Sonos has focused most of its efforts on two categories: portable speakers and home theater products, like its soundbars. The company’s main pair of music-focused speakers, the One and Five, have been getting a little old. The Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 aim to refresh that lineup.

The $250 Era 100 is a complete redesign of the Sonos One, introduced in 2017. It’s a mono speaker, just like the One and the Play:1 before it. But don’t let that simple description deceive you. The improvements over the One are immediately obvious in sound quality and new features, like line-in, Bluetooth and easier Trueplay setup. The Era 100 isn’t the most exciting speaker Engadget editor Nathan Ingraham’s ever listened to, but it provides impressive performance at a reasonable price.

The $450 Era 300 has a slightly strange place in the Sonos portfolio. Its higher price means it won’t be as broadly appealing as the Era 100. It’s closer to the $550 Sonos Five, arguably a superior speaker, but it still sounds notably better than the Era 100.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

Samsung Galaxy S23 phones drop to record low prices at Amazon

Nintendo's eShop closures are putting generations of games out of reach

Google upgrades its NBA Pixel Arena app just in time for the playoffs

Microsoft’s redesigned Teams app is faster and less of a memory hog

Nintendo will show 10 minutes of 'Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' gameplay today

You'll see how the 'Breath of the Wild' sequel plays.

Nintendo

Nintendo and series producer Eiji Aonuma will showcase 10 minutes of Tears gameplay in a live premiere on YouTube at 10 AM ET or 7 AM PT. It's not clear what you'll see, but it's safe to presume the demo will feature new mechanics and less of a focus on worldbuilding or story.

We’re expecting the same open-world experience that made Breath of the Wild a hit, but with a new airborne environment (the floating islands above Hyrule) and an abundance of new ways to traverse the landscape. You can fly on a giant hoverboard and even grind rails.

Continue reading.

iOS 16.4 is out with bug fixes and a ton of new emoji

Updates for the Mac, iPad and Apple Watch are also live.

Apple has officially released updates for each of its major platforms. The MacOS 13.3, iOS / iPadOS 16.4 and WatchOS 9.4 updates include 21 new emoji, improved voice isolation for calls and a smattering of minor bug fixes. Emoji additions include five new animals, two new hand gestures, three colored hearts and objects, including a folding fan, maracas and a flute.

Cellular calls now have Voice Isolation, designed to block out ambient noise. The Duplicates album in Photos will now cross check with images stored in the iCloud Shared Photo Library to keep your albums clean. There's even a new accessibility feature that helpfully dims the screen when it detects flashing lights or strobe effects in video content.

Continue reading.

Acer Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition review

Sadly, glasses-free 3D is just pointless.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar / Engadget

Acer's Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition has the company's glasses-free 3D screen in one last bid to make 3D content happen. It's meant to unlock an entirely new dimension of gameplay in titles like God of War and Forza Horizon 5 – and it does, to a degree. But it's also obscenely expensive, starting at $3,499, and the 3D means you miss out on higher refresh rates and a better quality screen.

Continue reading.

Biden administration bans federal agencies from using commercial spyware

The order is likely to affect known government spyware makers like NSO Group.

In an executive order signed Monday, President Biden barred federal agencies from using commercial spyware that threatens US national security or carries a risk of improper use by foreign governments and individuals. The order applies to all departments, including those involved in law enforcement, defense and intelligence. It also prohibits the use of spyware that, in the past, was used to disclose non-public information about the US government.

As TechCrunch reported, security researchers have long warned of the dangers posed by commercial spyware. With NSO Group’s infamous Pegasus spyware, it exploited a vulnerability in iOS that allowed the program to infect an iPhone without the victim needing to tap anything. While many governments claim to use spyware sparingly to investigate serious crimes, that hasn’t stopped some from using the software for domestic surveillance and to target political dissidents.

Continue reading.

Ubisoft has pulled out of E3 2023

The publisher will host its own show instead.

You can add Ubisoft to the list of companies not attending the first in-person E3 in four years. Before this week, it was one of the few major publishers to come out supporting the revamped event. On Monday, however, Ubisoft told VGC it would not be at the tradeshow and would instead host its own event at around the same time: “While we initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we’ve made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction and will be holding a Ubisoft Forward Live event on 12th June in Los Angeles.” You’ll have to wait, then, for your Skull and Bones update…

Continue reading.

According to a New York Times report, parts of Twitter’s source code were leaked online. Court filings published Friday reveal Twitter claimed copyright infringement to have the code taken down from Github as soon as possible. The code was removed the same day, but there’s no report on how long it was online for – or the leak's scope or depth. The Twitter executive who spoke with the NYT said the company's primary concern was that the source code could be used in future hacking efforts.

