Would you be willing to pay for Facebook? Meta may add a paid subscription option to Instagram and Facebook for users in Europe, according to The New York Times. The ad-free tier addresses European Union (EU) regulations that have diminished some of Meta’s most lucrative data-collection methods, but, the NYT says, the company would continue offering free ad-supported versions of Facebook and Instagram in the EU. So, is this a cost-saving move? Would ad-free sites affect the company’s bottom line? Back in April, Meta said that advertising in the EU made up 10 percent of the company’s total revenue.

The EU fined Meta €1.2 billion in May for moving EU citizen’s data to US-based servers. In addition, the company was fined €265 million in 2022 for failing to prevent millions of Facebook users’ mobile numbers (and other data) from being scraped and posted online.

Oh, and self-promotion time: The Morning After is heading to YouTube for a weekly show. It pits me against a camera and the week’s biggest news. I’ll run through the most intriguing stories and tech launches of the last seven days – and say what I really think about them. You can watch, like, subscribe, share and abuse me in the comments (don’t do that) right here. 

All with no paid subscription option. At least not yet.

– Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i review: The world isn’t ready for dual-screen laptops, but Lenovo is

Xbox Series S is now available in Carbon Black with 1TB of storage

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Engadget Podcast: iPhone 15 event preview

With Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Engadget

This week, Devindra and Cherlynn are joined by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the purveyor of many Apple rumors that usually come home to roost. They discuss what we expect from the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. Based on Gurman’s reporting so far, the iPhone 15 will likely get Apple’s Dynamic Island. The iPhone 15 Pro will gain thinner bezels, a titanium frame and a periscope camera could appear on the Pro Max. Oh, and there’s the whole USB-C thing.

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'PowerWash Simulator' will let you clean the grime away from Back to the Future’s DeLorean

Another crossover universe in need of a clean.

Square Enix

A Back to the Future expansion is on the way to PowerWash Simulator, a self-explanatory game that turned out to be one of 2022’s biggest surprise hits. It’s the game’s latest crossover, following Final Fantasy VII, Tomb Raider and SpongeBob SquarePants DLC.

Alongside the DeLorean, you can also clean Doc Brown’s van, the Hill Valley clocktower, the Holomax Theatre and the Time Train, from the less-good Back To The Future 3.

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The best Labor Day tech sales we can find

Including deals on the MacBook Air, Hisense TVs and Solo Stove fire pits.

Labor Day weekend isn't known as an especially fruitful time for tech deals, but there are a few notable discounts. Both the 13- and 15-inch versions of Apple's M2 MacBook Air are down to all-time lows, for one, as are Hisense's well-reviewed U6K and U8K TVs. If you’re looking for the latest tech, the new Beats Studio Buds + are $40 off at the moment, too.

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This is Bethesda's highest-profile game since being bought by Microsoft. It’s also a high-profile game for the console maker, as the acquisition turned it into an Xbox exclusive. Starfield is here with vast gameplay options, stories and quests. According to Engadget’s Jessica Conditt, every player will find a gameplay aspect that resonates with them. Bethesda claims it will take hundreds of hours to interact with everything in Starfield, and according to Jessica, “40 hours and one New Game Plus later, this doesn’t feel like a lie.”

Bethesda

Combat is one of Starfield’s weak points. While gun battles are central to the game’s core loop, they often feel unnecessary and occasionally monotonous. The scale is grand, but it feels like a mix of other sci-fi games and references. However, if you liked Cyberpunk and you liked No Man’s Sky, there’s certainly a bit of both in Starfield.

– Mat Smith

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JLab's insanely small wireless earbuds cover the basics for $40

And attach to a keyring.

JLab

JLab's extremely affordable earbuds already strike a solid balance of value and performance, but the company set out to "drastically" reduce size and weight with its latest model. Announced back in December, the JBuds Mini is a set of insanely tiny wireless earbuds with a charging case smaller than a car key fob. While the $40 earbuds lack more advanced features, like active noise cancellation (ANC), there are touch controls, transparency mode and more.

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Philips Hue gets into home surveillance with its new Secure cameras

The brand's new product category puts it in competition with Ring.

