As it does every year around this time, Samsung has unveiled its C-Lab incubator projects for CES 2022, with the aim to gauge customer response and further advance the most promising ideas. The star of the show this year is ZamStar, a guitar and app combo designed to make collaboration and learning easier. Other notable projects include an AI solution to help kids develop good smartphone habits and a nursery mobile that can allow for early detection of infant strabismus (eye crossing). 

ZamStar consists of an app and a custom guitar called ZamString. The idea is that you can play a part on the guitar, add effects and then sync it up with other musicians around the world. It's clearly a riff on the COVID-19 TikTok trend of musical collaborations (remember all those sea shanties early this year), with the idea of making it easy to sync up your music. Meanwhile, the ZamString guitar has a fretboard that lights via input from a song, making it easy to figure out where to put your fingers. It's not a new concept, but perhaps the first to marry both the learning and collaboration aspects. 

Piloto, meanwhile, is what Samsung calls an "AI solution that helps children develop proper smartphone usage habits." The aim is to teach kids "self-regulation skills" on smart devices to help them make good choices. Finally, Innovision is "a daily life eye-care system with a nursery mobile to catch suspicious symptoms of the strabismus and monitor visual ability development status for babies." That seems like a smart idea, since babies gaze natural towards mobiles.

Along with its inside incubators, Samsung's C-Lab Outside is backing nine startups, including an AI-based biometric recognition solution for pets called Petnow. All of these projects will be on display with their own booths at CES 2022. So far, Samsung still appears to be planning to attend the event and has not followed the lead of other exhibitors (Google, Lenovo, Intel, Amazon, Meta, T-Mobile) by cancelling.

Valve has once again given some insight into the highest-earning games of the year on Steam. The sixth annual Top Sellers list splits the top 100 games into a few categories, and the titles within each are randomly ordered. The 12 games in the Platinum category raked in the most cash.

There are several free-to-play games at the top, since Steam has factored in microtransactions and paid expansions. The Platinum tier is dominated by old favorites, including Apex Legends, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dead by Daylight, Destiny 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2 and Grand Theft Auto V.

It's the sixth straight year that Dota 2, CS:GO and Grand Theft Auto V have made it into the top tier. PUBG: Battlegrounds and Rainbow Six Siege each made the cut for the fifth time as well. Destiny 2, meanwhile, has featured in the Platinum tier every year since it hit Steam in 2019.

Battle royale title Naraka: Bladepoint and Battlefield 2042 are among the four releases from this year that made it into the top 12. Valheim, a survival sandbox game made by just five people, is also among the biggest money makers, as is New World, showing that after years of trying and failing, Amazon has finally made a hit game.

The newcomers that landed in the second group of 12 games, Gold, are FIFA 22, Back 4 Blood, Forza Horizon 5 and It Takes Two, which won game of the year honors at The Game Awards. The older titles in that section are Final Fantasy XIV Online (which Square Enix has temporarily stopped selling due to overloaded servers), Red Dead Redemption 2, Rust, Sea of Thieves, Warframe, The Elder Scrolls Online, War Thunder and Forza Horizon 4.

The Silver section, meanwhile, includes 2021 releases such as Halo Infinite, Outriders, Resident Evil Village and Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Cyberpunk 2077, which was released in December last year, is in that category, as are The Sims 4, Monster Hunter: World and the bot-plagued Team Fortress 2.

Some key takeaways include the fact that EA, which brought its games back to Steam in 2019, had four titles among the top 24 earners, including three new releases: Apex Legends, Battlefield 2042, FIFA 22 and It Takes Two. Microsoft also had several games in the top few tiers, despite them all being available on PC Game Pass. Forza Horizon 5, its predecessor and Sea of Thieves are all in the Gold category. Halo Infinite made it into Silver even though the multiplayer is free-to-play and the paid campaign had only been out for a week before Steam stopped tracking earnings for the list.

Many of these games — including New World, Battlefield 2042, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Sea of Thieves — have been discounted for the Steam Winter Sale. Cyberpunk 2077, Valheim and Back 4 Blood are also included in the sale, which runs until January 5th.

Cheating is as much a problem in mobile games as it is elsewhere, and Krafton is taking extra steps to crack down on the worst offenders. 91Mobilesreports the developer is now permanently banning cheaters' devices in Battlegrounds Mobile India (aka the local version of PUBG Mobile). Rogue players can't just create new accounts to continue ruining your matches — in theory, they have to buy a new phone or tablet.

