It's almost time to tune into what could be one of Sony's most important streaming events this year. The company is airing its PlayStation VR2-focused State of Play event today (June 2nd) at 6PM Eastern, and you watch live through YouTube (below) as well as through Twitch.

The company will offer peeks at several PSVR2 games, some of which might be the 20 "major" titles promised for launch. You can also expect other third-party game introductions as well as unspecified "updates." While we wouldn't count on many huge revelations, this State of Play might represent the first real look at the PS5-oriented headset's game selection beyond a handful of brief announcements. You could get a better sense of whether or not PSVR2 will be worth the investment.

Another food app has been caught sharing location data without asking. As CBC Newsreports, Canadian privacy authorities have determined that restaurant chain Tim Hortons collected "granular" location data through its mobile app without valid consent between May 2019 and August 2020. The coffee-and-donut giant was supposed to be using positional info from its partner Radar Labs for targeted ads, but the app was gathering locations as frequently as every few minutes, whether or not the app was open — even if you'd explicitly limited that collection through settings.

Investigators also found that there weren't enough contractual protections for the personal data Radar processed. The clauses were "vague and permissive" enough that Radar could have used sensitive content for its own purposes, according to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. While Radar would have needed to anonymize the data, officials said the contract still wasn't strong enough to adequately protect users' data.

The investigation came soon after Financial Post journalist James McLeod wrote a story revealing the extent of Tim Hortons' location-gathering practices. The app checked McLeod's location over 2,700 times in less than five months, including when he traveled to Morocco. The piece prompted multiple class action lawsuits.

The privacy offices noted that Tim Hortons' real-world data use was "very limited," and that restaurant operator TDL Group agreed to delete relevant data alongside its partners. The company also agreed to create a privacy management program that kept its apps from violating privacy laws. In a statement, Tim Hortons told the CBC that it had "strengthened" its privacy team.

Even so, the findings highlight the concerns about potential app data abuse. While Tim Hortons isn't known to have misused info, other companies have put data on sale and otherwise lost control. Those compromises can lead to unwanted advertising and, in extreme cases, probes into your personal life. British Columbia privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy saw this latest investigation as proof stronger oversight was necessary, and it wouldn't be surprising if Canada and other countries took action.

The price of Ring's cheapest security camera subscription plan has stayed flat at $3 a month since it was introduced in 2017. But soon, alongside increased video storage and some expanded features, the price of a Protect Basic subscription is going up by 99 cents.

Ring says the rate hike will go into effect starting with your first bill on or after July 1st, 2022, bumping the price of a Protect Basic plan up to $3.99 a month or $39.99 per year. Other Ring subscription plans are staying the same, with the Protect Plus plan remaining at $10 or month, or $20 a month for Protect Pro. In its press release, Ring justified the increase by adding support for more video storage (up to 180 days, up from 60 days), larger bulk videos downloads (up to 50 videos at a time, up from 20) and the ability to receive exclusive discounts on future Ring products (which was previously only available with Protect Plus and Protect Pro plans).

Amazon/Ring

While a 99-cent bump might not sound like much, because each Protect Basic plan only covers a single camera per sub and Ring cameras require a subscription to save and record videos, owners with two or three cameras could be looking at a more significant yearly cost. This may push some customers towards upgrading to Ring's mid-range Protect Plus plan, which covers all the cameras in your home for $10 a month. 

In the future, Ring also says package alert functionality will soon be available on a wider range of doorbells, along with upcoming support for smart alerts, sound detection, and custom event alerts — all of which are currently not available with a Protect Basic plan. Thankfully, it appears standard functions such as two-way communication and the live camera view will continue to work without a subscription. So if you don't want to fork over an extra dollar a month, you'll still have access to a limited set of default features. 

Universal Studios Hollywood is aiming to open Super Nintendo World sometime in early 2023, the theme park tweeted today. The Nintendo-themed amusement park is currently being built inside the existing Universal Studios theme park in California, and will feature rides, games and an immersive environment modeled after the Super Mario video game franchise. According to Disney Parks news site WDWNT, construction is currently underway on Bowser’s Castle and other areas of the park.

