The idea of sitting in front of a massive 55-inch gaming monitor all day sounds like heaven. Being able to twist it into a towering portrait mode? The stuff of my multi-tasking dreams. That's the pitch behind Samsung's 55-inch 4K Odyssey Ark Monitor. As we saw during our first preview, it's a genuinely unique behemoth of a display, one that can easily immerse you in both Microsoft Flight Simulator and towering Excel spreadsheets.

Sure, you could just plug a 55-inch TV into your PC, but without the Ark's extreme curve, it would be too wide to comfortably use as a monitor. You also won't find any 4K TVs with the Ark's blazing fast 165Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time, let alone its surprisingly solid sound system. The Odyssey Ark stands alone. But is it actually worth $3,500? That depends on if you're able to live with its many annoyances (and if you don't think too hard about the price).

Annoyance number one? This thing is a bear to set up. Even with the help of two delivery workers, it took around 20 minutes to get the (very heavy) Ark monitor correctly attached to its (equally heavy) base. The entire unit weighs 91.5 pounds when put together, so be sure to have a sturdy desk at the ready. If that sounds a bit obscene, well, you'd be correct. Samsung's 55-inch QN90B NEO QLED TV weighs almost half as much (48.3 pounds), while LG's 65-inch C2 OLED TV clocks in at 72 pounds. Extreme heft is the unfortunate price you'll have to pay for a rotating monitor stand.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

As soon as I sat in front of the Odyssey Ark, I understood why Samsung dared to build it. We've already seen its extra-wide 49-inch gaming monitors in action. And, of course the company that pushed the limits of phone screens would do the same for PCs. Given Samsung's robust TV business, it makes sense to explore the many other ways it could use 55-inch Mini LED panels. (The TV side is where we also saw Samsung debut screens that could rotate into TikTok-friendly portrait mode.) The Ark may not be entirely practical, but for Samsung it serves as a showcase for many of its display innovations.

Design-wise, the Odyssey Ark resembles Samsung's TVs more than its gaming monitors. It has a sturdy metal base (as it should, given its size), as well as a smooth metal case surrounding the curvy screen. It even comes with Samsung's One Connect breakout-box, one of the company's more intriguing TV inventions. It connects to the Ark over a single cable, while the box itself handles power and all of your typical connections (four HDMI 2.1 ports, an optical audio connection, 3.5mm headphone jack and two USB ports). While it was originally meant for screens you'd be mounting on walls, it's a welcome addition to the Odyssey Ark — nobody wants to push a near 100-pound beast around just to get to HDMI ports.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Samsung includes two ways to control the Ark: A simple remote with a directional pad and shortcuts for streaming apps like Netflix, as well as a dial for quickly managing the Ark's many different viewing modes. Both controllers are solar powered, so you'll just need to make sure they get a bit of light to keep running. I'd imagine that could be an issue in window-less offices like mine, but it wouldn't be that tough to place the remotes by a window every few months. On the plus side, they should be able to run indefinitely if you're lucky enough to have some light. (Solar cells can be charged by artificial lighting, but not very efficiently.)

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Ark's odd shape, as well as a few LED lighting strips on the rear, are the major signs that it's not a mere TV set. I've been in front of plenty of curved screens before, but nothing this extreme. The sides of the display almost seem like they're trying to embrace you with 4K Mini-LED goodness. It's an effective bit of immersion while you're viewing the Ark in its standard widescreen mode, reminiscent of specialized theaters like LA's Cinerama Dome. And unlike most TVs and monitors, the Ark's large frame allows it to house a six speaker sound system (four tweeters and two woofers), which delivers the audio punch of a medium-sized soundbar.

The combination of expansive sound and a wonderfully immersive picture make the Odyssey Ark a truly unique viewing experience. Movies, TV shows, and even trailers felt like they were drawing me into the action, so much so that I barely noticed the slight distortion from the curved sides of the screen. But while the Ark's sweet spot is indeed very sweet, showing off the added brightness of Mini-LED and the expansive color range from its Quantum Dot display, its viewing angle is incredibly limited. Just a few steps off the center and you immediately lose color and clarity. The curve giveth, the curve taketh away.

