Category: Technology

Reels started as Instagram’s solution for competing with TikTok and soon launched on sister-site Facebook — a natural expansion. Meta is now testing Reels on a less expected medium: the Meta Quest. Its VR headset works for internet browsing, watching movies, games and more — but the addition of typically-vertical Reels presents a different viewing experience than these more malleable (and typically screen-wide) options. 

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the update through a 13-second video on Meta’s Instagram Channel. It featured a Reel from influencer Austin Sprinz’s Instagram account in which he visited the world’s deepest pool. The immersive video is a good choice for VR, taking the viewer underwater into a seemingly bottomless space — and is certainly better than a cooking or dance Reel. 

The Reels update comes ahead of Meta Quest 3’s fall release and follows Apple’s new AR/VR Vision Pro headset announcement. Though, with Quest 3’s pricing starting at $499, compared to the Vision Pro’s $3,499, the pair don’t exactly fall into the same category. Meta’s VR headset line first launched as Oculus Quest and subsequently Oculus Quest 2 before the second-generation model was rebranded as Meta Quest 2. The Meta Quest Pro followed soon after the name change. As for Reels, there’s no timeline for if and when it will leave the testing phase and become available across Meta Quest headsets. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-test-puts-reels-on-the-quest-100521911.html?src=rss 

Mercedes-Benz is the first automaker to get permission from California regulators to sell or lease vehicles with Level 3 (hands-off and eyes-off) self driving tech on designated roads, Reuters has reported. The California Department of Motor Vehicles issued a permit for the company’s Drive Pilot system, provided it’s used under certain conditions and on specific roads. Mercedes-Benz previous received a similar certification in Nevada. 

Drive Pilot will allow Mercedes-Benz drivers to takes their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel, then do other non-driving activities like watching videos and texting. If the rules for use are followed, Mercedes (and not the driver) will be legally responsible for any accident that happens. 

To do all this, the Drive Pilot system relies on sensors installed throughout the vehicle including visual cameras, LiDAR arrays, radar/ultrasound sensors and audio mics to keep an ear out for approaching emergency vehicles. It can even compare onboard sensor and GPS data to fix its precise location on roads. 

It’s not as advanced as the systems on Waymo and Cruise vehicles, which allow full self-driving with no human driver aboard. At the same time, it’s a step up from Tesla’s so-called Full Self-Driving system, which is actually a Level 2 system and requires drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention at all times. 

Utilization is limited to high-traffic situations during daylight, with speeds under 40 MPH, and drivers must be available to resume control — so you can’t go in the back seat and sleep, for example. To enforce that, the vehicle tracks the driver with an in-car monitor, and you’ll need to take over if it goes faster than 40MPH, an emergency vehicle shows up, it rains, or other situations Driver Pilot can’t handle on its own. 

The system will be available on 2024 S-Class and EQS Sedan models, with deliveries slated for later this year. Engadget was able to test the system at Mercedes-Benz’s test track in Germany (and see it in action on LA roads). According to contributor Roberto Baldwin, “while it did what it was supposed to do, we found it hard to turn off our driving brain while behind the wheel.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mercedes-becomes-the-first-automaker-to-sell-level-3-self-driving-vehicles-in-california-103504319.html?src=rss 

The Summer Game Fest featured a spate of new announcements and updates again this year, including the new Prince of Persia action-adventure platformer by Ubisoft. In Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown coming in 2024, you take on the role of Sargon to rescue the prince, not just by killing enemies and fighting bosses, but also by solving puzzles. Bandai Namco launched Sand Land, a new adventure game featuring character designs by Akira Toriyama wherein you’ll have to play as the demonic prince Beelzebub, as well. 

Meanwhile, Sega revealed its new take on Sonic the Hedgehog in Sonic Superstars, with updated graphics and a split-screen view, launching this fall. As for Remedy, creative director Sam Lake made an appearance at the event to show off some new gameplay for Alan Wake II. The game will have two protagonists — Alan Wake and FBI agent Saga Anderson — and the game will be split 50-50 between them. You’ll play one or the other throughout the game, but there are parts where you’ll have to choose which POV to see. 

