Snap has been using Snapchat lenses to help people virtually try on clothes for a while, and the company has teamed up with another notable partner. Users will soon be able to see how eyewear styles from Amazon Fashion look on their face before ordering a pair.

You’ll be able to try these augmented reality lenses via the @amazonfashion profile, the Lens Explorer (in the For You and Dress Up tabs) or the Snapchat Camera Lens Carousel. The Amazon Fashion profile includes a Shop tab, where you can browse a wide variety of eyewear styles and perhaps buy a pair.

The companies worked on 3D asset standards that work with Snap's AR Try-On tech. Using Amazon's 3D Asset technology and lenses, they're able to offer Snapchat users dynamically updated information, including an up-to-date selection of eyewear, product details and availability. So if the price of a product changes or it sells out, Amazon will be able to update the lenses in real time with that info.

You’ll be able to virtually try on eyewear from brands including Maui Jim, Persol, Oakley and Costa Del Mar. Snap and Amazon plan to expand the partnership to other categories of apparel in the future.

WhatsApp is rolling out some new features, including one that's designed to bring related group chats together. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the Communities feature earlier this year, and the aim is to allow users to combine group chats “under one umbrella with a structure that works for them.” Similar tools are in the works for Instagram and Facebook.

Communities will be available to all WhatsApp users in the coming months. You'll be able to set up smaller group chats within a community to discuss things that matter to you and switch between them with ease. WhatsApp will offer admins "powerful new tools" to manage communities, such as the ability to broadcast announcements to all members and being able to choose which groups to include.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp suggests that neighborhoods, workplaces and parents who have kids at the same school might bring groups together as part of a community. You can tap the Communities tab at the top of the Android app or the bottom of the screen on iOS to get started. You'll be able to start a community from the ground up or add existing groups to it.

The Communities feature sounds a bit like Facebook Groups (it bears similarities to Nextdoor and Discord too) albeit with the protection of end-to-end encryption. While Zuckerberg has been eyeing a community-driven model to reduce the emphasis on feeds across Meta's apps, there may be some negatives to making group chats act more like Facebook Groups, where misinformation has proliferated in recent years. In general, WhatsApp has fewer moderation tools due to the platform's focus on encryption, which may make it more difficult to keep a lid on falsehoods.

Elsewhere, WhatsApp is adding some new features to groups, even ones that aren't linked to a community. Polls are coming to groups, as is support for encrypted 32-person video calls, which Meta has been testing for the last several weeks. Additionally, groups now support up to 1,024 users.

WhatsApp

Google Play Games has arrived on PC in more countries, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. The app, which is available in beta, allows you to play a selection of Android games on your PC with a mouse and keyboard. Google started testing the app in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan in January (and later in Australia and Thailand) after promising at the tail end of last year that Google Play Games would come to PC in 2022.

To try the app, Google says you'll need a rig with Windows 10 or later, a solid state drive with 10GB of free space, at least an Intel UHD Graphics 630 or comparable GPU, a CPU with four physical cores and 8GB of RAM. Your progress will sync between Android and PC, so you can continue playing your game on another device.

There are 85 titles on Google Play Games, as The Verge notes, though Google plans to add more. The lineup includes Cookie Run: Kingdom, WWE SuperCard and Just Dance Now. Those are somewhat notable games, but you'll perhaps find heavier hitters on Apple Arcade and Netflix.

Bringing Google Play Games to Windows is a separate effort from Microsoft's push to offer Android apps on Windows 11 (which features apps from the Amazon Appstore). For one thing, Google built the Google Play Games app. Perhaps this gaming effort will go more smoothly for Google than Stadia has.

For the last several years, Google has been using artificial intelligence to develop a system that can predict floods. It has also been working on wildfire tracking tools. Ahead of the COP27 climate conference taking place next week, the company announced that it is expanding those tools.

First, Google says it will offer flood forecasts for river basins in another 18 countries. Those are Brazil, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola, South Sudan, Namibia, Liberia and South Africa. The company previously offered flood warnings to users in India and Bangaldesh with alerts on Android devices and phones that have the Google Search app installed.

Google is also making a tool called Flood Hub available worldwide. Flood Hub displays flood forecasts on a map and shows when and where they might occur with color-coded pins. The company hopes the tool will help people who are directly at risk from the impacts of flooding, and that it will assist organizations and governments in mobilizing their responses.

"This expansion in geographic coverage is possible thanks to our recent breakthroughs in AI-based flood forecasting models, and we’re committed to expanding to more countries," Yossi Matias, Google vice president of engineering and crisis response lead, wrote in a blog post. Matias noted that catastrophic flood damage affects more than 250 million people every year. Global warming is likely to result in more flooding, which makes detection systems such as the one Google is working on critical.

Using weather forecast data, the company is able to offer flood warnings up to a week in advance, senior staff engineering manager Sella Nevo told The Verge. The AI model previously used water level gauge data, which limited the advance warning window to around 48 hours.