Twitter executives suspect it's the work of a former employee who left "within the last year." That might not narrow down the hunt for the leak. Since Elon Musk purchased Twitter last October, the company has shed roughy 80 percent of its staff.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

EU agrees to allow sales of e-fuel internal combustion engine cars past 2035

‘Diablo IV’ beta preview: More polished and even more satisfying

Hitting the Books: How the Godfather of Cybercrime got his start on eBay

Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 Wireless headphones are cheaper than ever

Elon Musk reportedly values Twitter at $20 billion

The billionaire bought the company last year for $44 billion.

In timely fashion, Twitter owner Elon Musk says he valued Twitter at about $20 billion, according to an email seen by The Information and The New York Times. (Although this was before the reports of the source code leak.) Musk shared the valuation, a significant drop from the $44 billion he paid to buy the company last fall, in a memo he sent to Twitter employees on Friday announcing a new stock compensation program.

Continue reading.

It's your last chance to buy from Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS eShops

You'll still be able to download games you've already purchased.

It's the end of an era: Nintendo is shutting down its Wii U and 3DS eShops today at 5 PM PT (8 PM ET). After that, you'll no longer be able to purchase new games for those consoles, but you'll still be able to redownload titles you've already purchased. Some games will disappear forever, with 450 digital-only Wii U games, 600 digital-only 3DS games and 530 virtual console titles gone (at least from official channels), according to Video Games Chronicle’s estimates.

Continue reading.

Netflix strikes last-minute deal for ‘Arrested Development’ streaming rights

It’ll leave when it’s good and ready.

Fox

All five seasons of Arrested Development, including the two financed by Netflix, were set to leave the service on March 15th. However, the series is now staying put, thanks to a licensing agreement the company reached with Disney-owned 20th-Century Fox, the show’s original rights holder. According to Vulture, the new deal gives Netflix exclusive streaming rights to the series. As a result, the show’s first three seasons will not be available to watch on Hulu as of later this year. Notably, the deal reportedly gave Disney the option to sell the linear TV rights for all five seasons.

Continue reading.

Intel co-founder Gordon Moore has passed away

Moore famously predicted the miniaturization of computers in 1965.

Gordon Moore, co-founder and former CEO of Intel, has passed away at 94. He was the last surviving member of the Intel Trinity, which also included his fellow founder, Robert Noyce, and their first hire, Andy Grove. In 1965, Moore wrote a paper that envisioned the miniaturization of computers, introducing the world to his prediction dubbed Moore's Law.

He predicted the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double every year, leading to the creation and production of smaller and more powerful chips that would, in turn, enable advancements in technology. By 1975, he adjusted his estimate for the doubling of transistors to every two years, though top chipmakers disagree on whether Moore's Law still holds.

Continue reading.

It turned into a five-hour showdown between TikTok CEO Shou Chew and US lawmakers, who have found suspicion of TikTok to be a rare source of bipartisan agreement. It comes as US officials told the company they could ban the app if it doesn’t separate itself from ByteDance.

As with previous hearings with social media executives, lawmakers pressed Chew for often impossible yes-no answers to complex questions and grew frustrated when he declined to give one. In one exchange, Representative Tony Cardenas asked Chew whether ByteDance was a Chinese company. He would only admit it was a “global” firm with a Chinese founder. The hearing was also notably different from previous hearings with other social media company CEOs because the vast majority of lawmakers are not active on TikTok. Not all of their questions were nuanced, either: Representative Richard Hudson demanded to know if TikTok can “access the home WiFi network.” TikTok’s future remains uncertain, Chinese officials said Thursday they opposed a sale of the social network.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

How and where to buy refurbished tech online

‘Star Trek: Picard’ thinks the kids aren’t alright

Twitter says it's killing legacy verified checkmarks starting on April 1st

SEC charges Lindsay Lohan and other celebrities for illegally touting crypto

They didn't disclose they were being paid to promote certain coins.

Hippolyte Petit via Getty Images

The Securities and Exchange Commission has cracked down on the businesses of crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and has charged him for the unregistered offer and sale of the tokens Tronix and BitTorrent. If those tokens sound familiar even to non-hardcore crypto enthusiasts, it's because several celebrities had promoted them on social media – and now they're also being charged by the agency. According to the SEC, eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo and Akon, illegally promoted the tokens online without disclosing they were paid to do so. All celebrities charged, except for Soulja Boy and musician Austin Mahone, have agreed to pay a collective amount of $400,000 in penalties to settle the charges.

Continue reading.

‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is getting a path-tracing Overdrive Mode in April

The tech preview requires the latest and most expensive NVIDIA graphics cards.

A new Cyberpunk 2077 technology preview (Overdrive Mode) supports path tracing, the next goalpost to make games look even prettier and keep you buying expensive new GPUs, courtesy of… GPU manufacturer NVIDIA. The two-year-old game joins Minecraft, Portal and Quake II — old… classics? – in supporting the technology. While ray tracing follows a single beam of light across a virtual scene, path tracing follows the light as it bounces around an environment, more realistically mimicking how it works in the physical world. But the heady calculations behind it mean you’ll need the most powerful NVIDIA RTX 40-series GPUs to enjoy Cyberpunk 2077’s path-tracing makeover – and you might still run into performance issues.

Continue reading.

Relativity Space launched its 3D-printed rocket, but failed to reach orbit

The aim is lower-cost spaceflight.

After multiple scrubbed attempts, Relativity Space has finally launched its 3D-printed rocket. But the results were mixed. Its Terran 1 vehicle successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral late Wednesday but failed to reach orbit after the second-stage engine ignited only momentarily. It's unclear what led to the failure, but Relativity is promising updates in the "coming days." Terran 1 endured Max-Q (maximum dynamic pressure), the moment expected to place the most stress on the 3D-printed design, so that’s being seen as an achievement. The 3D-printing process theoretically provides simpler, more reliable rockets that are cheaper to make and could be ready in weeks, lowering the costs of putting satellites into orbit.

Continue reading.

Framework’s latest modular PC is a gaming laptop

It’s a bigger challenge.

The Framework Laptop 16 is the company’s second product after its upgradeable 13-inch notebook, but there’s not much information – or specs – to go on at the moment. Yesterday’s announcements essentially just prepared the ground for a fuller media blitz closer to pre-orders opening later this spring. But according to company founder Nirav Patel, the new laptop has “pretty much complete flexibility to support changes when it comes to GPUs.”

Continue reading.

United and Archer will open an air taxi route to Chicago’s O’Hare airport in 2025

The companies say the trip from downtown will take as little as 10 minutes.

Archer Aviation / United Airlines

Archer Aviation and United Airlines announced a partnership today to launch a commercial air taxi route between downtown and O’Hare International Airport in 2025. As well as being United’s headquarters and largest hub, Chicago's airport makes it an ideal testbed for flying taxis. The drive to or from O’Hare, in the western suburb of Rosemont, can take anywhere from 35 minutes to over an hour, depending on traffic. Archer estimates a flight in one of its air taxis will only take 10 minutes to travel from O’Hare to its destination at a downtown helipad.

Continue reading.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew is preparing to tell lawmakers that banning it will damage the US economy. “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said in written remarks released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee before today's hearing on TikTok. The hearing, Chew’s first Congressional appearance, comes when the stakes couldn’t be higher for the company.

US officials recently told Bytedance TikTok could be banned in the US if the company doesn’t divest itself. Chew detailed the app’s safety features, including Project Texas, TikTok’s billion-dollar effort to lock down users' data. “Earlier this month, we began the process of deleting historical protected US user data stored in non-Oracle servers; we expect this process to be completed later this year,” Chew writes. “Under this structure, there is no way for the Chinese government to access it or compel access to it.”

Lawmakers will likely grill Chew in depth about TikTok’s ties to ByteDance and China, and whether they can trust the company to protect US users. How will the hearing fare? Congress has a track history of completely misunderstanding the underpinnings of tech companies, whether that’s Iowa’s Steve King complaining to the head of Google about iPhones, Senator Orrin Hatch not knowing Facebook makes most of its money from advertising or the iconic claim from then-Alaska Senator Ted Stevens that the internet is a series of tubes. Who will embarrass themselves this time?

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

Ubisoft's new Ghostwriter tool will automatically generate background sounds and chatter

Opera adds ChatGPT and AI prompts into its browser

Cable and satellite providers may have to advertise the true price of TV service

Redfall hands-on: A creepy and creative twist on the modern looter shooter

The best DACs for Apple Music Lossless in 2023

Where to sell your used and unwanted gadgets

Tesla’s Wireless Charging Platform is well made and exorbitant

A charger with Cybertruck aesthetics.

Engadget

In December last year, Tesla and Freepower announced the Wireless Charging Platform. Like many of the carmaker’s other products, though, it’s almost ludicrously expensive. At $300, Tesla’s offering is twice the cost of the priciest item from our wireless charger round-up. It’s probably not worth it, but it’s also, annoyingly, pretty good at what it does.

Continue reading.

