Fortnite hasn't been available on Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store for 17 months. While the game isn't expected to return to either store anytime soon, it seems players will soon be able to drop on the island once again on their phones and tablets (unless they already use a sideloaded version on Android or play console versions remotely).

NVIDIA and Epic Games have teamed up on a mobile version of the battle royale that's playable through GeForce Now. A desktop version is already available on the service. 

A limited-time closed beta will get underway next week to test server capacity, graphics delivery and touch controls. NVIDIA has opened registrations and it will grant users access to the beta in batches over the next several weeks. You don't need a paid GeForce Now membership to take part. If you're able to secure a spot, you'll be able to play Fortnite through Safari on iOS and the GeForce Now app on Android. NVIDIA and Epic haven't set an end date for the beta as yet. 

When NVIDIA enabled GeForce Now on iOS via the web in November 2020, it said it would eventually give iPhone and iPad users access to Fortnite again, though it and Epic were building a touch-friendly version first. Android and iOS players can use a Bluetooth controller if they'd rather not use touch controls while swinging around the map as Spider-Man. 

Apple and Google yanked Fortnite from their respective stores in August 2020 amid a battle with Epic Games over in-app payments. The publisher suedboth companies, alleging they were engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The Apple case went to trial last year. A judge ruled Epic didn't prove that Apple was violating antitrust laws. 

Both sides appealed against aspects of the outcome. Apple won a last-minute stay from having to implement App Store changes that would force it to let developers direct users to alternative payment methods and bypass the 30 percent cut it takes from in-app payments. In any case, until all court appeals are exhausted, a process that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said could last several more years, Apple won't let Fortnite back onto the App Store.

Microsoft and Sony are struggling to keep up with demand for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. While Sony plans to keep manufacturing the PlayStation 4 for the time being to make up for its shortfall of current-gen consoles, the Xbox One is no more.

We learned in July 2020 that Microsoft had discontinued the Xbox One X and Xbox One S Digital Edition by that point. Now, it has emerged the company quietly stopped making the Xbox One S by the end of that year too. “To focus on production of Xbox Series X/S, we stopped production for all Xbox One consoles by the end of 2020,” Xbox’s senior director of console product marketing Cindy Walker told The Verge.

It seems the strategy has paid off. Xbox head Phil Spencer told The New York Times this week that Microsoft has sold more of the Series X and Series S at this point in their lifecycle than it has with any previous Xbox generation, though he didn’t reveal actual sales figures. Analyst Daniel Ahmad of Niko Partners said that would put shipments of Series X/S at more than 12 million units.

While the more powerful Series X typically sells out minutes after every stock drop (it doesn’t help that scalpers are using bots to snap them up), the Series S isn’t hard to come by at this point. It’s available to buy at the time of writing in the US, UK and Canada at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop and Walmart. Given that the Series S can handle pretty much everything the Xbox One can — except for playing discs — it doesn’t make a ton of sense for Microsoft to keep making that console.

It’s a slightly different story for Sony. Save for the disc drive, there’s no difference between the two PS5 models. Given the high demand (Sony had sold 13.4 million units by October 2021) and the ongoing supply chain crisis, it’s harder for most people to score one of those consoles than a Series S right now. As such, Sony told Bloomberg on Wednesday it will keep making the PS4 (which uses less advanced components than the PS5) in 2022, despite reportedly planning to discontinue the console last year. The company's said to be making around a million PS4 units in this year.

Sony previously suggested it would support PS4 through 2024. Several of its first-party exclusives are coming to both the current- and previous-gen consoles this year, including Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7 and God of War Ragnarök.

Wyze has some of the best budget security cameras around. We recently highlighted the Wyze Cam V3 as our favorite overall home security camera, thanks to its low price and handy selection of features. Although a subscription isn't totally necessary for the company's cameras, it does offer extra utility. With that in mind, Wyze is opening up a new subscription tier to everyone.

The Cam Plus Lite plan includes AI-powered Person Detection (instead of motion detection) and 12-second event recordings. Here's the twist: it's a pay-what-you-want plan, so you'll have access to those features without having to pay a monthly or annual fee.

The existing Cam Plus plan costs $2 per month or $15 per year. It supports back-to-back event recordings (instead of one every five minutes). Other features include full-length video recording for as long as motion is detected, and package, vehicle and pet detection.

