Category: Technology

Signal now has its own ephemeral Snapchat-like feature that you can use to share photos with friends. The messaging app has released the feature a month after it revealed that it was hopping on the Stories bandwagon and was already beta testing the capability. Also called “Stories,” Signal’s new feature lets you post photos that will remain viewable on the app for 24 hours, unless you erase them before the time is up. Signal says that like everything available on its app, Stories are end-to-end encrypted and will only be visible to the people you’ve chosen to share them with.

These people could be everyone in your contacts that use the app, along with anybody you’ve had a one-on-one conversation with or whose message request you’d accepted, even if you’d never added them. You can also create custom stories that will only be available to select viewers you choose — say, your colleagues or people with the same interests. Plus, you can share stories with existing groups. Just take note that everyone in that group will be able to see what you share, even those you’d never interacted with in individual chats. 

Seeing as Facebook and Instagram already have similar features, and Snapchat still exists, it remains to be seen whether Signal’s take can get people to use the app more. Signal’s Stories are now available on its Android and iOS app, and they’re “coming soon” to desktop, as well. If you’d rather not see your contact’s Stories, or if you’re not interested in posting your own, you can alway opt out by going to Settings and toggling on “Turn off stories.”

Nintendo has announced a solid quarter of earnings, with revenue for the quarter at 349.5 million yen ($2.38 billion) and a 118.7 million yen ($809.6 million) operating profit. That’s up by 15.9 and 18.5 percent over last year, largely in part due to a weaker yen, sales outside Japan and the launch of Splatoon 3.

The company is less bullish on Switch console sales, however, lowering its forecast from 21 million to 19 million for 2022. However, it doesn’t think that will affect earnings much, with revenue forecast to be 50 billion yen higher at 1.65 trillion yen ($11.25 billion) and operating profit remaining the same at 500 billion yen ($3.4 billion). 

Nintendo said that it has seen a gradual improvement in the supply of semiconductors and other components, along with a “recovery trend in hardware manufacturing for the Switch.” However, it lowered the forecast based on sales to date, with the weak yen making up the difference in revenue and profit. 

It also detailed what that might mean for consumers who want to buy a Switch for the holidays. “By continually working to front-load production and selecting appropriate transportation methods in preparation for the holiday season, we will work to deliver as many consoles as possible to consumers in every region of the world.”

That’ll be helped by the launch of a bunch of new games, as well. On top of Splatoon 3, it released Bayonetta 3 in October, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet in November, Fire Emblem Engage coming in January 2023, and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe arriving in February 2023.

MediaTek is still frequently associated with budget Android phones, but it’s increasingly making its way into flagships — and its latest system-on-chip might help on that front. The company has introduced a Dimensity 9200 chip that, among other claims, is billed as the first SoC to be ready for WiFi 7. You’ll need a phone with a compatible network chipset and a WiFi router to match, but this theoretically delivers speeds of up to 6.5Gbps on-device while improving reliability and reducing lag.

The Dimensity 9200 is also said to be the first mobile chip to use an ARMv9 Gen 2 architecture, and uses new cores to match. A “big” Cortex-X3 core handles the most demanding tasks with the help of three Cortex-A715 performance cores. Four Cortex-A510 low-power cores help with battery life. The combo delivers a modest 10 to 12 percent boost over the Dimensity 9000 in synthetic tests, but reportedly cuts power consumption by as much as 25 percent.

The largest speedups come with graphics. The Dimensity 9200 is one of the first chips to use ARM’s new Immortalis-G715 GPU, bringing hardware ray tracing, three times the triangle throughput and greater efficiency. It’s up to 32 percent faster than the GPU in the Dimensity 9000 while using 41 percent less power, MediaTek says.

Other improvements are subtler, but still useful. Unlike many MediaTek chips, the 9200 supports both sub-6GHz and millimeter wave 5G to provide fast cellular data in more parts of the world. The Imagiq 890 image signal processor is the first to support RGBW camera sensors, promising more brightness and detail in photos than plain RGB. It can counteract motion blur, too. You can also expect support for fast UFS 4.0 storage, the latest LPDDR5X memory (8.5Gbps) and 24-bit/192KHz audio.

The first phones using the Dimensity 9200 should be available by the end of 2022. This won’t necessarily make Qualcomm sweat, especially with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 likely on the horizon. However, this could put MediaTek into more high-end phones — and that’s good for both choice and competition.

Instagram is rolling out its in-app post scheduler, allowing select users to plan their posts in advance without having to use Meta’s Creator Studio or third-party services. The Meta-owned photo-and-video sharing platform is giving businesses and creators the power to schedule Reels, photos and carousels for up to 75 days within the app itself. Instagram tested the feature over the past few weeks, giving a small percentage of its global community access to the tool, before this wider (but still limited) release. 

