Slack is getting a new look starting today. The service is rolling out a redesign aimed at helping folks stay focused and get things done by streamlining the interface. 

Perhaps the most obvious change is to the sidebar. On the far left, you'll no longer see a tile for each of your workspaces if you're logged in to more than one. Those have been collapsed into a single tile, and Slack is using the freed-up space for new navigation options.

Slack

The sidebar now includes buttons for Home, DMs (direct messages), Activity, Later and More sections, along with a search icon and a new Create button. The Home view is much like the Slack you'll be used to. From here, you'll be able to access your various channels, unread items, drafts, apps and more.

It looks like the DMs section will neatly bring together your direct message conversations and make them easier to access. Your DM list will show the most recent message from each chat, and you can choose whether to see only unread messages.

Slack

The Activity feed combines your threads, mentions and reactions into a single view, though each of those has a dedicated tab within the Activity section. The Later section, meanwhile, has tabs for in-progress, completed and archived actions. The More section is where you'll find tools such as apps and workflows, canvases and huddles.

As for the Create button, that replaces the draft message option. From here, you can whip up a message, huddle, canvas or new channel. Elsewhere, there's a new feature that allows you to hover over an icon for one of the dedicated views (i.e. DMs or Activity) to take a peek at what's happening without having to drift away from your current task.

Slack says it's rolling out some device-specific updates as well. In the iPhone app, you'll see tiles at the top of the screen that will take you to the likes of your unreads and threads with a single tap. You'll also be able to swipe through all your unreads and perhaps catch up on things more quickly. Last but not least, Slack is enabling new themes with a more detailed and customizable color scheme.

At its Stream On event earlier this year, Spotify announced a partnership with Patreon that would bring subscriber-only podcasts from the creator platform to its streaming service. Today, that integration launches for all creators and users globally, allowing patrons to listen to exclusive content alongside other episodes on Spotify. If you stumble upon a show that you don't yet support monetarily, you can get access with a few taps from the show's page inside the streaming app. 

Patreon podcasters only need to sync their account with Spotify to get started. Afterwards, all patron-exclusive content will be on a dedicated page on their Spotify show profile. Creators will have the option of adding promotional banners on their free episodes page to help drive subscription numbers. The integration of Patreon is powered by Spotify's Open Access, which was first announced in 2021. This technology allows shows that host subscription content on other platforms to use their existing log-in credentials to bring those podcasts to the streaming service. Other integrated platforms include Supporting Cast, Supercast and more. Additionally, Spotify has been offering paid podcast subscriptions through its audio production platform Anchor for over two years. 

Just like that Anchor setup, any subscriber-only Patreon podcasts that you don't have access to will show up with a lock icon in the Spotify app. There's also a small "paid" tag next to the publish date and runtime info. When you tap the lock, a pop up will ask if you want to hear more from the creator before sending you to their Patreon page to view subscription info. 

Spotify doesn't take a cut of subscriptions that are generated through Open Access. Patreon and Spotify both explain that creators will retain "full control" over their audiences, content and revenue while using the streaming service to expand their reach. There's no additional cost to integrate Patreon with Spotify either, and creators publishing both free and paid episodes can use the setup. 

Sony has published its earnings report for the first quarter of the year (PDF) ending on June 30th and an adjusted forecast for the fiscal year, and they paint a picture of mixed results for the company. Its overall operating profit for the period was down 31 percent year-over-year, from 364.9 billion yen ($2.54 billion) to 253 billion ($1.76 billion). The company's revenue was up 33 percent, however, thanks to significant increase in sales by its game and network services, music, imaging and financial services businesses.

Sony believes its game and music segments will continue to do well and has raised (PDF) its sales and revenue forecast for the fiscal year ending on March 31st, 2024 by 6.1 percent due to higher-than-expected sales for those businesses. It also expects its net income to be 2.4 percent higher than its previous forecast, from 840 billion yen ($5.86 billion) to 860 billion ($6 billion).

