EA and Codemasters have revealed more details about this year's edition of their Formula 1 racing sim series. F1 2023 will hit PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC via the EA App, Steam and Epic Games Store on June 16th.

Among other things, the game will feature the return of the Braking Point story mode. Braking Point debuted in F1 2021, but it wasn't present in last year's edition. This time around, Devon Butler (the antagonist from the first chapter) and Aiden Jackson are now teammates on an upstart racing team looking to take on F1's heavy hitters. You can expect to encounter new characters, challenges and rivalries.

Codemasters has updated the cars' handling based on feedback from F1 teams. The cars are said to have more predictable behavior this time around, along with more traction when braking, accelerating and navigating corners. The studio has also improved the engine torque and inertia, balanced the aerodynamics and tire grip for added realism and incorporated Precision Drive tech for controller players, EA says.

Every team, driver and circuit from F1's real-life 2023 season is in the game, including the street circuit for the new Las Vegas Grand Prix and Qatar's Lusail International Circuit. Legacy circuits Paul Ricard (France), Shanghai (China), and Portimão (Portugal) will all be available from the jump too.

Players will be able to set races to 35 percent of their real-life distances. That should offer more flexibility to those who may not have the time for a standard-length grand prix. On top of all that, it's somehow taken until 2023 for EA to add red flags, a major aspect of F1 races, to the series.

Praise, Shaï-Hulud. Warner Bros. has shared the first trailer for Dune: Part Two, and if you were a fan of Denis Villeneuve's adaption of the first half of Frank Herbert's seminal sci-fi novel, let's just say Part Two looks like it will be even better. The teaser opens with Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya) talking about the future of Arrakis. "Where you see sand here, imagine water. If you dive in, you can't reach the bottom," Paul tells an incredulous Chani. 

Following that exchange, the trailer offers us our first look at Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan. Her character didn't make an appearance in Dune: Part One, but judging from the clip, Irulan will at least narrate some of the story, a change that could bring the movie closer to Herbert's 1965 novel. Another critical character that wasn't in Part One but makes an appearance in the trailer is Feyd-Rautha, played here by Austin Butler. Dune: Part Two will arrive in theaters on November 3rd. Unlike the first film, Warner Bros does not plan to simultaneously release Part Two to the soon-to-be-renamed HBO Max.

Yet more senators are trying to resurrect legislation aimed at protecting kids' online privacy. Senators Bill Cassidy and Ed Markey have reintroduced a "COPPA 2.0" (Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act) bill that would expand and revise the 1998 law to deal with the modern internet, particularly social media.

COPPA 2.0 would bar companies from gathering personal data from teens aged 13 to 16 without their consent. It would ban all targeted advertising to children and teens, and create a "bill of rights" that limits personal info gathering for marketing purposes. The measure would also require a button to let kids and parents delete personal data when it's "technologically feasible."

The sequel potentially makes it easier to take action in the first place. Where COPPA requires direct knowledge that companies are collecting data from kids under 13, 2.0 would cover apps and services that are "reasonably likely" to have children as users. The Federal Trade Commission, meanwhile, would have to establish a division committed to regulating youth marketing and privacy.

Cassidy and Markey portray the bill as necessary to tackle a "mental health crisis" where tech giants allegedly play a role. The politicians argue that social networks amplify teens' negative feelings, pointing to Facebook's own research as evidence.

Social networks have tried to clamp down on misuses of child data. Meta's Facebook and Instagram have limited ad targeting for teens, for instance. However, there have also been concerns that online platforms haven't gone far enough. On top of earlier calls for bans on ad targeting, states like Arkansas and Utah have already passed laws respectively requiring age verification and parental permission for social media. Another Senate bill, the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act, would require parents' approval across the US.

Whether or not COPPA 2.0 makes it to the President's desk for signature isn't clear. The first attempt got stuck in committee ahead of the current Congress session. It also comes right as other senators are making attempts to revive the EARN IT Act (aimed at curbing child sexual abuse material) and the Kids Online Safety Act (meant to fight toxic online content as a whole). All three reintroductions are bipartisan, but they'll need considerably stronger support in the Senate, plus successful equivalents in the House, to become law.

For the third time in less than a year, Unity is laying off a part of its workforce. On Tuesday, the company shared it would let go of approximately 600 employees or about eight percent of its global workforce. The company previously laid off about 225 staffers last June, and another 284 employees at the start of the year. Prior to the first round of workforce reductions, the company employed more than 8,000 staff. It now has around 7,000 employees. Unity also plans to reduce the number of offices it operates globally.

Unity declined to comment. A spokesperson instead pointed Engadget to a filing the company made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as a recent interview CEO John Riccitiello did with The Wall Street Journal. “It’s all about setting ourselves up for higher growth,” he told the outlet, adding the layoffs would affect some in middle management. “It was clear we had too many layers.” Riccitiello also said Unity would move to a hybrid work model starting in June, with employees expected to work from the office at least three days a week.

