The global semiconductor shortage is about to claim another casualty. Starting on Monday, General Motors will temporarily halt production at all but four of its North American factories due to chip supply constraints. The halt in production will affect many of the automaker’s most profitable vehicles, including the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra.

“During the downtime, we will repair and ship unfinished vehicles from many impacted plants, including Fort Wayne and Silao, to dealers to help meet the strong customer demand for our products,” a spokesperson for GM told the Detroit Free Press. “Although the situation remains complex and very fluid, we remain confident in our team’s ability to continue finding creative solutions to minimize the impact on our highest-demand and capacity-constrained vehicles.”

This is the second time GM has had to temporarily shut down production due to the global chip shortage. The company announced a similar two-week idle back in April. The shortage has affected nearly every automaker. The same month GM scaled back production, so did Ford, Honda and BMW. It has even affected Tesla, which recently delayed both the Roadster and Semi due to supply constraints. With the shortages expected to continue until at least 2023, and no immediate solutions forthcoming, GM likely won’t be the last company to change its production schedule.

Horizon Forbidden West, probably the biggest PlayStation exclusive announced since the PS5 launch, is set to arrive in February. With the release date coming soon, developer Guerilla Games is opening pre-orders and detailing the many different editions of the game that will be available on February 18th, 2022. 

Perhaps the most important thing most buyers will need to know is that the standard "launch" editions of Horizon Forbidden West, whether you're buying a physical or digital copy, will only work on a single console. (You can clearly see this stated in an FAQ Sony published today.) Even though the game is being released for both PS4 and PS5, you'll have to choose which console you want and stick with that; there's no ability to upgrade for a fee later. As with most AAA games these days, the PS4 versions costs $60 and the PS5 $70. There are also special edition steelbook version for both consoles that also include a mini art book and digital copy of the soundtrack for $10 more.

If you're really not sure which console to buy for, there's a digital deluxe edition that might be the way to go. For $80 (the same as the PS5 steelbook version), you'll get the game on both PS4 and PS5. It also comes with a number of digital goodies including the art book, soundtrack, a digital comic and some in-game outfits and items. One unlock we haven't heard of before is for the game's photo mode; you'll unlock special face paint and a unique pose for Aloy.

As with other popular AAA titles, there are a couple of lavish and expensive editions for hardcore fans (like the author of this post). The highlight of the $200 Collector's Edition is a seemingly massive statue of the game's Tremortusk enemy alongside a much smaller statue of Aloy. It also includes the same physical art book and steelbook display case that comes with the special editions, plus all the digital gear included with the deluxe edition. 

Sony

The $260 "Regalla" edition (so named for an enemy faction in the new game) steps things up with an even more detailed statue that includes special armor and enemy warriors riding the Tremortusk. It also includes two artwork cards, a replica of Aloy's Focus, a canvas map and two replicas of "Strike" pieces from the game. Strike is apparently a type of board game that the characters in Horizon Forbidden West play; we'll have to learn more about them later.

Both of these massive editions come with the game for both PS4 and PS5 — but, they do not include the game on disc. Instead, you'll receive a download card. It makes some degree of sense, given that Sony now sells a PS5 with no disc drive, but it's definitely a bummer for people who don't want to have to wait for what will surely be a massive game download. 

Confused yet? Let's make it simple: If you want both PS4 and PS5 versions, you'll need to spend $80 on the digital deluxe edition, which is not a bad idea considering you get the two game versions plus a bunch of digital goodies for only 10 bucks more than the standard PS5 edition. The other option is buying the pricey Collector's or Regalla editions. But if you're set on buying a disc, you'll have to stick with whatever console you pick when you buy it, as there are no plans to offer an upgrade path to the PS5.

You can see and pre-order all the various editions here.

Ever see a real good tweet that makes you stop and think "that amused or informed me to the extent I want to give that person a monetary tip"? Twitter's Tip Jar has let users do just that for the last few months. Until now, Twitter users have only been able to send regular money to each other through the feature, but it seems they'll soon be able to tip others with bitcoin.

