Mark Zuckerberg has revealed the Meta Quest 3, the company's long-rumored, next-gen virtual reality headset, just a few days before Apple's WWDC, where it’s expected to debut its own first, mixed reality headset. As with the Quest Pro, the Quest 3 supports mixed reality and offers full-color passthrough. This enables users to see a color version of the physical space around them, and the headset will apparently be able to add augmented reality elements into it.

Zuckerberg says it will offer twice the graphical power of the Quest 2, and it’s 40 percent thinner than its predecessor. Meta has redesigned the controllers, too, nixing the outer tracking rings and adding TruTouch haptic feedback. The headset will start at $500 for 128GB of storage, and it'll be available this fall in all countries the Quest 2 is available. Expect to hear more details at its Connect conference on September 27th.

If you already own a Quest headset, there’s good news too: An upcoming software update will boost the performance of the Quest 2 and Quest Pro. Meta says the CPU of each headset will get a performance increase of up to 26 percent, with a GPU boost of up to 19 percent on Quest 2 and 11 percent on Quest Pro. Dynamic Resolution Scaling will be enabled on both headsets as well, to help stabilize frame rates.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Apple is reportedly testing high-end Macs powered by its new M2 chips

And they could be unveiled at WWDC.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is testing a couple of high-end Macs powered by its new M2 Max processor and the M2 Ultra chip that the company has yet to announce. Apple debuted the M2 Max on its 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops, as well as its Mac mini, earlier this year. The desktop with the chip will reportedly have eight high-performance cores, four efficiency cores and 30 graphics cores. It will also have a heady 96 GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the unannounced M2 Ultra chip is supposed to be the more powerful of the two, with twice as many processing cores. Specifically, the chip is expected to have 16 high-performance, eight efficiency and 60 graphics cores, though Bloomberg reports the company will offer a more powerful version with 76 graphics cores.

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Fiat's Topolino EV is an Italian twist on the Citroen Ami

Still cute.

Fiat

Fiat already has its own cute EV in the 500 series, but it has now gone even tinier in its latest urban mobility push. The Topolino is essentially a rebadged Citroen Ami, sharing the Ami's drivetrain (both Citroen and Fiat are under the Stellantis umbrella) and looks nigh-on identical, apart from a few tweaks. It has a 5.5kWh battery that delivers a 47-mile range, and it'll hit a top speed of 28MPH. The Topolino is technically a "quadricycle" – not a car – so you can buzz around cities in it without needing a driver's license.

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Motorola's folding Razr+ has a giant external display

And a budget-friendly foldable is coming soon.

Engadget

Motorola returns to the foldables. Headlining the 2023 Razr family is the Razr+ (Razr 40 Ultra in Europe), a flagship-level model whose centerpiece is a comparatively huge 3.6-inch, 1,056 x 1,066 external display running at up to 144Hz. That’s substantially bigger than other flip-phones.

Like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, the device opens at different angles for hands-free recording and video viewing. A redesigned hinge also makes this the thinnest foldable phone on the market when closed, Motorola claims. The company will sell the Razr+ with 256GB of storage on June 23rd through its website on AT&T, Google Fi, T-Mobile, Optimum Mobile and Spectrum Mobile for $1,000, or $41.67 per month in a two-year plan. That's well below the price of past US models. We’ve had a play with the Razr+ and the rest of Motorola’s foldable family.

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NVIDIA's Neuralangelo is an AI model that can generate 3D objects from 2D videos

It can even create 3D assets from videos taken by smartphones.

NVIDIA has introduced a new AI model called Neuralangelo, which can create 3D replicas of objects from 2D videos, whether they're classic sculptures or run-of-the-mill trucks and buildings. Neuralangelo works by selecting several frames showing the subject from different angles in a 2D video, so it can get a clear picture of its depth, size and shape. It then creates a rough 3D representation of the object before optimizing it to mimic the details of the real thing. NVIDIA said it can even create large-scale vistas from drone footage.

