NVIDIA is testing out a new unified app that lets users adjust GPU settings, install software and fine-tune gameplay, all from the same place. Currently, you have to access the dated Control Panel app and do some heavy menu diving to do stuff like configuring G-Sync. There’s also an entirely separate "user-friendly" app called GeForce Experience for basic GPU adjustments, driver updates and quick settings. So this collapses two different things into one.

The appropriately-named NVIDIA app is just a beta for now, but seems to do a whole lot. You can use it to update drivers, discover and install standalone applications like GeForce Now and make all kinds of GPU adjustments. To further simplify things for PC gamers, you can also use it to fine-tune both game settings and driver settings. It’s pretty much a one-stop shop.

There’s a redesigned in-game overlay for easier access to recording tools and performance monitoring. The overlay also lets you apply various gameplay filters, including AI-powered filters available to GeForce RTX users. The app looks to be squarely aimed at those who balk at the perceived complexity of PC gaming. You can even use it to redeem bundles and rewards and opt into experimental features and new RTX capabilities. 

Speaking of new RTX capabilities, the app lets users easily experiment with that new remix tool that adds AI-optimized upscaled textures to older games. The celebrated Half Life 2 is getting an unofficial RTX remaster thanks to this technology. The app will also have access to a new feature called RTX Dynamic Vibrance that beefs up visual clarity and improves upon the current Digital Vibrance feature found in the current Control Panel app.

To celebrate this beta release, NVIDIA has unveiled a new Game Ready Driver for the survival crafting game Nightingale. This driver optimizes the game with DLSS 3 and adds the company’s Reflex latency-reducing tech. As for the beta, it’s available for download right now. So go ahead and give it a shot.

There’s a Borderlands movie coming out, and now we have our very first teaser trailer. This footage gives us a glimpse of all of the major characters, most of which are sourced from the game, and the tone that director Eli Roth is going for.

There’s a definite Guardians of the Galaxy vibe running throughout. Maybe it’s the heavy use of an iconic Electric Light Orchestra song, or maybe it’s the ragtag group of adventurers or the mix of action and humor. In any event, director Eli Roth seems to be channeling his best James Gunn. All things considered, that seems to be the right tone for a Borderlands movie. Color us cautiously optimistic.

Now onto the cast and the characters that franchise fans know and love. Cate Blanchett plays the famously short-tempered Lilith and the actress certainly looks the part. Just look at that hair and outfit. The film follows Blanchett as she looks for a mysterious vault rumored to be stuffed to the brim with sweet, sweet loot. It’s just like the game!

Jamie Lee Curtis plays the scientist Dr. Tannis, an NPC in all three of the mainline Borderlands games. Comedian Kevin Hart portrays the mercenary Roland, a playable soldier in many of the games. Jack Black, following his turn as Bowser in the Super Mario Bros. Movie, plays the robot Claptrap. The well-meaning robot is considered a mascot for the franchise and often acts as comic relief. Black seems well-suited to the role. The cast is rounded out by Ariana Greenblatt as the demolitionist Tiny Tina, star of the spinoff game Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and Florian Munteanu as her enforcer Krieg.

Of course, it remains to be seen if Roth can pull off this kind of big-budget adventure spectacle. The director’s mostly known for horror films. One thing’s for certain, however, the trailer actually looks and feels like Borderlands. The big and bright color palette recalls the cel-shaded aesthetic from the games. The movie hits theaters on August 9.

The Pokémon Company is hosting a morning livestream on February 27 at 9AM ET to share “exciting Pokémon news” on its official YouTube channel. The yearly stream, appropriately named Pokémon Presents, will provide a bunch of info about what’s coming down the pike throughout 2024.

The company does this stream every year, but this one could be special. After all, it happens to fall exactly on the totally not made-up holiday Pokémon Day, which celebrates the original Japanese release of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green back in 1996.

We don’t know exactly what will be shown, but we have some informed guesses. Given previous Pokémon Presents streams, we’ll likely get updates on live-service hits like Pokémon Go, the MOBA Pokémon Unite and the recently-released tracking app Pokémon Sleep.

Dollars to doughnuts, we’ll also get something more substantial to chew on. Most of these streams feature the announcement of an actual Pokémon RPG. Chronologically speaking, it’s too soon to expect a reveal for the true next-gen Pokémon game, as Scarlet and Violet just launched in 2022. The mainline entries typically follow a three-year release cycle.