The concept of a device ban isn't new. Titles like Call of Duty: Warzone and Valorant routinely block hardware. It's not as common on mobile, however, and Battlegrounds Mobile India is a particularly prominent example when over 16 million people play daily.

Device bans won't suddenly end cheating in the battle royale brawler. While device bans require more effort to circumvent, particularly on mobile, it's not impossible. Krafton's effort might deter many 'casual' cheaters, however, and that might be enough to attract (or keep) honest players put off by past mischief.

I’m not much of a car guy, but I do enjoy a good drive on an open road and have at least a passing appreciation for a fine automobile. Of course, my beyond-humble Toyota Prius only offers so much in the way of driving thrills. A realistic racing game always sounded like a great way to scratch that driving itch, but they’re almost always just too involved and difficult for me.

But my colleague Jess Conditt described the Forza Horizon series as “the chill, microdosing cousin of Forza Motorsport, with festival vibes, ridiculous race tracks set in lush environments, and, of course, a virtual garage full of gorgeous vehicles” in her glowing preview of the game. I was sold, and so far Forza Horizon 5 has entirely lived up to the hype and praise it has received.

A big part of the reason why is that it’s the most approachable driving game I’ve ever tried. Take the ingenious “rewind button.” At first, I would push the accelerator to the floor and rarely let up, which made actually taking a turn without wiping out damn near impossible. But the rewind button let me try these difficult turns again without completely blowing the race I’m in or having to start the entire thing over again. I think that it helped me get better at the game significantly faster than I would have if I had to re-do a course every time I blew a turn. Without it, I’m pretty sure I would have given up on Forza Horizon 5 pretty quickly.

What I wanted out of Forza Horizon 5 was the ability to drive vintage and modern cars I’d never get a chance to own around a beautifully-rendered Mexican countryside, and the auto car-tuning feature was another thing that made this dream easy to achieve. For people who really want to dive into it, the game’s cars are extremely customizable — but I couldn’t be bothered to figure out exactly what anti-roll bars, tires, suspension systems and so on I needed to buy so my 2003 Volkswagen GTI R32 would keep up with the competition. (Note to Jess: GTI. Every. Time.)

Fortunately, there’s an auto-upgrade feature that can level up your car to the top of various tiers (C isn’t as great as A, which isn’t as great as S1, for example). Of course, you’ll need to pay for the parts, but it’s worth the cost to max out your vehicles of choice without spending all day figuring out exactly what parts to buy.

In the frankly shocking amount of time I’ve poured into Forza Horizon 5 already, I’ve been delighted to find a game with the perfect blend of serious driving challenge and realism coupled with tools and design that make it extremely appealing to someone like me, who doesn’t have the time or desire to endlessly tweak their car for every race. It’s a lot more realistic than most arcade-style racers, but it’s definitely not so unforgiving as to be inaccessible to people who aren’t racing nerds.

Whether you’re a novice like me or someone more experienced with racing games, you’ll find a ton to keep you busy. Ultimately, Forza Horizon 5 isn’t wildly different from open-world adventure games — there’s a “story” you can follow and unlock different chapters as you go, and there’s also a huge variety of different challenges spread all over the map. I gravitated towards road racing events, but there’s a huge variety of different courses. Others might prefer going off-road, trying drag racing or competing in events to rack up trick points.

Playground Games/Microsoft

Regardless of how you like to play, it’s also a beautiful game; I was stunned by the variety of scenery across this little corner of Mexico I got to explore. Coupling that with events taking place at all different types of day and in different weather conditions and there’s always something new to see. I’ve only played it on the Xbox Series S on a 1080p TV — I’m hoping I can give it a go on a Series X or well-tuned gaming PC soon and see just how good it can look with the right hardware. But even on my more modest setup, I’m enjoying this game in a way I never expected.

This pandemic has dragged on longer than expected but hey, another 12 months in lockdown means another year to play lots of video games. And what a year it’s been, with new installments in storied franchises, remakes of forgotten classics and a game where you date your sword. As is tradition, the Engadget team gathered together to ruminate on their favorite titles released this year, extolling their virtues and sometimes drawbacks, but mostly explaining why we like them so much. We’ve also thrown in a few of our older faves that we played in 2021, because hey, a good game is always a good game. (Also, it helps when there are updates.)

