Apple is boasting of its environmental initiatives ahead of Earth Day, and it's shedding new light on its devices in the process. As part of its 2022 Environmental Progress Report, the company has revealed that 18 percent of the material in its fiscal 2021 products was recycled or renewed, the "highest-ever" ratio at the iPhone maker and a 50 percent jump from last year's 12 percent. There were eight new products including at least 20 percent recycled material. This included the company's first use of certified recycled gold (in the mainboards and camera arrays of the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro), while reuses of cobalt, rare earth elements and tungsten "more than doubled" over the year.
The tech firm also said it had cut nearly all use of plastics in its packaging. The material represented just 4 percent of packaging in 2021, and the new iPhones were the company's first handsets without any plastic packing material. Apple hopes to eliminate all use of plastic in its packaging by 2025.
The report not-so-subtly advertised Apple's response to repairability concerns. The company noted that its its products have become increasingly easier to fix at repair centers, and use more durable designs. It mentioned the announcement of the Self Service Repair program, although it wasn't more specific about the 2022 launch window.
Apple has been eager to share its eco-friendly goals in the past, including plans to make both its products and the supply chain carbon neutral by 2030. Critics have argued that highly publicized efforts like these sometimes represent "greenwashing" that masks the overall environmental harm of their products (such as shipping hundreds of millions of devices per year). However, it's still good to know that the hardware you buy won't deal quite as severe a blow as it would have in the past.
That tiny webcam on your laptop has probably gotten more use in the last few years than it ever has before. Even if you’re back to taking some of your meetings in the office, chances are that back-to-back Zoom calls are now a permanent part of your professional life. Once an afterthought, your computer’s webcam has become one of its most important components — and the fact remains that most built-in cameras are not able to provide consistent, high-quality video chat experiences.
This is where external webcams come in. They can do wonders for those with lackluster built-in webcams, people who spend most of their working hours on video conferences, and those who picked up a new hobby of streaming on Twitch or YouTube over the past couple of years. But as with most PC accessories, it can be tough to sort through the sea of options out there. We tested out a bunch of the latest webcams to see which are worth your money and which you can safely skip.
What to look for in a webcam
Resolution and field of view
While some newer machines have 1080p webcams, most built-in cameras have a resolution of 720p, so you’ll want to look for an external one that’s better than that. FHD webcams will give you a noticeable bump in video quality; ideally, you’re looking for something that can handle 1080p at 60fps or 30fps. If you’re considering a cheap 720p webcam, make sure to get one that supports at least 30fps (most will) or, even better, 60fps. However, if your primary concern is looking better during video calls, 1080p is the way to go.
Some webcams can shoot in 4K, but that’s overkill for most people. Not to mention most video conferencing services like Zoom, Google Meet and Skype don’t even support 4K video. When it comes to streaming, Twitch maxes out at 1080p video, but YouTube added 4K live streaming back in 2016. Ultimately, with 4K webcam shots having such limited use, most people can get by with a solid 1080p camera.
Field of view controls how much can fit in the frame when you’re recording. Most webcams I tested had a default field of view of around 78 degrees, which was enough to capture me and enough of my background to show that I really need to organize my home office. On cheaper webcams you’ll usually see narrower fields of view (around 60 degrees), and those aren’t necessarily bad. They won’t show as much of your background, but that also means you won’t be able to squeeze as many friends or family members into frame when you’re having Zoom birthday parties. On the flip side, more expensive webcams may let you adjust the field of view to be even wider than average.
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
Autofocus and other “auto” features
Webcams with autofocus will keep you looking sharp without much work on your part. You should be able to move around, step back and forth, and remain in focus the whole time. Some models let you manually adjust focus, too, if you have specific needs. Devices with fixed focus are less convenient, but they tend to be more affordable.
In the same vein is auto framing, a feature that some high-end webcams now offer. Similarly to Apple’s Center Stage feature, the camera automatically adjusts to keep you in the center of the frame even as you move around. But you’ll pay a premium for it: The only two webcams I tested that had auto framing were the $200 Dell UltraSharp webcam and the $220 Anker Video Bar, and while that helped those models stand out from the pack, neither were great enough to earn a spot in our best picks list.
