Adobe has rebranded its Spark multimedia creation suite as Creative Cloud Express and created a standalone version. The idea is to help folks create rich visual content like social media posts, stories, flyers and banners using a straightforward drag-and-drop interface. Along with a fairly generous free plan, there's a $10 per month or $99 a year premium option.

The free version includes thousands of templates, fonts and design assets as well as some royalty-free photos. You'll have access to some basic editing tools and photo effects on the web and mobile, including background removal and animation. You'll get 2 GB of cloud storage too.

While that might be enough for more casual users, professionals might find the premium plan more suitable. Along with everything from the free tier, they'll get access to all premium design assets and templates (around 50,000, according to a demo), more than 20,000 fonts and all of Adobe's 160 million+ royalty-free stock images.

A brand manager will allow paid users to include their logo, branding, colors and fonts with a single tap, which could be a major time saver and help maintain a consistent design language. There are more in-depth editing features, such as graphic groups, resizing and refine cutout. You'll be able to import and export PDFs and other file types.

There's integration with Creative Cloud Libraries. All Express assets and templates can be edited and managed across other Creative Cloud apps. You'll also get 100 GB of storage. In addition, the premium plan includes access to features from other Adobe apps. They include video capture and editing on mobile and desktop (Premiere Rush); combining photos and creating collages (Photoshop Express); video slideshows (Spark Video); and building web pages from text and images (Spark Page).

Creative Cloud Express uses Adobe Sensei, the same artificial intelligence and machine learning tech behind the company's core apps, such as Photoshop and Premiere. The framework powers features like the ability to turn videos into GIFs and merging videos. There are also plans to integrate ContentCal, which automates social media publishing and reporting, into Express. Adobe announced an agreement to buy ContentCal last week.

Until now, Express had only been available with Creative Cloud plans. A standalone version could help Adobe better compete with the likes of Canva, Prezi and Picsart, especially given that there's a free option.

Express is included with Creative Cloud All Apps and flagship single-app plans costing at least $20. The suite is free for K-12 as well. Creative Cloud Express is available now on the web and as an app from the Microsoft Store, Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Versions for Enterprise and Teams will arrive next year.

Dremel is the standard when it comes to rotary tools. DIY enthusiasts use them for everything from standing down a dog's nails to cutting through steel. If you fall into that category, the company's latest release, the 8260, is interesting for a few reasons. 

To start, it's Dremel's first brushless rotary tool. Thanks to its more modern motor design, Dremel claims the 8260 outputs 20 percent more power than the 4300, its most powerful corded model. Moreover, it features double the battery life of the 8220, its previous flagship cordless model. It's also 20 percent faster than the 8220.  

It's also Dremel's first smart tool. The addition of Bluetooth connectivity allows you to connect the 8260 to your phone through Dremel's mobile app. One of the niftier features here is an interactive guide that will tell you what accessory and RPM you need to use to cut through specific materials. It will also send you battery notifications and warnings if the tool is about to stall or overheat. An LED light on the 8260 will also warn you if you're about to run into those problems.  

The 8260 is available today through the Home Depot for $169. The kit comes with three wheels for cutting metal and one designed for plastic, a battery, charger and a carrying case.    

Far too long ago (for our impatient souls), boutique console maker, Analogue, teased something exciting. A retro handheld that mimicked multiple classic systems, including: All the Game Boys, the Sega Game Gear, the Neo Geo Pocket and the Atari Lynx. Oh and more recently announced: the TurboExpress, too. In other good news, Analogue also just announced that orders for the Pocket will open again on December 14th (tomorrow). The slightly less good news is that at $220, it'll cost $20 more than originally planned, but you can blame the virus for that and its impact on supply chains.

Finally, it’s here and it’s… still just as exciting. So much so that the short time I've had with the Pocket isn't enough to give it the deep dive review it deserves. You have to remember, this thing not only plays old games from original cartridges. It does so using a party trick called field-programmable gate arrays (or FPGA). All you need to know is that FPGAs effectively mimic old consoles at the hardware level. When you plug in a game, it thinks it’s in an original Game Boy (or whichever system for the relevant adapter you might be using). Couple that with a display custom-designed to replicate vintage screens, quirks and all, and this has all the ingredients to be the most authentic retro handheld you can find. Our early testing with Game Boy (original) and Game Boy Advance games indicates this really is one of the most authentic experiences you can find.

