It’s one thing to steal from the government, but stealing from children is a whole lot worse. Sadly, that’s precisely what one New Mexico school district employee did. Kristy Stock was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for her role in a scheme to steal and resell more than 3,000 iPods intended for Native American students.

A release issued by the Department of Justice details the charges against Stock of tax fraud and transportation of stolen goods. According to her plea agreement and court documents, the scheme began back in 2013 when she was in charge of a program for the Central Consolidated School District of New Mexico designed to provide devices to Native American students living on tribal reservations.

While overseeing the program, Stock was supposed to use federal grant money to buy iPods to distribute to students. However, thanks to help from other conspirators including her friend James Bender and Saurabh Chawla, the group ended up shipping the stolen iPods to Maryland where they were listed on eBay before being sold at a “substantial” markup.

Due to his own account having previously been suspended due to security concerns, Chawla was forced to use Bender’s eBay account to list the stolen devices for auction, with Bender serving as an intermediary. Later, between 2015 and 2018, Stock communicated directly with Chawla, providing info on the make, model, color and quantity of devices before agreeing on a price and putting them up for auction.

All told, Stock admitted that she made more than $800,000 from selling stolen iPods between 2013 and 2018. To make matters worse, Stock also filed fraudulent tax returns on the income, resulting in tax loss of around $270,000. That said, while Stock faces an 18-month prison sentence, she actually got off lighter than her co-conspirator Chawla, who was sentenced to 66 months after failing to pay more than $700,000 in taxes. Meanwhile, Bender was sentenced to just 366 days in prison.

So while Stock and her crew eventually got caught, the real lesson is that here is that crime doesn’t pay–especially if you’re stealing from children and then lying on your taxes about your ill-gotten income.

On January 20th, IO Interactive will celebrate the first anniversary of Hitman 3 in a style befitting Agent 47's sharp suit. It will release a bundle of all three World of Assassination games on PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. What's more, the bundle will be available to Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers at no extra cost.

Hitman 3 will debut on Steam on the same day, one year after it arrived on Epic Games Store. Epic's one-year exclusivity window on PC might have caused issues for those who wanted to pull in locations from the first two games. In any case, you'll soon be able to access the whole trilogy on Steam

Later this month, PC players can check out Hitman 3's virtual reality mode. Given that owners of the previous two games can access locations from those titles, you'll be able to play the entire trilogy in VR. The virtual reality mode has been available on PSVR since last January.

IO has also laid out some of its content plans for Year Two of Hitman 3. In Elusive Target Arcade, each contract will challenge players to take down multiple Elusive Targets in a certain order, with some complications added for good measure. 

Unlike standard Elusive Targets, which you only get one shot at, Arcade contracts are permanent additions to the game. The twist is that, if you fail a contract, you need to wait 12 hours before you can try again. IO says this will help Arcade contracts retain the high-stakes spirit of Elusive Targets. Three Arcade Contracts will be added on January 20th, with more to follow later in the year.

Another new mode called Freelancer is coming to Hitman 3 this spring. It includes a customizable safehouse where you can plan out missions. That's important, because the mode has roguelike elements. If you take gear out on a mission and don't return with it, that equipment will vanish from your inventory. However, you'll be able to acquire weapons and items from Suppliers that you find in mission locations.

Later this year, IO will add a ray-tracing mode to the PC version of Hitman 3, which will work with locations from the other games. The studio also plans to harness XeSS (Xe Super Sampling), Intel's answer to NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR upscaling tech, as well as variable rate shading to boost performance.

Even though IO Interactive has another exciting project in the works in the form of a James Bond game, it's nice to see the studio giving Hitman fans plenty to look forward to as well.

No, you still can't escape "Baby Shark." Billboardreports Pinkfong's so-catchy-it-hurts children's song has become the first video to reach 10 billion views on YouTube. And no one is likely to catch it any time soon — Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" video, which "Baby Shark" overtook as the most popular video in November 2020, has managed 'just' 7.7 billion views as of this writing.

The 2016 tune's familiar (if very repetitive) hook is certainly part of its success, but it has also been helped by returning to popular culture over and over again. On top of celebrity covers from the likes of James Corden and Bebe Rexha, "Baby Shark" has also enjoyed a 2019 tour, a viral dance challenge, a spot in Just Dance 2020 and a Nickelodeon TV show that premiered in 2021. Simply put, Pinkfong has kept the track in the limelight where even breakout songs like "Despacito" have faded away.

