Sony has added another developer to its growing stable at PlayStation Studios. Firesprite, which is behind The Playroom and The Playroom VR, has become the company's 14th studio.

"Firesprite is a creative and ambitious studio that is exceptional at building incredible experiences that truly showcase the potential of our hardware," PlayStation Studios chief Hermen Hulst wrote in a blog post. "The team’s technical and creative capabilities will be paramount to growing our stellar catalogue of exclusive games, and I think you’ll be excited for what’s to come."

Several developers will be returning to Sony as part of the deal. Hulst noted that "quite a few members of Firesprite," including all of the founding team, came from Wipeout developer Studio Liverpool. Sony bought that studio in 1993, when it was known as Psygnosis, but shut it down in 2012.

Sony and Firesprite have been working together more or less since the latter was formed that same year. Firssprite teamed up with Team Asobi on The Playroom, a 2013 collection of augmented reality minigames designed to show off the PlayStation Camera's capabilities. Its most recent game is The Persistence, a survival horror title that hit consoles and PC last year after debuting on PlayStation VR.

The Firesprite team is working on something new, but it's not entirely clear what. Other than The Playroom and Vita and mobile title Run Sackboy! Run!, all of the studio's games have had a virtual reality aspect. Given Hulst's comments and that Sony's working on a second-gen PS VR headset, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to learn Firesprite's next game is for that platform.

A month before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the West in March 2020, Amazon pledged to remove products that claimed to cure the coronavirus. However, items that promote misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines are still appearing in search results on the Amazon storefront, according to Senator Elizabeth Warren.

The senator's staff found that searches for terms including “COVID-19,” “COVID,” “vaccine,” “COVID-19 vaccine” and “pandemic” led to results such as books peddling "falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and cures," including at least one that Amazon tagged as a best seller. Engadget was able to replicate some of the search results Warren flagged.

In a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, which was spotted by CNBC, Warren urged the company to review Amazon's algorithms. She called on Jassy to, within 14 days, detail a plan to modify the algorithms so they no longer turn up products that include COVID-19 misinformation, and to release a public report on "the extent to which Amazon’s algorithms are directing consumers" to such items at the moment.

In addition, Warren sought clarification on Amazon's current policies about those products and what the company has done to tackle the spread of false information. She also wants to know more details about the best-seller tag, and why books containing COVID-19 misinformation are being awarded the label.

Warren acknowledged that Amazon has provided its users with resources for accurate information about COVID-19, including prominent links to the Food and Drug Administration website. Her staff see any instances of Amazon displaying sponsored search results for pandemic-related terms either. However, she said her team's findings were otherwise "deeply troubling."

“As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise, Amazon is feeding misinformation loops through its search and ‘Best Seller’ algorithms, potentially leading countless Americans to risk their health and the health of their neighbors based on misleading and inaccurate information that they discover on Amazon’s website," Warren wrote. Engadget has contacted Amazon for comment.

Every major online platform has struggled to keep a lid on COVID-19 misinformation. Most have prohibited users from peddling mistruths and suspended or banned many accounts that broke the rules.

DJI has revealed its latest gimbal for smartphones and, as a recent leak suggested, the Osmo Mobile 5 has an extending arm that allows you to use it as a selfie stick. The company says this model, which is palm-sized when folded, is a third smaller than the last version and features its three-axis shot-stabilization technology.

The ShotGuides feature aims to help videography newcomers learn the ropes. It offers 30 packages of preset shooting tutorials and it can automatically edit videos. The ActiveTrack 4.0 function, meanwhile, offers tracking support at up to 3x zoom at 5 m/s. DJI claims it can identify and keep a subject centered in the frame.

Other features include gesture control, automatic dynamic zoom, timelapse, motionlapse (which lets you set movement points) and hyperlapse, which allows you to move with the device. Along with the three-axis stabilization, the latter three features use Electronic Image Stabilisation in an attempt to make videos look as smooth as possible. Additionally, the OM 5 has panorama and spin shot modes, as well as glamor effects and story mode templates, which are designed to help you create short videos to share on social media.

DJI

The handle has a new button that should allow you to access and control the OM 5's main features more easily, DJI says. There's a revamped magnetic clamp that goes over smartphone cases and aims to provide better protection and it should support more phone models than the OM 4. The Fill Light Phone Clamp, which is sold separately, has a built-in auxiliary light.

The OM 5 is available in two finishes, Sunset White and Athens Gray, starting today. It costs $159 and it includes the magnetic clamp, tripod, wrist strap, power cable and storage pouch. The Fill Light Phone Clamp costs $59.