Pretty much the moment you pick this thing up you know you’re in for a treat. If the original Game Boy had been released today with a Scandinavian design, this is what it would look like. The clean lines and monochrome aesthetic tell you this is all about the game; there are no garish colors of cliche nods to the '90s here. Just one dash of color on the left-hand side for the power button and that’s as flashy as things get.

The general layout broadly matches the first-gen and Game Boy color, with the screen up top and controls underneath. Though there are four thumb buttons instead of two as you’ll be able to create games for this yourself either with GB Studio or via the spare FPGA core Analogue added just for developers. There are shoulder buttons, too, as per the Game Boy advance.

Fortunately, the display is thoroughly modern and not like the squinty, if much loved, one from back in 1989. It’s also handily 10 times the resolution on both axes so it can serve up pixel-perfect renditions of your favorite original Game Boy titles. The way it reproduces original Game Boy games is quite remarkable.

Turn the Pocket on and the minimalist interface leads you straight to the good stuff: Playing games.

I won’t lie, firing up Tetris for the first time and changing the Pockets display mode to the original green-and-black game boy mode was quite the dash of nostalgia. I’ve played Game Boy games on several “modern” handhelds and none of them looked like this. Even the pixel grid of the original is here, the motion blur (if you want it), the sound. Everything felt just as it did all those years ago.

The same goes for Game Boy Advance games. If you ever owned the first model of GBA, you’ll (painfully) remember that it still didn’t have a lit screen. The Pocket does, but everything else matches, including a preset for that slight washed-out look that comes with just colors on a non-illuminated LCD. You can, of course, choose a more modern display mode if you like, but purists are going to love the attention to detail here.

The authenticity doesn’t stop at the fidelity of the games. The “link” port on the Pocket happens to be the same as the one found on the Game Boy Color and onwards. That means if you have the original hardware (or another Pocket) you can play with friends just like you would have back in the proverbial day. I do have the original hardware, and we’re testing those features right now which you’ll see in our full review.

In terms of compatibility, so far the only glitch we've had is with a very unofficial Game Boy Advance multicart, everything else has worked a charm — including fund stuff like the Game Boy Camera. The same goes for Game Gear titles, which is the only other platform we can try right now.

There’s so much more to cover here we kinda can’t wait to show you it all. There’s the dock accessory for playing on a TV with real controllers, there’s the aforementioned music-making app, there’s Analogue’s own operating system which hides more than a few perks and then there are the adapters for all the other consoles.

For now, we’re excited to say that the Pocket appears to deliver on its key promises. The hardware feels fantastic and we keep going back for more Tetris even when it's way past our bedtime. You’ll just have to wait a few more days for our comprehensive review.

Universal Music Group is hitching its wagon more firmly to the metaverse hype train. The record company teamed up with avatar company Genies to create digital versions of its artists, as well as non-fungible token (NFT) outfits and accessories, for use in virtual worlds.

The idea is to give Universal's artists official virtual identities for the metaverse. Some of the roster, including Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes, had already asked Genies to make avatars of them. Now, the plan is for Rihanna, Migos et al to be able to take those facsimiles into various metaverses, or use the avatars across social platforms. In the coming months, through an NFT marketplace run by Genies, fans will be able to buy and sell virtual merchandise for the avatars.

This isn't Universal Music Group's first foray into the metaverse. Last month, it announced a virtual band comprising four characters from the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, a bit like Gorillaz.

Other prominent brands are looking to make waves in the metaverse, including Adidas, which seems to be working on its own NFTs, and Nike, which built a virtual playspace and a store for digital goods inside Roblox. That platform is one of several in the gaming space (including Fortnite) that helped pave the way for other companies and brands to venture into the metaverse.

CD Projekt's GOG storefront has launched its Winter Sale with big savings on popular PC games. Starting today, you can pick up titles like Disco Elysium - The Final Cut, Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 GOTY and get savings of up to 80 percent. 

A couple of deals in particular stand out. Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is marked down 55 percent from its regular $40 price to just $18. That's a good choice if you have an older computers, as developer ZA/UM introduced an update last year that lets you run it on decade old PCs. A couple of other solid picks include Cyberpunk 2077, which is just $30 for a savings of 50 percent, and Metro Exodus - Gold Edition — now on sale for a mere $14.80, or 63 percent off. 