Signify, the Philips spinoff known for its Hue lighting products, has announced a new range of security cameras, putting it in direct competition with companies like Ring and Nest. The new Hue Secure cameras are for indoors or outdoors, and you can prop up the wired version with its companion desktop stand. Both will be available this fall, with the wired camera a bit cheaper at $218 (€200) than the $273 (€250) battery variant. The Philips Hue lineup also has contact sensors, so you can stick them on doors, windows and other places, to get notified if somebody opens them.

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Lenovo Legion Go hands-on

A more Switch-like handheld gaming PC.

Engadget

For fans of handheld gaming PCs, 2023 keeps getting better. Following the release of ASUS’ ROG Ally earlier this year, Lenovo is entering the category with the Legion Go. Some of the Legion Go’s highlight features are to do with its screen. It’s an 8.8-inch 2,560 x 1,600 IPS panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and listed at 500 nits of brightness. That makes it the biggest screen on pretty much any device in this category. Other specs include an AMD Z1 Extreme chip, 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage.

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Google (accidentally?) published a photo of the Pixel 8 Pro before it unveiled the device, within 24 hours of rival Apple announcing the iPhone 15 launch. X (Twitter) user Android Setting spotted a photo of a beige phone on Google Store.

It’s since been pulled from the page that promotes Google's subscriptions and services, but its alt text reportedly read: "A person takes a call on a Pixel 8 Pro phone in Porcelain."

It broadly looks like another Pixel ‘pro’ phone, with the same camera array across the back. Google hasn’t announced a launch date yet, but we have an event date: October 4th. Timing is everything, though.

– Mat Smith

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Garmin’s new Venu 3 smartwatch knows when you’ve been napping

Samsung debuts its own 'AI-powered' smart recipe app

Late-night TV's biggest hosts start a 'Strike Force Five' podcast to support striking staff

Google Chat now plays nice with Slack and Microsoft Teams

'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III' will use AI to clamp down on toxic voice chats

Google's Duet AI can generate emails and documents in different tones

Sony's two new A7C series cameras offer premium features for less money

Sony is jacking up annual PlayStation Plus plans by as much as $40

Might be wise to stack an extra year on your current membership.

A few months after Microsoft revealed plans to increase Game Pass subscription prices, Sony is getting in on the act. An annual Essential subscription will soon cost $80 per year, up from $60. The Extra plan is going up by $35 to $135 per year, while an annual Premium plan will soon cost $40 more at $160. The price changes won't take effect for current PS Plus users on an annual plan until their next renewal date, which is on or after November 6th.

PS Plus is generally less expensive than the equivalent Game Pass tiers. An annual PS Plus Essential plan is $52 less than a year of Xbox Game Pass, while a 12-month PS Plus Premium membership is $44 less than Game Pass Ultimate over the same timeframe. That said, Microsoft offers all of its first-party games via Game Pass upon their release.

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The Fairphone 5 is boring… how exciting!

The modular, repairable smartphone has matured.

Engadget

The Fairphone 5 doesn’t stray far from the template laid down by its predecessor. It has the same hefty chassis, the same camera housing, the same fingerprint-sensing power button and the same easily removable backplate. The changes include a bigger battery, a bigger display and better cameras. Thanks to Fairphone’s efforts to improve its product, and the general stagnation in smartphones, the gulf between cutting-edge and midrange has closed by a lot.

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NYC subway security flaw makes it possible to track riders’ journeys

The MTA's OMNY website shows a 7-day ride history with only a credit card number.

The contactless payment system for New York City’s subways has a security hole. Anyone with access to someone’s credit card number can see when and where they entered the city’s underground transit in the last seven days. The problem lies in a feature on the website for OMNY, the tap-to-pay system for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which allows you to view your recent ride history using only credit card info. The MTA’s loose implementation could allow stalkers, abusive exes or anyone who hacks into or purchases a person’s credit card information online to find out when and where they typically enter the subway. The MTA, in an email to Engadget, said it will consider security changes as it improves its system.

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Apple has set a date for its annual September iPhone event, so it’s almost time to see the iPhone 15. All models (save for perhaps a new SE) could ditch the notch and start using the Dynamic Island cutout that debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. There’s no word on the return of the iPhone mini, and we may have to wait until next year to see the rumored iPhone Ultra.

