Pixel 6 Pro has joined the list of devices that can stream games from GeForce Now at 120 frames per second and in 1080p. Until now, the only smartphones to support that option on NVIDIA's cloud gaming service were Samsung Galaxy devices, including S21, S20 FE and Note 20 phones. NVIDIA confirmed on a support page, which was first spotted by XDA Developers, that Pixel 6 Pro owners could use the 120 fps option.

In October, NVIDIA debuted a new high-end tier for GeForce Now that's powered by RTX 3080 GPUs. You'll need to subscribe to that plan (which costs $100 for six months) to stream games at 120 fps. On PC and Mac, the resolution tops out at 1440p but with NVIDIA Shield, you can play at up to 4K. The premium plan costs $50 for six months, so the RTX 3080 plan is quite the jump in price. However, you won't need a tricked-out rig to play titles from a number of PC gaming storefronts at high quality.

To use the 120 fps mode on Pixel 6 Pro, go to the stream quality section under GeForce Now in the app's settings. You'll need to make sure your display's 120Hz refresh rate is active too. NVIDIA says you'll need a connection of at least 25 MB/s for 120 fps gaming. It also plans to bring the option to more devices.

Electric vehicle company Nikola will pay $125 million to settle civil charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauding investors. The company was accused of misleading investors about its in-house production capabilities, technological advancements, reservations and orders, hydrogen production and more.

The SEC accused founder and former CEO Trevor Milton of undertaking "a public relations campaign aimed at inflating and maintaining Nikola’s stock price" through tweets and media appearances before the company had made a commercial product. It said that the company also misled investors by "misrepresenting or omitting material facts" about the hydrogen station at its headquarters, how long it would take to refuel its concept vehicles, the source and cost of power for planned hydrogen production and the risks and benefits of a mooted partnership with a major automaker.

“As the order finds, Nikola Corporation is responsible both for Milton’s allegedly misleading statements and for other alleged deceptions, all of which falsely portrayed the true state of the company’s business and technology,” SEC enforcement director Gurbir S. Grewal said in a statement.

Although Nikola did not admit to or deny the SEC's charges of securities law violations, it agreed to some voluntary undertakings, to pay the penalty and to cease and desist from "future violations of the charged provisions." It will cooperate with ongoing litigation and investigation too.

"We are pleased to bring this chapter to a close as the company has now resolved all government investigations," Nikola said in a statement. "We will continue to execute on our strategy and vision to deliver on our business plan, including delivering trucks to customers, expanding our manufacturing facilities and our sales and service network, and building out our hydrogen infrastructure ecosystem including hydrogen production, distribution and dispensing stations." The company also said it was seeking reimbursement from Milton "for costs and damages in connection with the government and regulatory investigations."

Nikola became a publicly traded company in June 2020 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, which enables companies to bypass the usual process of going public. That September, reports suggested the SEC was looking into Nikola's claims about its electric trucks. Milton, who had stepped down as CEO just before the company went public, resigned as executive chairman a few days after news emerged about the probe.

A grand jury indicted Milton on fraud charges in July 2021. He was accused of lying to investors about “nearly all aspects of the business” to increase Nikola's share price. He denied the charges and is free on bail pending a trial that's scheduled for April. 

Meanwhile, Nikola delivered its first electric trucks to customers last week.

One of the games PlayStation Plus subscribers were able to claim at not extra cost in March was Final Fantasy VII Remake. Sony announced that month's PS Plus lineup at the same time it revealed an upgraded version of the game for PlayStation 5: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.

However, there was no way for those who snagged the PS Plus version of FF7 Remake to get Intergrade without paying for the full game. As of Wednesday, though, there'll be a way to upgrade. Square Enix clarified that the upgrade won't be free, but it hasn't revealed pricing as yet.

Meanwhile, Square Enix says the "Intermission" expansion, which is only available on PS5, is $15 for a limited time, $5 less than the regular price. The Yuffie-centric DLC was included for those who bought FFVII Remake Intergrade outright. Those who upgraded from the PS4 version had to pay for the DLC.

