While I didn’t get it in time for our best buys of 2021, I am now the proud owner of an LG C1 OLED TV. It is beautiful, does 4K, HDR, variable refresh rates and more. Everything looks amazing on it.

As I bought it, I thought about how I’ve never been at the vanguard of TV tech, and how it would only last a couple of weeks until LG ruins it all with even newer TV models.

And like clockwork, here it comes. LG Display’s next generation of OLED tech, called "OLED EX," that's supposed to "enhance brightness up to 30 percent compared to conventional OLED displays," The company also upgraded the TV’s designs too, reducing the thickness by 30 percent and bezel size from 6 to 4mm on 65-inch OLED displays.

In defense of my new 55-inch OLED, this is LG Display, not LG, the part of the multinational company that brings this new TV tech to stores, so that doesn’t mean it’s landing in a new TV immediately. It’s just, sigh, already on the horizon.

-Mat Smith

‘Fortnite’ went briefly offline yesterday

It’s back now.

If you had tried to play Fortnite yesterday, you may have had issues. Many players were unable to log in to their accounts and play games. At 1:13PM ET, Epic Games said it was investigating "an issue," and roughly six hours later, the battle royale hit was back online.

Epic Games said that it would have “more details next week on what we’re doing to help you make up for lost time."

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China says its space station dodged Starlink satellites twice this year

SpaceX's constellation might pose a safety risk.

Getty Images

China has filed a complaint with the United Nations over two reported near-collisions between the in-progress Tiangong space station and Starlink vehicles. According to Chinese officials, the station had to perform evasive maneuvers on July 1st and October 21st this year to minimize the chance of a collision. In its complaint, the country asked the UN Secretary-General to remind countries (read: the US) that parties in the Outer Space Treaty are responsible for incidents beyond Earth, even if they involve private companies.

The accusations line up with astronomer Jonathan McDowell's conjunction observations for both days. China further argued that SpaceX's satellites weren't always predictable. During the October incident, the Starlink craft was "continuously" maneuvering in a way that made it difficult to predict the orbital path.

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Rivian’s R1T electric truck brings adventure to the EV crowd

Not just an impressive EV, but an impressive truck.

Announcing a vehicle is one thing, actually following through and building that vehicle at a factory and then selling it, that’s an almost impossible feat for a new company. But like Tesla before it, Rivian has pulled it off and in doing so has built one of the best trucks on the road today, EV or otherwise. Roberto Baldwin gives it a test drive.

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Jabra's Elite 4 Active earbuds add ANC and better sweat resistance

They're only available in some countries right now.

Jabra only just launched its Elite 3 wireless earbuds, but here’s their sequel. The Elite 4 Active is a step-up model that adds active noise cancellation and improved IP57 water resistance (up from IP55).

Expect to get a claimed seven hours of battery life from the buds themselves and 28 hours when you include the charging case. The Elite 4 Active is available now in the UK for £120 (about $161), but they haven't been announced for the US just yet.

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Roku expands its TV Ready program

More audio devices will be able to automatically pair with Roku TVs.

Roku TVs will be able to pair quickly with even more audio products in the future. The company has expanded its TV Ready Certification Program, adding Element, JVC, Pheanoo and Philips this year, with Polk Audio and Westinghouse joining the list in 2022. Roku also opened the program internationally, and partners like Bose are expected to launch TV Ready devices in the United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico soon.

The TV Ready initiative makes it easy to connect soundbars and speakers to Roku TVs — so long as the audio device supports the feature, it will automatically be detected as soon as you plug it in.

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The biggest news stories you might have missed

Samsung says the Galaxy Flip 3 motivated more people to switch than its flagships

'Let's Play! Oink Games' is no Jackbox, but it's a worthy party game collection

Researchers used CT scans to virtually unwrap a pristine mummy

The best accessories for your new PlayStation 5

January's PS Plus games include 'Persona 5 Strikers' and 'Dirt 5'

If you had planned to play Fortnite today, you may want to make other plans. At the moment, many players are finding it impossible to log in to their accounts and play games. At 1:13PM ET, Epic Games said it was investigating "an issue," and promised to share more information once it had a solution to the problem.

