One year after fully embracing generative AI chatbots, Microsoft is giving Copilot a fresh lick of paint. Copilot now has a more streamlined design on the web and in its mobile apps. The company says there's a cleaner look and feel for the chatbot's responses, while Copilot will display a carousel of suggested prompts to highlight what it can do.

The redesign comes just ahead of the Super Bowl. Microsoft is running an ad for the big game for the first time in four years. The commercial shows off Copilot (surprisingly enough) and some of the things users can do with the chatbot's mobile app.

Microsoft debuted the AI-powered Bing Chat a year ago today. The company says that so far, folks have taken part in 5 billion chats and generated 5 billion images through its various Copilot experiences. It notes that Copilot (which is now its catch-all branding for chatbots with "Bing Chat" being phased out) has helped it increase the market share of Bing and Edge, though perhaps not by as much as it would have hoped.

Meanwhile, Copilot now has more image-editing and creation options. Designer in Copilot (at least in some territories) now allows you to edit images you've generated without having to leave the chatbot. You can turn an image into pixel art or blur the background, for instance. Copilot Pro subscribers can resize images between landscape and square formats and regenerate them without having to exit the chat. Microsoft will also soon debut Designer GPT inside Copilot. It says this will provide users with "an immersive, dedicated canvas inside of Copilot where you can visualize your ideas."

Amazon's Blink Mini security cameras are down to $20 each right now, as part of a larger sale on security devices from the brand. That's $2.50 above the lowest price we've seen and amounts to a 33 percent discount. The small, plug-in camera takes 1080p video during the day and infrared footage at night while the built-in mic and speaker let you hear and talk with whomever is in the room. You can set it to send notifications to your phone when motion is detected so you can view a live feed. If you connect it to a compatible smart display, like an Echo Show or Fire TV, you can view footage from those screens too. Keep in mind that Blink cameras only work with Alexa-enabled products. 

Elsewhere in the Blink sale, you can get a single Blink Outdoor 4 for $65, which is a record low price and $35 percent off its full $100 price tag. We named the Blink Outdoor 4 camera the best wireless security camera in our guide to smart home devices. The weather-proof camera can run for a claimed two years on a set of AA batteries (which are included). It also comes with a screw-in mounting kit so you can attach it to your house or a fence. The field of view was increased to 143 degrees for the latest generation and it has the ability to differentiate between human and non-person movement — though you'll need to pay for Blink’s add-on subscription plan to enable that feature. The plan is currently $30 a year for one device or $100 a year for multiple cameras. The subscription also enables cloud storage of clips and dual-zone motion detection. Like the Blink Mini, the Outdoor 4 offers two-way audio, 1080p daylight footage and infrared video at night. 

The Blink Video Doorbell system is down to $45, which is 36 percent off the $70 list price and also a record low. This one also runs on two AA cells so you don't have to hook into your doorbell wires, but the option is there if you want the doorbell to activate your existing chimes when someone pushes the button. The Blink Video Doorbell also offers day and night video capture, two-way audio and motion detection. This set includes a Sync Module 2 which lets you store clips locally. 

Cameras like these can be a good way to keep tabs on your home and offer peace of mind when you're not there, but it's important to keep in mind that Amazon, mostly through it's other security brand, Ring, has not always had the best privacy record. Though a recent announcement suggests they may rethink at least some of those practices. 

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If you ask anyone who’s actually tried an Apple Vision Pro what the best feature is, they’ll likely call out the dual micro-OLED displays. These screens produce especially crisp visuals, and iFixit has taken it upon themselves to find out why. The publication conducted a teardown on the Apple Vision Pro with an emphasis on those glorious displays. 

The big takeaway? The screens are incredibly pixel-dense, with 12,078,000 pixels smushed into 0.98 square inches. This means that each individual pixel is just 7.5 μm, which makes them roughly the size of a red blood cell. Yeah. The ones in our bodies right now.

This is much more dense than just about anything else out there. For instance, you can fit 54 Apple Vision Pro pixels inside of a single iPhone 15 Pro pixel. No wonder that dinosaur looks so real. The publication indicates that the micro-OLED displays are likely custom-made by Sony, based on various design decisions.

An important measurement with pixel density is PPI (pixels per inch) and the Vision Pro came in with a “stunning” 3,386 PPI. The iPhone 15 Pro boasts a PPI of 460. As astounding as these metrics are, Apple Vision Pro displays are still not 4K. 4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of around 4,000 pixels, and so the Vision Pro misses the consumer UHD standard of 3,840 pixels wide by just a hair. However, this doesn’t really matter when the displays are like an inch from your retinas. After all, a standard 4K TV features a pixel density of around 140 PPI. 