Age of Empires IV

When people look back at Microsoft’s 2021, they’ll cite Halo: Infinite and the extra year the company gave 343 Industries to work on the game as one of its best recent decisions. But I think the company also deserves praise for taking a chance on Relic and Age of Empires IV.

Coming off the dismal Dawn of War III, fans had every right to be skeptical of whether the studio could pull off a sequel to one of the most-loved real-time strategy games in history. Relic had a nearly impossible task before it. And yet it found a way to respect the history and roots of the series while pushing it forward in new and interesting ways. The star of the show here are the eight civilizations. Mechanically, they’re far more unique than the factions you could play as in past games. Each has a handful of twists that make them fun to learn and interesting to play against. The studio also changed how you move between the ages to present the player with interesting choices.

AoE4 isn’t perfect, but neither was Age of Empires II before its Age of Conquerors expansion. More than anything, I’m excited to see where Relic takes the series should Microsoft give the studio the chance to continue working on the series. — Igor Bonifacic, Contributing Editor

Boyfriend Dungeon

Boyfriend Dungeon is a perfect blend of sword-swinging action and insatiable horniness — but not, like, in a gross way. This is the dungeon crawler of your middle-school daydreams, offering eye candy in a variety of forms and art styles, plus a mall packed with monsters to slay. And sales! But mostly monsters.

Everything about Boyfriend Dungeon is playful, from the cell phone messaging system, to the bright character customization options and the library of 'zines that serve as power-ups. The most charming aspect of the game, though, is the arsenal of flirty, dateable weapons. Players, ahem, forge relationships with the personalities behind the blades and then bring them into battle, choosing which combat style (or dating tactic) feels right in the moment. Combat itself is fast-paced yet adorable, with TV sets, flying VHS tapes, bats and phones attacking from every corner of the mall. There are also opportunities for small dates in between the battles, keeping the hormonal vibes alive.

Not only do you get to date your weapons in Boyfriend Dungeon, but they’re all gorgeous and charming in their own way. Best of all, they’re not limited by the old-school definition of a boyfriend. There’s a sword for nearly every play style here. Wink. — Jessica Conditt, Senior Editor

Deathloop

To say I love Arkane Studio's Dishonored series is an understatement. I've spent countless hours extolling the virtues of that series' slick stealth gameplay, gorgeous steampunk art design and inventive level design. While the first game was successful enough to spawn a sequel and a standalone entry, Dishonored never reached the massive mainstream popularity it deserved. (You could say the same for Prey, another critical darling that sold poorly.)

Since we first saw a glimpse of Deathloop, it looked like an intriguing remix of some of Dishonored's best components. There were magical powers that let you teleport at will. It was a first-person stealth game that leaned heavily on both melee weapons and guns; and it looked absolutely beautiful. Personally, I was hoping that Arkane would be able to recreate the magic of Dishonored to make it more palatable to general players.

Well, Deathloop isn't that. Its time loop mechanics are hard to parse at first — in particular, it takes a while to learn what you should actually be doing to make any sort of progress. Even dealing with the game's menus can be migraine-inducing, especially when you're learning how to keep weapons between multiple loops.

But just like my colleague Jessica Conditt, I loved every minute of it. It’s a blast to play, so long as you’re attuned to its stealth mechanics. I seriously dug the multiplayer mode, which puts you in the shoes of the game’s main antagonist, Julianna, as she hunts down other players. It’s not as fleshed out as the single-player campaign, but it sure felt great ruining someone else’s loop.

While it's not quite the Dishonored 3 I really want, I can't help but applaud Arkane for the sheer amount of innovation packed within Deathloop. Sure, it's a time loop game like so many others; the day repeats itself like clockwork, and you're also pushed back to the beginning if you die. But, crucially, it also builds on that concept. If a similar temporal anomaly were discovered in our world, it likely wouldn't be too long before a bunch of elite technocrats started using it as a way to achieve something close to immortality. — Devindra Hardawar, Senior Editor

Death’s Door

Death’s Door was the best game I played in 2021. And that’s not because it did something different. To me, someone who loved Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask growing up, its familiar and comforting Zelda-like rhythms were exactly what I needed in a challenging year. Everything about Death’s Door is also perfect. From the music to the art style and gameplay, developer Acid Nerve has crafted one of the best adventures in recent memory. — I.B.