Epic hasn't said what's causing the problem. However, over on its status website, the company describes the incident as a "major outage." That same webpage notes the Epic Games Store is suffering from "degraded performance," According to Downdetector, there are also reports of people being unable to play GTA Online and access Discord, but it's not clear if those incidents are related. 

Developing...

We're somehow just about to roll into 2022, which means Sony will soon refresh the lineup of games PlayStation Plus members can claim at no extra cost. Starting on January 4th, you'll be able to snag Persona 5 Strikers, Dirt 5 and Deep Rock Galactic.

Persona 5 Strikers follows the events of Persona 5 (which PS5 owners can snag through the PS Plus Collection). The action RPG, which was released in the West earlier this year, pulls in elements from the Dynasty Warriors series too. It's the only one of January's PS Plus games that doesn't have a native PS5 version.

Dirt 5 is the latest game in the long-running Dirt series. The off-road racing title, which emerged in November 2020, includes features like four-player splitscreen and the Playground creative mode. You can race across more than 70 routes in 10 global locations.

Deep Rock Galactic, meanwhile, is debuting on PlayStation as a PS Plus game. The co-op first-person shooter arrived on PC and Xbox in May 2020. You'll play as a space dwarf and there are four classes you can choose from: engineer, gunner, driller and scout. Players explore procedurally-generated destructible cave systems and take on waves of aliens as they search for resources.

PS Plus subscribers will until February 1st to claim those titles. Meanwhile, you have until January 3rd to snag the six games in the current lineup. You can snag Godfall: Challenger Edition, Lego DC Super Villains and Mortal Shell, as well as PS VR titles The Persistence (which you can also play without a headset), The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners and Until You Fall.

Every year I try to have a little “holiday gaming café” gathering at my apartment, where I invite friends over to play board and card games. While last year’s party was understandably cancelled, this year I invited a small group over and we indulged in tabletop titles like We’re Doomed and Parks. Inevitably we reached the point in the evening where people’s attention started to stray so it seemed like a good idea to switch to party video games. But instead of the old standby Jackbox, I remembered that Oink Games had just released a board game collection and decided to give that a spin.

We discovered that Let’s Play! Oink Games was not like Jackbox Party Packs at all, as it did not work with phones and required separate copies of the game on separate consoles. Pass. So we turned off the Switch, hooked up my laptop and started up Jackbox Party Pack 8 instead.

If you live in a friendless cave and aren’t familiar with Jackbox, it’s a pretty great series: Each “Party Pack” has five party games that anyone can join in with their phone (or any web browser) by going to Jackbox.tv and inputting the special room code. The narrator explains how to play and walks the group through each round — which makes it pretty great for those guests who aren’t paying attention or are super, super drunk. Most of the games involve drawing, trivia or writing silly words. (My particular favorite is ‘Mad Verse City’ from Jackbox Party Pack 5, a rap game.)

After everyone left, I decided to give Let’s Play! Oink Games another try. And, while it isn’t an alternative to Jackbox (it’s more like Clubhouse Games, if anything), it is still a somewhat fun experience, though not worth the $22 I spent.

There are only four games included with the set: Startups, Deep Sea Adventure, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, and‘Moon Adventure. They’re all computerized versions of Oink’s tabletop games, which come in little card-deck-sized boxes and usually cost $20 each. In that respect, the video game version does seem like a good deal. You have a choice to play online with either people you know or strangers, offline with people you know, or offline with CPU opponents.

Oink Games

Offline with friends wasn’t happening since, as I pointed out earlier, you all need your own copy of the game and a console. I tried to find an online match, only to discover there weren’t any going on. So my only choice was offline with CPU opponents.

