Super Nintendo World Japan will soon become a hotter ticket for many fans. Universal Studios has revealed that a Donkey Kong Country area will open in Spring 2024. Nintendo and Universal (which hosts the theme park at its Osaka location) haven't shown off actual footage of the new zone yet. Instead, they opted to make the announcement with an animated trailer.

Perhaps the main attraction of the new area is a ride called Mine Cart Madness, named after the best level in the 1994 SNES game Donkey Kong Country. After being blasted out of a barrel cannon, you'll take a mine cart ride through the jungle that includes a "leap across a collapsed track."

According to Universal, fans will also be able to try a play experience that prompts them to use their whole body. Of course, food and merchandise will be available too.

Nintendo confirmed in 2021 that the Donkey Kong Country area was under construction at Universal Studios Japan. It's said to expand the overall size of Super Nintendo World by 70 percent. The new area will open to the public two years after visitors started exploring the first Mushroom Kingdom-themed zone. Meanwhile, the Orlando version of Super Nintendo World isn't expected to open until 2025.

The universal chat app Beeper just got a lot more, well, universal. The company just unveiled the Beeper Mini app, which makes the bold claim to bring true iMessage support to Android devices. Even bolder? It seems to actually work, according to users who have tried it. This isn’t done in a strange hacky way that could compromise privacy and security, like Nothing’s beleaguered attempt to play nice with iOS devices.

Instead, the code has been reverse-engineered from the ground up, so it’s basically the official iMessage protocol. The texts are even sent to Apple’s servers before moving on to their final destination, just like a real iMessage created by an iPhone. Even weirder? All of this high-tech wizardry was created by a 16-year-old high school student.

Once you open the app, it goes through all of your text message conversations and flags the ones from iMessage users. The system then switches them over to blue bubble conversations via Apple’s official platform. From then on, every time you talk to that person, the bubbles will be bluer than a clear spring day. You also don’t need an Apple ID to login, alleviating many of the security concerns that plagued rival offerings.

Beeper co-founder Eric Migicovsky was contacted by the talented high-schooler and was blown away by the tech. “No one on Earth had done that,” he told The Verge. “No one had put all the pieces together.”

It’s worth reiterating. This platform isn’t hacking the iMessage experience so it works on Android. It is the iMessage experience working on Android, as it's sending actual iMessages. The tech was created by jailbreaking iPhones to get a good look at how the operating system handles iMessages, before recreating the software.

Beeper is being really transparent here, and the company knows it's potentially skating on thin ice with regard to how Apple will respond. Apple has never been especially friendly to those it deems to be infringing on company secrets, but it did just announce forthcoming support for the RCS messaging standard. This will allow for greater interoperability between Android and iOS devices, so maybe it’ll let Beeper Mini slide for now. Being as how the app actually recreates Apple code, however, it likely wouldn’t be difficult to put the kibosh on Beeper from its end.

Migicovsky says Beeper’s iMessage code will be open source to ensure there will be no security or privacy lapses. As for potential legal hurdles, the co-founder says his company is on the right side of the law, noting there’s no actual Apple code in Beeper Mini, just custom-made recreated code. Also, he cites legal precedence in copyright law that has sided with those who reverse engineer code. In any event, Beeper Mini is available, for now, and it's free to download, though it does feature in-app purchases.

Discord bluntly describes the mobile app it launched in 2015 as a squished-down version of its desktop platform. But that acknowledgment comes with an announcement that said app is getting a complete redesign that's an "independent experience" from its computer-based counterpart. It includes a new set of navigation tabs prominently displayed at the bottom of your screen: Servers, Messages, Notifications and You. 

While Discord considered changes like a horizontal layout, the Servers tab looks very similar to before — just no direct messaging option. Instead, a Messaging tab replaces the existing Friends one, displaying all your one-on-one and group messages in one place instead of having to click through multiple pages. You can also favorite a conversation so it stays at the top of your chats and use a search bar to find a message, file, pin or attachment across all discussions — same as WhatsApp or general messaging. Also new in conversations is the ability to swipe left on a message to reply to it, rather than having to hold it down. You might have noticed that Discord already changed the formatting of picture messages to show in a gallery style versus one by one.

Engadget

The Notifications tab will now include server events, friend requests and message replies, all of which you can click to reach the source immediately. Plus, notifications should now auto-clear instead of requiring you to remove them. Rounding out the now four tabs on the bottom (bye search) is still the You page. The Friends tab has been integrated here, alongside features like changing your status or profile picture. This is also still the tab for accessing account settings but with a bit more convenience. You can double-tap the You tab to go directly to account settings and, once there, there's a search bar to find whatever information you need. One tool you can access there is the new Midnight theme, providing a pure black background that should rest your eyes a bit.