You can also pick up Kingdom Come: Deliverance Royal Edition for just $13.59, for a savings of 66 percent over the regular price. As a reminder, that title is an RPG similar to series like The Witcher and Elder Scrolls, but grounded in “historical accuracy” rather than fantasy. Another good option is Control Ultimate Edition, a supernatural action game about forces overtaking a secretive government building called the Federal Bureau of Control. That game can now be found for $12, or 70 percent off the regular $40 price. 

That's far from all, as GOG also has Divinity: Original Sin 2, The Riftbreaker, Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, Blade Runner, Mortal Shell and other titles at big savings. For a complete list, check out GOG's Winter Sale right here. 

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

Judging from all the teaser videos released so far, Forspoken is promising a swathe of visually stunning elemental spells and a heroine that can dash, glide and traverse a fantasy world quicker than any Assassin’s Creed protagonist.

But aside from magic parkour, what else is Forspoken’s Frey Holland capable of? How is the rest of the game shaping up?

At a hands-off briefing, Square Enix offered a closer look at the characters, world-building and capabilities of the bangle-wielding Frey, who fell through a magical portal from New York to the land of Athia. We also got to see a lot more of the battle systems and spells you'll be able to wield, all running on an early version of the game.

This is the first title from Square Enix’s new studio, Luminous Productions. Forspoken runs on the studio’s proprietary graphics engine, Luminous Engine. A streamed video call on Zoom isn’t the best place to marvel at graphics, but judging from the higher-resolution trailers, there seems to be a focus on fluidity. And flinging around a lot of spells.

Beyond elemental attacks of varying scales, magical powers include the aforementioned magic parkour, where the hero can dash at speed, jump again mid-air, dodge attacks and more. Running on the studio’s proprietary Luminous Engine, the team is aiming to run the game at 2K 60 FPS and 4K 30 FPS, with ray-tracing graphical options too.

The new studio is taking different approaches to the story, too. Instead of in-house writers, Luminous Productions tapped Allison Rymer (who wrote for the TV series Shadowhunters) and Todd Stashwick as lead writers. The development team, which had last worked on the divisive Final Fantasy XV, said they were looking to create a game with more “universal appeal”, promising a narrative-led action-adventure RPG. However, judging by this early look, Forspoken may not stray too far from the video-game trope of messianic-outsider-saves-mystical-lands.

There is a focus on both the female lead, voiced and mo-capped by actor Ella Balinsk, and several female antagonists – mad sorceresses called Tantas. The world of Athia has a matriarchal society, ensuring, rightly, that the most important players are women. Still, the preview didn’t really help us get much of a bead on where the story of Forspoken will take Frey. The team is also promising post-launch DLC content, called In Tanta We Trust, which will function as a prequel to the main title.

We do know that encroaching darkness has trapped what’s left of humanity within the walls of a single city, Cipaul. The rest of the world is now covered in this sinister fog, “The Break”, that warps and absorbs life.

Some of the citizens of Cipaul view Frey as a demon – a threat – because she’s able to survive the Break outside of the city, not to mention the magical freerunning and elemental arsenal that comes with her cuff of magical bangles. There are RPG-style upgrades to unlock, too. Frey will be able to upgrade her cloak and nail art (!) to improve stamina and increase spell strength, which is a modern twist on magical jewels and runes.

In the tradition of Destiny’s Ghost, and er, Ratchet and Clank’s Clank, the cuff has a British accent and a sassy disposition. It will banter with Frey and respond to how she fights. It’s hard to tell from the early preview, but it seems like the cuffs (called Cuff?) will even offer up battle insights and fight-style advice. A Square Enix spokesperson said the team was “still in the process of adjusting the exact frequency, content and volume” of their interactions. That’s a good sign, because Frey seems to cuss a lot and there are diminishing returns to exclaiming “Shit!” every time a monster attacks. See: Devil May Cry.

The preview teased stealth spells, magical land mines and using your cloak as a sort-of grappling hook. Even while moving at a high pace, Forspoken will slow things down when you’re aiming at crucial ledges, which seems like a thankfully forgiving touch.

I’m most interested in how Forspoken will actually play and how fights will feel. With battle spells, Frey can choose different effects and spells from rings, holding several in as shortcut spots for easy (repeated) use, but it’s hard to tell how intuitive this will feel.

