A decade ago, buying a gaming or creative workstation laptop meant sacrificing portability for power. Not anymore. These days machines with top specs can be had in relatively thin and light chassis — and HP just announced its latest laptop for this category: the Omen Transcend 16.

HP calls the Transcend 16 a "hybrid device" designed for lifestyle gamers, but don't let the phrasing confuse you — this laptop is thin and portable at just 19.9mm thick, but it isn't a 2-in-1 convertible. The Transcend 16 may not fold over into a tablet mode, but it still has a pretty impressive screen: HP says the mini-LED 2560 x 1600 HDR1000 display is the brightest of any Omen device. Paired with a 13th generation Intel Core i9-12900HX CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics, the new gaming laptop should offer more than enough power for both gaming and work. The Omen Transcend 16 will launch this Spring, starting at $1670.

If you're looking for a machine focused more on high-end leisure, HP is also rolling out some updates for Omen 16 laptops. Unlike the Transcend 16, this machine offers a choice of processor: buyers can pick between an Intel Core i9-13900HX or an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS — and both models can be paired with GeForce RTX 4080 graphics and up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB of SSD storage. Pricing will start at $1300 when the Omen 16 hits stores, also in Spring.

Both the Omen 16 and the Transcend 16 also come with 1-month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and support intuitive audio pairing when bundled with HyperX Cloud II Core Wireless Gaming Headsets.

Finally, HP has announced the new line-up of nine Omen gaming monitors in a variety of sizes. Almost all of the monitors hit a gaming-friendly 165hz refresh rate, but there are a few standouts: The Omen 27s and 27qs both boast a faster 240Hz refresh rate, while the 27K steps down to 144hz in exchange for a higher resolution 4K display. HP is also offering a new 21:9 ultrawide with the Omen 34c. All nine monitors are slated for a Spring launch and are priced between $200 and $480.

If you own an Apple device, check your notifications: Apple has officially released updates for each of its major Platforms. The MacOS 13.3, and 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.

To start, the emoji keyboard is five new animals, two new hand gestures, three new colored hearts and a handful of household objects such as a folding fan, a flute and maracas. When you're not spamming friends with the new goose emoji, you'll be enjoying the benefits of the more subtle updates. 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 — all on top of a series of bug fixes that address issues with content management for parents, accidental alarm muting and more.

Apple is also reintroducing the new HomeKit architecture it pulled from iOS 16.2 and MacOS Ventura 13.1 last year. At the time, users were reporting that certain Siri commands weren't working correctly and that smart home devices weren't showing up correctly in the Home App. Not only have those issues apparently been addressed, but Apple also notes that a pairing issue with Matter-compatible has also been resolved.

Ready to send some new Emoji? You can try the latest OS for yourself by navigating to your device's settings app to update.

The Nintendo eShop for the Wii U and 3DS game consoles officially closed for business on March 27th, 2023, permanently disabling all new purchases on the platforms. We knew this was coming. Nintendo quietly announced the eShop's closure over a year ago, asserting that it was the "natural life cycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time." That's true. It's even a reasonable business justification. That doesn't make it any less of a loss for Nintendo fans, because legally playing some of these console’s best games is now not only harder, but in some cases, nearly impossible.

The time to argue that Nintendo should keep this aging digital storefront open has long since passed (though yes, they should have). The eShop is closed, but it's worth reflecting on what consumers are losing with it: one of the last affordable, convenient and legal options for buying a vast library of games. And not just Nintendo's retro library of "Virtual Console" titles from its classic era, either. Between the 3DS and Wii U eShop's closure, consumers have lost easy access to modern and classic games from a dozen platforms — from more recent systems like the Wii U and 3DS, to the original Wii, the DS and DSi, three flavors of Game Boy handhelds (Advance, Color and original), the Sega Game Gear, the TurboGraphix-16, as well as the Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo and original Nintendo Entertainment System. Losing these libraries now is especially painful, as it's becoming harder than ever to find and play older games.

It used to be easy. Unless you were looking for something rare, building a modest library of classic and recent games was fun and affordable. Recently, that changed. Prices for used games shot up dramatically since March of 2020 — a 2021 analysis from Pricecharting.com found that retro game prices shot up 33% in just a year — and prices have remained high. To make matters worse, the retro market has also been flooded with bootleg cartridges, which often aren't properly labeled as reproductions.