The app's functioning has also improved, with Discord claiming that opening the app will take you 55 percent less time on Android and 43 percent less on iOS — apparently using four times less data while doing so. Android users' crash rate has also been reduced by half over the past year. Plus, voice and video calls have improved functioning, with an updated UI allowing for "more intuitive interactions." 

Discord also shared that it's working on other requested updates, such as quick access to a server's member list, better search filters, more customization options for viewing messages, and overall app performance improvements. You can use the feedback forum at any point to express things you're unhappy with or that you'd like to see changed.

Notably, Discord got itself in a bit of hot water recently with the US Senate Judiciary Committee. The company refused to have its CEO, Jason Citron, testify about children's safety online, wouldn't accept an electronic subpoena and merited an office visit by US Marshals to hand deliver one. Citron will speak with the committee about protecting kids — and Discord's "failures" to do so — alongside the CEOs of Meta, X, TikTok and Snap on January 31, 2024, at 10 AM ET.

A hack that targeted DNA testing kit company 23andMe back in October is estimated to have exposed significantly more profiles than previously reported. The personal information of about 6.9 million customers is now the current projection for the number of profiles exposed in the breach, according to a report by the BBC. The incident was previously thought to have only exposed the personal information of 14,000 individuals, just a fraction of its 14 million customer base.

The data breach was allegedly executed using compromised customer usernames and passwords which exposed sensitive personal information that included things relevant to ancestry trees, birthdays and general geographic locations. In some cases, the company said that the hack could have exposed the pictures and display names of affiliated family members also using the company’s services through the accounts that were primarily breached. 23andMe insists that no actual genetic material or DNA records were exposed.

Legally, the biotech company is obligated to inform all impacted customers and in October, 23andMe asked all of its users to reset their passwords. Last month, the company said it has required all new and existing users to login into the 23andMe website using two-step verification and that will remain the standard going forward. The emphasis on account security comes after the completion of an internal investigation, which 23andMe says was conducted with the help of third-party forensics experts but it has yet to release a report detailing their findings. The company did, however, say it expects to incur at least $1 to $2 million in expenses related to the hack.

The DNA testing company does more than give customers reports about their family trees — 23andMe offers genetic health risk tests for chronic diseases and cancers, and it even has a research arm where customers can opt in to clinical research programs. Questions about how 23andMe handles data privacy and protects its digital assets could impact the company’s bottom line and if customers shy away from using the services that involve more sensitive medical information.

Black Friday (and a few sales before that) brought the second generation AirPods Pro with the new USB-C charging case to $190. After Cyber Week ended, the buds popped back up to the full price of $249, but now they've dropped again at Amazon. That's a dollar more than the lowest price they've hit. Apple didn't alter the buds themselves very much, aside from improving the dust resistance for them and the case. The main difference is the charging case, which now has a USB-C port instead of Lightning, just like the new iPhone 15.  

The fact that Apple didn't change much about the buds themselves is not a bad thing. We gave the AirPods Pro a review score of 88 when they came out, praising the handy Siri integration and a transparancy mode that beats all the other buds out there. We also named them the best buds you can buy if you're an iPhone user in our buying guide to the best earbuds. 

In addition to wired USB-C charging, you can also refill them wirelessly with a MagSafe charging pad. We found the mic pickup for calls to be slightly better than most earbuds we've tried, and noted that the buds deliver particularly good sound during FaceTime calls. As for battery, we got six hours and fifteen minutes on a charge, using a mix of ANC, transparency mode and calls, which is on par with other buds on the market. As for sound quality, it's a massive improvement over Apple's previous Pro buds. Even at low volume, the audio is clean and at regular levels, the sound is immersive and detailed. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

The year’s coming to a close, but there’s still plenty of time for more AI news. Microsoft just announced its Copilot AI chatbot is integrating with OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-4 Turbo, and the image generator DALL-E 3, among other upgrades. This should drastically improve the overall functionality of the service, just in time for its one-year anniversary/birthday. Wait, do AI chatbots have birthdays?

First up, there’s OpenAI’s latest and greatest large language model. GPT-4 Turbo integration will allow Copilot users to tackle complex tasks that would cause previous iterations of the software to sputter into madness. The last generation allowed for just 50 pages of text as a data input, while GPT-4 Turbo accepts up to 300 pages. The end result? More meaningful responses to queries. The integration is currently being tested by select users, with wider availability in the next few weeks.

There’s also integration with the newest DALL-E 3 Model. This chatbot generates higher quality images than ever before and, more importantly, with a greater regard for accuracy. In other words, the image should match the prompt more often than not. This tool is already available for Copilot users, and you can check it out here.

There are more features coming to a Copilot near you. The Inline Compose tool now includes a rewrite menu that lets you select a block of text, whereupon the bot rewrites it for you. This should cause absolutely no problems at all in schools (that was sarcasm). This tool is coming to all Edge users in the near future.

