HTC's VR strategy will extend well beyond using car rides as theme parks. The company has outlined Viverse, its vision for a metaverse, and it's promising to protect children from virtual dangers in the process. Viverse itself isn't so much a holistic space so much as an "open ecosystem" joining multiple platforms together. You could socialize in VRChat, hold business meetings in Engage, collaborate in Vive Sync and unwind with "holographic" concerts in Beatday.

HTC's day-in-the-life conceptual video suggests Viverse would also be full of plenty of metaverse buzzwords. You would exercise with AR fitness data, buy wine at a virtual tasting with cryptocurrency and browse NFT art (including the "Meowna Lisa," naturally). As UploadVRexplains, though, HTC's teaser is an unusual mix of real products with purely imagined scenarios, and no practical way to link them all besides what looks like a gateway app. The company is also optimistic about the adoption of this technology — there's no NFT backlash or cryptocurrency legal headaches in this virtual world.

The parental controls might be of more value. HTC is introducing a Vive Guardian app to protect the privacy and safety of kids (and concerned adults) in VR spaces. A "Free Mode" lets you grant access to specific apps and content that children can explore on their own terms. Choose "Broadcast," however, and you can limit young ones to specific experiences (such as apps and TV shows) beamed from the companion app on your Android phone or tablet. You can see what your children are using, and they'll need permission to download content or make purchases.

Vive Guardian will be available on Google Play and Viveport, although it wasn't listed as of this writing. It will support Vive Focus, Vive Focus Plus and Vive Flow headsets.

The existence of safeguards isn't surprising when other metaverse operators have had to restrict content. Meta introduced personal boundaries in Horizon Worlds and Venues to discourage harassment, while Microsoft shut down AltspaceVR's social hub following problems with harassers. It's just a question of whether or not HTC's efforts are enough to protect users — it's not clear that you can fence off every potential threat in a given VR environment.

Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2022 right here!

Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in order to fully embrace virtual reality via the Oculus platform, so how is that actually going? The company reportedly told employees that its primary social VR platform for the Oculus Quest headset, Horizon Worlds, has grown ten times to since December, according to The Verge.

Meta's chief product officer Chris Cox said that since Horizon Worlds was rolled out widely in early December in the US and Canada, its monthly user count has expanded to 300,000 people. That includes both Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues, a separate live event VR app with the same mechanics, a company spokesperson confirmed. It doesn't include the VR conferencing app Horizon Workrooms, however.

Horizon Worlds was first launched as an Oculus social platform called Facebook Horizon back in 2019, and launched into beta later on. Users appear as avatars with an upper body only, and can build their own custom worlds. Earlier this week, Meta announced that 10,000 of those worlds have been built so far and its Facebook group for creators numbers over 20,000. 

The company seems intent on avoiding issues like harassment rampant in Facebook, having introduced "personal boundaries" to Horizon Worlds and Venues earlier this month. It's also dealing with technical issues as some users couldn't access Horizon Venues during a virtual Foo Fighters concert. 

Still, growth so far seems solid, given that access to the site currently requires an Oculus Quest headset, with the latest Quest 2 model priced at $299. However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta planned to bring a version of Horizon Worlds to mobile phones later in 2022 in a bid to expand the user base. Depending on how well that works, it could provide a big boost to membership. 

Valve may have cautioned Steam Deck buyers about repairing the handheld themselves, but you might not have to be quite so wary in practice. iFixit (which provides official parts for Valve hardware) has torn down the production model Steam Deck and discovered that it's relatively easy to repair, with a few notable exceptions. It doesn't require much effort to get inside, with clear labels for "basically everything." The design is modular enough that you can repair many elements without replacing or dismantling more components than necessary.

You can replace the SSD with a similarly small equivalent using one screw, and removing the display doesn't require much more than a suction cup and some heat. Valve is also keenly aware that Steam Deck owners may be worried about thumbstick drift — you can replace both sticks just by removing three screws. While drift won't necessarily be a real problem, you won't have to send in your machine if that problem ever crops up.

This isn't quite a self-repair paradise. Battery replacements are "rough," according to iFixit, with elaborate procedures that include draining most of the pack for safety's sake. That's a problem when the battery can drain in as little as 90 minutes.You may also want to be gentle with the USB-C port and microSD slot, as both are soldered to the Steam Deck's custom motherboard.

Despite this, iFixit found the Steam Deck easier to repair than some modern laptops. That might be heartening if you either prefer to fix devices yourself or hope to upgrade the storage. You might only need to send the Deck away for service if there's a truly serious failure.