When it comes to software, the Ark is a curious device, sitting somewhere between what you'd expect from a smart TV (it has apps for Netflix, YouTube and everything else you'd expect), and a computer monitor. On the PC side, it can reach up to a 165Hz refresh rate, allowing for frenetic gaming at incredibly high framerates. Samsung has baked in multiple ways to take advantage of its massive screen size: Its "Multi View" mode lets you display up to three different apps at once. That can include a single HDMI video input, as well as a device mirrored wirelessly (using AirPlay or the Android equivalent). Additionally, there's a "Flex View" mode that lets you shrink an input down so it doesn't fill up the whole screen.

Now why would you want to do that? I quickly learned that playing fast-paced shooters like Overwatch 2 and Halo Infinite were overwhelming when sitting a few feet away from a 55-inch screen. Sure, I could see more detail, but moving the camera around quickly and trying to track potential enemies was nausea-inducing. I didn't mind sitting close to the screen for slower-paced games like A Plague Tale: Requiem, but for shooters I'd prefer moving the screen further back. Unfortunately, that just wasn't possible in my cramped basement office, so I occasionally used Flex View mode to shrink faster games down to size.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Ark also features built-in apps for every major game streaming service: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Geforce Now, Amazon Luna, and yes even Google’s short-lived Stadia (that dies next month). You can easily pair Bluetooth controllers with the Ark directly, allowing you to treat it like an oversized console. I had no trouble signing into Game Pass and going through a few races in Forza Horizon 5, but as usual, your streaming experience will depend on the quality of your internet.

On the non-gaming front, I learned that moving to a 55-inch screen still required a bit of an adjustment. I typically use a 34-inch ultrawide monitor, which gives me a decent amount of horizontal space without being too overwhelming vertically. But sitting in front of the Odyssey Ark almost felt like sitting directly in front of the monolith from 2001 — there's just so much screen. After 30 minutes or so, I got used to using Slack, Evernote and my many browser tabs on a big screen. But when it came to focused writing and other work, the Ark was overkill. I wrote this review on the Ark during small sessions, but I just couldn't stick with it for too long.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Samsung's unique portrait view, or "Cockpit Mode," was similarly overpowering. It's easy to rotate the Ark between that and its typical landscape mode — you just have to push the screen to the top of the base and push along its left side — but I found the taller view genuinely off-putting. Instead of a warm embrace, it was honestly a bit threatening, as if my body was instinctively worried about the Ark toppling over.

It's easy to make Windows 11 recognize a portrait display, but I didn't find it too useful for my typical work. (Though I'd imagine some Flight Simulator fans may enjoy trying to tweak the game for a genuine cockpit view). Instead, the portrait orientation was better suited to the Ark's Multi View mode, allowing me to play a PC game in a small 31-inch square while I left a YouTube video running in another window on top, and my phone mirrored right above it. It's just a shame that Multi View mode doesn't currently support streaming video apps like Netflix. Also, you can only hear audio from up to two sources at once. (And if this sounds like pure information overload, well, it is.)

For whatever reason, the Ark did an awful job of downscaling my PC's desktop in Multi View mode, even after tweaking the resolution several times. Text was hard to read and images were blurry, as if I was looking at everything through a pair of dirty glasses. Fighting with that feature also made it clear how the Ark often pales in comparison to having a typical multi-monitor setup. It's not that hard to have another monitor sitting beside your standard screen, and that also wouldn't involve any sort of distortion. You're also more free to tweak the way external monitors are positioned and laid out, rather than working within the confines of Samsung's software.

Most importantly, though, a multi-monitor setup would be vastly cheaper than the Odyssey Ark's $3,500 retail price. (It's currently marked down to $2,500 for the holidays, but it's unclear if that will stick.) You could easily pick up a 55-inch OLED TV and a few PC monitors for less than $2,5000. Or my personal recommendation: Get Alienware's fantastic QD-OLED ultrawide monitor for $1,299 and an assortment of other screens. Whichever direction you go, it'll be far more practical than having a single 55-inch display on your desk.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

As my honeymoon period with the Odyssey Ark faded, I was left with nothing but questions. Where are the DisplayPort or USB-C connections on Samsung's breakout box? Why, exactly, can't it display more than two HDMI connections at once? Is the extreme curve worth losing any sort of off-angle viewing? Really, who is this thing actually for? Will gamers be able to live with its downsides to take advantage of a 55-inch monitor? Can they stomach a $3,500 price? And how many people will have desks sturdy enough to hold this thing?