Spotify may have spent less than 10 percent of its Joe Rogan apology fund

The company claims it has spent more of the $100 million fund but didn’t specify further.

In its first year of operation, Bloomberg sources claim Spotify has spent less than 10 percent of its $100 million Creator Equity Fund, a pool meant to foster diversity in podcasts and music. A Spotify spokesperson denies this 10 percent figure, claiming the company has spent more, but hasn't provided a specific figure. Spotify established the fund after an artist-led backlash to Joe Rogan’s COVID-19 vaccine misinformation spread through his Spotify-exclusive podcast. While that was the catalyst, critics also pointed to Rogan using racist language and making transphobic statements.

Continue reading.

The Tripod Desk Pro is a portable standing desk that upgraded my WFH setup

And when work’s finished, you can hide it.

Taken by Mat Smith / Engadget

It’s hard to make standing desk coverage compelling, but hey, I tried. I’ve been testing out a premium portable standing desk from Intension, and it’s shaking up my WFH setup. It combines an incredibly solid tripod (with optional wheels) and a desk surface that slides on like a camera. It’s rather expensive, but I might have to buy one once I return this sample.

Continue reading.

Nothing’s $149 Ear 2 wireless buds have improved connectivity and more customization

It’s a competitive price for ANC buds.

Nothing’s revealed its second-generation Ear wireless buds. The eye-catching design sticks around, and the company has tried to address some of the issues that bedeviled the original, with some much-needed improvements to connectivity and setup. Fortunately, the price of the Nothing Ear 2 is the same as the Ear 1: $149, which undercut a lot of the established true wireless competition. Read on for our full impressions.

Continue reading.

Nothing’s revealed its second-generation Ear wireless buds. The eye-catching design sticks around and the company has tried to address some of the issues that bedeviled the original, with some much-needed improvements to connectivity and setup. Fortunately, the price of the Nothing Ear 2 is the same as the Ear 1: $149, which undercut a lot of the established true wireless competition.

Nothing hasn’t redesigned its buds and case – they look very similar side-by-side – but it’s made a handful of incremental changes. Most of them focus on the case, which is smaller and slimmer. The outer part of the case is still transparent, but part of the white structure is now exposed. There’s no textured surface, just a soft-touch panel. Nothing claims the see-through plastic is harder to scratch and damage than the original Ear 1. In my pockets and bag, getting shuffled around with keys or other objects has already left a noticeable scratch on the case. I also worry that this exposed panel could get muckier easier – the curse of all white gadgets.

Photo by Mat Smith / Engadget

Tackling one the bigger complaints I had with the Ear 1, Nothing moved the microphones and antenna inside the buds to improve connectivity and stability – something it also did with the cheaper Ear Stick. The company’s first wireless buds were often finickity when pairing. The company has also changed the antenna structure for better reliability, and the initial pairing process seems to be less fussy and smoother than its predecessor. It’s also, finally, added dual connectivity, making it easier to switch between your phone and laptop.

Microphone placements have also been repositioned to reduce wind noise on calls, but I didn’t notice major improvements over the Ear 1. Nothing said its Clear Voice tech was tuned to just shy of 2 million sounds on the Ear 1 in order to filter them out, while that was closer to 20 million on its newest buds. However, I made several test calls, and I was still difficult to hear when it was windy.

Nothing says it improved sound detail with polyurethane components for clearer low frequencies (it’s been a while since a company has sold polyurethane as a feature), and graphene for brighter highs. There’s also a dual chamber design for a wider soundstage.

The Ear 2 will also be compatible with Hi-res audio at launch, although they weren’t at time of writing, and are compatible with the LHDC 5.0 codec, which all means they should work with premium audio standards where you can find them.

But does it sound all that different? Swapping between the Ear 1 and Ear 2, the newest version does offer clearer sound in the trebles and the bass has more oomph than before. But, compared to wireless buds that are often hundred dollars more expensive, like the AirPods Pro or Sony’s latest flagship buds, they don’t quite stand up, coming off a little flat.

Nothing’s latest buds offer three levels of active noise cancellation (ANC): low, mid and high. The Ear 2 also offer a personalized ANC profile calibrated to your own hearing. The test is a lengthy five minutes, roughly, with a test dedicated to each bud. Your mileage and ears will different, but I didn’t note any marked improvements after calibration. The ANC isn’t perfect: At the highest levels of active noise cancellation still seemed to struggle with the reverberations on trains and the subway, leading to a jarring noise echo in my left bud while using ANC, despite recalibrating the buds several times in a bid to fix it. It’s, fortunately, happening much less often following a firmware update over the weekend. There’s also an adaptive ANC mode that will flit between levels depending on the noise around you, hopefully reducing the toll on battery life.

