NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has confirmed the league will launch its own streaming service ahead of the 2022 season. “The consumers want it, so we’re very excited about what NFL+ is going to be,” Goodell told CNBC. “It’s really in an early stage. I think over the years it will continue to grow. It will be an important strategy for us going forward.”

Goodell declined to reveal details about pricing, what exactly NFL+ will offer and precisely when it will arrive. However, he said that information will be announced in a few weeks. A report previously suggested that NFL+ will debut this month. With pre-season games getting underway in early August, that timing makes sense.

According to a May report from Sports Business Journal, NFL+ may cost $5 per month. It's expected to grant fans access to some live games on phones and tablets — the ones that they'd be able to see on local TV in their market. Previously, carriers and Yahoo (Engadget's parent company) streamed such games, but those deals have expired.

Meanwhile, Goodell said the league is likely to partner with a streaming service for NFL Sunday Ticket, with an announcement expected by the fall. "I clearly believe we'll be moving to a streaming service," Goodell said.

Amazon, Apple and ESPN+ owner Disney are among those who have reportedly submitted bids. Goodell said discussions have been going on for over a year. 

Goodell acknowledged that the current partnership with DirecTV, which will end after the 2022 season, had worked well for the NFL. However, he pointed to the new opportunities that the likes of Apple and Amazon can open up — especially since fans likely won't be prompted to sign up for a satellite TV package too.

"We really believe that these new platforms give us an ability to innovate beyond where we are today and make the experience for our consumers so much better," Goodell said. "I think this will make it more accessible for fans."

It's only a few days until NASA and its partners on the James Webb Space Telescope project reveal the first full-color images and spectroscopic data captured by the observatory. The agency has shed a little more light on what to expect by revealing the JWST's initial list of cosmic targets.

One of them is the Carina Nebula, which is around 7,600 light years away. NASA says it's one of the biggest and brightest nebulae in the sky and it includes stars that are several times larger than the Sun. Another nebula the telescope captured images from is the Southern Ring. That's roughly 2,000 light years from Earth and is a planetary nebula — it's an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star.

Closer to home is the gas planet WASP-96 b, which is almost 1,150 light years away and has around half the mass of Jupiter. NASA will provide a look at the planet's light spectrum data. Much further from here is Stephan’s Quintet, which is around 290 million light years away in the Pegasus constellation. This is the first compact galaxy group that was discovered, all the way back in 1877. It comprises five galaxies, four of which "are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters," NASA said.

Also on Tuesday, NASA, the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency will reveal imagery for SMACS 0723. "Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations," NASA explained.

A committee of experts from NASA, ESA, CSA and the Space Telescope Science Institute spent five years determining the first targets for Webb's instruments. The full-color images and spectroscopic data that JSWT captured will be revealed on July 12th at 10:30AM ET. You'll be able to view them on NASA's website.

This marks an important step for JWST as it marks the official beginning of the observatory's general science operations. The aim is to provide us with more detailed images and information about the earliest stars and galaxies as well as potentially habitable exoplanets. After launch in December, it took several months for the JWST to reach its destination and prepare for full operation. We're very close to finding out just what the observatory is capable of.

As of September 1st, New York residents who want to carry concealed handguns will need to submit their social media accounts as part of their permit application. They'll need to provide details of active and inactive accounts from the previous three years, along with at least four references.

The accounts will be used to review the applicant's “character and conduct,” according to the Associated Press. Those seeking a permit need to show that they have “the essential character, temperament and judgment necessary to be entrusted with a weapon and to use it only in a manner that does not endanger oneself and others.” Local sheriffs' staff, judges and country clerks will be tasked with looking at social media accounts for warning signs.

The measure was included in legislation that Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law last week. The legislation was passed to enact some gun restrictions following a Supreme Court ruling determining that most people have the right to carry a handgun for their own protection.

Hochul acknowledged that shooters often share details or hints of plans to harm others online. The person accused of killing 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas in May reportedly harassed and threatened to hurt girls and young women on social media apps. Suspects of other mass shootings have posted manifestos online before attacks took place.

Critics have taken issue with the social media provision of the legislation. It's unclear how the state will address concerns over privacy and free speech, and how it will assess the intent of applicants' social media posts.

Peter Kehoe, the executive director of the New York Sheriffs’ Association, argued that the law infringes rights under the Second Amendment and suggested local officials may not actually review an applicant's social media accounts. “I don’t think we would do that,” Kehoe told the AP. “I think it would be a constitutional invasion of privacy.” Others have expressed concern about the law in relation to surveillance of people of color.

Internet, mobile and cable customers of Canadian provider Rogers and its sub-brand Fido have been experiencing major service issues since early Friday due to an outage. As the CBC reports, the ripple effect is impacting payment network Interac and Rogers wholesale service resellers, such as TekSavvy.

"We know how important it is for our customers to stay connected," Rogers wrote on its Twitter support account just before 9AM. "We are aware of issues currently affecting our networks and our teams are fully engaged to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We will continue to keep you updated as we have more information to share." The Fido support account shared the same message shortly after.

