You no longer need to pass on 8BitDo's gamepads if you use Apple products. 8BitDo has confirmed that its controllers now officially support iPhones, iPads and Macs thanks to both firmware upgrades and Apple's recent iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3, tvOS 16.3 and macOS 13.2 updates. The compatibility is limited to the Lite SE, Pro, Pro 2, SN30 Pro+, SN30 Pro for Android and Ultimate Controller 2.4g, but more models are "incoming."

The company's offerings are already some of our favorite mobile gaming controllers, and for good reason. They promise good ergonomics, substantial customization and (in some cases) a tinge of nostalgia. It's relatively easy to switch between your Apple devices and other hardware, such as consoles and PCs. That makes them particularly handy if you're playing action games away from home, or just don't want to poke at a touchscreen.

These aren't the only strong options for mobile controllers. SteelSeries' Nimbus and Stratus models are well-suited to enthusiasts who want an Xbox-style pad. And if you want a makeshift Switch or Steam Deck, the Razer Kishi is your pick. Still, it's good to have more choices for Apple-friendly input — particularly if you like 8BitDo's priorities.

Amazon may not be done widening the scope of its layoffs. Amazon chief Andy Jassy has sent a memo to staff indicating the company will cut another 9,000 jobs in the "next few weeks." The reductions will primarily affect Twitch, advertising and cloud computing divisions like Amazon Web Services, according to the message. The CEO also warns that the final cuts aren't likely to be finalized until mid-to-late April, and that Amazon won't inform affected workers until that point.

Jassy says the expanded layoffs follow a "second phase" of operational planning focused on trimming costs. Some teams weren't ready for the initial round of layoff announcements in November, and the company wanted to announce decisions early to provide information "as soon as possible," Jassy adds. The online retailer is promising severance pay, transitional health insurance coverage and help finding jobs elsewhere.

Amazon confirmed the memo's existence to Engadget following a leak by CNBC. As before, Jassy attributes the cutbacks to an "uncertain economy" and lingering doubts about near-future performance. The firm wants to be "more streamlined" while still having the resources to invest in better experiences, the executive claims.

The company said it would lay off 10,000 employees last fall, but adjusted that to 18,000 in January. At the time, most of the cuts focused on retail and recruiting. Last year, Amazon shuttered some of its physical stores and wound down some business units.

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This is a good moment to snag Apple's wireless earbuds for your springtime excursions. Amazon is once again selling the third-generation AirPods for $150. That's near the all-time low price, and could make them a safe choice if you're looking for easy-to-use buds for casual listening and calls. Just be prepared to wait a little while. As of this writing, Amazon is estimating delivery in roughly three weeks.

The third-gen AirPods are clearly Apple's best "default" wireless earbuds to date. As we noted in our review, they sound much better than their predecessors while delivering extra battery life and a comfier fit. Toss in spatial audio support and they're a reliable pick if you're an iPhone owner and want no-nonsense audio for your daily commute. They integrate well with the Apple ecosystem, and you may even prefer them over higher-end options if you want to hear some of the outside world.

They're not as ideal if you're an Android user, of course. More importantly, though, you may want to consider Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro — they're currently on sale for $200, and worth the extra outlay if you want active noise cancellation, a more secure fit or gym-friendly water resistance. With that said, there's no need to pay for more than the base AirPods if you're listening to podcasts or otherwise aren't fussy about sound.

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Samsung is finally offering more than one OLED TV series. The company is expanding its Quantum Dot OLED range to add a more affordable S90C family (pictured above). You'll have to settle for a scaled-back version of object-tracking sound and won't get the S95C's near-flush wall mounting or external connection box. You'll still get a punchy QD-OLED image, AI-based HDR mapping, Dolby Atmos audio and syncing with Samsung soundbars.

The S90C starts at $1,899 for a 55-inch model and scales up to $3,599 for a 77-inch version. A 65-inch set is "coming soon." Conveniently, those prices match what LG is asking for equivalent C3 TVs — Samsung is clearly eager to upstage its main rival, although it still doesn't offer Dolby Vision HDR.