Famicom Detective Club

I’m a huge fan of visual novels — in my time at Engadget I’ve lauded games like Doki Doki Literature Club and Dream Daddy — so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed Famicom Detective Club when I played the pair of re-released games for the Nintendo Switch back in May. 

The stories, particularly The Missing Heir, are compelling while the characters are easy to like. The gameplay is a little simple compared to the complexities of modern titles, but that just made me appreciate the genre more. I preferred the first game to the second, The Girl Who Stands Behind, but who am I kidding, you can’t play just one; they’re that fun. I hear that developer MAGES is willing to do a third installment, and I’d like to see where the series goes with a more modern spin. — Kris Naudus, Buyer's Guide Editor

Forza Horizon 5

I’ve never been a huge fan of realistic racing games, mostly because of that one word: realistic. I don’t have the patience to tweak my car and master all the skills necessary to make the most out of those games. Forza Horizon 5 pulls off a great trick by making its racing just realistic enough while still being extremely approachable. The library of classic and modern vehicles means you can easily find your dream car(s), and the game makes it easy to auto-tune your collection for peak performance if you don't want to spend time picking out suspension systems, tires and so forth.

There’s also the brilliant “rewind” button: Taking tight corners at speed without wiping out (or going so slow around them that the entire field blows past you) is not easy, but rewinding means you can easily erase any big mistakes you make and take the corner all over again. It helped me learn faster than I would have if I ended up in last place every time I took a turn.

Beyond that, the world of Forza Horizon 5 simply looks amazing — the beautifully-rendered jungles, mountains and open roads of this fictionalized corner of Mexico make for a perfect driving backdrop. It’s beautiful to look at, and the variety of terrain means you’ll get a huge variety of terrain in the different races to try.

In a year when I’ve shied away from the narrative-heavy, single-player games that I typically prefer, Forza Horizon 5 has been a perfect escape over the last few months. It’s the kind of game you can sink hours into at a time, or just pick up and play for a few races. And between the variety of race types, different weather conditions, weekly challenges and much more, it’s a game I think I’ll be coming back to for a long time. — I.B.

Halo Infinite

In my review of the Halo Infinite campaign, I criticized the game for relying on tired narrative threads and repetitive mechanics. I found myself wanting more innovation out of a modern, open-world Halo, rather than a cramped map of overly familiar landscapes and a lineup of the best tricks taken from other successful franchises.

All of that remains true, but hey — it’s still Halo.

When it comes to gameplay, Infinite is the best Halo’s been. It doesn’t thrust the series forward in any significant way, but it spit-shines the best features and presents everything in a polished environment that’s perfectly suited for floaty, fast-paced gun battles. The campaign evokes your warm-fuzzy nostalgic feelings and, even though it may not feel like a massive open world, offers a larger area to explore than ever before.

Infinite’s multiplayer matches benefit from the franchise improvements as well. There are tight and large-scale maps, a handful of new weapons with plenty of kick, and fan-favorite guns on offer like the Needler and Battle Rifle. This is the refreshing Halo experience we’ve been waiting (and waiting) for, driven by new tools like the Grappleshot, a hook that allows players to fly around the map like a short-range, hard sci-fi Spider-Man.

In comparison to other open-world action-adventure games and rapid-fire FPS titles, Halo Infinite doesn’t deliver anything particularly innovative, but it also doesn’t have any catastrophic failures. For a franchise in its 20th year, that’s a successful outcome. Especially in comparison to other Halo games, Infinite is an achievement that any fan should be happy to play. — J.C.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

After the disappointment of last year's Avengers, I went into Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy with low expectations. I've rarely been so happy about being proved wrong.

Guardians is a blast. The story zips along, taking the crew from one gorgeous, colorful alien environment to the next as they try to save their skins and, inevitably, the galaxy.

You can only play as Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord), though you're rarely without at least one of your companions. The crew retains the quippy, rapid-fire dialogue from James Gunn's films and the characters talk almost constantly. Thankfully, the writing's the strongest part of the game, with a solid slate of jokes and story-centric lines. There are also dialogue choices (much like in a Telltale game) that can affect how a level plays out.

Eidos-Montréal had the chance to create a Guardians story that’s distinct from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The characters look, sound and act different from the MCU crew. It was initially a little jarring given how much I enjoy James Gunn’s movies, but I quickly grew to love them.