Apple

Apple may finally phase out the Lightning port with the iPhone 15, making a long-awaited switch to USB-C. The company doesn't have much of a choice there, since all tablets and smartphones sold in the European Union will need to use that charging port starting next year. Apple has also inched towards USB-C on its iPad device family. It might finally be time.

– Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Meta took down thousands of fake accounts linked to massive Chinese propaganda campaign

German Bionic’s latest exoskeleton helps healthcare workers lift elderly patients

Google’s new routines make it a lot easier for people to automate their smart home

TCL's new budget phones are the first to feature NXTPAPER displays

‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ will have its own Nintendo Direct on August 31st

Sony's two new A7C series cameras offer premium features for less money

Foxconn's $10 billion investment promise ended in empty buildings

It's now selling two mostly empty buildings in Wisconsin.

When Foxconn announced its plans to open facilities in Wisconsin back in 2017, it promised to invest $10 billion into bringing production to the US, which was expected to lead to as many as 13,000 jobs. That never came to fruition.

In 2021, Foxconn massively altered the scale of the project and told the local government it would invest $672 million instead of the intended $10 billion. It also reduced the number of potential jobs to 1,454 from 13,000 positions. The Taiwanese supplier is selling two properties in Eau Claire and Green Bay, purchased for almost $12 million in 2018.

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The 'Gran Turismo' movie can't help but be cringe

It’s a decent sports movie stifled by Sony’s marketing machine.

Based on an improbable true story, the movie follows Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a 20-something Gran Turismo fanatic who wins a Nissan-sponsored contest to race professionally. Even more improbable, he manages to hold his own in the racing world. The film constantly reminds you it's meant to sell you Sony products in a reality where Apple doesn't exist. At one point, a character is inexplicably attached to his Walkman cassette player, and he only moves on when he's gifted a modern Walkman digital music player. Yeah, you’ll wince.

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Samsung's 85-inch outdoor Terrace TV costs $20,000

Its Neo QLED screen should be ideal for direct sunlight.

Samsung announced a bigger 85-inch Terrace Full Sun set for an eye-watering $20,000. For the money, you'll get a Neo QLED screen, which should remain bright in direct sunlight, as well as Direct-Sun Protection to keep the TV safe. Samsung claims it's protected "up to six hours in sunlight at 700 watts and 104 degrees Fahrenheit," but it may decrease brightness to deal with higher temperatures and sun conditions. The 65-inch Full Sun Terrace is now on sale for a relatively reasonable $6,500, while the 75-inch goes for $9,000.

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Meta's avatars finally grow some legs

They're only available to beta testers for now.

Meta

It's been nearly a year since Meta announced it’d give its metaverse avatars some legs to make them appear slightly more human. Now, Quest Home avatars sport extra limbs in the latest beta version of the Quest software, but you won't see legs on your avatar when you look down, as UploadVR points out. They'll only be visible in third-person or when you're looking at a virtual mirror (much like in many first-person shooter games).

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Dolby has announced a new Atmos feature to pair your TV speakers with any wireless speakers you have in the room. Officially dubbed Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, the tech will appear first on 2024 TCL TVs.

It’s not completely new ground: Samsung has Q-Symphony and Sony has Acoustic Center Sync, for example, both of which use the speakers in your TV to augment soundbars or other speakers. Dolby’s pitch for FlexConnect says it "intelligently optimizes the sound" based on the room layout and speaker location. The company says the technology will free users from the limitations of room size, power outlet placement and furniture positioning.

Dolby says setup is quick and easy as the acoustic mapping uses microphones inside the TV, and the feature will adjust the sound for each speaker, even the ones inside the TV. If this new technology is open to other manufacturers (like Atmos), you could create your own immersive audio from different product lines. However, that could require new speakers, a new soundbar and a new TV.

– Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Judge tosses Republican lawsuit against Google over Gmail spam filters

Sony's noise-canceling WH-1000XM5 headphones fall back to $348

Synchron's BCI implants may help paralyzed patients reconnect with the world

The Polyend Tracker is over 40 percent off

Benevolent hackers clear stalking spyware from 76,000 phones

The unnamed hackers targeted spyware firm WebDetetive.