You’ll also see other “auto” features listed in webcam specs, most notably auto light correction. This will adjust the camera’s settings to make up for a dimly lit room. If you don’t have a well-lit setup for your video calls, or often take calls in different places where you can’t control the lighting, this feature will be valuable.
Microphones
Most webcams have built-in microphones that, depending on your setup, might end up being closer to you than your computer’s own mics. Check to see if the model you’re considering has mono or stereo mics, as the latter is better. Some even use noise-reduction technology to keep your voice loud and clear. While audiophiles and streamers will want to invest in a standalone microphone, most others can get by using a webcam’s built-in mic.
Design
There aren’t a ton of fascinating breakthroughs when it comes to webcam design. Most are round or rectangular devices that clip onto a monitor or your laptop screen. Some have the ability to screw onto a tripod stand and others can simply sit on your desk beside your computer. But unless you really like having people stare up your nose, the latter isn’t ideal. We recommend clipping your webcam to your monitor and ensuring that it’s at or slightly above eye level.
A few webcams go above and beyond by adding hardware extras like built-in lights and lens covers, too. The former can help you stand out in a dark room, while the latter makes it so hackers can’t view you through your webcam without your knowledge.
Price
Most external webcams that are just good enough to be a step up from your computer’s built-in camera cost between $60 and $150. If the webcam has the same resolution as the internal one on your laptop, you should look out for other specs like auto light correction, a wider field of view or an extra-long connecting cable that can provide a step-up in quality or ease of use.
Spending $150 or more means you might get advanced features like 4K resolution, vertical and horizontal recording options, stereo mics, customizable video settings and more. But unless you’re spending hours on video calls each day or streaming multiple times each week, you can safely skip most of those high-end options.
Engadget picks
Best overall: Logitech C920s Pro HD
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
The Logitech C920s Pro HD webcam seems like a great value on paper, and it proves that to be true, too, once you take it out of the box. For around $60, you’re getting an FHD webcam that can shoot in up to 1080p/30fps, has a 78-degree field-of-view, dual microphones and auto light correction. It’s a fairly average-looking webcam measuring 3.7 inches at its widest point, with the lens in the middle and its two microphones on either side.
The adjustable base is quite sturdy and, while I kept it hooked to my external monitor most of the time, you could easily attach it to your laptop’s screen or sit it on your desk and angle the camera upward. There’s also a hole on the underside if you wish to connect it to a tripod. There’s an optional lens cover in the box that provides protection when you transport the webcam, but also gives you extra privacy.
I immediately saw an improvement in video quality when I took conference calls using the C920s Pro HD. I’m lucky enough to have one lamp and one large window in my small home office, so I’m usually not fighting for good light. But even on cloudy days, the camera’s 1080p video was sharp and produced fairly accurate colors. While cheaper cameras struggled on rainy days with the lamp off, the C920s Pro HD illuminated my whole face and had minimal shadows.
All Logitech webcams can use the company’s Camera Settings app to adjust things like field of view, brightness, color intensity and autofocus, but I kept the default settings on this one. The C920s Pro HD does have autofocus and it was so good that I barely noticed it. I was always in focus during my video chats and I never saw the camera struggling to regain focus even if I moved around.
Runner Up: Anker PowerConf C200
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
Anker’s cube-like PowerConf C200 webcam has a lot of the same perks as Logitech’s C920s Pro HD, along with a few extras and a price tag that’s $10 more. Setup is equally as easy as with the Logitech cam – just plug it into your computer or docking station and start using it. You can download the AnkerWork software to edit things like brightness, sharpness and contrast ratio and, as with Logitech’s, I kept all of those settings at their defaults.
But you’re also able to control the camera’s resolution and field of view with this software, too. The C200 webcam defaults to a 2K resolution, but you can bring it down to 1080p, 720p or even 360p if you wish. Same goes for field of view: The default is 95 degrees, but I bumped mine down to 78 degrees to spare my colleagues a wider view of my messy home office.
