We've already had a ton of gaming news this month but we're far from done. Annapurna Interactive is hosting its own showcase on June 29th, for one thing. Before that, though, there's the small matter of a Nintendo Direct. The second full-fledged Direct of 2023 will stream on June 21st at 10AM ET on Nintendo's YouTube channel.

The showcase will run for around 40 minutes and it will primarily focus on Switch titles that will arrive this year. With Nintendo not planning to release a Switch successor until at least next spring, it makes sense to start padding out the release slate for the rest of 2023. Currently, the only first-party games on the horizon are Everybody 1-2-Switch! (which will arrive on June 30th) and Pikmin 4. We'll learn more about Pikmin 4, which has a release date of July 21st, during tomorrow's Direct. 

Nintendo has yet to reveal exact release dates for the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet expansion, other than to say it will arrive in two parts this fall and winter. It's been a long, long time since we've had any official word about Metroid Prime 4, while a Detective Pikachu title for the Switch has been in the works for several years. We may or may not learn more about those during the Direct. 

Elsewhere, Pyoro, a leaker with a decent track record, says the showcase will include looks at a new 2D Mario game and a "remake of a SNES classic." Then, of course, there's always the hope that Hollow Knight: Silksong will make an appearance. In any case, we won't have to wait much longer to find out exactly what Nintendo has in store.

Rivian is joining GM and Ford in gaining access to Tesla's Supercharger network. The automaker will offer R1T and R1S owners an adapter to connect their EVs to Supercharger stations as soon as spring of next year. Rivian will also adopt North American Charging Standard (NACS) charge ports as standard in R1 vehicles starting in 2025, as well as in the upcoming R2 platform.

The move means that Rivian owners will soon be able to top up their vehicle's battery at more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the US and Canada. Rivian plans to keep expanding its Adventure Network of DC fast chargers too.

"The adoption of the North American Charging Standard will enable our existing and future customers to leverage Tesla’s expansive Supercharger network while we continue to build out our Rivian Adventure Network," Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to find new ways to accelerate EV adoption.”

Last year, Tesla said it would open source the NACS, which has taken strides toward becoming a true standard for EV charging in North America. Ford, GM and now Rivian are all embracing it as part of an apparent move away from the Combined Charging System (CCS). In November, Tesla pressed its case for the NACS, noting that the breadth of the Supercharger network meant that standard had far wider availability than CCS. The automakers' shift toward NACS could pressure the likes of Electrify America and Chargepoint to adopt it in their infrastructure too.

Here is your first peek at Cadillac's Escalade IQ. The brand has started to tease the upcoming EV, which it will formally unveil on August 9th. As you might expect, the first glimpse doesn't reveal much about the Escalade IQ. It appears to have LEDs in the grille, including a stylized, digital version of the Cadillac badge.

This will be Cadillac's first full-size, completely electric SUV. It follows the mid-sized Lyriq and the Celestiq sedan. The brand is introducing the Escalade IQ as part of its transition to an entirely electric lineup by the end of this decade. The EV is widely expected to use GM's Ultium battery technology.

Parent company GM will build the Escalade IQ at its Factory Zero plant in Michigan. GM says $2.2 billion was spent on renovating the facility for an EV-focused future. It's not clear exactly when the first Escalade IQ is expected to roll off the factory floor, but Cadillac has said the vehicle will arrive later this year.

Opera says its generative AI-infused browser is ready for public consumption. Opera One is now out of early access. It's more broadly available on Windows, Mac and Linux. You can download it from the company's website.

Opera features an integrated AI called Aria that you can access from the sidebar. You can use a keyboard shortcut (CTRL or Command and /) to start using Aria as well. The AI is also available in Opera's Android browser starting today.

The AI stems from Opera's partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Aria connects to GPT to help answer users' queries. The AI incorporates live information from the web and it can generate text or code and answer support questions regarding Opera products. In addition, Opera One can generate contextual prompts for Aria when you right click or highlighting text in the browser. If you prefer to use ChatGPT or ChatSonic, you can access those from the Opera One sidebar too.

Opera says users don't have to engage with the browser's AI features if they don't want to. For one thing, you'll need to be logged into an Opera account to use Aria.

Additionally, Opera One has a fresh look based on modular design principles. Opera says this will help the browser adapt to users' needs by surfacing key features. "The relevant modules within Opera One will adjust automatically based on context, providing the user with a more liquid and effortless browsing experience," it wrote in a blog post.

