Sony doesn't sell many smartphones in the US, so it's always big news when a new one arrives — particularly a high-end model. After launching in other regions last year, the Xperia 5 III is now available stateside for $1,000, Ars Technica has reported. 

The Xperia 5 III is slightly smaller than the company's consumer flagship Xperia 1 III but has pretty similar specs. It comes with a Snapdragon 888 SoC, 6.1-inch 2,520 x 1,080 (21:9) 120Hz display, 8GB of RAM (compared to 12GB for the 1 III) and 128GB of storage, along with a triple camera setup with a 12-megapixel main camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide and 12-megapixel 3x telephoto. It offers a Gorilla Glass 6 display and IP65/68 water resistance and if you don't mind Sony's typically squarish design cues, looks very premium.

The display delivers 10-bit color depth and is "powered by CineAlta" (the name of its high-end cinema cameras) so it should show accurate colors and skin tones. The cameras aren't particularly high-resolution, but they do have Zeiss lenses "calibrated specifically for Xperia," Sony said. The main camera has a stacked backside illuminated Exmor RS image sensor, delivering 20fps burst speeds with AF and AE tracking. On the video side, it offers Cinematography Pro also powered by CineAlta, with 4K HDR at up to 120 fps.

In other words, this is a camera-first smartphone designed for folks who are really into photography or video. It's not for everyone considering it costs $1,000 at Best Buy and elsewhere, but it's nice to have another premium smartphone option for the US market. 

Digital sleuths have obtained one of the most elusive video games to date. According to Kotaku, game conservationists Forest of Illusion have obtainedeSmart 2.0, a very rare Nintendo DS training game distributed to Japanese McDonald's employees in 2010. As enthusiast and game hunter Coddy Trentuit explained, the cartridge popped up in multiple frustrating online auctions and required an alliance of generous contributors (including Forest of Illusion) before it reached people willing to share the title with the community.

You won't want to fire up eSmart 2.0 for the riveting gameplay. As you'd expect, this really is a training exercise with game elements. You learn to complete orders for counter and drive-thru customers, with videos illustrating the finer points of making Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets. It's better than a dry training video, but you'll want to fire up a game like Overcooked if you want a genuinely fun restaurant experience.

We wouldn't count on the training game being easily available for long given that it wasn't meant for the general public. That it's in the hands of any archivists is still notable. As with unofficial releases for SimRefinery, PS2 game prototypes and similar projects, this is ultimately an attempt preserving little-known chapters of gaming history that could easily disappear forever.

Printer makers have long used chips to thwart third-party ink cartridge sales and drive you toward their own products, but they're now feeling the sting of those restrictions. The Register and USA Today note Canon has had to ship toner cartridges without copy protection chips due to ongoing shortages. That, in turn, has led to some ImageRunner multifunction printers incorrectly flagging official cartridges as knockoffs — Canon has even told printer owners how to bypass the warnings and deal with broken toner level detection.

We've asked Canon for comment. Some users said they've encountered similar issues with HP printers, but that company wouldn't directly confirm or deny the problems in a statement to The Register. Instead, HP said it was using a "globally diverse" supply network to stay "agile and adaptable" in the midst of chip shortages.

The printer trouble illustrates one of the common complaints about digital rights management (DRM) and other copy protection systems: they create trouble the moment their designers can't offer full support. Just ask people who bought music tied to Microsoft's PlaysForSure, for example. It's doubtful Canon, HP or others will drop their DRM chips any time soon, but this incident won't exactly help their case.

Samsung's Galaxy S21 FE smartphone is still only available as a pre-order, but it's already available with a discount of sorts. If you pre-order the S21 FE from Amazon, with shipping set to start around January 14th, you'll get a $100 Amazon.com gift card — effectively a 12 percent discount off the $700 price. 

In our CES 2022 hands-on, we called the S21 FE ("Fan Edition") "last year's flagship without the frills." That's because it offers the same 5-nanometer processors, 120Hz refresh rate in a slightly bigger screen and a similar triple camera system. However, the S21 FE actually has a larger battery and comes with Android 12.

