Much like Steam and the Epic Games Store, the Xbox PC app will soon let folks install games in any folder of their choosing. Xbox insiders (i.e. people who've signed up to test new features) will be able to pick a default drive and folder for game installs. 

The Microsoft Store hosts both games users can buy individually and Xbox Game Pass titles. Until now, all apps and games have shared a single install location. It's not uncommon for PC gamers to have more than one storage drive. They might use one as a boot drive and for day-to-day apps, and a solid state drive for games. So, after this update rolls out more broadly, installing games on a secondary drive should be a cinch.

Insiders "will also find that downloads of those games have improved over time, so it's even easier and faster to get to your next game," Jason Beaumont, Xbox's partner director of experiences, said in a video discussing the updates. What's more, players of many Xbox Game Pass titles will soon have access to local files, so they'll be able to install mods and move files. The Xbox app will show whether a game is moddable.

A Steam update released in September made it straightforward for players to move an installed game and all of its files to another drive. The process is a little more convoluted for games installed from Epic's store, but it's still possible. These are welcome moves, as they give players more choice over how to manage their games, and it's good to see Microsoft offering folks more flexibility too.

Elsewhere, the Xbox PC app now has a cloud gaming tab, giving Game Pass Ultimate subscribers a quick way to find cloud-enabled console games. Beaumont added that Microsoft is continuing to improve the app's performance, including "making it more reliable to download and play your games." The team's also trying to make it easier for developers to add features like cross-saves and achievements. 

Apple has bolstered its iCloud for Windows app, with the latest version now offering support for the ProRes video and ProRAW photo formats. As such, you'll now be able to access those files on a Windows device through iCloud. The owner of a shared file or folder can now let others add or remove people too.

Apple

Back in August, Apple added a password manager to iCloud for Windows, and it works with Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome extensions. Now, in version 13, there's an option to generate strong passwords through the iCloud Passwords app.

This should prove a useful update for folks with a Windows PC and an iPhone. They'll have better access to their photos and videos. What's more, iCloud Keychain will be a more viable cross-platform password manager for them.

Charts have long been a useful way for Spotify users to check out the top songs on a given day as well as what's trending. The company is giving fans and artists more charts to check out, as well as a dedicated website on which to peruse them.

New to the platform are weekly genre charts. You'll be able to see the top 200 songs across 17 genres, with user playlists and editorial input used to categorize tunes. You can also take a peek at artist charts. These will be updated every Friday to show the top 200 artists globally, as well as in each of Spotify's top 65 markets, based on streams from an artist's entire catalogs.

What's more, users can dive into more than 200 city charts to see the biggest songs in specific locations. Local pulse charts, meanwhile, show how popular a song is in a city compared with how big that track is around the world. That should provide a sense of how listeners' tastes in one city match up against the broader Spotify userbase.

Spotify

There are a few features tailored toward artists as part of this expansion. They can see when a song entered the chart, its peak position and streaks. Credits are now included for each song on charts under the "more" option. If a song is doing particularly well, artists and fans can share that success using promo cards that Spotify created.

Spotify also expanded its podcast charts this year. There's now an option to see the top podcast episodes, in addition to the most popular shows.

Microsoft and Facebook's parent company Meta have teamed up to integrate Teams and Workplace. Companies that use both platforms can try the integration at no extra cost. Through a pinned tab in Teams, workers can access Workplace content, including a condensed version of the Workplace news feed, without having to switch between apps. They can react to and comment on Workplace posts in Teams too.

Starting next year, companies will be able to stream Teams meetings to Workplace groups. As such, you'll be able to watch meetings and events in either app or check out a recording later on Workplace.

Meta and Microsoft have previously brought their enterprise and productivity products together on other fronts. Office 365 tools such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint are already available on Workplace, as are SharePoint and OneDrive. Workplace is also integrated into the Azure Active Directory.

In addition, Meta recently said Teams will be available on Meta Portal products in December. People will be able to use the devices for Teams video calls.

Given Meta's focus on the metaverse and its vision of how virtual reality factors intothe future of work, it wouldn't be surprising to see a Microsoft Teams integration on Meta Quest headsets. Meta recently brought Slack and Dropbox to Quest 2, after all.

Soon after the iPhone 13 was released, an iFixit teardown showed that Face ID stopped working if the display was replaced by a third-party repair shop, unless they transferred a microcontroller from the original screen. Apple will soon mitigate the issue with an upcoming software update, so Face ID will still function even without swapping the chip to the new display.

"A solution will be available in an upcoming software update," Apple told Engadget. The Verge first reported on the forthcoming fix.

Moving the microcontroller from the device's original screen to a replacement is no easy feat — iFixit noted a microscope is needed. That may have put independent repair shops outside of Apple's Independent Repair Provider network in a tough spot, since it takes more time and special equipment to replace a screen and swap in the microcontroller.

It's not clear when Apple will roll out the software update to remedy the problem, though questions remain over why the Face ID function broke in the first place if the microcontroller wasn't moved over. The controversy emerged amid a broader push by the US government to strengthen right-to-repair rules.

A week after opening up its games to all subscribers on Android, Netflix is rolling them out on iPhone and iPad worldwide. Users can now download the games from the App Store. 

Starting tomorrow at 1PM ET, you'll see a dedicated row in the Netflix iOS and iPadOS apps, from which you can pick a game to download. Those with an iPad can find the games through the category dropdown menu as well. 

You'll be able to launch the games from within the Netflix app. Whether you open them from there or directly on your iPhone or iPad, you'll need to authenticate your Netflix account before you can play. 

The initial lineup of games are the same as on Android. There are two Stranger Things titles, Stranger Things 1984 and Stranger Things 3, which Netflix started testing as part of subscriptions in Poland in August. The other three are more general-interest casual games: Shooting Hoops, Teeter Up and Card Blast.