I was immediately impressed with the C200’s video quality: 2K is likely more than most people need (1080p should do just fine), but the extra sharpness and clarity is a nice touch. The webcam’s autofocus is quite fast, and its larger f/2.0 aperture captures more light so you stay illuminated even in darker settings.
In addition to a built-in lens cover that you can slide closed for privacy, the C200 has dual stereo mics that actually do a good job of capturing your voice loud and clear. You can also choose directional or omnidirectional vocal pickup in the AnkerWork settings, with the latter being better if you have multiple people speaking on your end.
My biggest complaints about the C200 webcam are that it’s a bit cumbersome to adjust its angle when it’s perched on your monitor or screen. Unlike most other webcams, Anker’s doesn’t have a short neck of sorts that connects the camera to its adjustable base – it’s just one, chunky piece of plastic that I had to use both hands to adjust when necessary. Also, the C200 comes with a USB cable that’s much shorter than others. This won’t be a problem if you’re connecting the webcam directly to your laptop, but it’s not as flexible if you have a standing desk converter or a more complicated setup that requires long cables.
Best for streaming: Logitech Streamcam
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
Of all the webcams I tested, I had the most fun using Logitech’s Streamcam. While it’s a bit weird to say I “had fun” with such an innocuous piece of tech, I found the Streamcam to be remarkable in many ways. First and foremost, the video quality is excellent: It shoots in 1080p/60fps and its video is slightly sharper than that of the Logitech C920s Pro HD. Details in my clothing came through much better and, whether I liked it or not, so did some of the texture on my skin. The Streamcam was also one of the best devices when it came to color reproduction.
All of those perks remain the same even when you’re shooting in low-light conditions. The Streamcam’s auto-exposure feature made up for the darkness in my office on gloomy days. And it has the best kind of autofocus — the kind that you never notice in action.
The dual omnidirectional mics inside the Streamcam delivered my voice loud and clear during video calls. If you stream often and find yourself without an external mic, it’s nice to know that you could get by with the Streamcam’s built-in ones in a pinch. The microphones also have noise reduction to keep your voice font and center.
As far as design goes, the Streamcam is a bit larger than most. It’s a chunky almost-square that can easily be positioned on a monitor or on a tripod, and a unique feature of its design is its ability to shoot either vertically or horizontally. I kept mine in the standard 16:9 format, but some streamers who post to social media often will like the 9:16 format that’s best for Instagram and TikTok. Logitech also made sure the Streamcam was optimized for Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), XSplit and Streamlabs, so you can use it directly out of the box for your next live session.
The Streamcam is the best all-purpose webcam on our list; if you want one device that can do it all, from video conferences to Twitch streams to family video chats, the Streamcam is the best option. However, not everyone will want to drop the $170 on one. Its higher price keeps it from our top spot because those who just want to look better on Zoom calls don’t need to drop $170 to do that.
Best premium: Logitech Brio
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
If you’re willing to spare no expense on a webcam, Logitech’s $200 Brio is the one to get. It has a lot of things going for it, but the best and most important feature is its 4K recording. It’s capable of shooting in 4K/30fps in addition to 1080p and 720p in either 60fps or 30fps. I kept it set at 4K and I never looked better on a video call. My feed was sharp and clear, and the only negative thing about it was the slightly inaccurate colors (they came off more saturated than normal).
Low-light performance was stellar as well. The Brio’s light correcting technology with HDR made up for the cave-like environment in which I was sometimes forced to record. As far as sound goes, the dual microphones inside the Brio were some of the loudest and clearest of any webcam I tested. They also use noise-canceling technology to capture audio from up to one meter away while blocking out background noise.
The Brio also had the most customizable settings of the Logitech cameras I tried. In addition to brightness, contrast, color intensity, white balance and autofocus, you’re able to adjust HDR, field of view and image ratio in the Camera Settings app. While I kept most of the default settings, I changed my field of view from 65 degrees to 78 degrees (the third option of 90 degrees was too wide for my taste), and it captured just enough of my background but still kept me as the focal point.
