The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has shared what it says are the first images and video captured inside a hurricane by a surface drone. The agency placed the Saildrone Explorer SD 1045 in the path of the category-four Hurricane Sam. The saildrone overcame 50-foot waves and winds at speeds topping 120 miles per hour to capture data from the hurricane and offer a new perspective into such storms.

The device has a special “hurricane wing” to help it survive the intense wind conditions. The SD 1045 is one of five saildrones that have been in the Atlantic Ocean during hurricane season. They are constantly recording data to help researchers gain a deeper understanding into hurricanes. The information could help improve storm forecasting, which will hopefully reduce the loss of lives when hurricanes make landfall.

“Using data collected by saildrones, we expect to improve forecast models that predict rapid intensification of hurricanes,” Greg Foltz, a scientist at NOAA, said in a statement. “Rapid intensification, when hurricane winds strengthen in a matter of hours, is a serious threat to coastal communities. New data from saildrones and other uncrewed systems that NOAA is using will help us better predict the forces that drive hurricanes and be able to warn communities earlier.”

Sidenote: I can't be the only one with a sudden urge to watch Twister again.

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Disney are among the major companies backing corporate lobby groups and organizations that are battling a US climate bill, according to a report. That's despite those companies all making pledges to reduce their impact on the environment.

The United States Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the Rate Coalition are three of the lobbyist and business groups that oppose the Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget bill, which includes measures to fight climate change. The Guardian reports that watchdog Accountable.US analyzed the groups to learn which companies have connections to them.

The Chamber of Commerce, the biggest lobbying group in the US, has said it would "do everything we can to prevent this tax-raising, job-killing reconciliation bill from becoming law.” The group's board includes executives from the likes of United Airlines and Microsoft.

The board of the Business Roundtable includes Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google and Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. The group has said it's “deeply concerned” about the bill and the increased taxes it would lead to for the rich. Google has also made political contributions in the past to individuals and organizations that have denied climate change.

The report notes that The Rate Coalition is set to release attack ads against the bill. That body's members include Disney and Verizon (Engadget's former parent company).

The support of lobbying groups that are attempting to kill the bill conflicts with the tech companies' attempts to tackle the climate crisis. Apple, Google and Microsoft have all backed the Paris Agreement, for one thing. Apple and Microsoft promised to become carbon neutral and carbon negative respectively by 2030.

In 2019, Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos launched the Climate Pledge, which has a goal of hitting net zero carbon emissions by 2040 and meeting the Paris Agreement benchmarks a decade early. Microsoft is among the 200+ companies that have joined the pledge. Disney, meanwhile, is aiming to reach net zero emissions for its direct operations by 2030.

Engadget has contacted Apple, Google and Microsoft for comment. The Guardian said that none of the companies it contacted rejected the stances of the groups they're members of. None of them said they would re-assess their connections to those bodies either.

On Friday, Amazon expressed support for the infrastructure bill and the climate aspects of the Build Back Better reconciliation bill. A spokesperson provided the following statement to Engadget:

Amazon believes both private and public sector leadership is required to tackle the global issue of climate change. That’s why we actively advocate for policies that promote clean energy, increase access to renewable electricity, and decarbonize the transportation system. In addition to advocating for these issues on a local, state, and international level, we have a worldwide sustainability team that innovates sustainable solutions for both our business and customers, as well as co-founded The Climate Pledge - a commitment to be net-zero carbon 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.

Amazon has made bold commitments to reduce our carbon emissions, and we continue to encourage other companies to join us. We support investments in the Infrastructure and Build Back Better bills to lower emissions in key sectors like energy and transportation, and we believe these investments will help advance America’s carbon reduction goals. As we said earlier this year, we support an increase in the corporate tax rate to pay for things like infrastructure, and we look forward to Congress and the administration coming together to find the right, balanced solution that maintains or enhances U.S. competitiveness.

Update 1/10 12:22PM ET: Added Amazon's statement.

Only a few months after we got our first look at Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Square Enix announced a release date at Tokyo Game Show. It will hit PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC on March 18th.

Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an attempt to bring a Dark Souls-style feel to the Final Fantasy universe. It's an action RPG from Nioh developer Team Ninja that by all accounts will be pretty difficult, which fits in with the Souls-like vibe.

A new trailer gives some hints at the story and a peek at some of the beings you'll encounter, including a pirate with an enormous ax and a multi-headed monster. The visuals still look a bit rough, but at least Team Ninja and Square Enix have a few months to polish things up.

