Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have a lot of AI tricks up their sleeves, and among them is a Live Translate feature. With Google's first mobile chip, Tensor, Pixel 6 can translate text as you type. Translation is handled by the Private Compute Core rather than in the cloud, so the device can convert what you're writing into other languages (including English, French, German, Italian and Japanese) almost instantaneously.

The phones can also translate messages someone sends to you. The Pixel 6 can detect when text in a chat app, such as WhatsApp or Snapchat, is in a different language to your own one and it offers a translation. 

The feature should come in handy for chatting with friends from other corners of the world who have a different mother tongue and might not understand all the nuances of your language. Live Translate could also prove useful when you're traveling somewhere with limited data and WiFi connectivity.

Google is placing a big focus on Tensor-powered AI features in Pixel 6 devices. Along with Live Translate, the phones have other language detection features and improved speech recognition. There's a Wait Time feature that shows the expected length of time you'll be on hold for thousands of prominent companies in the US, and Pixel 6 can also convert automated menus into an onscreen interface.

Catch up on all the latest news from Google's Pixel 6 event!

Just as Google kicks off its big Pixel 6 event, the company has finally started rolling out Android 12 on Pixel 3 and above. The company released the first public beta of the OS during the I/O developer conference in May, and it's been priming Android 12 for prime time since with several other betas.

Along with a major visual overhaul, Android 12 packs in a bunch of new features, including privacy and security upgrades. A Privacy Dashboard shows which sensors (such as GPS, camera or microphone) apps have accessed in a chart and displays an activity timeline. You'll be able to find out why apps needed access to data from those sensors.

An indicator will appear at the top of the screen when an app is using the camera and/or microphone, and you can shut off those sensors completely for all apps in Quick Settings. There's an option to only allow apps to see your approximate location rather than precisely where you are too. On top of that, Android 12 will handle the processing for more language and audio features on-device, including Live Caption and the Now Playing song recognition tool.

Elsewhere, you can expect redesigned emoji, scrolling screenshots (which capture information from apps or web pages beyond what's on the screen), games you can play while they download, a new one-handed mode and an accessibility option that lets people control the device using face gestures.

Although the Android 12 rollout is underway on Pixel, owners of compatible Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo and Xiaomi devices will need to wait a little longer. The OS will hit those phones and tablets, and ones from other companies, later this year. Google released Android 12 on the Android Open Source Project earlier this month.

There's another important thing to note about the Android 12 rollout. The dynamic color experience powered by the Material You design language is only available on Pixel devices for the time being. The color scheme will match the wallpaper you choose across the system and apps, and that look will be mirrored across other Google products, including smart displays, wearables, Chrome OS and the web. Google says other Android devices will get access to the experience later.

Catch up on all the latest news from Google's Pixel 6 event!

It'll be easier for Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers to listen to music with spatial audio starting today. You can now use any headphones to listen to songs with Dolby Atmos and Sony's 360 Reality Audio via supported devices.

Those include iOS, Android, Echo Studio, some other Alexa Cast devices and Sony soundbars and home theater speakers with 360 Reality Audio support. Later this year, you'll be able to stream Amazon Music's Dolby Atmos tracks to Sonos Arc and Beam (Gen 2) soundbars through the Sonos app.

Amazon switched on spatial audio in Amazon Music in 2019. It's now available to Unlimited subscribers at no extra cost and it'll be on by default. Earlier this year, Amazon rolled HD and Ultra HD music into the standard Unlimited individual, family and student plans, rather than asking users to pay extra for those tracks, as was previously the case.

Until now, Amazon's spatial audio has only been available on a limited selection of devices, including Echo Studio and Sony's SRS-RA3000 and SRS-RA5000 speakers. So, bringing the feature to a wider selection of headphones should mean far more people are likely to try it.

Apple Music also started offering spatial audio this year with Dolby Atmos. However, that streaming service has at least one trick Amazon does not: dynamic head tracking for spatial audio using AirPods Pro or AirPods Max.

Disney has shaken up its movie release calendar, with several Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks being delayed. The revamped schedule, which Variety reports is due to a production-related snowball effect, affects the slate for 2022 and beyond, and it will have a knock-on effect on Disney+.

All of the MCU films Disney had on the docket for 2022 have been pushed to a later slot. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was penciled in for March 25th, but now it's taking Thor: Love and Thunder's old date of May 6th. The next Thor movie will arrive on July 8th, in turn pushing back Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to November 11th.