For its game division, in particular, Sony has tweaked its forecast, because it's anticipating an increase in sales for non-first-party PlayStation titles, including add-on content. Several much-awaited games are coming out for PlayStation gamers this year, such as Spider-Man 2, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Expansion, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and EA Sports FC. 

This expected increase in sales for non-first-party titles will be aided by a decrease in costs and expenses. That said, they will also offset by a "deterioration in profitability of PlayStation 5 hardware." Sony has dropped the PS5's pricing in several regions around the world recently. While that translates to lower overall earnings from the console, it could also get people on the fence to finally purchase the PS5, which in turn could lead to more game purchases. 

To note, Sony has shipped 3.3 million PS5 units in the first quarter of the year. That's almost half of the previous quarter's sales of 6.3 million units, though that figure was for the holiday season, when businesses typically do better than usual. This is Sony's best-performing first quarter for PS5 sales so far, bringing the total number of units sold to 41.7 million. 

Despite adjusting its outlook with better numbers for the year overall, Sony has lowered its expectations for the sales of mobile sensors due to the continuing downward trend in smartphone sales. Sony Pictures' earnings was also down year-on-year despite the success of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The company doesn't foresee a recovery for the business, as well, and believes it will perform worse than what was predicted last April due to the impact of strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. 

NASA has regained contact with Voyager 2, only one of two human-made objects to leave the solar system. The agency lost touch with the probe on July 21st after a series of planned maneuvers pointed it two degrees away from Earth. It would have reset its orientation in October, but agency officials didn’t want to wait that long to get back in touch.

The Voyager 2 team used a network of ground-based transmitters to “shout” a command to the probe, telling it to turn back toward Earth. This bellowed order took 18.5 hours to reach the apparatus, and it would take just as long before NASA would learn it was successful. It’s a testament to human ingenuity, but also a vital reminder to not miss a second of data coming from Voyager 2 since NASA believes it may not function properly after 2025.

— Dan Cooper

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Why humans can't use natural language processing to speak with the animals

The complexities of speech are nothing compared to birdsong.

Surely computers, as powerful as they are these days, are smart enough to decode simple animal calls? That’s the question at the heart of Andrew Tarantola’s latest feature, which asks why we don’t yet have Google Translate for animal speech. Turns out, as simple as a bird call may sound to our ears, it’s one of the most complex vocal systems ever developed. Read on to learn why, in fact, we’re the plain-speaking simple folk, not our pets.

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Apple is reportedly testing M3 chips for new Macs arriving this fall

The company may wish to speed up its release schedule for new machines.

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

As night follows day, Apple releases new products with a name one integer higher than one it presently sells. It’s no surprise we’re hearing M3 chips are currently being tested in anticipation of a refresh later in the year. What might surprise, however, is the hint Apple may speed up its release schedule to refresh its computer offerings faster than it does now.

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Kamado Joe Konnected Joe review: A highly versatile smart grill

It’s a smart charcoal-burning grill for your preferred meat season.

Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget

There are plenty of smart grills, but one that burns charcoal rather than pellets is a slightly taller task. Kamado Joe’s Konnected Joe has been in Billy Steele’s possession for the last few weeks as he tests out this versatile and, crucially, charcoal-burning smart grill. There’s still plenty of summer left, so find out if you wanna snag one of these by reading his review.

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PayPal introduces its own stablecoin pegged to the US dollar

PayPal USD will help you make purchases or pay other users.

PayPal

Stablecoins pegged to a real-world asset are meant to be a necessary counter to the volatile world of cryptocurrency. PayPal has introduced its own in the form of PayPal USD, a currency pegged to the US dollar, which you can use to buy stuff or pay your friends. It’s not clear, however, if regulators have given their blessing or if PayPal is about to get a few thousand sternly worded letters from the Federal Reserve and the SEC.

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Amazon Prime Big Deal Days: Here's what to expect this October Prime Day

Prime Day comes but onc… twice a year.

Amazon is once again planning a second Prime Day-style shopping event in October. This Amazon Prime Big Deal Day, aside from being a mouthful to say, will offer a bonanza of deals both on Amazon’s own hardware – and everything else. If you’ve got an eye on snagging some bargains ahead of the holiday shopping season, check out our guide to prepare for what’s to come.

