not to mention save time.

Amazon's internet satellites will be put to work expanding rural broadband coverage. CNBCreports Verizon is teaming with Amazon to improve fixed wireless internet access in rural areas in the US. The alliance will initially concentrate on expanding Verizon's LTE and 5G service using Amazon's Project Kuiper for "backhaul," boosting coverage in areas with little or no high-speed data.

Amazon and Verizon later hope to offer unified internet access for industries worldwide, including smart farms and transportation. For now, they're establishing technical requirements for rural broadband using Project Kuiper antenna tech already in development.

The two didn't provide a timeline for this satellite-augmented service. Amazon recently lined up rocket launches for Project Kuiper, but it doesn't expect to have half its satellites in low Earth orbit until 2026. The full constellation is expected no later than July 2029.

There's an enemy-of-my-enemy aspect to this deal. Amazon and Verizon are racing to compete with SpaceX's rapidly developing Starlink service — they both risk losing customers if Starlink claims too strong a foothold, including corporate clients like Google. All the same, Americans might not mind if this brings fast internet access to more parts of the country. Rural internet coverage is still far from complete, even with the FCC investing billions in 5G — this could fill in the gaps without having to wire as much of the countryside as before.

Epic Games' fondness for Capcom continues unabated. The game developer has added legendary Resident Evil characters Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine (aka the "master of unlocking") to Fortnite, complete with numerous nods to the zombie-slaying franchise. Chris and Jill have alternate costumes that make nods to their appearances in Village and Nemesis, while the Back Bling offers three shades of Resident Evil's life-sustaining herbs. There are themed pickaxes and even a "brolly stroll" emote making fun of everyone's least-favorite fictional corporation.

The outfits and equipment are available to buy in separate S.T.A.R.S. Team and S.T.A.R.S. Team Gear bundles. The Resident Evil packs are particularly timely drops given Halloween and the hordes of "Cube Monsters" in the current season, and we won't be surprised if they lose some of their early luster. Still, this is a Fortnite gaming crossover that makes sense — Chris and Jill are already well-dressed for a bitter fight for survival.

Facebook has long been accused of playing favorites on multiple sides of the political spectrum, and it's now clear just how much of that uproar extends to the company's ranks. A leak to The Wall Street Journal reportedly shows Facebook leaders and staff have clashed numerous times over the social network's approach to conservative content, particularly outlets like Breitbart. Rank-and-file employees have accused Facebook of making "special exceptions" from policies for right-wing outlets, while senior-level staff warned of potential pitfalls.

Workers argued that Facebook kept Breitbart in a second tier of the News Tab, a section meant to focus on reliable news, despite very low trust and quality scores as well as misinformation violations. Facebook was not only making exceptions, one employee said, but "explicitly" endorsing outlets like this by including them as trusted partners. Staff claimed Facebook was "scared of political backlash" if it enforced policies equally, and believed the site let conservative influencers Diamond and Silk lobby fact checkers to avoid punishment for spreading misinformation.

Higher-ups countered with justifications for those decisions. They argued that booting a news outlet for trust scores would risk booting more mainstream outlets like CNN, for instance. When staff asked Facebook to intervene over Breitbart's alleged attempts to dodge sites' advertising blocks, a director said Facebook had to resist the urge and "rely on our principles and policies."

Facebook repeated its familiar stance in a response to the Journal, maintaining that limited access to low-quality material to "improve people's experiences," not due to political leanings. A spokesperson added that Facebook studied the effects of potential changes before implementing them, and that publishers like Breitbart still met requirements for honoring rules against misinformation and hate speech.

The revelations likely won't satisfy people on either side of the American political spectrum. Liberals may be concerned Facebook is knowingly allowing the spread of heavily spun and outright false claims, while the right wing may see it as evidence of a claimed anti-conservative bias. The insights reveal a more conflicted approach to material, though. They also underscore the importance of tools meant to automatically limit the reach of misinformation — they could minimize internal debates by curbing fake news without requiring as much human input.