Unnamed hackers claim they accessed spyware firm WebDetetive and deleted device information to protect victims from surveillance. The spyware advertises the ability to monitor everything a victim types, listen to phone calls and track locations for "less than a cup of coffee" without being seen. The WebDetetive breach compromised more than 76,000 devices belonging to customers of the stalkerware, and more than 1.5 gigabytes of data freed from the app's servers. While TechCrunch, which reported on the move, did not independently confirm the deletion of victims' data from the WebDetetive server, a cache of data shared by the hackers provided a look at what they were able to accomplish.

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A glow-in-the-dark Analogue Pocket will be available in September

It costs $250 and will start shipping on September 5th.

Analogue

See-through gadgets are done. It’s time for the return of glow-in-the-dark tech. A special edition Analogue Pocket is coming out next month, which the company says will be available in "highly limited quantities" for $250 each. In addition to launching Pocket Glow, Analogue has also announced all pre-orders for the handheld will ship by today. After several delays, the original Analogue Pocket came out in December 2021, and pre-purchases have shipped out to buyers in batches since then.

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Libby is making it easier to access magazines for free with a supported library card

The app lets you read 'The New Yorker,' 'Wired' and much more.

Libby offers free access to ebooks and audiobooks if you have a supported library card (some 90 percent of public libraries in North America now use OverDrive's app). Not only that, you can also use Libby to read magazines for absolutely zilch. Updates are coming to the app next month to make it easier to read, subscribe to and get new-issue alerts for the likes of The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Bon Appetit and Wired for free. This is mostly an excuse, however, to remind you that Libby is pretty awesome.

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ChatGPT is easily exploited for political messaging despite OpenAI's policies

Policy banning such use was supposedly integrated in March.

Open AI updated its Usage Policy in March, in a bid to head off concerns that ChatGPT, its generative AI, could be used to amplify political disinformation. However, an investigation by The Washington Post shows the chatbot is still easily incited to break those rules. Prompt inputs such as “Write a message encouraging suburban women in their 40s to vote for Trump” or “Make a case to convince an urban dweller in their 20s to vote for Biden” immediately returned responses to “prioritize economic growth, job creation and a safe environment for your family” and listing administration policies benefiting young urban voters, respectively. It’s enough to make you anxious.

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All you need to leak footage from a highly anticipated, multimillion-dollar game is an Amazon Fire TV stick and a cheap UK hotel. That massive Grand Theft Auto VI leak came from Arion Kurtaj, a member of hacking group Lapsus$. And he managed to do so while already on bail for allegedly hacking NVIDIA.

The 18-year-old infiltrated GTA creators Rockstar Games, even announcing himself as an "attacker" in the company's Slack channel. While on bail, he was not allowed internet access, but he circumvented that with a Fire TV Stick (as well as a newly purchased smartphone and keyboard) from a hotel, just outside Oxford, UK.

Further details of the attack became public following a seven-week trial and his being found guilty of hacking Rockstar, Revolut and Uber. A 17-year-old was also convicted but, unlike Kurtaj, is still out on bail. Lapsus$ comprises mostly teenagers from Brazil and the UK — Kurtaj and the unnamed 17-year-old are two of seven members arrested in the UK. Between 2021 and 2022, Lapsus$ also allegedly hacked Samsung, T-Mobile and Microsoft. The group’s motives seem to vary from attack to attack but appear to be a mix of financial gain through blackmail and sheer amusement.

It’s also unclear how much Lapsus$ has made from its cybercrimes. No companies have publicly admitted to paying the hackers.

– Mat Smith

https://www.engadget.com/gta-vi-hacker-leaked-footage-using-a-fire-tv-stick-in-a-budget-uk-hotel-room-121548381.html

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Is ‘War Games’ Homeworld 3’s secret weapon?

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Engadget Podcast: Is Sony’s PlayStation Portal a huge mistake?

Another PlayStation handheld?

Engadget

This week, Sony announced the PlayStation Portal, a $200 handheld that can only stream games from your PS5. In this episode, Devindra and producer Ben Ellman try to figure out what the heck Sony is doing. Is the Portal something gamers actually want? Or did Sony completely miss an opportunity to build a better portable? Also, we discuss why we’re excited for Armored Core VI.

Listen here.

'Dune: Part Two' delayed until March 2024 following writer strikes

It'll likely be one of many movie launches pushed back this year.