Nothing says there are battery improvements across both the buds (roughly an hour more, to over six hours) and the case, which can juice the buds for up to 36 hours of listening (with ANC off), two hours longer than the Ear 1. You should get 8 hours of audio from a 10-minute charge, too. There’s still wireless charging too, if you want it.

Setting up and switching between ANC modes is done through the updated Nothing X app, but the Ear 2, predictably, work best with Nothing’s Phone 1, with drop-down shortcuts and easier access to the fine-grain controls.

There’s also a custom sound profile calibration to hone in on frequencies you might not hear – thanks, aging. The equalizer, again inside the companion app, offers more options. You switch between treble- or bass-centric modes, a balanced mode and one dedicated to voice. My custom sound profile also came with the ability to augment my weaker audio frequencies I had trouble hearing with a richer profile, alongside the standard recommended mode. You can also tweak the intensity with a slider.

Photo by Mat Smith / Engadget

Nothing may have added many minor features and improvements but the Ear 2 isn’t shaking up the status quo like its predecessor. Given the eye-catching hardware of the Ear 1, I wasn’t expecting a major redesign (they don’t need it) and the company has addressed my biggest problems with the first headphones. It’s hard to complain about the range of improvements, including upgraded water and sweat resistance rating: the buds are IP54 rated while the charging case is IP55.

The Ear 2 will launch in white on March 28th on Nothing’s own retail site, as well as on Amazon and Kith. Unfortunately, if you were looking to match your black Phone 1, there’s no plan for a black option.

At Engadget, we’ve covered plenty of standing desks and peripherals that have changed up our work-from-home setups, but everyone’s use case (and living arrangements) differ. Until now, I’ve struggled to find a standing desk that balances versatility and compactness.

I live in a small, one-bedroom apartment in London, usually working on a dining table instead of a work desk. I don’t use a second screen (I know I should) as I prefer to take my work computer to a coffee shop or across London without losing utility. I do have a wireless keyboard and trackpad, which I usually break out during hectic writing deadlines. But, beyond an IKEA laptop shelf, I’ve never found a standing desk to which I’d be willing to dedicate a corner of my home. I also didn’t want to be reminded of work while relaxing on a Saturday morning.

But Intension's tripod standing desk, with a collapsible design and adjustable height, might be the solution. There are several ‘portable’ standing desks, but Intension’s ‘pro’ model, with particularly industrial legs and an optional wheel add-on, ticked many boxes. The desk surface can be fixed between 28 and 53 inches, making it a suitable work surface for most people.

The tripod setup offers more versatility than typical standing desks, as you can set it up at knee height and use it for board games or puzzles. (People still do puzzles, okay?) The desk can also be angled and fixed if you prefer to type or write at an incline, too. Along one edge, there are two ‘laptop stops’ to keep your laptop on the desk surface, even when tilted.

The wheels (an optional add-on) add even more freedom: I can roll the desk into my bedroom if I’m taking conference calls and want to be out of earshot of the running washing machine in the background. Wouldn’t taking your standing desk outside be nice if you have a garden? That’s possible with a tripod desk. As you can see in the pictures, the tripod part of the desk is pretty substantial, so it'll stay there once it’s tightened in place. That said, because of the way the surface is affixed in a uniform line, the desk part can wobble a little.

Mat Smith / Engadget

Talking of the surface, some tripod desks offer work space barely larger than an inflight tray table in economy-comfort class. Fortunately, this one has a 16- by 28-inch surface, leaving enough space for a (light!) secondary screen, your phone and more. I attached my Blue podcasting mic to an articulating arm and clamped it to the far edge of the desk.

Beyond using a standing desk for everyday PC work, it’s come into its own when I need to film videos for this job, with the perfect space for my autocue (my laptop) and my mic.

It’s a lot more substantial than a typical camera tripod, but also so much sturdier. Oddly enough, the wheelbase is a solid, adjustable triangular base that makes it feel even more rigid. Each wheel can also be locked in place and there are also rubberized feet on the tripod, too. Once it's set up, the feet are unlikely to move independently, whether on hard floors, carpet or rugs.

Its maneuverability is the best part of this tripod desk – even when it’s not in use. While testing, I didn’t deconstruct it and pack it away often, but the ability to do so when I have visitors over or need extra floor space is a boon. Most of the time, I can wheel it into a corner, behind a shelf, out of sight.