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Apple’s big developer conference kicks off June 5th, and all the signs point to the company’s mixed reality headset making its first appearance. The tech giant has been acquiring headset-friendly startups for years, and if the rumors are true, Apple’s stand-alone device (possibly called Reality Pro) may be more powerful than the Meta Quest Pro and many other high-end headsets. It could pack 4K resolution per eye, with full body-motion tracking. It may require an external battery pack and last for just two hours on a charge, but it would be relatively light and slim.

It will also likely land with a new platform (maybe called xrOS) designed with mixed reality in mind. Instead of controllers, you’d use hand gestures, gaze detection and voice commands to navigate. It sounds like Apple is approaching the cutting-edge of mixed reality, but that comes at a cost: Rumors suggest this first model could cost around $3,000. That’s three times the price of Meta’s Quest Pro.

We’re also expecting to see a new 15-inch addition to the MacBook Air series with M2 power, as well as the first look at iOS 17 and MacOS 14. We’re heading to the conference to report on everything next week.

– Mat Smith

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The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

Range Rover’s next luxury add-on is a car seat that vibrates to music

‘90s technology, now.

Land Rover

The company's new Range Rover Sport SV Edition One includes Subpac-powered Body and Soul Seat tech (appropriately, BASS), with headrest-mounted membranes and transducers that deliver haptic feedback in response to lower frequencies in your music. Why not just make an integrated massage chair?

Jaguar Land Rover and Subpac claim the vibrations can improve your health through six wellness programs. The companies point to a JLR-supported study indicating that BASS can help you relax and reduce stress by increasing the variability of your heart rate.

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Riot threatens to cancel a 'League of Legends' esports season after a player revolt

Pros voted 'overwhelmingly' for a walkout to protest changes to the minor leagues.

Getty

The pro League of Legends scene has been upended after players voted "overwhelmingly" in favor of a walkout to protest changes Riot has made to the minor leagues, marking one of the first major instances of collective action in esports. Now, the publisher has threatened to cancel the summer season of the League Championship Series (LCS), which would prevent North American teams from qualifying for the LoL World Championship. Riot has delayed the season by two weeks to resolve issues with players and the LCS Players Association (LCSPA), the group that represents them.

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Watch the new trailer for ‘Black Mirror’

The new season stars Aaron Paul, Annie Murphy and just about everyone else.

Netflix has set a June 15th premiere date for the sixth season of sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror. This latest season has been in the works for at least a year, and creator Charlie Brooker has stated it will tackle sci-fi tropes the series had previously avoided, calling it the “most unpredictable season” yet.

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Garmin reveals high-end smartwatches for explorers with deep pockets

There are AMOLED displays and improved weather mapping.

Garmin has just announced a pair of new high-end smartwatches intended for explorers and extreme fitness enthusiasts. The Epix Pro series packs a bright, crisp AMOLED display and “dozens” of new preloaded activities, like soccer, basketball, horseback riding, racquet sports. The Fenix 7 Pro series is for serious explorers, with solar charging, a powerful LED flashlight, mapping upgrades and a red safety light. The heart rate sensor also got a significant boost, with new optical sensors and sport-specific algorithms that track your pulse rate across activities.

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With the rise of AI language models and tools like ChatGPT and Bard, we've heard warnings from people involved, like Elon Musk, about the risks posed by AI. Now, a group of high-profile industry leaders has issued a one-sentence statement: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”

That’s… heavy. It was posted to the Center for AI Safety, an organization with the mission "to reduce societal-scale risks from artificial intelligence," according to its website. Signatories include OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Google DeepMind head Demis Hassabis. Turing Award-winning researchers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, the godfathers of modern AI, also put their names to it. Hinton recently left Google over ethical concerns.

It’s not the first statement like this. In March, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and more than 1,000 others called for a six-month pause on AI to allow industry and the public to effectively catch up to the technology. "Recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict or reliably control," the letter stated. No specific scenarios elaborate on how AI could threaten humanity, but there’s been more than enough science fiction to make me think of worst cases. Thanks, The Matrix.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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‘Diablo IV’ review

A mechanically perfect romp through a shallow world.

Blizzard

The story of Diablo IV opens decades after the end of Diablo III, with the world still reeling from the events of that game. Your character is in pursuit of Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto, one of the Prime Evils you defeated in Diablo II. Sometimes, you’ll discover some interesting lore or a named enemy that will drop an item with unique flavor text. Still, those moments are few and far between, according to Engadget’s Igor Bonifacic. Diablo IV will be available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox on June 6th.