I also opted to turn off autofocus because I found it to be finicky. Issues with the Brio’s autofocus have been documented online and I’ve reached out to Logitech for troubleshooting tips. An Engadget colleague who uses the Brio as his daily webcam hasn’t experienced the autofocus issues, so there just might not be enough contrast between myself and the background. Since I take most video calls from my home office desk, adjusting the focus manually to fit that environment worked well for me.
It’s hard to get excited about webcam design, but Logitech tried to make the Brio as sleek looking as possible. Instead of a mere rectangle, the Brio is an elongated oval with rounded edges and a standard base that clips securely onto a screen. The front is a glossy black, punctuated only by the camera lens, two tiny slits for the microphones and the IR sensors. The latter makes the Brio compatible with Windows Hello, so you can unlock your system using facial recognition. And when you want more privacy, you can use the included lens shade to cover the camera.
After all that waiting, Senior Editor Jessica Conditt finally got her hands on Playdate. From the makers of Firewatch and meme-friendly Untitled Goose Game, it’s a petite portable console that marries the familiarity of the GameBoy with the spirit of indie game innovation. That last bit might sound like hollow platitudes, but well, it’s true.
This isn’t a console for FPS, teraflops or anything MMO, it’s like a pixel-filled brainstorm of delights. Having said that, if you decide to order the handheld today, you're in for a wait. "We've filled our production capacity for 2022, but we're ramping up to make even more systems," the company says on its website.
Maybe I’ll wait out for Playdate 2. I’ll always have my fishing controller, but it’s not the same.
If you want an electric van, your options are limited, which is precisely what VW is hoping to address with the upcoming ID.Buzz. At the New York International Auto Show, we finally got to check it out.
It’s slated to go on sale sometime in 2024, featuring a 77 kWh battery and two rows of seats for the European model (which is the version VW had on display) or a full three rows of seats and slightly longer chassis for the US market. Other specs, like its range and price, are still TBD.
Samsung’s Galaxy A53 5G offers one of the better displays on a midrange phone, with a 2,400 by 1,080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. But Samsung’s slow Exynos 1280 chipset struggles, even with basic tasks. If you’re set on a Samsung phone and have an extra $100 to spend, consider the Galaxy S21 FE, which has been heavily discounted since its launch last year.
Battlefield 2042 will finally get in-game voice chat, but with caveats. The VoIP feature won't work across an entire team. The only channel options are for parties and squads (with a maximum of four members). Given that teams can have up to 64 players, voice chat could get messy fast with that many people talking over each other. A proximity-based option might have been helpful for callouts, though. Sigh.
Nintendo Switch Sports and Elon Musk's ongoing Twitter affair.
This week, Cherlynn Low and guest co-host Sam Rutherford discuss the new Nintendo Switch Sports games, a coincidental week of beauty gadget coverage and the ongoing saga of Elon Musk trying to own Twitter.
Nintendo's first anime movie, from 1986, is back. Femboy Films has released a 4K remaster of The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach on both YouTube and the Internet Archive. You’ll get clean, color-corrected visuals based on a rare 16mm print, and new English subtitles and a fresh two-channel Dolby Surround audio capture from the VHS release. Oh, and Mario and Luigi work at a grocery store now.
Samsung has unveiled the Pokémon Edition of its Galaxy Z Flip 3 foldable smartphone that's bound to be irresistible to collectors. It comes in a special box with a number of Pokémon-themed accessories, including a Pikachu picture case (with a Pokémon Custom Pack), a Pikachu Clear Cover Set, a Pokémon Pouch with a lanyard strap, a Pikachu keychain and a Poké Ball stand. It'll also have some Pokémon-edition ringtones, themes and wallpapers.
The model is coming along at a good time, as a Pokémon Bread craze has apparently taken South Korea by storm, according to Maekyung.com. Collectors are mostly buying them for the Pokémon stickers contained inside, which are reportedly selling for 10 times the price of the $1.20 bread.
Samsung has released custom versions of its foldable phones before, including the Thom Browne Edition of the Galaxy Flip 3 and and Fold 3. Judging by the reaction of some of my Engadget colleagues, though, Samsung has nailed the Pokémon Edition's design and accessories. It has yet to release the price and other details, but it's likely to be sold only in Korea — we'll learn all when it drops on April 25th.