As for wildfires, Matias wrote that Google detects "wildfire boundaries using new AI models based on satellite imagery and [shows] their real-time location in Search and Maps." The company said last year that it would make its wildfire tracking tool available worldwide. It's now using machine learning to improve wildfire detection and monitoring. Initially, the improved tracking tools are available in the US, Mexico, Canada and some areas of Australia. The company also uses data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA satellites for wildfire tracking.

Matias also touched on some of the other work Google and parent company Alphabet are doing to mitigate climate change, such as an AI-powered system to make traffic lights more efficient and reduce pollution from idling cars. Meanwhile, Mineral, a project housed under Alphabet's X moonshot division, is attempting to make the global food system more sustainable and productive.

A former Apple employee has pled guilty to defrauding the company out of over $17 million. Dhirendra Prasad, who spent most of his decade at Apple working as a buyer in the Global Service Supply Chain department, admitted to "taking kickbacks, inflating invoices, stealing parts and causing Apple to pay for items and services never received,” according to the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. Prasad started these schemes in 2011 and continued them until 2018. 

In one scam, Prasad shipped motherboards from Apple's inventory to CTrends, a company run by a co-conspirator, Don M. Baker (who previously admitted to taking part in the fraudulent schemes). Baker harvested components from the motherboards, then Prasad organized purchase orders for those parts. After Baker shipped the components back to Apple, CTrends filed invoices for which Prasad arranged payment. In the end, the pair got Apple to pay for its own components and they split the proceeds of the scam.

In addition to fleecing Apple, Prasad confessed to engaging in tax fraud. He directed payments from Robert Gary Hansen (another co-conspirator who has admitted to taking part in the schemes) straight to his creditors. In addition, Prasad arranged for a shell company to send sham invoices to CTrends with the aim of covering up illicit payments Baker made to him. This enabled Baker "to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars of unjustified tax deductions," the US Attorney's Office said. All told, prosecutors claim that the scams resulted in the IRS losing over $1.8 million.

Prasad will be sentenced in March. He pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Prasad also pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, which has a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment. Moreover, Prasad agreed to forfeit around $5 million worth of assets he accrued as a result of his criminal actions, including real estate properties.

Sony has finally revealed when its next-gen virtual reality headset will arrive and how much it will cost — the price is far higher than many people will have been expecting. Playstation VR2 will be available on February 22nd (exactly a year after Sony revealed the design of the device) and it will cost an astonishing $550. That’s more than the price of a PlayStation 5, the base hardware you’ll need to use the headset, even after Sony jacked up the cost of the console in many countries. Folks in Europe will have to pay €600 for PS VR2 and those in the UK will need to shell out £530. In Japan, the price will be ¥74,980. 

PS VR2 comes with Sense controllers and stereo headphones. A bundle with Horizon Call of the Mountain will run you $600. Meanwhile, a charging station for the controllers costs an extra $50.

For those with deep enough pockets, pre-orders will be available on November 15th. At the outset, folks in the US, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg will only be able to pre-order from PlayStation directly. Those in other countries will be able to lock in a pre-order from various retailers.

Sony's latest VR hardware has a display resolution of 2000 x 2040 pixels for each eye, 4K HDR support, a 110-degree field of view and refresh rates of up to 120Hz. It will support 3D audio and eye tracking, while the Sense controllers borrow haptic feedback and adaptive triggers from the DualSense.

The PS VR2 price is just the latest example of sticker shock from PlayStation. When it arrives in January, the premium DualSense Edge controller for PS5 will cost $200 (which, in fairness, is in a similar range as other high-end controllers).

Meanwhile, Sony has announced 11 more titles that are coming to PS VR2. Among them are a new game in Supermassive's The Dark Pictures horror series, entitled Switchback VR, and a fresh entry in Smilegate's popular first-person shooter franchise Crossfire. Also in the pipeline are a VR version of Cities: Skylines, a new Hello Neighbor game, Jurassic World Aftermath Collection and Pistol Whip VR.

It was previously confirmed that the likes of No Man's Sky, Among US VR, Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy's Edge and Resident Evil Village will also be available on PS VR2. Sony says there will be more than 20 games available at launch.

However, PS VR games are not compatible with the latest headset. For technical reasons, developers will need to update their games to make them work on the new platform. That means that not only is the PS VR2 headset itself expensive, you may need to shell out more to have any games to play on it.

It's been a long, long time coming, but the legendary civilization management sim Dwarf Fortress at last has a Steam and Itch.io release date. It will be available on both storefronts on December 6th for $30. While that might seem steep for a game that has already been around for 16 years and is available for free elsewhere, the latest version has some major upgrades.

For one thing, you won't need to deal with Dwarf Fortress' famously primitive visuals anymore. The ASCII graphics have been upgraded to a pixel art tileset. Other new features include a fresh soundtrack and sound effects, a revamped user interface and menus, a tutorial for newcomers and other quality of life improvements. All of these are designed to help make the game more approachable.

Tarn and Zach Adams have been working on the game for 20 years at their studio, Bay 12. They teamed up with publisher Kitfox Games (of Boyfriend Dungeon fame) for this upgraded version, which has an official title of Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress.

The main Fortress mode and the Legends mode will be available at the outset, with the original game's Adventure and Arena modes arriving later. Even then, Bay 12 is far from done, as the studio has plans for major changes for the map system as well as procedurally generated myths and magic systems. There's "no end in sight" for the project, according to a press release.