Another important data point here is PPD (pixels per degree), which takes into account how far you are from the screen and the overall angle. iFixit estimates that the Vision Pro has an average of 34 PPD. This is a very good number for something so close to the eye. As a comparison, the PlayStation VR2 has an average of 19 PPD and the Meta Quest 3 features an average of 25 PPD.

As for the infamous repairability score, iFixit awarded a provisional score of 4 for the Apple Vision Pro. This is brand-new technology, after all, which would make DIY repairs difficult even without Apple at the helm. The publication has yet to test various aspects of the headset for repairability, so the score will likely be updated in the near future.

We recommend the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds in our guide to the best wireless earphones for those who just want the strongest active noise cancellation (ANC) possible in a true wireless design. If you've been looking to pick up a pair, take note: A recent sale has brought the earphones back down to $249, which takes $50 off their usual price and matches the previous low we saw during the holiday season. The offer is available at several retailers, including Amazon, Walmart and Bose's own online store, and it comes as part of a wider spate of discounts on the company's headphones, earbuds, soundbars and Bluetooth speakers.

Engadget Senior Reporter Billy Steele gave the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds a score of 88 in his review last September. Again, ANC performance is the big attraction here: The earphones do a superb job of reducing external sound across the board, and Bose's app lets you lower the intensity of the ANC if it ever feels uncomfortable. (Though, as with most noise-canceling headphones, voices and other higher-pitched sounds will come through a little clearer than bass- and midrange tones.) The actual earpieces are larger than most other pairs, but they're comfortable, with soft silicone tips that don't create too much pressure in the ear. 

Bose's sound signature is a bit bass-heavy out of the box, but not to the point of sloppiness, so it should particularly satisfy fans of hip-hop and pop. If you want a little less low-end, you can tweak the EQ curve through Bose's app. This model also comes with an optional spatial audio feature dubbed "Immersive Audio," which aims to give any song a greater soundstage and sense of width. Some tracks will still take to it better than others, but Steele found it to offer impressive detail on the whole.

There are some issues to keep in mind, though. The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds lack wireless charging by default; to add it, you need to buy a $49 case cover. They also can't connect to two devices simultaneously. The built-in mic is fine for phone calls, but not good, and the six to seven hours of battery life is similarly just OK. With Immersive Audio on, the latter drops closer to four hours. Sony's WF-1000XM5, the top pick in our guide, offer a wider feature set and excellent ANC performance in their own right (though they may be less comfortable for those with smaller ears). Apple's AirPods Pro, meanwhile, still include a bevy of conveniences for iPhone owners. Still, if you want a true wireless set that focuses on ANC and spatial audio, this is a decent discount.

In other Bose deals, the over-ear version of the QuietComfort Ultra are also $50 off at $379. That pair delivers top-notch ANC as well, but it's harder to justify when Sony's WH-1000XM5, our favorite wireless headphones overall, is currently on sale for $50 less. The older QuietComfort Earbuds II are available for $199 as well, though our review found the Ultra model's spatial audio tricks to be worth the upgrade.

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Given how the smartphone market has evolved over the last few years, it’s little surprise that Apple is looking into the possibility of making foldable iPhones. The company surely has all kinds of weird and wacky devices in its research lab, but a new report has shed some light on what Apple’s doing with foldables there.

According to The Information, Apple has created two clamshell-style foldable iPhone prototypes, though its work on the form factor is in the early stages of development. If Apple were to move forward with foldable iPhones, they likely wouldn't come to market until at least 2026 — seven years after the Galaxy Fold debuted.

There are two main issues that could prevent Apple from selling foldable iPhones, according to the report. First, its engineers have so far been unable to address the technical issues of foldable smartphones. For what it's worth, the first Samsung Fold notoriously had a gap between the two halves of the screen into which debris could enter. Second, Apple's designers are said to have found it tough to create features for a foldable iPhone that would make it a compelling enough option for consumers. That's critical, given the higher prices of foldables compared with phones that have a more traditional form factor.

Another concern for engineers is that they are said to have wanted to make each side half as thin as a regular iPhone so it would be roughly the same thickness when folded. But the tech isn't quite there yet, given battery sizes and display constraints.

Apple has been tinkering with making a foldable smartphone for several years. It seems more likely that Apple's first foldable device, should it choose to release one, would be an iPad. That would carry less risk for the company than making a foldable version of its most important product first. Apple wouldn't need to be as concerned about the thickness of a foldable iPad. Nor would the tablet need to meet as high standards in drop tests. Apple is said to have been developing a foldable iPad since at least 2020.