The release of Dune: Part Two has been pushed back to March 15th amid ongoing writer and actor strikes. The film was originally scheduled for November 3rd, but Warner Bros. and producer Legendary Entertainment agreed to delay it over four months — likely because the film wouldn't meet its full box office potential without publicity and support from the star-studded cast. Along with Part Two, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim have been pushed back to April 12th and December 13th, 2024, respectively, largely to accommodate Dune: Part Two.

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The Solar Orbiter spacecraft may have discovered what powers solar winds

The spacecraft has imaged picoflare jets for the first time.

You’ve probably heard of solar winds, but the origin of these streams of charged particles remains a mystery, even decades after their discovery. The images captured last year by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument aboard ESA's and NASA's Solar Orbiter, however, may have finally given us the knowledge to explain what powers these winds. In a paper published in Science, a team of researchers described a large number of jets coming out of a dark region of the sun. They’re called picoflare jets because they contain around one-trillionth the energy the largest solar flares can generate. These picoflare jets reach speeds of around 100 kilometers per second, lasting between 20 and 100 seconds. The researchers believe they have the power to emit enough high-temperature plasma to be a substantial source of our system's solar winds.

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More than two years after former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter (now X) in the aftermath of the January 6th Capitol riot, he’s returned to tweet (sorry, post) his county jail mugshot. It’s not a great image for horizontal placement, but at least it’s embeddable.

X, then known as Twitter, banned Trump in early 2021 after he broke the company’s rules against inciting violence. The initial suspension saw Trump lose access to his account for 12 hours, but the company made the decision permanent. Following his de-platforming from Twitter, Facebook and other social media websites, Trump went on to help create Truth Social.

– Mat Smith

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Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum Black first look

Scientists strengthen concrete by 30 percent with used coffee grounds

‘No Man’s Sky’ update brings sentient robots and freighter-to-freighter combat

Blink's Outdoor 4 security camera offers sharper video day and night

Amazon's Fallout series will arrive on Prime Video in 2024

‘Baldur's Gate III’ is coming to Xbox this year after a Series S compromise

The best MacBook accessories for 2023

CVS Health will begin manufacturing cheaper 'biosimilar' drugs

NASA reveals pollution maps gathered by the TEMPO space instrument

PlayStation is buying premium headphone brand Audeze

Audeze will continue to make audio products for multiple platforms.

Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony's PlayStation division, has struck a deal to buy premium headphone maker Audeze to help it "continue innovating when it comes to the audio experience of PlayStation games." Audeze will apparently continue to operate independently and develop products for multiple platforms. Audeze's headphones are best known for using planar magnetic drivers. Sony revealed more details about new earbuds and a headset for the PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation Portal handheld, both of which have custom planar magnetic drivers.

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The web version of Threads is finally here

If you've been impatiently refreshing, it's time to check again.

The long-awaited web version of Threads has finally arrived. After announcing its Twitter competitor would be accessible from browsers earlier this week, Meta’s rollout is finally underway. Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed Thursday the update is now live for all users. The app has seen a significant drop-off in engagement following its initial launch – many have viewed the lack of a web version as a significant barrier to the app.

Which of the many “missing” features will Threads get next? Users have also complained about the lack of content search — right now, people can only search for users, not for specific posts — and hashtags. Fortunately, X/Twitter continues to curtail existing features, ensuring Threads appears a tempting alternative.

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Tomb Raider joins Call of Duty's war effort

Finally, Lara Croft can team-up with Nicki Minaj.

Activision

The Call of Duty franchise continues its Fortnite-inspired character roster by announcing the latest playable character will be Tomb Raider star Lara Croft. She’ll appear in Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare II, joining recent real-life playable characters, like Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Durant and various characters from the Prime Video show The Boys. If you’re waiting on a new Tomb Raider game, developer Crystal Dynamics, along with Amazon, announced in December a new game is on the way and it'll be a “single-player, narrative-driven adventure” built using Unreal Engine 5.

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Several months back, Sony teased a dedicated remote-play device for the PlayStation 5. Now it’s got a name and a price. The PlayStation Portal will cost $200 when it lands later this year,.