Unfortunately, A Fake Artist Goes to New York can’t be played with CPU opponents, as it’s a drawing game where all the players but one are given a prompt, and you have to figure out who the “fake” artist is. I also discovered that Moon Adventure can have multiple players, but the user is tasked with playing them all since it’s a cooperative game. So it’s really a battle with resource management as you attempt to gather supplies before your oxygen runs out. I found this one the toughest of all, even after looking at the helpful instructions and videos the game builds in. For all my qualms with the title, the instructions are really well-done.

However, the instructions didn’t get me any closer to winning Startups, one of the two games where CPU players can participate. And man, are they merciless. The idea is to gather as many “shares” in a company as possible, but if you don’t have the most you end up having to pay out to the person who does. It’s like a modern version of Monopoly where you land on Boardwalk all the time. At least this one plays a lot quicker.

The last game, Deep Sea Adventure, is my favorite. It’s sort of competitive and sort of cooperative, as all the players must share the same oxygen supply and diving too deep will deplete it quickly. Once I got into the rhythm of gathering treasure and running back to the sub as soon as possible I mastered the game and was regularly kicking CPU butt.

While it was perhaps unfair of me to expect Let’s Play: Oink Games to be a Jackbox replacement, there’s still a lot of room for growth in what they have. I’d like to see a mode where users who don’t own the game can play on their own systems with a person who does, similar to how Mario Kart used to work on the DS. And I do hope they add more games, if only because this is an easier way to learn how to play instead of trying to puzzle out badly translated print instructions from Japanese, which is what you deal with in the physical versions.

Announcing a vehicle is one thing, actually following through and building that vehicle at a factory and then selling it, that’s an almost impossible feat for a new company. But like Tesla before it, Rivian has pulled it off and in doing so has built one of the best trucks on the road today, EV or otherwise.

The all-electric Rivian R1T starts at wallet-busting $67,500, but for that money, owners will get the latest technology out there in a truck that’s at home on the highway, around town, and crawling over rocks, and navigating muddy trails. We put one to the test in the rain in Northern California.

So you managed to buy a PlayStation 5 – congratulations, you beat supply shortages to obtain one of the most sought-after consoles in recent memory. Now comes the fun part. No PS5 is complete without a library of games and accessories to elevate your experience. Thankfully, you won't have as much trouble getting your hands on those. However, if you're new to the console, the tricky part is knowing what titles and peripherals are worth your time. We’ve gathered our favorites here to make the search easier for you.

PlayStation Plus

Sony

If the PS5 is your first console or you're coming from an Xbox, one of the first things you'll want to pick up is a PlayStation Plus subscription. It’ll help you flesh out your library. Sony gives a handful of free games away to PS Plus subscribers each month, and as long as you maintain an active membership, they're yours to keep. The selection is sometimes hit and miss, but you'll find a few gems every year. You'll also need PS Plus to play most games online, though a subscription isn't required for free-to-play titles like Call of Duty: Warzone. The addition of PlayStation Store discounts and cloud storage make PS Plus a no-brainer if you see yourself using your PS5 constantly.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P+

SteelSeries

Do the people you live with a favor and buy yourself a decent headset. It will help you stop nerves from fraying and is a must for any multiplayer game. The options for gaming headsets are vast, so we recommend picking one with a solid track record. SteelSeries recently updated its iconic Arctis 7 headset with the 7P+ which has improved battery life and a USB-C port for charging. What the company didn't change was the headband design that many people credit for making the Arctis 7 one of the more comfortable headsets on the market. The 7P+ costs the same as the standard 7+ variant, but also adds full support for the PS5's Tempest 3D audio technology.

WD Black SN850

WD

Sony recently released an update to allow PS5 owners to expand their console's internal storage. And it's a good thing, because the 667GB of usable storage the console comes with can feel limiting quickly. We already published a comprehensive guide on the best SSDs you can buy for your PlayStation 5. You'll want to check that article out for a step-by-step guide on how to upgrade your SSD. But if you want to make things as simple as possible, your best bet is a Gen4 M.2 NVME SSD with a built-in heatsink. One of the better plug-and-play options is the SN850 from WD Black. It checks off all the compatibility requirements listed by Sony and is reasonably priced, too.