To access the feature, eligible users will have to go to “Advanced Settings” after creating their post but before sharing it with their followers. From there, they can toggle on “Schedule this post” and select the time and date they want it to go live. They then have to navigate back to the post they were creating and click “Schedule.” According to TechCrunch, which reported on the test, scheduled posts can be seen in the “Scheduled Content” section that can be accessed through the hamburger menu. The process could perhaps be simpler, but the feature eliminates the need to use the separate Creator Studio website or app for a more frictionless experience. 

Whether the feature will ever be available for ordinary users remains to be seen — Instagram hasn’t mentioned anything about a full rollout. In the same post announcing its in-app scheduler, though, Instagram has launched Achievements. Creators can unlock them by taking specific actions, such as collaborating with another creator and making interactive Reels with polls and quizzes. 

Play just about any big competitive online game for long enough and you’ll surely run into some toxic players who say offensive things in voice or text chat. Activision is doing a bit more to take on those jerks with more in-depth moderation tools in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty Warzone 2.0.

When they confirm a player has engaged in toxic voice or text chat, the games’ moderation teams now have the option to mute that person in all chat channels. So, while their remarks might not warrant a complete ban, players who abuse in-game chat might find themselves silenced. Activision will still rely on users to flag disruptive players through in-game reports. Riot Games, on the other hand, has started proactively monitoring Valorant voice chat for toxicity.

Before they start playing Modern Warfare II or Warzone 2.0, players have to read and agree to a code of conduct. This includes an acknowledgement that they won’t engage in bullying or harassment, nor make any bigoted comments.

In addition, when you report a troublesome Call of Duty player, you’ll be able to add more context. The reporting system now includes a dialog box, where you can explain what happened in more detail. Activision says it will use these tools in all future Call of Duty titles.

These moderation tools aren’t particularly novel. For one thing, Overwatch has long allowed players to type in their reasons for reporting someone. However, Modern Warfare II is already one of the biggest games around, having racked up over $1 billion in sales in just 10 days. There’s no doubt that Warzone 2.0 will also have a large player base after that game goes live on November 16th. Having better moderation tools to clamp down on disruptive cretins and offer a more positive experience for other players is rarely a bad thing.

Netflix’s growing stable of video game adaptations now includes one of the Xbox’s best-known franchises. The streaming service is teaming with series developer The Coalition to produce a live action Gears of War movie. There are no details for the cast, plot or release date, but Netflix is teasing an adult animated show and the possibility of “more stories.”

The series revolves around the Locust, an aggressive species that has very nearly destroyed human civilization. The original Gears of War trilogy centers on grizzled veteran Marcus Fenix, but newer games and spinoffs have focused on his son JD, his frequent ally Baird and the rebel-turned-soldier Kait.

The timing is apt. The Coalition isn’t unveiling its next game for a while. The Netflix productions give the Microsoft-owned studio a way to keep Gears of War in the limelight, not to mention spark renewed interest among gamers who have fond memories of chainsawing Locust drones. This is also part of Microsoft’s answer to Sony’s growing big screen ambitions, which now include planned Horizon and God of War shows as well as movies like Uncharted.

The question, as always, is whether or not the game collection translates well to a linear video format. While there have been some successes with game-based shows, such as Netflix’s League of Legends series, these projects still don’t have a sterling reputation — even the Halo adaptation garnered a mixed response. It’s far too early to determine how Gears of War will fare, but it’s safe to say there are plenty of challenges ahead. 

YouTube’s attempt to mimic TikTok now extends to the living room. The company’s vertical Shorts videos now have native support on TVs, with a player that makes better use of all that normally wasted horizontal space. It still feels like utter overkill to watch these mobile-oriented clips on the big screen (unless you have Samsung’s rotating TV), but it’s still much more elegant than trying to use the standard landscape player.

The feature is rolling out in the next few weeks. It be available on smart TVs made from 2019 onward as well as living room media devices and “newer” game consoles. YouTube suggested in an explanatory video (below) that Shorts might work with older sets, but that compatibility wasn’t guaranteed.

It’s not surprising that YouTube poured so much effort into adapting Shorts for TVs. TikTok’s own TV app launched in November last year — this gives YouTube an answer to a major competitor. There’s a significant audience for Shorts, too, with over 1.5 billion monthly active users as of this spring. And while TikTok is theoretically behind with ‘just’ 1 billion users (as of the third quarter of 2021), the gap is narrow enough that even a slight advantage in viewership could give one of them the lead.

Razer’s 2022 base model Blade 15 gaming laptop is on sale for $250 off at the manufacturer’s site. We named the Blade 15 our top pick for a premium gaming laptop in our best gaming laptop guide. At just $1,550, it’s a great deal, considering the 2021 model, with an older processor, is holding steady at $1,700 on Amazon.

We put the premium version of the Blade 15 through its paces and were impressed by Razer’s superb build quality. While that premium-level computer isn’t budging from its $3,700 price, this deal on the base model is a chance to get that same Razer quality in a solid gaming laptop.