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, which is coming out on November 9th 2023, was also featured at the event. It’s the next entry in the Yakuza series and will again star Kiryu, who previously faked his death. Epic Games also released a cinematic trailer for Fortnite’s latest season, dubbed Fortnite Wilds, that’s commencing on June 9th. Finally, Square Enix has launched a premiere trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake: Rebirth, the second chapter of the FFVII remake, that has been pushed back to early 2024. 

You can watch all those announcements and more in under 20 minutes in the video above. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-the-summer-game-fest-keynote-in-under-20-minutes-091517818.html?src=rss 

The 2024 US Presidential race is heating up, and the candidates along with their supporters have a new weapon at their disposal: Artificial intelligence tools, which can easily generate realistic images and voices. As Semafor reports, the DeSantis War Room has shared images showing Donald Trump embracing Dr. Anthony Fauci, who became a controversial figure to conservatives following the COVID-19 pandemic. The short clip compares Trump as a reality TV star firing people in The Apprentice with the “real life Trump” who apparently refused to fire the doctor. 

While the video was marked on Twitter with a warning that says three of the still shots showing Trump embracing Fauci are “AI generated images,” some people could believe they were real. DeSantis’ camp didn’t deny that they weren’t real photos, but it didn’t explicitly say that either. Someone familiar with DeSantis’ political campaign told Semafor that the video was a “social media post” and not an ad, though it’s unclear if that’s the reason why the images were not clearly marked as computer-generated. 

The DeSantis camp isn’t the only group using AI-generated images this election, though. When President Joe Biden officially announced his re-election bid, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released video ads created entirely using artificial intelligence. The video shows Biden and Kamala Harris at a victory party followed by several domestic and international incidents the RNC says might happen if they win. Donald Trump, Jr. also reportedly shared a video swapping DeSantis’ face and voice over a scene from The Office in the past. Meanwhile, former President Trump shared a video mocking DeSantis’ Twitter Spaces launch with AI voices that featured figures, such as Adolf Hitler. Clearly, Americans will be bombarded with AI-generated images and voices this election, and it’s up to them to figure out what’s real and what’s not. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-desantis-campaign-used-ai-generated-images-to-attack-trump-062923571.html?src=rss 

Logitech is getting rid of the Blue microphone brand, and will now sell the products under the Logitech G gaming brand — only keeping the Blue name to “describe our technologies,” it said. Blue has been removed from Logitech’s “brands” section on its website, and the Bluemic.com domain now directs to Logitech. All Blue products, including the Yeti, Snowball and others, are now found only on the Logitech G section of its website. 

The company has also moved its Astro high-end gaming headsets, mixers and more over to Logitech G, but will keep that brand, The Verge reported. “The Astro brand will continue to live on as a premium console audio product series underneath the Logitech G brand. Stay tuned for more information regarding ASTRO including a launch that we think our community will be very excited about,” the company said in a FAQ on Reddit. 

Logitech already hinted that it might scuttle the Blue brand, having released the Blue Sona streaming mic under Logitech G late last year. It also changed its description of the Yeti mic a while back, describing it as the Yeti microphone with Blue VO!CE technology. 

Logitech purchased Blue in 2018 for $117 million. However, Blue Microphones has a history beyond what you may expect, having originally created the “Bottle” microphone before ever developing any streaming products (Blue also stands for “Baltic Latvian Universal Electronics,” according to Wikipedia). Its first microphone designed for streaming audio was the Snowball, still available on Logitech as the Snowball Ice for $50. 

Given that the Blue brand is highly respected in podcasting, streaming and other areas, it seems an odd choice to kill it off in favor of its own brand, which has far less cachet. The company is promising a “deeper integration” with all its Logitech G products, promising that you’ll be able to configure them “all in one place,” presumably its G HUB app. If that’s the plan, then Logitech may need to address criticism with that app, if the comments on its Reddit FAQ post are anything to go by. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/logitech-retires-the-blue-microphone-brand-083111975.html?src=rss 

Ford isn’t the only electric automaker switching to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard — General Motors says it’s making the change, too. CEO Mary Barra announced the move during a Twitter Spaces chat with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday, stating that its electric vehicles will make the NACS open-source connector standard in all GM EVs in 2025.