Samsung’s Galaxy A52 5G wasn’t the best midrange phone you could buy in 2021, but it did possess some standout features, including a responsive display and versatile camera. It was easy to imagine the company iterating on the A52 5G to make it the top of its class. Sadly, the Galaxy A53 5G is not dramatically different from its predecessor. Samsung has made a handful of tweaks by adding a more efficient processor and a bigger battery. But, at best, they feel like window dressing. Worse, in some ways, the phone feels like a step back.
Display
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
Let’s start with what hasn’t changed. The A53 features a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 2,400 by 1,080 resolution, 800 nits of peak brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. That screen is the main reason to buy the A53 — it’s big, vibrant, fast and makes everything from scrolling through social media to watching videos enjoyable. It doesn’t support HDR or offer a variable refresh rate like some of Samsung’s more expensive phones, but that’s not much of an issue. Even with the display set to 120Hz, I could get nearly two full days of moderate use and light gaming from the 5,000mAh battery.
Cameras
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
The A53 also comes with the same quad-camera system as the A52 5G. The standout here is the 64-megapixel main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture lens and optical image stabilization. On a sunny day, the camera and Samsung’s imaging software consistently capture photos with saturated colors. It’s also surprisingly good at preserving both shadow and highlight detail in high contrast scenes. The main camera struggles when there isn’t a lot of light, producing images with a noticeable amount of noise, but that’s something you see on a lot of midrange phones.
A supporting 5-MP depth sensor helps the A53’s main camera take pleasant portrait shots. The A53 also includes one of the better macro modes I’ve used on a midrange device, thanks to an interface that makes it easy to ensure you’ve nailed the focus on your subject. With ample light, the 32-MP selfie camera is likewise capable of capturing flattering photos. By default, Samsung’s beauty filter applies a moderate amount of smoothing, which you can adjust by tapping the “magic wand” icon at the top.
Then there’s the 12-MP ultra-wide camera that feels like an afterthought. It does a decent job of capturing scenes that are too big for the main lens, but there’s a noticeable drop in quality due to its lower resolution. One quirk I noticed across all of the A53’s cameras is that they’re not great at adjusting for color temperature. Many of the shots I took showed a noticeable green or purple tint. They were easy enough to fix with an editing app like Snapseed, but not everyone has the patience for that.
Overall, the A53 features a capable camera system, but I think it’s a missed opportunity. With the A52 5G, Samsung was already behind the curve. Sure, it offered versatility, but phones like the Pixel 5a could take consistently better photos. The A53 does nothing to better position Samsung against the competition in the midrange market and it’s likely to feel even more outdated when the Pixel 6a comes out.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
There are things Samsung has changed, though, starting with the phone’s exterior. The company has shaved 0.3 millimeters off the A53 to make it 8.1mm thick. At the same time, it removed the headphone jack. As of this review, Samsung is offering a free set of Galaxy Buds Live when you buy the A53 through its website, so at least the company is helping ease the transition? Still, it’s a shame to see the headphone jack go, because it made the A52 5G somewhat unique.
What makes the external tweaks even more disappointing is that Samsung hasn’t addressed any of the issues we had with the A52 5G’s finish. The matte material on the back of the phone is still a magnet for fingerprints and smudges. Also, in the US, Samsung is again only offering the phone in boring black.
Performance
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
I could overlook Samsung removing the headphone jack and leaving the camera as is, if the A53 was fast. Mediocre performance was one of the main reasons we didn’t recommend the A52 5G, and the one notable update the A53 brings to the table is a new chipset. Samsung has equipped this year’s model with its own Exynos 1280 SoC, and it is by far the most disappointing thing about the phone.
Simply put, it’s not much of an upgrade over the A52 5G’s Snapdragon 750G. In my testing, the A53 frequently stalled when I tried to switch between apps, and there was consistent stuttering in regular use. It was also slow to launch and operate the camera app, with a seconds-long delay between my pressing the shutter button and the camera firing. It was even worse when I tried to play games.