Samsung T7 SSD

Samsung

If you don't feel comfortable opening your PS5 to install a new SSD, another option is to purchase an external solid-state drive. Keep in mind that you can't play PS5 games from an external drive. However, it takes less time to copy one over from an SSD than it does to download it from the PlayStation Store. One of our favorite portable drives is the Samsung T7. It can write files at a speedy 1,000 MB/s and comes with a shock-resistant enclosure to protect the drive from physical damage. If you plan to use the SSD exclusively for storing games, you can save money by buying the standard model instead of the Touch variant with fingerprint sensor.

DualSense Charging Station

Sony

While you can charge your DualSense controller with the USB-C cable that comes with your PS5, a more elegant solution is the DualSense Charging Station. It can store and charge two controllers simultaneously. In that way, you can always have a second controller ready to go if the one you're currently using runs out of battery. It will also free up the USB ports on your PS5 for other accessories.

Deathloop

Bethesda

This timed exclusive is one of the most stylish games you can play on the PS5. Arkane's latest puts you in a time loop in which you need to learn the schedules of your targets to assassinate all eight of them in a single day. The game's level design is dense in the best way possible, inviting you to learn all of the secrets of each zone so you can execute a successful run.

Death's Door

Acid Nerve

With a title that evokes the end of all things, you might think Death's Door is a bleak game. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Buoyed by a beautiful soundtrack and art style, it's one of the most thoughtful and pleasant indies I've played recently. Developer Acid Nerve's tribute to The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls is a must-play for those who love to lose themselves in a world of mystery and intrigue.

Demon's Souls

Sony

If you've had the itch to try FromSoftware's Soulsborne series but don't know where to start, you'll find no better introduction than Demon's Souls. Developer Bluepoint Games has lovingly recreated the crumbling kingdom of Boleteria for the 4K era, making this remake one of the best-looking games on the PS5. Yes, it's as tough as you've heard, but a handful of quality-of-life improvements, including a much-needed performance mode, make the journey all the more rewarding.

Ghosts of Tsushima Directors Cut

Sucker Punch Productions

You've played games like Ghost of Tsushima before. It borrows from the familiar open-world formula popularized by Assassin's Creed and other Ubisoft titles. But that's not a knock against it. Far from it, Sucker Punch's latest is so easy to recommend because it executes the open-world concept flawlessly. The studio has created a beautiful playground steeped in Feudal Japanese culture, myth and history for players to explore, with something interesting to find beyond every ridge. Combat is also a highlight, allowing you to play either as honorable samurai, terrifying assassin or a mixture of both. And once you have finished Tsushima's touching single-player story, there's the excellent Legends multiplayer mode to keep you busy for the long haul.

Hades

Supergiant Games

If you pick up only one game from this list, make it Hades. It is as close to a perfectly executed game as you'll find. Everything from the art style, music, story and gameplay mechanics coalesces into one of the most memorable experiences in recent memory. Even if you're not a fan of rogue-like games, don't worry: Hades is so successful because even when you die, it never feels like you've wasted your time.

Welcome back to The Morning After. Hope you had a great weekend and are ready for 2021 to be over and done with. (I know I am.)

Today, we’ve drawn together the latest tech news from the last few days and several end-of-year pieces on the biggest stories of the year. But first, Hyundai might be giving up on new combustion engines.

The company only just made and released its first electric car, but it's apparently ready to move fast, and leave the engines of old behind. Korea Economic Daily sources claim Hyundai shut down its research center's combustion engine design unit sometime this month. While there will still be some workers left to refine existing engines, the rest will move to EV-related work.

Electrification is "inevitable," new research chief Chung-kook Park reportedly said in an email, and the transition will help produce cars that "dominate the future market." Park is probably right. In Hyundai's native South Korea, combustion-only car sales will be banned by 2030.

-Mat Smith

'Final Fantasy XVI'delayed a half year due to COVID-19

The reveal is now scheduled for spring of 2022.

