Porn fans with Roku players will have to turn to other devices before long. Protocol has learned that Roku will effectively ban channels from Pornhub and other porn services on March 1st, 2022. The company is dropping support for "non-certified" private channels on that day in favor of beta channels that are limited to 20 users. That's potentially better for testers, but a headache for adult content providers who used those channels to get around Roku's restrictions on regular channels.

Roku has been accused of largely ignoring private channels before. That didn't necessarily clash with porn sites, but it did create issues with both rights holders worried about privacy as well as critics concerned Roku was enabling the spread of harmful misinformation and violence. Roku eventually pulled InfoWars' channel and issued warnings that it might remove illegal private channels without warning.

We've asked Roku for comment. Unlike policy decisions (however temporary) at sites like OnlyFans, though this isn't likely the result of anti-porn mindsets from partners. Rather, this may be more about control. Roku doesn't have to worry about channel operators bypassing its official system, particularly those that might get the company in trouble. Whatever the reasoning, this may prompt porn fans to switch to Android TV, Fire TV or browser-equipped platforms that still offer ways to watch racy material.

If you're going to use a Chromebook as your daily driver — or even just more than once or twice a day — you should get a decently powerful one. Perhaps unsurprisingly, even Chrome OS machines can get expensive when you start to spec them out, but Lenovo's Flex 5 Chromebook has been one of our favorites precisely for how much value it packs at a relatively affordable $430. Amazon now has this versatile Chrome OS laptop at the best price we've seen — only $300. That's $130 off its normal price and an all-time low.

The model on sale runs on a 10th-generation Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. While the latter two are pretty common in entry- to mid-level Chromebooks, the Core i3 processor will help this laptop feel zippier than others. While we initially weren't thrilled by the 4GB of RAM, we found that the Flex 5 Chromebook was more than capable of running multiple tabs simultaneously. As for storage, 64GB should be enough for most people who do most of their work in the Chrome browser anyway. Even at its normal price, the Flex 5 Chromebook provides a lot of power compared to other similarly priced devices — but at $300, it's a fantastic value.

Most Chrome OS machines in this price range tend to sacrifice on style, and while Lenovo's laptop isn't ugly by any means, it's not the slickest either. It weights about three pounds and measures 0.66-inches thick, but it does have a handy convertible design so you could use it as a tablet or even in tent mode to watch TV shows and movies. It has a decent 1080p touchscreen, too, along with a decent array of ports that includes two USB-C ports and a USB-A port. Lenovo did a good job of combining most key features of a good Chromebook into this laptop, which is why we continue to recommend it both when it's on sale or at regular price.

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Niantic is ending support for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The studio announced today it will shutter the AR game on January 31st, 2022. Ahead of the sunset, it plans to delist the title from the App Store, Google Play and Galaxy Store on December 6th. That same day, it will also remove all in-app purchases from the experience.

Niantic first launched Wizards Unite back in 2019. And in many ways, it never replicated the runaway success of Pokémon Go. “Not all games are meant to last forever,” the company said of the decision to stop working on the title. “Our goal with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was to bring the magic of the wizarding world to life for millions of players as they stepped outside and explored their neighborhoods. We accomplished that together, delivering a two-year narrative story arc that will soon complete.”

For Niantic, this is the second game it has decided to shut down in less than two months. In September, it announced it was discontinuing development on Catan: World Explorers before the game was even widely available outside of a few select markets. Then, as now, Niantic says it will take what it learned from the experience and apply it to future projects.

Presumably that includes Pikmin Bloom, which recently launched in Singapore and Australia, as well as the upcoming Transformers: Heavy Metal. In total, the studio says it’s working on nine games and apps, some of which will soft-launch next year.

Ready to buy yet another version of Skyrim? After coming to nearly every system imaginable, Bethesda’s seminal 2011 RPG is about to get the tabletop treatment. Modiphius Entertainment, the company behind Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, is working on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - The Adventure Game. Set to come out sometime next summer, the game will allow you to revisit Tamriel’s frozen north as an agent of the Imperial Blades. You can play either by yourself or with up to three other friends.

The narrative-driven game will ship with two campaigns made up of three chapters. Modiphius says each one should take about 90 to 120 minutes to complete. Provided you don’t get distracted by side quests and exploration (not an easy feat in any Elder Scrolls game), you can expect your initial playthrough to take about 12 hours. Worry not, you can “save” your progress at any point, and pick up where you left off. The decisions you make during a playthrough will shape how the story unfolds. And with a deck of about 600 cards driving the narrative, no two sessions should play out exactly the same.

If you want to read more about the game, Polygon has a detailed preview. You can pre-order The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - The Adventure Game through Gamefound. The first 2,011 people to back the project’s base tier can get the game by itself for £68 (approximately $92). For everyone else, it will start at £82 ($111).

Meta is further backing away from facial recognition. The company has announced that it's shutting down the Face Recognition system on Facebook in the "coming weeks." You'll no longer be automatically recognized in photos if you opted in to the feature, and the Facebook team will delete over a billion facial recognition templates. Automatic Alt Text's descriptions for the visually impaired will also stop naming people detected in photos.

The company said it made the decision following "growing concerns" about the broader use of facial recognition, including "uncertainty" about regulation of the technology. While Meta believed face recognition could still be helpful in some situations, such as gaining access to a locked account, it felt a "narrower," more privacy-oriented approach was a better fit than the broader outgoing strategy. On-device recognition wouldn't require sharing data with outside servers, for example.

There was already significant pressure to shut down the system. Meta (then Facebook) settled a privacy lawsuit over facial recognition for $650 million in 2020, and it likely isn't eager to grapple with similar cases. Governments ranging from Massachusetts to the European Union have either passed or are strongly considering at least partial bans on facial recognition use. Facebook's opt-in system may not have explicitly run afoul of those laws, but the message is clear — wide-ranging facial recognition systems aren't welcome.