There are still some challenges when it comes to a foldable iPad, however. Engineers are said to be working on a solution for the crease that emerges in the center of the display after repeated folds. Apple is also reportedly trying to make sure the screen is totally flat when it's opened and that there's no bump in the middle. It took Samsung several years and multiple iterations of foldables to develop a hinge that gets rid of the gap between the two halves of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5.

Chinese hackers have been hiding in US critical infrastructure for at least the last five years, CNN reported on Wednesday. By lurking behind the scenes of transportation, water, electricity and other important systems, the hackers have the opportunity to strike whenever they deem the time is right, US officials say in a 50-page report on the subject. A public version of the full document is set to be released next week. 

Officials from the FBI and the Justice Department previously issued a court order to update software that could succumb to Chinese hacking. The effort aimed to fight Chinese hacking by remotely disabling certain affected systems. According to the department, it was able to remove code from hundreds of internet routers that could have let Chinese hackers in. 

The forthcoming report reveals just how long this has been going on, and how bad a potential cyberattack could be. It's set to detail hackers' techniques, while providing guidance to companies behind critical infrastructure systems on how to find Chinese hackers in their systems. There are no signs in the report that hackers have acted maliciously against US infrastructure yet. 

Hackers started by getting into IT systems and, from there, working their way into more important tech behind US infrastructure. They also broke into security cameras at some of the facilities and, in another case, accessed water treatment plants, the report says. 

Last week, FBI director Christopher Wray warned Congress that Chinese hackers were preparing to wreck havoc on US critical infrastructure systems. "Cyber threats to our critical infrastructure represent real world threats to our physical safety," he said at the hearing.

Ring has announced a refresh of its popular Battery Doorbell Plus outdoor camera. The Battery Doorbell Pro is an upgrade in nearly every way, as is usually the case when companies slap “Pro” at the end of a name.

Ring says this new model is its “most advanced battery powered doorbell” ever and that it’s packed with features that exceed even its wired doorbells. It boasts radar-powered 3D motion detection, which was also included with the company’s Stick Up Cam Pro. Otherwise called “Bird’s Eye View”, this technology tracks an object’s path through the camera’s field of view so you can monitor where visitors are going and the route they took to get there.

This is paired with an algorithm that sets more nuanced and discrete motion alerts, so you won’t get pinged every time a cat or shadow crosses your yard. You also get something called “Bird’s Eye View” that translates this information into a series of dots on an aerial image of your property.

The visuals have received an upgrade. The camera records 1546p HD+ video and there’s some upscaling features to make the image more crisp. Ring says the doorbell’s dynamic image processing and high-efficiency compression delivers “life-like color and sharpness whether you’re watching in Live View or a video recording from the night before.” To the latter point, there’s a new tool called Low-Light Sight that provides “clear color” videos even in the dark.

The Ring Battery Doorbell Pro also includes a noise-canceling algorithm so you can actually hear who’s at the door, and not just a truck passing by. As the name suggests, it’s powered by a rechargeable battery and not by splicing into your home’s electrical system. Ring is owned by Amazon, so you get Alexa functionality and Echo Show integration. The company would also very much like you to sign up to its Ring Alarm Pro subscription plan for cloud storage, package alerts and backup internet for when the power goes out.

If you've been hesitant about Ring products because of where your data might go, the company recently walked back its police-friendly stance regarding video sharing. Amazon says that Ring’s home doorbell unit would stop acquiescing to warrantless police requests for footage from users’ video doorbells and surveillance cameras. 

The doorbell goes on sale on Mach 6 for $230, with pre-orders going live today. A Ring Alarm Pro subscription costs $20 per month or $200 per year. 

Porsche first debuted its first EV line, Taycan, in 2019, and now it's giving the series a revamp. The high-end car manufacturer has announced the 2025 Taycan sports sedan, Cross Turismo and Sport Turismo models, featuring "a particularly extensive update." 

The 2025 Taycan EVs have "reached new heights in terms of performance, with exceptional driving dynamics and driving pleasure," Kevin Giek, head of the Taycan model line, said in a statement. "At the same time, we were able to significantly improve efficiency, range, day-to-day usability and comfort." Updates include faster acceleration, with the rear-wheel drive Taycan sedan shooting from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.5 seconds — 0.6 seconds faster than its predecessor. The Turbo S sedan makes the same jump in 2.3 seconds, an improvement of 0.3 seconds. 

In terms of power, there's 430 bhp behind the base Taycan, while the Turbo reaches 872 bhp. The top-spec Turbo S, however, hits a mighty 940 bhp (up from 750 bhp in previous models). 