Coders are also getting some love, with a new feature set called Code Interpreter. Microsoft is fairly mum on the details here, but say that it will enable users to perform complex tasks like “data analysis, visualization, math” and, of course, garden variety coding. Code Interpreter is currently in beta, with a wide release planned for the near future.

Finally, Bing search is getting an upgrade powered by GPT-4. This should allow for expanded search queries for complex topics, with optimized results. Microsoft wrote a blog post detailing how this upgrade works. In short, it searches for multiple variations of the query at once and automatically files away useless information.

Naughty Dog is giving The Last Of Us Part 2 more than just a fresh lick of paint in a PS5 remaster of the game. The upcoming version includes a playable mode called Lost Levels (which features several segments that were cut from the final game), as well as one called No Return. The latter is an all-new roguelike survival mode and Sony has revealed more details about it in a trailer.

In this single-player mode, the aim is to survive as long as you can. You'll need to stay on your toes as the encounters with enemies are randomized and feature boss battles. You'll have to contend with unique gameplay modifiers too, such as setting enemies ablaze when you punch them or visual effects being applied. I'd actually advise against watching the trailer if you haven't played through the main game yet, as it spoils a few of the more fearsome enemies you'll come up against.

In No Return, you'll be able to play as Ellie, Joel and Abby. On top of those, you'll be able to take on the guise of several unlockable characters that haven't been playable before. Per the trailer, those are Dina, Jesse, Tommy, Lev, Yara, Mel and Manny. Every character has unique traits that support different playstyles. Pick Yara, for instance, and her brother Lev will help her out in combat (a co-op version of No Return could be pretty compelling!). Dina, meanwhile, will be able to craft trap mines and stun bombs.

You'll unlock more characters, skins, weapons (and weapon upgrades) and levels as you progress through No Return. While it strikes me as somewhat odd to introduce an infinitely replayable survival mode to a game in which the core theme is ending the perpetual cycle of violence, TLOU 2's combat is exceptional. No Return should let the combat mechanics shine without players needing to worry too much about remaining stealthy.

The Last Of Us Part 2 Remastered will hit PS5 on January 19. Those who own the original PS4 version of TLOU 2 will be able to upgrade for $10.

We call the Roku Ultra the best set-top box for most people in our guide to the best streaming devices, and it's now down to $67 through a new deal at Amazon. That's $33 off Roku's list price and only a little more than a dollar higher than the all-time low for this latest iteration of the streamer. Walmart has the same deal, though it doesn't have the device available for shipping as of this writing. The Ultra has been discounted to $70 at other retailers for the last couple of weeks as part of an ongoing holiday sale, but if you've been looking to pick the streamer up and didn't grab one on Black Friday, this discount lets you save a couple extra bucks.

The Ultra is Roku's highest-end streaming player, and this latest version was released in 2022. The device itself is essentially the same as the prior-generation model that arrived in 2020, but it now comes bundled with Roku's Voice Remote Pro, which upgrades the basic Roku remote with a rechargeable battery, two programmable shortcut buttons, and a headphone jack for private listening without having to use the Roku app. It also gives you the option to use the built-in mic hands-free, and if you ever lose the remote in the couch cushions, there's a built-in speaker that'll play a chime when you hit a remote finder button on the box. It does charge over an ancient microUSB port instead of USB-C, however. Beyond that, the box includes an Ethernet jack for steadier internet connections, plus a USB port for playing local media off external drives.

To be clear, while the Ultra is Roku's most fully-featured streamer, it's not necessarily its best value. That would be the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, which is the top overall pick in our guide and currently available for $28 less. The Ultra is technically more powerful in terms of processing and Wi-Fi performance, but the difference isn't huge in practice. Both devices support just about all the major streaming apps (Twitch excluded) and HDR standards, both work with Apple's AirPlay 2 protocol and both have the same app-based, easy-to-grok interface. It's also worth noting that you can buy the Voice Remote Pro separately. But if you need the Ethernet or USB ports, the Ultra is still a nice alternative to boxes like the Apple TV 4K, and this deal makes it a little cheaper than usual.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

The name Moog is basically synonymous with bass. The company has pumped out countless synths over the years from the iconic Minimoog Model D, to foot-operated Taurus, to the modern-classic Sub Phatty that deliver incredible low-end. Now its plumbing those depths even further, but in plug-in form, with the Mariana, which obviously gets its name from the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth.

The architecture of Mariana is different from almost any other Moog out there, in physical or virtual form. It's a dual-layer synth, with both layers feature two oscillators and a sub oscillator for some seriously thick tones. Each layer also has two filters, a low-pass and a high-pass, plus a dedicate filter just for the sub. In addition to those core sound-sculpting tools, there's three LFOs, three envelops and two random generators per layer, plus a saturation circuit, a compressor, chorus and delay effects. 