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Dead by Daylight has a new Killer in town, and it's one all horror fans know (and likely fear): the Xenomorph. Behaviour Interactive has released all of the details of its new Alien collaboration following a teaser that provided a glimpse into the new Nostromo Wreckage Map. The announcement confirmed not only the Xenomorph's role as Dead by Daylight's latest Killer but also the introduction of Ellen Ripley as a Survivor. 

This edition introduces seven Control Stations, a new Map feature that allows Survivors to get a Remote Flame Turret (another addition), which they can use to stagger the Xenomorph — though the Killer can destroy the tool. It can also stop the Xenomorph's unique Power known as Runner Mode, which lets it walk on four legs and shrinks its Terror Radius. 

The control stations sit on top of tunnels that the Xenomorph can enter and exit through. "Creating the Xenomorph's Tunnel system was very challenging as we had never created a sublevel that could only be accessible to the Killer. This new mechanic grants it Map-wide mobility and definitely amps up the scare factor – which feels very connected to the original character," said Janick Neveu, Game Designer on Dead by Daylight.

You don't have to wait long to wander through the Nostromo Wreckage in total fear (a perfect nighttime game, right?) as Dead by Daylight: Alien will be available across platforms starting August 29th. Impatient? You can already download the game's Public Test Build and try it out early. 

There's good news if you felt thrown by the $50 price tag for 13-year-old Red Dead Redemption's Nintendo Switch and PS4 release: Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says the cost is right. Seriously, IGN reports that Zelnick had his reasons, which he clearly laid out after the company's Q2 earnings report, "That's just what we believe is the commercially accurate price for it." Satisfied now? 

Points of frustration around Red Dead Redemption's sticker price are extensive, including the lack of a multiplayer option and a complete lack of a quality update since its 2010 release (no 4K visuals in sight). There's also the small matter that the game is already available on Xbox Series X in 4K for $40. 

Take-Two is leaning on the inclusion of Undead Nightmare, a Red Dead Redemption expansion, in the port as a rationale for the higher price. Zelnick called Undead Nightmare "a great standalone game in its own right when it was originally released, so we feel like it's a great bundle for the first time, and certainly a great value for consumers." 

If the words of a CEO have convinced you to pay $50 for Red Dead Redemption, you can buy the digital version for the Nintendo Switch or PS4 starting August 17th, with a physical release to follow on October 13th. 

On August 4th, Northrop Grumman's 19th resupply mission for the ISS arrived on the orbiting lab, carrying not just necessities for its inhabitants, but also an experiment that could greatly benefit future human colonies outside our planet. Specifically, the mission was carrying a module with hardware that could help us understand how heating and air conditioning systems can operate in reduced gravity and in the extreme temperatures observed on the moon and Mars. Daytime temperatures near the lunar equator, for instance, reach 250 degrees Fahrenheit, which is higher than the boiling point of water. At night, temperatures reach -208 degrees Fahrenheit. The lowest recorded temperature on Earth was -128.6 degrees Fahrenheit back in 1983.

The hardware was designed and built by scientists and engineers from Purdue University and NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. It will allow Purdue scientists to conduct the second part of their Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE), which has been collecting data aboard the ISS since 2021. They've already finished gathering data for the first part of their study that focuses on measuring the effects of reduced gravity on boiling. This part will now focus on investigating how condensation works in a reduced-gravity environment.

Issam Mudawar, the Purdue professor in charge of experiment, explained: "We have developed over a hundred years' worth of understanding of how heat and cooling systems work in Earth’s gravity, but we haven’t known how they work in weightlessness."

His team has published over 60 research papers on reduced gravity and fluid flow from the data they've collected so far, and they're in the midst of preparing more. They believe that in addition to providing the information needed to enable human colonies to live on the moon and on the red planet, their experiment could also provide the scientific understanding to enable spacecraft to travel longer distances and to refuel in orbit.