Final Fantasy fans were promised more information about the next installment of the role-playing series before the end of 2021. Sadly, that announcement and the game have been postponed. "When we last spoke, I promised I would have more information on Final Fantasy XVI sometime later in 2021," producer Naoki Yoshida wrote on Twitter. "However, I regret to inform you that I will be unable to keep that promise, as complications from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have delayed the game’s development by almost half a year."

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In 2021, Apple addressed past mistakes

Just don’t call it an apology.

The last year for the iPhone and Mac maker was marked with more than a little bit of course correction. Beyond moving forward with its M1 PC chips in more powerful setups, Apple nixed the problematic keyboards found on the last few generations of MacBooks and improved battery life across the entire range of iPhone 13 models.

The biggest change – and one we won’t quite see the significance of until next year – is product repairs. Apple will sell repair parts and instructions to customers who want to fix their iPhones themselves.

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Lego's 'Sonic the Hedgehog' set arrives in the new year

The Green Hill Zone kit is a nostalgia trip for Sega fans.

Lego

After nearly a year of work, Lego has revealed that its Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone set will be available online and in Lego stores on January 1st, 2022 for $70. The brick-based recreation of the game's first – and best-known – area includes minifigs for Sonic, Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik), two critters and the Phantom Ruby. Sonic won't dart around loops, unfortunately, but there is a Technic lever to launch him (or any other characters) along with ring add-ons, of course.

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Apple reportedly hires Meta's AR public relations lead

The move happens as Apple AR headset rumors continue to swirl.

Apple

As rumors continue to build about its augmented reality headset, Apple has reportedly hired Meta's AR public relations head Andrea Schubert, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. In his weekly newsletter. "Meta, with Oculus, has been the market leader in headsets, so such a hire makes sense as Apple nears its launch," Gurman wrote.

Schubert has been Communications Director with Meta's Reality labs and comms lead for Oculus with Meta since March 2016.

Apple's potential AR headset is already the subject of all kinds of rumors. One recent one speculated that the headset might depend on another device like an iPhone or a Mac computer. Or it could be a standalone device with dual 8K displays that could cost up to $3,000. And a third rumor, this one from Gurman, indicated that it would play "high-quality VR games."

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AMD and OnePlus are the latest to cancel in-person CES 2022 plans

Add them to the list.

AMD and OnePlus have both withdrawn their physical presences at the technology event. While they didn't provide detailed explanations, the move was clearly in response to the rise of COVID-19's Omicron variant, like many other companies that have already withdrawn from CES.

AMD was already poised to launch its 2022 products through a livestream on January 4th. OnePlus said it would introduce the OnePlus 10 Pro in January and was rumored to unveil the phone at CES. For now, Samsung, Sony and LG are all still set to exhibit in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. I’m taking bets.

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'Arcane' creators explain why Jinx and Vi are the stars of the Netflix series

Basically: They're really cool.

Jinx and Vi are the sisters at the heart of Riot Games’ hit Netflix series, Arcane, and they were picked for the spotlight out of a lineup of more than 150 League of Legends champions.

For Arcane creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee, the stars really couldn’t have been anyone else from League of Legends lore. “They kind of got our special treatment already because we just really liked them,” Linke told Engadget. “And so, when we had to think about like, which characters do we want to stick with for many years to come? I think it was pretty obvious.”

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2021 showed us that trucks and SUVs don't need gas engines

America's best-selling vehicle style is just as popular when electrified.

Steady advancements in power systems over the past few years — alongside skyrocketing demand for larger, electrified vehicles that cater to the US market — has led to a watershed moment in 2021: the emergence of EV pickups and SUVs. 2021 may have been the tipping point.

