Amazon is shutting down its Halo division. In an email the company sent to users on Wednesday, it said it would stop supporting all devices under the health brand, including the recently released Halo Rise sleep tracker, on July 31st, 2023. As part of the shutdown, Amazon is also laying off an unspecified number of employees. The company did not immediately respond to Engadget's comment request.    

“We have made the difficult decision to wind down the Halo program, which will result in role reductions,” Melissa Cha, the company vice-president of smart home and health, told staffers in a memo obtained by The Verge. “More recently, Halo has faced significant headwinds, including an increasingly crowded segment and an uncertain economic environment. Although our customers love many aspects of Halo, we must prioritize resources and maximize benefits to customers and the long-term health of the business.”

In its email to Halo users, Amazon said it would fully refund all Halo device and accessory purchases made in the last 12 months. The company will also refund any unused prepaid Halo subscription fees. If you were paying month-to-month for service, you won't be charged any additional subscription fees. Come August 1st, the Halo companion app will stop functioning, as will all Halo devices. If you wish to download or delete your data, you can do so from the software's Settings menu. Amazon will erase all remaining data on August 1st. You can send your soon-to-be potatoes to the company for disposal through the Amazon Recycling Program. 

The demise of the Halo brand shouldn't come as a surprise. Last month, Amazon announced it would lay off 9,000 employees. That's in addition to the 18,000 jobs it cut at the start of the year. Amazon was also late to the health and fitness segment. It announced the first product in the family, the Halo Band, in mid-2020, and it arrived without much fanfare, in part due to the fact some of its features were controversial. 

Acclaimed developer Young Horses just dropped four free games on Steam as part of a collection it's calling the Free Range initiative. The team behind the beloved PS5 launch title Bugsnax is known for making off-kilter takes on traditional game formulas, and these four titles look like they carry on that proud tradition.

These are not bigwig releases, as they were mostly developed as side projects and at various game jam events. The strangest one of the four, and therefore the most intriguing, is called Antbassador, which was originally developed for the Ludum Dare game jam. Have you ever wanted to control a giant finger in a tophat as you try to accommodate the needs of a bustling ant colony? Now’s your chance.

If you haven’t had your fill of picnic ruiners, there’s IndependANT. The 3D open-world platformer casts you as an ant trying to locate a missing queen. This is a new and original title that did not begin life as a game jam, but rather as a tech demo to show off the newly-implemented Unreal 5 engine.

We move from insects to reptiles with the hilariously-titled Snakedate. As the name suggests, you are a snake at a club looking for dates. This mostly involves swiping right on a snake-based dating website and then, uh, wrapping your slithering body around any creature that catches your fancy.

Finally, there’s Octodad: Student Edition. This is the original version of the standout hitOctodad: Dadliest Catch, first created when many key developers at Young Horses were still in college. It's a bit rough around the edges, as it's more than 12 years old, but this is Octodad through and through. This is the OG design that fueled a Kickstarter frenzy and started it all for the company.

All four titles are available for download right now, but only via the Steam Store. Octodad: Dadliest Catchfinally launched for the Switch some years back, but it looks like these four games are all PC exclusives for now.

Following a limited test that began in late February, Microsoft has begun rolling out iPhone support within its Phone Link app to the wider Windows 11 user base. The software, for the uninitiated, allows you to sync your calls, messages and contacts to your PC. Microsoft has offered Phone Link (in various forms) on Android devices since as far back as 2015. Microsoft expects to roll out iOS support to all Windows 11 users by mid-May.

Once you have access to the feature, the easiest way to link your devices together is to type “Phone Link” into Windows 11’s search bar. Coincidently, that’s also the best way to find out if you have access to the feature too. If you’re like me, you will probably see the option to add an iPhone grayed out, with the icon noting it’s “coming soon.” Once the feature does arrive, it’s also worth noting there are some limitations. As with the Insider test, you can’t use the app to send images and videos from your Windows machine. Group messaging also isn’t supported. Additionally, the software works on a session basis, so your latest messages will only come through when your iPhone and PC are connected. 

Still, even when you consider all those limitations, iPhone-carrying Windows users are sure to appreciate the integration offered by Phone Link, particularly since most people might not be familiar with options like Unison and AirDroid.

Palantir already sells its domestic surveillance services to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, so it should come as no surprise that the company founded by billionaire Peter Thiel is working to make inroads into the Pentagon as well. On Tuesday, the company released a video demo of its latest offering, the Palantir Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP). While the system itself is simply designed to integrate large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI's GPT-4 or Google's BERT into privately-operated networks, the very first thing they did was apply it to the modern battlefield.

