It took the better part of a year, but Razer's smart face mask is finally available. You can buy the Zephyr either by itself for $100 or a $150 Starter Pack with three replacement filter kits. Individual replacements are $30. Just be prepared to hunt around, or at least to be patient — the Starter Pack is already listed as "out of stock," and the mask by itself is still "coming soon."

The Zephyr is, effectively a high-end pandemic protection kit for gamers. The transparent design and RGB lighting give it a bit of flash (this is a Razer product, after all), but the highlight is a dual-fan active air filtration system with N95 filters. This theoretically protects you as well as it does others. There's even a mobile app to customize the lights.

In a sense, Razer's mask is a gamble that paid off. While it's arriving relatively late in to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many places that still require masks, some of which might mandate that protection for a while to come. The Zephyr could help people in those areas feel more comfortable in public, particularly if they're already Razer enthusiasts.

Twitter is willing to spend to bolster direct messaging. CNBCnotes Twitter has acquired the chat app Sphere for an unspecified amount. Engineering VP Nick Caldwell said the move would speed up development for DMs, Communities and Creators. There were no specific clues as to what was coming next, but Sphere said was "winding down" its app in November. You won't see a repurposed Sphere app, then.

Sphere is notable not just for its features (it focuses on "essential" messages and clearing out clutter), but on the tech industry star power surrounding the app. The company is the product of Nick D'Aloisio, a serial entrepreneur who caught attention even as a teen — he sold Summly to Yahoo (now Engadget's parent company) when he was 17. His latest venture has high-profile investors, including co-founders from Airbnb and Tinder. While Sphere isn't particularly large with just 20 staffers headed to Twitter, there were clearly high hopes before the acquisition.

The purchase is a fitting one. Twitter has poured much of its recent energy into DMs and helping creators form communities. Twitter could weave Sphere's focused community features throughout its social network and better compete against Instagram and other rivals that thrive on private messaging and influential figures.

You finally have a way to upgrade the high-speed storage in your Xbox Series X or S with more than 1TB of extra space. Seagate has introduced a 2TB Storage Expansion Card that, for the Series X, effectively triples the capacity for next-gen games. It will cost $400 when it arrives in early December — nearly as much as the console itself — but might be worthwhile if you bristle at the thought of deleting games to make space.

There's also an option for those who need just a slight bump. Seagate is launching a 512GB card in mid-November, with pre-orders open now for $130. That's still not a trivial expense, but it could be compelling if you either have an Xbox Series S (and want to keep costs down) or just want a little more breathing room on a Series X.

The high prices are, for now, difficult to avoid. As with the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X/S requires external storage as fast as the built-in SSD if you're going to run the latest games. That leaves vendors like Seagate little choice but to use cutting-edge NVMe drives. It won't be surprising if prices drop as the costs of the technology come down, but that might not happen for a while yet.

You won't have to pay for quick Polestar 2 charges — at least, not for a while. The automaker has struck a deal that will give Polestar 2 drivers two years of free fast charging at Electrify America stations. You'll be limited to 30-minute sessions, but that won't matter so much when a 150kW charger can give you a healthy top-up (though likely not a full one) in that time frame.

The offer applies to both existing and future Polestar 2 owners. Electrify America is keen to highlight the potential advantages, including simpler payments and an easier time finding stations.

The Polestar deal isn't as sweet as the three years Electrify America creator VW gives its own brands. It also doesn't address the coverage and reliability issues that EV charging networks sometimes face. Electrify America is rapidly expanding its network, but it might take years before the infrastructure is robust enough that you could assume a fast charger is reasonably close by. Still, this could make the Polestar 2 an easier choice if you were anxious about recharging away from home.

Have you ever just missed a big moment during a live Twitch stream? You might not have to in the future. The Vergereports Twitch is launching a month-long test that includes a "Rewind the Stream" button for live channels. Tap it and you'll jump two minutes back in the broadcast, with options to scrub through the entire stream history and play at different speeds. It's akin to playing an on-demand video, just with the choice to leap back to a live view.

The test also includes a "Remind Me" button (to alert you ahead of an upcoming stream) and "Watch Trailer" (for channels with intro videos). Twitch stressed that the test would "inform future features only," and that the buttons would vanish after the test. About a quarter of viewers should see the rewind test.

There are potential safety issues. Just Chatting streamers (that is, real-world cameras) are concerned this poses a safety risk. People might have a better chance of spotting and clipping an unintentional terms-of-service violation (say, a prankster in the background) or doxxing a streamer who inadvertently reveals sensitive info. This isn't the definitive implementation of the rewind button, though, and that's assuming it isn't scrapped. We wouldn't be surprised if Twitch let streamers restrict the rewind feature to certain viewers, or even disable it entirely.