Meanwhile, Square Enix has released a second demo. It's an expansion of the first timed trial that was available in June, only this time you can play with your friends on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. There are more enemies to test your mettle against, new areas to explore and additional playstyles and jobs to check out. The demo is available until October 11th at 10:59AM ET.

Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has a free upgrade path from PS4 and Xbox One to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S respectively. Along with the base game, you can preorder a Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes extra missions and a digital artbook and mini soundtrack. Preordering either version will net you a few in-game goodies, and you'll have early access to the whole game 72 hours before the official launch.

Corsair is getting into the monitor business with its first gaming display. The Xeneon 32QHD165 has a 1440p, 32-inch display that has a refresh rate of up to 165Hz. There's support for AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync technology, and the company claims the monitor has a 1ms response time.

The IPS LED screen uses quantum dot tech and has 400 nits of brightness, with 100 percent sRGB, 100 percent Adobe RGB and 98 percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. The Xeneon has thin bezels and 178-degree viewing angles, both horizontally and vertically.

Corsair says the monitor is integrated with its iCue and Elgato Stream Deck software to make it easy to change settings on the fly, depending on what you're using the Xeneon for. As for connectivity, expect dual HDMI 2.0 ports, a DisplayPort 1.4 slot, a pair of USB-C outlets, two USB 3.1 ports and, best of all, a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Xeneon 32QHD165 is available now in North America, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, France and several other European countries. It doesn't come cheap, however. The monitor costs $800.

A group of former and current Blue Origin employees have accused the company of fostering a "toxic environment." In an essay written by former head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams and 20 co-authors, the group claims some senior leaders at Blue Origin "have been known to be consistently inappropriate with women."

The essay states that one executive has been reported to human resources multiple times for sexual harassment. Another former exec used condescending language to women and inappropriately enquired about their personal lives. The group says that person had a "close personal relationship" with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and was only removed from the company after groping a female subordinate.

"We found many company leaders to be unapproachable and showing clear bias against women," the group wrote. "Concerns related to flying New Shepard were consistently shut down, and women were demeaned for raising them." The essay details several instances of how men and women are treated differently at New Origin, such as one man receiving a going-away party after being fired and a female leader who was let go being ordered to leave the premises right away.

"The workforce dedicated to establishing this future 'for all' is mostly male and overwhelmingly white," the group said. "One-hundred percent of the senior technical and program leaders are men."

Joe Raedle via Getty Images

The group details other concerns, such as Blue Origin ignoring safety and environmental issues. The authors say, for instance, that despite the company's mission to "build a better world," none of them "has seen Blue Origin establish any concrete plans to become carbon neutral or significantly reduce its large environmental footprint."

They say that "professional dissent" is stifled, with CEO Bob Smith asking one of the group not to make it easy for workers to ask questions during company-wide town halls. The essay's authors state that Smith asked for a list of "troublemakers or agitators" within the company so that senior leaders could "have a talk" with those in their divisions.

On top of that, the essay makes reference to history's worst space race between Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson. "Competing with other billionaires — and 'making progress for Jeff' — seemed to take precedence over safety concerns that would have slowed down the schedule," the authors claimed.

The group concluded the essay by saying that Bezos and other Blue Origin leaders should be held to account and learn how to run a company that's respectful and responsible. "In our experience, Blue Origin’s culture sits on a foundation that ignores the plight of our planet, turns a blind eye to sexism, is not sufficiently attuned to safety concerns, and silences those who seek to correct wrongs," they wrote. "That’s not the world we should be creating here on Earth and certainly not as our springboard to a better one."

A Blue Origin spokesperson sent the following statement to Engadget:

Ms. Abrams was dismissed for cause two years ago after repeated warnings for issues involving federal export control regulations. Blue Origin has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind. We provide numerous avenues for employees, including a 24/7 anonymous hotline, and will promptly investigate any new claims of misconduct.

Razer is looking to lower the barrier to entry for live streaming with a budget webcam and capture card. Streaming newbies can add a video feed of themselves to their broadcast with the Kiyo X USB webcam.

As with a lot of current games, you can choose between optimizing your webcam feed for fidelity or framerate with 1080p 30 fps and 720p 60 fps options. The auto focus feature should keep the image sharp and you can adjust settings on the fly. With the Razer Virtual Ring Light app, you'll be able to use the glare from your monitor as a lighting source.

Razer

Also new is the Ripsaw X capture card. It can capture footage at up to 30 frames per second in 4K. Razer says the device delivers "near-zero latency" through its HDMI 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectivity. You can hook it up to a camera with HDMI output to use it as a high-end webcam, or capture gameplay from a console.