Unfortunately, the combat isn't great. Quill's guns are woefully underpowered at first, so fights are more about managing the rest of the team's more impactful abilities. A power-up mechanic that brings the team together in a seemingly inspiring huddle is annoying, while some of the enemy encounters feel extraneous. Still, the rest of the experience was so enjoyable that the mediocre combat wasn’t too bothersome.

In a landscape dominated by massive, never-ending games, Guardians of the Galaxy is a refreshing throwback. It's a single-player adventure that tells a streamlined story with great attention to detail. Best of all, in certain areas where Quill can't fire his pistols, he'll point finger guns and make "pew-pew" noises. I never get tired of that. — Kris Holt, Contributing Editor

Metroid Dread

As the first all-new, side-scrolling Metroid adventure since 2002, Metroid Dread had a lot to live up to. Nintendo has experimented both successfully (Metroid Prime Trilogy) and unsuccessfully (Metroid: Other M) with the basic formula, but Dread returns the series to its roots while adding enough new gameplay elements to keep things fresh.

However, with a series that had been dormant this long, new things weren’t what drew me to the game. I had never played a side-scrolling Metroid game all the way through, and this installment is a near-perfect modern interpretation of the “Metroidvania” genre the series helped invent. There’s lots of exploration, back-tracking, and new areas opening up when you get power-ups. It’s a simple formula executed with precision by developer MercurySteam.

The stealth elements, where Samus has to avoid detection from the powerful E.M.M.I. robots, are new to the series. Fortunately, they aren’t so frequent that they overpower the standard segments. And while they can be difficult, they’re not so tough that I ever got terribly frustrated – they’re just hard enough that finally getting the power you need to take down an E.M.M.I. is extremely satisfying.

The rest of the game is pretty classic Metroid, but the journey to regain all your lost powers, explore the varied worlds of Dread and take out truly epic boss monsters doesn’t feel like a retread at all. Instead, it reminded me of why Metroid is one of Nintendo’s most classic franchises. Metroid Dread showed Nintendo at its best of breathing new life into a series while still keeping it comfortingly familiar. — Nate Ingraham, Deputy Editor

New Pokémon Snap

Gamers have their holy grails, the titles they’ve love to see that may never get made, like Half-Life 3 and an official English translation of Mother 3. For years, the Nintendo 64's Pokémon Snap was one of those games on that list; I certainly remember people begging for a Wii or DS version back when I worked at The Pokémon Company over a decade ago. (The original got released on Wii Shop, but that’s about it.) So the announcement of New Pokémon Snap was a welcome surprise from last year, and the finished game certainly delivered.

The classic rail-shooter gameplay is back, but now with improved graphics. The Pokémon look amazing, and the ability to use motion controls really adds to the immersion. (Though I admittedly did get a bit motion sick.) I’m a fan of birdwatching, but not the best at bird photography. So New Pokémon Snap really scratched that itch, with all the fun of logging and collecting them. I loved playing this game, and not just because Todd Snap got a real glow-up. (But it certainly didn’t hurt.) — K.N.

Pikmin Bloom

Look, even I can see that Pokémon Go is the objectively better game. It just has more to do and a bigger community. But I prefer Pikmin Bloom because it just asks so little of me, and that’s perfect for my busy life. I don’t have time to be looking for Pokémon and tossing Poké Balls and going on Raids… but you know what I can do? Walk around and have cute little Pikmin plant flowers as I travel. There’s something impressive about opening the app to see all the flowers you and others have planted, and the Pikmin are just super cute. The little noises they make when they go on expeditions? Squee. — K.N.

The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

The protagonist of The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is Alex, a princess whose brother has just ascended to the throne and made her a warden of a small castle at the edge of their kingdom. On the way there, Alex survives an attack on her caravan, but she's stranded 500 miles from home and has to make her way back. What's more, Alex has been blind since birth.

The Vale attempts to replicate how Alex experiences the world in being almost entirely audio-based. Even though it's a first-person game, the only visuals to speak of, other than menus, are floating particles that offer the player some sense of the 3D environments and provide some contextual details like time of day.

Unlike many other RPGs, which usually offer a map that's spilling over with places to go and things to do, everything the player does is based on what they hear. The Vale uses spatial audio (headphones are essential for this one) to help players navigate the space, find other characters to interact with and receive guidance from Alex's companion. The sound design and voice acting are terrific. I rarely felt unsure about where I was or what was happening, unless that’s intended by the developer. It's important to listen carefully during combat too, as you'll aim your shield and weapon in one of three directions, depending on where you think an attacker is.