Amazon’s Fire TV Cube has just hit its lowest price ever. The retailer has discounted the device to $70, making it $10 cheaper than it was during the holiday shopping season. Although it’s been a couple of years since Amazon released the Fire TV Cube, it’s still a compelling choice if you want the best possible streaming experience the company has to offer.

With built-in support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+, it can play 4K HDR video from virtually every streaming service out there, including Amazon's own Prime Video. It’s also no slouch in the audio department thanks to the fact it includes Dolby Vision support. Another reason to pick up the Fire TV Cube is that it doubles as an Alexa-capable speaker, allowing you to control your smart home devices with your voice. If you’ve already invested in Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem, that’s probably a less compelling reason to pick up the Fire TV Cube, but it’s still a nice feature to have in a pinch.

If your streaming needs are more modest, Amazon has also discounted the Fire TV Stick Lite. At its current $20 price, it’s only two dollars more than it was during the holiday shopping season. The Fire TV Stick Lite is a good option if you own an older TV as the stick is limited to Full HD streaming. It’s also considered the “Lite” version because you can’t use the included Alexa Voice Remote to control your TV.

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The following contains minor spoilers for episode ten of 'Star Trek: Prodigy.'

One thing that’s become increasingly common among genre shows is the idea of the “mid-season finale,” where a program goes on hiatus for a bit, but not before shaking things up for the rest of the year. Even children’s shows like Star Trek: Prodigy can’t escape from this phenomenon, as the Paramount+ cartoon takes a break (again) after a huge two-parter with big changes for the characters and central conflict.

The first season has so far been a long chase between the escaped prisoners aboard the USS Protostar and their former captor, the Diviner. Last week’s cliffhanger forced the crew to surrender their ship to the Diviner in exchange for the lives of their fellow prisoners from the prison colony Tars Lamora, leaving them stranded on the Diviner’s sabotaged ship, the REV-12. But it turned out that our erstwhile teens had a plan to take their ship back, and this week’s installment sees that plan come to fruition. It’s an enjoyable, though largely unsurprising, adventure.

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Where the show upends things is when it comes to our villain, whose mission is finally revealed to his daughter Gwyn and thus, the audience. And yes, it involves time travel. Most interesting of all is that the Diviner’s storyline is backburnered if not completely scuttled now, with the Protostar crew instead focused on getting to the Federation. And it was intended that way all along — these episodes were written over two years ago, before the pandemic started. In fact, showrunners Kevin and Dan Hageman revealed this week in an interview with Engadget that they just wrote episodes 39 and 40. That would be the end of season two, which was only announced back in November.

The long lead time is due to the lengthy animation process, though it also has the knock-on effect of making the show unresponsive to fan concerns, which is exactly how the Hagemans prefer it. The lengthy production time keeps them beholden to the writer’s room and not a vocal online minority, a phenomenon that has derailed other franchises (most notably Star Wars). For the Hagemans, their most important audience is kids, but not in a way that talks down to children. The decision to set the series so far from explored Federation space is part of keeping it accessible to newcomers, while also freeing it from any constraints imposed by any of the concurrently running Trek programs on Paramount+ like Picard.

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But even as it remains kid friendly, the Hagemans told Engadget that they want to create the kind of moments that “[stick] to your bones,” like seeing “ET dead on the table.” They want the show to have an impact, and this week’s scene with Zero is hopefully one of those.

Another inspiration for this season of Prodigy comes from a less sci-fi, more action-oriented source: the 1993 film The Fugitive. Not so much in the idea that we’ll see a lot of train explosions, but more in the sense that there’s no real villain in the central conflict. The plot arc will involve Starfleet trying to get the Protostar back, and the kids having to keep it away due to what happened in this week’s episode. It’s just two well-meaning groups with different goals, something I’ve personally noticed in a lot of media lately and a premise that the Hagemans believe it’s important for kids to see.

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It’s also important to them to see the kids grow and adapt to their situation, especially as they’re being tasked with situations that even Starfleet-trained officers would struggle with: “You see kids dealing with a lot of emotions; a lot of things are coming at them, and there’s times when you feel crippled, and that’s something you see in adolescence.” We’ve already seen some significant character growth for Rok-Tahk, and the Hagemans promise that the characters will age for whatever number of seasons the show gets. And even Murf gets a plot arc, one that “is not about what Murf is … more like where does Murf go; what does Murf become?”