That leaves remakes and spinoffs. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl released in 2021 so it’s high-time for remakes of the beloved Pokémon Black and White fifth-gen titles. This is just a guess, but it’s not like the Pokémon Company is gonna skip a generation in its remake-a-palooza. It’s Black and White’s turn to shine.

There’s also a chance we’ll get a new Let’s Go title set in another region of the Poké-verse. We could even get a new action RPG like Pokémon Legends: Arceus. There’s always going to be some oddball announcements, like a new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon or even a new Pokémon Art Academy that integrates the Switch’s touchscreen.

You should expect some announcements regarding content set in the Pokémon cinematic universe. The delightfully quirky stop-motion show Pokémon Concierge was just renewed for a second season, so we could see a teaser. There could also be a trailer for a new season of Pokémon Horizons: The Series.

Also, to throw a bit of cold water on expectations, this is a stream conducted by The Pokémon Company, and not Nintendo. You won’t catch a whiff of software planned for the Switch 2, or whatever the new console ends up being called. Rumors swirl that the release of that console has been delayed until 2025. Nintendo’s holding its own Direct livestream tomorrow, but it’ll focus on third-party titles and will likely not include any news on the forthcoming console.

Tinder has announced it’s bringing an advanced ID verification system to the US, UK, Brazil and Mexico. This is part of an ongoing effort to reduce the number of catfish swimming around the old dating pool. The new system requires that users take a video selfie and upload a valid driver’s license or passport.

Tinder has long required users to take photos or video selfies as part of its verification process, which would provide a blue checkmark to illustrate authenticity. So the passport and driver’s license stuff is new. Once you upload the ID, Tinder will check to see if it lines up with your video selfie and the photos on your profile. It’ll also look at the date of birth on the license or passport to confirm your age.

If the idea of uploading your ID to a dating app gives you an icky feeling, you can still get verified with just a video selfie. However, your profile will get a blue camera icon badge, and not a blue checkmark.

Tinder started testing this system last year in New Zealand and Australia, and it must have worked out just fine, given the broader roll-out. The updated verification tool is coming to the UK and Brazil by spring and the US and Mexico by summer. In other words, catfish only have a few more months left to do their thing. That includes you, AI catfish.

This shouldn’t be confused with Tinder’s recently-abandoned background check feature, which was powered by the non-profit Garbo. Tinder and Garbo paired up to provide a robust background check tool on the app in 2019, to check users for histories of violence.

Garbo ended up breaking it off with Tinder’s parent company, Match Group, after disagreements over payments and how to best use the tool. Garbo’s CEO said she’d rather leave the partnership instead of allowing "the vision of Garbo to be compromised and relegated to a piece of big corporations’ marketing goals.”

Epic Games just announced that Apple has finally reinstated its iOS developer account in the European Union. This means that the developer plans to launch a digital storefront for iOS devices sometime this year. More importantly, this will allow users to easily download Fortnite on iPhones.

The company revealed that it would be bringing its games store and Fortnite to iOS back in January, but it wasn’t clear if Apple would grant it a developer account. This account makes it much easier for developers to distribute apps and content across Apple’s various platforms.

This is all thanks to the EU’s new Digital Markets Act, which officially goes into effect on March 7. The law designates large services as "gatekeepers," like Apple's App Store, and commands them to become interoperable with competing products to remain in compliance. As far as enforcement in this case, the DMA will all developers to take payments and distribute apps on iOS from outside of official App Store. Apps sold by a third-party sales platform still need to be approved by Apple, via the company’s Notarization process, to spot and remove potentially harmful content.

There’s been a lot of bad blood between Apple and Epic ever since the latter company began using its own in-app payment option in the iOS version of Fortnite. Using it's own payment processing, the 30 percent cut of cosmetic upgrades and power-ups it sold to Fortnite players was no longer landing in Apple's pockets. This launched a lengthy legal battle in the US over whether or not Apple’s walled-garden approach was anticompetitive. Epic sued Apple and Apple banned Epic from its platform. 

A judge recently issued a permanent injunction that gives developers a way to avoid the 30 percent cut of sales that Apple takes via its in-house payment system. This seemed to satisfy neither company. Apple wasn’t happy about being forced to allow third-party payment options on its platform. Epic was unhappy regarding the language of the injunction, in which it was decided that Apple did not have a monopoly on mobile gaming and did not violate antitrust law by banning competing app marketplaces.