Opera is hoping to clean up tab clutter as well with a feature it calls tab islands. Opera One uses context to group related tabs together such as hotels and routes you might be looking at for a trip itinerary, or all the Google Docs you have open for a work project.

Meanwhile, Opera has retooled the browser under the hood. It employed a new architecture with a multithreaded compositor in the aim of offering a faster and smoother user interface. The company says this approach will also help it add new features and make Opera One stand out from other browsers based on Chromium. It said more AI-focused updates are in the pipeline for later this year.

Bonnaroo takes place this weekend and, as with the last two years, you can watch the festival from the comfort of your home on Hulu. Through Sunday, the streaming service is offering two channels of live music coming to you from Manchester, Tennessee. You'll find the streams on the Hulu homepage or by searching for "Bonnaroo."

This year's headliners are Kendrick Lamar, Odesza and Foo Fighters. There are many other notable names on the bill, including Three 6 Mafia, Jenny Lewis, Tyler Childers, Sheryl Crow, My Morning Jacket, Franz Ferdinand, Paramore and Pixies. As things stand, Hulu will show all of those artists' sets except for Lamar's. You can check the platform's website for the up-to-date schedule. Unfortunately, you won't be able to stream the sets on Hulu after the fact — you'll have to tune in live to catch them.

You'll need to be a Hulu subscriber to watch the livestreams, but the service is offering a seven-day trial for new and eligible returning users. Hulu has been the streaming home of Bonnaroo since 2021, when it took over the rights from YouTube. Later this year, you'll be able to watch Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Music Festival on the platform as well.

Meta is rolling back COVID-19 misinformation rules for Instagram and Facebook in countries that no longer deem the pandemic to be a national emergency. The policy will no longer apply in the US, along with some other territories.

Last July, Meta asked its Oversight Board for its opinion on the misinformation policy after noting that the pandemic had "evolved." It took some time for the Oversight Board to weigh in, but in April, the group suggested that Meta should keep removing false claims about COVID-19 that are “likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent and significant physical harm." The Oversight Board also told the company to "reassess" the types of pandemic claims that it removes under the policy.

In addition, the advisory group suggested that Meta make preparations ahead of the World Health Organization nixing the emergency status of COVID-19 "to protect freedom of expression and other human rights in these new circumstances." The WHO lifted its COVID-19 emergency designation in May and Meta has now made its response to the Oversight Board's recommendations.

"We will take a more tailored approach to our COVID-19 misinformation rules consistent with the Board’s guidance and our existing policies. In countries that have a COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, we will continue to remove content for violating our COVID-19 misinformation policies given the risk of imminent physical harm," Meta wrote in an updated blog post. "We are consulting with health experts to understand which claims and categories of misinformation could continue to pose this risk. Our COVID-19 misinformation rules will no longer be in effect globally as the global public health emergency declaration that triggered those rules has been lifted."

Soon after the onset of the pandemic, social media platforms faced pressure to combat COVID-19 misinformation that people were spreading, such as inaccurate claims about vaccines. Many — including Meta, Twitter and YouTube — established policies to tackle COVID-19 falsehoods.

Those rules have evolved over time. For instance, in May 2021, Meta said it would no longer remove claims that COVID-19 was "man-made." As the Oversight Board noted last year, Meta removed 27 million Facebook and Instagram posts that contained COVID-19 misinformation between March 2020 and July 2022.

Twitter stopped enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy in November, not long after Elon Musk took over the company and laid off thousands of workers. Meanwhile, YouTube recently updated its misinformation policy to no longer prohibit videos containing 2020 election denialism.

Spotify and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex say they’ve “mutually decided to part ways,” ending a deal for Harry and Meghan to produce podcasts for the company. The agreement, which the two sides reached in 2020, was said to be worth $25 million.

Meghan hosted a podcast called Archetypes. It sought to confront female stereotypes through conversations between Meghan and the likes of Serena Williams and Mariah Carey. The show ran for 12 episodes last year and it was the only podcast that the couple’s Archewell Audio business made for Spotify.

While Spotify and Archewell Audio said they were “proud of the series we made together” and the show won a People’s Choice Award, the former has opted not to renew Archetypes. Meghan is “continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform,” an Archewell spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal.

The Spotify deal was one of the major commercial agreements Harry and Meghan struck after giving up their royal duties. The couple sought media deals in the hope of becoming financially independent but have seen mixed results. Netflix canceled an animated show created by Meghan before production was complete, but a docuseries on the couple hit the streaming service late last year. Harry & Meghan quickly became one of Netflix’s most-watched documentaries.