For a game that puts such an emphasis on accessibility for blind and vision-impaired players, it's disappointing that there are no subtitles or control remapping options for others. That said, developer Falling Squirrel has crafted a deeply immersive adventure you can explore with your eyes closed. The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is a remarkable, memorable experience which underscores that games can and should be for everyone. — K.H.

Bonus round

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Look, I know I talk aboutAnimal Crossing: New Horizons a lot. But when Nintendo announced the 2.0 update a few months ago I pretty much started to hyperventilate and I’ve been lightheaded ever since. Lots of long-requested features finally dropped, most notably the addition of a café, but also plenty of quality of life improvements. It’s almost like a whole new game in some ways, reinvigorating this nearly two-year-old title to the point where I’m playing daily again and I haven’t even tried all the new features. Just when I thought I was out… — K.N.

Control Ultimate Edition

I’m glad I waited for the PS5 version of Control. The wonderfully strange world is made even better by the console's capabilities. Whether it’s running in 4K with ray-tracing on or at 60fps, this is a beautiful game. The DualSense offers a satisfying click when the Service Weapon shape-shifts into another type of gun and the haptic feedback from each firing mode feels different. The 3D audio adds to the atmosphere, while the zippy fast traveling is very welcome.

Add in the DLC, and Control Ultimate Edition feels like the ideal way to explore The Oldest House. I'm already counting down the days until the next game in the series. — K.H.

Disco Elysium

This one could technically be in the 2021 category for two reasons. First, it’s timeless, and second, the Final Cut version of the game came out this year, adding full voice acting, new quests and general gameplay improvements to an already highly acclaimed title. It really doesn’t matter which category it goes in, though, as long as you do yourself a favor and play it.

Disco Elysium is a mature, densely detailed role-playing game with an incredible dialogue system, and a brilliant sense of player choice and expression. It stars an amnesiac, alcoholic detective and it’s set in a grimy open world filled with fascinating characters. This is a game that will make you think, laugh and recoil in horror time and time again — and oftentimes all at once. — J.C.

Realme, the sister brand of Oppo and OnePlus, has revealed its new flagship GT 2 Pro, and the most notable feature may not be a tech spec, but literally how it feels. The body of the phone uses an eco-friendly bio-polymer material on its back cover. It’s made from paper pulp, and it has obtained International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (or ISCC in short) as proof of its environmental bonafides.

Realme

Apparently, this adds a satisfying paper feel to the GT 2 Pro, which Realme is calling "Paper Tech Master Design,” tapping Muji and Infobar series designer Naoto Fukasawa for his input. For now, the phone launches in China on January 4th, 2022, with the device eventually going overseas later next year.

-Mat Smith

A ‘robot lawyer’ could help you get unbanned from social media

The service is meant to help people who were wrongly suspended from their accounts.

When users are wrongfully suspended from their social media accounts, it’s difficult to figure out how to regain access. Now, the “robot lawyer” company DoNotPay, which offers automated legal services, has a new feature: getting social media accounts unbanned.

It’s an alternative to emailing companies’ help center bots or appeals that may never get answered. Instead, DoNotPay asks users for information about what happened to them, and sends a letter to the relevant company’s legal department on their behalf.

Continue reading.

LG Display’s concept bike makes your Peloton look like a toy

It’s got several OLED concepts ready for CES 2022.

LG Display

This is the “Virtual Ride” stationary bike. It features three vertical 55-inch OLED displays that form one continuous screen in front and above the rider. The topmost panel has a 500R curvature radius. According to LG Display, that’s the most extreme curve in a large screen to date. No word on whether it has a pause button.

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FDA authorizes Pfizer's Covid antiviral pill for people 12 and older

The Paxlovid treatment could be available within a few days.

The FDA has issued emergency authorization for Pfizer's antiviral pill Paxlovid, making it the first oral method for treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19. The treatment is meant for high-risk people 12 and older who could progress to a more serious COVID infection. Paxlovid will be available by prescription only, and is meant to be taken within five days of first noticing COVID symptoms.

According to Pfizer's tests, it can reduce hospitalization or death by 88 percent in high-risk patients. The treatment, which can be prescribed to both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, consists of 30 pills taken over five days. So far, the US has ordered enough pills to treat 10 million people.

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Square Enix sharpens up Final Fantasy 14's blocky grapes

The low-poly fruit became a meme.