Until now, Wyze cameras have captured 12-second clips as often as every five minutes when they detect an event, and those recordings are stored for up to 14 days. Wyze is moving that feature to its subscriptions, though, you'll need to opt in to the Cam Plus or Cam Plus Lite plan to keep using cloud recordings.

Wyze says it's pairing cloud recordings with the AI-powered Person Detection feature in the Cam Plus Lite plan to make them more useful and cut down on unnecessary notifications that might be triggered by a clip of, say, an insect flying in front of the camera. The company believes this approach will improve the overall experience, though it said it will incur significant cloud costs as a result. As such, while it won't make users pay for those features, it's hoping they'll contribute what they can to help cover the costs for everyone.

If you don't opt in to Cam Plus Lite, your cameras will store thumbnails of what they detect, rather than video. You'll still be able to sign up for Cam Plus Lite at any time.

Wyze is making some changes to the local storage options too. It will support microSDXC cards with more than 32GB of storage. That feature's available on Wyze Cam v3 now, and it's coming to the company's other cameras as part of their next firmware update. By the middle of February, Wyze will roll out 30-second rewind and skp forward buttons to help users zip through footage stored on a microSD card faster.

Starting today, most Twitch partners and affiliates will be able to dole out emotes to community members just for following them. They can set up to five emotes that followers can use for free by uploading new ones, moving them over from subscriber-only tiers or picking from a selection of default emotes created by Twitch. The livestreaming platform started testing follower emotes last June, and now they're more broadly available.

There's one caveat: to offer follower emotes, a streamer will need to be eligible for instant emote uploads. That feature allows streamers to add emotes that their communities can access immediately without manual review by Twitch staff. Creators' accounts need to be in good standing to be eligible (they can't have been suspended within the previous 60 days, for instance).

If they lose instant upload eligibility, streamers can still rearrange and delete existing follower emotes — they won't be able to add new ones or reassign emotes from other tiers.

Until now, channel-specific emotes have mostly only been available to subscribers, though some streamers allow viewers to use Channel Points to unlock some emotes. Follower emotes should give streamers another way to make viewers feel as though they're part of a community, even if they're unable to subscribe.

Twitch also said affiliates should gain access to subscriber-only animated emotes this month. Partners can already use animated emotes.

Snapchat is ringing in the new year with a bunch of new features. In the coming days, Android and iOS users will be able to reply to individual messages in chats. So, if a group chat is getting a little out of hand, but you want to keep one aspect of the conversation going, Chat Replies will allow you to start a thread by holding your finger on a message and selecting the Reply option.

You'll soon be able to use Bitmoji reactions in chats. There are seven options to choose from, including thumbs up, thumbs down, a heart, a flame and tears of joy. Again, hold down on a message to add a reaction. Telegram recently added iMessage-style reactions too.

On top of that, Snapchat users can poll friends in snaps and stories. They can respond to your question with an emoji, and you'll be able to see how everyone voted. You'll find the option in the sticker folder.

Snapchat says it's improving the audio and video calling interface too. It should be easier to add lenses and see who has joined a group call before you hop in.

Everyone's favorite pink Nintendo mascot, Kirby, is returning to Switch very soon. Nintendo announced that Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the character's first 3D platformer, will arrive on the console on March 25th. It previously said the game would be out sometime in the spring.

Nintendo also offered another peek at the adorable-looking game with the latest trailer. It shows off some co-op gameplay — a second player can take control of Bandana Waddle Dee — as well as a look at some of Kirby's new copy abilities. After inhaling certain enemies, Kirby can use a blunderbuss or burrow underground. In addition, the trailer includes a glimpse of some minigames, which include serving snacks from a market stall and kicking back with a spot of fishing.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the character's second solo outing on Switch following 2018's Kirby Star Allies. Since then, Kirby has appeared as the protagonist in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate single-player campaign.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans will need to wait several more months than expected to get their hands on the latest game in the series. Developer GSC Game World has pushed back the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl release date from April 28th to December 8th.

"These additional seven months of development are needed to fulfill our vision and achieve the desired state of the game," GSC Game World wrote in a statement. "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is the biggest project in the history of GSC and it requires thorough testing and polishing." Perhaps it needs a little more time to get characters' teeth just right.