Apple is also allowed to arrange fee structures to dissuade developers from using a third-party payment option. It's widely expected that the ruling, as it stands, will not reduce Apple's current 30 percent cut of App Store sales in any meaningful way. Both companies appealed. California’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s rulings. The companies took their appeals to the US Supreme Court, but the court refused to hear them. That’s where we stand right now.

As all of this was happening on this side of the pond, the EU passed the aforementioned Digital Markets Act, which also forced Apple’s hand into allowing third-party storefronts on iOS devices. There’s no ongoing legal battle in Europe between the two companies, so EU residents will get to play Fortnite again. Americans will have to rely on Xbox Cloud Gaming or GeForce Now to get the popular shooter running on their Apple device.

In any event, maybe things are cooling off a bit between the two companies. It’s worth noting that Disney recently bought an equity stake in Epic Games, to the tune of $1.5 billion. Apple and Disney are known to be particularly cozy.

Waiting on hold is a great way to hear the same weird instrumental song over and over again, but otherwise it’s an absolute waste of time. Google originally tackled the issue on its Pixel phones back in 2020 via the “Hold for Me” tool, which would wait in the queue and alert you when an actual person picked up. Now, a very similar feature is being tested on Google Search.

The appropriately-named “Talk to a Live Representative” will call a business on your behalf, navigate through the various phone menus, wait on hold and then notify you when an actual human is ready to talk. It’s currently available as a Search Labs experimental feature and was originally spotted by an X user called Sterling.

This actually goes a bit further than the Pixel-exclusive feature. “Talk to a Live Representative” is available on just about any phone and most computers, whereas “Hold for Me” is reserved for Pixel 3 models and newer. It’ll also actually initiate the call in the first place. Pixel owners must enable Hold for Me once the call has already been initiated. 

Here’s how it works. When you search for customer service numbers, you’ll see a “talk to a live representative” prompt. Once you tap the prompt, you’ll be directed to answer some questions as to the purpose of the call. For instance, you might want to update an airline booking or cancel a flight. The system will ask for your number and that’s that. You’ll get SMS updates regarding wait times and Google will call you when it has the service rep on the line.

There are some caveats. This is an experimental feature, so it's subject to bugs, and it doesn’t work for every customer service number out there. It currently specializes in airlines, telecommunication companies, big-box retailers, insurance providers, mail carriers and more, according to a list obtained by 9to5Google.

“Talk to a Live Representative” is currently available for US residents via the company’s Search Lab. If you’re a Search Lab user, you can access the tool on the Google app for Android and iOS, as well as via desktop Chrome. The company hasn’t said when this would get a wider rollout.

Though it doesn’t get the respect of Black Friday, Presidents’ Day is actually a very good time for deals. Many stores have dedicated sales in place to help you celebrate George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, just like the former presidents intended. Best Buy is especially known for its robust Presidents’ Day sales, and this year is no exception.

The retailer has officially cut the ribbon on this year’s deals and Engadget’s here to find the cream of the crop. Here are the best finds in Best Buy’s Presidents’ Day sale. There's plenty of tech, but no axes to chop down a cherry tree (sorry, George.)

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The Apple Vision Pro is officially two weeks old, and the apps are starting to roll in. TikTok was conspicuously absent on launch day, but now our long national nightmare has come to an end. The Vision Pro has a native TikTok app.

This isn’t just the iPad app with a new coat of paint. There are some neat features here that take advantage of Apple’s well-regarded and prohibitively-expensive headset. The navigation bar and like button are moved entirely off-screen, giving users an uninterrupted view of video content.

TikTok

This extends to comment sections and creator profiles, as they both now appear as expansions alongside the feed, which TikTok says provides “a more immersive content viewing experience.” To that end, TikTok integrates with the headset’s immersive environments, so people can watch short-form videos on the moon or surrounded by the lush flora of Yosemite.

TikTok also works with the Vision Pro’s Shared Space feature, allowing the app to exist somewhere in your peripheral as you work on other stuff. The location of the app will remain static, so it’ll be in the same place every time you put on the headset (provided you are in the same room.)

You may notice that these features are primarily intended for content consumers, and not creators. Engadget reached out to TikTok to ask about creator-specific features and we’ll update this post when we hear back.