Interest isn't likely to cool off in the immediate future. Nickelodeon has not only renewed its "Baby Shark" show, but promised a feature-length movie. There's even an NFT collection if you're determined to merge two internet trends. It could take a long while before another video pulls ahead, even with K-pop megastars routinely breaking ground in other areas.

A Netflix docuseries is in the works that will offer viewers a look behind the curtain at the lives of some of the planet's top golfers. The PGA Tour and the governing bodies of the four men's major championships are all onboard for the series, which will cover the 2022 golf season.

Major winners including Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia are all taking part. The current top-ranked men's player, Jon Rahm, isn't participating for the time being, though the planet's leading amateur, Keita Nakajima, is involved as he prepares to play in the majors for the first time.

"We are thrilled to bring golf's leading organizations and players together for this first-of-its-kind partnership and unparalleled window into life on the Tour," said Brandon Riegg, Netflix's vice president of unscripted and documentary series. "Our members will love getting to know the players and personalities as well as the iconic venues along the way. Even the most devoted golf fans have never seen the sport quite like this."

The show will be co-produced by Box To Box Films (which is behind Formula 1: Drive to Survive, another big Netflix sports docuseries) and Vox Media Studios. The PGA Tour and governing bodies for the majors will surely be hoping that the series can do for golf what Formula 1: Drive to Survive has done for the highest level of motorsport.

That show is credited with drawing new audiences to Formula 1 and it greatly boosted the sport's popularity in the US. While golf arguably still has a higher profile in the States, perhaps the docuseries will help it draw in younger viewers too.

Ubisoft's The Settlers revival is finally here... almost. The company has revealed that its reboot of the classic build-up real-time strategy game will be available March 17th for Windows PCs through the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect. The developers are also whetting appetites with a five-day, registration-only closed beta starting January 20th that will include two of the game's three factions as well as two multiplayer Skirmish modes (one- and two-player teams).

The rebuilt game is "mostly" derived from The Settlers III and The Settlers IV, and looks decidedly nicer than many RTS titles thanks to the use of the same Snowdrop Engine you find in games like The Division series and the upcoming Avatar release. While it won't compete with the latest first-person shooter in looks, it might be more visually appealing than its competitors. There is a story-driven single-player campaign, but Ubisoft is clearly banking on the eight-way multiplayer to help with longevity.

However well the game plays, Ubisoft's main challenge is simply revitalizing the franchise. There hasn't been a brand-new game in the series since The Settlers Online in 2010, and the decade since has only led to a cancelled game (Kingdoms of Anteria) and four years of development for the imminent reboot. While there will certainly still be fans, it's not clear how many of them were willing to wait a decade for a follow-up.

If you missed the holiday-season discounts on Apple's latest AirPods last year, you have another opportunity to get them today. Amazon has the third-generation AirPods for $140 right now, which is 22 percent off and a return to their record-low price. Apple released these buds last fall and they represent a complete redesign from the original AirPods, which resembled Apple's old-school EarPods.

While the second-generation AirPods haven't been retired yet, the latest models will likely work better for most people. That's due in part to their new design, which looks more like the AirPods Pro. They don't have the removable silicone ear tips that the Pros have, but they have a contoured look with a shorter stem plus an IPX4 rating that should protect them during sweaty workouts.

Apple also greatly improved the audio on these AirPods; their custom driver and high-dynamic-range amplifier help produce crisp sounds with rich bass. While they don't support ANC, the third-gen earbuds do have Adaptive EQ, spatial audio and always-on Siri. The H1 chip inside helps enable all of those features, along with fast pairing and switching between Apple devices. We also appreciate their battery life — you should get six hours of listening time before they need more juice, and roughly 30 total hours of use with the extra power provided by their charging case.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

As if the market for battle royale games wasn’t crowded enough already, you’ll soon have another option in the form of My Hero Academia: Ultra Rumble. Based on the popular manga and anime, Bandai Namco teased the title in a Weekly Shōnen Jump article spotted by Gematsu.

Ultra Rumble doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will come to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. Compared to battle royales like Call of Duty: Warzone and PUBG, Ultra Rumble looks like it will be a more intimate affair with support for up to 24 players in a single match. Bandai Namco plans to hold a closed beta for the game in the future.

It’s hard to judge the potential quality of Ultra Rumble based on a few magazine scans, but as Eurogamer notes, past My Hero Academia haven’t been great despite the popularity of the source material. 2018’s My Hero One’s Justice, for instance, was greeted mostly with middling reviews. Here’s hoping Ultra Rumble breaks that trend.

Nearly four years after Sony released its highly successful A7 III hybrid full-frame mirrorless camera, it finally launched a follow up. The A7 IV brings a raft of new features and improvements like a higher-resolution 33-megapixel sensor, improved video specs and updated AI-powered autofocus. However, at $2,500 it’s also $500 more than the A7 III was at launch.