Because of the larger screen, it is slightly heavier than the original and features a less shiny finish. Unfortunately it doesn't support the stylus available with the S21+ and S21 Ultra, but that shouldn't be an issue for many folks. The telephoto camera also comes with an 8-megapixel sensor, rather than a 64-megapixel sensor like the S21 Ultra. However, the front camera is actually sharper at 32 megapixels rather than just 10 megapixels on the original. 

If you're okay with last year's phone at a discount, this looks like a solid deal with four colors available (graphite, olive, lavender and white). If you'd rather be on the bleeding edge, however, you might want to wait until the Galaxy S22 arrives. It's reportedly set to launch on February 8th, according to the latest rumor, with pre-orders going live the next day and shipping start on February 24th. 

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Good lighting that flatters the subject is an essential element of production for streamers and video creators in general. Logitech (under the Logitech for Creators brand) has just launched a new lighting device made for streamers called Litra Glow, and it says the product is capable of providing a "natural, radiant look across all skin tones." 

Litra Glow delivers a glare-free light that's supposed to be gentle on the eyes and is safe for all-day streaming. It also features Logitech's TrueSoft technology, which promises cinematic color accuracy and enables a soft, flattering light that can apparently make streamers look less, well, tired.

Jasmine Apolinar, Product Manager for Logitech For Creators, said:

"We designed Litra Glow to solve common challenges faced by streamers and content creators, including light quality, harsh shadows and eye fatigue from long hours of streaming."

Whether it can truly provide a "radiant" look across all skin tones remains to be seen. Different skin tones require different approaches to lighting on video — using the same lighting for white actors, for instance, had made Black actors look ashy or barely visible during dimly lit scenes in movies and shows for a long time. One of the creators Logitech got to talk about Litra Glow, however, is Black visual artist and photographer Aundre Larrow, who once shared tips on how to photograph darker skin tones in an article he wrote for Adobe. Larrow said of Litra Glow:

"The lighting looked natural. It looks good on my skin and works for people of different skin tones without looking blown out. The warm to cool is super accurate and I found light to be strong and soft enough to use on its own."

Logitech designed Litra Glow to be plug-and-play, and streamers can choose between five presets with different brightness and color temperature. If they want to customize it further, they can adjust those settings on their own. They can also connect it to Logitech's G HUB software to create their own presets and assign them to the G Keys on a Logitech G keyboard or mouse. The Litra Glow will come with a monitor mount that has adjustable height, tilt and rotation when it starts shipping sometime this month. It will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia and select European countries on Logitech's website and from Amazon, Adorama and other retailers for $60. 

Humble Bundle hasn't exactly won fans with donation caps and potentially confusing subscription tiers, but it's hoping to make some amends. As of February 1st, the company's monthly Humble Choice service is consolidating around a single $12 monthly plan that gives you permanent copies of every game offered in a given month. Humble noted the number of games might vary, but you can still skip a month if you don't like the selection and want to remain a member.

You'll also have access to more games so long as you're subscribed. A new Humble Games Collection gives you access to a curated, expanding catalog of titles you can access only as a Choice member. The initial mix is limited to just five games (including the relatively well-known Void Bastards) available through the Humble app, but the company clearly hopes the promise of a PlayStation Plus- or Xbox Game Pass-style library will keep you paying even when the monthly Choice selections aren't to your liking.

Choice has other modified perks. You'll receive as much as a 20 percent discount on eligible games you buy in the Humble Store, but you'll have to stay subscribed for at least a year. You'll get that discount immediately if you're subscribed by February. Five percent of your membership fee will be donated to charities.

This won't thrill everyone. Classic subscribers who switch will lose their 20 percent discount the moment they skip a month, for instance. This could still be less confusing, though, and might be alluring if you want access to a host of indie games regardless of what the monthly catalog has to offer.

Hunkering down for the winter months can mean more time to play some new games while you stay inside. For Switch owners that want to play with friends remotely and get access to classic games, a Nintendo Switch Online membership is well worth the price. Now, Amazon has a deal on a bundle that includes one year of the Switch Online family plan and a 128GB SanDisk microSD card for $35. Since both the membership and the card normally cost $35, you're essentially getting the extra storage for free.