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Amazon ditches Alexa’s celebrity voices

You can no longer set an alarm or order Tide Pods with Melissa McCarthy.

Amazon is ditching all of its Alexa-enabled celebrity voices, including Shaquille O’Neal, Melissa McCarthy and Samuel L. Jackson. The celebrity voice assistant features were fairly limited when compared to Alexa’s full feature set as the celebs won’t do reminders and don’t integrate with many skills. They do, however, tell jokes, answer questions and complete simple voice-assisted tasks. Why get rid of the voices now? Reports suggest Amazon is building its own large language model (LLM), like ChatGPT, to transform Alexa radically, and celebrity voices may no longer fit that setup.

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Razer's new gaming earbuds include a low-latency dongle

The Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed lets you skip Bluetooth.

Razer has introduced Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed buds that include a 2.4GHz RF adapter to plug into the USB-C port (there's an included USB-A adapter) on your computer or console. This expands support to more devices, of course, but it also drops latency to 40ms versus 60ms for the Bluetooth-based Gaming Mode. The Hammerhead Pro Hyperspeed earbuds are available now for $200.

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Google's Pixel Watch 2 will reportedly have significantly improved battery life

A switch to a Snapdragon chip could solve complaints about longevity.

engadget

A report from 9to5Google claims the Pixel Watch 2 will switch from Samsung's 2018-era Exynos 9110 to one of Qualcomm's much newer Snapdragon W5 models. Although the battery in the new smartwatch isn't significantly bigger, the longevity is supposed to be much improved. Reportedly, it can last over a day with the always-on display enabled. The Pixel Watch 2 could also house the same health sensors as the Fitbit Sense 2 – Google owns Fitbit now, remember? That could introduce ways to measure stress, skin temperature and other metrics. When might we see it? Well, a previous rumor hinted the Pixel Watch 2 will debut alongside the Pixel 8 this fall.

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According to the latest audit from NASA's inspector general, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket designed to take astronauts to the Moon is substantially over budget and far behind schedule. NASA's spending on the Artemis Moon Program is expected to reach $93 billion by 2025, including the $23.8 billion already spent on the SLS system through 2022. That sum represents "$6 billion in cost increases and over six years in schedule delays above NASA’s original projections," says the report.

One of the issues has been integrating older NASA technology with newer systems. "These increases are caused by interrelated issues such as assumptions that the use of heritage technologies… were expected to result in significant cost and schedule savings compared to developing new systems for the SLS," the audit states. "However, the complexity of developing, updating and integrating new systems along with heritage components proved to be much greater than anticipated."

The Artemis Moon mission project was based on the Constellation program, launched in 2005 with the goal of returning to the Moon by 2020. Following its cancellation, the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 mandated construction of the SLS and required the repurposing of existing technology, contracts and workforce from Constellation.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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NVIDIA's generative AI lets gamers converse with NPCs

It replies to natural speech, though the responses are... stilted.

NVIDIA

NVIDIA’s Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) technology could allow gamers to speak naturally to non-playable characters (NPCs). The company revealed the tech during its generative AI keynote at Computex 2023, showing a demo called Kairos. The dialogue is rather wooden, but feeding voice-based interactions could be an interesting new dynamic in games. It uses NVIDIA NeMo tech for building, customizing and deploying large language models customized with lore and character backstories while using guardrails to protect against inappropriate conversations. It also deploys a speech recognition and speech-to-text tool called Riva, along with NVIDIA's Omniverse Audio2Face "for instantly creating expressive facial animation of a game character to match any speech track." Check out how it looks below.

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Tesla will open its Supercharger network to other EVs in Canada

Nearly 3,000 EV chargers are also coming to apartments and offices.

The Canadian government revealed Tesla will open access to some of its existing Supercharger network to other brands' EVs. This will start later this year with a pilot route between Ottawa, the capital, and Sudbury. There will be 750 opened stations by the end of 2025, and "at least" 350 of those will be speedy 250kW Superchargers. That performance is important, given the focus on long-distance travel. The government is teaming up with partners to help install nearly 3,000 EV chargers in multi-use residential buildings, offices, public places and fleets. The majority of the chargers will be Level 2 with around 100 faster Level 3 outlets.