Researcher and app developer Alessandro Paluzzi shared a screenshot that suggested Twitter is working on such an option, as noted by 9to5Mac. According to the image, Twitter is planning to use Strike to generate bitcoin Lightning invoices. It'll harness the Lightning Network with the aim of enabling faster payments with lower fees than the primary bitcoin network.

Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour quote tweeted Paluzzi's screenshot and added two emoji: a lightning symbol and another reading "soon." That's a pretty clear indicator bitcoin tipping is in the works. Beykpour also noted that Twitter is working to bring Tip Jar to more countries.

It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Twitter's planning to let folks tip each other with cryptocurrency. CEO Jack Dorsey is a major proponent of bitcoin. He expressed hope in July that the digital currency could bring about world peace, while his other company, Square, may be working on a bitcoin hardware wallet.

Amazon has shared the first trailer for its long-awaited adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. If you’re a newcomer to the fantasy series, the clip sketches out the basics of the world the author created before his death in 2007. 

In the Wheel of Time, only women known as Aes Sedai can channel magic. A powerful sorceress named Moiraine (played by Gone Girl and Hostiles actor Rosamund Pike) comes across a small town called Two Rivers where she finds five young men and women. One of them she believes is the Dragon Reborn, an entity that could be either the savior or destroyer of humanity.

Amazon first announced it was working on a live-action adaptation of Robert Jordan’s 14-volume fantasy back in 2018, but like with the company’s other big-budget fantasy adaptation, filming was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first three episodes of the Wheel of Time will debut on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, November 19th, with new episodes to follow every week thereafter until December 24th when the season finale starts streaming.

Hyundai has bet big on EVs and that gamble is paying off with the Korean automaker pacing ahead of many larger companies in the industry in the race towards electrification. The company continued that trend Tuesday when its luxury brand, Genesis, announced that every new model made after 2025 will be an electric vehicle. The company expects to have eight EV models available for sale in 2030 and sell around 400,000 of them annually. 

These models won't necessarily be straight plug-ins as the company is pursuing a "dual-fuel" strategy, developing both battery electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion cells and those powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology. The GV60 will be Genesis' first true EV when it hits the streets later this year. Built on the same E-GMP platform as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, the GV60 is rumored to have between 226 and 436 HP, depending on model type, and offer both 2WD and AWD options, though Genesis has not officially released specs yet.

There's another gaming-focused event to look forward to this month. A week after Sony's PlayStation showcase, THQ Nordic is running a 10th anniversary celebration with a look at what's ahead for the publisher.

THQ Nordic is promising six new game announcements for its first digital showcase. Among those are revivals of some "legendary franchises," including some that have been dormant for decades. Hmm... The publisher's also planning to show off sequels to "beloved games" — perhaps there'll be a peek at the next Darksiders title.

Two games that will definitely be part of the showcase are RPGs ELEX II and Expeditions: Rome. If you join the stream before the event officially starts, you'll catch an update from HandyGames during the pre-show.

There will be a familiar face handling hosting duties: Geoff Keighley of The Game Awards, Summer Game Fest and Gamescom's Opening Night Live. The event starts at 3PM ET on September 17th. You can watch it on YouTube, Twitch and Steam.

More rumors suggest Apple's fabled AR and VR headset will depend on another device. The Informationsources claim the headset will need to wirelessly communicate with a host device like an iPhone, iPad or computer that can handle most of the computing. The chip inside the wearable won't be as powerful as Apple's in-house chips and will lack the Neural Engine used to accelerate AI tasks. It'll be made on a 5-nanometer process that will seem old by the time the headset is available, according to one contact.

The chip will reportedly have a CPU and GPU, leaving open the possibility for a weaker stand-alone mode like you see with the Oculus Quest 2. However, the hardware is supposedly optimized for processing and transmitting the headset's camera imagery over a wireless link, with a focus on battery life. Apple is rumored to be using "ultrahigh-resolution" (possibly 8K per eye) displays, with cameras to match.

The headset may still be a long way off. Apple supposedly just completed "tape-out" (that is, completed the physical design) for the main chip, display driver and image sensor. Trial production will take a while, let alone the mass production needed for a shipping product.