Netflix and WWE have been working together for quite a while, and their next project is a little spookier than usual. Escape the Undertaker is an interactive horror movie that's coming to Netflix on October 5th — just in time for Halloween.

The flick stars the legendary Undertaker, along with Big E, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, who comprise The New Day, one of WWE's most popular acts of the last decade. The film sees the trio visit The Undertaker's mansion, which turns out to be "an extreme haunted house, packed to the brim with supernatural challenges," according to Bloody Disgusting. You'll decide the fate of The New Day as the group tries to "survive the wrath of The Undertaker."

Other WWE-related fictional projects have landed on Netflix over the last few years, including a sitcom called The Big Show Show and The Main Event, a movie in which a kid becomes a wrestler after finding a magical mask. The latest offering will add to Netflix's growing library of interactive content, which includes the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt finale, a Carmen Sandiego special, a mindfulness experience and, more recently, video games.

WWE actually has a long history of making horror movies through its WWE Studios arm, including an ill-fated reboot of the Leprechaun series. It has had a hand in some fine horror flicks, such as Oculus and Mohawk, so Escape the Undertaker could turn out to be pretty solid. Just try to keep The New Day out of The Undertaker's boiler room.

Disney is jacking up the prices of two Hulu plans. As of October 8th, the standard plan is increasing from $6 to $7 per month, and the ad-free option is also jumping up by a dollar a month to $13. As Deadline notes, the Hulu + Live TV and Disney Bundle prices are staying the same.

The cost of Disney+, ESPN+ and Disney Bundle plans have increased in recent months, so it's not exactly shocking that Hulu has followed suit. It's the first change to on-demand Hulu plans since the basic option actually dropped by $2/month in February 2019. Disney bumped up the live TV subscription price by $10/month last December.

Microsoft is rolling out a revamped personalized news service called Start. The feed will be baked into the Windows 10 taskbar and the Windows 11 widgets section. You can also access it via the web, iOS and Android apps and the new tab page in Microsoft Edge.

Start draws from Microsoft's artificial intelligence and machine learning expertise (as well as human curation) to create a news feed featuring up-to-date info tailored to your interests. It curates news from more than 1,000 publishers around the world.

The more you use Start and indicate what you're interested in, the closer the feed will hew to the things you prefer to read about. You can tell the app when you see a publisher or story you're not keen on, or hit the Personalize button to refine the feed whenever you like. Your preferences are linked to your Microsoft account, so the service should offer the same experience on all platforms where you're logged in.

Microsoft

Start includes information cards for certain key topics, such as weather, traffic, sports and finance. You can decide which cards you want to pop up for at-a-glance information.

Although MSN isn't going anywhere, Start is replacing Microsoft News. The icon and name for that app will change to Start branding the next time users update it. Those who visit the Microsoft News website will be redirected to the Start home page as well.

The name of the feed might cause a little confusion for Windows users, given the prominence of the Start button in the operating system over the last couple of decades (that menu is getting an overhaul in Windows 11). Still, Microsoft Start looks like a polished experience, and it could be a solid way to keep tabs on the news in which you're interested.

Bose has announced a new soundbar that replaces the Smart Soundbar 700 at the higher end of its lineup. Unlike the previous model, the Smart Soundbar 900 has Dolby Atmos support.

The company claims the Soundbar 900 goes beyond the overhead spatial audio offered by most Atmos soundbars. It says Bose PhaseGuide tech can create horizontal audio effects as well. The Soundbar 900 blends Bose's spatial audio knowhow with custom arrays, dipole transducers and low-profile transducers to create "a layer of realism," according to the company. Even if the show or movie you're watching doesn't support Dolby Atmos, Bose says its tech can still create effective spatial audio effects by remixing signals.

Bose is promising strong bass performance with almost no distortion with the help of its QuietPort tech. The Adaptiq feature, meanwhile, calibrates audio for your space.

The speaker includes decent connectivity, including HDMI eARC for hooking it up to your TV, as well as WiFi, Bluetooth, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2 support. You can link the device to other Bose smart speakers, including as part of a multi-room system, and expand your home theater setup with a subwoofer or rear satellite speakers. The Soundbar 900 is also compatible with the company's new QuietComfort 45 headphones.

The device has rounded corners and it's 2.3 inches tall, a little over four inches deep and 41 inches long (a couple of inches longer than the Soundbar 700). It's designed primarily for 50-inch and larger TVs; it might look out of place below a smaller screen.

The Smart Soundbar 900 costs $900. Pre-orders open today, and the speaker will be available on September 23rd.