Digital storefronts like the Nintendo eShop offered an affordable alternative. Let's say you wanted to play Metroid Prime, for example. You could pick up Metroid Prime Remastered on the Nintendo Switch for $40 and enjoy the updated visuals and new features, but if you wanted to play the other two games in the series, you'd have to find a copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii. According to PriceCharting.com, that'll set you back between $80 and $90 — $117 if you want it in the original case. The Wii U eShop, on the other hand, sold a digital copy for just $19.99.

There are countless similar examples. Game & Wario sells for between $30 and $80 on eBay, but it could have been had for $30 on the eShop. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, which still hasn't been ported to the Switch, goes for between $30 and $100 used — but the eShop let you play it for just $20. If you are itching to play the 3DS versions of Dragon Quest VII and VIII, you'd have to pay in the ballpark of $100 each on the secondhand market, but the 3DS eShop sold them for $49.99, their original retail price.

The eShop was also home to a lot of exclusives we may never see again, like Pushmo, Attack of the Friday Monsters, Dr. Luigi and more. All gone, now that consumers no longer have convenient, legal access to the eShop’s library. In the past, Nintendo has pointed to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription as the future home for classic games, but the service's current offerings are a paltry sampling of was available before. Not only is this solution limited, and only available if you’re subscribed to a service, but it offers only a modest selection of nostalgic classics, without the depth of the eShop’s back catalog of retail games. Players looking for affordable ways to play hard to find Wii, Wii U and 3DS games are now just out of luck.

Not that accessing those games was remotely easy. The Wii U and 3DS digital libraries (not to mention Sony’s counterparts for the PS3 and PS Vita) may be vast archives containing multiple generations of playable gaming history, but each of these storefronts is chained to an aging platform. As Nintendo Fans dusted off their old consoles before the eShop’s closure, some found that their Wii U consoles were suffering from memory corruption, potentially the fallout of having sat unused for so long. Even accessing these stores on a healthy device presented a fair share of hurdles: all of these platforms have disabled native payment options, forcing users to add funds through other consoles, web portals or by redeeming retail points cards.

It’s a frustrating situation, because historically, Nintendo has taken a strong stance against piracy. Now, it's leaving its fans with fewer options than ever. In a now deleted section of a FAQ about the eShop’s closure, Nintendo dodged its own question about having an obligation to preserve its back catalog — stating that it has “no plans to offer classic content” apart from the previously mentioned Nintendo Switch Online subscription service.

In lieu of Nintendo’s discarded ‘obligation,’ independent games preservationists have taken up the task. Jirard Khalil, creator of The Completionist on YouTube, recently bought every piece of content on the 3DS and Wii U eShops. The effort cost $22,791 and took almost a year to complete, due to wallet limits, interface frustrations and the limited storage capacity of the consoles themselves. He’s donating the completed archive of 866 Wii U games and 1,547 3DS games, plus all relevant DLC, to the Video Game History Foundation. That’s a noble endeavor, but that doesn’t help the average consumer that wants to play these games. As VGHF co-founder Kelsey Lewin recently told Ars Technica, even if these games were made available from a preservation entity like VGHF, the only way one could legally play one of them would be to physically visit the library themselves and sign a consent form to play it on-site.

Thanks to the work of games preservationists and the emulation community, almost no game is truly out of reach if someone wants to play it, so long as you’re comfortable exploring the hobby pirate scene. But there's still a big market for those of us who want legal, convenient access to older games. It's why the NES and SNES Classic both sold so well. It's why Sony reversed course on closing the PlayStation 3 and Vita stores in 2021. And it’s why the closure of the 3DS and Wii U eShops is such a loss for keeping video game history accessible to consumers.

We can’t rely on the commercial games industry to preserve its own history. Publishers have proven to us time and time again that these fleeting windows into nostalgia will be closed when they are no longer profitable. Publically mourning the loss of Nintendo’s digital stores, and fearing the eventual end of PlayStation Store support for the PS3 and Vita, won’t likely stop these companies closing them in favor of streaming, subscription services and other, newer trends. Still, I hope one day these companies will realize that while their back catalogs may not be the most lucrative part of their business, they still hold a lot of value for many fans. And we’ll happily pay to access them – if you let us.

