Diablo Immortalwas supposed to debut in China on June 23rd, but those who have been waiting for the game in the country will need to wait longer. NetEase, which co-developed the game with Blizzard, has pushed back the release date indefinitely. It wrote in a blog post that "the development team is making a number of optimization adjustments."
However, there are other factors at play. NetEase found itself in the bad graces of China's censors over a post on its Weibo social media service that seemingly referenced Winnie the Pooh, according to the Financial Times. The cartoon character is used to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the wake of a screenshot of the post (which read "why hasn't the bear stepped down?") gaining traction, the official Diablo Immortal Weibo account was banned from posting anything. Discussions related to the post were also wiped from the service.
Currently, Diablo Immortal does not have a release date in China, though NetEase still expects to ship the game in the country. It promised players an "exclusive thank-you package containing legendary equipment" as a makegood for the delay.
The PC and mobile title debuted in other territories this month. According to reports, it raked in $24 million in two weeks as a result of its aggressive approach to monetization. China is the biggest gaming market on the planet and not being able to release Diablo Immortal there would likely have a severe impact on the game's expected revenues. NetEase declined to comment to the Financial Times. Engadget has contacted Blizzard for comment.
It's not the first time a game developer has run into issues with Chinese regulators over a Winnie the Pooh reference. Publisher Indievent lost its license to sell Devotion in China, leading it to cut ties with developer Red Candle Games, which included a blatant dig at Xi in the game itself. The studio, which is based in Taiwan, later started selling a DRM-free version of Devotion on its own storefront.
Telegram has launched its paid $5 per month Premium subscription tier first revealed last month, it announced in a detailed blog post. Some of the notable features include a larger maximum file upload size, faster downloads, more channels and unique new stickers.
The current limit on file size uploads is 2GB, but Premium users can send files up to 4GB in size, handy for folks who send a lot of video or large ZIP files (all users can download those extra-large documents). Paid users will also be able to download media and files at their full network speeds, rather than seeing restricted speeds.
The Premium plan also doubles limits, letting you follow up to 1,000 channels, create up to 20 chat folders with 200 chats each, add a fourth account to any Telegram app, pin 10 chats and save up to 10 favorite stickers. And users will get unique stickers with full-screen animations visible to all users, along with unique reactions.
Other features include voice-to-text transcriptions, chat management, longer bios, animated profile pictures, more characters for media captions, 400 favorite GIFs, up to 20 public t.me links, premium badges and app icons and an ad-free experience.
Telegram also announced that it became one of the top give downloaded apps worldwide in 2022 and now has 700 million monthly active users. It also unveiled several new features for all users, including verification badges for public figures and organizations, join request for public groups, improved bots, improved chat previews on Android, improved external sharing on iOS and more. The update is rolling out gradually, so if you don't see it now, "the new version will become available soon," Telegram wrote.
Nreal users can now play some Steam games on their augmented reality glasses. The Chinese company has released the beta version of "Steam on Nreal," which gives users a way to stream games from their PC to their AR eyewear. Nreal admits that installing the beta release will require a bit of effort during the setup process, and the current version is not optimized for all Steam games just yet. It will work on both Nreal Light and Nreal Air models, though, and it already supports some popular titles like the entire Halo series.
To note, users can already play games on Nreal's glasses by accessing Xbox Cloud Gaming on a browser inside the company's 3D system called Nebula. But Steam on Nreal will give users who don't have Xbox accounts the opportunity to see what gaming on the device would be like. Company co-founder Peng Jin said the beta release is "meant to give people a glimpse into what is possible." He added: "AAA games should be played on a 200-inch HD screen and they should be played free of location restrictions."
Nreal launched its Light mixed reality glasses in 2020 after a US court ruled in its favor for the lawsuit filed by Magic Leap. The American company accused its former employee Chi Xu of using stolen secrets to set up Nreal, but the court decided that Magic Leap failed to make any viable claim. In 2021, Nreal launched a new model called Air that was designed with streaming shows and playing mobile games in mind. Air looks more like a pair of ordinary sunglasses than its predecessor does, and it also comes with a better display.