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WhatsApp test brings screen sharing to Android phones

It's reportedly rolling out to more users soon.

WhatsApp's newest update takes a page out of work-centric video call platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. The messaging app is adding a screen-sharing feature that will record and display the contents of your screen with whoever is on the other end of the video call, according to WABetaInfo. Screen sharing is only available to select Android beta testers right now but should roll out to more users in the coming weeks. However, it might not work on older Android models, bigger group calls or with people who don't have WhatsApp's latest version.

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JAXA, Japan’s NASA equivalent, has spent decades trying to make it possible to beam solar energy from space – which seems like technology for a far-future space anime. In 2015, JAXA scientists successfully beamed 1.8 kilowatts of power, enough energy to power an electric kettle 50 meters away, wirelessly. Now, a Japanese public–private partnership will attempt to beam solar energy from space as early as 2025. The project involves deploying into orbit a series of small satellites, which will beam collected solar energy to ground-based receiving stations hundreds of miles away.

While this already seems a huge step up from a kettle 50 meters away, it’s just the start of the challenge. Creating a satellite array that can generate 1 gigawatt of power – or about the output of one nuclear reactor – is estimated to cost around $7 billion with current technologies.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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The best Memorial Day tech sales we could find

Fire pits, wireless headphones and a pizza oven.  

It’s a national holiday, so of course Memorial Day brings a few bargains and deals so you can celebrate those who served in the military by… shopping. Notable deals include $50 off Sony's excellent WH-1000XM5 headphones, Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K Max back at an all-time low of $35 and Apple's iPad Air down to $500.

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Naughty Dog says its ‘Last of Us’ multiplayer game needs more time

The studio has other games in development, including a new single-player title.

One of the most notable omissions from this week's PlayStation Showcase was anything from Naughty Dog. Many (including yours truly) expected the studio to reveal more details about its Last of Us multiplayer game, but we'll need to wait a little longer to hear more.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Naughty Dog said, "We're incredibly proud of the job our studio has done thus far, but as development has continued, we've realized what is best for the game is to give it more time." As such, it now seems unlikely we'll hear much about the game during Summer Game Fest (where Naughty Dog offered a first peek at concept art from the project last year).

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US judge grants final approval to Apple’s $50 million butterfly keyboard settlement

Payouts will start rolling out soon.

Engadget

A US federal court gave final approval to the $50 million class-action settlement over claims Apple knew about and concealed the unreliable nature of keyboards on MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro computers released between 2015 and 2019. Judge Edward Davila on Thursday called the settlement involving Apple’s infamous butterfly keyboards “fair, adequate and reasonable.” Under the agreement, MacBook users impacted by the saga will receive settlements between $50 and $395. More than 86,000 claims for class member payments were made before the application deadline last March, Judge Davila wrote in his ruling. However, Apple won’t have to admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement agreement.

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Among a barrage of game announcements during PlayStation’s State of Play yesterday, Sony revealed it’s getting into the increasinglybusy world of game streaming devices. No, this isn’t a next-gen PS Vita (sadly), but an eight-inch screen, bookended by DualSense controls. Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan said the device would allow PlayStation gamers to stream any PS5 game, excluding PlayStation VR2 titles, over WiFi and the company's Remote Play protocol.

However, there aren’t many specs for the device just yet, but Sony says it’ll have an LCD screen that can stream games at up to 1080p and 60 fps over WiFi. The controller part will also have the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers of the PS5 controller. It’s set to launch later this year.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Twitter struggled with Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid announcement

One backer said servers were 'kind of melting.'

Henry Nicholls / reuters

Ron DeSantis was supposed to take to Twitter Spaces yesterday to announce his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination officially. Unfortunately, Twitter was not prepared for the influx of people waiting to listen to the announcement. The announcement eventually got underway after Twitter moved the Space to Republican megadonor David Sacks' account because Musk's "account was breaking the system." Sacks said the Space, with more than 500,000 people tuned in to listen at one point, was the largest group that had "ever met online," a claim quickly ridiculed.