A lot has changed over the years between the two models. Sony now has to contend with formidable rivals like Canon’s EOS R6 and the Nikon Z6 II. It itself has also released new high-end models like the A7S III, A7R IV and A1 loaded with the latest technology.

With all that, I was of course curious to see how the A7 IV would stack up in a category it dominated for quite a few years. How does it measure up against rivals, particularly when it comes to video? How much new tech from the high-end models has made it to the mainstream A7 IV? And is it suitable for professional use? Let’s dive in and find out.

Design and handling

Sony’s A1, A7S III and A7R IV all had substantial body changes compared to their predecessors, and the A7 IV follows the same script. It has the same nice big grip, so you never feel you’re going to drop it, even with a big lens. However, it has picked up some heft and size, weighing in at 699 grams compared to 650 with the AIII. It’s 7mm thicker, too.

It has similar controls to the A7 III, with the biggest difference being that the record button has moved from the back to an easier-to-access position on top. The buttons and dials also generally feel better and more precise, and the joystick is grippier and easier to use. It lacks certain dials compared to the far more expensive A1, like the shooting mode and autofocus dials. The lockable exposure compensation dial is the same, but lacks the graphics because it’s designed to be programmable.

In one way, however, the A7 IV’s body is a step up from the A1. The rear touch display can fully articulate and not just tilt out, so it’s much more practical for low-angle shooting in portrait orientation. That also makes it far more useful as a vlogging camera.

It has the same well-organized menu system as the A1 and A7S III, though some controls can be a bit tricky to find. As with any other modern camera then, it’s time well spent to set up the function menu, custom menus and manual controls to your liking. Overall, though, Sony’s menus are now among the best, and better organized than on Canon’s EOS R6, for example.

Steve Dent/Engadget

The 3.69-million dot EVF is much clearer than the 2.68-million dot one one on the A7 and on par with similarly priced rivals. However, the rear display is smaller and has lower resolution than the one on the R6. That can make manual focus tricky, though the A7 IV has a new feature that can help there – more on that shortly.

The A7 IV has a dual-slot card system that supports both SD UHS II and much faster CFexpress Type A cards. However, unlike the slots on the A1 and A7S III, it only has a single dual-slot, with the other being SD UHS II only. Type A CFexpress cards aren’t quite as fast as regular CFexpress cards, topping out at 800 MB/s compared to 1,700 MB/s. They're also only used in Sony cameras, so they’re relatively hard to find and quite expensive.

Other features include a USB-C port that can power the camera during operation, along with a full-sized HDMI port, thank God. It uses Sony’s new NP-FZ100 battery that delivers up to 580 shots on a charge, or about 2 hours of 4K video shooting. Finally, the A7 IV can close its mechanical shutter when the camera is turned off, protecting it from dust when you change lenses. That’s a feature that first appeared on the EOS R, so thanks for starting that trend, Canon.

Performance

Steve Dent/Engadget

Sony’s mirrorless cameras are renowned for their autofocus speeds and AI smarts and the A7 IV is no exception. However, Sony made some compromises that affect performance.

The new 33-megapixel sensor is back-side illuminated but not stacked like the sensor on the A1, so readout speeds are relatively slow. As a result, shooting speeds are 10 fps like the A7 III in either mechanical or electronic shutter modes for compressed RAW photos, and drop to 6 fps if you use lossless or uncompressed RAW, as many photographers prefer to do.

That’s still impressive considering the resolution is up nearly 50 percent. By comparison though, the Sony A1 can shoot 50-megapixel photos in electronic mode at up to 30 fps, showing the speed benefits of a stacked sensor.

While burst speeds aren’t improved, you can capture more photos at a time, up to 1,000 in the uncompressed RAW format. If you use CFexpress Type A cards from Sony or ProGrade, you can effectively shoot forever without filling the buffer.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Another drawback with the A7 IV’s slow sensor readout speeds is rolling shutter. If you want to shoot silently in electronic mode, you’ll need to keep the camera steady and your subject can’t move quickly either. Otherwise, you’ll see slanted lines and other artifacts that can be bad enough to ruin shots. Using the crop mode helps a lot, but then you lose the benefits of a full-frame sensor.

The A7 IV is Sony’s most advanced camera yet when it comes to autofocus. All of Sony’s new AI tricks add up to make it the easiest to use and most reliable camera I’ve ever tested in that regard.