Murf fans only have to wait for the next 10 episodes, at least. The rest of the season will see the crew finding out what the Diviner did to their ship, and how it puts the Federation out of reach. I’ve previously noted how the series showcases its technology by focusing on the have-nots, something on display this week as the prisoners of Tars Lamora finally get access to the universal translator tech that so impressed the Protostar crew early on. And, while the ship has seemed a bit overpowered compared to the other 24th century tech we’ve seen in other shows, the Hagemans promise it will still be limited in some ways, and the ship won’t be “zapping around at their will.” 2383 technology may have proved life-changing for Prodigy’s crew, but going forward the program can now showcase how it can also be fun.

President Joe Biden has offered some more backing to right to repair rules, following an executive order he signed last summer. He acknowledged that many companies have made it difficult for consumers to fix their own devices. Biden also nodded to Apple and Microsoft for changing their right to repair policies ahead of the Federal Trade Commission taking more action on the matter.

Among dozens of other issues the executive order covered, it encouraged "the FTC to issue rules against anticompetitive restrictions on using independent repair shops or doing DIY repairs of your own devices and equipment." The agency said later that month it would tackle unlawful right to repair restrictions by enforcing existing laws and doing more to help consumers and small repair shops fix products.

"Denying the right to repair raises prices for consumers, means independent repair shops can’t compete for your business," Biden said. "Too many areas, if you own a product, from a smartphone to a tractor, you don’t have the freedom to choose how or where to repair that item you purchased."

The president noted that, in many cases, consumers need to go to a dealer or the manufacturer and pay their asking price for repairs. He added that he was pleased to hear the FTC unanimously voted to "ramp up enforcement against illegal repair restrictions."

Toward the end of last year, both Apple and Microsoft announced programs that would help consumers repair their own iPhones, iPads and Surfaces. "What happened was a lot of these companies said, 'You’re right. We’re going to voluntarily do it. You don’t have to order us to do it,'" Biden said. "For example, Apple and Microsoft are changing their policies so folks will be able to repair their phones and laptops themselves — although I’m not sure I know how to do that."

The president added that moves such as ones made by Apple and Microsoft, as well as possible regulations at state and federal level, will "make it easier for millions of Americans to repair their electronics instead of paying an arm and a leg to repair or just throwing the device out."

The wait is over. Following a first-look trailer back in June of last year, ViacomCBS has finally released a new clip from Star Trek: Picard. And there’s a lot to unpack here. Through the machinations of Q, Picard and the crew of the La Sirena find themselves in 2024. Setting season two of the series in the near future may seem like lazy writing, but if you’ve seen Deep Space Nine, you know that’s an important year in Star Trek’s in-universe history that the franchise has explored in the past.

In “Past Tense,” a two-episode arc from season three of DS9, a transporter anomaly (what else?) sends Commander Sisko, Dr. Bashir and Jadzia Dax to San Francisco circa the early 21st century. After the police leave him and Bashir in the city’s “Sanctuary District,” a ghetto that houses San Francisco’s poor and sick away from its more well-off citizens, Sisko realizes they’ve arrived on Earth days before the Bell Riots, a moment that’s pivotal to Star Trek’s worldbuilding. And it’s likely that moment Picard references at the start of the trailer. “There are some moments that haunt us all our lives,” he says. “Moments upon which history turns.”

The two episodes that make up “Past Tense” are widely considered some of the best the franchise has to offer, in large part because they directly address economic and racial injustice in American society. It’s hard to say if Picard will have something meaningful to add to that conversation, but it’s clear that’s part of the intent here. At the very least, fans can look forward to a cameo from Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan.

In the US, season two of Star Trek: Picard will debut on Paramount+ on March 3rd. Amazon Prime Video will carry the series internationally, with the first episode available to stream beginning on March 4th.

Ever since Impossible Foodsstole the show at 2019 with its White-Castle-burger-that-wasn't, Engadget has been following the science of plant-based foods. Nowadays, it's not just patties that can do a convincing impersonation of animal products, and it's not just Impossible Foods. Between Impossible and its biggest competitor, Beyond Meat, we've also seen plant-based chicken nuggets, sausage, pork, "KFC" and even taco meat. But you don't often hear about attempts to mimic a different animal-based product: milk.

And when you do hear of plant-based milks, it's more likely to be dairy alternatives like almond milk, soy milk or oat milk. Even then, it's rare for a dairy-free version to taste like the real thing. That’s exactly the selling point of Silk’s new line of plant-based milk, Nextmilk. It will be available in both full fat and reduced fat versions (MSRP is $4.99 for a 59-ounce carton). It’s going on sale today in grocery stores like Target, Kroger, Publix and HEB, among others.