In the video demo above, a military operator tasked with monitoring the Eastern European theater discovers enemy forces massing near the border and responds by asking a ChatGPT-style digital assistant for help with deploying reconnaissance drones, ginning up tactical responses to the perceived aggression and even organize the jamming of the enemy's communications. The AIP is shown helping estimate the enemy's composition and capabilities by launching a Reaper drone on a reconnaissance mission in response the to operator's request for better pictures, and suggesting appropriate responses given the discovery of an armored element. 

“LLMs and algorithms must be controlled in this highly regulated and sensitive context to ensure that they are used in a legal and ethical way,” the video begins. To do so, AIP's operation is based on three "key pillars," the first being that AIP will deploy across a classified system, able to parse in real-time both classified and non-classified data, ethically and legally. The company did not elaborate on how that would work. The second pillar is that users will be able to toggle the scope and actions of every LLM and asset on the network. The AIP itself will generate a secure digital record of the entire operation, "crucial for mitigating significant legal, regulatory, and ethical risks in sensitive and classified settings," according to the demo. The third pillar are AIP's "industry-leading guardrails" to prevent the system from taking unauthorized actions. 

A "human in the loop" to prevent such actions does exist in Palantir's scenario, though from the video, the "operator" appears to do little more than nod along with whatever AIP suggests. The demo also did not elaborate on what steps are being taken to prevent the LLMs that the system relies on from "hallucinating" pertinent facts and details.

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill that seeks to protect kids from the potentially harmful effects of social media. The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act would set 13 as the minimum age for using social media platforms, in line with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the current terms of many major services. Those aged between 13 and 17 would need parental consent to use social media apps, while platforms would not be allowed to use algorithms to recommend content to under 18s.

Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz and Chris Murphy introduced the bill alongside their Republican counterparts Tom Cotton and Katie Britt. The proposed legislation seeks to employ age verification technology, though it would prevent companies from using age verification data for other purposes. Were it to become law, the bill would establish a pilot program to offer platforms a government-provided age verification system. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general would have jurisdiction over the bill's provisions.

"Studies have shown a strong relationship between social media use and poor mental health, especially among children," the senators said in a press release. "With this clear evidence, the US Surgeon General has warned that 13 is too early for social media use and suggested that 16, 17, or 18 may be as well."

"The alarm bells about social media’s devastating impact on kids have been sounding for a long time, and yet time and time again, these companies have proven they care more about profit than preventing the well-documented harm they cause," Murphy said. "In particular, these algorithms are sending many down dangerous online rabbit holes, with little chance for parents to know what their kids are seeing online.”

This is hardly the first time that federal legislators have introduced bills in an attempt to protect children as they use online services. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal last year introduced the Kids Online Safety Act, which aimed to block platform holders from offering algorithmic recommendations to under 16s. Such companies would have been required to disable "addictive" features and offer kids tools to help them protect their data. The bill didn't make it out of committee before the end of the last congressional session.

Blumenthal and Sen. Dick Durbin introduced a bill in February that would give people the right to delete details of their internet activity that companies collected before they turned 13. In a related case as part of an FTC settlement related to COPPA, Epic Games last year agreed to delete Fortnite players' personal data unless they claimed to be 13 or older.

The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act follows similar efforts at state level. Last month, Utah became the first state to require parental consent for under-18s to use social media. The legislation grants parents full access to their children'' accounts, including private messages. The laws are set to take effect next March, but it's not yet clear how they'll be enforced.

LG has officially launched the SuperSlim, the new Gram laptop the company is calling the “thinnest LG Gram ever.” This is not just advertising hyperbole, as the SuperSlim is .43-inches thick and weighs two pounds. That definitely places the laptop in the realm of the ultra-portable. As a comparison, the 2022 Macbook Air is 0.44-inches thick and weighs 2.7 pounds.

The laptop was first teased at this year’s CES, back when it was called the Ultraslim. Not a lot has changed since the original announcement, aside from the name. The SuperSlim boasts decent specs, with an Intel Evo 13th Gen processor and Intel Iris Xe GPU. There is also a 15.6-inch anti-glare OLED display and LG touts a 100 percent DCI-P33 color gamut and VESA DisplayHDR True Black integration. It is worth noting that Apple is rumored to be launching its own 15-inch ultra-portable laptop in the near future. 

LG says the SuperSlim has passed seven tests to ensure military-grade durability, which is a good thing as we have noted some issues with previous Gram laptops surrounding flexibility and build quality. Other standout features include a more compact power adapter than previous Gram laptops, a full HD camera with integrated microphones and a trio of USB-C ports, two of which support Thunderbolt 4 connections.

This emaciated wonder is available now in two SKUs. You can purchase one with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD for $1,700 or a model with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD for $2,000. As a bonus, LG is throwing in a free Gram +view portable monitor with every purchase until May 14th.

