Verizon (Engadget's parent company) has created a version of spatial audio it says doesn't require specific headphones, earbuds or speakers. The first device to use Verizon Adaptive Sound tech is the Motorola One 5G UW Ace smartphone, which is available starting today.

Verizon suggests Adaptive Sound converts just about any content to spatial audio, whereas Apple's Spatial Audio or Sony's 360 Reality Audio require special content. It works with Dolby Atmos, as does Apple's version of the tech.

Play any music, video or a game and Adaptive Sound will optimize the content for your device automatically, according to Verizon. You'll be able to adjust some settings, such as treble, bass, spatial and voice options. You'll have sound profiles to pick from too.

Verizon

Verizon plans to bring the tech to more upcoming devices. Some current devices will gain access to Adaptive Sound as well via software updates. 

It remains to be seen how well Adaptive Sound works compared with other takes on spatial audio and content that's designed to play 360-degree sound. In any case, it's interesting to see a carrier develop its own spin on spatial audio.

Meanwhile, the Motorola One 5G UW Ace seems similar to the One 5G Ace that emerged earlier this year. It features a 6.7" Full HD+ display, Snapdragon 750G 5G processor and 48MP camera. The phone costs $300 outright.

ASUS and Qualcomm have teamed up to make a smartphone that shows off some of the latter's mobile tech. Although the phone is ostensibly for the 1.6 million members of the Snapdragon Insiders program (which is a bit like Microsoft's Windows Insider early-access scheme), it'll be more broadly available by August.

The snappily named Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders harnesses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 5G chipset with a 2.84 GHz octa-core processor and the Adreno 660 GPU. It has what Qualcomm describes as "the most comprehensive support for all key 5G sub-6 and mmWave bands" of any device, along with WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E support with speeds of up to 3.6 Gbps. You'll get 16GB of LPDDR5 memory and 512GB of storage.

The 6.78-inch AMOLED display from Samsung has a 144 Hz refresh rate, which could help make it a solid gaming phone. The screen has up to 1,200 nits of brightness and it's HDR10 and HDR10+ certified. The phone has three rear cameras: a 64MP main lens, 12MP ultrawide camera and 8MP telephoto. The array can capture video in up to 8K. The device also has a 24MP front camera and AI auto-zoom.

Qualcomm says this is one of the first phones to support Snapdragon Sound, which has features including low Bluetooth latency, listening profiles, active noise cancellation (ANC) and high-resolution audio support up to 24-bit 96kHz. Along with stereo speakers, the phone comes with Master & Dynamic true wireless ANC earbuds and a charging case for them.

Qualcomm

There's also Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 support, which should charge the 4000mAh battery up to 70 percent of capacity in half an hour or fully in 52 minutes, according to the company. In addition, the phone has dual SIM slots and it runs on stock Android 11.

The device is effectively a showcase for Qualcomm's mobile tech. The company is facing some challenges on the mobile processor front, with many phone makers working on their own chips. Showing off its knowhow with its own smartphone seems like a solid idea for Qualcomm. That way, it can perhaps remind people what it can do.

The ASUS-designed Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders will initially be available in a few countries, including the US, UK, Japan and South Korea. It'll arrive in India later. You'll be able to buy the $1,499 device at ASUSTeK’s eShop and other retailers.

Sixteen months after the last event with a live crowd, the Call of Duty League (CDL) is once again opening its doors to fans. The Stage V Major tournament takes place at the end of the month, and it will host the league's first live matches with fans since March 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down everything.

All 12 CDL teams are expected to take part in the tournament, which runs from July 29th to August 1st. It takes place at Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas, home of the 2020 season champs Dallas Empire. Fans will be able to attend during the final two days, with a weekend pass costing $59. The league returned to in-person events without fans last month.

The CDL and the Overwatch League (OWL), both of which are run by Activision Blizzard, planned to hold matches in each team's home city in 2020. That format didn't last long before the leagues were forced to shift to online-only play for the season. That was a significant blow for both, but perhaps more so the CDL, which had only just started its first season. Esports are far more enjoyable with a crowd, and the future's looking rosier for live events.