Facebook Messenger's augmented reality effects are no longer limited to individuals. The social media company has introduced a Group Effects feature that, as the name implies, enables AR effects for everyone in a video call. Some of the 70-plus effects are just for giggles (such as giving everyone a beard), but others are shared experiences like games. You can compete to build a hamburger, if you're so inclined.

The feature is available today in both regular Messenger calls and Messenger Rooms, and should be "coming soon" to Instagram. If you have the option, you can tap the smiley icon in a group call to pick Group Effects.

The addition could help Facebook compete against Snapchat and others that have had AR games for a while. It might help Facebook shift its focus to the metaverse, for that matter. If nothing else, it's an acknowledgment that group video chat is still important even as the pandemic (hopefully) winds down. Shared AR may help you keep in touch with distant friends more effectively than basic face-to-face chats.

Excessive meetings were already a problem before the pandemic, and they're even more of a problem as remote work enters the mainstream. How do you set aside time for your own projects? As The Vergereports, Google has a simple answer: make it clear you should be left alone. It's rolling out a "focus time" feature in Google Calendar that not only indicates your status, but can optionally auto-block meeting requests for that time slot.

You can choose a special color for focus time. Those moments will also be included in your Time Insights to help you improve your meeting-to-work ratio. The feature will take up to 15 days to reach Google Workspace users on the rapid track, and those offices on scheduled releases will see their change starting November 3rd.

Google is ultimately hopping on a trend. Microsoft included a Focus Sessions feature in Windows 11 to help people work in shorter but more effective spurts. With that said, you probably won't complain about another tool. This could make the difference between a last-minute delay and meeting a deadline.

NASA doesn't just want adults learning how to work with lunar soil. The space agency has launched a Lunabotics Junior contest that tasks K-12 students in the US with designing (but not manufacturing) a Moon-digging robot. They have to envision a compact (3.5ft by 2ft by 2ft) automaton that can dig and move lunar regolith while dealing with the stickiness of that soil.

Kids have until January 25th, 2022 to submit both an image of the robot and a summary of how it's meant to operate. The two winners for the K-5 and 6-12 categories will each get a virtual classroom chat with Kennedy Space Center director Janet Petro, while four finalists in each group will have virtual sessions with a NASA expert. Ten semifinalists will get an unspecified prize pack. NASA will announce the semifinalists on March 8th, the finalists on March 22nd and the winners on March 29th.

No, NASA isn't trying to crowdsource Artemis program ideas from children. This is more about inspiring a new wave of engineers who could one day lead Moon colonization efforts. It's a relatively modest investment that could pay dividends for NASA's long-term plans.

You finally have a chance to try Android apps in Windows 11 — provided you're willing to live on the bleeding edge for a while. Microsoft has released an Insider Preview beta that enables the Amazon Appstore and support for running Android apps within Windows. Only 50 curated apps are available as part of the initial test (such as the Kindle app, Lords Mobile and Lego Duplo World), but Microsoft is promising more in the "coming months."

The aim, as before, is to make Android apps feel like they belong in Windows 11. You can multitask, check notifications and use Windows accessibility features. Mouse and keyboard input is available, although many apps will unsurprisingly benefit from a touchscreen.

The beta is only available in the US for compatible devices using AMD, Intel and Qualcomm chips. This won't do much to satisfy those frustrated that Android apps weren't available on launch. You'll still have to wait a while before an official release, let alone an Amazon catalog large enough to make a meaningful difference. It's a start, though, and it suggests the delay won't be as long as you might have feared.

Square Enix is ramping up its mobile game efforts by opening a studio devoted to phone titles. The publisher has launched a Square Enix London Mobile location that will focus on free-to-play games. It's relying on both Square Enix's own brands as well as other big-name licenses.

The first projects reflect that strategy. The already-announced Tomb Raider Reloaded is a top-down puzzle solver coming to Android and iOS in 2022. A new, as-yet untitled game based on Avatar: The Last Airbender is also in the works from Canada-based Navigator games.

This won't be thrilling if you were hoping for more console and PC games, but it's expected given the shifting gaming landscape. While console and PC titles are still important, the mobile market is huge. Titles like Honor of Kingsdominate China, and Square Enix itself has been interested enough to port 'full-size' games like Final Fantasy VIII Remastered to phones. The London Mobile studio lets Square Enix tap into that burgeoning market without drawing resources away from its other development teams.