At its debut, the main selling point of the membership was online play, but Nintendo has added more perks to it over the years. It now includes online backups for gameplay data, access to the Switch Online mobile app that lets you voice chat with friends while you're playing together, and access to a library of more than 70 NES and SNES titles to play at any time. This particular bundle is best for those with large families, and possibly more than one Switch in the house, since up to eight users can take advantage of the membership's benefits.

One of the things we usually recommend new Switch owners buy is a microSD card since it's easy to quickly fill up the console's built-in, 64GB of storage with games. The licensed 128GB SanDisk model included in this bundle is a solid one, with read speeds up to 100 MB/s and write speeds up to 90 MB/s. Even if you don't think you'll need the extra space, you probably will as you collect more titles, save files and screenshots over time.

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Samsung may unveil its much anticipated (and leaked) Galaxy S22 at an Unpacked event on February 8th, according to South Korea's Digital Daily. "We have confirmed that the event will be held on February 8 and we are discussing the timing of invitations to be sent out at the end of January," a Samsung Electronics official told the site. Pre-orders are reportedly set to go live the next day, on February 9th, with shipping starting on February 24th.

Samsung will likely debut three phones, the Galaxy S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra models. According to some of the many rumors out there, all three devices will have very bright displays. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S22 Ultra's camera will offer what Samsung calls a "Super Clear Lens." 

The primary chip could be Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, reportedly manufactured by Samsung. Devices outside the US may come with Samsung's Exynos 2200 chip that uses a GPU based on AMD's RDNA 2 architecture and could support ray tracing. Numerous images of the device have already surfaced, including a shot of the Galaxy S22 Ultra posted by Evan Blass (above).

The event schedule and release date have yet to be confirmed, but Samsung typically schedules its flagship smartphone events around the same time each year. It'll supposedly be shown at MWC 2022 in Barcelona, by which time it should already be in buyers' hands, if the leak proves accurate. Engadget has reached out to Samsung for confirmation. 

Scott Pilgrim appears ready for a comeback, and not just in video games. The Hollywood Reporter has learned Netflix and Universal's UCP (the unit behind The Umbrella Academy) are developing a Scott Pilgrim anime series. It's not clear how close this will hew to the original graphic novels, but creator Bryan Lee O'Malley and 2010 movie director Edgar Wright will be executive producers.

O'Malley will serve as a showrunner alongside Are You Afraid of the Dark? reviver BenDavid Grabinski. Science SARU is animating the project.

It won't be shocking if the series sticks to the core plot: Sex Bob-omb band leader Scott wants to win over Ramona Flowers, but can't date her until he defeats her seven evil exes. Both the graphic novels and the movie were nods to manga, indie rock, video games and turn-of-the-millennium Canadian culture.

This is a slightly unusual twist on a familiar formula. While Netflix hasn't been shy about its ambitious anime plans, it has typically focused on originals or adaptations of Japanese games and manga. Here, the streaming service is adapting a comic that was a Western tribute — and one that many might only know from the big screen. Netflix's strategy isn't clear, but it might see this as a way to expose its anime catalog to a larger audience.

Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), an annual week-long celebration of speedrunning, is almost upon us. Between January 9th and 16th, you'll be able to watch one expert gamer after another race through their favorite titles to show off their skill and, hopefully, break some world records.

For the second year running, AGDQ will be held as a virtual event due to COVID-19 safety concerns. Unfortunately, runners won't have a raucous in-person crowd to cheer them on. Still, you can watch the entire event live on Twitch, via the Games Done Quick channel (or the embed below), starting at noon ET on Sunday. If you can't watch the action as it happens, you'll be able to catch up later on YouTube. 

The schedule is packed with some fascinating-sounding runs. On Wednesday, two GeoGuessr players will shoot for a perfect score by finding the exact locations of random Google Street View images. Next Saturday, a runner named Mitchriz will try to beat Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a typically tough game by FromSoftware, as quickly as possible — and they'll be blindfolded. Recent games making their first appearance at AGDQ include Deathloop, Death's Door, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Returnal and Psychonauts 2.

The Games Done Quick organization has raised millions for good causes over the last decade. AGDQ is one of the two main events the group runs each year, with Summer Games Done Quick typically taking place in June or July.