Unlike the A7 III, face, eye and body tracking works in all focus modes for animals, birds and people. Unless you turn it off, it’ll automatically pick up your subject’s eyes, face or body and track them even if they turn or disappear from frame.

Whether you’re tracking sports, birds or cars, the tracking spot will stay tenaciously locked to your subject in most situations. All you have to do is touch the subject you want to track and the camera will take it from there.

Steve Dent/Engadget

The A7 IV’s autofocus can easily keep up with the camera’s burst speeds for sports or bird shooting. But more importantly, the A7 IV consistently nails focus in other tricky situations, particularly with people. In some chaotic situations with lots of subjects and complex lighting, I ended up with very few unusable shots. Keep in mind that optimum focus performance requires Sony’s latest lenses, but it worked well with recent Sigma models as well.

Focus is just one part of the equation. It consistently nailed auto-exposure and auto white balance in tricky situations with a mix of lighting. That worked well in a bar with a mix of studio and practical lights, or in front of the famous Paris department store animated windows with all kinds of colors of lights.

In-body stabilization improves a half stop over the A7 III to 5.5 stops with compatible lenses, but neither comes close to Canon’s claimed 8 stops on the EOS R6. That’s somewhat balanced out by Sony’s superior high ISO performance, however. I was still able to get reasonably sharp shots down to a half second with some care.

Photo Quality

A big improvement with the A7 IV is with image quality. You’d expect more sharpness with the extra resolution, and it certainly delivers that. However, you might also think that the smaller pixels would make A7 IV worse in low light, but nope. In fact, through much of its ISO range, the A7 IV performs better even than Sony’s low-light champ, the A7S III.

Images are clean and usable in most low-light situations right up to ISO 12,800, with plenty of detail even in underexposed shots. In fact, the A7 IV has the least noise I’ve ever seen in that ISO range. Correctly exposed photos are usable up to ISO 25,600, but noise becomes a serious issue after that.

Sony has improved its color science with every new camera lately, and the A7 IV has perhaps its best setup yet. The green cast we’ve seen on earlier models is gone and colors are accurate right out of the camera and easier to balance in post than ever before.

JPEGs look great straight out of the camera with a nice balance between detail and noise reduction. The 14-bit RAW images deliver up to 13 stops of dynamic range, giving you plenty of room to lift shadows and claw back highlights. Overall, Sony’s A7 IV delivers perhaps the best images of any of its cameras, with a great balance between detail, high ISO performance and color accuracy.

Video

Samuel Dejours

Finally we’re onto video, the one area where rival cameras have moved well beyond the A7 III. Fortunately the A7 IV has big improvements in that area too, along with one drawback.

As before, it can shoot downsampled 4K video at up to 30p using the full width of the sensor, meaning video is extremely sharp. But now, it can capture that video at 4:2:2 10-bit with Sony’s S-Log, so it’s much easier to stretch and pull in post-production.

And now you can shoot 4K at up to 60 fps, also with 10 bits of color depth. While it’s cropped, video is still downsampled from a 4.6K size, so it remains sharp. The A7 IV can’t handle 120 fps 4K like Canon’s EOS R6, but then again it doesn’t have the R6’s serious overheating issues either. If you need that frame rate, it’s only available up to 1080p. HDMI output is limited to 4K 25p at just 8 bits of color depth, unfortunately.

With 13 stops of dynamic range in Sony’s S-Log3 mode, along with 10-bit 4:2:2 color and reasonably high bit rates up to 500 Mbps, image quality is superb and easy to control in post. The lack of noise at high ISO ranges is a huge plus, making the camera usable in a lot of low and tricky lighting situations.

Eye AF and tracking now work in video mode, making it far more dependable for shooting interviews or action. As with photos, it’s extremely intuitive to use. You can tap a subject to track it, and it will automatically switch to eye or face tracking as needed.

There’s a new and cool video feature called lens breathing compensation. Normally, pulling focus from one subject to another causes a slight but distracting zoom – an issue that’s particularly problematic on Sony’s pricey GM lenses, as good as they are. The breathing compensation function introduces a slight digital zoom that counteracts any change in focal length when focusing on a new subject.

Using the feature does cause a slight crop, and it only works with select, mostly expensive, Sony lenses. It’s a really nice feature though, and currently only found on the A7 IV.

Sony has made manual focusing for video easier as well with Manual Focus Assist. It places blue and red colors over objects behind and in front of the focus plane, while objects in focus are clear. Once I got used to it, it was relatively easy to pull focus quickly and in the right direction. The color display is a bit blocky, though, so super precise adjustments can be a challenge.