TekSavvy noted at 8:25AM that the outage was impacting all internet and wireless users and that there was "currently no ETA" for resolving the issue. "There is currently a nationwide communications outage with a network provider which is impacting the availability of Interac services," Interac said at 8:44AM ET. "We will provide further information as it becomes available." ATM, e-transfer and debit card services have been affected as a result.

Emergency service calls were also impacted. Toronto Police noted at 6:31AM that there were some 911 connection difficulties. Two hours later, it said that although its 911 call center was operational, some users on the Rogers network might have trouble getting through. In addition, a CBC radio station in Ontario was knocked off the air at around 5AM. Service Canada says its facilities, including overwhelmed passport offices, have been affected too.

Rogers experienced another significant wireless and cable outage last year, the CBC notes. The company said the April 2021 issue was the result of an errant software update from one of its telecom equipment suppliers. The cause and extent of the current outage is not yet clear.

Beyerdynamic is joining the slew of audio gear companies that are making true wireless earbuds. The company's first such buds are called Free Byrd. They have 10mm drivers, active noise cancellation and an audio passthrough mode.

The company says you'll get up to 11 hours of battery life on a single charge. Beyerdynamic also suggests you'll get up to 70 minutes of extra listening after 10 minutes of charging time in the earbuds' case.

There are two microphones in each earbud. Your voice should come through clearly on calls as long as Beyerdynamic holds up to its claim of capturing high-quality speech intelligibility, "even in a noisy environment." Free Byrd is compatible with Fast Pair on Android, while there's Alexa and Siri support. Expect a low-latency mode for games and videos as well.

Free Byrd comes with five sets of silicone earpieces to help you find the best fit. There are also three memory-foam earpieces for use during workouts. The earbuds have IPX4 water splash resistance too.

Beyerdynamic

While some might suggest Beyerdynamic is late to the true wireless party, the company is framing its slowness as a deliberate effort to nail down a good quality product. “We’re proud to have prioritized sound quality over market pressures,” Beyerdynamic CEO Edgar van Velzen said in a statement. “and with this time taken, have successfully achieved a new level of development in sound performance, offering audio enthusiasts the perfect pair of in-ear [true wireless] earbuds that look and feel as great as they sound.”

On paper, there's not a ton here that makes Free Byrd stand out from the crowded pack. Still, they're the first true wireless earbuds from a company with a solid track record for audio quality. A set of Free Byrd earbuds costs $249. They're available starting today in black or gray from Beyerdynamic's website and Amazon.

Meta is changing course on its controversial requirement for users of its virtual reality headsets to log in with a Facebook account. Instead, they'll need a new Meta account, which won't need to be linked to Facebook. The company will start rolling out the new account next month for existing and new Meta Quest users. Those with a legacy Oculus account will need to have a Meta account to keep using their headset after January 1st, 2023.

The company stressed that a Meta account is not a social media profile, saying that it "lets you log into your VR devices and view and manage your purchased apps in one place." It noted that future devices will require Meta accounts too.

There is a social aspect to the new account type though, at least for VR headsets. When you create a Meta account, you'll need to create a Meta Horizon profile with the username, avatar, profile photo and so on that you'll use in the company's vision of the metaverse.

Oculus friends will become your followers and you'll automatically follow them back. You can, of course, unfollow people and stop others from following you. You'll still have the option of linking your Meta account to Facebook and Instagram, so you'll be able to chat with friends in the VR version of Messenger or find some buds to play games with. 

While Facebook has a one-account-per-person rule, the company is fine with you having multiple Meta accounts. Perhaps you'll have one for virtual meetings and another for hanging out with friends.

The new accounts will offer privacy controls, including the option to make your profile private and manually approve follower requests. Users aged between 13 and 17 will have private profiles by default.

This is an important shift for Meta as it continues to place more focus on its vision of the metaverse. However, Meta is said to have scaled back its metaverse ambitions in the last few months, having reportedly killed off some Reality Labs projects and put a planned dual-camera smartwatch on hold. 

Still, there are at least some positives of Meta divorcing VR from its social media apps. Folks who are interested in Meta Quest but want nothing to do with Facebook will no longer need an account for the latter.

Inscryption, one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2021, is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. So far, it's only been available on Windows, macOS and Linux but publisher Devolver Digital is bringing it to consoles.

At its core, Inscryption is a card game that's dripping with horror. You'll sacrifice certain animal-based cards to play more powerful ones against your opponent. There's so much more to it than that, though this is definitely one of those games where the less you know about it going in, the better. It's not too much of a spoiler to say things get pretty strange. Inscryption will absolutely mess with your expectations.

The roguelike deckbuilder scooped up game of the year honors from a few publications and it received some Game Awards nominations. Inscryption has been a hit with players too. It sold more than a million copies in less than three months.

Developer Daniel Mullins is adding some extra features to the PlayStation versions, particularly for the PS5's DualSense controller. There'll be haptic feedback and you'll hear audio from your companion, a talking stoat card, through your controller's speaker. Mullins also promises to bring atmospheric lighting to the controller through the light bar. There's no release date for PS4 and PS5 as yet, but here's hoping it's not too far away.