Anyone buying the Odyssey Ark is basically paying to be a beta tester for Samsung. In general, we recommend against serving as consumer guinea pigs. But if you've been dying to have an impossibly gigantic curved gaming monitor, your wish has finally been granted.

It’s been a bumper year for gaming on the go. For a spell, it kinda felt like Nintendo was the only name in town, but it’s since become one of the more exciting corners of gaming. Today, there are handheld options for everything from AAA to Indie to retro and beyond. Whatsmore, the current generation of mobile processors means we’re seeing surprisingly capable hardware. The main problem, now, is that the software side of things hasn’t quite caught up. There’s perhaps no better demonstration of this than the Ayaneo Air Pro: a stellar example of what can be done, and what needs improving, in the burgeoning handheld PC world.

If you’re not familiar with Ayaneo, that’s understandable. The company hasn’t been around all that long, but it’s already making a name for itself thanks to remarkably good hardware that brings PC gaming into the portable realm. If you imagine a Steam Deck, but with Windows and a fraction of the size, you wouldn’t be far off.

Before we dive into the gaming experience, the hardware itself is worth a closer look. The Air Pro is impressively well made. It has a similar footprint to Nintendo’s Switch Lite, but it’s thicker (.85 vs .55 inches) and heavier (.88lbs vs .55). In terms of build quality, honestly the Ayaneo feels far superior. The Hall effect analog sticks and triggers are smooth with a nice amount of travel. The D-pad is responsive and the buttons are the right kind of snappy. The centerpiece is the stunning 5.5-inch OLED display - a first on Windows gaming handheld Ayaneo is fond of reminding us. It’s a delight to hold and feels premium in almost every regard. Even the fingerprint reader in the power button somehow adds a dash of sophistication.

James Trew / Engadget

As this is basically a PC, there are quite a few different configurations available. Some using AMD’s 5560U chipset and others running the 5825U with assorted amounts of RAM and storage depending on your budget. And you will need a sizable budget as you’ll soon find out.

The Air Pro doesn’t quite have the grunt of Valve’s venerable Steam Deck, but it does run Windows 11 out of the box and can run a surprising amount of high-end games in a more-than-playable fashion. And while the Steam Deck outguns it in terms of processing power, the Air Pro is legitimately portable without too much of a performance tradeoff.

Beyond size and the internals, the other main difference is price. Valve’s handheld tops out at $650 for the 512GB version while the Air Pro starts at $699 (5560U/16GB RAM/512GB storage). You can bring that figure right up to $1,399 if you want the faster silicon, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage - that’s obviously quite spendy. The model we tested was somewhere between middle and top with the superior processor, 16GB of RAM and 1TB storage (though all models have expandable memory via a microSD card slot).

There are other gaming handhelds that run Windows, but many are too underpowered to handle a lot of bigger games. Anbernic’s Win600, for example, runs on an older AMD Athlon Silver 3050e chipset with Radeon Vega 3 graphics. This is a significant step down, but then the Win600 only costs $375. Ayn’s Odin can also run Windows, but the ARM-based version which brings with it some compatibility issues. GPD has been in this space for a while, but its Win 3 is looking a little underpowered now (though its Win 4 is coming this month and it looks suitably beefy).

Perhaps most tellingly there are manymore handhelds in the works from companies like Ayn, the aforementioned GPD and others. There’s even a new flagship from the company itself, the Ayaneo 2, that really should cause potential Steam Deck buyers some headaches. These un-released models all have something in common: AMD’s 6800U chipset. It seems there was always an appetite for PC gaming on the go, just we didn’t quite have the required hardware to run it. Until recently.

Technical limitations are one thing, but there’s another more philosophical question that needs answering: Why make a pocketable PC when you can stream a lot of AAA games without the need for expensive, power hungry dedicated hardware? While it’s true streaming is more viable than ever, that approach requires that you have a console or gaming PC in the first place or a subscription to something like GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud which isn’t economically favorable for many folks (not to mention the libraries might not have what you want). Not to mention its dependence on a network connection - good luck with that on in-flight WiFi.