Image stabilization is very effective for video, particularly with active mode engaged. It works with 4K in both cropped 60p and uncropped 30p modes. However, rolling shutter can be pretty brutal in 30p mode with the full width of the sensor, and stabilization can sometimes make that worse (and unfixable). If you have a wide lens and can stick to the cropped mode with active stabilization, wobble is well controlled and not much worse than with the excellent A1.

Wrap-up

Steve Dent/Engadget

The A7 IV offers big improvements in resolution, AF tracking, video features and more, but forget about the spec sheet for a second. Sony’s largest achievement is that it created a mainstream camera that makes photography and video easier, thanks to AI smarts that can aid any photographer, no matter their skill.

The biggest drawback is rolling shutter that might give you pause if you require a silent mode or want to shoot uncropped 4K video. Another issue is the $2,500 price that’s $500 more than the A7 III was at launch.

Other hybrid cameras in that price range can’t quite measure up, though. Canon’s $2,500 20-megapixel EOS R6 is your best alternative, but the resolution is a big step down. Panasonic’s 24-megapixel S5 and Nikon’s Z6 II are other decent options, but lack the reliability and ease of use of the A7 IV. So once again, Sony rules the mainstream hybrid camera market and will probably do so for a while to come.

Fortnite hasn't been available on Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store for 17 months. While the game isn't expected to return to either store anytime soon, it seems players will soon be able to drop on the island once again on their phones and tablets (unless they already use a sideloaded version on Android or play console versions remotely).

NVIDIA and Epic Games have teamed up on a mobile version of the battle royale that's playable through GeForce Now. A desktop version is already available on the service. 

A limited-time closed beta will get underway next week to test server capacity, graphics delivery and touch controls. NVIDIA has opened registrations and it will grant users access to the beta in batches over the next several weeks. You don't need a paid GeForce Now membership to take part. If you're able to secure a spot, you'll be able to play Fortnite through Safari on iOS and the GeForce Now app on Android. NVIDIA and Epic haven't set an end date for the beta as yet. 

When NVIDIA enabled GeForce Now on iOS via the web in November 2020, it said it would eventually give iPhone and iPad users access to Fortnite again, though it and Epic were building a touch-friendly version first. Android and iOS players can use a Bluetooth controller if they'd rather not use touch controls while swinging around the map as Spider-Man. 

Apple and Google yanked Fortnite from their respective stores in August 2020 amid a battle with Epic Games over in-app payments. The publisher suedboth companies, alleging they were engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The Apple case went to trial last year. A judge ruled Epic didn't prove that Apple was violating antitrust laws. 

Both sides appealed against aspects of the outcome. Apple won a last-minute stay from having to implement App Store changes that would force it to let developers direct users to alternative payment methods and bypass the 30 percent cut it takes from in-app payments. In any case, until all court appeals are exhausted, a process that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said could last several more years, Apple won't let Fortnite back onto the App Store.

After partnering with a number of big chains to help speed up grocery delivery back in 2021, today Instacart is launching Ready Meals so you can now order hot and pre-made meals from local grocers too.

For Instacart, the play is rather straightforward as the company looks to position its Ready Meal Hub as an alternative to more traditional food delivery apps like Seamless, Uber Eats and the like. The only real difference is that instead of ordering food from local restaurants, Instacart is hoping its customers will use Ready Meals to order fresh food like sandwiches, sushi and more from nearby grocery stores, in addition to pre-prepared, ready-to-heat dishes such as take-and-bake casseroles.

Just like regular grocery orders, Instacart says its Ready Meals Hub will be available nationwide, with deliveries arriving at your door in as little as 30 minutes. Instacart is partnering with grocers including Publix, GIANT, Food Lion, Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Martin’s, and Kroger, with plans to add more retailers such as ShopRite in the coming months.

The arrival of the Ready Meals Hub in the Instacart app follows the addition of the Convenience Hub last fall, which added the ability to order a range of pantry staples, snacks, and even alcohol from big-name stores like 7-Eleven and others. Another benefit of the new Ready Meals Hub is that because pre-prepared foods can be ordered alongside regular groceries, Instacart is making it easier to order food for a variety of meals or situations with a single purchase.

The expansion of Instacart's delivery options serves to further reinforce the increasing popularity of home grocery delivery. According to a recent report from the Food Industry Association (FMI), while most meals in the U.S. are still prepared at home, 55% percent of shoppers noted a desire for more hybrid meal options that contain a mix of semi-prepared and fully-prepared dishes.

That said, with Instacart expected to go public later this year, the new Ready Meals Hub is also clearly a way to help maintain strong sales following a record number of orders during the 2021 holiday season.