These are more budget-friendly versions of other Razer devices, such as the Kiyo webcam, which has a built-in light ring, and the 60 fps-capable Ripsaw HD capture card. Kiyo X costs $80, while Ripsaw X will run you $140. Both are available now from Razer's website and they'll ship on the next business day.

This year's edition of The Game Awards will take place on December 9th. As always, you'll be able to stream it live in up to 4K on dozens of platforms. After last year's online-only event, Geoff Keighley's show will once again have an in-person audience. The ceremony is returning to its old haunt of the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

As always, The Game Awards will feature world premieres and new title announcements, as well as some musical performances. In addition to looking toward the future, the ceremony will reward the talent behind the best games of 2021 with awards across a bunch of categories. The Game Awards will also offer fans free playable game content and a way to interact with the show on some streaming services.

“We are very excited to return to the Microsoft Theater for a special night to celebrate the past, present and future of video games,” said Keighley, who is creator, host and executive producer of The Game Awards. “Our goal is to bring the entire community together to celebrate the most powerful form of entertainment in the world, and recognize emerging voices that represent the future of the medium.”

In the last year alone, almost 1.5 million podcasts have been added to Spotify. Fishing out something good from that ocean of content might not be easy, but Spotify wants to help you find a keeper. To mark International Podcast Day, it created a quiz to help listeners discover a show that matches their taste.

Users in the US, UK, Germany and Australia can now check out the Find The One tool. It asks questions such how a podcast can win you over — perhaps you prefer a conversational show or a narrative-driven murder mystery one — and how serious you like things to be. Spotify will then make a recommendation that's partly based on your listening habits.

The company says it found correlations between some artists and podcasts. Lil Nas X, for instance, has a lot of gamer fans who also listen to the likes of the TommyInnit Podcast, while Olivia Rodrigo and Call Her Daddy have a shared audience. Spotify also discovered that many BTS and Queen fans listen to podcasts about... BTS and Queen.

In the same week it began public tests of Xbox Cloud Gaming on consoles, Microsoft is expanding the project formerly known as xCloud in other ways. Cloud Gaming is going live in Brazil and Mexico today, and in Australia and Japan on October 1st.

The company started testing xCloud in those four nations last November. It seems the preview proved popular, as players in Brazil packed out the Cloud Gaming servers even before Microsoft formally announced the test.

The expansion means that more than a billion people in 26 countries now have access to Xbox Cloud Gaming. All they need is a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, a compatible device (like a computer, smartphone or tablet) and a strong-enough internet connection. Folks don't necessarily need a controller, as there are a bunch of games that have touch controls.

Microsoft made the announcement at Tokyo Game Show, where it had some other news up its sleeve. Action JRPG Scarlet Nexus just landed on Game Pass, for one thing. You can play it on consoles, PC and Cloud Gaming with touch controls.

The company is also localizing Starfield and Redfall, two major upcoming first-party games, for Japan. The Starfield localization is the biggest translation project Bethesda has ever tackled, as it involves more than 300 actors and north of 150,000 lines of dialogue.

Sony's latest big PlayStation sale is underway with discounts on hundreds of games. As the name of the Blockbuster Games sale suggests, you'll be able to save on a ton of major PS4 and PS5 titles. The sale runs until October 13th.

Some Sony exclusives are on the list, including Returnal (which is down from $70 to $49.69), Sackboy: A Big Adventure ($34.79, usually $60), The Last Of Us Part II ($26, saving you $14) and God of War ($10, half off). The deluxe edition of Days Gone ($30) is actually less expensive than the $40 regular version at the minute. 

Third-party titles on sale include Cyberpunk 2077 ($33.49, usually $50), Mortal Kombat 11 (down from $50 to $12.49) and Outriders ($36, typically $60). A bunch of Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed games are included as well. Among them are 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (half off at $30) and Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which is down 25 percent to $45. 

If you didn't pick up Star Wars: Squadrons when it was in the PlayStation Plus library a while back, you can buy it now for $16 (usually $40). Star Wars: Battlefront II, meanwhile, is 70 percent off at $6.

In some cases, you'll save more if you're a PlayStation Plus member. Speaking of which, Sony has announced the next batch of games subscribers can snag at no extra cost. New tactical shooter Hell Let Loose (PS5), Mortal Kombat X and PGA Tour 2K21 (both PS4) will be available to claim starting on October 5th. Until then, you can add Predator: Hunting Grounds, Overcooked: All You Can Eat! and Hitman 2 to your library.