So why did Twitter struggle with those kinds of numbers? It might be that since Musk’s acquisition, the majority of the workforce has been gutted, including much of the team responsible for its infrastructure.

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iOS 17 will reportedly turn your locked iPhone into a smart display

Your phone could be more useful when you aren't using it.

Bloomberg sources claim Apple's iOS 17 update may introduce a lock screen that effectively turns an iPhone into a smart display when the device is on its side. You'll reportedly see calendar items, notifications and other details in a high-contrast layout reminiscent of an Amazon Echo Show or Google Nest Hub. The new lock screen is said to be more advanced than the one Google brought to Android 10. Rumors say Apple is developing multiple smart home devices, which could include a mountable screen, so this could dovetail neatly into that push.

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'Fairgame$' looks like Payday and The Division with a Gen-Z twist

It's the first title out of Jade Raymond's Haven Studios.

Sony

The first project out of Haven Studios (a new studio founded by veteran producer Jade Raymond, who's best known for her work on the Assassin's Creed franchise) is Fairgame$, and it looks like it packs plenty of neon-tinged anarchist multiplayer action. The online competitive heist game has a lovely, timely focus on rebelling against billionaires, and it's heading to PlayStation 5 and PC.

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Assassin's Creed Mirage will arrive on October 12th

The parkour-heavy stealth game will be available this fall.

Talking of Assassin’s Creed, the next game in the series has a release date. On October 12th, Assassin’s Creed Mirage will put players in the robes of Basim Ibn in the city of Baghdad, 861 CE, and will have a stronger focus on stealth mechanics and parkour-based movement than its predecessor. That makes it look a lot like older games in the series from the trailers we've seen so far, but you still get a pet eagle.

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Dyson's first robot vacuum, the 360 Eye, was a tallish robot vac that brought several new tricks to automated floor cleaning, for a price. Now, the UK company is trying again with the 360 Vis Nav robovac, which just launched in Australia and should come to the US later this year.

The motor speed has increased from 78,000 RPM on its predecessor to 110,000, which supposedly delivers six times the suction of other robot vacuums. It also has a "triple-action" brush bar for optimal cleaning on different surfaces. Namely, it uses soft nylon for hard floors, anti-static carbon fiber filaments for fine dust and stiff nylon bristles for carpets.

The company has also added an arm that pops out and redirects suction, picking up dirt at the edges. With all that suction power, it can clean for up to 50 minutes before automatically going back to the dock to charge. There's no word on pricing or US availability yet, but the 360 Vis Nav just launched in Australia for $AUD 2,399 (about $1,590), more than the 360 Eye was at launch ($1,200) and much more than many high-end rivals.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Netflix starts charging for account sharing in the US

You'll need to pay $8 per month for users outside your household.

Netflix is now notifying American customers they need to pay $8 per month for viewers outside of the household who want to share the account. As in other countries, you can add one extra member with the Standard plan, and two with the Premium tier. You can still watch outside your home, but you'll have to establish the household's boundaries either manually through a smart TV app (which looks for devices on the same WiFi network) or automatically (based on IP addresses, device IDs and activity).

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Microsoft’s Panos Panay sees Windows and AI as an ‘opportunity’

Windows Copilot is just the beginning.

After debuting its AI-infused Bing search engine and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Office apps, Microsoft is making the inevitable next step: making AI an integral part of Windows 11. The new Windows Copilot tool lives in the Windows sidebar and, just like Bing's AI chat, you can use it as a super-powered search engine by typing in general questions. But true to its name, it's also deeply integrated with Windows. In an interview with Engadget, executive vice president and chief product officer Panos Panay told us: "AI is going to be the single largest driver of innovation for Windows in the years to come. It's going to change the way you work.” Windows Copilot will be available to preview in June.

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NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti (8GB) review

Better 1080p ray tracing for $399

We loved NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti. It was the ideal balance of price and performance. So with its RTX 40-series cards skyrocketing to pricey new heights, is NVIDIA drifting away from affordable GPUs? Fortunately, the $399 RTX 4060 Ti proves NVIDIA can still deliver plenty of value under $500. We put it to the test.