Information had heard the device might not be ready until 2022 at best, and might launch later. It's believed to be aimed at developers and creators with a potential price around $3,000. Any truly consumer-oriented hardware might have to wait until a possible set of AR glasses launching in 2023 or later.

Apple declined to comment. With that said, there are signs the company is edging closer to releasing the headset. The company recently shuffled executives, with senior VP Dan Riccio tipped to lead a new project that might center on the headgear. In other words, years of development and acquisitions are finally bearing fruit.

Virgin Galactic announced on Wednesday that its upcoming "Unity 23" mission will include the first commercial research payload in the company's launch history — that payload being three paying passengers from the Italian Air Force.

The IAF members have teamed with the National Research Council to study the effects on the human body of transitioning from full 1G gravity to the microgravity felt in orbit. The launch will also carry additional instruments designed to study the impact microgravity has on various chemical and physical properties of the surrounding environment, according to a Wednesday press release from the company. 

“The Italian Air Force has always placed great importance on the understanding of space and aerospace," Lieutenant General Alberto Rosso, Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, said in a prepared statement. "Aerospace is the natural operational extension of our institutional duty. Strength in this domain is an asset for the country and is critical to its protection and safety, which is why the Air Force places great emphasis on further deepening its knowledge. With this mission, the Italian Air Force aims to start exploring potential implementations for this kind of vehicle - both civilian and military - and to further opportunities for technological, scientific and industrial growth.”

Unity 23, when it launches during its window between late September and early October, will be the first Virgin Galactic flight since company founder, Richard Branson and crew completed their history-making flight in July.

How do you build on a filmography that includes disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day? If you’re Roland Emmerich, the answer is, quite simply, to drop the Moon on the planet. In the first trailer for his latest film, Moonfall, Earth’s natural satellite has decided to do humanity a solid favor and put it out of its misery by crashing into its anchor.

You might think its title says almost everything you need to know about Moonfall, but, sorry, the end of the world is only part of the story here. According to the film’s official synopsis, a “mysterious force” is what sets the Moon on its collision course with Earth. It’s up to a NASA executive, former astronaut and conspiracy theorist — played by Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson and John Bradley, respectively — to save the world. “These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is,” the film’s official summary says.

I’ll say it now. I hope it’s not aliens that are behind everything. Either way, Moonfall looks like it will be a fun and trashy way to spend an hour or two forgetting about all the real problems haunting humans at the moment. The film will debut in theaters on February 4th, 2022. We can't wait.

Razer has finally found the perfect balance between power and portability with the Blade 14. It features AMD's latest processor, NVIDIA's RTX 30-series GPUs, and a responsive 14-inch display, but it wraps all of that together in a sub-four-pound package. What's not to love? While Razer's 13-inch Blade Stealth is even lighter, I've always found it to be woefully underpowered and dramatically overpriced. But the Blade 14 represents what Razer does best: delivering powerful hardware that feels more polished than the competition.

Imagine a shrunken-down version of the Blade 15, and you've pretty much got the 14-inch. It has the same sleek black aluminum case, and a minimalist aesthetic that resembles Apple's MacBook Pro more than a typical gaming laptop. That, of course, has been Razer's major accomplishment over the last few years: Its computers are still the closest Windows users can get to Apple's polished hardware. The only major feature that screams "gaming laptop" is the Blade 14's RGB LED keyboard, which allows every key to display its own color (something you can also turn off easily, too).

Like most 14-inch gaming laptops these days, the Blade 14's biggest selling point is that it's lighter than most 15-inch notebooks. Here's where Razer's own innovations start to work against it, though. The Blade 15 currently weighs around 4.4 pounds, whereas the 14 clocks in at 3.9 pounds. That's only a half-pound difference, something that could be noticeable if you were comparing these laptops in each hand, but less so in normal usage. The Blade 14 would have seemed more impressive when the 15-inch model was upwards of 4.6 pounds, but now it's actually a bit hefty compared to competitors like the 3.5-pound ASUS Zephyrus G14.