In an effort to offer more content and perhaps entice those on the fence to grab a pair of its glasses, Nreal has also announced AR Jam, an online international contest for AR developers that will kick off on June 27th. Developers can compete in various categories that include at-home fitness, art, games and video, with each one having a $10,000 grand prize. Those interested can head over to the company's Developer page for more information.
Google's newest Pixel feature drop is meant as much for spur-of-the-moment creativity as it is everyday conveniences. The company is rolling out a June feature update that, with a separate download, offers a free music-making tool from Teenage Engineering. The Pocket Operator for Pixel app (shown at middle) turns your videos into music and video "cut-ups" with a mix of sounds, patterns and visual effects. You'll need a Pixel 5 or newer to get started, but It could be worth a try if you'd like to craft beats during your downtime.
The feature drop also lets you see imagery from your Nest Doorbell on your Pixel phone's lock screen (pictured at left). You'll know right away if it's worth answering the door. And if you need to show proof of your COVID-19 shots, you can now take a screenshot of your digital vaccine card and create a shortcut for your home screen (right). This will only be available in Australia, Canada and the US, but could be helpful if you still need to show proof of vaccination to hop on a flight or enter a venue.
Other upgrades include a previously beta-only Conversation mode in the Sound Amplifier app (to enhance chats for people with hearing loss), a reminder to turn off your flashlight and (soon) air quality alerts for Australia, India and the US. You'll also find a trio of new Pride-themed wallpapers from Yann Bastard, while skin tone-friendly image filters are now active in Google Photos.
The update starts rolling out today to Pixel 4 and later devices. You can also expect broader support for existing features, including Car Crash Detection in Canada as well as new languages in Messages' chat translation (Dutch, Korean, Thai, Traditional Chinese and Turkish).
Oura, the startup that's pushing the limits of how small a wearable can be, just announced a collaboration that could boost its profile considerably. It's teaming with fashion house Gucci on the Gucci x Oura Ring, crafted in black synthetic corundum and adorned with the famous interlocking "G" and a braided torchon pattern, both in 18 carat yellow gold. It comes with Oura's latest Generation 3 tech, letting users monitor live heart rate, sleep, activity and more.
Oura
The ring weighs just four grams (0.14 ounces), but can read heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature to tell users if they're stressed or sick. It can supposedly measure heart rate more accurately than wrist-based smart watches by using arteries in the fingers. Users also receive sleep analysis based on those same vitals, with everything summarized into Sleep, Activity and Readiness scores displayed on the Oura App. It can then offer "science-backed content on how to optimize each day," according to the company.
In our last Oura Ring hands-on, we noted that the company has switched to a subscription model that costs $6 per month on top of the price of the ring ($300 for the current Oura Ring). Getting it down to such a small size was quite the feat of engineering, but it's still a tad chunky compared to a regular ring.
You'll obviously pay a premium for the Gucci x Oura Ring, now available at select stores around the world for $1,100 (€950). The good news is that Oura's "Lifetime Membership" subscription is included in the price, so you'll never have to pay for that. For more, check out the Gucci x Oura landing page here.
Google has shown off an artificial intelligence system that can create images based on text input. The idea is that users can enter any descriptive text and the AI will turn that into an image. The company says the Imagen diffusion model, created by the Brain Team at Google Research, offers "an unprecedented degree of photorealism and a deep level of language understanding."
This isn't the first time we've seen AI models like this. OpenAI's DALL-E (and its successor) generated headlines as well as images because of how adeptly it can turn text into visuals. Google's version, however, tries to create more realistic images.
To assess Imagen against other text-to-image models (including DALL-E 2, VQ-GAN+CLIP and Latent Diffusion Models), the researchers created a benchmark called DrawBench. That's a list of 200 text prompts that were entered into each model. Human raters were asked to assess each image. They "prefer Imagen over other models in side-by-side comparisons, both in terms of sample quality and image-text alignment," Google said.
It's worth noting that the examples shown on the Imagen website are curated. As such, these may be the best of the best images that the model created. They may not accurately reflect most of the visuals that it generated.