Samsung claims the Exynos 1280 offers up to 33 percent faster graphics than the Snapdragon 750G, but I saw regular frame rate drops in games like League of Legends: Wild Rift and Genshin Impact. I suspect some of the A53’s performance woes boil down to the phone only coming with 6GB of RAM. Unfortunately, Samsung doesn’t offer an 8GB variant in the US.
The A53 comes with Android 12 and the latest version of One UI, along with a promised four years of platform updates and five years of security fixes. That’s among the best support you’ll find on a device at this price and Samsung should be applauded for this. But I doubt you will want to hold on to this phone for that long. I can see myself getting fed up with the slow processor within a year.
Wrap-up
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
At $450, the A53 costs $50 less than the A52 5G. That may seem like a bonus, but Samsung doesn’t ship the phone with a wall charger anymore and it hasn’t added wireless charging. The company’s 25W power adapter costs an extra $20. In addition to the Galaxy Buds Live promotion I mentioned earlier, the company is currently offering up to $100 off the A53 if you trade in your existing device.
The A53 is a good purchase if you want the best display you can find for under $500, but there are better all-around options. For instance, the Pixel 5a features a cleaner version of Android, faster updates, as well as a headphone jack and more consistent camera.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
If you’re set on a Samsung phone and have an extra $100 to spend, consider the Galaxy S21 FE. At $700, it was overpriced. But nowadays, you can regularly find it for about $550. It offers a much faster processor with WiFi 6 support. Those are things that will make it feasible to keep the S21 FE for longer than you would the A53.
Had Samsung done more to future-proof the A53, it would be easier for me to recommend. But with a middling chipset and a camera that feels stuck in the past, you’re better off spending your money on a phone that you’ll be happy with for years to come.
Playdate shouldn't be able to do the things it does. It’s tiny enough to fit in the too-tight front pockets of my skinny jeans, it’s lighter than a deck of cards and it has a 1-bit black-and-white screen. It feels like a relic of the '90s, at least until you power it on – Playdate supports smooth, densely pixelated animations, it connects to Wi-Fi and it has a library of exclusive games from top-tier indie developers, all available for free. The small crank attached to its side is the icing on the yellow cake, adding a layer of sweet innovation to every experience on the system.
Playdate is my favorite handheld device since the Vita. It’s a love letter to indie games and creativity, and I think it’s exactly what the industry needs right now.
Playdate is the brainchild of Panic, the Mac developer and publisher behind Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game, with hardware crafted by Teenage Engineering. Its specs are appropriately adorable, with 16MB of RAM and 4GB of flash storage, an accelerometer for motion-based input, a 400 x 240 1-bit display, a built-in mono speaker, condenser mic and stereo headphone jack, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. The Bluetooth function wasn’t available to test for review, but connecting to Wi-Fi was a painless, and even cute, process.
Panic
Admittedly, most things about Playdate are cute: Its size, the crank, the audio cues, the way each game is presented as a little gift to unwrap and how the screen looks like a winky face when you wake it up. There’s so much personality packed into Playdate’s monochromatic screen that even interacting with the Settings page is enjoyable. Of course, playing games on it is even better.
Playdate comes with a lineup of free games, each one made exclusively for the system and most of them taking full advantage of the crank mechanic. These are automatically added to the library in batches – once a Playdate is activated, it’ll receive two fresh games each week for 12 weeks, for a total of 24 titles in the device’s first season. There are plans to offer games for purchase on Playdate down the line.
Some are definitely more replayable than others, but I haven’t found a bad game on Playdate yet. They span genres and lengths, capping out at a few hours, but there’s at least one moment of pure delight in each experience. Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure, for instance, is a sidescroller starring a hopeless romantic who’s just trying to meet his date on time, and his movements are controlled entirely by the crank, steps reversing and accelerating depending on the direction of the rotation. It’s a simple concept with a singular input method, but the crank makes it challenging in a way I’ve never experienced before, and it’s instantly addictive.