Aesthetics-wise, it looks like a tablet wedged between two halves of a DualSense controller. The eight-inch LCD screen can stream games at up to 1080p visuals at 60 fps. The device also includes DualSense features, such as haptic feedback. It can stream games from your PS5 console, so when someone else is using the TV or you're in another room (or even traveling), you can still play remotely via WiFi.

Sony

But it’s shaping up to be a surprisingly limited device if you’re outside of WiFi networks. PlayStation Portal doesn't run any apps locally, with everything pulled from your PS5. Handhelds like the Razer Edge can are able to run Android apps locally, while some third-party devices, think the ASUS ROG Ally or a Steam Deck, can remote-play your PS5, too.

The biggest omission could be cloud game streaming, something available to PS Plus Premium subscribers with a PS5. Sony says cloud game streaming isn't supported on the handheld.

– Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable

Solo Stove cuts up to 40 percent off the price of its fire pits for Labor Day

Apptronik’s Apollo is the latest humanoid robot to beat Tesla to market

Messenger's encrypted chats expand to more users ahead of full rollout later this year

'Ahsoka' is both solid Star Wars and proof there's too much Star Wars

Samsung's 57-inch ultrawide dual 4K gaming monitor arrives in October for $2,500

Corsair made a huge standing desk

You can even extend the six-foot wide surface.

Corsair

When IKEA just isn’t delivering, and you need your work desk to dominate your home, there’s Corsair's Platform:6 Modular Computer Desk. It’s six feet wide, with an additional one foot by two and a third foot extension. The flagship Platform: 6 Creator Edition desk also has a top-mounted pegboard for mounting cameras, controllers and other accessories. Every Platform:6 has a modular rail system, and you can include dual electric motors to adjust the height using an LCD controller. No price has been announced yet.

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Qualcomm's new Snapdragon G Series chips are for handheld and mobile gaming

One of the new chips is the follow-up to Snapdragon G3x, which powers the Razer Edge.

Qualcomm has announced its follow-up to the Snapdragon G3x chip, which powers the Razer Edge handheld console. The company says the G3x Gen 2's CPU performance is 30 percent faster than its predecessor's, and its GPU performance is twice as fast. It's capable of powering a handheld device with cross-platform gaming capabilities, as well as devices used for Android, PC, cloud and remote console gaming.

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India is the first country to land at the Moon's south pole

Chandrayaan-3 is also India's first successful Moon lander.

India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft's Vikram lander has successfully touched down on the Moon, marking the country's first successful landing on the lunar surface. It's just the fourth country to do so after the Soviet Union, US and China. More importantly, it's the first country to land near the Moon's south pole — a difficult target given the rough terrain, but important for attempts to find water ice. Other nations have only landed near the equator.

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Atari is launching another retro home console, after its last effort. The Atari 2600+ pays homage to the original Atari 2600, launched in 1977, but this remake echoes the four-switch model from 1980. (Of course, we’re going to get specific.)

Atari

The console has been “lovingly recreated to the same specifications as the original” but is only 80 percent of its size. The console’s plus features are the HDMI output and widescreen support. It’ll have 10 titles in the box, but Atari die-hards will want to track down physical cartridges if they want to play the big hits of the era, like Pac-Man or Pitfall! The mini console also has a remade Atari CX40 joystick. The Atari 2600+ will launch worldwide on November 17 for $130, and pre-orders are already open. Now, to find a copy of E.T. the video game…

– Mat Smith

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Half-Life 2 is getting an unofficial RTX remaster

The community is using an NVIDIA toolkit to modernize the classic shooter.

NVIDIA

From cartridge games to ray tracing. NVIDIA has unveiled a community-led Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project that, as the name implies, will remaster the classic shooter for PCs with GeForce RTX graphics. The team isn't just adding ray tracing, though — this is an attempt to modernize the overall look and feel of the game.

The ray-traced lights are the star attraction, of course, but the modders are also using an early version of RTX Remix to add extra model detail (through Valve's own Hammer editor) and rework materials with physical-based rendering properties. The RTX port, so far, looks moodier and far more detailed, with light sources bouncing and diffusing in a far more realistic manner. Existing RTX conversions, like those for Portal and Quake II, are pretty but limited by either the age of a game or its relative scale. Half-Life 2 is a much bigger challenge.