Earlier today, details emerged about another title that's coming to the library soon. Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story, which will arrive on Nintendo Switch and PC later this month, is the first game announced for Netflix after the broader rollout of games on Android.

Virgin Galactic reopened ticket sales for its trips to the edge of space at a higher price back in August, and the company says it has sold 100 of the $450,000 tickets so far. They used to cost $250,000 each.

Overall, around 700 people, including Elon Musk, have reserved a spot on a Virgin Galactic flight. The company hopes to sell 1,000 tickets before starting commercial trips, which it recently delayed (again) to the fourth quarter of 2022. As The Verge notes, Virgin Galactic has so far only let people who made a refundable $1,000 deposit buy tickets. The company plans to let more people reserve a spot starting in early 2022.

Virgin Galactic's first crewed flight took place in July with founder Richard Branson on board, nine days before Jeff Bezos ventured to the edge of space on Blue Origin's maiden crewed flight. Unity 23, Virgin Galactic's next flight, won't take off until at least mid-2022. That flight will carry three paying Italian Air Force passengers who will study the effects of microgravity.

It's a big month for Riot, as the company is going all out to promote Arcane, the Netflix animated series based on League of Legends. But the company hasn't forgotten about the gaming side of things. Its publishing label, Riot Forge, has announced a rhythm runner game set in the LoL universe.

In Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story, you'll play as Ziggs, a Yordle and Hexplosives expert, who wants to build the greatest bomb in the history of Runeterra. You'll carry out bomb jumps and attacks as you bypass obstacles, disarm enemies and light fuses to the beat of this platformer's soundtrack.

In terms of gameplay, Hextech Mayhem looks a little like the Bit.Trip series. That shouldn't be too surprising, since Choice Provisions is the developer behind both.

More details will be revealed during a Riot Forge video showcase at 11AM ET on November 16th. Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story will be available on Nintendo Switch, Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store on the same day. If you pre-order, you'll snag an exclusive skin for Ziggs.

The game is also coming to Netflix at a later date. It's the first new title announced for Netflix's nascent gaming service since the company expanded it to all Android users last week. The current lineup of five mobile games will be available to iOS users soon. Netflix subscribers will be able to play Hextech Mayhem at no extra cost.

Meanwhile, Riot Forge said it will share more info about the long-awaited turn-based RPG Ruined King: A League of Legends Story in the coming weeks.

Peloton's fitness ambitions go far beyond treadmills and stationary bikes. Its next product is the Peloton Guide, a strength-training camera system that hooks up to your TV and uses machine learning to understand your movements.

The movement tracker feature is compatible with hundreds of Peloton strength classes. The idea is to encourage users to carry out all of the exercises in a class and keep up with instructors (but it's not a big deal if you can't stick to the instructor's pace). The Self Mode will enable users to match their form against the instructor's in real-time via smart camera technology. You'll be able to select how you appear on screen, and the aim is to help you make adjustments during a class.

Peloton

The body activity function serves as a reminder of which muscle groups you've worked out most recently. It will suggest classes that target muscles you might have overlooked lately. In addition, Peloton Guide has a voice activation mode. You can start, stop, rewind and fast forward a class. The feature will be available in the US, Canada and the UK at the outset (for what it's worth, Peloton's bikes only just got a pause button for on-demand classes).

In terms of privacy, you'll be able to put the system to sleep, slide a cover over the camera and turn off the microphone with a physical switch, though the company says the microphone won't be on or listening unless you're in a class. Peloton plans to improve the system over time by training the machine learning model on more movements and disciplines, and increasing the number of classes and training programs. Meanwhile, you'll be able to use your own equipment and weights.

Peloton

The company says that strength is its platform's fastest-growing discipline. The Peloton App offers some strength classes, while unofficial groups and tags focused on strength now boast nearly 250,000 community members.

Peloton Guide is the company's least expensive device to date. It costs $495 US / $645 CAD / £450 / €495. The system, which comes with a remote and the updated Peloton Heart Rate Band, will arrive in the US and Canada in early 2022. It will hit the UK, Australia and Germany later next year.

The Heart Rate Band, which will be an armband rather than the current chest strap, will be available separately early next year for $89, and is compatible with Peloton's other products. Peloton says it will discontinue the existing Heart Rate Monitor in the coming months.

It's worth noting that, as with Peloton's other products, you'll need a subscription to use it. The Peloton Guide Membership costs $13 USD / $17 CAD / £13 / €13 per month, and allows five people to work out with the system. A membership is included with Peloton's All-Access subscription (which many Bike and Tread owners will already have).

Peloton Guide is not going to be for everyone. Some people won't be comfortable seeing themselves on a screen as they're working out. But for those who do strength training at home and aren't sure that their form is right, it could fit the bill.

Back in 2018, the Google Arts & Culture app introduced a feature that looks your doppelgänger in works of art. It's searched for matches for more than 120 million selfies so far. Now, the app can look for animals in art that resemble your pets too.

Using a machine learning algorithm, Pet Portraits matches a snap of your furry, finned or feathered friend against tens of thousands of works from Google's partner institutions. The app might determine that the best match for your pet is in a piece of street art from Mexico or a cat figurine from ancient Egypt.

You can share your Pet Portraits as still images or choose a few of them to turn into a GIF slideshow. To get started, tap the rainbow camera button at the bottom of the screen on the Google Arts & Culture app, which you can download on iOS or Android.

The Pet Portraits feature wasn't available at the time of writing, so unfortunately I wasn't able to test it out with snaps of the Engadget team's pets. However, Google has shared a few examples of the tool in action, including one or two that maybe aren't super close to being a perfect match.

Google

Google

Google