OWL, meanwhile, is running a few events with fans in China this season. Envy Gaming, which owns Dallas Empire and OWL's Dallas Fuel, held an event at Esports Stadium Arlington last month with the Fuel playing on stage and Overwatch League fans in attendance.

Destiny 2 fans will soon find out more about the future of the game. Bungie will host a showcase on August 24th, and although there aren't many more concrete details, it's very probable that the studio will reveal more details about the upcoming expansion, The Witch Queen.

A teaser image Bungie shared gave some hints about what's in store. Along with a tagline that reads "survive the truth," there's a symbol that has been linked to Savathun, the Hive witch queen. Savathun is also known as the "Queen of Lies" and "The Deceitful Sister," which certainly have a connection with that "survive the truth" line.

Bungie has been planting the seeds for a bigger focus on Savathun in recent months, following years of teases about the character. Season 14 has seen the Vex imposing The Endless Night upon the Last City, and (spoiler warning) it seems Savathun was behind it all. That gives credence to rumors Savathun will be the main villain in The Witch Queen expansion.

What's more, the studio said in February that it would have more to share about "The Witch Queen and beyond" in late summer. The timing of the showcase matches up with that.

Earlier this year, Bungie delayed The Witch Queen to 2022, partly because of the impact of COVID-19. The studio had long been thinking about shifting its annual expansions to the first half of each year anyway, "primarily for the health of the team."

Meanwhile, cross-play is slated to go live alongside Season 15. We might learn more details about that important change during the showcase. The current season is scheduled to end on the day of the event. Season 15 should start soon afterward.

Grubhub is teaming up with Russian tech giant Yandex to deliver food to students and others on US college campuses with the help of autonomous robots. The companies have agreed a multi-year partnership, and the robots will start dropping off orders on select campuses this fall. Grubhub works with more than 250 colleges across the country.

Yandex says its robots can access areas and navigate obstacles that cars cannot. It will be able to deliver food in mainly pedestrian areas and the robot delivery service will be integrated into Grubhub's app. When the robot gets close to its destination, the customer will receive a notification. They can retrieve their order by using the app to unlock a hatch on the robot.

The machines use the same self-driving tech as Yandex's autonomous cars, and they can operate in a variety of weather conditions. Yandex has been using the robots for its own food and grocery delivery services in Russia. The rovers have also been fulfilling restaurant orders in Ann Arbor, Michigan, since April.

Tom Nook apparently isn't content to sell houses to millions of Animal Crossing: New Horizons players. It seems he wants Monopoly players to fork over their bells as well. That's right, as leaks suggested in recent days, Animal Crossing Edition Monopoly is on the way.

Rather than the traditional Monopoly format of buying properties and charging other players rent when they land on one of them, you'll be collecting bugs, fish, fossils and fruit. You'll also meet some other characters and carry out island tasks. When you stop by Nook's Cranny, you can use bells to buy decorations, which are worth Nook Miles. Whoever collects the most Nook Miles is the winner.

You'll need to be careful, though. If you're unlucky, you might go right to jail.

Hasbro

The crossover follows previous collaborations between Hasbro and game publishers. Along with Fortnite and Pac-Man versions of Monopoly, there have been severalMario-based editions. ACNH is one of the biggest games of the past year or so, and it wouldn't be surprising to see Animal Crossing fans snap this up.

Animal Crossing Edition Monopoly costs $25 and it'll be available in August. You can pre-order the board game now.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, the long-awaited third open-world entry in the Test Drive series, at last has a release date, but fans are in for quite the wait. Publisher Nacon plans to release the game on September 22nd, 2022.

The company made the announcement during a Nacon Connect livestream. Developer KT Racing says the automotive MMO will take place in Hong Kong, following the Oahu and Ibiza settings of previous games, and it's recreating the region in a 1:1 scale. Along with urban areas, you can expect to explore forests, mountains, marshes and beaches.

The game will feature a racing tournament as well as a conflict between two clans, the Streets and the Sharps. You'll join one of them, try to rise through the ranks and attempt to overthrow your rival clan. More details about the first Test Drive Unlimited game in over a decade will emerge in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Nacon and developer Daedalic provided another look at The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which is scheduled to arrive in fall 2022. It mixes stealth and parkour, and takes place in parts of Middle-earth that you might not have seen before. You'll encounter some other familiar characters, including Legolas' father Thranduil and Gandalf.