James Trew / Engadget

Which brings us back to the real issue: Windows isn’t ready to be used on tiny screens and neither are many of the games that run on it. Ayaneo has tried hard to ameliorate this issue by adding its own launcher called Ayaspace. It serves as a front-end for all your games and manages to provide a vague console-like experience. But it’s not long before the spell is broken and you find yourself using an analog stick as a mouse trying to log-in to Steam and then using a tiny onscreen keyboard to peck out your credentials.

Ayaneo has at least tried to solve some of these inevitable problems. The Air Pro, for example, has two buttons along the top (between LB and RB) that will pull up the onscreen keyboard, double for ESC and other essential Windows shortcuts to make navigating bearable. But you will likely need to plug in a mouse and keyboard at some point just to get something simple done.

It’ll also soon become apparent that AAA games weren’t necessarily made with a small screen in mind. For the most part, games look incredible on the Air Pro’s OLED display. Even when playing games at 720p (the display is 1080p) they still look incredible - but it’s often a necessary tradeoff for performance. You will likely find yourself wishing that display was just a little bit bigger. Not least to get rid of those bezels, but just for general quality of life.

Not least for games where there’s a lot of text. Titles like Disco Elysium, for example, have a lot of written dialog - and while it’s easy enough to read for the most part, it’s noticeably more fatiguing than if you were on a desktop. Thankfully, the display is sharp and the resolution is high enough that it’s all still very legible, but there’s just that vague sense of a UI that wasn’t built for a display of this size.

James Trew / Engadget

If you’re thinking “Why not just run SteamOS on it” you wouldn’t be alone. It’s been done with varying degrees of success. The bigger issue might just come down to the practicality (millions of games available, wide hardware support) and reach of Windows. There are some more mundane challenges with SteamOS that don’t make it a shoo-in replacement for these handhelds. Primarily, game compatibility. If it’s not available on Steam, you can probably still install it on SteamOS but it might involve flipping to desktop mode or other workarounds which breaks the “console” experience you might have been seeking in the first place.

More importantly, some users are actually reporting better battery life with Windows on the Steam Deck despite expecting it to be worse. The claims are that it’s broadly equivalent but in some cases even better than Valve’s native operating system thanks to a combination of factors. PC gaming has a lot of variables, so this isn’t necessarily that surprising. This isn’t always going to be the case, but it’s at least not a strong incentive for making SteamOS the go-to platform for portable PC gaming.

Battery life is especially important with a handheld and it would be a lie to say it’s something that the Ayaneo Air Pro excels at. Or even does adequately at. Depending on what you’re playing and the power drain - usually called TDP – required for it to run satisfactorily. More demanding games will need a TDP of 12 Watts or above and you can hope for about an hour and 45 minutes battery life at this intensity. Some games can run just fine at 8W which will extend play time to around 2.3 hours. You can get over three hours of life on the lowest 5W setting but this won’t be enough for anything but the lightest of games but it’s good for general setup tasks and the like.

Needless to say, this isn’t ideal for a handheld, especially as your battery pack likely won’t cut it - unless it can deliver 65W, which most can’t.

In short, the Ayaneo Air Pro represents a lot of hope and shines a light on some challenges. Hope in that true PC gaming on the go in a pocket-friendly format and on fantastic hardware, feels like it might finally be here. It’s the challenges that are a little more complicated. Windows has a lot of advantages, but also plenty of practical drawbacks. Whether it’s a case of adapting the hardware around these, or just a matter of a smart software overlay is being figured out in real time it seems.

James Trew / Engadget

Making a truly “console” experience will require some clever thinking and equally clever software. Ayaneo, for its part, is also working on its own Ayaneo OS that’s Linux-based like SteamOS. Whether this will resolve some of the challenges remains to be seen, but it’s clearly something that’s being worked on. But that just accounts for one company. With other manufacturers with ties to Windows like GPD there’s a risk of ending up with a mishmash of approaches. Hopefully, though, with more competition comes more innovation (or more ideas to be “borrowed”).