The layoffs come despite Unity recently posting its best fiscal quarter and year in company history. In February, the engine maker reported a Q4 revenue of $451 million, representing a 43 percent increase from the same period in 2021. It was also Unity’s first profitable quarter as a publicly traded company. Despite that performance, investors don’t appear to be impressed with the company. Per CNBC, Unity’s stock is down 11 percent since the start of the year. The company is expected to release its Q1 earnings next week. Unity’s latest layoffs come amid broader workforce reductions across much of the tech industry. Like Unity, a handful of companies, including Meta and Amazon, have announced multiple rounds of cuts.

Xbox has officially confirmed a summer games showcase for June 11th. The event will be livestreamed at 1:00PM Eastern and will feature “some new surprises” and “first-looks” from internal development studios. Expect to see plenty of reveals for upcoming Xbox, PC and Game Pass titles.

This is a double feature, however, so grab the popcorn and stick around after the first showcase for a deep dive into the forthcoming sci-fi epic Starfield. The Bethesda-developed RPG was delayed from last year until September, so the gameplay footage should be polished to perfection. The officially-named Starfield Direct (don’t tell Nintendo) promises “tons of new gameplay, developer interviews and behind-the-scenes insider information.”

There’s also a follow-up stream, like last year, called Xbox Games Showcase Extended. Tune in on June 13th at 1:00PM Eastern for more game updates, interviews and news. All of these streams are available via Xbox’s official social media accounts, like Twitch, YouTube and Facebook. Xbox says all content will be presented in over 30 languages, including American Sign Language.

The console manufacturer is also organizing a number of in-person FanFest events to watch the streams with other people. These little soirees are set for Los Angeles, Mexico City, São Paulo, Melbourne and Warsaw.

E3 was canceled this year so here’s to hoping we get some big juicy reveals to take the sting out. Xbox needs some major buzz to offset a recent decline in console sales and it looks like the lukewarm reception to vampire shooter Redfall isn’t gonna do it.

TikTok announced today that its revised content monetization program is now available for all eligible creators. Designed to pay more and “unlock more exciting, real-world opportunities,” the Creativity Program Beta launched in February as an invite-only program. Starting today, it’s open to US creators 18 or older with at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the last 30 days.

TikTok says anyone entering the Creativity Program Beta can’t return to the Creator Fund, the previous monetization system launched in 2020 with an initial $200 million commitment (and a later promise to grow it to $1 billion over three years). However, some influencers have claimed that the Creator Fund only paid a few dollars for videos with millions of views. TikTok didn’t specify how much more the new system pays, but it says it’s based on feedback from the Creator Fund and is designed to “generate higher revenue potential.”

Apart from the follower and recent-view count requirements, the Creativity Program Beta also says participants must “create and publish high-quality, original content longer than one minute.” In addition, the company says eligible creators can track video eligibility in an updated dashboard, where they can also see their estimated revenue and performance metrics.

Even though Fortnite was exiled from Apple and Google's mobile app stores yearsago, there are still ways for you to play the all-conquering battle royale on your phone or tablet, thanks to the likes of Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now. Starting today, Fortnite will also be available on another cloud gaming service. It has dropped on Amazon Luna just in time for the latest Star Wars crossover.

There's one major caveat, though. Fortnite is available for free through Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now, but you'll need to pay to play it on Amazon Luna. Until the end of May, you can access it via an Amazon Prime subscription. After that, you'll need to have a Luna+ membership to access Fortnite on that platform. It's worth noting, however, that GeForce Now users on the free tier have a one-hour time limit per session.

Whichever cloud gaming service you use to play Fortnite, you'll need to sign in to an Epic Games account. You’ll have access to all the cosmetics you've unlocked on other platforms. You'll be able to level up your battle pass while you're away from your PC or console.

“Fortnite has been the most requested game from Luna customers in the US and we’re thrilled to bring the title to the service,” Amazon devices and services vice president Daniel Rausch told The Verge in a statement. Amazon confirmed to Engadget that Fortnite is also available on Luna in Canada, Germany and the UK after the service recently opened up in those countries.

This seems like more of a value add for existing Luna+ members to save them from switching to another web app to play Fortnite, rather than a way to encourage new users to sign up. There are several other notable games on Luna+, including the likes of Control, Alien Isolation, Devil May Cry 5, the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes and Batman: Arkham Knight. There's a seven-day free trial available, after which Luna+ costs $10 per month.