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Amazon's latest Fire tablet is a $230 Android-powered 2-in-1

The total cost comes up to $330 with a keyboard case and stylus.

Amazon

Following Google's official launch of the Pixel Tablet last week, Amazon has unveiled a new Fire tablet called the Max 11. For just $230, the Fire Max 11 offers an 11-inch LCD screen, slim aluminum frame and smart home controls courtesy of Alexa. While the company's previous slates have found a niche as affordable, kid-friendly mobile entertainment devices, the Max 11 is going for a more grown-up audience. The Fire Max 11 seems solid value. It's certainly cheaper (when you include the price of the keyboard case) than the Galaxy Tabs, Surfaces and iPads that have long dominated the tablet market. Expect our full verdict in the coming weeks.

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Adobe adds generative AI editing to Photoshop

Generative Fill arrives in beta today.

Adobe

Adobe announced a new Generative Fill feature is coming to its photo-editing software later this year, and it’s available to play with in beta now. The company promises “a magical new way to work” as the Firefly-powered feature lets you add, remove and extend visual content based on natural-language text prompts. Adobe says the feature matches the original scene’s perspective, lighting and style, so you can alter images with minimal effort.

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Finally. Starting today, you'll be able to edit WhatsApp messages you’ve already sent. You'll need to act fairly swiftly as you'll only get a 15-minute window. To do so, you just have to long press on the typo-riddled message and tap Edit. Messages will be labeled as ‘edited’ if you do so, but no-one will see the edit history, or the mistakes you made. The messaging app is catching up with rival messaging services: iOS users have been able to edit their texts sent in iMessage for a while now. Apple’s messaging service also includes an unsend option.

WhatsApp's update is rolling out to all users now.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Lego’s latest set is a Pac-Man arcade machine with a crank

There wasn’t a crank on the original.

Lego

Last year, Lego released a set for the Atari 2600 console released in the 1970s, and now it's paying homage to the definitive '80s arcade game. The 2,650-piece Logo Icons Pac-Man set recreates the classic Pac-Man arcade cabinet, complete with a light-up coin-slot, joystick and mechanical crank that moves characters around the maze. A complicated Lego set means a difficult price: It costs $270.

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With ‘Final Fantasy XVI,’ the series tries a new direction

Not-so-sweet sixteen.

Square Enix

Devoted TMA readers know this editor is a die-hard Final Fantasy gamer who wants a return to the late ‘90s, early ‘00s glory days for the long-running RPG series. I got to play a preview of Final Fantasy XVI, a game where the company is pulling influences from the likes of Game of Thrones and God of War to make a more mature tale, with an action-focused battle system and no shortage of intrigue.

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Roland SH-4D review: An overdue return to great synths for the masses

It fills a glaring hole in the company's modern lineup.

Roland’s synth lineup doesn’t really offer much in the midrange. Its only two pure synthesizers in the $500 to $800 space are the 13-year-old Gaia SH-01 and the eight-year-old (and objectively hideous) JD-Xi. The company’s SH-4d doesn’t perfectly fill this gap in the lineup, but it’s a big step in the right direction.

According to Engadget’s Terrence O’Brien, it’s a synth-focused desktop groovebox with lots of hands-on controls, a rich sound engine and a more than reasonable price of $650. The SH-4d has plenty of hands-on controls, and it sounds great. Add to that a solid build and the ability to be powered by a handful of AAs and you get Terrence’s favorite Roland synth in a long time.

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TikTok is suing Montana over statewide ban

The company says the ban violates the First Amendment.

TikTok filed a lawsuit on Monday in the US District Court of Montana to challenge the state’s ban of the social platform. TikTok is suing the state directly, stating in the lawsuit that Montana’s law violates the First Amendment.

“Montana's ban abridges freedom of speech in violation of the First Amendment, violates the US Constitution in multiple other respects and is preempted by federal law,” the lawsuit reads. The law prohibits the ByteDance-owned platform from operating in the state, as well as preventing Apple’s and Google’s app stores from listing the TikTok app for download. Although it isn't clear how Montana plans to enforce the ban, it states that violations will tally fines of $10,000 per day. However, individual TikTok users won’t be charged.