For some, the exciting part is to finally have more options to enjoy high-end gaming away from the PC. Not everyone is looking to spend more time at a desktop, or maybe you just want to scratch that Elden-itch while waiting for a flight. Whatever your preference, things are about to get a lot more interesting.

GM has installed its first Level 2 charging stations in Wisconsin and Detroit as part of a community charging initiative unveiled last year. A dealership in Marshfield, Wisconsin put up stations at locations including parks, a library and a sports complex, while another installed them at a healthcare/wellness center in Owosso, Michigan. The aim is to help dealers install up to 40,000 chargers in community locations (including underserved rural and urban areas) across the US and Canada. 

"Nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a GM dealership. Our dealers are... well positioned to determine locations that expand access to EV charging, including at small businesses, entertainment venues, schools and other popular destinations,” said GM VP Hoss Hassani. 

GM originally said it would offer a mix of 11.5kW and 19.2kW chargers, but it now says it will give dealers up to ten 19.2kW chargers that deliver "the most power available to a Level 2 charger." Those can be placed at "key locations" in neighborhoods, such as apartments, colleges and businesses. Crucially, the units won't be limited to GM drivers, so EVs from other brands can use them as well.

GM selected Canadian manufacturer FLO as the charging station provider, with manufacturing to take place at FLO's Auburn Hills, Michigan facility. While not nearly as quick as fast chargers, the 19.2kW 80-amp stations could get you from a 20 to 80 percent charge in under three hours — not bad if you're spending time at a library or park, for instance. Last year, GM said the chargers would be available to buy through dealers for home use, but it didn't mention that option in its latest press release.

Earlier this year, GM also unveiled plans for a coast-to-coast fast-charging network with 2,000 350kW chargers across 500 stations. It eventually plans to expand Ultium Charge 360 access to over 100,000 charge points across North America. Its current EV lineup includes the BrightDrop electric delivery vans, Cadillac Lyric and Celestiq, GMC Hummer and Sierra EVs, Chevrolet Blazer and Equinox EVs and the Bolt lineup. In an interesting twist, GM recently revealed that it has serviced over 11,000 Tesla EVs since last year. 

When Dead Island 2 remerged earlier this year after a lengthy absence, publisher Deep Silver announced it would be the first title to support Amazon’s Alexa Game Control, a feature that allows you to use your voice to play a game. On Tuesday, the company shared a trailer showcasing the functionality, albeit one that offers a staged view of things.

The trailer opens with a group of zombie apocalypse survivors finding a playable build of Dead Island 2. “What a weird coincidence,” says one of the characters, commenting on the meta-narrative. “What’s Alexa Game Control?” asks the leader of the group. As one of their friends goes outside for a smoke, the video shows how certain voice commands will trigger actions within the game. “Hey zombie,” for example, draws the attention of the nearest undead. You can also say, “get me my ax” to cause your character to, well, switch to their ax.

Not every voice command that’s in the game is shown off in the trailer. An Amazon spokesperson told The Verge you’ll be able to use your voice to do things like set waypoints and greet other characters. Alexa Voice Control doesn’t require an Echo device. All you need is a headset with a microphone. We’ll get a chance to see how well the voice commands work when Dead Island 2, after nearly a decade of development, finally arrives on April 28th.

A little over a month after it arrived on Xbox consoles, the addictive roguelike shoot ‘em up Vampire Survivors will get its first DLC. The $2 Legacy of Moonspell expansion launches on PC via Steam and Xbox on December 15th.

The new content includes a new map that developer poncle describes as the game’s “biggest stage yet.” The new level, Mt. Moonspell, adds an abandoned castle, a snow-covered mountain and a Yokai-infested village. Additionally, the DLC adds over a dozen new weapons, including an ancestral wind force, orbs that unleash the power of seasons, a dark summoning weapon and an enchanted kimono. It also adds eight extra playable characters and six music tracks.

“In eastern lands, a clan has fallen,” the DLC’s story description reads. “The Moonspell, once vigilant guardians of a sorcerous valley nestled in the mountains, have been overrun by hordes of yokai and oni. Though treacherous, this hive of spectral activity may provide some clue as to the location of a vampire. If not, at least it’ll be entertaining to defeat thousands of wayward spirits in the process.”