Playdate
Panic
Spellcorked is my favorite game on Playdate so far, largely because it so cleanly captures everything the device has to offer. It’s a potion-making game with a romantic subplot and a sassy cat, and every time I boot it up I’m impressed by the amount of fine detail that fills the screen. It has dialogue, character icons, an email interface, and environments filled with spiderwebs and nicknacks, but nothing gets lost visually. Each frame is crisp and the actual potion-making process involves every input method Playdate offers: pressing buttons while turning the crank to grind ingredients, lining up a blade with the crank and chopping in a back-and-forth motion, and tilting the entire device to the side to pour a finished potion into a vial. Each new mechanic is so delightful, so initially surprising, that it adds an extra layer of magic to an already spell-heavy game.
The Playdate crank isn’t a gimmick. It’s a fundamental aspect of the system, transforming it from a revamped Gameboy into something entirely new, a mobile device with a peculiar and joyful edge. The crank, much like the lo-fi restrictions of the hardware, is an invitation for developers to think deeper about the way they develop games, to try new things and to innovate on old ideas. Playdate’s first season is already filled with fresh concepts; I haven’t felt this spark of intrigue from a handheld since my fingers brushed the back of the Vita for the first time.
Panic
I believe the ideas generated by Playdate games won’t be trapped in a crank-only bubble, either. This kind of creative thinking naturally bleeds into the wider game development cycle, with designers testing out weird mechanics on the handheld and then transferring these concepts to traditional consoles, PCs and phones. The Vita eventually transformed into the DualSense, after all, and developers of all sizes regularly find wells of inspiration in new input mechanics. As ridiculous as it may seem, the Playdate crank can be a boon for the entire industry. All hail the crank. Amen.
There are few downsides to the Playdate. It’s small enough to be unobtrusive but unique enough to be a conversation starter; it’s packed with exclusive games from amazing indie developers; its battery easily lasts two days with intermittent play; it costs a reasonable $180 and it has a crank. My one complaint would be screen brightness – it’s not backlit, but instead uses a super-reflective system that requires light in the room to play, and at times the screen appears dull. It’s not unplayable, but I’ve caught myself squinting a few times, particularly in direct light.
Panic
It’s also very, very small, which works just fine for my hands, but people with large mitts might have issues with the size. But hey, if you can use a Joy-Con, you should be able to handle a Playdate. Plus, with the Playdate mirror app, you're able to stream the device's screen in real-time to a PC or Mac and play with traditional gamepads. This also helps anyone who wants to go live with Playdate games on Twitch or YouTube, and should be useful for developers.
Playdate looks like a cross between a Game Boy and a business card, but it feels like a modern system. Part of that is the speedy-enough processor and feather-light feel, but it’s also the sense of innovation built into the hardware. There are plenty of devices out there promising gorgeous graphics and outrageous processing power, but Playdate is a glaring reminder that there’s more magic to a good game than bleeding-edge performance. This is something indie developers have known for decades, and Playdate distills this philosophy into a cute-as-hell package, complete with a crank.
If you're looking for a budget-friendly robot vacuum to get for yourself or for mom for Mother's Day, iRobot's Roomba 694 is a great option. It's our current favorite affordable robo-vac, and now you can pick it up for even less than its normal rate of $274. Amazon has the machine for $179, which is $95 off and a return to its record-low price.
Chances are you've heard of iRobot before even if you have never owned a robot vacuum because the brand is, arguably, the most well known in that space. With that recognition comes high price tags, but the Roomba 694 is a solid machine made better by this discount. It has a three-button design and app connectivity, giving you a few ways to control it, and it cleans both hard and carpeted surfaces well. It'll putter around your home, sucking up dirt, debris and even pet hair as it moves from room to room, and it'll automatically return to its charging base when it's finished.
In addition to starting cleaning jobs from the iRobot app, you can also set cleaning schedules, which make the robot even more autonomous. The Roomba 694 is also compatible with Alexa and the Google Assistant, so you can use voice commands to control it as well.
iRobot estimates the Roomba 694 will run for about 90 minutes before it needs a recharge, but we found that it often ran for less time before returning home. That means that those with larger homes may have to wait longer for clean floors as the machine will have to charge up before it completes a job, but otherwise, there aren't many downsides to this robo-vac. It's an especially good pick for novices since iRobot's mobile app is quite easy to use and the machine does the cleaning basics well.