The schedule shifts mean there will only be three Marvel movies next year instead of the planned four, as Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels now has a release date of February 17th, 2023. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has moved from that date to July 28th, 2023. On the flip side, Disney brought one mystery Marvel movie (hopefully Guardians of the Galaxy 3) forward by a week from November 10th, 2023.

Elsewhere, the next Indiana Jones movie has been delayed by 11 months. You'll need to wait until June 30th, 2023 for Harrison Ford's fifth stint as the iconic archeologist. Ford sustained an injury while filming this summer, though he's now back in action. A live-action Disney movie, a 20th Century film and two Marvel flicks (all untitled) have been removed from the 2023 schedule. 

Remarkably, given how many times the film has been delayed over the years, Disney hasn't shifted Avatar 2's release date. It's still on the schedule for December 16th, 2022.

It remains to be seen what impact these changes will have on Disney+. For the rest of 2021, Disney has committed to an exclusive theatrical window for its films before they're available to stream, but it hasn't divulged how things will work in 2022 and beyond.

The company adopted a simultaneous release strategy for some of its movies over the last year or so amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Mulan, Raya and the Last Dragon, Cruella and Black Widow requiring a $30 Premier Access pass for early access on Disney+. Disney's decision to let viewers stream Black Widow at home on the same day it hit theaters prompted a now-settled lawsuit from star Scarlett Johansson. Pixar movies Soul and Luca went straight to streaming as part of regular Disney+ subscriptions in some countries.

Elsewhere, some MCU shows on Disney+, such as Loki and Hawkeye, tie into the theatrical movies. As such, the scheduling of future series might be impacted by the overhauled theatrical slate.

Reddit has teamed up with Adobe as part of its push into original content. Its first live show is an comedy competition series called PsBattles Live, which will stream on the r/PsBattlesLive subreddit every day this week. 

Shrill star Patti Harrison hosts PsBattles Live, which will stream at 3PM ET every day. Moderators will challenge the community to edit images in creative ways using Photoshop. The broadcast will highlight some of the entries and encourage members of the community to vote for their favorites. A panel of comedians will provide commentary on the creations. 

There don't seem to be any major real-world prizes up for grabs. According to Reddit, those who take part will earn "points, community awards and internet glory" — so pretty much what they'd get for sharing weird, wild and funny photoshopped images on Reddit anyway. Still, this is a neat way to shine a spotlight on the creativity of Reddit users. Reddit and Adobe are launching the series to mark the 10th anniversary of the the r/photoshopbattles subreddit, which has more than 17.4 million members. 

“Reddit users contribute more than 110k original artworks on the platform every month and r/photoshop battles is one of our most vibrant examples of a community coming together to create and collaborate over a shared passion, which is what our platform is all about,” Reddit chief marketing officer Roxy Young said. “PsBattles Live is not only a celebration of one of our most beloved Reddit communities, it is the latest immersive experience from our longstanding partners at Adobe."

Sinclair Broadcast Group, the second-largest TV station operator in the US, said a ransomware attack has locked up some servers, workstations and networks. The company detected the issue on Saturday and it has been trying to restore operations. It said the incident still was affecting systems as of Monday morning. For one thing, the attack has disrupted ads on local broadcast stations. Sinclair hasn't yet determined the impact on its business.

In addition, the company confirmed the attacker(s) stole data from its network. It's unclear as yet exactly what the data included. An investigation into the incident is underway after Sinclair brought in a cybersecurity forensic firm and an incident response team. It informed law enforcement and relevant government agencies about the matter.

The Biden administration has made fighting ransomware and bolstering cybersecurity a priority, and it planned to bring together representatives of 30 countries this month to discuss the threat. Earlier this year, a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline disrupted fuel supplies across the US for several days. Other prominent companies and organizations that have fallen victim to ransomware this year include meat supplier JBS, Bose, Acer and health services in Ireland and the US.

Just like pretty much every other major game over the last year or so, Elden Ring has been delayed. FromSoftware has postponed the release of its massively anticipated action RPG by five weeks, from January 22nd to February 25th, saying in a tweet that "the depth and strategic freedom of the game exceeded initial expectations." The studio apologized for the delay and added that "your patience and understanding mean a great deal to us.”

However, there was some good news for fans who might now be scrambling to reschedule paid time off they planned to take in January. A closed network test of Elden Ring will take place in November, giving a lucky few players a chance to play a chunk of the game three months in advance. Publisher Bandai Namco said the goal is to stress test "various technical verifications of online systems." 