Mat Smith / Engadget

The pro model tripod is so incredibly hardy it would probably outlast several items of static furniture. It’s a shame the surface is a little shaky – if they’re looking to refresh this model, a cross strut to stabilize the surface would be a smart place to begin.. It’s not enough of an angle for cups to slide off, but it does feel oddly precarious when the tripod itself is so substantial – and when the desk costs $400.

I tested out the Intension Tripod Standing Desk Pro as a simple standing desk, but its versatility meant I used it for more than just laptop work – it even turned into my podcasting surface of choice. If you’re looking for an even lighter, petite tripod desk – or just a cheaper option – Intension’s basic option is currently on sale for under $200.

Google Bard is the company’s answer to ChatGPT: an AI chatbot using LaMDA, the company’s in-development language model. We’ve been testing it, and what’s immediately clear are all the company’s warnings, whether it’s the experiment label or the regular reminders that Bard “will not always get it right.” Even the example entries, when you boot up Bard, include what the chatbot can’t do.

The big difference between Google and Bing’s integration is the alternative responses that Bard throws up alongside the conversation. You can click the dropdown arrow next to "View other drafts" at the top left of each chat bubble to see some other suggestions. Unlike Bing, Google's chatbot doesn't always cite its sources, which I think could be a major point as these chatbots creep into our daily internet lives. They’re still prone to mistakes, and I want to know where these bots get their answers from. Also, be careful what you’re searching for. Google notes these early rounds of testing will inform Bard's direction, so we’d advise not using private information. Another reason to be cautious? A bug in ChatGPT accidentally revealed user chat histories yesterday.

The rollout of Bard seems to be happening pretty quickly, so if you’re in the US or the UK, you should get access a few hours after applying.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

A TikTok ban is a lot more complicated than just shutting down the app

The best live TV streaming services in 2023

Where to recycle your used and unwanted gadgets

NVIDIA and Medtronic are building an AI-enhanced endoscopy tool

Adobe is bringing generative AI features to Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro

NVIDIA unveils AI Foundations, its customizable Gen-AI cloud service

Virtuix's Omni One VR treadmill is finally making its way to customers

Oppo's Find X6 Pro packs a 1-inch sensor and a periscopic camera

For now, it’s only coming to China.

Photo by Richard Lai / Engadget

Oppo’s made another flagship phone, and it’s the largest external redesign since 2021’s Find X3 Pro, with the three rear cameras – all with a 50-megapixel resolution plus optical stabilization – in a large circular island. The glass-covered upper part houses the main camera, the ultra-wide camera, the LED flash and Hasselblad's logo, while the lower part features the periscopic camera with 3x optical zoom (65mm equivalent) or 6x "in-sensor" zoom – a fancy new way of saying it crops the image. Along with the barrage of sensors, Oppo has stuck to its strengths, featuring 100W SuperVOOC fast-charging, which the company claims can fully charge the phone in a mere 28 minutes. It’s bonkers.

Continue reading.

NVIDIA's big AI reveal is tools to build more AI

With DGX Cloud, more companies can build their own.

NVIDIA's AI push finally seems to be leading somewhere. The company's GTC (GPU Technology Conference) has always been a platform to promote its hardware for the AI world. Now it's practically a celebration of how well-positioned NVIDIA is to take advantage of this moment. Supercomputers are expensive, so its new DGX Cloud service offers an online way to tap into the power of its AI supercomputers. Starting at a mere $36,999 a month for a single node, it’s meant to be a more flexible way for companies to scale up their AI needs. Man, that’s still expensive.

Continue reading.

Ford unveils an electric Explorer crossover built for Europe's narrow streets

The compact EV even has a moving touchscreen.

Ford

Ford has finally shown the medium electric crossover it teased last year. It’s an electric Explorer "designed for Europe" and suited to tight city streets. It's relatively compact (under 14.8ft long versus 16.6ft for the gas SUV) and includes a few technology features you won't even find in higher-end Ford EVs like the Mustang Mach-E. The 15-inch vertical touchscreen will seem familiar, but it slides up and down – you won't have to settle for an awkward position. You also won't find the physical knob from earlier Ford EVs. The automaker also utilizes the electrified design to provide a massive amount of console storage space (enough for a laptop) and a locker for valuables.

Continue reading.

Duolingo is building a music learning app

The company is looking for a music scientist to help it build the application.

According to a job posting (seen by TechCrunch), Duolingo has a small team working to build an app for teaching music. The job ad is for an "expert in music education who combines both theoretical knowledge of relevant learning science research and hands-on teaching experience." They have to translate "research findings into concrete ideas" that can be used for the "learning by doing" activities Duolingo is known for. If it’s anything like Duolingo, I’ll be learning melodies and instruments I may never ever play in the real world. What’s the musical equivalent of, “Without a doubt, I want to eat ham”?