Square Enix

Square Enix has rolled out the first Final Fantasy XIV patch after the ultra-popular Endwalker expansion arrived in November. Along with adding more quests, items and a raid dungeon, the update addressed various issues. One of those was a so-called bug fix that targeted some delightfully janky-looking grapes. Just don’t expect them to suddenly look photo-realistic.

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The OnePlus 10 Pro will be revealed in January

Rumors suggest the device will be the only model in the 10-series lineup.

OnePlus is gearing up to show off its next smartphone, and it seems we won't have to wait long to get our eyes on it. It will reveal the OnePlus 10 Pro next month, according to co-founder and CEO Pete Lau, who wrote “OnePlus 10 Pro, see you in January," on Weibo. Rumors suggest OnePlus will only reveal a single phone this time around, instead of the usual approach of having a base model and a pro device. Leakers have already offered a peek at what the phone may look like, with several unofficial renders. It seems OnePlus will again use Hasselblad cameras, while the OnePlus 10 Pro screen is slated to be a 6.7-inch QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate.

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Tesla under investigation for 'Passenger Play' gaming feature

The NHTSA is looking into how games being played while the car's moving may distract drivers.

Tesla came under fire earlier this month following reports that certain games are playable on dashboard infotainment systems while an EV is in motion. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now investigating Tesla over the so-called "Passenger Play" function. While the feature prompts players to acknowledge they're a passenger before they start a game, the NHTSA said Passenger Play "may distract the driver and increase the risk of a crash." Before the summer, Passenger Play was only available when the EV was in park.

Continue reading. 

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Samsung's 2022 televisions and monitors will support its recently unveiled HDR10+ Gaming standard, the company announced. That means they'll deliver a variety of features for gamers like variable refresh rates (VRR) at up to 120Hz and automatic HDR color correction on a game-by-game basis. 

The standard will be used by Samsung's 2022 Neo QLED lineup with the Q70 TV series and above, along with gaming monitors, the company said. It didn't mention any models, but it showed a wide-screen gaming display (below) and what could be a 2022 Neo QLED TV with very slim bezels. 

Samsung

HDR10+ Gaming slipped under the radar when it was first announced, but it appears to be a move to counter Dolby Vision HDR for gaming found on Xbox Series X/S consoles. It provides a "consistent HDR gaming experience without the need for manual calibration across a variety of display technologies for various input sources, including consoles, PCs and more," Samsung said.

The idea with HDR10+ Gaming is that you won't need to use any manual settings, as the game engine itself automatically optimizes color calibration in real-time. It's designed to deliver details in dark shadows and highlights, while configuring the display to a "true reference mode" so colors are displayed as intended by the developer. It also supports VRR at up to 120Hz along with tone mapping that won't add any extra latency to the gaming signal.

As with HDR10+, however, the challenge for Samsung is getting developers to adopt the standard for games. Dolby Vision gaming is already available or is coming to over 100 games on Xbox Series X/S, so Samsung has some catching up to do. It did say that "several companies, including Saber Interactive, are expected to showcase their HDR10+ Gaming titles" at CES 2022 (if it takes place). 

Samsung could make some headway with PC gaming, however, as Dolby Vision is only available on a handful of PC titles. To help pave the way for HDR10+ PC games, Samsung said that NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series, RTX 20 Series and GTX 16 Series GPUs will support HDR10+ with drivers "scheduled for release in 2022." 

It was only a matter of time before someone other than Fairphone delivered a sustainability-themed smartphone (which is a good thing, of course). Realme, the sister brand of Oppo and OnePlus, announced that its upcoming flagship GT 2 Pro features an eco-friendly bio-polymer material on its back cover — apparently a first in the mobile industry. Better yet, Realme has once again collaborated with Muji and Infobar series design icon Naoto Fukasawa, who finished the GT 2 Pro's design with a textured paper feel on the body. They call this "Paper Tech Master Design."

Realme

This bio-polymer material, supplied by Saudi Arabia's SABIC, is based on paper pulp, and it has obtained International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (or ISCC in short) to prove its environmental friendliness. The Realme GT 2 Pro's packaging also uses much less plastic than its predecessor — from an overall plastic ratio of 21.7 percent down to a mere 0.3 percent.

The phone itself packs some surprises, too. For one, it's one of the first devices to be powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, following the Moto Edge X30. The GT 2 Pro is also the world's first smartphone with a 150-degree ultra-wide camera (most are at around 120 degrees), which offers a unique fisheye camera mode for some fun photography. 

