Two years after Super Nintendo World’s opening in Osaka, Japan, its first American counterpart will arrive at Universal Studios Hollywood. Like the Japanese version, Hollywood’s Super Nintendo World is less of a self-contained theme park and more of a new area at Universal Studios. Roughly coinciding with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the California “theme land” will open on February 17th, 2023.
Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is the centerpiece attraction, an augmented reality-powered go-kart simulator inspired by Nintendo’s racing franchise. Attendees wear AR visors displaying an alternate digital world with fantastical racetracks, Koopa shells and familiar competitors, who you blast using your steering wheel trigger. Unfortunately, although Nintendo and Universal believe the attraction includes enough variety to invite repeat visits, it’s Super Nintendo World’s only proper ride at launch. (The Japan park only has one other ride, a slower-paced Yoshi adventure, which hasn’t been announced for the US.)
Beyond AR Mario Kart, the park invites you stimulate your senses and spend money. You can buy a Power-Up Band, which helps families keep score and unlock “extra-special interactions” with question-mark blocks and costumed characters. Additionally, if the ride’s AR visor wasn’t enough, you can pick up a pair of interactive binoculars to “discover a new dimension of Super Nintendo World.” You can buy lunch at Toadstool Cafe, where Chef Toad serves delicacies like Toadstool Cheesy Garlic Knots, Piranha Plant Caprese and the Mario Bacon Cheeseburger. And, of course, there’s the 1-Up Factory, a retail shop selling character hats and plush dolls.
Super Nintendo World is a collaboration between Nintendo and Universal Creative. Mario creator and Nintendo visionary Shigeru Miyamoto was instrumental in designing and constructing the original Japan park, which its Hollywood sibling largely mirrors. A second US park is in the works for Universal Studios Florida, which will open sometime down the road.
The US government just clamped down on a prominent online financial fraud. A federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission have charged eight men with allegedly operating a stock pump-and-dump scheme on Discord and Twitter between January 2020 and April 2022. They reportedly used their social media presences (including a combined 1.5 million Twitter followers) to artificially inflate the value of stocks, only to sell their shares without disclosing their plans. They made a $114 million profit off the campaign, the Justice Department said.
In addition to tweets, the group supposedly used a Discord server (Atlas Trading) to share misinformation about stocks. One participant, Daniel Knight, also co-hosted a podcast that apparently played a role in the fraud. He brought some of the others on his show and falsely portrayed them as experts, according to the SEC.
All eight are facing at least one charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Edward Constantinescu (aka Constantin), Perry "PJ" Matlock, John Rybarczyk, Gary Deel, Stefan Hrvatin, Tom Cooperman and Mitchell Hennessey are facing additional charges that revolve around securities fraud and (in Constantinescu's case) unlawful monetary transactions. The SEC has further charged Knight with aiding and abetting the scheme.
The conspiracy and fraud charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for each count, while the transactions charge against Constantinescu carries a 10-year maximum. The SEC charges could add financial penalties, including disgorgement of the ill-gotten profits.
The nature of the manipulation isn't surprising. The meme stock saga on Reddit showed that online communities can influence share prices in the right circumstances. However, the charges suggest a trend — fraudsters now see social media as a viable way to fool many investors with relatively little effort. Don't be surprised if you see more cases like this going forward.
One day after Jack Dorsey took to Revue to share his thoughts on the Twitter Files, the company announced it would shut down the newsletter platform early next year. "From January 12th, 2023, it will no longer be possible to access your Revue account," Revue said on Wednesday. "On that date, Revue will shut down and all data will be deleted."
Twitter bought Revue at the start of 2021. At the time, the company argued the acquisition was a natural expansion of its platform. And for a while, it had a point since paid newsletters were all the rage last year. Following the purchase, Twitter moved to quickly integrate the two platforms closer together. At first, the company added Revue signup buttons to Twitter profiles. A month later, it rolled out a feature that allowed users to sign up for Revue newsletters directly from tweets.
But all of that was before Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter and the newsletter goldrush died out. The billionaire has said one of his goals for Twitter has been to simplify the app. To that end, a handful of features, including Moments and "tweeted from" labels, have been put on the chopping block in recent weeks. So it's not surprising to see Revue get discontinued as well.
If you use Revue to run a paid newsletter, on December 20th Twitter will set all paid subscriptions to cancel at the end of their billing cycle. "This is to prevent your subscribers being charged for Revue content after the point where it is no longer possible to send newsletters from Revue."
Tidal users in the US can now become DJs on the streaming service. The company is testing a feature called DJ, which enables those on the $20 per month HiFi Plus tier to share songs or a playlist they're listening to with other paying users in real time. Tidal added a proper playlist sharing option just last month.