You have until November 1st to sign up for a chance to take part in the test, which will be open for five three-hour sessions between November 12th and 14th. The test will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, but not PC. You don't need to be a PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscriber to take part.

Members of Congress have accused Amazon executives of misleading or lying to an antitrust committee about its business practices, following recent reports that the company uses third-party seller data to copy products and promotes those versions in search results. The representatives, all members of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, are considering whether to ask the Department of Justice to undertake a criminal investigation.

In the letter to chief executive Andy Jassy, Reps. David Cicilline, Ken Buck, Pramila Jayapal, Jerrold Nadler and Matt Gaetz asked Amazon to provide "exculpatory evidence” to back up testimony from executives )(including former CEO Jeff Bezos) to the subcommittee in 2019 and 2020, according to The Wall Street Journal. Bezos told the committee last year that the company doesn't allow employees to use data from individual sellers to bolster its own product lines, though "couldn't guarantee" that the company hasn't misused such data. The company's associate general counsel, Nate Sutton, said in a 2019 testimony that Amazon doesn't “use individual seller data directly to compete” with third-party sellers.

An investigation published by Reuters last week suggested Amazon India "ran a systematic campaign" of copying other companies' products and manipulating search results to promote them. The Markup also reported that Amazon places its own products above competitors' goods in search results, including ones with higher customer ratings. The representatives said the reporting directly contradicts sworn testimony from Bezos, from whom Jassy took over in July, and other executives.

“We strongly encourage you to make use of this opportunity to correct the record and provide the Committee with sworn, truthful, and accurate responses to this request as we consider whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. "At best, this reporting confirms that Amazon's representatives misled the Committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law."

The House Judiciary Committee has been looking into this issue since 2019 as part of a broader investigation of competition in digital markets. The representatives gave Jassy until November 1st to respond to the letter. "We’re giving Amazon one last chance to come clean about how they abuse other seller’s data and unfairly advantage their own products," subcommittee chair Cicilline wrote on Twitter. "We cannot continue to allow Big Tech to destroy small businesses." 

"Like other retailers, we look at sales and store data to provide our customers with the best possible experience," Amazon told The Wall Street Journal. "However, we strictly prohibit our employees from using non-public, seller-specific data to determine which private label products to launch. While we don’t believe these claims are accurate, we take these allegations very seriously and have launched an internal investigation."

An Amazon spokesperson provided the following statement to Engadget:

Amazon and its executives did not mislead the committee, and we have denied and sought to correct the record on the inaccurate media articles in question. As we have previously stated, we have an internal policy, which goes beyond that of any other retailer’s policy that we’re aware of, that prohibits the use of individual seller data to develop Amazon private label products. We investigate any allegations that this policy may have been violated and take appropriate action. In addition, we design our search experience to feature the items customers will want to purchase, regardless of whether they are offered by Amazon or one of our selling partners.

Tesla will soon bring the Model Y to the UK. The company has opened pre-orders for the EV in the country, with deliveries expected to start in early 2022, according to an email to customers spotted by Elektrek.

The original plan was to start Model Y deliveries in Europe after Tesla started making them at its Berlin Gigafactory. However, Tesla has brought Model Y EVs from its Shanghai production facility to some European markets.

Most countries in Europe drive on the right, but the UK and Ireland stick to the left, so the steering wheel is generally on the right there. Gigafactory Berlin is supposed to start making Model Ys as soon as next month. Still, it's unclear whether Tesla will make Model Ys for the UK there or ship them from China.

The Model Y starts at £54,990 for the Long Range All-Wheel-Drive model and £64,990 for a Performance one, according to Tesla's configurator. Enhanced Autopilot costs £3,400 and the Full Self-Driving Capability add-on is £6,800, but that feature is in beta.

No Twitch passwords were exposed in the livestreaming service's recent major security breach, according to the company. In an update on the incident, Twitch said it's confident systems that store hashed login credentials weren't accessed, nor were ACH/banking details. Twitch previously noted it doesn't store full credit card numbers.

After reviewing information in the exposed files, Twitch says the breach "only affected a small fraction of users and the customer impact is minimal." The leaked information mostly contained source code repository documents and a subset of payout details for streamers.

Twitch previously disclosed that someone was able to gain access to its servers due to a configuration change error. It fixed the issue and took measures to shore up its systems. "We take our responsibility to protect your data very seriously," Twitch wrote. "We have taken steps to further secure our service, and we apologize to our community."