Like DALL-E, Imagen is not available to the public. Google doesn't think it's suitable as yet for use by the general population for a number of reasons. For one thing, text-to-image models are typically trained on large datasets that are scraped from the web and are not curated, which introduces a number of problems.
"While this approach has enabled rapid algorithmic advances in recent years, datasets of this nature often reflect social stereotypes, oppressive viewpoints, and derogatory, or otherwise harmful, associations to marginalized identity groups," the researchers wrote. "While a subset of our training data was filtered to removed noise and undesirable content, such as pornographic imagery and toxic language, we also utilized LAION-400M dataset, which is known to contain a wide range of inappropriate content including pornographic imagery, racist slurs and harmful social stereotypes."
As a result, they said, Imagen has inherited the "social biases and limitations of large language models" and may depict "harmful stereotypes and representation." The team said preliminary findings indicated that the AI encodes social biases, including a tendency to create images of people with lighter skin tones and to place them into certain stereotypical gender roles. Additionally, the researchers note that there is the potential for misuse if Imagen were made available to the public as is.
The team may eventually allow the public to enter text into a version of the model to generate their own images, however. "In future work we will explore a framework for responsible externalization that balances the value of external auditing with the risks of unrestricted open-access," the researchers wrote.
You can try Imagen on a limited basis, though. On its website, you can create a description using pre-selected phrases. Users can select whether the image should be a photo or an oil painting, the type of animal displayed, the clothing they wear, the action they're undertaking and the setting. So if you've ever wanted to see an interpretation of an oil painting depicting a fuzzy panda wearing sunglasses and a black leather jacket while skateboarding on a beach, here's your chance.
Huawei is today launching the Watch GT 3 Pro, which takes much of the features from the existing Watch GT 3 and sticks them in a much nicer body. The three regular versions, each with 46mm cases, are getting a titanium body and, depending on which model you opt for, a rubber, leather or titanium strap. From there, you’ll get most of the same features as the GT 3, albeit with the ability to run your own ECG when Huawei gets permission to activate the feature.
Huawei
Of more interest is the new Ceramic 42mm version, which offers a white case with gold accents and a white strap. It may be aimed at a different demographic, but it also looks at first blush like the coolest, fanciest and most unique of the bunch. Otherwise, you’ll get much of the same health and fitness tracking found on the GT 3, plus a bunch of pre-loaded golf maps and a free diving mode to help folks who like going underwater without assistance.
At the same time, Huawei is also announcing the Watch Fit 2, a sports and activity tracker that offers coaching. The new 1.74-inch AMOLED display is nearly 20 percent larger than was found on the Fit 1, and the feature set has broadened to include quick replies for WhatsApp as well as Huawei’s own apps. With space for 500 songs on board, and Huawei’s latest optical heart-rate sensor on the back, it’s designed to scratch the itch for folks who want a fitness-focused gadget but don’t need a full-blown smartwatch.
Almost a year after Google switched on end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for one-on-one chats in the Messages app, it says it's bringing those protections to group texts. The expanded feature will be available as an open beta later this year.
Google hasn't revealed more details about E2EE in group chats, but it will almost certainly be similar to how it works in one-on-one conversations. Everyone in the group will need to have RCS chat functions switched on to use the feature. You'll be able to tell if a message you're about to share with the group is encrypted if there's a lock icon on the send button.
The Messages app now has has more than 500 million monthly active users with RCS. So, there's already a large number of people who'd be able to take advantage of E2EE in group chats. If everyone in a group text enables E2EE, it'll be much more difficult for snoopers to see the messages they're sharing with each other.
Developing...
Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2022 right here!
It's the end of an era. Apple introduced the first iPod back in October 2001, when the company was highly dependent on its Mac computer sales and still on shaky financial ground. While the Mac requirement limited interest at the start, sales exploded after Windows users joined the fray — back when you needed to tether your iPod to your PC to sync music and, later, podcasts.
Now, in 2022, the company is finally discontinuing the iPod touch, which will only be available in stores "while supplies last." It’s the final death knell for the iconic gadget: Apple dropped the iPod classic in 2014, and both the iPod nano and iPod shuffle were discontinued in 2017.