Luca Galante

Vampire Survivors is a casual game that, over time, reveals more complexity than you’d expect from its simple 2D character sprites. Your character auto-fires weapons, leaving you to control their movement and loadout while dodging fire and snagging enemy drops. The goal is to stay ahead of the curve: As wave after wave of enemies approach, it may remind you as much of tower defense as the roguelike games from which it draws inspiration. Once you get the hang of it, it can become an almost meditative experience, which helps explain its standing as the most-played Steam Deck game month after month.

The base Vampire Survivors game is available for $5 on Steam and Xbox Series X/S; it's also available via Game Pass for PCs and consoles.

Apple isn't done scaling back its plans for an electric car, apparently. Bloombergsources say the EV, codenamed Project Titan, is no longer a fully self-driving machine. It will reportedly have a conventional wheel and pedals, and will 'only' drive itself on highways. The company has also pushed the launch back by a year to 2026, the tipsters claim.

The rumored vehicle will supposedly offer enough autonomy that you can play games or watch video on the highway, but ask you to take control when it's time to drive on city streets or through adverse weather. Apple may debut the hands-free tech in North America at first and expand access "over time," the insiders add.

Apple has already declined comment. Titan has been in development for years, and has suffered numerous setbacks as well as major strategy shifts. The tech firm may have had doubts as early as 2015, and was said to have scuttled the vehicle in 2016 in favor of a licensed self-driving platform. Executive shuffles and layoffs didn't help, either. While the company did return to making a full-fledged vehicle, according to rumors, it had little success courting production help from brands like Hyundai.

More modest ambitions wouldn't be surprising. Full Level 5 autonomy (where a vehicle can drive itself in any circumstance) still isn't a practical reality, and even Waymo's robotaxis are only allowed to operate in good weather in California. There's also the question of legal permissions. While states are increasingly receptive to self-driving cars, there isn't yet a framework that would let the general public use completely autonomous vehicles. Even if Apple solved all the technical challenges, it couldn't realistically sell a truly hands-off car any time soon.

A switch to a semi-autonomous design could lead to fiercer competition. While Tesla has long been considered Apple's main rival, the EV market has grown rapidly in recent years. Brands like Ford, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Rivian have all made capable electric rides. Apple would be entering a crowded field, and there's no guarantee the company will stand out.

Since Amazon first announced its Luna cloud gaming service in 2020, Ubisoft has been one of the company’s closest partners. The publisher embraced the service early and came out of the gate with a dedicated channel. Now the two companies are deepening their partnership with an expansion of what you can do with Luna.

Starting today, it’s possible to stream Ubisoft games you already own on PC through Luna. You'll need an active Prime or Luna+ subscription to do so, as well as a set of linked Amazon Luna and Ubisoft Connect accounts. Once you have those in place, you can play your existing purchases wherever Luna is available, including on Fire TV devices, Chromebooks and phones.

The list of compatible titles features some of Ubisoft’s best-known games, including Watch Dogs: Legion, Riders Republic and nearly every Assassin’s Creed game you could ever want to play. There are also a few older gems on the list, such as Beyond Good and Evil and Child of Light. A Ubisoft spokesperson told Engadget the offer extends to games the publisher allowed Stadia users to transfer to PC after Google announced the service was shutting down. 

At first glance, Ubisoft letting PC players use Luna without paying for its channel may not make much business sense, but there’s an element of smart marketing to the plan. The best way for a company to attract new customers to a service is to give them the opportunity to use it and see the value in it themselves. After using Luna to play games you previously purchased, you may come out of the experience more inclined to subscribe to the Ubisoft channel. That would be a win for the publisher.

Amazon has rolled out another round of discounts on Samsung storage devices, dropping various microSD cards and SSDs we recommend to their lowest prices to date. Among the highlights, the 1TB version of Samsung's 980 Pro SSD is down to $100, which is about $25 off its average street price over the last few months and beats its Black Friday pricing by $10. (Amazon mistakenly lists this as the standard 980 SSD, but it's the upgraded model.) This deal is also available at B&H. 

