Niantic, which is perhaps most known for developing Pokémon Go, is working on an augmented reality version of Monster Hunter for Android and iOS devices. The company has teamed up with Capcom to create what it calls a "real-world hunting action RPG" entitled Monster Hunter Now. Similar to Pokemon Go and Niantic's other titles, including the now-defunct Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, players will have to walk around with their phones to find monsters to battle. They can also team up with friends and strangers and use the materials they gather to craft weapons and armor. 

According to Polygon, Niantic and Capcom have revealed at a press briefing that the game will be free to play, with in-app purchases. It will feature simplified combat comparable to Pokémon Go's and will have players swiping and tapping on their phone screens. Players can fight battles one-handed in portrait mode, but they can also battle monsters in landscape mode if they want to replicate the Monster Hunter experience they're used to on PCs and consoles. 

While the franchise is known for challenging players with battles that could last for more than five minutes, though, the maximum battle time for the mobile game will only be 75 seconds. Sakae Osumi, a Niantic senior producer at its Tokyo studio where the game is being developed, said the company wants to encapsulate Monster Hunter's fun battles within a shorter window of time. Long, drawn-out battles aren't ideal for mobile games where you're supposed to walk around anyway. That said, Monster Hunter Now will come with a feature that will allow players to tag monsters they encounter with a paintball so that they could battle them at home, either on their own or with friends. Their Palico companions could automatically tag monsters, as well, even if the app isn't open. 

Niantic is now accepting sign-ups for the game's closed beta testing, which will begin on April 25th. If all goes well, and testing is a success, Monster Hunter Now will officially launch sometime in September this year. 

Apple's Mac Mini M2 gives you more speed and connectivity than you'd guess in such a small package, and for surprisingly little money, too. Now, it's dropped back down to the lowest price we've ever seen, starting at just $500 ($100 off the regular price) for the 256GB version. If more internal storage is needed, you can also buy the 512GB model for $690, for a discount of $110 (14 percent).

We gave the Mac Mini a solid 86 score in our Engadget review, praising the performance and classic aluminum design. While it's small enough to hide away on your desktop, the M2 processor is easily powerful enough for productivity chores and multitasking. The chip combines computing operations, like CPU, GPU, input/output interfaces and certain memory processes into one "system on a chip," allowing for faster processing speeds.

On top of that, you get killer connectivity, with two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, HDMI 2.0 (with 4K 240Hz and 8K 60Hz output), two USB-A ports, a headphone jack and gigabit Ethernet (upgradeable to 10 gigabit). That lets you connect multiple screens along with storage and other accessories. 

The Mac Mini M2 won't replace your gaming machine, but it can handle nearly everything else you throw at it. The cheaper configurations are fine for most people, too — we wouldn't recommend the overpriced storage or RAM upgrades, as the M2 is much more efficient with RAM than typical PCs. All told, if you're looking for a cheap but powerful Mac, this is the way to go, especially at these prices.

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

Polestar has revealed its coupe-style electric SUV at the Shanghai Auto Show, and as expected, the Polestar 4 is a head turner with a lot of power. It also has a pretty bold design choice: there's no rear window, so the driver's rear view is provided by a camera. The idea is to create "a new kind of immersive rear occupant experience," the company wrote in an announce post for the new EV. 

It's the company's second SUV after the larger Polestar 3, set to go on sale this year, and bigger than the Polestar 2 sedan. With a large 102kWh battery, it has a 300-plus mile targeted range and $60,000 starting price, with both all-wheel and rear-wheel drive versions. It'll go on sale starting in China by the end of the year, and launch in North America in 2024. 

Polestar

Design-wise, the Polestar 4 has a sleek and sporty design (for an SUV) broken up by subtle body panel creases and mildly bulging fenders. The lack of a rear window is an odd decision, as it's bound to make the interior feel a bit... stuffy. However, there is a standard full-length glass roof with optional electrochromic functionality that allows for opaque or transparent usage. To bring in a bit more light, it stretches down below the rear occupants' heads as well. 

A high-definition screen up front displays the view from the rear camera. Polestar says it allows for "a far wider field of view than what can be experienced in most other cars." Hopefully the company has a backup system of some kind, because if the screen or camera go down, drivers will have a massive blind spot behind them. 

Polestar

The Polestar 4 is built on parent Geely's open-source Sustainable Experience Architecture. It won't have a third row like some variants of Tesla's Model Y, so the company is instead promising "generous interior proportions" for both front and rear seat passengers. The interior and materials drew inspiration from the fashion and sportswear industries, Polestar wrote.