Continue reading.

Microsoft could launch an Xbox store on iOS and Android as early as next year, according to a Financial Times interview with Phil Spencer. Microsoft first revealed it was working on an Xbox store for mobile devices in a document filed with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year. The head of the company’s gaming division said the plan depends on regulators approving Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. “The Digital Markets Act (DMA) that’s coming – those are the kinds of things that we are planning for,” he said. “I think it’s a huge opportunity.”

Under the DMA, major platforms the European Union designates as “gatekeepers” will be required to open their devices to competing app stores. Bloomberg reported last year that Apple was already preparing to make iOS compliant with this legislation ahead of its March 2024 deadline. Spencer also noted in the interview it would be “pretty trivial” for Microsoft to adapt its existing Xbox and Game Pass apps to sell games and subscriptions through mobile devices.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

The best budget robot vacuums for 2023

How to organize your desk at home

Apple's 512GB Mac Mini M2 is $99 off right now

Amazon will lay off another 9,000 employees in the coming weeks

LG’s iridescent 2023 Gram Style laptops start at $1,499

Samsung's expanded OLED TV lineup includes a new lower-priced series

Acer is making an e-bike

Because why not?

Acer

Acer is making a serious left turn. Typically known for its PCs, laptops and accessories, the company has revealed the ebii, an e-bike for cities, with AI features that learn riders' personal preferences and change gears depending on road conditions. It's about 35 pounds, making it lighter than most e-bikes. Acer claims it has a maximum assist speed of 20MPH and can go just under 70 miles on one charge. For now, there’s no date or price.

Continue reading.

Kamado Joe's new ceramic grill has smart features and one-button ignition

A true ceramic grill with two big upgrades.

Ceramic kamado-style grills have been some of the best grilling gear available for backyard cooks for a long time. However, it takes practice to master lighting them and maintain cooking temperatures. But the new Konnected Joe has a push-button charcoal igniter to get the grill going and a digitally controlled fan system to keep the heat level where you need it. The 18-inch diameter cooking surface gives you enough room for 13 burgers, four whole chickens or two pork butts, the latter being my new favorite unit of measure for area.

Continue reading.

Netflix plans to add roughly 40 more titles to its mobile game library this year

The 'Monument Valley' series will hit the service in 2024.

Netflix continues to build up an incredible library of mobile games that (surprisingly) aren’t awful. Maybe because it’s been buying established titles – and developers. Apparently, Netflix is just getting started and plans to add around 40 more games throughout the year. The company has revealed a few of those titles, including reverse city-builder Terra Nil (March 28th) and Paper Trail, in which you fold parts of the world to solve puzzles. Netflix has also struck a deal with Ubisoft for three exclusive games.

Continue reading.

The next-gen Digits robot gets a head and hands

The updated model can haul more weight and reach farther.

Digits

Agility Robotics announced an updated version of its bipedal Digits warehouse robot. Designed to take on repetitive or injury-risking tasks, the new version adds a head (with LED animated eyes) and hands, and it can handle a wider variety of demanding workloads than its predecessor. The company is opening applications for spots in its Agility Partner Program (APP), which will be the only place to purchase them initially. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the first units should ship in early 2024.

Continue reading.

8BitDo game controllers now work with Apple devices

Six models are compatible now, and more are incoming.

8BitDo, makers of some of our favorite (and well-priced) smartphone gamepads, has confirmed its controllers now officially support iPhones, iPads and Macs, thanks to firmware upgrades and Apple's recent iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3, tvOS 16.3 and macOS 13.2 updates. The compatibility is limited to the Lite SE, Pro, Pro 2, SN30 Pro+, SN30 Pro for Android and Ultimate Controller 2.4g, but more models are "incoming."

Continue reading.

After 15 years in space, NASA’s AIM mission is ending. The agency said it was ending operational support for the spacecraft due to a battery power failure. NASA first noticed issues with AIM’s battery in 2019, but the probe was still sending a “significant amount of data” back to Earth. Following another recent decline in battery power, NASA says AIM has become unresponsive.

NASA launched the AIM – Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere – mission in 2007 to study noctilucent or night-shining clouds, which can last hundreds of years in the Earth's upper atmosphere. It was only meant to operate up in the skies for two years, but it’s provided data for multiple groundbreaking studies, including a recent 2018 study that found methane emissions (and the climate change effects) are causing night-shining clouds to form more frequently.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

Hitting the Books: During World War II, even our pigeons joined the fight

Amazon faces lawsuit over alleged biometric tracking at Go stores in New York

Microsoft is making it easier to set default apps in Windows 11

The ‘Diablo IV’ beta has some rough queue times

‘We are aware some have experienced longer than expected wait times.’