You can choose a name for the DJ session and share a link that others can use to access it. Unfortunately, Tidal says that those tuning in won't be able to listen to whatever the DJ's playing at high-resolution or lossless quality for the time being. The songs will play in regular AAC quality (160 Kbps) — higher-resolution streams will be available at a later date.
Budding DJs will need to be enrolled in Tidal's Early Access Program to access the beta. They'll only be able to start a session on iOS for now, but Android support is coming soon. All paying Tidal users can listen to a DJ session on either iOS or Android.
The feature is different from Tidal for DJs, which enables producers and DJs to plug songs from the streaming service into professional audio software, as The Verge notes. So, this new feature is geared toward amateur tastemakers. However, the fact that listeners also need to be paid Tidal users might prevent folks from sharing their live DJ sessions with friends who typically use Spotify or Apple Music. At least Turntable.fm is still around, while Amazon's Amp enables people to host their own radio shows with chat and licensed music.
Apple's recent flurry of software updates also includes a big upgrade for the living room. The newly released tvOS 16.2 adds a Recognize My Voice feature that customizes Siri searches on the Apple TV 4K and TV HD for up to six family members. Once you've trained the set-top to know who's speaking, you can ask for video recommendations and music without worrying that you'll mess with someone's play history. You can also ask to "switch to my profile" instead of navigating the on-screen switcher.
You can also change the Siri language to be different than the one your device shows. Accordingly, the Apple TV also has expanded language support in Denmark, Luxembourg and Singapore.
This is also the update you want if you're eager to host a karaoke party. As on other platforms, you can now use Apple Music Sing to croon over "tens of millions" of songs. You'll need the new third-generation Apple TV 4K, but you won't have to buy a dedicated machine or look for specific karaoke-friendly albums.
Personalized voice recognition certainly isn't a novel concept. Rival assistants have had comparable functionality for years, and Recognize My Voice has been available on HomePod speakers since 2019. Still, this is a notable upgrade if you share an Apple TV box and would rather not switch profiles just to use Siri the way you'd expect.
After discounting its over-ear QuietComfort 45 headphones earlier this week, Bose has kicked off a similarly notable sale on its QuietComfort Earbuds II. The wireless earbuds are now on sale for $249 at several retailers, matching the all-time low we previously saw around Black Friday. The pair has typically retailed at its MSRP of $299 since launching in September, though it's sold for $279 for most of this month. Either way, Bose's product listing says this deal will run until January 1.
We gave the QuietComfort Earbuds II a review score of 87 at launch, and we currently recommend them as the "best noise cancellation" pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. As that title would suggest, Bose's active noise cancellation (ANC) is the main reason you'd buy this pair: It's the single most powerful ANC mode we've tested on a pair of wireless earbuds, almost totally muting low-end rumbles and muffling mid- and high-frequency sounds better than most. The earbuds automatically attune their ANC to the acoustics of your ear canals as soon as you put them on, but you can also raise or lower the intensity of the effect by creating custom listening modes in Bose's companion app.
In terms of audio quality, the QuietComfort Earbuds II have a smooth sound with a slight but noticeable bass boost. It's not world-beating like the ANC, but our review found the low-end to be richer than past Bose earbuds, and there's a graphic EQ tool in Bose's app that lets you tweak the sound more to your liking if needed.
There are a few trade-offs worth noting here. The earbuds themselves are soft and secure in the ear, but they're on the larger side, which may be fatiguing for smaller ears over time. The included charging case is similarly bulky. Beyond that, battery life is just decent at roughly 6-7 hours, there's no wireless charging and call quality is mediocre. You can't connect to multiple devices at once, either. Our guide recommends Sony's WF-1000XM4 as a more well-rounded option for most. Still, if all you want is the most effective ANC possible in a pair of wireless earbuds, the QuietComfort Earbuds II are the way to go, and this deal makes them at least a little more affordable.
A Twitter account that tracked the flights of Elon Musk’s private jet is no more. The company has permanently suspended @ElonJet, as Jack Sweeney, a college student who ran the account, noted.
Sweeney used publicly available flight data to operate @ElonJet and accounts that track flights of other public figures. Over the weekend, Sweeney said screenshots provided by a Twitter employee indicated that the company limited the reach of @ElonJet. On Monday, Sweeney said it seemed there were no longer any restrictions on the account, but Twitter has since dropped the banhammer.
In January, a few months before Musk announced a deal to buy Twitter, he offered Sweeney $5,000 to delete the account. Sweeney rejected the overture, instead asking for $50,000. As CNBCnotes, @ElonJet had more than half a million followers. Sweeney also runs a version of the bot on Instagram.