If all of that seems too fancy for you, there's still the option to download the original version of Dwarf Fortress from Bay 12's website in all its ASCII glory at no cost. Until now, fans have supported Bay 12 and the game's development through donations.

YouTube is bringing premium streaming services into its main app with a new feature called Primetime Channels. You'll see TV shows, movies and sports the likes of Showtime, Starz, Paramount+ and AMC+ alongside videos from your favorite creators.

Folks in the US can sign up for Primetime Channels starting today through the Movies and TV section. There are more than 30 services you can subscribe to at the jump, with more on the way. NBA League Pass is among those that will be available soon.

Primetime Channels homepages will include trailers, cast interviews and behind-the-scenes footage alongside episodes and movies. You'll be able to search for films and shows from channels through the main YouTube search panel. As The Verge notes, if a movie or show is available on a service you're signed up to, you'll see a green "watch now" icon. Otherwise, the icon will read "pay to watch."

YouTube

Your YouTube recommendations will include films and shows from Primetime Channels as well. So, if you search for a trailer for something you're interested in, and the series or movie is available on a channel you're subscribed to, it might pop up in your recommendations to help you start watching it right away. You'll be able to like or dislike a movie or episode and leave comments, but content from Primetime Channels won't have view counts.

There are some catches, according to The Verge. If you already have a subscription to Paramount+, Shudder or one of the other Primetime Channels, you can't simply link your accounts. You'll need to cancel your membership and sign up through YouTube. However, services you've signed up to through YouTube TV will carry over. However you slice it, that seems overly convoluted.

YouTube is clearly attempting to become the hub for all your streaming needs to help it better compete with the likes of Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max. It aims to bring more things for you to watch to Primetime Channels, along with more features. The platform is also planning an international rollout of the feature.

One thing that Primetime Channels doesn't seem to offer, at least for the time being, is live TV. You may still need to go to YouTube TV for that. Given that YouTube TV has a fraction of the number of subscribers Netflix has (albeit more than Hulu's live TV option), it seems smart to try another tactic as the battle for consumers' attention and dollars rages on.

It seems that those of us clamoring to see HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us won't have to wait too much longer to start watching the series. According to the show's page on HBO Max, it will debut on January 15th. For those keeping count, that's 75 days away.

With The Last of Us slated to arrive in early 2023 and the brilliant Succession not returning until the spring, the January timing makes sense. Even though the supposed release date appeared on an official HBO platform, it's worth taking with a grain of salt until there's a splashier formal announcement.

In any case, the first season of The Last of Us will run for 10 episodes. It's an adaptation of Naughty Dog's all-time great game of the same name, which the studio recently remade for PlayStation 5.

The Last of Usstars Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) as Joel and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as Ellie, with Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv and Nick Offerman also featuring. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, who played the main characters in the game, will appear as well. HBO released the first trailer in September and, from everything we've seen so far, the show is staying very faithful to the original game's story and visuals.

There’s a reason that, month after month, Vampire Survivors has been the most-played game on Steam Deck: it’s a blast. Your character auto-fires weapons as thousands of enemies invade the screen. All you have control over in the heat of the moment are the character’s movement and their weapon and item loadout (there are persistent powerups you can unlock as well). It’s one of those games that you have to play to really get the appeal, and it’ll soon be far easier for many people to check it out.

Vampire Survivors will make its console debut on November 10th, when it will hit Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X. The game will also be available on Xbox Game Pass. While it only costs $5, this will lower the barrier to entry even further. 

The fact that Microsoft is bringing one of this year's biggest breakout hits to Xbox Game Pass isn’t a big surprise. Vampire Survivors was already available to PC Game Pass members.

Also coming to Xbox consoles and Game Pass this month is Return to Monkey Island. The revival of the adventure series landed on PC and Switch in September. It’ll be available on Xbox, PC Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming on November 8th.

The console edition of Football Manager 2023 will hit cloud, console and PC on the same date. The full-blown PC version of the game will land on Game Pass then as well. On the flip side, Football Manager 2022 and Football Manager 2022 Xbox Edition will leave Game Pass on November 8th.

There's a lot of other stuff for Game Pass members to look forward to this month. A 2D metroidvania game called Ghost Song, which sees you exploring a distant moon, will arrive on cloud, console and PC on November 3rd. Obsidian's Pentiment, one of the few remaining first-party Xbox exclusives for this year, will land on all three platforms on November 15th. Somerville, from a studio cofounded by Inside and Limbo executive producer Dino Patti, will debut on the same day.

Meanwhile, you can play the full seasons of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and The Walking Dead: Michonne on PC Game Pass as of today. Sidescrolling beat-'em-up The Legend of Tianding just landed on console, cloud and PC as well.

Elsewhere, Halo Infinite's winter update will arrive on November 8th. That will finally bring online campaign co-op and Forge mode to the game, along with new maps, a fresh game mode and (at last) a way to earn XP just by playing multiplayer games. On November 11th, Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Editionwill be available as a free update. Helicopters, gliders and a true-to-life airliner are among the additions.