The theme park also released a sneak preview of its signature ride, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, where riders will collect coins and throw shells in order to defeat Team Bowser. Riders will don Mario hats and special AR goggles while aboard a four-seat Mario Kart-style vehicle. The same ride is also a part of Super Nintendo World Japan, which opened last year.

“Ready to experience Mario Kart like never before? Put on the special goggles and battle Team Bowser on iconic Mario Kart courses alongside Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach,” says a description of the ride on the theme park’s website.

It’s unclear whether the US-based Nintendo parks (an Orlando park is planned for 2024) will be inspired by the Japan park or a carbon copy. If they follow Japan's lead, US fans of Donkey Kong could be in for a treat in a few years. According to Videogames Chronicle, Super Nintendo World Japan is currently building a Donkey Kong-themed area that will include a roller coaster and branded merchandise and food.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has only been in theaters for a few weeks, but you won't need to wait much longer to catch the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie at home. It will start streaming on Disney+ on June 22nd at no extra cost to subscribers.

In another example of the theatrical exclusivity window narrowing, the movie will be available on Disney+ just 47 days after its arrival in theaters. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Free Guy also landed on Disney+ just 45 days or so into their theatrical runs.

It used to be the case that movies would be in cinemas only for 90 days before they were available as home entertainment options, but the pandemic upended that. Some major studios, including Disney, started putting movies up on streaming services or made them available for digital rental on the same day they debuted in theaters. Netflix and some smaller studios and distributors adopted the day-and-date approach long before the onset of COVID-19 prevention measures.

Meanwhile, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness isn't the only MCU property coming to Disney+ this month. The Ms. Marvel series will premiere on June 8th.

Four decades after famed film director Quentin Tarantino and his "Pulp Fiction" co-writer Roger Avary started their employment at Video Archives in 1983, the pair are reuniting once again to host a podcast exploring those seminal moments and the movies that influenced their later careers in The Video Archives Podcast, premiering on Sirius Stitcher later this summer. 

“We never imagined that 30 years after we worked together behind the counter at Video Archives, we would be together again doing the exact same thing we did back then: talking passionately about movies on VHS,” Tarantino and Avary said in a joint statement. “Watching movies was what originally brought us together and made us friends, and it’s our love of movies that still brings us together today.”

The films will be pulled from Tarantino's extensive collection of more than 8,000 tapes and DVDs — Video Archives' actual archives that he bought after the rental shop went out of business. 

Sirius has been working to develop its spoken word offerings in recent years, launching three new Marvel podcasts in 2020, reviving Lucille Ball's old radio show, buying "99 Percent Invisible," and purchasing not only Conan O'Brien's podcast but his entire media company to boot. The Engadget Podcast, on the other hand, is entirely subscription-free while Filmcast, from Engadget's own Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar, has all the movie references with (I assume) far fewer N-bombs than Tarantino's.

Meta is adding a slew of new tools to Reels as it tries to keep up with TikTok. The updates include new editing features, longer uploads and the ability to push reels into Facebook feeds. The changes come as Meta has made competing with TikTok one of its top priorities. Mark Zuckerberg has said that attracting younger users — who are increasingly spending more of their time on TikTok, not Meta-owned apps — is the company’s “north star.” And that Reels will be “as important for our products as Stories.”

In keeping with that theme, Reels on Instagram are getting several features that have long been popular on Stories, including poll, emoji and quiz stickers, which have helped boost engagement with Stories over the years.

The app is also adding new editing tools that should give creators more flexibility in the types of videos they can create in the Instagram app. Notably, creators will be able to import their own audio, so they can add sounds from videos in their Camera Roll to their Reels.Instagram is also adding templates, to make it easier to riff on other creators’ videos. Finally, the app is expanding the maximum length of Reels to 90 seconds, which is nowhere near the 10-minute videos TikTok recently announced, but is a significant bump from the previous 60-second limit.

Meta is refreshing Reels on Facebook as well. The company is adding separate editing tools for desktop, including video clipping features so creators can easily grab portions of live and other longer form videos and turn them into Reels. Facebook is also getting new scheduling and audio tools to more easily publish and edit reels from desktop.