The studio noted that, although the decision to delay the survival horror game wasn't an easy one, it believes "development should take as long as necessary, especially in the case of such a project." It plans to provide more details about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in the coming months.

The first-person shooter, which will be the first entry in the series since 2009, will initially be available on Xbox Series X/S and PC — it'll debut on Xbox Game Pass. Reports suggest Microsoft has a three-month exclusivity window for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

GSC Game World recently came under fire over its plan to include NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in the game. Just one day later, the studio said it would "cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2" following a major backlash.

Following some small-scale tests in a number of cities since Lime revealed its latest e-bike in March 2021, the company has started making the Gen4 available to users in the US. The first batch of the new model has arrived in Washington DC.

The biggest update this time around is a swappable battery that's interchangeable with Gen4 scooters, which should both save Lime money and bolster sustainability, in part by reducing the number of trips that Lime's charging vans need to make. The latest model also features a more powerful motor than previous generations, automatic two-speed transmission, a phone holder and a revamped handlebar display that matches the one on Lime's scooters. The company says the modular design should boost the usability of Gen4 e-bikes to five years.

Lime said last year it would invest $50 million into the Gen4 e-bike. It aimed to start transitioning to the latest model last summer. However, other than a few small-scale pilots in the fall, it had to put those plans on hold due to supply chain issues.

The company plans to upgrade e-bikes in the cities it currently serves to the Gen4 and expand to more cities this year. For now, 250 Gen4 e-bikes are available in Washington DC. Lime told TechCrunch it plans to replace its entire fleet of 2,500 e-bikes in the city with the Gen4 by April. The new e-bike should hit more cities around the globe this spring, including Atlanta and Charleston.

As part of its ongoing efforts to stay on the right side of App Store rules, Tumblr is adding a Sensitive Content toggle to its iOS app. The setting is enabled by default, and it keeps posts with sensitive tags out of recommendations, blocks search results with sensitive tags and hides blogs "that are explicit in nature."

Disabling the toggle will allow users to search for tags that might include posts of a sensitive nature and see recommendations that might include suggestive or sensitive content. Switching off the setting will also allow you to tap through an overlay on blogs that have been marked as explicit. However, you still won't be able to view posts that have been flagged as explicit.

It's not entirely clear how Tumblr defines "explicit" in this context (Engadget has asked for clarification). Tumblr banned porn and realistic depictions of human genitals in December 2018 after Apple temporarily removed the app from the App Store.

Tumblr says the sensitive content setting only applies to those using the latest version of the iOS app. For now, users will need visit their settings on the Tumblr website to disable the toggle. They'll then be able to access sensitive content in the iOS app after they quit and relaunch it.

Last month, Tumblr blocked search terms and recommendations featuring potentially sensitive content on the iOS app to comply with App Store rules. The sensitive content toggle should make the platform a bit more open for iOS users, though still less so than on Android or the web.

“These latest updates provide more control to our community on the iOS app to build the experience that fits them best, and to explore the content that they find interesting," Tumblr wrote in a blog post. "While the experience for our community is a top priority, we must also comply with Apple’s App Store guidelines and our own guidelines.”

Twitter says it's doing more to make sure you don't see anything from accounts you have muted or blocked, as well as any keywords you've muted. It's working on updates to hide those keywords and accounts across more areas of the platform.

On the web and the iOS and Android apps, you should no longer see events from muted and blocked accounts in the Explore tab or the What's Happening sidebar. Nor should they appear in emails from the platform or events-based notifications.

This is a welcome, long-overdue change that should give users more control over what they see on the platform, since they'll have extra assurance that accounts they don't want to hear from won't pop up outside of the timeline. It should also help folks to avoid spoilers in the sidebar if they mute the name of a show or game. Given the wording of the tweets about this update, it seems Twitter is looking at more ways of blotting out tweets from muted and blocked accounts and keywords.

Twitter has tested or rolled out other features to prevent harassment in recent months. It experimented with a Safety Mode that automatically and temporarily blocks accounts that "may use harmful language or send repetitive, uninvited replies." In October, it added a way to remove an unwanted follower without having to block them first.