We saw both of LG's new soundbars in action at CES earlier this year — and while the company was happy to show off the speakers' wireless connectivity and other features, it wasn't ready to share pricing or availability. Turns out, both the premium-focused LG Sound Bar C (SC9) and the more compact SE6 are available starting today, March 22nd. Which unit is right for you depends not only on what kind of soundscape you're hoping to build, but also on if you already have an compatible LG TV.

The higher-end Sound Bar C sells for $999, and comes with an included subwoofer as well as the LG Synergy Bracket — a soundbar mount designed specifically for LG OLED C Series TVs that bolts the audio directly to the screen, rather than the wall or your TV stand. LG's Wow Interface is exclusive to the SC9, which lets you control the soundbar's settings from a compatible LG TV itself.

At $450, the LG SE6 is less expensive and lacks a dedicated subwoofer, but it still packs Dolby Atmos and many of the higher-end soundbar's key features. Wow Orchestra can sync the sound bar's audio to the TV's internal speakers for a larger soundscape, and LG's Wowcast feature allows both units to wirelessly connect to a TV to avoid visible cable clutter.

Both the SC9 and SE6 are available from LG.com and select retailers starting on March 22nd, 2023.

Last month, Roblox outlined its vision for AI-assisted content creation, imagining a future where Generative AI could help users create code, 3D models and more with little more than text prompts. Now, it's taking its first steps toward allowing "every user on Roblox to be a creator" by launching its first AI tools: Code Assist and Material Generator, both in beta. 

Although neither tool is anywhere close to generating a playable Roblox experience from a text description, Head of Roblox Studio Stef Corazzatold an audience at GDC 2023 that they can "help automate basic coding tasks so you can focus on creative work." For now, that means being able to generate useful code snippets and object textures based on short prompts. Roblox's announcement for the tools offers a few examples, generating realistic textures for a "bright red rock canyon" and "stained glass," or producing several lines of functional code that will that make certain objects change color and self-destruct after a player interacts with them. 

Both of those functions might sound familiar to you if you've experimented AI chatbots — GPT-3 can already create functional code snippets based on prompts.  

Code Assist looks promising, but Roblox is careful to state it's imperfect, and may generate "incorrect" or "misleading" information. "It is still up to you to review, test, and determine if the code suggestion is contextually appropriate." Even so, Roblox's Corazza seems confident that this is the first step towards making every user on the platform a creator, suggesting it may only be a few years before these tools can generate fully playable, interactive 3D scenes from a simple prompt.

Reading some of your favorite Manga series may be getting a little easier soon: Kodansha, the publisher behind hit titles like Attack on Titan and Ghost in the Shell, has announced that it's launching a new digital reading platform in May. Simply titled, K Manga, the new app promises to launch with a backlog of 400 titles, and will provide early access to new chapters from the publisher's most popular series.

The announcement doesn't say if K Manga will sell Manga by the volume or have a paid subscription tier, but users will be able to "read limited chapters of manga for free." That, paired with a promise that K Manga releases will be "official translations" seems to be positioning the app as an alternative to the unofficial pirate sites that share fan-translated Manga for free online.

As for what you'll be reading on the app? Kodansha highlights a few contemporary series such as The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse and Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, but the company's back catalog has enormous potential. Although none of these series are officially announced for K Manga yet, Kodansha is the publisher for iconic hits like Sailor Moon, Akira and Battle Angel Alita.

The K Manga app will launch on May 10.

Last month, the FCC proposed a new set of rules designed to combat the nuisance of robotext scams. Those rules are now official: not only will carriers be required to block messages that are likely to be illegal, but the new order also takes the first steps toward closing a loophole that allows scammers to dodge Do-Not-Call Registry protections.

Specifically, the rule targets text messages that come from numbers that are "unlikely to transmit text messages," citing unallocated, unused or invalid numbers, as well as numbers for government agencies and other "well-known entities" that don't send text messages. The order also hopes to close the "lead generator loophole," that allows companies to interpret a consumer's "consent" to a call as permission for other marketers to add them to a robocall list.