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Square Enix wants a hit Final Fantasy game that’s just as popular as any game in the storied history. It’s taken seven years to get from the tepidly-received Final Fantasy XV to Final Fantasy XVI, and the company continues to wrestle with what a FF game is in 2023.

The company courted nostalgia with FF7 Remake (and the Pixel Remaster series). At the same time, its MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, continues to be a huge success – but what about the prestige title? It has a plan, and it involves giant-summoned monster battles with different styles of play, a single controllable protagonist with guest-star allies, a support dog that grows up with you, horny antagonists, wicked moms and several bleak plot twists to help establish the plot and characters relatively early on. I won’t spoil the story much, but the early segment covers warring nations, vicious family dynamics, slavery and more. I spent six hours playing through the game's opening chapters, and thought: This plan might work. Although heavy in battle tutorials, the opening of the game does a good job of teasing the narrative beats and major players, which is crucial not only to JRPGs like Final Fantasy, but to modern games in general. It’s just a shame the main character is called Clive.

I played some early chapters, which focused on the childhood years of Clive, flanked by his younger, ailing brother, Joshua, who was chosen to house the power of the Phoenix (giant mythical flaming bird, usually wielding healing powers in Final Fantasy lore). This is the game’s first example of an Eikon; magical summoned beasts that seem to live through their wielder, passed on through lineage and seemingly the cause of uneasy peace between nations. Each is assigned to an elemental beat of a fantasy RPG.

During the demo, I got to see roughly six Eikons in action. Sometimes they were going toe-to-toe. Other times, their human host channeled them for upgraded moves and damage. I particularly enjoyed the opening beats of Clive’s adulthood chapter, where you’re forced to navigate a cliffside as Shiva and Titan hurled giant glaciers and boulders at each other. I caught a glimpse (or fought with) beasts representing fire, ice, earth, lightning and wind. However, as you’ve probably gleaned from the teasers and snippets up until now, Ifrit, another fire-based beast, is setting things aflame. That’s not allowed, apparently. Why? I do not know.

Blessings from these Eikons form the basis of Clive’s skills and magic. Equipped with “a blessing from Phoenix” (his brother), the protagonist starts with sword skills, including lifting, rushing, and elemental attacks. Square Enix claims this is the first fully-fledged action RPG in Final Fantasy history, and it doesn’t play like any of its predecessors.

Square Enix

There is no menu. All your items and attacks are done through button combinations and assigned shortcuts, with some degree of customization. I had my doubts from Final Fantasy XV, but Clive proves to be surprisingly agile and most battles were fluid and, honestly, exciting.

While allowing you to swap between enemies, the battle system shines brightest when you’re pitted against big solo enemies or boss fights. As soon as multiple enemies are dashing around, and the camera’s spinning, it’s a bit chaotic – a lot like Forspoken, another game from Square Enix.

Like Forspoken, there’s a smoothness and style to combat here that comes as more moves and skills are added. Clive can switch between Eikon-based movesets, not only differentiated by elemental attributes but by playstyle, too. For example, earth-based Titan attacks offer up a shield and counter system, while wind-based skills manipulate the distance between you and each enemy. If you can counter, or make a well-timed dodge in battle, you’ll be rewarded with a star. At the end of the fight, those stars will translate to battle spoils: extra accessories, items and resources.

My demo was almost exclusively controlling the heroically named Clive. However, there are support actions you can trigger from the d-pad, which directs your faithful hound, Torgal, to heal, strike or distract enemies. I also briefly fought alongside allies, but there didn’t seem to be any way to guide their behavior.

As you’ve probably seen teased in several trailers, FFXVI offers up different styles of battles when giant Eikons go head to head, razing castles, literally creating canyons and glaciers. Sometimes these played like rhythm action games, carefully timed evasions and attacks, while another was like an on-the-rails shooter. Hopefully, this variety spreads across the entire game.

Beyond the Eikon battles, all ofthe boss fights are where this system shines most. And if you’re wary of the notion of a live-action Final Fantasy, the game does feature an intelligent way to make the game more accessible through special accessories.Some of these will auto-heal you (if you have the potions for it) while others can widen the timing window for counters and parries. These offer a way to tailor the game to keep it challenging but avoid difficulty walls – and there were a few even in this early demo.