Square Enix, Luminous Productions

At the end of my 30-minute briefing, the developers show off Breakstorms, random supernatural events that spawn monsters and a bigger beast, a skeletal giraffe kind of thing with one eye that shoots energy beams. Frey casts multiple high-level spells, stacking effects and mixing up strategies for both crowd control and escaping the wrath of the boss monster at the center of it all. In this instance, she doesn’t quite make it, falling to the monster’s attacks, but the first thing I thought was – I want to play this myself, and best this cyclops giraffe. Hopefully, Square Enix is able to ensure these fights feel as fluid as Frey’s magical parkour dashes.

Forspoken launches on ​​PS5 and PC on May 24th, 2022.

Apple's latest Mac Mini is the most cost-effective way to get an M1 machine, and now you can get the desktop for even less. The base 256GB model is going for $570 on Amazon right now, which is a new record low. You'll get this price thanks to a $50 discount plus an additional coupon that knocks another $79 off at checkout. The 512GB version has also been discounted to $750, which is a price we've seen a handful of times in the past but remains a good deal.

The Mac Mini is the best option if a desktop fits better into your lifestyle than a laptop, and if you don't have a ton to spare a new computer. It packs a good amount of power into a compact device thanks to Apple's M1 chipset. While we haven't put the Mac Mini through its paces, we have tested out the MacBook Air M1 and the previous MacBook Pro M1 — both of which impressed us with their overall smooth performance and remarkable speed. It sports an eight-core CPU and an eight-core GPU, plus a 16-core Neural Engine that handles machine learning tasks. While the 256GB model is probably sufficient for most people, you'll future-proof the device a bit if you spring for the version with extra storage because you won't run out of space as quickly.

With all of the improvements being internal, the latest Mac Mini looks much the same as the previous version. The silver box has a seamless appearance on most sides, save for its back edge which holds all of its connectivity options including two Thunderbolt ports, two USB-A connectors, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Since we didn't get an updated Mac Mini this fall, there's currently no telling when Apple may introduce a new version of its small desktop. That makes a sale like this one a great opportunity to upgrade your home's computer without spending too much money. If you plan on gifting the device, just keep in mind that it may arrive after Christmas depending on which model you choose.

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

After shutting down third-party PS5 console covers with legal threats, Sony has launched its own official $55 PlayStation five colors, the company announced. Those will go along with the DualSense controls it launched earlier this year, and introduce three new colors in the same galaxy-inspired theme.

The console covers (and matching controllers) will come in Midnight Black, Cosmic Red, Nova Pink, Starlight Blue and Galactic Purple. "Simply remove your original white PS5 console covers and click your new ones into place," the company said. "The PS5 console covers will be available for both the PS5 with the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive and the PS5 Digital Edition." 

The Midnight Black and Cosmic Red PS5 console covers will be available starting in January 2022 in specific regions, including the USA, Canada, UK, France, Australia and China. The Nova Pink, Galactic Purple, and Starlight Blue models will launch in those same locations during the first half of 2022.

As you may remember, Sony recently launched new DualSense wireless controllers in Cosmic Red and Midnight Black. Now, it will also release new controllers in the other three colors (Nova Pink, Starlight Blue, and Galactic Purple) for $75 globally in January 2022 at participating retailers. 

As a reminder, last year a company called PlateStation unveiled replacement PS5 covers in colors like cherry red, black and jungle camo. However, the company subsequently announced on Twitter that it would be canceling all orders and processing refunds "due to patent and intellectual property issues" with Sony.

Now we can see why Sony asserted its IP rights so strongly. Given that it can't sell as many PS5 consoles as it would like due to semiconductor shortages, accessories like this will provide another revenue stream. Yes, console color and design aren't that important, but the new covers are a good option for the many folks who aren't that keen on white. Pre-orders are now open for the new controller colors ($75) and first two console covers ($55) — if you're planning to get one, let us know below. 

Warning: If you’re planning to watch the Sex and the City revival, And Just Like That, avert your eyes for this intro — spoilers are incoming. Peloton probably wished everyone did just that.

Yes, the ubiquitous, expensive exercise bike featured in a major plotline in the first episode of the new series, which itself isn’t particularly shocking. The shock came when Carrie's husband, Mr. Big, died of a heart attack after he finished a 45-minute Peloton class on the company's Bike (with real instructor Jess King in a fictional role as… a Peloton instructor).

The plotline hit Peloton’s stock price over the weekend — something the company has seen over the last year as many folks head back to their gyms or perhaps, like me, just don’t want to stay in their homes to exercise anymore.