Meanwhile, Spotify recently shifted its podcast strategy. Earlier this month, it laid off 200 people from its podcast teams and merged Gimlet Media and Parcast into a new division, Spotify Studios. The company will continue to produce some original podcasts via Spotify Studios and The Ringer. However, it appears to be more focused on expanding deals with high-profile podcasters from around the world (like Joe Rogan and Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper) and supporting amateur creators in the space through tools such as Anchor.

Almost three years into the Xbox Series X/S lifecycle, Microsoft says it is no longer making games for the Xbox One. While the company will continue to support ongoing previous-generation titles like Minecraft and Halo Infinite, no Xbox Game Studios teams are working on new titles for the older console. "We've moved on to gen 9," Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty told Axios, referring to the Xbox Series X/S consoles. The company also makes its games for PC.

This move had to happen at some point to avoid newer and more complex games being hamstrung by the hardware limitations of the decade-old Xbox One. Still, it'll be possible for those clinging onto an Xbox One to play Series X/S titles such as Starfield and Forza Motorsport through Xbox Cloud Gaming. “That’s how we’re going to maintain support," Booty said.

The news comes in the wake of a strong showing for Xbox at its big annual showcase last weekend. It announced new titles such as Compulsion's South of Midnight and InXile’s Clockwork Revolution, while providing fresh looks at the likes of Fable, Avowed and Senua's Saga: Hellblade II.

The move away from Xbox One will free Microsoft's teams from the shackles of the previous generation. However, some third-party developers have raised concerns that the Xbox Series S, which is less powerful than the Series X, is holding them back too.

Booty conceded that making sure games run well on the Series S requires "more work." Still, he noted Microsoft's studios (particularly those working on their second games for this generation of consoles) are now able to better optimize their projects for the Series S.

Instagram's broadcast channels, a Telegram-style one-way messaging feature, will soon be available more broadly. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his own channel that the company is rolling out the feature globally today. Until now, it had been limited to select creators.

Broadcast channels allow users to send messages to their followers, who can react to them and vote in polls, but aren't able to respond directly. Zuckerberg has been using his channel to share announcements and updates on Meta's products.

Along with text updates, creators can post images, videos and audio clips. They can also invite others to join their channel as a collaborator. Zuckerberg previously had a public chat with Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, on his channel.

Meta brought channels to WhatsApp for the first time last week. A few organizations have access for now, but WhatsApp will offer the feature more broadly in the coming months. Meta plans to bring channels to Facebook and Messenger as well.

Meanwhile, Meta is developing a text-based "decentralized social network" to rival Twitter. Reports suggest that while this will be a standalone service that will connect to the networking protocol that powers Mastodon, you'll be able to log in with your Instagram account to populate your profile.

Uber will soon start displaying video ads in its apps. They’ll appear while you wait for a ride to show up and while you’re in transit, after you place orders in Uber Eats and in search results and other parts of Drizly, the company told The Wall Street Journal. Ads will also be shown on tablets that are placed inside some Uber cars.

Users in the US will start seeing video ads this week. Tablets displaying ads will be installed on a city-by-city basis in the country. The company plans to roll out video ads in the UK, France, Australia and other markets later this year.

Static ads have been shown in Uber Eats since 2019 and in the company’s eponymous ride-hailing app since last year. The company started offering new ad tools in Drizly, the alcohol-ordering app it bought in 2021, last year. Mark Grether, vice president and general manager of Uber’s advertising division, said the company is on course to clear $1 billion in ad revenue in 2024.

The video ads in the apps will be muted by default (audio will play on tablets that are in cars) and will run for up to 90 seconds. An Uber ride lasts around 15 minutes on average, and users typically spend between two and three minutes looking at the app during trips. “We have two minutes of your attention. We know where you are, we know where you are going to, we know what you have eaten,” Grether told the Journal. “We can use all of that to then basically target a video ad towards you.”

The company says it won't share individuals' data with advertisers. You’ll be able to opt out of ad targeting based on demographic data and your activity in Uber's apps, but you can’t opt out of ads altogether, Uber says. Unless, of course, you lock your phone or switch to another app.

It’s not yet clear whether you’ll be able to immediately close an ad once it starts playing. If not, users may temporarily be unable to access certain features in Uber’s apps, such as the safety tools and the ability to message a driver or Uber Eats courier. Engadget has asked Uber for clarification.