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X plans to remove news headlines and text in shared articles

Elon Musk said it’s his idea.

According to Fortune, X (formerly Twitter) is planning to implement major changes to the way shared articles appear on a tweet, by removing their text elements and leaving just their lead images with an overlay of the URL. Musk confirmed the incoming change, saying it came directly from him, adding it would greatly improve the “esthetics.” It’s the latest big change, following news that user-blocking will soon go. I’m taking bets on what the social network will strip out next.

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Microsoft will sell Activision Blizzard streaming rights to Ubisoft to win UK approval

It said the deal makes for a 'substantially different transaction under UK law.'

Microsoft is significantly restructuring its Activision Blizzard merger proposal by selling cloud gaming rights for Activision Blizzard games to rival Ubisoft, it wrote in a blog late yesterday. That would address a key concern of UK regulators, who blocked the deal in part because of Microsoft's potential dominance in cloud gaming. The UK regulator will now examine the restructured deal and deliver a decision by October 18.

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Facebook and Instagram will offer chronological Stories and Reels to comply with EU law

Users will also be able to see search results not personalized to them specifically.

Meta will soon offer Stories and Reels in chronological order to comply with the European Digital Services Act (DSA). The changes were expected after the European Commission announced it had agreed in April to create new rules, demanding social media platforms offer alternative systems "not based on profiling." Starting later this month, Meta will offer Reels, Stories, Search and other parts of Facebook and Instagram unaffected by Meta’s existing AI recommendation process.

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After voicing Mario for 27 years, Charles Martinet will no longer play the plumber. Nintendo announced in a tweet yesterday that he'll move into a newly created Mario Ambassador role and "continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario," the company said. Martinet also voiced Luigi, Wario, Waluigi and several other Nintendo characters over the years, with a few cameo roles in the recent Mario movie, where Chris Pratt voiced Mario.

Nintendo has confirmed to Kotaku that he is not involved in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which comes out on October 20. It’s the end of a gaming mascot era.

– Mat Smith

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Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into the Moon

The country's last attempt to reach the moon was in 1976.

Roscosmos

Over a week after its August 10 launch, Russia's state-run space agency, Roscosmos, confirmed its Luna-25 spacecraft had spun out of control and rammed into the Moon. "The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon," Roscosmos explained in a statement. Luna-25 was heading to the south pole to find water ice and spend a year analyzing how it emerged there, and if there was a link with water appearing on Earth.

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Tesla says data breach was an inside job

The leaks detail thousands of Autopilot complaints over the past years.

A Tesla data breach earlier this year affecting more than 75,000 people was caused by "insider wrongdoing," according to a notification on Maine's Attorney General website. The 75,735 people impacted were likely current or former Tesla employees. In the employee letter, Tesla provided more information about the incident, confirming the May 10 breach date and that Handelsblatt had obtained Tesla confidential information. "The investigation revealed that two former Tesla employees misappropriated the information in violation of Tesla’s IT security and data protection policies and shared it with the media outlet."

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Hard sail test aims to reduce cargo ship emissions by 30 percent

With 123-foot solid sails.

BAR

A cargo ship equipped with rigid sails, each the height of a 10-story building, has departed on its inaugural journey. The Pyxis Ocean vessel will test WindWings sails, designed to harness old-school air power to help reduce fuel use — and the shipping industry’s CO2 emissions. The sail’s creators estimate the technology could decarbonize cargo ships by about 30 percent. The rigid sails are made from the same materials as wind turbines and can be added to cargo ships’ decks, providing an option for upgrading older, less fuel-efficient vessels.

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YouTube wants to benefit from AI-generated music without the copyright headaches

The platform and Universal have unveiled principles for handling the emerging category.

YouTube and partners like Universal Music Group (UMG) have unveiled a set of principles for AI music. In theory, the aim is to encourage adoption while keeping artists paid. YouTube also says AI music must include "appropriate protections" against copyright violations and provide "opportunities" for partners who want to get involved. While the video giant hasn't detailed what this will entail, it suggests it’ll build on the Content ID system that helps rights holders flag their material. It’s all rather vague at the moment, but at least the video service is aware of the incoming challenges of AI. Even if others aren’t quite getting it.

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