I tried a sample of Silk’s Nextmilk last week and while it’s tasty, I wasn’t fooled into thinking it tastes like cow's milk. It tastes more like a richer, fattier version of oat milk. It does have a similar creamy mouthfeel to regular milk and the taste is a little closer to dairy than other plant-based milks I’ve tried, but it doesn’t quite replace dairy for me.

The ingredients list reflect what I tasted: It consists primarily of oat milk, plus smaller proportions of coconut milk, coconut oil, soy protein isolate, chicory root extract, cane sugar, sunflower oil, a vitamin and mineral blend, sea salt, locust bean gum, gellan gum, sunflower lecithin, soy lecithin and “natural flavor.”

Still, it’s quite delicious, and it might be close enough to dairy for some people. When eaten with cereal or as an accompaniment to cookies, for example, I thought Nextmilk was a more than acceptable substitute. It also mixes well in coffee and tea. “Silk Nextmilk was specially formulated to meet dairy-lovers’ taste expectations through a remarkably delicious blend of plants that are designed to deliver on key attributes of dairy milk, like taste and texture,'' a Danone (Silk’s parent company) spokesperson told Engadget.

Additionally, Danone says that Nextmilk can be used as a one-to-one alternative to traditional dairy milk in recipes. At the same time, however, the company is also working on another product called So Delicious Wondermilk, which arrives next month and was specifically developed for culinary purposes. 

“While Silk Nextmilk is meant for everyday dairy lovers and offers great versatility [...] Wondermilk beverages were developed with culinary-focused consumers in mind and taste great in recipes,” the spokesperson said. When it arrives, Wondermilk will only be available through natural food channels like Whole Foods and Sprouts. 

Danone is not the first to attempt a dairy-free alternative that tastes closer to real milk. Impossible Foods, the company behind the Impossible Burger, is also working on this, with a product tentatively called Impossible Milk. However, its availability is still unknown.

Some Italian flair is coming to the Formula E grid. Maserati plans to field a team in the electric motor racing series in 2023, becoming the first brand from the country to do so.

The automaker is returning to single-seater competition for the first time in more than six decades. Maserati ran a successful Formula 1 team in the 1950s and its two-seater MC12 took 14 titles in the FIA GT sports car series between 2004 and 2010.

Maserati plans to take what it learns on Formula E tracks and feed that back into its Folgore EV lineup. “Beyond this piece of history, Maserati Formula E will be our technological laboratory to accelerate the development of high-efficiency electrified powertrains and intelligent software for our road sports cars," Stellantis Motorsport senior VP Jean-Marc Finot said.

The automaker will enter Formula E as the series shifts to the Gen3 car, its lightest and fastest vehicle to date. Formula E and the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) said the Gen3 will be the planet's most efficient race car. They claim the EV will produce at least 40 percent of energy used in a race via regenerative braking.

AirTags are some of the most affordable Apple gadgets you can get, which is probably why deep discounts on them are hard to come by. Last week, we saw one of the trackers drop to $24 and a four-pack fall to $96 on Amazon, but Woot's latest flash sale makes the bundle even cheaper. Today only, you can get a four-pack of AirTags for $94, which is five percent off its normal price. Woot's dropped the price to as low as $88 in the past, but that all-time low happened during the holiday shopping season, making it unlikely to come back around anytime soon.

Much like Tile devices and other Bluetooth trackers, AirTags are designed to help you keep track of your stuff. The coin-sized gadget can slip into your wallet or backpack, or attach to a holder that you can clip to your keys, allowing you to keep track of your things using the Find My app on your iOS device. When you do misplace something, you can force the AirTag to emit a chime or, if you have an ultra-wideband supporting iPhone, the Precision Finding feature can lead you directly to your missing stuff using directions on your phone's screen. And if you're not the in vicinity of your belongings anymore, you can check out the AirTag's last location in the Find My app and even turn on Lost Mode, which will ping you when the AirTag gets detected by the network again.

Keep in mind that you'll have to be an iPhone user to get the most out of AirTags. Apple recently released an app that allows Android users to see if an AirTag is nearby, but its goal is detection, privacy and returning the lost AirTag to its rightful owner. Also, we recommend checking out Woot's return policy before buying because it is much different from that of its parent company, Amazon.

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