The announcement makes a point of saying that while these kinds of robotexts already fall under the Telephone Consumer Protection act, the new rules will give carriers more tools to help them actively block scammers. Even so, the best way to prevent being scammed is to protect yourself.

After 16 years with Twitch, company co-founder Emmett Shear is stepping down from his role as CEO. Shear was there at the beginning, when the popular entertainment platform was still called Justin.tv, a live video site designed to host a 24/7 reality show about the life of co-founder Justin Kan. When the company spun the platform's growing gaming category into its own brand, Twitch was born. Shear shepherded the company through that transition, through Amazon's $970 million acquisition of the company in 2014, and beyond. Now, he says he says fatherhood has inspired him to step down from his leadership role. "I want to be fully there for my son as he enters this world," he wrote in a farewell blog. "I will continue to work at Twitch in an advisory role."

Dan Clancy will be taking over as CEO. Originally hired in 2019 as the executive VP of creator and community experience, Clancy soon rose to the role of President at Twitch. When streaming partners raised concerns over Twitch's revenue split with creators, Clancy was the one who put the issue to bed — explaining in a letter to streamers that the share would remain at 50/50 and premium 70/30 splits given to the platforms biggest stars would be subject to new limitations. As the face of this decision, Clancy bore the brunt of much of the backlash.

As for Shear, his exit letter exudes confidence for the new CEO. "He cares deeply about the Twitch community, its streamers and our staff and understands what makes Twitch, Twitch," he wrote. Dan Clancy will step into his role as CEO effective immediately.

Last summer, Elon Musk and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert announced "Coverage Above and Beyond," a joint initiative that aimed to bring Starlink satellite coverage compatible T-Mobile devices. Now, SpaceX is getting ready to begin testing its satellite-to-cellular service.

During a panel at the Satellite Conference and Exhibition 2023, SpaceX VP of Starlink enterprise sales Jonathan Hofeller said the company had plans to "start getting into testing" its satellite-to-cell service this year. "We're going to learn a lot by doing — not necessarily by overanalyzing — and getting out there, working with the telcos."

Hofeller didn't specifically say which Telco SpaceX was working with, but the timeline certainly lines up with Musk's original vision for the T-Mobile partnership. In August, he promised that Starlink V2 would launch in 2023 and would "transmit direct to mobile phones, eliminating dead zones worldwide." At the time T-Mobile said the service would give the carrier "near complete coverage" of most of the United States, specifically highlighting areas that are notoriously difficult to find a signal: National Parks, mountain ranges, deserts and other remote locations.

Either way, the panel seemed optimistic about the future of sat-to-cell technology. Lynk Global CEO Charles Miller said that satellite cellular service has the potential to be the "biggest category in satellite," and Iridium CEO Matt Desch sees cellular satellite service as just the beginning. "Satellite should connect everything everywhere," he said at the event, imagining the technology connecting to computers, vehicles and more.

There was a time when movies based on video games tried to distance themselves from their source material. "This ain't no game," bragged the poster for the 1993's live-action Super Mario Bros. film. Times have changed: The final trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie by Illumination leans hard into its origins. This is absolutely a game, it says. See? Here's a scene that looks like New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, and another one that looks just like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

If you were hoping to hear more of Chris Pratt's Mario voice, you won't find it here — but the final trailer does give viewers a clear look at the tone the movie is going for. We watch Bowser list off an army of familiar video game enemies. We watch Mario and Donkey Kong use power mushrooms and fire flowers as they run through a training course that looks like a traditional Mario level. We see Mario and Peach race through a brightly rendered Rainbow Road. It looks familiar. It looks fun. And it looks like a game, but with better graphics.

That's no surprise. According to directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, Illumination has worked closely with Nintendo to make sure the film feels right. The directors also say that Illumination has improved its lighting and rendering technology to help push Super Mario Bros. Movie to the next level "beyond anything Illumination has ever done."

As for that Mario voice? You'll finally be able to hear the full performance when the film hits theaters next month. The Super Mario Bros. Moviereleases on April 5, 2023.