Outside the fights and the main campaign, there were hints of fetch quest horror, but the ones included in my demo were blissfully nearby, working more to show where to get your supplies and do more lore-building – which is what side quests should do. Still, there wasn’t anything reaching Witcher 3 levels of side quest hell just yet.

Square Enix

Another feature introduced in FFXVI is Active Time Lore (a play on Active Time Battle, the turn-based battle system of older FF games). Here, you can pause during the game and cutscenes and dive into who’s talking, where they’re from and even the region you’re in. It’s a fantastic way of transmitting the plot and everything without overwhelming the player – it reminds me of the X-ray feature on Amazon Prime Video.

FFXVI producer Naoki Yoshida has pointed out that he sees the latest entry as heavily inspired by the likes of God of War, mentioning both the books and TV show Game of Thrones in the same interview. There’s a lot of the latter here. Also, I think this is the first time I’ve seen Final Fantasy characters show… lust? There are some horny people here and for once it’s not tongue-in-cheek, so to speak. So far, this appears to be a different kind of game – I’m intrigued to see how the whole thing turns out. Square Enix has added that it'll be launching a demo featuring the opening beats of the game ahead of its release.

Final Fantasy XVI launches on 22nd June 2023.

Square Enix noted this was a special preview build of the game built for press. Content may differ from the final version.

Meta has long been rumored to be building a platform to rival Twitter. After months of speculation, there are finally some details on how it might turn out, according to digital media marketing expert Lia Haberman, who has heard about the app through content creators approached by Meta.

Haberman says the app could launch as early as the end of June, branded as Instagram’s text-based spin-off. The decentralized app is said to work with current Instagram parameters, like usernames and passwords. So if you already have an Instagram account, you should be able to sign right up and automatically sync with your current followers. Your handle, bio and verification should all carry over from IG. Haberman says even blocked Instagram accounts and hidden words transfer to the new platform.

It appears to be very Twitter-like, with its own versions of likes, replies and reposts.

– Mat Smith

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Disney’s pricey immersive Star Wars hotel is shutting down

It was $1,200 per person per night.

Allen J. Schaben via Getty Images

Less than 19 months after opening Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Disney will close the hotel's doors. Star Wars fans willing to splurge have until the end of September to try the two-night experience. As a reminder, a two-night stay for two people at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser starts at $4,800. For a group of three adults and one child, the rate is $6,000.

The hotel opened at Walt Disney World in Florida in March 2022, and it promised fans a one-of-a-kind jaunt. Guests live out a Star Wars story. They choose to join the light side or the dark side, then, as passengers on a starcruiser, they encounter a First Order officer and stormtroopers, who board the ship to find Resistance spies. Disney told CNBC it “will take what we’ve learned to create future experiences that can reach more of our guests and fans.”

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NASA picks Blue Origin to build the Artemis V Moon landing system

But it’s not the only company involved in future Moon landings.

Blue Origin

NASA has chosen Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin for its third crewed Artemis Moon landing. The company will build the landing system for Artemis V, which is currently set to launch in September 2029. While they didn't mention the choice of vehicle, the company is already working on a Blue Moon lander. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Draper are among those involved in the NASA project. The space agency has already chosen SpaceX's Starship for the first (Artemis III) and second (Artemis IV) human landings.

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All the big tech accessibility-related products announced last week

In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

For Global Accessibility Awareness Day or GAAD last week, major tech companies are taking this week as a chance to share their latest accessibility products. This includes major products like iOS 16 and the latest game controllers for the PS5. Engadget’s Cherlynn Low rounds up the biggest announcements and products.

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Apple rejected 1,679,694 App Store submissions in 2022

So many third-party chatbot apps?

Apple has published an App Store transparency report. It reveals several interesting tidbits about the App Store, including that, as of 2022, there were 1,783,232 apps on the storefront. Apple also says it rejected 1,679,694 submissions last year, out of 6,101,913 submissions. It’s the first report published on the App Store and forms part of the company’s $100 million settlement with App Store developers.

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