For an SUV, it'll go fast. The 544 horsepower model will allow you to go from zero to 62MPH in 3.8 seconds, to start with. Polestar will also offer a 272HP, long-range single-motor version. The optional 102kWh battery has a targeted range of 560 km (348 miles) on the WLTP cycle, or around 300 miles in EPA terms. And charging should be quick, with up to 200kW fast charging that should allow about 800 miles of charge per hour.

Polestar

Like the Polestar 3, the 4's driver-assist (ADAS) system will run NVIDIA's Drive computing platform, using 12 cameras, one radar and 12 ultrasonic sensors. One of those cameras is dedicated to monitoring the driver's head and eye movements to warn them of fatigue or incapacitation. 

A 10.2-inch instrument cluster and 14.7-inch heads-up display (HUD) shows speed, drive mode, turn-by-turn directions and more. The infotainment system is powered by Android Auto installed on a 15.4-inch center screen, with Apple CarPlay available as well. A Harman Kardon audio system is on option with 12 speakers and a 1,400-Watt channel-hybrid amplifier. 

Polestar

As mentioned, "indicative launch pricing" starts at $60,000 in the US, with availability slated for 2024. No current Polestar models qualify for the $7,500 US tax credit, which requires North American production and battery sourcing — and it's not clear where the Polestar 4 will fall. After the latest rules went into effect, only six EVs still qualified for the full credit. 

The company has yet to announce details about North American production. But if the company wants to qualify for the $7,500 tax credit, it will need to assemble it in North America as well as figure out a supply chain that’s independent from China.

Withings has rounded out its current lineup of smart scales with a new entry-level model. The Body Smart, which is available starting today for $100, replaces the Body+. It comes with a swathe of bells and whistles, including an Eyes Closed mode. With this enabled, Withings won't display your weight on the scale's color screen. Instead, the company's app will track your weight. Withings says that, with Eyes Closed switched on, you'll "see encouraging, motivating messages or daily information such as step counts, air quality and the weather" instead of numbers in pounds and ounces.

Other modes offered by Body Smart, which is compatible with the Withings+ subscription service, include one for athletes, one for pregnant people and another for babies. The scale supports up to eight users, so one should be enough for most households.

Withings says, as with its other models, Body Smart offers accurate and consistent weight measurements up to 50 grams. Along with weight and body composition analysis, the company says it can help you track metrics such as heart rate, visceral fat (a type of fat that surrounds internal organs) and metabolic age.

The device is able to monitor these factors thanks to multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis technology. This sends an electrical signal through the body to measure the resistance and reactions of body tissues to the currents. "The more frequencies used, the more complete and accurate the picture of body health can be created," Withings says.

Along with the other advanced metrics, Withings claims that, for the first time, Body Smart will be able to measure your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which monitors how many calories one burns while resting. This can provide helpful information about your metabolic health and the scale will use it to determine your metabolic age, Withings says. The company will add these features in May.

Meanwhile, Withings has upgraded the mid-tier, $200 Body Comp scale with a color LCD screen. As for the high-end Body Scan option, Withings expects that to be available in the US in the coming months after gaining Food and Drug Administration clearance. The $400 smart scale, which is already available in Europe, features segmental body composition and a six-lead electrocardiogram with atrial fibrillation detection. Unlike the other two models, the Body Scan comes with a rechargeable battery.

Elon Musk’s plans for his own AI company are starting to come into focus. The Twitter CEO said that he wants to “create a third option” for a company that could challenge OpenAI and Google.

In an interview with Fox News, Musk said that he’s thinking of calling the venture “TruthGPT” and that the goal would be to create a “maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe” and that “hopefully does more good than harm.”

Musk acknowledged that he would be starting with a significant disadvantage to his rivals as he’s “starting late.” And, as is often the case, it’s unclear how serious or far along his plans actually are. But speculation about Musk’s AI ambitions has been mounting as he recently filed paperwork for a business called X.AI Corp. He also reportedly bought thousands of GPUs and hired researchers from DeepMind for an unknown Twitter AI project. It’s unclear if the two initiatives are related. Musk has been known to move employees across his companies.

