Following a preview at I/O 2021 and multiple betas since then, the next version of Google's mobile operating system is ready for prime time. Android 12 is now officially available. But if you own an Android device, don't get excited just yet. With today's announcement, Google is uploading the source code to the operating system to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). As things stand, the update isn't publicly available on any current devices. But that should change soon.

Google says it will start rolling out Android 12 to Pixel devices starting sometime in the "next few weeks," with availability on Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo and Xiaomi devices to follow later this year. Once the OS finally makes it to your device, you can look forward to checking out Google's new Material You design language, an updated privacy dashboard that includes a timeline of all the data the apps on your phone have accessed, the ability to capture scrolling screenshots, a new one-handed mode and more. Until then, the wait continues.    

Sony is bringing some major games to PlayStation Now this month, and they don't get much bigger than The Last of Us Part II. The latest entry in Naughty Dog's don't-call-them-zombies, post-apocalypse saga arrived in June 2020 and if it weren't for Hades, it might have swept all of the 2020 game of the year awards. The Last of Us Part II is excellent, but don't go into it expecting a relaxing day at the beach.

Also hitting PS Now is Fallout 76, a multiplayer entry in Microsoft-owned Bethesda's Fallout series. The rest of this month's additions are Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, Desperados III, Amnesia: Collection, Yet Another Zombie Defense and Victor Vran: Overkill Edition.

All of these games will hit PS Now on October 5th. The Last of Us Part II, which you'll be able to play on PC through the service, will be available to subscribers until January 3rd. 

If you're not interested in signing up for PS Now but still want to check out TLOU2, the game's currently on sale on the PlayStation Store. Sony has discounted hundreds of other titles as part of the Blockbuster Games sale, including Returnal, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Days Gone and God of War.

If you can't access Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp, you're not the only one. Starting at approximately 11:38AM ET, Downdetector began logging a spike in outage reports across all four Facebook-owned services. Andy Stone, a spokesperson for the company, said at 12:07PM ET that the company was working quickly to resolve the issue but didn't mention what was at the root of the problem. We've reached out to Facebook for more information on the outage.

Nearly three years after coming out to take on Steam, the Epic Games Store is about to get more robust support for achievements. Starting next week, you’ll have the chance to earn XP by completing specific tasks in select games. Some of the titles that will support the feature out of the gate include Rocket League, Hades, Pillars of Eternity and Alan Wake Remastered, with more to come later in the year.

Epic’s system includes four tiers of achievements, with each level granting you a different amount of XP. For instance, in unlocking a bronze-level accomplishment, you’ll earn between five and 45 XP, while a gold one will net you as much as 200 XP. Once you accrue 1,000 XP in a single game, you’ll earn its platinum achievement.

With the update, Epic is also rolling out new pages where you can track and share the progress you’re making towards unlocking all the goals in a specific game. You’ll also see that information displayed through the library interface.

One thing to note is that this new system is different from the developer achievements Epic implemented about a year ago. That system will continue to be there for developers who don’t want to engage with the new one, though the company says it expects “this new system will roll out [to] all developers on the Epic Games Store in the coming months.”  

After decades of pretending to explore the universe in TV shows and movies, William Shatner is actually going to space. Blue Origin's second tourist spaceflight is scheduled for October 12th. The Star Trek actor and apparent Twitter verification gatekeeper will be one of New Shepard's passengers.

Shatner, 90, is set to become the oldest person to fly to space. He'll take the record from 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who was a passenger on New Shepard's first crewed flight in July.

Joining Shatner on the flight is Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers. The company previously announced Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and Medidata co-founder Glen de Vries will be the other passengers. It's the second of three launches Blue Origin has planned for this year.

The next New Shepard flight will take place after the Federal Aviation Administration said it's looking into safety concerns current and former employees flagged in a joint essay last week. Alongside allegations of sexual harassment and attempts to silence internal critics, the group said the company "is not sufficiently attuned to safety concerns." According to CNBC, Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith told employees the company "went through a methodical and pain-staking process to certify" New Shepard and that "anyone that claims otherwise is uninformed and simply incorrect."

Amazon came out with the Fire Kids Pro family earlier this year to give parents with older children a secure tablet option. But since they have a couple more bells and whistles when compared to the standard Fire Kids tablets, these slabs come at a premium. However, Amazon has discounted the entire lineup, so you can grab one of the tablets for as low as $60. That's the price of the Fire 7 Pro, while the Fire HD 8 Kids Pro has dropped to $90 and the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is on sale for $140.

Designed for kids ages six and up, the Fire Kids Pro tablets are similar to the standard kid-friendly slabs in that they come with a two-year warranty, a protective case and one year of Amazon Kids+. The latter also includes more content better suited for school-aged children rather than toddlers, including things like content from National Geographic, LEGO, Rabbids Coding and others. Kids Pro tablets also have a digital store in which parents can approve all apps purchases and downloads that their children request. That's on top of the standard parental controls that come with all Fire Kids tablets, making these slabs good options for parents that want to keep a close eye on what their children are doing while on their devices.