The iPhone, ironically, was what killed the iPod, combining MP3 (not to mention video) playback with cellular networks, WiFi, apps, cameras and everything else.
Starting in 2023, the soccer series will be ‘EA Sports FC’
Don’t panic. The beautiful game will go on. Electronic Arts is calling it quits with FIFA after nearly 30 years of using the soccer governing body's name in the titles of its games. Starting in 2023, it’s renaming the series EA Sports FC. Which is rather (well, very) janky.
Other than the rebranding, the EA Sports FC games may not be vastly different. EA still holds licenses for more than 300 soccer partners and has exclusive agreements with the likes of the Premier League, MLS, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A.
The DJI Mini 3 Pro is a small, lightweight drone loaded with features found on bigger models, like the Mavic 3. It has some of the best image quality specs on a lightweight drone, including 4K 60p, 1080 120p and 48-megapixel photos, as well as advanced features like ActiveTrack, QuickShots and more. The Mini 3 Pro is a bit expensive at $910 with the new RC remote, though, and image quality might not be good enough for some pros. Check out our gorgeous review video from Steve Dent. And consider whether you’d like a new toy. I am.
Android 13, the Pixel 6a and Pixel Watch could all take the spotlight.
Google's I/O developer conference is finally returning as an in-person keynote for 2022, but that's not the biggest story likely to emerge from the event. This year, in addition to the customary Android update (we’re up to 13, now), it’s probably going to include the debut of the first Pixel smartwatch, and possibly at least one new Pixel phone and more. We break down everything we're expecting to see later today.
The Xbox Adaptive Controller was Microsoft’s first real attempt at making accessible hardware. And while it was very well received, it didn’t really impact non-gamers. Today, the company is launching an Adaptive Mouse kit.
The mouse core is a tiny square, approximately two inches (50mm) wide, and about as thick as a finger. This packs in the usual mousey parts: scroll wheel, left and right buttons, optical sensor and triggers for Bluetooth. The intriguing part comes from the Button, which you can program to perform any task you want. The Button can even handle sequential tasks, so you can have the first push open an app, have the second tap of the same button enter a phrase and a third send an email, for example. We’ve taken a deep dive and even toured Microsoft’s inclusive tech lab.
In an interview with The Financial Times, Elon Musk said he would reinstate Trump when his deal to acquire Twitter closes. “I guess the answer is that I would reverse the permaban,” Musk said in response to a question about whether he would allow the former president back on the platform. “Obviously, I don't own Twitter yet. So this is not a thing that will definitely happen because what if I don't own Twitter.”
Smartphones and cameras are better than ever for night shooting, but there are still a lot of caveats. You have to hold your phone still to get decent photos as multiple exposures are added together, and video is out of the question. However, there’s an emerging category of cameras dedicated to shooting in the dark using sensitive CMOS sensors and even infrared capability.
Some of those models are designed for commercial or military purposes, like SPi Infrared’s incredible X27 color night vision camera, but a few new models are aimed at consumers. One is the DuoVox Mate Pro, featuring a Sony STARVIS 2 CMOS surveillance camera sensor that’s supposedly a thousand times more sensitive than the latest smartphone sensors.
It promises clear colors images in extremely low light, where a smartphone or your eyes would see nothing. It also offers features like face detection, 2K video and more. It just launched on Kickstarter for $599, a fair amount of cash, so how does it work? I was able to get my hands on one to test it out.
Body and features
The camera is small and light but somehow bulky, weighing just 216 grams and measuring 4 inches wide by 2.1 inches tall. However, the lens juts out three inches, so it’s not even remotely pocketable. You wouldn’t want it in your pocket anyway, as it doesn’t come with a lens cap.
Controls are pretty simple, with a power button, shutter release and four directional buttons that activate different menu settings. You also get a microSD slot that supports up to 512GB cards, plus a USB-C port for charging, powering the camera and file transfers. Most control is done using the three-inch fixed touchscreen that’s bright enough to use in sunlight, which is nice but ironic for a night vision camera.