You'll also have more options if you're willing to spend extra on the S95C. In addition to the already-shipping $4,499 77-inch model, Samsung is adding more reasonable 55-inch ($2,499) and 65-inch ($3,299) screens. Those prices are higher than last year's models, but match the prices of LG's G3 line. Samsung claims a slightly brighter 2,000-nit output and a 144Hz refresh rate for compatible PC games.

Both the S90C and S95C are rolling out today. It's too soon to say if Samsung or LG has the best OLED TV family this year, but it may come down to differences like Dolby Vision support or a brighter picture. However, it's safe to say Samsung is now fully invested in OLED TVs after avoiding them for years. The extra competition may be good news if it leads to more aggressive pricing and feature upgrades.

Trombone Champ is a blast to watch, but a beast to play even compared to some other rhythm games — you try nailing a slide during the "William Tell Overture." Thankfully, developer Holy Wow Studios is putting the game within reach of more players. It's introducing an "Autotoot" option that takes away the need to press buttons. If you have hand mobility issues, you'll have a better chance of squonking your way to an S rank. Your score is halved to prevent leaderboard cheating, but you can advance the story.

The update is also more streamer-friendly, with icons warning when a tune might be muted on services like Twitch. It's faster to restart a track when your performance goes askew, and you'll see your character in the points screen.

Trombone Champ quickly became a viral sensation after its debut last September. Anyone who's familiar with Guitar Hero or Rock Band will grasp the basic mechanics, but the laugh-'til-you-cry hilarity of playing trombone over classic pieces can't be overstated — this is one of those precious games where messing up is almost more entertaining than a perfect score. And that's before you throw in unofficial songs that put brass where it clearly doesn't belong.

Autotoot is also part of a larger trend of improving accessibility in games. Titles like The Last of Us now make accommodations for a wide range of mobility, hearing and vision abilities. Input devices like Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Controller and Sony's Project Leonardo are also making many games viable for people who can't use conventional gamepads.

Google is facing pushback from some of its 12,000 laid-off employees. CNBC has learned that over 100 ex-staffers have formed a "Laid off on Leave" group asking Google to pay for the full leaves they were approved to take before the January 20th layoff announcement, including parental, medical and caregiver leave. While the company said in early 2022 that it was extending all parental leave to 18 weeks for full-time staff (24 weeks for birth parents), it told terminated employees that they'd get 16 weeks of severance pay plus two weeks for every added year of employment, with paid time off included.

The group members say the approach has not only impacted their parenting plans (including those who had recently given birth), but has also disrupted healthcare. Some former workers tell CNBC they lost access to Google's in-house medical care the day they received their layoff notices, denying them access to ongoing in-person treatment. Google has offered virtual doctor's appointments, but has otherwise asked affected people to find alternatives.

We've asked Google for comment. In a statement to CNBC, Google repeated its 16-week severance pay plan and noted that outgoing employees would be eligible for regular salary and stocks for their "60+ day" notice window. Google claims its accommodations for people on leave compare "favorably" with those of other companies.

The affected people are demanding that CEO Sundar Pichai and other management quickly clarify the leave policy. Google is poised to finalize severance terms as soon as March 31st.

Google is far from alone in creating potential issues for workers laid off while on leave. Numerous tech giants have announced mass layoffs in the past several months as they grapple with a tough economy. However, the uproar at Google highlights one of the problems these companies face: they previously promised extensive benefits to attract would-be hires, but now have to reconsider those perks as they cut costs.

YouTube is the latest internet giant to restore former President Donald Trump's accounts. The Google-owned video service has lifted a ban on video uploads from Trump's channel. YouTube says it made the decision after weighing the "continued risk" of violence versus the opportunity to hear from major political candidates. Trump will still be subject to the same policies as other users, the company says.

YouTube blocked uploads on Trump's channel days after the January 6th, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters hoping to overturn presidential election results. The site also deleted certain videos. It didn't scrub the channel outright, however. Meta and Twitter were stricter, banning Trump entirely over concerns his statements might incite violent acts.

Trump hasn't posted any new videos to YouTube since the upload restriction disappeared. As a rule, he hasn't used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other services that have removed bans and other limits. He instead prefers to use his own Truth Social platform, where he has an agreement to give content at least a six-hour exclusive.