Samsung launched an updated 990 Pro SSD earlier this year, and in general, not everyone needs the faster speeds of a PCIe 4.0 drive like this. At less than $100, though, the 980 Pro is still a fine value for those looking to build out a more performant PC for gaming. This SSD also meets Sony's requirements for expanding the PlayStation 5's storage, though you'll need to add a heatsink for that to work properly. If you're buying for a PS5 specifically, it's likely worth paying a little bit extra for the model with an integrated heatsink, which, at $112, is also down to its lowest price to date. 

If you want to save some cash on a less intense build, meanwhile, the 1TB 970 Evo Plus is worth noting at $90. Outside of a brief drop to $84 in April, that's the lowest price we've seen for that recommended PCIe 3.0 drive.

Beyond those, the 128GB Evo Select microSD card is on sale for $14, which is within 50 cents of its all-time low and a couple bucks lower than what we saw over Black Friday. This price is also available at Samsung's online store. Again, this isn't the absolute fastest choice, but its U3-rated speeds are more than enough if you just want to add space to a device like the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck. If you need a little extra speed for shooting 4K video, the 256GB Pro Plus card is a better buy at $25. That also matches the best price we've seen. The T7 Shield, meanwhile, is a portable SSD we recommend to those looking for a more rugged design; at $90 for 1TB, it's $9 above its all-time low but still $10 below its Black Friday price. You can see the full sale at the link below.

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The main thing that has put me off of playing more Valorant over the last couple of years is the length of matches. Riot Games is looking to do something about that with a more compact casual mode that it's starting to test in the game's public build.

Matches in the core competitive and unrated (or unranked) modes typically last around 30-50 minutes. Each round can last up to two minutes or so. As such, it can take a while for one team to win 13 rounds and become the victor. Competitive matches can last even longer if the score reaches 12-12, since teams need to win by at least two rounds in overtime if they vote to keep playing.

The new Swiftplay mode has a similar ruleset to Unrated. However, the first team to win five rounds will emerge triumphant. Attackers and defenders will swap sides after four rounds and there's a sudden-death overtime. Riot says Swiftplay matches should run for around 15 minutes.

There are some tweaks to the economy and how players earn ultimate points to make sure they can still access all the fun stuff in the shorter format. For instance, at the start of each half of a Swiftplay match, you'll get two ultimate points for free. As such, you might be able to use the game's most powerful abilities a bit more often.

Although Valorant has other casual modes that don't last as long as competitive or unrated matches (such as Spike Rush and Deathmatch), Swiftplay brings the ruleset of the core modes into a more condensed format. Riot says it's a frequently requested mode that should make it easier for folks who don't have a ton of free time to play more Valorant. It should help other players to get more reps in too.

The Swiftstep beta is going live with today's 5.12 patch, which also brings in a host of balance changes and tweaks how various abilities interact with each other. Swiftstep will be available on all maps used for the unrated mode and the beta will run until January 10th.

Waze is France's most popular navigation app, to the point that it was recently updated with three regional accents (Toulouse, Provençal and ch'ti). So it makes sense that Waze elected to partner with French automaker Renault to launch a new, dedicated version of the app for cars. It's available on infotainment systems via Google integration, starting with the Austral Hybrid and Megane E-Tech EV. 

To be clear, it's already possible to use Waze on Android Auto by installing it as an app from your smartphone. What's different is that Renault drivers can now install the app directly to the infotainment system and use it without the need for a mobile device.

"When you drive, you can experience safer and more convenient journeys while eliminating the hassle of using a smartphone," Waze wrote on its blog. "With this new experience, Renault drivers will have all Waze real-time routing, navigation and alerts, plus settings, preferences and saved places, built into their car display."

Renault's latest multimedia system supports CarPlay and Android Auto wirelessly and has a number of apps like Google Maps and Spotify pre-installed — with no need to connect your phone for those apps. You can install Waze either from the Play store in the above vehicles' infotainment systems, or from Renault's dedicated app. 

Waze appears set to expand to other vehicles and brands, saying it's "looking forward to bringing this excellent driving experience to more users across the globe in 2023." So if you prefer Waze to Google Maps and have a car that supports Android Auto, you may be able to switch soon.