When combined with the powerful modulation system that lets you control almost any part of the synth with any other part you get an incredibly rich and complex instrument — especially considering the price. Mariana is $30 on iOS or $99 for Windows or macOS, though it's 50-percent off as part of an introductory offer ($15 and $49, respectively).

Mariana does live up to its name. I got to play with it for a couple of days and, boy howdy, is it bassy. It stacks up quite nicely against other bass-focused virtual synths and Moog emulations from other companies. It can delivery enough sub bass to literally rattle your skull, without getting super muddy. Obviously that can vary a bit from patch to patch, but for the most part the sound engine delivers on its promise.

While most of the roughly 200 presets are focused on bass, there are a handful that explore other sonic territory. There are some particularly solid plucky leads that hit with all the oomph of the bassier patches, they just shine in the higher registers. Some presets showoff the wilder side of Mariana that can take advantage of the robust modulation features to spit out some wild-sounding effects and decidedly un-Moog-like tones.

Mariana also has MPE support. While it's a nice feature, it's also of limited use here. While you can switch it to duophonic mode and play the two synth layers independently, it's primarily a monophonic instrument. And while being able to perform slides simply by running my finger over the Push or Seaboard is nice, it doesn't really take advantage of the polyphonic part of MIDI Polyphonic Expression. 

Moog

What Mariana does lack, is a sequencer, arpeggiator or a deep list of effects. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Chances are, if you're using it in a DAW as a VST then you've got plenty of options for those things. So, while a lot of other plugin makers are loading up their virtual instruments with all sorts of features, Moog stayed focused on the synth itself. 

It's not without its quirks, however. While the interface is easy to navigate once you've gotten used to it, I'm still not a huge fan of skeuomorphic designs in general. And while I'm willing to cut Moog some slack on that front since it's trying to maintain a consistent aesthetic that capitalizes on its long legacy of analog synths, there are some slightly questionable choices. For one, the two separate slide out panels on either side for modulation controls seem like they could easily be combined. And the buttons to expose them are separated from the rest of the synth's controls — a dedicated tab within the main UI alongside the synth and mixer sections would probably make more sense.

It's also nigh impossible to read a knob's position by default. The tiny dot that indicates what a parameter is set to all but disappears on smaller notebook screens (and I can't even imagine how hard it would be to make out on a phone). There is an option called "knob position highlight" in the settings that extends a line from the center of the knob that's much easier to see. But I encountered a bug where, every time I'd minimize the window for Mariana in my DAW the lines would disappear. I'd have to go back into the settings to disable, then reenable it to make them pop back up. Besides, that should probably be on by default.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning that Mariana is an absolute resource hog. Admittedly my studio laptop — a roughly five-year-old Dell XPS with an eighth gen Core i7 —isn't exactly top of the line anymore, but I never saw my CPU usage dip below 50 percent in Ableton while Mariana was loaded, and it routinely spiked to around 80 percent while actually playing, leading to a number of audio artifacts. For comparison I can generally load six or seven instances of Arturia's Pigments or Analog Lab V without even crossing the 25 percent threshhold. And it's only with all of those actually playing that I climb above 50 percent. 

Still, Mariana sounds great. And there's a lot of power under the hood. If Moog can get its resource usage under control in a future update it would be well worth the price.

Apple is reportedly lobbying India to delay the implementation of a rule that requires all smartphones sold in the country to have a USB-C charging port. While Apple has already started shifting away from the Lightning port in the iPhone 15 lineup (and other products), the regulation differs from a similar one enacted in the European Union in that India may press Apple to switch to a USB-C port on older iPhones.

Other manufacturers, including Samsung, have agreed to India's plan to have a universal USB-C charging port on their smartphones by June 2025, which is six months after the EU's deadline (such OEMs have long been using USB-C charging ports anyway). Apple, however, is said to have pressed India to delay the implementation of the rule, or at least to exempt older iPhones from the requirement.

According to Reuters, Apple executives told Indian officials late last month that were the rule to be applied to older iPhones, the company would not be able to meet production targets as set out by the country's production-linked incentive (PLI) program. Under this scheme, India grants electronic manufacturers financial incentives to make new investments and generate incremental phone sales each year.

Apple suppliers such as Foxconn are said to have taken advantage of the program to boost iPhone production in India. Estimates suggest that between 12 and 14 percent of iPhones made this year will be manufactured in India. That proportion could rise to as much as 25 percent next year, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Apple is said to have told officials that it can't change the design of earlier iPhones to include a USB-C port. The company reportedly argued that, unless it gains an exemption for pre-iPhone 15 models, it will need 18 months beyond the end of next year (i.e. until mid-2026) to comply with the regulation. That's presumably to give Apple enough time to phase out Lightning ports on older iPhones, which Indian consumers tend to prefer since they fall in price when the company releases new models.