Astronomers have spotted young planets before, but rarely this young — or with such easy observation. As CBS Newssays, a University of Hawaii-led team has discovered 2M0437b, one of the youngest planets ever found at 'just' several million years old. The baby planet was found in the Taurus Cloud "nursery" and young enough that it's still emanating lava-like heat from its birth.

Importantly, this is also a very rare chance at directly observing an infant world. Researchers will still need to use special optics to compensate for Earth's atmosphere, but they won't have to use the host star or other tricks to study the planet. It helps that 2M0437b is about one hundred times further from its star than Earth is from the Sun, reducing the chances for interference.

The scientists first spotted the planet in 2018 using the Subaru Telescope, but spent the next three years using the Keck Observatory and other Hawaii telescopes to track the planet and confirm it was tied to its host.

Future observations could shed more light on planetary formation. It might not take much longer to glean more details, either. The team hoped the imminent James Webb Space Telescope could help detect atmospheric gases and newly forming moons. As significant as 2M0437b might be now, it could be more important going forward.

Past attempts at a Nerf version of Halo's Needler gun have fallen short, but the latest iteration might just live up to (most of) the promises. The Verge reports Hasbro has introduced a Nerf LMTD Halo Needler that looks and acts more like the iconic Covenant weapon. It still won't shoot homing rounds, unfortunately, but the motorized blaster will shoot 10 darts in a row from a rapid-fire drum. The needles light up when you grab the handle, and they'll dim one at a time as you unleash foam rounds upon your foes.

There's a Halo Infinite tie-in, as you might imagine. Hasbro promises a card in the box with a code for in-game Infinite content. While the toymaker didn't say what you'd get, it won't be surprising if it's linked to the Needler.

The blaster will chew through six AA 1.5V batteries at a time. You might not mind so much, however, when there's a light-up display mode and matching stand to show off your acquisition.

You'll have to be particularly patient if you want to brandish real-world Halo gear. The Nerf LMTD Halo Needler is available to pre-order from Amazon now for $100, but it's not slated to ship until December 1st, 2022. Look at it this way, though: this could easily be the most impressive Halo blaster you can buy for a long, long time.

British grocery shoppers have had more than a few headaches this weekend. According to The Guardian, the grocery chain Tesco has grappled with a roughly two-day outage (as of this writing) preventing customers from placing or modifying orders through either the company's website or its mobile app. The company pinned the incident on hacks affecting searches, although it didn't say much beyond noting the intruders tried to "interfere with our systems."

The company didn't have an estimated time frame for a fix, and didn't identify the potential culprits. However, it said there was "no reason to believe" the cyberattack affected customer data.

This isn't the first time Tesco has suffered hacks. A 2014 breach led it to disable accounts after intruders shared more than 2,000 users' login details. In 2016, an attack on Tesco's banking lost about £2.5 million (worth $3.4 million today).

Whoever was responsible, the incident further highlights the vulnerability of food supply chains to cyberattacks. Meat supplier JBS was one of the most prominent victims after it fell prey to ransomware, but grocery stores themselves are also at risk of disruptions that could limit deliveries and otherwise stop meals from reaching your table.

Tesla is no stranger to raising prices for its EVs, but its latest round has been more aggressive than most. Electreknotes Tesla has hiked prices for all four of its in-production vehicles in the past two days. The base Model 3 and Model Y variants now cost $2,000 more, and respectively start at $43,990 and $56,990. Spring for the Model S and Model X, meanwhile, and you'll pay $5,000 more at respective prices of $94,990 and $104,990.

You'll have to wait a long time for your order, too. The entry Model 3 arrives in June 2022 with larger wheels, and September in a regular configuration. The Model Y arrives one month earlier in both cases. You'll have to wait until June for a Model S, and the Model X doesn't appear until September.

As is often the case, Tesla hasn't explained the price increases. Production woes might play a significant role, mind you. Tesla idled Model S production for the first half of 2021, and the automaker is grappling with supply shortages that aren't helped by increasing demand. The higher prices could offset the impact of shortages on Tesla's bottom line, amd help Tesla catch up by cooling demand.