Buy Razer Blade 15 at Razer – $1,550

This configuration of the Blade 15 has two graphics cards, one integrated Intel UHD graphics processor for your day-to-day and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 card that kicks in to handle gaming graphics. The 15.6-inch full HD screen has a solid 144Hz refresh rate that should keep all but the most intensive FPS looking smooth. 

It also has 16GM of dual-channel RAM, 512GB of SSD storage and there’s an open M.2 slot for memory expansion when the time comes. The Blade 15 comes stocked with the older Windows 10 but includes a free upgrade to Windows 11 once you get the unit home. It all runs on Intel’s 11th-gen Core i7 chip and has plenty of ports for your peripherals, including a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C. While it’s not the most powerful configuration of the Blade 15, this is an excellent entry point into Razer’s gaming devices — especially when you can keep an extra $250 in your pocket.  

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

Apple’s latest 11-inch iPad Pro has received its first discount, with both Amazon and B&H dropping the 128GB version of the new tablet down to $749. That’s a modest $50 off and still rather expensive, but Apple only launched this refresh a couple of weeks ago. If you were already planning on picking up the device ahead of the holidays, this deal lets you save a few bucks over buying from Apple directly. Just know that the deal only applies to the Space Gray model.

The new iPad Pro is a minor refresh compared to the previous model that launched in 2021. The main upgrades are a processor bump — the M1 SoC powering last year’s model has been replaced by the M2 SoC first seen in this year’s MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro — and a new feature for the second-gen Apple Pencil that lets you preview inputs and effects with the stylus just by hovering it over the display. There’s support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 networking, too, instead of WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

That’s about it, though. The M2 chip is a nice raw performance bump for media editing and general futureproofing, but the M1 is still more than powerful enough for most things people would do with an iPad, and the tablet’s design and accessory support is otherwise unchanged. The last-gen 11-inch iPad Pro is on sale for $700 as of this writing, so if you’re willing to buy an older model to save a bit more cash, that remains a worthwhile option.

That said, if you want the latest and greatest, the 2022 model is still a superb piece of hardware. We gave it a review score of 87 last week. While the more affordable iPad Air offers enough of the same features to be a better value for most — especially with it now discounted to $520 — the 11-inch iPad Pro continues to be a superior tablet, with support for a smoother 120 Hz refresh rate, higher maximum brightness, much improved speakers and Face ID support. It also starts with 128GB of storage; the Air starts with half of that, and you need to jump all the way to a 256GB model if you want to upgrade. Doing that would currently cost you $679 (or $749 at MSRP), which makes the 11-inch Pro’s price a bit more competitive, if still pricey. 

The 11-inch Pro is still overkill for most people’s iPad needs, and even with iPadOS’ new Stage Manager multitasking feature, it won’t fully replace most people’s MacBooks. (The basic 10.2-inch iPad is probably still the best overall bargain for casual iPad users, but that’s almost a different class of device at this point.) The 11-inch Pro also lacks the brighter and noticeably more vibrant mini-LED display of the more expensive 12.9-inch Pro. However, this is still a strong choice for power users or serious artist types who are looking to upgrade from an aging iPad Air or iPad Pro. It’s possible we’ll see a larger discount over Black Friday, but we wouldn’t expect it given that the device just released.

In other iPad deals, the cellular version of the 10th-gen iPad is also on sale at $20 off in yellow. We see these kind of minor Apple deals from Amazon fairly often, but again, this is the first discount to date for a brand-new model. Our review found that one trickier to recommend in the context of the wider iPad lineup, but if you need a cellular tablet and can live with a non-laminated display and first-gen Pencil support, it may be of interest.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

Twenty years ago this month, Konami released Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, an expanded reissue of MGS2: Sons of Liberty. If you’ve been looking for an excuse to revisit one of the most important games of the 21st century, now is the perfect time. Over the weekend, modder oct0xor released The Substance of Subsistence, a mod that adds a third-person camera to Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece.

If it’s been a while since you played MGS2, you may have forgotten the game employed an overhead camera that was a holdover from Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and Metal Gear Solid. It wasn’t until 2006’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, the expanded rerelease of Snake Eater, that Hideo Kojima and Konami implemented a proper third-person camera. That bit of history is also where the mod’s name comes from, with The Substance of Subsistence referring to the expanded editions of each game.

Adding a new perspective to MGS2 was no easy task. “The code to have a normal third-person camera was never present in the game, and in order to implement it, I had to reverse engineer and rewrite many things in the game engine,” oct0xor told PC Gamer. You can learn more about the work that was involved in a developer diary oct0xor shared a few months back.

You can find instructions on how to install the Substance of Subsistence on Github. The tricky part is finding a copy of the game for PC. Konami delisted Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 from GOG and other digital storefronts over a “temporary” licensing issue in 2021. In July, the company said it was still working on resolving the dispute but did not provide a timeline for when the games would be available to purchase again.