A couple of other iRobot machines are also on sale right now, and they're best for those that want to splurge on an advanced robot vacuum. Both the Roomba j7+ and the Roomba s9+ are $200 off right now, bringing them down to $599 and $799, respectively. The former is one of the company's newest devices with a pet poop detection feature (yes, you read that right), while the latter is the highest-end machine you can get from iRobot. Both also come with clean bases, so the robots will empty their dustbins into the base after every cleaning job.
China has signaled it will begin actively enforcing regulation that forbids the livestreaming of unauthorized games. Per Reuters, the country’s National Radio and Television Administration said on Friday all internet platforms are “strictly forbidden” from streaming titles that the government has not approved.
China’s regulation around video games continues to focus on compliance and enforcement.
Games have always required a license before they can be distributed or streamed in China. The latter was rarely enforced. Now it will be. https://t.co/gRZeSQ6hLX
According to video game industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, China has always required that games be officially licensed before they can be distributed or streamed within the country, but it rarely enforced the latter ban. That behavior allowed games such as Elden Ring, a title that’s not officially approved for sale in China, to find substantial audiences on platforms like Huya. Ahmad notes that FromSoftware’s latest garnered approximately 17 million cumulative daily average viewers in its first week of release.
“What this means in practice is that unless your game is approved by the [National Radio and Television Administration], it is going to be very difficult for it to get visibility via live streaming, short video, advertisement or other platforms [and] channels,” Ahmad said.
China has become increasingly tough on video games in recent years. Last summer, the country began enforcing a three-hour weekly limit on the amount of time children can play online video games. At the time of the ban, a state-owned news outlet described the medium as “spiritual opium.” The National Radio and Television Administration employed similar rhetoric, claiming issues like teenage addiction necessitated the need for urgent action on video game livestreaming.
You might not be thrilled with in-game advertising, but you might soon see more of it. Insidersources (sub. required) claim Microsoft is developing a program to help marketers place ads in free-to-play Xbox games. Companies could buy from an ad inventory to secure space on virtual billboards. It's not clear if this would extend to character skins or video rolls, but Microsoft is apparently crafting a "private marketplace" to limit ads to brands that won't disrupt gameplay.
Microsoft is reportedly still pinpointing ad technology firms that would build the catalog and cooperate on placement. The debut might not take long, though, as the program could launch by the third quarter (that is, summer).
The company declined to confirm or deny the plans. In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson said Microsoft was constantly striving to "improve the experience" for developers and players but didn't have "anything further to share."
The program could rankle gamers worried about ads for real-world products finding their way into fictional universes. However, the focus on free-to-play titles might prove crucial. This could help developers make money from free games without leaning too heavily on paid content like skins and season passes. That, in turn, might persuade creators to make Xbox-centric games rather than building for the PlayStation or Switch.
If you missed the last sale on iRobot's latest robot vacuums, you're in luck. Both the Roomba j7+ and the Roomba s9+ are $200 off at Wellbots when you use the code ENGMOM200 at checkout. That brings them down to $599 and $799, respectively, which are both close to the best prices we've seen on both vacuums.
The newer of the two is the Roomba j7+, which came out at the end of last year. It's technically not as powerful as the s9+, but it has new AI-driven computer vision technology that helps it detect objects and move around them as it cleans. Because of that, iRobot dubbed this their "pet-poop detecting" robot, and the company even has the Pet Owner Official Promise (or P.O.O.P. for short), which states that you'll get a new vacuum if the one you bought fails to avoid accidental pet poop in your home.
The Roomba j7+ isn't the most powerful vacuum in the company's lineup, but it does have 10x the suction power of a standard Roomba, plus smart mapping, dual multi-surface brushes and more. The "plus" model also comes with a clean base into which the robo-vac will automatically empty its dustbin after each cleaning job.
The Roomba s9+, on the other hand, is the top-of-the-line vacuum from iRobot, and it has 40x the suction power of the standard models, a 3D sensor for object detection and a design that helps it clean room corners more easily. Both it and the Roomba j7+ are compatible with Amazon's Alexa and the Google Assistant, so in addition to controlling them from the iRobot mobile app, you can also tell them to clean up your home using voice commands.
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