This isn't the first time that Razer has had a 14-inch laptop either, which takes some of the luster away from the Blade 14. The last model dropped around three years ago, toting a 7th-gen Intel CPU and weak NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics. What makes this new version stand out is under the hood. It's the first time Razer has used an AMD processor — every Blade 15 comes with the powerful Ryzen 9 5900HX — and it also has NVIDIA's fastest RTX 30 graphics.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Still, it's worth noting even those graphics cards are constrained by the Blade 14's size. NVIDIA lets every PC maker tweak the wattage of their GPUs, which is helpful for dealing with thermal constraints, but that also means performance can vary wildly. Basically, not every RTX 3080 is created equal, especially when it comes to gaming laptops. Keep that caveat in mind, because it'll explain some of the performance benchmarks I ended up seeing.

Our review unit was the most expensive configuration, a $2,800 build with the Ryzen 9 5900HX, RTX 3080, 16GB of fixed RAM, 1TB SSD, and a quad HD 165Hz display Given that caliber hardware, the Blade 14 had no troubling handling demanding games and torturous benchmarks. In Destiny 2, reached up to 120fps while playing in 1,440p with maxed-out settings. It also looked smooth on the laptop's 14-inch screen, with excellent color reproduction and solid brightness. Ray tracing performance was also solid; I was able to see between 60 and 70fps in Control while playing in 1,440p with maxed graphics, DLSS and medium ray tracing.

Still, I definitely noticed the compromises Razer had to make to squeeze the RTX 3080 into such a small case. It was slower than the larger Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, equipped with an RTX 3070 GPU, in all of our 3DMark tests and Geekbench 5's compute benchmark. Clearly, Lenovo was able to squeeze out more performance from what's supposed to be a slower GPU. Compared to the ASUS Zephyrus G15, which has a Ryzen 9 5900HS and an RTX 3080, the Blade 15 lags behind slightly in all of our 3D benchmarks.

I also noticed that the Blade 14 could get toasty, with its CPU reaching up to 94 degrees Celsius when I really stressed it out. It's rare for me to see processors going beyond 85 Celsius in gaming notebooks today, so that was particularly surprising. There were times when the bottom of the Blade 14 felt too hot to touch. I was glad that the GPU generally stayed below 84 Celsius under load, which is more in line with competitors. Despite running so hot, it lasted 10 hours and 50 minutes in our battery benchmark. That’s mainly for productivity tasks, though. Expect it to last a lot less if you’re gaming unplugged.

The Blade 14's case size also has implications for its keyboard. While it looks and feels just like Razer's existing laptop designs, with a satisfying amount of key travel and responsiveness, the layout is far more cramped than the Blade 15. That led to a bit of finger pain after extended Destiny 2 and Overwatch sessions. Maybe I'm just becoming less dexterous in my older age, but I think that alone could be a dealbreaker for some gamers. You're going to be hitting those WASD keys quite a bit in shooters, after all.

Port-wise, the Blade 14 crams in most of what you'd want: two USB-C 3.2 connections with charging; two USB 3.2 Type A sockets; a full-sized HDMI port; a headphone jack; and a custom power cable. It's definitely nice to be able to charge up using a normal USB-C cable, but those won't be powerful enough to juice up while gaming. Thankfully, the Blade 14's bundled power adapter is relatively small, unlike the bricks that gaming laptops used to come with.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

As usual, I would have liked to see an SD card reader, but that's just another reason to consider the larger Razer notebooks. Similarly, the Blade 14 doesn't have upgradable RAM, which means you're stuck with the 16GB of memory it comes with. You can upgrade the NVMe SSD, but you'll be limited to 2TB. The Blade 15 and 17, meanwhile, let you add more RAM and up to two NVMe SSDs.

The Blade 14 starts at $1,800 with an RTX 3060 and a 1080p 144Hz screen. Given that price point, I'd recommend the Blade 15 for most shoppers. You'd get a larger screen, more customizable and faster hardware, as well as fewer thermal restrictions. And when it comes to 14-inch competition, the ASUS Zephyrus G14 is another solid choice (though I'd give Razer the upper hand when it comes to long-term reliability).

Still, there’s a lot to love about the Blade 14. More so than the overpriced Blade Stealth 13, this new model is a light laptop that'll satisfy most of your hardware demands. So if you're in love with the idea of a sub-four-pound Blade, and don't mind the compromises involved, then go with the gaming gods.