Sennheiser has developed an approach to spatial audio that doesn’t require a surround sound system. The tech, called Ambeo 2-Channel Spatial Audio, will work on standard stereo speakers, Sennheiser says. The company says Ambeo will deliver “an improved audio experience wherever stereo is delivered today, be it standard TV sets, stereo systems, headphones, tablets or laptops.”

A number of Sennheiser’s partners have worked with the company to fine-tune Ambeo. One of those is Netflix, which is the first streaming service to employ the tech. The first title that used Ambeo is season four of Stranger Things. Others include Red Notice, The Witcher and the upcoming live-action Resident Evil series.

As long as your device's audio output is set to stereo audio, you won't have to adjust any settings to try Ambeo. Netflix is making it the default setting for two-channel setups for certain titles (you can find those by searching for "spatial audio" on Netflix). 

Ambeo renders the full immersive audio mix into two channels. It uses existing industry standard file types and it doesn't need a separate mix. Sennheiser says the renderer offers granular control over spatialization.

​“What sets Sennheiser apart from other solutions is that the Ambeo rendering respects the original mix, tonal balance and dialog integrity, which is exactly what the re-recording mixer is looking for,” Dr Renato Pellegrini of the Ambeo team said in a statement. “The processing is in line with Sennheiser’s reputation to deliver tools that are ‘transparent’ and do not interfere with the original sound. In a nutshell: Sennheiser 2-Channel Spatial Audio seeks to translate mixer intent, not to overpower it.”

If Ambeo works as well as promised, this could be a solid solution for folks who don’t have sufficient equipment to take advantage of Dolby Atmos and other spatial audio tech.

CD Projekt Red has released another entry in its series of The Witcher games. The studio is billingGwent: Rogue Mage as a single-player expansion for Gwent, but it's sold separately. It's out today on PC, iOS and Android for $10. A $20 premium edition comes with perks for Gwent.

Rogue Mage was announced earlier this year under the working title of Project Golden Nekker. It takes place hundreds of years before the birth of Witcher protagonist Geralt of Rivia. You'll play as the mage Alzur, who is attempting to create the very first witcher to protect humanity from an onslaught of monsters.

Don't go into it expecting a ton of details that will play into the next mainline Witcher game, though. "While we have a story to tell about Alzur's obsession to create the first witcher, we do not treat this expansion as an official addition to The Witcher lore," game director Vladimir Tortsov told IGN. "We hope that players will get enough immersion to complement the gameplay-first formula, but we do not expect the story to be the main reason for players to appreciate this release."

The game is a roguelike deckbuilder. You'll move around a procedurally generated map and take part in card battles based on mechanics from the original Gwent. You'll be able to upgrade your army by collecting more cards and gear. There are dozens of difficulty modifiers too.

Tortsov says it will likely take players north of 30 hours to do and find everything in Rogue Mage, which is designed for gameplay sessions that take up to an hour. The game can be played entirely offline, though there are online features like leaderboards and cross-saves, so you can continue playing where you left off on other devices.

CDPR debuted the original Gwent in 2016. It's a free-to-play multiplayer title based on a minigame in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Rogue Mage isn't the first single-player take on Gwent, though. CDPR previously released a single-player campaign called Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.

NBA 2K23 will arrive on September 9th, and it comes with a solid perk for those who plump for the premium $150 Championship Edition. Among other things, the package includes a year of access to NBA League Pass. If you're an avid NBA viewer who plays each year's NBA 2K game, it's actually a solid deal, given that League Pass costs $15 per month.

The Championship Edition will have limited availability and it comes with some in-game extras, including XP boosts, all the bonuses from the other versions and an exclusive Michael Jordan-themed go-kart. Speaking of Jordan, he features on the cover of another higher-end version of the game (he is the sport's most famous number 23, after all). The $100 Michael Jordan Edition comes with 100,000 Virtual Currency, as well as perks that are available in the $80 Digital Deluxe Edition.

2K Sports

All of those editions offer access to the game on both current and previous generations of PlayStation and Xbox consoles. There's also a Standard Edition of NBA 2K23, which costs $60 for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC, and $70 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Devin Booker is the cover star on the standard and digital deluxe versions.

Fans in the US and Canada can purchase a WNBA Edition of NBA 2K23 as well. The Gamestop exclusive version will feature Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird on the cover. And that's not all. A special version of the Standard Edition will be available this fall and it will seemingly highlight the connection between basketball culture and music. More details will be revealed later. In all, there will be six (6) editions of NBA 2K23.

2K Sports

As for what's new in the game itself, the Jordan Challenges from NBA 2K11 are returning. The 10 missions tasked players with replicating some of the most significant moments of Jordan's career, including scoring 69 points in a game. 2K Sports is rebuilding the original challenges from scratch and adding five more, including moments from Jordan's Team USA career. 2K Sports will announce more information about NBA 2K23, including the Jordan Challenges, in August.