The biggest difference between the various Kids Pro tablets is their screen sizes — 7-, 8- and 10-inch models are available, and unsurprisingly, the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro also has the most power. It runs on an octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM, and should last up to 12 hours on a single charge. While the Fire 7 Kids Pro is best for those with tight budgets, we'd recommend upgrading to the Fire HD 8 Kids Pro for, at the very least, its USB-C charging port (the 7-inch tablet relies on a dated microUSB port).

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Back in April, Netflix released its Play Something feature for TV devices with the promise of making it available on mobile in the near future. If you've been waiting for it to make its way to your phone, you'll be thrilled to know that the time has come: The streaming giant's shuffle play functionality will start rolling out to all Android users around the world today. 

Streaming services have such a wide variety of choices, which keep growing every day, that scrolling through them and deciding on what to play could take hours. If you don't have anything specific to watch at the moment, the Play Something feature could held you fend off decision paralysis and prevent you from wasting what little time you have to relax. Just tap it to watch something the service's algorithm thinks you might enjoy based on your history.

Netflix started testing the feature for both adult and kids' profiles on Android in May, and a spokesperson told us testing for iOS will begin in the coming months. According to the streaming giant, users have been loving its shuffle play function for leading them to hidden gems they might not have found otherwise. Of course, the opposite could also be true if it turns out that Netflix's algorithm doesn't know you at all. 

You can find the floating Play Something button at different places within the app, including the home screen. If you're viewing the page of a specific show, a button that says Play Something Else will show up. Patrick Flemming, Netflix's Director of Product Innovation, said in a statement:

"Play Something helps Netflix members discover new shows and movies when they don’t want to make decisions. Today, we're excited to bring this feature to Android, too - choosing what to watch on your phone has never been easier."

In addition, Netflix is launching Fast Laughs, its TikTok-style comedy feed that pulls funny clips from its catalog, for Android. Previously exclusive for iOS users, the feature will be available for Android in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland, India, Malaysia, Philippines and other select markets. 

Apple has announced when you'll be able to snag an Apple Watch Series 7. Pre-orders start this Friday, October 8th. The device, which starts at $399, will be available one week later on October 15th.

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If you've been on the market for a new portable drive, a microSD card for your Nintendo Switch or even an SSD for your PS5, Amazon has a big, one-day sale on a bunch of storage devices from brands like PNY, Crucial and Lexar. There are quite a few notable deals in this sale, two of which can help you store more games on your preferred console. Our favorite cheap SSD for the PS5, PNY's 4TB XLR8 CS3040, is down to a record low of $520, while Lexar's 1TB Play microSD card for the Nintendo Switch is nearly half off, bringing it down to an all-time low of $128.

All variations of PNY's XLR8 internal SSD have been discounted in some way — you can pick up a 1TB version for $145 — but you'll get the best deal if you spring for the 4TB model. Even at its normal price of $700, it was the only high-capacity SSD we could thoroughly recommend in our PS5 SSD guide due to its comparatively low price. And while Lexar's Play microSD card can be used in other devices like tablets, it's a great option to add more storage to your Nintendo Switch thanks in part to its 150MB/s read transfer speeds.

A couple of Crucial portable SSDs are included in this sale, too. The speediest option is the 1TB Crucial X8 drive, which is 21 percent off and down to a record low of $100. It has a slick yet durable design, supports read speeds up to 1050MB/s and can be used with iPad Pros, game consoles including the Xbox One, Android smartphones and more. If 1TB just won't cut it for you, Crucial's 2TB X6 SSD is also down to an all-time low of $143. It has a more square design than the X8 and it supports read speeds up to 540MB/s, so it'll be the better option if you care more about capacity than super-fast performance.

Unsurprisingly, Amazon filled out this daily deal with additional discounted SD cards and flash drives. Arguably the best on that front are the Lexar Professional-series SD cards, which will be good for photographers and videographers — a 128GB Professional 2000x card is $80 off, bringing it down to $110. And there are even a couple bay stations included in this sale, like this DiskStation from Synology that's down to a new low of $400.

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YouTube has a new feature that allows you to quickly switch from smartphone to desktop when watching a video, 9to5Google has reported. If you're watching something in the YouTube app on Android or iOS and exit before it finishes, a mini-player with the same video will open in the bottom corner when you launch YouTube on the web. Rather than showing the channel name as it usually does, however, "Continue watching" is displayed beneath the title. 

Clicking the play button will start playback in the mini-player, or you can expand it to open the video. The feature makes it quicker to get to a video you've already been watching, if you're getting back home after being on a train, for example. Otherwise, unless you checked "watch later," you'd have to check your history section and pull up the video from there.

The feature appears to be rolling out to users, though I wasn't able to see it yet in France even though I'm in YouTube's Android beta testing program. As such, the new feature may take awhile to roll out to your neck of the woods, too.