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The biggest news stories you might have missed

Riot Games settles class-action gender discrimination lawsuit for $100 million

Amazon's 'New World' is among the year's biggest moneymakers on Steam

India's version of 'PUBG Mobile' rolls out device bans for cheaters

Xiaomi's 12 Series phones are among the first with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chips

Samsung's latest C-Lab projects include a smart guitar with LED guides

Acrimoto's three-wheeled roadster EV combines weird with fun

NASA has finally launched the James Webb Space Telescope

Hitting the Books: Amiga and the birth of 256-color gaming

The best accessories for your new Xbox Series X or S

The best apps to download on your new smartphone

'Forza Horizon 5' turned me into a racing game fan

As usual, LG has unveiled its latest smart appliances for CES 2022, but this time they come with an unusual twist: a recipe service. The ThinQ Recipe app will let users choose from up to 10,000 recipes, with the app adding ingredients to your grocery list for delivery from Walmart or Amazon Fresh. 

LG has partnered with SideChef on the app, letting you cook up anything from a single recipe to a weekly meal plan. It also uses the Scan and Cook feature from Foodspace Technology that scans a bar code on certain frozen and ready-to-cook meals, automatically sending cooking instructions to compatible LG ThinQ ovens. 

LG

The new feature is designed to work with LG's latest InstaView Double Range oven and Over-the-range microwave. The former uses LG's InstaView tech that lets you see inside the appliance by knocking twice on the glass. It also uses LG's ProBake convection tech with Air Fry and Air Sous Vide modes, while the microwave offers LG's Steam Cook tech to keep foods moist when cooking. 

The new appliances with ThinQ recipe will be shown at LG's virtual exhibition booth at CES 2022 starting on January 5th, though LG didn't say when the app and appliances would go on sale. CES 2022 is still scheduled to proceed next week in Las Vegas, with LG, Samsung and Sony still committed as of this writing. Other companies including Amazon, Google, Meta and Lenovo have backed out of real-world involvement, however. 

In the future, Waymo's robotaxi fleet in the US will feature electric vehicles build specifically for the service by Chinese automaker Geely. The Alphabet company has teamed up with Geely to create a version of its recently launched all-electric Zeekr vehicle that's custom-built for autonomous ride-hailing. Waymo has detailed and shown renders of the modified EV, which was designed in Sweden, in a blog post. 

It has no steering wheel or pedals, as you'd probably expect by now from a purely autonomous vehicle — where the traditional cockpit would be is a tablet that most likely serves as the navigation and infotainment system. Waymo said they modified the vehicle and gave it a flat floor for more accessible entry, generous head and legroom, reclining seats and chargers all around. The company will then incorporate its Driver technology, which includes its software and hardware components like cameras and sensors, into the vehicles.

Waymo's current ride-hailing fleet consists mostly of Jaguar I-Paces and Chrysler Pacifica hybrids also modified with its technology. While it didn't specifically mention its vehicles, a spokesperson told TechCrunch that its team-up with Geely will not affect its current partnerships. The company also didn't mention when passengers will be able to ride the Geely vehicles, only that they will be added to its fleet in the US over the coming years.

More big names are cancelling in-person CES 2022 plans. CNETnotes AMD and OnePlus have both withdrawn their physical presences at the technology event. While they didn't provide detailed explanations, the move was clearly in response to the rise of COVID-19's Omicron variant and the corresponding surge in new cases. AMD is switching its in-person transactions to virtual ones in the "best interest" of everyone's health, the company said in a statement.

AMD was already poised to launch its 2022 products through a livestream on January 4th. OnePlus said it would introduce the OnePlus 10 Pro in January and was rumored to unveil the phone at CES.

The companies join numerous major brands that have backed out of real-world CES involvement, including Amazon, AT&T, GM, Google, Intel, Lenovo, Meta, Microsoft and T-Mobile. Others were already focused on virtual presentations, such as NVIDIA. Show mainstays like LG, Samsung and Sony were still committed as of this writing.

CES' organizer, the Consumer Technology Association, is still planning an in-person event and believes its health and safety measures are enough to protect attendees. It also downplayed the wave of departures, noting there had been more new sign-ups than exits as of December 23rd. The situation has changed in recent days, though, and the concern is more about the size of the companies than sheer numbers — this won't represent a CES revival if the star attractions are nowhere to be seen.