Finally, Facebook will start pushing a lot more “suggested” Reels into users’ feeds. Reels will appear more often on Facebook, similar to how Reels have slowly been taking over Instagram’s feed in recent months. The company will also prompt Instagram creators to start cross-posting their Reels to Facebook.

BioWare has finally shared more than the briefest of teases for its next Dragon Age game. The studio has revealed that the future title will be named Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, and that it will revolve around its enigmatic namesake character. The Dread Wolf, also known as Solas, is rumored to be an ancient elven god and could be a traitor, a hero for his people or something in between.

More details for Dreadwolf are coming later in the year, BioWare added. The company still hasn't committed to a release date, but it emphasized that the new Dragon Age game wouldn't arrive in 2022.

Word of the new Dragon Age first emerged in December 2020, but little has been mentioned since. There may have been a sharp change in direction, however. Reports emerged that BioWare and EA scrapped plans to make Dreadwolf a Destiny 2-style "live service" game in favor of a more conventional single-player experience. If so, this isn't shocking — BioWare's online-only Anthemfloundered, while Respawn's multiplayer-free Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a hit that prompted a sequel. The long development time might be necessary to rework the game and deliver the follow-up series fans are expecting.

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference takes place next week and, as always in the lead up to the event, the rumor mill is churning away. A report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests that Apple will reveal some big updates for iPadOS 16. Apple has long been trying to position the iPad as a viable alternative to a laptop, and the software changes will seemingly nudge the device further in that direction.

Gurman's sources say iPadOS 16 will have a revamped multitasking interface, including more resizing options. Currently, users can run apps in full screen or side by side in Split View. The Slide Over function allows you to bring in a narrower version of a third app as well. The next version of iPadOS will seemingly make it easier to move between apps and see which ones you have open too. 

To add fuel to the fire, developer Steve Troughton-Smith last week spotted code in WebKit which indicates that Apple may allow for freely resizable windows in iPadOS.

Improved multitasking options and resizable apps will be very welcome for many users. Folks have long been able to use keyboards with the iPad and Apple added full mouse and trackpad support two years ago. Whether the mooted iPadOS updates will actually help the device become a laptop killer remains to be seen, but it's clear Apple hasn't given up on the idea. 

Also during Monday's keynote, we'll surely get a look at what's next for the iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch operating systems. Gurman previously reported that iOS 16 will introduce more health-tracking features, upgraded notifications and support for always-on displays (which is expected to only be available on iPhone 14 Pro models at first). A refreshed lock screen may include widgets, which Messages is believed to be getting more features as well.

While we wait to learn more about Android 13, Google continues to release new features to its platform in the same regular cadence it's adopted for the last few years. Today, the company has announced a set of updates around GBoard stickers, the Play Store and accessibility apps like Lookout and Sound Amplifier.

First, Google is bringing custom text stickers, which it previously launched on Pixel phones, to all Android devices. The feature allows you to convert English words into images, so if you type "Hi Ma" into GBoard and tap the custom stickers button in the suggested emojis row, you'll see some auto-generated graphics featuring that text in different designs. Your language will have to be set to US English for this to work, for now.

The company is also adding more than 1,600 new Emoji Kitchen combinations so you can make new hybrid emoticons by tapping two symbols in succession. It's also adding rainbow-themed stickers for users to share their Pride celebrations. 

Sound Amplifier is an Android app that makes sounds around you louder, which could be helpful for people with hearing loss. "Today's update brings improved background noise reduction," according to Google, along with "faster and more accurate sound and a revamped user interface that is easier to see."

Also relevant to accessibility is the Lookout app, which uses the device's camera to identify and describe objects around the user. It can read out words on signs or tell you if there's say, a table at the two o'clock position, for example, so you can avoid walking into it. Today, Google's adding a new Images mode that uses its "latest machine learning model for image understanding" and can describe an image even if you opened it from "just about any app." The company also updated the Text, Documents, Food Label and Explore modes to make the app more accurate. Plus, Lookout now works offline, so you can use it without an internet connection.

Finally, those who have been racking up Google Play Points can use them to get in-app items without leaving their games or apps. You can choose to pay for things with solely Play Points or a mix of money and points. This feature is rolling out over the coming weeks in the countries where Play Points are available. Meanwhile, you can update your other apps like Lookout and GBoard to see the new tools announced today.