As part of the collaboration, all GM EVs will gain access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in 2024. Drivers of existing GM EVs won’t have to upgrade their vehicles to use Tesla’s chargers, but will need to use an adapter to make their vehicle compatible. Likewise, GM says it will be developing an adapter that will allow future NACS-enabled EVs to charge its existing network of CSS-capable fast charging stations.

That backwards compatible charger could prove important. Tesla’s willingness to open up its charging system to non-Tesla vehicles was originally announced alongside a $7.5 billion Biden administration initiative to expand EV charger availability in the US — but that plan heavily indexes on building out CCS chargers.

“This collaboration is a key part of our strategy and an important next step in quickly expanding access to fast chargers for our customers,” Barra said in GM’s statement on the partnership. “Our vision of the all-electric future means producing millions of world-class EVs across categories and price points, while creating an ecosystem that will accelerate mass EV adoption.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gm-ev-owners-will-gain-access-to-tesla-superchargers-in-2024-002123436.html?src=rss 

From Halloween to The Thing, Christine to They Live, John Carpenter is a modern master of cinematic horror. During Summer Games Fest on Thursday, Focus Home Entertainment and Saber Interactive announced that his unique zompocalyptic vision will be coming to Xbox X|S, the Epic Games Store and Playstation 5 in 2024 with the release of John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando.

The game’s premise, based on the trailer that debuted on Thursday, is straightforward: you see a zombie, you shoot it until it stops twitching. The plot is equally nuanced, wherein an experiment seeking to draw energy from the Earth’s core has instead unleashed an ambulatory zombie plague known as the Sludge God. Players will have to kill it and its unending army of undead monstrosities with an array of melee, edged and ranged weapons, and special abilities. Get ready to rock out with your Glock out because the enemies will be coming at you in hordes. 

A firm release date has not yet been set, however the studio did announce that there will be a closed beta offered ahead of its release. If you want to get in on the undead butchery ahead of time, sign up for PC on the on the beta website. 

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/john-carpenters-toxic-commando-brings-a-co-op-apocalypse-to-ps5-and-xbox-203721417.html?src=rss 

Meta’s generative AI plans are starting to come into focus. Though the company hasn’t adopted much in the way of generative AI features yet, Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear he wants Meta to be viewed as one of the leaders in the field.

Now, Axios reports that at a companywide all-hands meeting this week, Zuckerberg laid out some of Meta’s plans in more detail. The CEO reportedly briefed employees on some of the ways Meta plans to put generative AI “into every single one of our products.”

The planned features include AI “agents” for WhatsApp and Messenger, something that Zuckerberg has discussed in the past. And while Axios reports that WhatsApp and Messenger may be first to get the feature, an early version of an AI chatbot was spotted in the Instagram app this week by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi. Screenshots he shared indicated the app could have as many as 30 different “personalities” to choose from.

Also in the works, according to Axios: generative AI photo editing in Instagram. The feature would apparently allow users to edit their photos via text prompts and then share the images back to their Story. Zuckerberg has also recently discussed — during the company’s most recent earnings call — post creation tools for Facebook, as well as for the platform’s advertisers.

It’s still unclear just how soon some of these features may launch, but it sounds like Zuckerberg is hoping to see them sooner than later. The company is also hoping employees will come up with some ideas for new generative AI features of their own and is reportedly hosting an internal hackathon to inspire potential new ideas.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mark-zuckerberg-says-generative-ai-is-coming-to-every-single-one-of-our-products-204741820.html?src=rss 

Sega’s Japanese gangster series, Yakuza (or Like a Dragon), will continue in Like a Dragon 8, but the company also teased a separate title that would continue the story of the series’ protagonist from the first six games. Yes, Kiryu Kazuma is back, but well, without the name. 

The laboriously named Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will focus on Kiryu, who, having faked his death, is back on the mean, incredibly reflective streets of Japan. According to leaks earlier this week, will feature two fighting styles, including ‘agent’ techniques that appear to be both gadget-heavy and remind me a lot of Link’s Ultrahand from what is probably the best game of 2023. Oh, and Spider-Man. In short, it’s going to be very silly again.

Gaiden looks to be another traditional brawler, and it launches on November 9th 2023. If you’re looking for more RPG-style gangster adventures, you’ll have to wait for next year’s Like A Dragon 8.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/like-a-dragon-gaiden-revives-kiryu-on-november-9th-2023-204950865.html?src=rss