There are also some noteworthy features on the radio side. In Realme's "Antenna Array Matrix System" here, there's the "world's first" ultra-wide-band antenna switching technology, which lets the phone switch to whichever of the 12 antennas has the best signal strength. In addition, this system consists of a symmetrical Wi-Fi antenna which apparently boosts signal stability by up to 20 percent. 

Realme

But the most interesting feature here is perhaps the "360-degree NFC," which is achieved by hooking up the NFC module to the top two cellular antennas as well as its own, thus forming an "NFC 3 antenna array." This allows the upper part of the GT 2 Pro to read NFC on either side, which should make the likes of contactless payment and Bluetooth pairing easier.

For now, the Realme GT 2 Pro is only slated for a China launch at 7:30PM local time (6:30AM ET) on January 4th, 2022, but a company spokesperson confirmed that it will eventually go overseas. Given the brand's track record, this device will likely be competitively priced, but we're just eager to check out Fukasawa's latest mobile design in person — especially the supposedly paper-like texture. Stay tuned for more technical specs, prices and our hands-on.

LG has revealed a couple of monitors it's debuting at its virtual CES event, and one of them is apparently a completely new format in the market. The company's new DualUp Monitor has an unusual 16:18 aspect ratio. It's a vertical display with a 2,560 x 2,880-pixel resolution that LG is calling "Square Double QHD." When you use its vertical split view function, the DualUp looks like you put two 21.5—inch monitors on top of each other. 

It could be a better form factor than the typical monitor if you're constantly having to look at information on multiple windows or screens for work or for any other reason. In its announcement, LG says the model will help reduce side-to-side head movements that cause neck pain. DualUp was also meant to save space and will ship with the LG Ergo stand that clamps to most desks and tables. The Nano IPS monitor's other features include a brightness of 300 nits, a 1000:1 contrast ratio and HDR10 support. 

In addition to DualUp, LG has also introduced the UltraFine, a 32-inch 4K UHD monitor. It has a more conventional aspect ratio, but it is the first to use LG's Nano IPS Black panel technology, which enables a contrast ratio of 2,000:1. The company will reveal more about both premium monitors at its virtual press event on January 4th. It's unknown at this point whether LG will still push through with a physical experience at CES 2022, assuming the event will still take place despite the threat posed by the Omicron variant. It was planning on showcasing a list of new items during the conference aside from these monitors, though, including a soundbar with a center up-firing speaker, a wireless TV on wheels and an OLED TV with a motorized cover.

Tesla's big holiday update for the year has started making its way to the automaker's fleet of electric vehicles, and it adds quite a large list of improvements and new features. For those addicted to scrolling on TikTok, perhaps the biggest addition is the TikTok app on Tesla Theater. According to the update notes posted by Electrek, they'll now be able to scroll the platform's short-form videos — on repeat, if they want — right on their vehicle's screen, so long as their car is parked. 

In Toybox, owners will now also find the Light Show feature that Tesla introduced as an Easter Egg on the Model X back in 2015. For the Model X, a choreographed light show includes both flashing lights and opening falcon wing doors, but other models will have to make do with the former. Tesla has made its app launcher customizable, letting owners drag and drop their favorite apps onto the bottom menu bar. It's also simplifying navigation to make most the common primary controls, such as charging and windshield wipers, easier to access.

To automatically see a live camera view of their blind spot when they activate their turn signal, drivers can activate the new "Automatic Blind Spot Camera" option under Autopilot in Controls. Plus, drivers can now edit Waypoints to add stops or to initiate new navigation routes with updated arrival times. The holiday bundle has updates that fit the season, as well, including automatic seat heating that can regulate the front row seat temperatures based on the cabin environment, along with other cold weather improvements. 

In addition, drivers can now delete dashcam clips directly from the touchscreen and hide map details to remove distractions if they want. Finally, in the entertainment department, Tesla has added Sonic the Hedgehog and Sudoku to its Arcade — though we strongly suggest playing any Arcade game only while parked. Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that Tesla allowed drivers to play some games in moving cars, a concern that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is discussing with the company. The agency told Engadget in a statement: "Distraction-affected crashes are a concern, particularly in vehicles equipped with an array of convenience technologies such as entertainment screens. We are aware of driver concerns and are discussing the feature with the manufacturer."