The change of heart comes soon after House Republicans unveiled plans to grill tech giants' CEOs over content moderation policies. For years, conservatives have alleged that Google, Meta and other big-name brands censor right-wing views under the guise of fighting misinformation and hate speech. The companies have repeatedly denied these claims, and evidence has emerged that companies sometimes made policy exceptions for conservative outlets over fear of a backlash.

The derestrictions at this stage are more symbolic than practical. However, they illustrate the fine line YouTube and other internet heavyweights are trying to walk between free speech and the desire to keep potentially troublesome content away from their products.

If you take pride in people bookmarking your social media posts, Twitter is ready to feed your ego. The social network has added a bookmark counter to its iOS app. Similar to the counts for likes, quotes and retweets, you'll know just how many people saved a given tweet for later reference. The company hasn't mentioned when the feature might come to Android or the web.

Twitter stresses that bookmarks are still private. Users may know if their tweets are popular, but they won't know just who bookmarked a given post.

This counter isn't just useful for bragging rights, of course. If you're a creator or run a company's Twitter account, the tally could show whether or not followers find your posts useful. That, in turn, may help you refine content to reach a wider audience.

The addition comes after a handful of upgrades to Twitter, such as alerts about community misinformation notes. However, the service has lately been dominated by concerns about a string of outages and a paywall for text-based two-factor authentication. However useful the bookmark counter may be, it's not going to garner as much attention as it might have in the past.

Satellite-to-phone service is only just getting started, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants to give a boost. The regulator is proposing rules that would make it easier for phone carriers and satellite operators to provide coverage in remote and underserved areas. Under the plan, satellite companies teaming with cellular providers could get FCC permission to operate on some licensed, flexible wireless spectrum normally reserved for ground-based service.

Operators would have to meet certain requirements. They'd have to use non-geostationary orbit satellites, and get leases from terrestrial spectrum owners in a given area. After that, though, they could provide outdoor service even in areas where cellphones are completely non-functional.

Few devices support satellite connections so far. Apple's iPhone 14 family can use satellites to send emergency messages. Qualcomm's Snapdragon Satellite enables texting off the grid, but only for Android phones using Snapdragon systems-on-chip and the X70 modem. It won't arrive until the second half of 2023, however. Carrier partnerships also won't kick off in earnest until T-Mobile and SpaceX roll out their Starlink-based collaboration. Testing for that begins later this year, although it should work with both standard texting as well as some messaging apps.

The technology usually depends on line of sight to a satellite, and the limited bandwidth of existing solutions makes them impractical for significant data transfers. However, they can help you reach first responders during a hike or confirm your arrival at a camp site in the wilderness. Eventually, the hope is to use satellites for general data.

The FCC is looking for public input on how the satellite-to-cell rules would bolster access to 911 and Wireless Emergency Alerts. The agency is also exploring whether or not it can apply the framework to other purposes, regions and wireless bands. If the proposal moves ahead, though, carriers beyond T-Mobile may have a relatively easy time filling (some) gaps in their networks.

NVIDIA's DLSS 3 upscaling (Deep Learning Super Sampling 3) will soon be available for some particularly high-profile games. To begin with, Diablo IV will use the AI-based technology when the game launches on June 6th. If you have a GeForce RTX 40 series GPU, you can push the click-heavy action RPG to a high resolution without worrying so much about a frame rate drop.

Bethesda's open-world vampire shooter Redfall will also support DLSS 3 when it ships on May 2nd. And if you're a fan of arcade-style racing, you'l be happy to know that a Forza Horizon 5 update will introduce the feature on March 28th.

You may see broader game industry support before long. Epic is integrating DLSS 3 support into Unreal Engine 5.2 through an upcoming plug-in, so developers won't have to go to great lengths to add the performance-boosting feature to their titles. At the same time, NVIDIA is making the tech's signature frame generation available through an open source framework.

DLSS 3 builds on earlier iterations by generating whole new frames, not just pixels. It's particularly useful for CPU-limited games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Microsoft Flight Simulator, as it doesn't lean on your computer's processor. The catch, of course, is that you need NVIDIA's latest hardware to use it. While that's more affordable than before thanks to the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 40 laptop GPUs, you'll still need to invest significant funds to see the benefits.