Diablo IV’s early access weekend hasn’t gone as smoothly as Blizzard likely hoped it would. Shortly after the beta went live on Friday, many players found themselves in lengthy login queues – including Engadget editor Igor Bonifacic, who had to wait nearly two hours before he got to play the game for… 15 minutes before being disconnected. Blizzard addressed the issue after players complained on social media and the official Diablo IV forums. “The team is working through some issues behind the scenes that have been affecting players and causing them to be disconnected from the servers,” Blizzard said in its initial post on the wait times.

Continue reading.

Google Pixel 7 phones are cheaper than ever right now

The entire lineup, including every storage variant and colorway, is $150 off.

Engadget

Arguably the best Android phones out there, the entire Pixel family is on sale,, including the flagship 7 Pro. At both Amazon and the Google Store, you can get the Pixel 7 Pro for $150 off, across all colorways and storage variants, meaning the 128GB, 256GB and 512GB models are $749, $849 and $949 at the moment. The more affordable Pixel 7 is also $150 off, again in all three colorways and both storage variants.

Continue reading.

Disco Elysium’s new Mode allows you to write new dialogue

But it's really just a photo mode.

Disco Elysium, one of the best releases of 2019 and 2021, finally has a dedicated photo mode, but it’s not like the one you find in most games. Its new Collage Mode grants you full access to all the characters, environments and props in the RPG. As you might imagine, you can use that power to pose your favorite NPCs in “a range of silly and sensible poses.” Collage Mode gives you the freedom to write your own dialogue for Disco Elysium, and makes it look like it came directly from the game.

Continue reading.

In December, ByteDance confirmed it fired four employees who used TikTok to spy on the locations of two journalists. Now, Forbes reports the FBI and the Department of Justice have been investigating the incident. This investigation couldn’t come at a worse time, as ByteDance faces mounting pressure to sell its stake in TikTok.

Critics in Congress have previously raised questions about the app’s surveillance tactics, particularly in light of ByteDance’s acknowledgment that employees had inappropriately accessed US user data. "We have strongly condemned the actions of the individuals found to have been involved, and they are no longer employed at ByteDance,” a spokesperson said. “Our internal investigation is still ongoing, and we will cooperate with any official investigations when brought to us."

The incident late last year involved employees accessing the data of several TikTok users in the US, including journalists, to locate the sources of leaks. Forbes reported ByteDance tracked three of its reporters who previously worked for BuzzFeed News. These publications have all run reports on TikTok, with many focusing on alleged ties to the Chinese government.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

YouTube TV raises prices to an outrageous $73 per month

Amazon no longer sells print and Kindle magazines

How to clean and organize your PC

'Resident Evil 4' remake review

A half-step backward for Capcom remakes

Capcom

2005’s Resident Evil 4 set the standard for action-horror games when it came out, and the remake shines when it embraces the innovations of the original: over-the-shoulder precision shooting and an atmosphere blending combat and terror. However, the remake loses focus quickly, and it feels like much of Capcom’s effort was poured into upgrading enemies and environments. The RE4 remake introduces new boss fights and also allows Leon to parry powerful attacks. Sometimes. When the prompt does pop up, it’s easily interrupted by environmental nudges, the actions of other enemies and Leon’s own animations. Like most of Leon’s movements, the parry ability is simply too inconsistent to be satisfying.

Continue reading.

Valve's Steam Deck is on sale for the first time

A 10 percent discount coincides with the Steam spring sale.

Valve's terrific portable gaming system is on sale for the first time. The 64GB model is currently $359.10 ($40 off). The 256GB variant has dropped from $529 to $476.10. The 512GB Steam Deck, which has a screen with anti-glare glass and the fastest storage of the bunch, is $65 off at $584.10. The discount will apply in all regions where the Deck ships until 1 PM ET on March 23rd, when the Steam spring sale ends.

Continue reading.

IKEA just launched a $15 waterproof Bluetooth speaker

It’s cute, and it probably goes in your shower.

IKEA's Vappeby lineup continues to grow with a new waterproof Bluetooth speaker for the shower at just $15 – undercutting all but the cheapest no-name devices. "The fundamental goal with the new product was to offer quality sound in a versatile product that can really be used anywhere," said product design developer Stjepan Begic. It offers a surprising 80 hours of battery life at 50 percent volume and is IP67 rated for water and dust resistance. It’s on sale now.

Continue reading.