There was also an announcement and brief teaser for RoboCop: Rogue City, in which the legendary cyborg is tasked with cleaning up the streets of Old Detroit. It's a first-person shooter from developer Teyon and it's coming to PC and consoles in 2023.

Elsewhere, Nacon revealed Steelrising, from Greedfall studio Spiders, will arrive next June. Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong and Blood Bowl 3 have been delayed to 2022, however.

Smart grill maker Traeger has bought wireless meat thermometer company Meater, which it says marks the next step in creating the "ultimate connected grilling experience." Traeger allows users to monitor and control connected grills through a smartphone or Apple Watch. Bringing Meater on board will help people to get an accurate temperature reading for their food from just about anywhere, Traeger said.

Meater makes several Bluetooth and WiFi-enabled thermometers, while Traeger currently only sells wired thermometers. Traeger said the acquisition will enable it to "accelerate entry into the adjacent accessories market with a highly complementary technology-enabled product." It's unclear whether Traeger plans to bundle Meater products with its grills or sell them separately — Meater will continue to run as a standalone company. Still, it wouldn't be surprising to see Traeger integrate Meater readings into its own apps for a more seamless outdoor cooking experience.

Sony's next State of Play showcase will focus on Deathloop, the upcoming PlayStation 5 console exclusive from Arkane Studios. The stream will feature a nine-minute look at the first-person time-loop adventure, with the stealth and combat features getting some time to shine.

Following a couple of delays, Deathloop should arrive on PS5 and PC on September 14th. Microsoft and Bethesda will be in an unusual situation where they're releasing a game you can't play on Xbox for an entire year.

Also on the docket for the 30-minute State of Play are updates on other third-party games, as well as some indie titles. What you won't see during the showcase is anything about Horizon Forbidden West, the God of War sequel or the next PlayStation VR hardware. Even though Sony recently showed off 19 minutes of Horizon Forbidden West gameplay, it's smart of the company to set expectations about what won't be featured to mitigate disappointment. That said, Sony urged fans to "stay tuned throughout the summer" as updates are on the way soon. 

Sony skipped E3 once again this year, but PlayStation was announced as a partner for Summer Game Fest, which suggested a State of Play was imminent. You'll be able to watch the stream on Thursday, July 8th, at 5PM ET on Twitch or YouTube.

Muse Group, the new owner of audio-editing app Audacity, caused a stir in recent days with an update to the software's privacy policy. It stated that Muse Group will collect users' personal data and possibly share that information with third parties, including law enforcement and potential buyers. That led to claims from users that the software was becoming "spyware."

The company has attempted to clear up the controversy, which it says is primarily down to "unclear phrasing in the Privacy Policy,” as Music Radar reported. Muse Group says it will only collect "very limited" data (operating system version, processor type, IP address and opt-in error reports) from Audacity users. Users' IP addresses are stored in a readable format for 24 hours before they become "pseudonymized and irretrievable."

Muse Group added it will only share data if required by a court in a jurisdiction in which it operates. It won't hand over user information following a law enforcement request or otherwise sell or share data. The data collection is "a standard policy requirement for providing services in many jurisdictions, regardless of the depth of data collected or nature of service," the company said.

"We do understand that unclear phrasing of the Privacy Policy and lack of context regarding introduction has led to major concerns about how we use and store the very limited data we collect," Muse Group's head of strategy Daniel Ray wrote on GitHub. The company is working with its legal team on a revised, clearer version of the policy, which it plans to publish soon.

The limited data collection is necessary because of two new features in the upcoming version of Audacity, according to Ray: a way to automatically check for updates, and the optional error reporting. Ray didn't address a privacy policy request for users aged under 13 not to use the app. The General Public License under which Audacity is distributed doesn't allow restrictions on the use of software. 

The updated privacy policy does not apply "to offline use of the application," so if you block Audacity's access to the internet, it shouldn't be an issue. The policy will only come into force with the next version of the software, 3.0.3. Current and older versions don't have any networking features and they won't collect any data.

At best, this was a case of miscommunication which caused concern among Audacity users. Nevertheless, many community members are pushing for a fork of the open-source app without any data collection requirements.