Self-proclaimed free speech absolutist Musk, who has caused chaos at Twitter since taking over the company, suggested in November that he would not ban @ElonJet, despite claiming the account “is a direct personal safety risk.” It’s unclear whether Musk himself reversed course or one of his employees made the call to suspend @ElonJet. Twitter no longer has a communications department that can be reached for comment.
McLaren may be about to embark on its inaugural Formula E season next month, but the legendary racing outfit didn’t have to start from scratch. The company took over Mercedes-EQ operations at the end of last season, bringing an experienced crew along to develop its first papaya-hued EV street racers. Part of that crew was team principal Ian James, who’s now also managing director for McLaren Electric Racing as a whole. As the team prepares for the debut of Formula E’s Gen3 car in Mexico City, we sat down with James as well as drivers Jake Hughes and René Rast for a status update on development and the challenges ahead for Season 9.
“What’s really helped is that the team that’s been together over the past two or three seasons has largely stayed intact,” James said. “So that experience that we built up, we’re carrying forward into Gen3.” James further explained that he hopes that level of continuity will be key to achieving the goals McLaren has set for Season 9. Due to the limited testing opportunities ahead of the first race, the team may need to rely heavily on that experience.
Teams are only permitted to conduct a handful of on-track testing sessions before the first race of the season in mid-January. Because McLaren is a customer team – they’re running Nissan powertrains instead of building their own – they don’t get “the privilege of doing all the test days that the regulations of the championship dictate,” driver Jake Hughes explained.
Before the official preseason test this week in Valencia (six sessions across three days), Hughes and teammate René Rast have only had one proper test day, a shakedown at Bicester Heritage near McLaren HQ and a few low-power runs for media and staff. Formula E did add an additional shakedown session ahead of the official test dates this week and the championship designated a Wednesday time slot for a mock race that will include qualifying and a test of the new ABB rapid chargers. The Race reports that Formula E is also considering adding another session on Thursday on what was originally scheduled as a day off.
Rast and Hughes inspect the Gen3 car.
Engadget
“We haven’t actually had a lot of on-track running,” Hughes continued. “The simulator has been the bulk of our work.” He argued that the lack of track time won’t make things more difficult for him to prepare for Gen3, even as a Formula E rookie. “It’s going to be challenging no matter what – Formula E is such a difficult championship,” Hughes said. “I'm fully aware of the challenges I have ahead of me and I will do absolutely the best I have with what I have underneath me.”
Hughes arrived in Formula E with experience in both F3 and F2, the junior series that develop talent for Formula 1. Those cars are obviously a lot different, both from a design and a powertrain standpoint. Hughes explained that the “dirty air” aspect of those feeder series and the difficulty with overtaking aren’t part of Formula E. In most races, the races run in a train, nose to tail, and you can pass when you want – so long as you’re willing to spend the extra energy to do so. So for the McLaren rookie, even though he has experience as a Formula E reserve driver, a key challenge is developing new race strategies.
“Strategy is involved in every racing series around the world, but in Formula E, it’s really critical,” he said. “Every decision you make has a huge knock-on effect with how you use your energy later on in the race.”
Rast explained the McLaren duo had probably spent 10 days in the simulator through the end of November with more planned ahead of the Valencia test. “That’s the only thing we can more or less do to prepare ourselves for the car because the testing is very limited and the simulator is the closest you can get,” he said. Simulated running isn’t just for the drivers though, engineers and other parts of the team are also included in those sessions. That will continue throughout the season as simulator work happens before and after every race.
The team is well aware that they’re likely facing “a very steep learning curve” when they arrive at the first E-Prix of Season 9 in Mexico City next month, according to James’ assessment. “I think it’s the teams that deal with that in the most efficient manner are the ones that will come out on top,” he continued. James specifically mentioned the new front powertrain and added regenerative abilities that will change energy management strategies, even for experienced members of the McLaren team. Aside from the updates that a more powerful Gen3 car brings, James said alterations to the race format will “throw a few curveballs in there as well.”
Formula E announced changes to the races last month, getting rid of Fan Boost and replacing Attack Mode with Attack Charge at some races. The new battery technology inside the Gen3 cars allows for quick charging, but while Formula E had planned to bring back pit stops for that purpose, the infrastructure needed to do so isn’t quite race-ready. And on top of the series having to switch things up pretty late in the game, the teams still aren’t entirely sure how the new race format will work, which partially explains the mock race.
McLaren
“Obviously, Attack Mode is still the key ingredient for the race.” Rast said. “But the rest we’re going to see once the season starts.”