Developing...

Netflix is taking a big step forward with its gaming ambitions. Starting on November 3rd, all subscribers will be able to access five mobile games at no extra cost on Android devices. The company says that iOS users will be able to download and play the games at a later date.

In August, Netflix started testing games in its Android app in Poland with Stranger Things 1984 and Stranger Things 3. The test expanded to Spain and Italy the following month with three other games, none of which are connected to any Netflix shows or movies.

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Microsoft's metaverse ambitions extend well beyond a handful of Teams features. The Vergereports chief executive Satya Nadella told Bloomberg the company is "absolutely" planning on creating a gaming metaverse with "full 3D" worlds. The claim was about as vague as can be, and didn't include a timeline or software, but it's (eventually) in the works.

The question, of course, is just what those metaverse experiences will look like. Nadella wasn't exactly clear on the definition of a metaverse and believed that games like Halo, Minecraft and even Flight Simulator were simpler "2D" metaverses. Sorry, Nadella, but they're not — merely having a multiplayer space doesn't create a metaverse, especially not with match-oriented games like Halo.

The potential is there, though. Microsoft has dabbled in metaverse-like projects such as Minecraft on HoloLens and the defunct Minecraft Earth. The software creator could easily translate lessons learned from that software to a shared virtual environment, even it looks nothing like any of the company's best-known franchises.

Many members of the workforce are returning to the office after over 18 months of working from home. But folks might not be quite ready to give up on some of the luxuries they treated themselves to while they were cooped up in a private workspace. Perhaps you picked up a fancy mechanical keyboard, but don't want to take it to the office, since the clacking might annoy your coworkers.

Perhaps with that in mind, Razer has a couple of new products in its Productivity lineup that might give you that enjoyable tactile typing and clicking sensation without infuriating those around you. The Pro Type Ultra wireless keyboard and new Pro Click Mini mouse have "silent mechanical switches," which Razer says will offer a quieter experience wherever you're working from.

Razer

The keyboard also has dampening foam to mitigate the sound, and Razer claims the keys will be good for up to 80 million presses. The fingerprint-resistant keycaps have a "soft-touch coating for a luxurious, cushioned feel," according to the company. A wrist rest is included too.

Razer says you'll get up to 214 hours of use over Bluetooth and up to 207 hours of use via the low-latency Razer HyperSpeed Wireless connection before you need to recharge the keyboard. You can use it in wired mode over USB-C too. In addition, you'll be able to connect up to four devices and switch between them without having to re-pair them with a Pro Type Ultra.

If you're buying a new keyboard, you might want a matching mouse. As luck would have it, the Pro Click Mouse shares the Pro Type Ultra's white, dull-by-Razer-standards design. You can also pair the mouse (which isn't entirely silent based on an audio demo on Razer's website) with up to four devices.

There are a few scroll-wheel modes you can switch between depending on your current task. The free-spin mode is designed for zooming through long documents and webpages, tilt-click is geared toward horizontal scrolling and tactile mode is centered around more precise scrolling. 

Razer

The mouse is rated for up to 15 million clicks. Razer claims you'll get up to 725 hours of battery life over Bluetooth and up to 465 hours via Razer HyperSpeed Wireless if you're using two AA batteries. There's an option to use only one battery if you'd prefer to reduce the weight. If you decide to pick up both the keyboard and mouse, you can pair them to the same USB dongle to free up a port on your computer. 

The new peripherals follow the Pro Type keyboard and Pro Click mouse Razer released in August 2020. Those devices had more muted designs than Razer's gaming-focused products to help them blend in a bit more.

The $80 Pro Click Mini is available now from Razer's website and other retailers. The Pro Type Ultra keyboard costs $160, and will be available by the end of the year. Razer also introduced an enormous Pro Glide XXL mousepad with "thick, high-density rubber foam," which will run you $30.

Spotify isn't the only one banking on podcast transcripts to reel you in. Amazon Music is rolling out synchronized podcast transcripts in the US for both original shows and popular third-party series like Modern Love and This American Life. Listen on Android or iOS and you can read what's being said, much as you would song lyrics.

This helps with search, too. You can scroll through the transcript and tap on a line to jump to that point in the podcast. You can read what you missed, or get a preview of what's coming up.

Transcripts are available today. Amazon hasn't said when it might expand the feature to other countries. This is clearly a move to draw you away from rival podcast services. Still, it could be more than a little helpful to follow along when loud noises drown out your podcast — or to skip to the most interesting segment when you're pressed for time.

At Engadget, we’ve long been fans of Samsung’s T7 portable SSDs for their fast performance and compact design. They tend to be more expensive than some competing options, but if you’re patient, you can usually find them on sale. To that point, Amazon has discounted the black 1TB Touch model from $190 to $150, matching the previous all-time low price for the SSD. You can also get the silver colorway for less than MSRP, but it’s only discounted by $20. Additionally, the 2TB variant is $70 off, making it $300 currently. If you want to save an extra $10, the non-Touch model, which doesn’t include a built-in fingerprint sensor, is $140 at the moment.

Whether you go for the standard or Touch model, the T7 has a lot going for it. Both variants feature an aluminum outer casing that will protect the solid-state drive from drops. They also include ePCM technology and a Dynamic Thermal Guard feature to assist with heat management. When it comes to performance, the T7 can read files at up to 1,050 MB/s and write them at up to 1,000 MB/s. And while it only features a single USB-C port, the T7 comes with both USB-C and USB-A cables inside the box, allowing you to use it with almost any modern device, including some video game consoles. For those reasons, we think the T7 is a solid option for storing your photos and other important files.

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