The FF7 Remake upgrade process has been as convoluted as many Final Fantasy titles. The game was originally released in April 2020, and Intergrade arrived on PS5 in June this year. Meanwhile, FF7 Remake Intergradelanded on PC for the first time last week.

If you're scrambling for a last-minute holiday gift, it might be worth checking out a solid deal on Beats Studio Buds. The earbuds have dropped from $150 to $100, which matches the lowest price we've seen for them to date.

We included Beats Studio Buds on our list of the best wireless earbuds on the market after giving them a score of 84 in our review. They offer good sound quality with the kind of bass levels that Beats gear is known for. The earbuds, which have IPX4 sweat and water resistance, include active noise cancellation and an option that automatically adjusts the volume depending on environmental audio levels.

Studio Buds have Apple's H1 chip (Beats is owned by Apple, after all), and they support fast pairing with both Android and iOS devices. You can use them for AirPods-style seamless switching between Apple products, and they support the company's Spatial Audio feature. In addition, Studio Buds work with Apple's Find My and Android's Find My Device. There's also hands-free Siri support.

On the downside, we felt that call quality wasn't great and the lack of wireless charging support might be disappointing for some. There are no on-board volume controls or any options for customizing the sound either. Still, these are a worthy option for those looking for a set of true wireless earbuds.

Senators and House representatives including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Cori Bush have sent a letter to Amazon asking whether the company's policies played a role in the deaths of six workers after a tornado struck an Illinois warehouse earlier this month. An extreme weather event on December 10th led to the deaths of at least 58 people across the Midwest. The fulfillment center was destroyed in the incident.

In the letter, which was obtained by The Verge, Democratic lawmakers claim that "Amazon puts worker safety at risk in everyday situations and emergencies alike" and that the incident "fit a larger pattern." The group asked CEO Andy Jassy and executive chairman Jeff Bezos whether Amazon's "policies may have contributed to this tragedy." 

The senators and representatives are demanding details on Amazon's safety policies and information about the workers at the fulfillment center on the day of the incident They also want to know whether the company told workers to remain at the warehouse in the face of a tornado warning. The group — which includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey — asked for a response by January 3rd.

The lawmakers also expressed concern over Amazon's reported plans to reinstate a ban against workers using phones on the warehouse floor. The company confirmed over the weekend that it would allow employees to continue using phones. Workers asked for access to their devices so they can receive safety alerts and remain in contact during emergencies.

A report by Bloomberg last week detailed an exchange between a delivery driver in the area and a dispatcher. The dispatcher told the driver to "keep delivering" packages, despite warning sirens and radar showing a tornado strike was imminent. Amazon said the dispatcher didn’t follow safety guidelines and that they should have instructed the driver to find shelter. It's investigating the matter.

“Amazon’s profits should never come at the cost of our community’s lives, health, and safety," Rep. Bush told The Verge in a statement. "This cannot become the cost of doing business in America.” Two of the workers who died were Bush's constituents.

Engadget has contacted Amazon for comment.

AT&T and Verizon are among four providers that have agreed to settle FCC investigations into outages that led to failed 911 calls. CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies) and Intrado will also pay settlements and enact measures to ensure they adhere to the agency's 911 rules.

Verizon (Engadget's former parent company) will pay $274,000, the smallest settlement of the four, to resolve an investigation into an outage on May 7th, 2020. The other investigations all related to outages on September 28th, 2020. AT&T will settle two investigations with its $460,000 payment, while CenturyLink and Intrado will pay $3.8 million and $1.75 million respectively.

In addition to failed 911 calls, the FCC says the investigations into AT&T, CenturyLink and Intrado concerned whether those companies gave 911 call centers timely notifications about the outages. The second AT&T investigation related to whether the provider violated FCC rules by failing to deliver number and location information during the outage.

“The most important phone call you ever make may be a call to 911,” FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Sunny day outages can be especially troubling because they occur when the public and 911 call centers least expect it. It’s vital that phone companies prevent these outages wherever possible and provide prompt and sufficient notification to 911 call centers when they do occur."