Following a three-year hiatus, Netflix revealed on Wednesday that Black Mirror’s latest season will begin streaming in June. In an interview on the Tudum blog, series creator Charlie Brooker claimed Black Mirror’s latest episodes would surprise fans. “Partly as a challenge, and partly to keep things fresh for both me and the viewer, I began this season by deliberately upending some of my own core assumptions about what to expect,” he told the blog, adding the new season would tackle tropes he “previously sworn blind the show would never do.”

If nothing else, season six will feature Black Mirror’s most stacked cast to date. Some of the actors that lent their talents to the production include Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek), Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone), Himesh Patel (Station Eleven), Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down), Kate Mara (House of Cards), Rory Culkin (Columbus) and Salma Hayek Pinault (Frida), among many others. 

News that Netflix was working on a new Black Mirror season first surfaced nearly a year ago. At the time, it was rumored the anthology’s newest episodes would be more cinematic in scope, something the teaser trailer appears to confirm. After the past two seasons left critics and fans feeling the anthology had lost much of its incisive edge, it has a lot to prove.

Philips Hue might command much of the attention when it comes to smart light bulbs, but there are other options that allow you to control your home lighting from your phone without having to spend quite as much. Govee, for instance, offers some more affordable solutions, and several of the company's products are currently on sale at Amazon. Among them is a two-pack of 33-foot, color-changing LED strips. After a $20 coupon is applied at checkout, the light strips can be all yours for $57. That's $25 off the typical price.

Govee's strip lights have a protective coating that's said to protect them from moisture and dust. The company says that, as opposed to RGB lighting, its RGBIC approach enables it to display "stunning segmented colors" on a line. 

You can connect the strips directly to your WiFi router and control them using Alexa or Google Assistant. Otherwise, you can customize the lighting through Govee's app. There's also the option to sync the lighting to music. It's worth noting that the bundle comes with one power adaptor that has two connection ports, so you'll need to keep the two LED strips next to each other.

Also in Govee's Amazon sale (which includes a set of string lights that has dropped in price by 41 percent), there's a solid deal on a floor lamp. This product works with Alexa and it has support for music sync as well. The lamp has multiple sections, each of which can display different colors. Curiously, the Amazon listing notes that buyers will either be sent an old or a new version at random. The old one is 55.5 inches, while the newer smart lamp measures 53.7 inches. In any case, you can currently snap one up for $80, which is $20 off the usual price.

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Laya's Horizon is the next big mobile game from Snowman, the studio behind Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey, and it'll be available to play on May 2nd. While both Alto games were exclusive to iOS at launch, Laya's Horizon will hit iOS and Android devices simultaneously, and it'll be ad-free and cost $0 for anyone with a Netflix account.

Laya's Horizon is Snowman's most ambitious game yet, and its launch trailer showcases a vast mountaintop world as it introduces the game's main mechanic — zipping through the air in a wingsuit. The main character soars among various biomes, falling rapidly and grazing the edges of cliffs, trees and villages, collecting yellow gems along the way. The map is densely populated with plant life and man-made structures, while the sea stretches beyond, always within view.

I've spent some time playing Laya's Horizon, and it's clear that this is more complex and fast-paced than either Alto game, with more opportunities to crash and burn, but also more room to learn and grow. It's an engaging, cozy and responsive experience — I'll share more impressions about it closer to launch day.

Snowman partnered with Netflix for Laya's Horizon, and it's not the only indie studio working with the streaming company nowadays. Netflix is making a big and, so far, successful push into video game publishing and development, bringing titles like Spiritifarer and Into the Breach to mobile platforms for the first time. Netflix even purchased the team behind Oxenfree, Night School Studio, which is preparing to release Oxenfree II: Lost Signals this July.

Laya's Horizon is the next big mobile game from Snowman, the studio behind Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey, and it'll be available to play on May 2nd. While both Alto games were exclusive to iOS at launch, Laya's Horizon will hit iOS and Android devices simultaneously, and it'll be ad-free and cost $0 for anyone with a Netflix account.

Laya's Horizon is Snowman's most ambitious game yet, and its launch trailer showcases a vast mountaintop world as it introduces the game's main mechanic — zipping through the air in a wingsuit. The main character soars among various biomes, falling rapidly and grazing the edges of cliffs, trees and villages, collecting yellow gems along the way. The map is densely populated with plant life and man-made structures, while the sea stretches beyond, always within view.

I've spent some time playing Laya's Horizon, and it's clear that this is more complex and fast-paced than either Alto game, with more opportunities to crash and burn, but also more room to learn and grow. It's an engaging, cozy and responsive experience — I'll share more impressions about it closer to launch day.

Snowman partnered with Netflix for Laya's Horizon, and it's not the only indie studio working with the streaming company nowadays. Netflix is making a big and, so far, successful push into video game publishing and development, bringing titles like Spiritifarer and Into the Breach to mobile platforms for the first time. Netflix even purchased the team behind Oxenfree, Night School Studio, which is preparing to release Oxenfree II: Lost Signals this July.