Musk said his motivation stemmed from concerns about the direction of AI and the threat it could pose to humanity. Notably, he was an early backer of OpenAI, which he helped start in 2015. But Musk distanced himself from the organization after a reported disagreement with Sam Altman about who would run the organization. More recently, he has criticized OpenAI for spinning off a for-profit business and working with Microsoft.

While it’s unclear how Musk’s AI plans could affect Twitter, he did tease one upcoming feature for the service. He said Twitter was working on a feature that would allow users to optionally encrypt their direct messages, and that it’s “hopefully coming out later month, but no later than next month.”

Encrypted direct messaging has been rumored for years and Musk, a known fan of encrypted messaging apps, has previously said that Twitter should offer Signal-style encryption. “If you are in a conversation you think is sensitive, you can just toggle encryption on and then no one at Twitter can see what you’re talking about,” Musk explained.

Google is calling on recruits to help repopulate coral reefs. Its new project, a collaboration with marine biologist Steve Simpson and marine ecologist Mary Shodipo, wants your help training AI to recognize aquatic wildlife sounds in hopes of replenishing them and raising awareness of the ocean’s troubled habitats.

The Earth’s coral reefs have been declining at a concerning pace thanks to climate change, overfishing and pollution. Higher water temperatures from our rapidly changing atmosphere can cause coral to release symbiotic algae that make the coral more prone to disease and death. Additionally, rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere can acidify the ocean, further damaging the reefs.

The new Google Arts & Culture experiment has a simple ask: Take a few minutes to discern between the high-pitched snaps, crackles and pops of feeding shrimp and the lower-pitched gurgles, groans and croaks of fish, and then use your newfound knowledge to contribute to an AI model that will help conservation efforts. You’ll open a browser window, listen (preferably using headphones) to underwater recordings made with an underwater mic and tap an onscreen button when you believe you hear fish. If enough people contribute, the data should help automate the process.

“Coral reefs are surprisingly noisy places, but where they are damaged or overfished, they become quieter due to the lack of marine life,” said Simpson. “In some locations, our research involves placing sound recorders inside marine protected areas (where there is no fishing) and in nearby fished areas for comparison, to listen in on the benefits of protection. In other locations, we are comparing sites that have declined due to overfishing and poor water quality with those where we are actively restoring coral reefs by replanting corals and rebuilding habitats.”

“There are too many recordings for one person to sit down and listen to — and that’s where you come in,” explained Simpson. “We need your help, and the help of others like you, to form a listening collective. Your data will then be used to train computers to listen for fish sounds automatically.” The team’s recordings were made at 10 reefs from countries including Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, the US, Panama and Sweden.

Calling in our Corals / Google

In addition to improving their ability to monitor marine wildlife activity, the researchers believe the project can help restore them. “New research has found that when played back using underwater speakers in damaged habitats, these sounds can even be used to call in new recruits — which is why our project and the accompanying online platform is called ‘Calling in our Corals,’” Simpson said. In other words, playing back the sounds of healthy reefs could attract new fish and other underwater species to conserved reefs or those that have fallen on hard times thanks to the ravaging ecological effects of human industry.

Contributing only takes a few minutes. Although I wouldn’t describe it as peak entertainment, it’s at least as enjoyable as time-wasting browser games that don’t contribute to real-world endeavors. The project’s creators stress that even sitting down for one three-minute session will help their efforts. And the more time you spend (or tell others about the project), the more you pitch into a good cause.

Although I find it surprising they can’t train the AI models on sound waves alone without the crowdsourcing part, inviting the general public to contribute should help raise awareness of a crucial — often ignored — aspect of the changing planet. As much as Google has transformed from its leaner early years, projects like this still remind me of the company’s more idealistic roots from the “Don’t Be Evil” era.

You can get started by watching the video below and visiting the project website.

Just like that, a new Harry Potter game is on its way. On Monday, WB Games revealed Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, a title the Hogwarts Legacy publisher is billing as a “fast-paced, competitive multiplayer” game that will be available on PC and consoles. According to the company, Unbroken Studios, best known for its work supporting the recently delayed Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, has been working on Quidditch Champions for the past “several years,” making the sport’s absence from Hogwarts Legacy make a lot more sense.

"Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a complete, standalone Quidditch experience," a newly published FAQ says of the project, noting fans will need an online connection to play the game. "It engages players in the sport of Quidditch and other broomstick adventures alongside friends in a competitive, multiplayer setting." The FAQ additionally states J.K Rowling was not involved in the creation of Quidditch Champions, and that the game is not a direct adaption of any of the existing Harry Potter books or films.