The settlements pale in comparison to the $19.5 million T-Mobile agreed to pay to resolve an investigation into a 12-hour outage in June 2020. Still, they should at least serve as a reminder the FCC doesn't take outages impacting 911 calls lightly.

Tencent has added another notable game developer to its roster after buying Slamfire, the parent company of Turtle Rock Studios, for an undisclosed sum. The studio is behind Left 4 Dead, Evolve and, most recently, Back 4 Blood. Co-founders Phil Robb and Chris Ashton will continue to run the studio.

"By joining the Tencent family, we will not only get access to their vast resources and expertise, but we have found a partner who is encouraging us to be ambitious and visionary," Turtle Rock wrote in a blog post. The studio said it's expanding its team to support Back 4 Blood and create more multiplayer experiences. It added it will be able to do something new: "turn a universe we created into a true long-standing AAA franchise."

Tencent has made more major strides in the gaming sphere this year. It acquiredLittleBigPlanet 3 developer Sumo Group this summer for $1.26 billion. As analyst Daniel Ahmad notes, the company has bought or invested in more than 100 gaming-related companies in 2021 alone. For instance, it took stakes in Remedy Entertainment and Life is Strange studio Dontnod.

If you've ever seen a viral TikTok of a recipe that looks surprisingly delicious, you might soon be able to try the dish without having to make it yourself. Starting in March, the platform is opening hundreds of delivery-only TikTok Kitchen locations across the US.

TikTok teamed up with Virtual Dining Concepts to create the ghost restaurants, Bloomberg reports. They'll start with around 300 locations and plan to expand to more than 1,000 by the end of 2022. Virtual Dining Concepts has notable experience in this field, having worked with YouTube megastar MrBeast on his MrBeast Burger virtual restaurants (that brand's first brick-and-mortar location is now in the works).

The TikTok Kitchen menu, which will change on a quarterly basis, will include some of the platform's biggest food trends. The initial batch of dishes features baked feta pasta (which Google says was the most-searched dish of 2021), a smash burger and pasta chips. 

TikTok says it will give its cut of profits from the venture to the creators of the recipes, as well as burgeoning food creators on the platform. However, the service didn't clarify how it will determine the true creators of the dishes, as opposed to a user who might have copied a recipe and made it go viral.

The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack lineup of Sega Genesis games has just grown by five more titles. Nintendo has added Altered Beast, ToeJam & Earl, Dynamite Headdy, Sword of Vermilion and Thunder Force II to the library.

Nintendo rolled out the higher tier of its Switch Online service in October, which added Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games (and Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC) to the existing offerings of NES and SNES titles, as well as cloud storage for save data and the option to play online multiplayer games. However, Nintendo charges a premium for the Expansion Pack. It costs $50 per year or $80 for a family plan, compared with $20 per year for the regular Switch Online service.

Soon after Switch Online + Expansion Pack went live, players raised a number of issues they had with the service, such as strange control mapping for N64 games on standard controllers and iffy emulation quality. Others claimed they lost save data and encountered crashes.

Nevertheless, Nintendo is continuing to bolster the lineup of Expansion Pack titles. It added N64 classic Paper Mario earlier this month, while Banjo-Kazooie will arrive in January.

An update is rolling out for the Google Home app that should make it faster for users to hop between events captured by Nest devices. New “Transport Controls,” as Google calls them, include play/pause, back and forward buttons. The feature works with footage from the wired and wireless version of Nest Cam, the battery-powered Nest Doorbell and Nest Cam with Floodlight.

Until now, as 9to5 Google notes, users needed to scrub through the timeline or make their way to the Full History tab to get to all of the events. While it might now be faster to move from one event to the next compared with the Nest app, Home users won't have the granular control of the forward and backward buttons from the older app, which moved the playhead 15 seconds at a time in either direction.

Navigation of Nest recording history in the Google Home app has seemingly been a bugbear for many Nest users. As such, improving that experience is a welcome move. Users have been able to view Nest activity in the Google Home Feed tab since March 2020, so the change seems overdue.