The app’s available for download right now, though it likely won’t be accessible for TikTok’s core userbase of 10 to 19 year olds. The Apple Vision Pro costs $3,500. That’s like an entire childhood of allowances.

YouTube just released a new feature that lets users remix music videos and turn them into Shorts. This allows you to adjust various parameters from a full-length music video to create something wholly unique. Does this sound like TikTok? It definitely sounds like TikTok.

Here’s how it works. Just tap “remix” on a music video. You’ll be presented with four options: Sound, Green Screen, Cut and Collab. You can only pick one, so choose wisely. The Sound tool does what you think. It strips the audio and lets you use it in your own YouTube Short. This is the kind of thing that’s hugely popular on TikTok, with many users lip-syncing to various audio clips. This Sound tool is available to any music video and most songs that were automatically uploaded to the platform.  

Green Screen takes things a step further. It turns the video into a background, which you can then dance in front of or whatever. The Cut tool just clips out a five second portion of the video that you can add to any Short. Finally, Collab creates a side-by-side video that places your Short next to the original content. YouTube says this is the perfect option when “you and your friends” want to show off choreography alongside the original artist.

The feature’s already available on the mobile app, though it may not have rolled out to every user yet. If you want to check, just open the app, click on a music video and look for that “remix” option. It’s worth noting that many of these features were already available to Shorts creators, but not in one handy tab.

YouTube/Lawrence Bonk

YouTube Shorts was already a TikTok-alike when it released back in 2021, but these features make it even more, uh, TikTok-ier. With that in mind, YouTube picked the perfect time to officially launch the toolset. Universal Music has pulled its roster from TikTok after a breakdown in financial negotiations. UMG artists include Taylor Swift, Drake, Billie Eilish and many more. 

This has forced TikTok creators to swap out music tracks, as anything sourced from Universal is automatically muted. The record label has accused TikTok of wanting to pay a “fraction” of rates offered by other social media sites. YouTube’s Remix tool has access to Universal’s entire roster.

A team of South Korean researchers at Yonsei University have developed a hybrid rice variant that’s quite literally filled with beef. The lab-grown rice grains were infused with cow muscle and fat cells, so they are one part plant and one part meat. The rice is also an appetizing shade of bright pink, which tends to happen when flesh enters the picture.

The team hopes to eventually offer a cheaper and more sustainable source of protein with a much lower carbon footprint than actual beef. It’ll also save time for those who enjoy a nice beef bowl over rice—the rice is the beef bowl.

Here’s how they achieved this culinary delight. The researchers first coated each grain of rice in fish gelatin to help the meat cells latch on. Next, they inserted cow muscle and fat stem cells into each grain, which are then left to culture in a petri dish. Rice grains feature a porous, yet organized, internal structure that actually mimics the “biological scaffolds” found in meat cells. So the rice grains offer a housing that allows the cells to grow and thrive, along with molecules to provide nourishment.

The meat cells grow both on the surface of the rice grain and inside of the grain itself. After around ten days, you get a finished product. The study, published in Matter, says the rice grains taste like beef sushi, which makes sense given the ingredients.

“Imagine obtaining all the nutrients we need from cell-cultured protein rice,” primary author Sohyeon Park said in a press release. “Rice already has a high nutrient level, but adding cells from livestock can further boost it.”

The team even envisions a day when livestock could be eliminated from the process entirely. They hope to develop a line of cells that continue to divide and grow over long periods of time, so they can source from that line instead of from actual cows. “After that, we can create a sustainable food system,” Park told CNN.

Obviously, this is still in the research phase, so pink beef rice won’t be showing up on restaurant menus anytime soon. The team’s refining the growth process to produce rice grains with more nutritional value. They also hope to further improve the taste, texture and color. “It could one day serve as food relief for famine, military ration, or even space food,” Park said in the press release.

This is just one part of a global effort to do something, anything, about the ongoing ecological disaster that is meat production. Livestock intended for slaughter are responsible for 6.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere each year, according to a UN report. That’s nearly 12 percent of all human-caused carbon emissions.

To that end, there are various efforts underway to create palatable and economical lab-grown meat, from cultured chicken nuggets to steaks grown using a similar gelatin-based biological scaffolding system to the aforementioned beef rice. There’s also the rise of insects as a viable source of protein.