For the past few years, Rowling has been controversial for her transphobic views. Ahead of the release of Hogwarts Legacy, some fans chose not to buy or play the game for that reason. In addition to a new game, WB Games parent Warner Bros. Discovery is working on a new live-action adaption of all seven books in the Harry Potter series. Quidditch Champions does not have a release date. For now, WB Games is accepting signups for “limited” playtests.

GameStop is running a buy-one-get-one (BOGO) sale on select console games. The deal covers unopened Switch, PlayStation and Xbox games, including popular titles like Octopath Traveler 2, Forspoken, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and many others. The deal applies to online and in-store purchases.

Nintendo Switch owners can apply the BOGO deal to Bayonetta 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Octopath Traveler 2, Skyward Sword HD (a chance to revisit a remake of an older Zelda game ahead of the Tears of the Kingdom launch next month), Mario Strikers: Battle League, Mario Golf: Super Rush and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl.

PS5 owners can choose from Forspoken, The Callisto Protocol (Day One Edition), Valkyrie Elysium, Deathloop, Call of Duty: Vanguard and Battlefield 2042. Meanwhile, if you own an Xbox Series X / S, the deal is good for The Callisto Protocol Day One Edition, Gotham Knights, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Saints Row: Criminal Custom Edition, NHL 23 and Madden 23.

If you have more than one console, you can mix and match the BOGO games between platforms. Although GameStop hasn’t announced an end date for the sale, the retailer’s fine print notes that prices may change and the offer is only good while supplies last. If you aren’t sure where to start, you can browse Engadget’s picks for the best Switch, PS5 and Xbox games for 2023.

If you’re stocked up on games, the retailer also has a buy one, get one half-off sale on toys and clothing (including several Funko Pops and t-shirts). It’s also offering price cuts on PC gaming peripherals (including popular mice, keyboards and microphones) and 60 percent off a pair of third-party Xbox controllers.

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

It's not just American broadcasters departing Twitter in opposition to the "government-funded media" label. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is "pausing" its use of Twitter over the label's implication that the government may influence its editorial output. Reporting is "impartial and independent," the media outlet says.

There's no word on whether or not the CBC is in discussions with Twitter to alter the label. We've asked the broadcaster for comment. The UK's British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) succeeded in having Twitter change its label to "publicly-funded" soon after a quickly-organized interview with Elon Musk, who said he agreed with the corporation's description of itself.

The CBC is a Crown corporation, which means it's completely owned by the Canadian government but editorially independent — the country's Broadcasting Act enshrines that hands-off approach in law. It also makes some of its money from advertising.

Attention to the issue in the US began in earnest when National Public Radio (NPR) objected to "US state-affiliated" media labelling. Twitter changed the label, but to a "government-funded" designation that still implied bias. NPR quit the platform days later. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) made a similar move, noting that most of its revenue comes from private sources.

The CBC's halt won't necessarily lead Twitter to change its label policy. However, it makes clear that the exodus is an international phenomenon. Don't be surprised if the trend continues in other countries where similarly structured broadcasters operate.

The rumored feature upgrades for the Google Pixel 7a may prompt a price increase. A 9to5Google retail source claims the upcoming mid-range phone will cost $499, or $50 more than the Pixel 6a. That's not shocking given possible upgrades that include a 90Hz display, a 64MP main camera and wireless charging, but this is a far cry from the $350 of the Pixel 4a.

Google is reportedly compensating for the hike by keeping the Pixel 6a on sale at a lower price. You may still get a budget phone, even if it's just last year's model. There's no word on Google extending software update support for the 6a, so we still wouldn't count on Android version upgrades past July 2025.

You may not have to wait as long for the Pixel 7a as you did for its ancestor. The same source says the new phone will be available in retail stores on May 11th. Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser says the 7a would be available for immediate purchase on May 10th, but 9to5 believes it won't reach any customers until the following day. That's still better than for the 6a, which didn't ship until two months after its launch event.

If the report is accurate, the $499 price for the Pixel 7a won't thrill fans who've witnessed ballooning prices elsewhere in the tech world. However, Google has incentives to carry on with this strategy. CEO Sundar Pichai recently declared that the Pixel 6a, 7 and 7 Pro represent the "best-selling generation" of phones in Google's history. While that's not a surprise given previously modest sales (Counterpoint Research estimates Google had six percent of the North American market in the fourth quarter), it suggests Google is content to build on its existing formula.