Porsche also claims its 2025 Taycan line has a 35 percent better range with up to 422 miles between charges, helped by improved regeneration. Juicing up should also be quicker as it can charge using up to 320kW (that's 50kW more than previous models) via an 800-volt DC charging station. Other new standard features include adaptive air suspension, Lane Change Assist and a heated steering wheel. On the outside, Taycan models have been given a slight design refresh, which include high-resolution matrix headlights.

The 2025 Taycan line starts at $99,400 for the entry-level model and reaches $211,700 for the Turbo S Cross Turismo. Porsche adds another $1,995 to each order for delivery, processing and handling. Porsche says the new Taycan models will be available starting in the spring, and it looks like they'll hit the United States in the summer or fall. 

Bluesky, the open-source Twitter alternative, is now open to anyone. After being in beta for a little less than a year and with just over three million users, the social media platform is an option if the ruins of X (formerly Twitter) or Threads aren’t doing it for you.

Bluesky began life as an internal project at Jack Dorsey’s Twitter, but it ended its association with the entity now known as X after Elon Musk’s takeover. “We really believe that the future of social is, and should be, open and decentralized,” Bluesky CEO Jay Graber tells Engadget. “This is something that we think is good for the public conversation overall.”

Decentralized status aside, the service is functionally similar to X and Threads. Posts aren’t tweets but ‘skeets.’ There’s a chronological timeline, but you can also follow numerous other algorithmic feeds created by fellow users. (I’m intrigued by the feed for quiet friends — users you follow who don’t post that often.)

You can find me on there @thatmatsmith.bsky.social. I’m probably going to be one of those quiet friends.

— Mat Smith

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Disney+ starts cracking down on password sharing

The streaming service has reportedly warned US subscribers in an email.

If it worked for Netflix… Disney+ is emailing its subscribers, notifying them about a change in its terms of service. Its service agreement now states users may not share their passwords outside of their household “unless otherwise permitted by [their] service tier,” suggesting new subscription options in the future. It might be time for Mom and Dad to buy their own subscription. I say Mom and Dad, I mean you.

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Taylor Swift also doesn’t like her private jets being tracked

She threatened legal action against the same guy who ran the ElonJet account.

Taylor Swift has threatened legal action against a Florida student who set up multiple social media accounts that release real-time information of her personal aircraft’s whereabouts. The student facing legal action by Swift’s team is the same guy who ran the ElonJet account that tracked Elon Musk’s jet. Facebook and Instagram banned Sweeney’s accounts that track Swift’s air travel late last year, but they’re still live on Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and other sites.

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Nintendo thinks it’ll sell more Switch consoles than it predicted this year

And the Switch is old.

Engadget

At almost seven years old, the Nintendo Switch is proving there’s still life in the hybrid console. Enough life for Nintendo to up its predicted sales figures for its current fiscal year. In its third-quarter earnings release, the company announced it was increasing the Switch’s projected sales from 15 million to 15.5 million. That’s great and all, but where’s the Switch 2?

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Back in 2022, the European Commission released a proposal for a directive on how to combat domestic violence and violence against women in other forms. Now, the European Council and Parliament have agreed with the proposal to criminalize, among other things, different types of cyber-violence. The proposed rules will criminalize the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, including deepfakes made by AI tools, which could help deter revenge porn. Cyber-stalking, online harassment, misogynous hate speech and "cyber-flashing," or the sending of unsolicited nudes, will also be recognized as criminal offenses.

The commission says that having a directive for the whole European Union that specifically addresses those particular acts will help victims in Member States that haven't criminalized them yet. "This is an urgent issue to address, given the exponential spread and dramatic impact of violence online," it wrote in its announcement. In addition, the directive will require member states to develop measures that can help users more easily identify cyber-violence and to know how to prevent it from happening if possible or how to seek help. It will require them to provide their residents with an online portal where they can send in reports, as well. 

In its reporting, Politico suggested that the recent spread of pornographic deepfake images using Taylor Swift's face urged EU officials to move forward with the proposal. If you'll recall, X even had to temporarily block searches for the musician's name after the images went viral. "The latest disgusting way of humiliating women is by sharing intimate images generated by AI in a couple of minutes by anybody," European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová told the publication. "Such pictures can do huge harm, not only to popstars but to every woman who would have to prove at work or at home that it was a deepfake." At the moment, though, the aforementioned rules are just part of a bill that representatives of EU member states still need to approve. "The final law is also pending adoption in Council and European Parliament," the EU Council said. According to Politico, if all goes well and the bill becomes a law soon, EU states will have until 2027 to enforce the new rules.