Peloton was also caught unawares — the company knew HBO would feature a Peloton in the episode and that King would portray an instructor, but "confidentiality reasons" prevented it from learning it would kill off a character.

It released a statement saying that Big’s death was probably due to his “extravagant lifestyle” — the guy was smoking a cigar earlier in the episode and had previously suffered a heart attack.

I doubt the result of Peloton’s appearance on the show will be a net negative — it’s arguably the most talked-about twist from the premiere of a highly anticipated TV show. It’s definitely a test of the adage: Is any publicity good publicity?

— Mat Smith

NASA's new sleeping bags could prevent eyeball 'squashing' on the ISS

It sucks fluid out of astronaut's heads and toward their feet.

More than half of NASA astronauts that went to the International Space Station (ISS) for more than six months have developed vision problems. Researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have developed a sleeping bag that could prevent or reduce those problems.

Fluids tend to accumulate in the head when you sleep, but on Earth, gravity pulls them back down into the body when you get up. In the low gravity of space, though, that fluid collects, applying pressure on the eyeball, leading to vision impairment. The researchers have made a sleeping bag that effectively sucks fluid out of astronauts' heads.

Continue reading.

Someone 'briefly compromised' the Indian prime minister's Twitter account

It's the latest attempt to hijack a major politician's social media profile.

An intruder temporarily seized control of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account over the weekend. The attacker tweeted a claim that India had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and pointed users to a (broken) scam website. For followers of Modi’s account — or anyone familiar with his stance on cryptocurrency — it was obvious something had gone wrong.

Continue reading.

Amazon explains outage that took out a large chunk of the internet

The company also promised an easier way to track failures in the future.

Amazon has explained the Web Services outage that knocked parts of the internet offline last week. As CNBC reports, Amazon revealed an automated capacity scaling feature led to "unexpected behavior" from internal network clients. Devices connecting that internal network to AWS were swamped, stalling communications. The AWS division has temporarily disabled the scaling that led to the problem and won't switch it back on until there are solutions in place. A fix for the glitch is coming within two weeks, Amazon said.

Continue reading.

How a VR startup took users’ money and ran to the metaverse

And it’s still going on.

The tech word of 2021 is definitely “metaverse,” crowbarred into the collective conscious when Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook’s new name, Meta.

Metaworld founder Dedric Reid has been selling his interpretation of the metaverse for the past five years. His vision is a decentralized space, a “10,000-square-mile vast-scale simulation, owned by community and run by community,” according to Reid.

But the story of Metaworld is one of patchy crowdfunding, communication silence, fake promotional assets and some understandably angry backers. To borrow from The Matrix, read Senior Editor Jessica Conditt’s full report to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Continue reading.

LG's design-focused OLED Evo TV has a motorized cover

It's meant to blend in with high-end furniture and works of art. 

LG

I mean, I like how it looks, but I’d prefer the Bang and Olufsen set with wings…

Continue reading.

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NVIDIA’s Shield TV Pro is a multi-talented Android TV device that can not just stream Netflix, but also work as a Plex Server and run NVIDIA’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service. The biggest drawback is the $200 price, and it rarely goes on sale. Luckily, you can pick one up today for $180 at Best Buy, matching one of the lowest prices we've ever seen. 

The Shield TV Pro is one of the best streaming devices out there, with support for Chromecast streaming, 4K HDR Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos audio support. You also get the fast Tegra X1+ processor that can do 4K upscaling while ensuring that GeForce Now gaming works smoothly. It also comes with a comfortable triangular remote with support for voice control via Google Assistant and other services. Finally, it comes with 16GB of expandable storage so that you can stream your own content. 

If the Shield TV Pro is still too much, NVIDIA's regular Shield TV is also on sale for $130 at both Best Buy and Amazon. That model can't work as a Plex server, but it otherwise offers the same features as the Shield TV Pro, like 4K HDR Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, along with the voice-controlled remote. Other features include a gigabit ethernet port and a microSD card slot for storage expansion.

Both of those products are great all-around streamers, but if you're in the Apple ecosystem, the 2021 Apple TV 4K is still on sale for $150. As mentioned before, it's one of the best high-end streaming boxes available thanks to the A12 Bionic processor that delivers faster performance than ever. It also supports Dolby Atmos sound, 60 fps Dolby Vision, AirPlay 3, screen mirroring and HomeKit..