High-quality video won't make or break a livestream, but it certainly helps — and now it's considerably easier to provide. OBS Studio 29.1 is now available with support for AV1 stream encoding when broadcasting to YouTube. While YouTube treats the feature as a beta, it enables higher-quality footage than H.264 at similar bitrates, and higher resolutions if you have the headroom. As creator EposVox demonstrates, you can effectively eliminate visual artifacts with 1080p 60FPS video or jump to 4K at the same frame rate without consuming significantly more bandwidth than a 1080p H.264 feed.

The improvement relies on the new Enhanced RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) standard, which extends the existing approach to handle newer video formats. The technology also supports HDR, but the OBS team hasn't implemented it so far.

The encoding works with AMD, Intel and NVIDIA GPUs. Tom's Hardwarenotes that YouTube still transcodes the resulting output to its VP9 format, but the image quality loss is said to be slight.

The OBS upgrade won't have the greatest impact when many streamers use Twitch, which doesn't support AV1 and currently limits feeds to 6Mbps. YouTube, meanwhile, hasn't said when its support will be widely available. However, the change hints at a future where creators can stream video that looks about as good to viewers as it does on the host's PC.

Now that AMD has rounded out its high-performance mobile CPUs, it's turning its attention to chips for thin laptops. The company has introduced Ryzen 7040U processors that it claims can outrun the competition, particularly for gamers who may need to be content with integrated graphics. They all tout RDNA 3-based Radeon 700M GPUs that tout the enhancements seen on desktop video cards. A Ryzen 7 with the Radeon 780M runs between 30 percent to 139 percent faster than an equivalent Intel 13th-gen Core i7 P-series chip, AMD claims. That's at 1080p with low graphics settings, but it could make some games playable that weren't an option before.

AMD also believes the Ryzen 7040U line offers better raw computing power than rivals. The Zen 4 architecture is said to deliver between 29 percent to 128 percent better app performance than not just the Core i7, but 5 percent to 75 percent over the M2 found in Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro. AMD is relying on synthetic benchmarks to make the claim and is testing its highest-end Ryzen 7 part, but that may be worth considering if you plan to edit videos or juggle multiple productivity apps.

The new hardware also brings Ryzen AI acceleration to offload some work from the chip's main compute units. AMD also boasts of improved efficiency to provide the "longest possible time" on battery power, although it doesn't provide estimates. That's likely to vary based on the CPU model and exact laptop.

The initial lineup includes four processors. The Ryzen 3 7440U is aimed at the entry level with four cores, eight processing threads, a base 3GHz clock speed (up to 4.7GHz) and 12MB of cache. At the mid-range, the Ryzen 5 7540U uses six cores, 12 threads, a baseline 3.2GHz speed (up to 4.9GHz) and 22MB of cache. The Ryzen 5 7640U is slightly faster with Ryzen AI support, a 3.5GHz clock (up to 4.9GHz). The top-end Ryzen 7 7840U includes eight cores, 16 threads, Ryzen AI, a 3.3GHz starting clock (up to 5.1GHz) and 24MB of cache. All four models have a thermal design power between 15W and 30W.

We'd expect laptop manufacturers to begin using the Ryzen 7040U relatively quickly. It's too early to say if the advertised performance gains manifest in real life, but AMD is clearly confident it has some major advantages over rivals.

When you check the security settings of your Google account, you will now find a new section marked "Passkeys." That's because the tech giant has started rolling out support for the new authentication technology, which offers a passwordless experience across its services. I'm already seeing the option in my accounts, and activating it for my phone and laptop was almost a one-click experience.

The technology uses your device biometrics — your fingerprint or your face — or its pin to confirm that it's you logging in. However, it's completely different from using your biometrics to auto-populate username and password boxes. Creating a passkey for your account generates a pair of cryptographic keys, one private and one public. The private key stays on your device, and it's what Google will use to verify your identity with the public key uploaded to its servers. Passkeys are considered more secure than current login technologies, since private keys only stay on the device where they're created and can't be stolen if a hacker breaks into Google's servers. The fact that you don't have to use a password to sign in means the technology can also protect you from phishing attempts. 

Google has been championing the use of passwordless logins and had added passkey support for Chrome and Android last year. That said, it will not be removing the option to sign in using passwords — or to activate two-factor authentication — which will be especially helpful if you have a device that doesn't support the newer technology yet. If you log into your account on multiple devices, you can create a passkey for each one of them, unless you have access to a service that backs up or syncs passkeys. A passkey you create on an iPhone, for instance, will sync with devices that use the same iCloud account, so it can also be available on an iPad or a MacBook. 

You can also use a passkey stored on your current phone to sign into a new device. Just choose "use a passkey from another device" and click through, after which Google will ask if you want to create a separate passkey for that device. 

In the blog post written by the Google Account Security and Safety teams, they said:

"Today's launch is a big step in a cross-industry effort that we started more than 10 years ago and we are committed to passkeys as the future of secure sign-in, for everyone. We hope that other web and app developers adopt passkeys as well and are able to use our deployment as a model."