The settings are specific for night-type shooting, so they’re not what you’d find on a typical camera. For example, it has an instant recording video mode that starts the moment the camera is powered up, in case you see a deer and want to shoot quickly. It also uses a wayback mode that records continuously, but only keeps the footage if you hit the record button. Other video settings include a loop mode, timelapse mode and motion detection (for wildlife traps, for instance).
For photos, you get a quick capture mode that takes an image when the camera is powered on and face detection that automatically takes a photo when specific people are detected. You can also set things like screen brightness, quality and more.
The Mate Pro also has some decent wireless features. By setting it as a hotspot, you can connect your smartphone and use the accompanying Roadcam app to transfer images and control the camera remotely. I used it when I attached the camera to the hood of my car so I could trigger video recording remotely.
Image and video quality
The main attraction of this camera is the 1/1.8-inch Sony Starvis 2 CMOS sensor that’s far more sensitive than conventional sensors. It lets you shoot 3,200 x 1,800 images and 2,560 x 1,440 video at 30 fps. It’s not an infrared camera, but it can detect near-infrared light and is sensitive down to .0001 lux, equivalent to a moonless overcast night sky.
Bear in mind that the sensor is designed for security cameras, so image quality likely wasn’t Sony’s first priority. DuoVox does use AI stacking to get the best exposure and keep noise down, but it’s essentially shoehorning an industrial part into a consumer product.
The 7-element lens has a fast f/0.9 aperture and equivalent full-frame focal length of about 70mm. That’s very long, and the minimum focus distance is also very long, somewhere between 10-20 feet – so it’s not at all useful for shooting close objects. If you’re in a very low-light situation, it has a powerful built-in light with three different brightness levels.
I took the DuoVox Mate Pro out at night in a variety of situations to test it out. I had clear skies but no moon, so it was pitch black outside of any towns.
As I quickly discovered, this camera needs some light to work. When I pointed it at some trees, a field and a sky, everything was pitch black except for the sky. It could see stars and clouds, but the image was extremely grainy.
If you’re planning to use it for purposes like wildlife spotting or night photography with no sources of artificial light, as DuoVox touts on its Kickstarter page, you’ll need at least some moonlight to do so.
With a bit more light, it can produce surprisingly bright images with reasonably accurate color fidelity. One shot of a town was bright enough to clearly see the scene, but almost completely black on a smartphone. I mounted it to my car and took a ride, and everything was lit up like daytime.
Even with enough light for a scene, there are some pretty large drawbacks, though. The image is clearly boosted electronically, so the less light you have, the noisier it becomes. The grain clears up with more light, of course, but at that point you could just use your smartphone or a camera.
In addition, the focal length is impractical and the focal distance too long for indoor shooting, unless you have a large room. That issue can also make it difficult to use as a wildlife trap, as any animal approaching it would go out of focus. It’s also prone to strobing with artificial light sources, including its own light. And finally, it has no stabilization of any kind and severe rolling shutter. As such, you can’t shoot video handheld unless you have steadier hands than I do.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent/Engadget
The DuoVox Mate pro costs $600, with the price supposedly doubling to $1,200 once the Kickstarter campaign ends. It appears to be a success so far, with around $175,000 raised. But will buyers get what they expect for their purchase?
From what I’ve seen in the Kickstarter comments and elsewhere, many probably will. And the company does have a track record, having delivered previous night vision products including the Duovox V9, V8 and S1.
However, some backers may be disappointed, because DuoVox has no video that shows the true (noisy) image quality in low light. The company’s campaign really should include more images and video samples in very low light conditions, so backers have a better idea of what to expect.
That said, there are very few devices that deliver bright, full-color images in very dim light. One of those is the $800 Sionyx Aurora, which promises color images using visible and infrared light. It doesn’t offer the same color fidelity with infrared, but that feature appears to give it superior low-light sensitivity.
You could also just use a Sony A7S-series or other low-light camera and crank up the ISO to the max, then boost the signal further in post. It wouldn’t work as well in really dark conditions, but image quality would be far better.
If you’re looking for a night vision camera for travel, security or other purposes, and image quality is secondary, it is worth taking a look. DuoVox expects to start shipping in October, but keep in mind that with Kickstarter, there are no guarantees you’ll receive the product and you may lose all your money.