James explained that the teams were able to give input on the Gen3 sporting regulations as they were developed by the FIA (Formula E’s governing body). He foresees more excitement in Season 9 due to the increased flexibility in strategy the new format and guidelines will allow. So, in spite of the current unknowns, McLaren’s team principal is optimistic that “the racing this year will be closer than ever.”
“That’s going to make the racing even more exciting,” he continued. “It’s going to be more of a challenge for the engineers, working together with the drivers to make sure that we plan in the right way before the race, but then also to react to changes and the various different situations that can arise.”
And then there are the tires. Formula E is switching from a treaded Michelin tire to a custom-made compound from Hankook for Gen3. Both the old and new tires are designed to be run in both dry and wet conditions, though the Michelin compound would wear down so much on some circuits that it would basically be slick by the end of the race. Hughes explained that the Hankook version “behaves very differently,” and should be more durable.
Rast in the driver's seat.
McLaren
Still, the prospect and challenge of Formula E is as much of a thrill for the drivers as ever. With Gen3, the series has moved from having to change cars during a race to complete the distance to one that will stop for a 30-second charge. It can also hit 200MPH with a 350kW motor and is capable of regenerating 40 percent of its energy. It’s the ability to show off the potential of EVs to people around the world that excites Rast.
“It’s amazingly quick, it’s a proper race car,” he explained. “We try to bring motorsport into the cities to make people aware of what’s actually possible with electrification.”
Hughes agreed, noting that the potential for carryover from technology from Formula E cars to electric road cars is something he’s happy to be part of. “We can basically help develop the future for electric mobility,” he said. “A lot of the stuff we’re developing for Gen3 I wouldn’t be surprised if you see it on road cars within the decade. What we’re doing will have a knock-on effect that even right now we’re not fully aware of.”
Despite the chaos of the offseason prep and limited testing, the work McLaren has put in appears to be heading in the right direction. Hughes was second fastest across both sessions on the first day of testing in Valencia, less than a tenth of a second behind Masterati’s Maximilian Guenther.
Have you wanted to buy the latest MacBook Air, but didn't want to pay the premium over the M1 model? You might not have to. Amazon is selling the base MacBook Air M2 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage at a new all-time low of $999, or the same price you usually see for its older counterpart. You'll find a similar $200 discount for the 512GB model, too. You'll have to choose from certain colors, but your system should arrive before Christmas if you order soon.
We'll be frank: the MacBook Air M2 is the definition of a well-rounded laptop. It's thin and light, of course, but it's also fast for media editing and day-to-day productivity. There's a great display, surprisingly robust speakers and strong battery life. And did we mention that it's completely silent? While you wouldn't get the Air M2 for gaming or heavy-duty content creation, it's a treat to use for most other tasks.
There are some considerations before you jump in. As the MacBook Air M2 doesn't have a fan, it will throttle under extended heavy workloads. You'll want to buy a MacBook Pro if you're frequently editing movies or music. The 8GB of RAM on these configurations is more useful than it sounds, but it might prove limiting if you routinely juggle multiple demanding apps. You won't get higher-end MacBook Pro perks like an SD card slot or a 120Hz screen, either. At this price, though, the new Air makes sense even if you occasionally need to test its limits.
And if $999 is still too much, don't fret. Amazon currently has the MacBook Air M1 on sale at $799. You won't get the M2 model's added performance, sleeker profile, trip-resistant MagSafe power cable or larger display, but it's still a capable system with lengthy battery life and silent operation. It's just a question of whether or not you're willing to compromise in the name of the best possible price.
YouTube is rolling out updates today around toxic comments that violate community guidelines, TechCrunch has reported. Previously, it has used tools like popups to encourage "respectful" interactions, but it's now taking a (slightly) more assertive approach with warnings and timeouts.
If YouTube detects and removes abusive comments, it will notify the user that they've violated community guidelines. If the same person continues to post toxic comments, they'll receive a "timeout" and be unable to leave further comments for 24 hours. If users believe their comments shouldn't have been pulled, they can share that feedback — though YouTube didn't say if that would help remove the timeout.
Prior to the rollout today, YouTube trialed the featured and found it to be effective. "Our testing has shown that these warnings/timeouts reduce the likelihood of users leaving violative comments again," it wrote in the blog post.
YouTube famously has one of the more toxic comments sections in social media, and is also overrun with bots offering fake giveaways, crypto and more. To address that problem, YouTube said that it's "improving our automated detection systems and machine learning models to identify and remove spam." It noted that it removed over 1.1 billion spammy comments in the first half of 2022, and said its machine learning models are continuously improving as spammers change tactics.