The future's looking rosy for Remedy Entertainment after the success of the excellent Control. Not only are more games in that series on the way, the studio is reviving one of its other beloved titles: Alan Wake. A 4K remaster of the atmospheric thriller will arrive this fall. 

Alan Wake Remastered includes the base game and the two expansions: The Signal and The Writer. There will be commentary from creative director Sam Lake too.

Remedy regained the publishing rights to Alan Wake from Microsoft in 2019, but it's Epic Games Publishing that will bring the remaster to various platforms. The new version is coming to the Epic Games Store, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. Alan Wake will also be available on PlayStation consoles for the first time — it's bound for both PS4 and PS5.

The episodic saga debuted on Xbox 360 in 2010 before hitting PCs two years later. Alan Wake vanished from the Steam and Xbox stores in 2017 due to expired music licenses, but it later returned to the storefronts after Microsoft resolved the issue.

Remedy has kept the legacy of Alan Wake alive over the past decade. Along with several nods toward the game in Control, the latter had a full-on crossover with Alan Wake in its AWE expansion. An Alan Wake sequel is reportedly in the works as well.

A California bill centered around warehouse labor issues is set to go to a State Senate vote this week. Should it become law, the legislation could require Amazon and other warehouse companies to make significant changes. Bill AB-701, which passed the State Assembly in May, would force warehouse operators like Amazon to be transparent about the quotas their workers are expected to meet.

"The bill would provide that an employee shall not be required to meet a quota that prevents compliance with meal or rest periods, use of bathroom facilities or occupational health and safety laws," the legislative counsel's digest for the proposed legislation reads. The bill also seeks to ban employers from punishing employees who don't meet quotas that don't allow them to take breaks or comply with health and safety rules. If workers can't realistically hit Amazon's productivity expectations, the company may have to lower quotas in the state.

Several Amazon workers have spoken of foregoing or minimizing bathroom breaks to ensure they meet quotas. According to reports, the company's expectations lead many delivery drivers to pee in bottles and coffee cups instead of taking time to use a restroom. Warehouse workers have shared similar complaints. Amazon closely monitors worker productivity, including how long each employee spends away from their stations.

An Amazon spokesperson told The New York Times that "terminations for performance issues are rare," but they didn't comment directly on the bill.

Last year, it emerged that Amazon reportedly expects workers to scan 400 items an hour at fulfillment centers that use robots. According to a report from the Center for Investigative Reporting, the rate of serious injuries sustained at those warehouses was 50 percent higher than in Amazon warehouses that aren't automated. 

Warehouse injury researcher Edward Flores, faculty director of the Community and Labor Center at the University of California, Merced, told the NYT that repetitive strain injuries are a problem in automated warehouses. Workers are "responding to the speed at which a machine is moving," which leads to "higher incidence of repetitive motions and thus repetitive injuries," Dr. Flores said.

Amazon announced some measures aimed at reducing warehouse injuries in May. The plans included meditation kiosks and zones where workers can stretch, as well as hourly “mind and body” prompts.

The company has a long history of controversial labor practices. At the start of this year, Amazon shut down a warehouse in Chicago where workers held walkouts and protested for improved working conditions. Some of those employees said they were given a choice between working 10-hour graveyard shifts at other fulfillment centers or finding a new job. At the time, Amazon denied that was the case.

In August, a National Labor Relations Board official recommended that workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama hold another union vote. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union accused Amazon of violating labor laws by interfering with the process. Workers at the fulfillment center voted against unionizing.

After a number of delays, Top Gun: Maverick was supposed to finally arrive in theaters in November. Not so. Paramount has pushed back the release date once again, and the long-awaited sequel is now set to arrive another six months later, on May 27th, due to COVID-19 and delta variant concerns. The decision has also affected the planned Top Gun expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator, as Asobo Studio has delayed that too.

"Paramount Pictures recently shifted the release date of Top Gun: Maverick to Memorial Day weekend, May 27, 2022," the studio wrote in a brief blog post. "As we have previously announced, the Top Gun: Maverick expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 10 PC, Steam, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Game Pass will be released alongside the movie. We look forward to sharing more information in the future."

The news might be disappointing to those who were looking forward to darting around the virtual skies in Maverick's jet over the Thanksgiving holiday. Still, given the marketing synergy between the expansion and the movie, it's not too surprising that Asobo made this call.

The studio hasn't revealed too much about what the free expansion will entail. An announcement teaser showed off fighter jets and an aircraft carrier, so you might be able to take off from and land at sea.