The Apple TV+ film Tetris was copied from a book written years ago, according to a lawsuit filed against the tech giant and the Tetris Company. Dan Ackerman, the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo, has accused the plaintiffs of ripping off his book The Tetris Effect, which tells the history of the game in the form of a Cold War-era thriller. In his lawsuit (PDF, via Reuters), Ackerman said he sent the Tetris Company and its CEO Maya Rogers a pre-publication copy of his book back in 2016. Later that year, his agent received a "strongly worded Cease and Desist letter" to stop him from pursuing film and TV opportunities. 

Ackerman accused Rogers of working with screenwriter Noah Pink to develop a screenplay using content taken from his book without his knowledge or consent. Apparently, numerous producers showed interest in adapting his book, but the Tetris Company refused to license its IP for the project. "This was done at the direction and behest of Ms. Rogers so that she and the Tetris Company could pursue their own project and opportunities based on Mr. Ackerman's book without compensating him," the lawsuit reads. 

In his complaint, Ackerman explained that for writers, the option to license their work for film and TV is typically a major source of revenue. That's why he takes the Tetris Company's actions not as a means to prevent the unauthorized use of its IP, but as an "economic attack" on his business. To drive the point home, Ackerman included quite a lengthy list of "glaring similarities" between his book and the film in his lawsuit. Several items in the list explain how scenes in the movie mirrored his versions of events. That said, those events were based on scenarios that happened in real life, so it remains to be seen if the court will agree with him. Ackerman is asking for actual, compensatory and punitive damages equivalent to 6 percent of the film's $80 million production budget. 

X is giving advertisers new ways to have some control over what type of content can appear near their ads. The company formerly known as Twitter introduced new “sensitivity settings” that allow advertisers to choose between different types of content filtering for their ads.

The new controls arrive as X is increasingly desperate to win back advertisers. The company’s ad revenue has dropped 50 percent since Elon Musk took over as brands cut spending on the platform amid concerns about the rise of hate speech and other unsavory content. Since then, watchdog groups have reported several instances of ads from major brands being placed near neo-Nazi accounts, Holocaust deniers and other previously suspended users.

With the new tool, X says it “will use machine learning to reduce adjacency to varying levels of content according to a brand’s sensitivity threshold in an upcoming campaign.” For now, the two settings available to advertisers include “conservative” and “standard.” The company notes that all rule-breaking content is meant to be excluded from ads regardless of what advertisers have opted into.

X

Under the most restrictive “conservative” setting, ads would be excluded from appearing near “targeted hate speech, sexual content, gratuitous gore, excessive profanity, obscenity, spam and drugs” in the “for You” timeline. The “standard” option would avoid the same topics, but allow spam and drug-related content, according to an example shared by X. The company also plans to add a “relaxed” setting for advertisers who want to “maximize reach” of their ads with the fewest limits on what can appear nearby.

The update isn’t the first time X has introduced tools to promote brand safety. The company previously added other keyword-based “adjacency controls” that were also meant to limit ad-buyers’ exposure to problematic content. But those changes, introduced in December, seem to have had little effect on X’s ad business. 

Though the company has repeatedly claimed that it has successfully limited the reach of hate speech on its site, researchers have said otherwise. Last month, Bloombergreported that researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) indicating hate speech has surged, both in terms of sheer volume and in engagement, since Musk’s takeover of the company. X disputed the findings and is now suing CCDH, alleging the group “illegally” scraped data.

YouTube announced today that it’s changing how its home page works if you have your watch history disabled. Starting today, the video service’s home feed will stop appearing for those with their viewing history turned off and “no significant prior watch history.” The change will provide a more streamlined browsing experience, showing only the search bar and guide menu.

“Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled — like your YouTube home feed,” the company wrote in a blog post today. “This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos, thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead.”

YouTube says the changes will appear “slowly, over the next few months.” The company describes the move as making “it more clear which YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of you who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations.”

YouTube says, once the change rolls out to your account, you can change your watch history settings to switch views at any time. The toggle is in a dedicated section on the My Google Activity settings page.