Category: Technology

One thing that Sony confirmed in advance for its September State of Play stream was a first look at gameplay for Saros, the next game from Housemarque (Returnal, Resogun). This is the first completely new project from the developer since it joined PlayStation Studios in 2021, and it opened the livestream.

Creative director Gregory Louden took viewers through a peek at the journey of Arjun Devraj (Rahul Kohli), who’s seeking answers on a shape-shifting planet called Carcosa. The combat looks very much in the vein of Returnal, with lots of lasers, projectiles and other nasty stuff to avoid. 

Arjun can trigger a shield to defend himself and redirect incoming projectiles to juice up a power weapon. He also gets a second chance to survive an encounter as there’s a revival ability he can use after his first death, but you’ll need to unlock the option to do that as it’s part of the permanent progression system. You’ll be able to upgrade your combat suit and other abilities too. Unsurprisingly, it all looks extremely pretty. 

Along with the first glimpse at gameplay, we got a release date. Saros will hit PS5 on March 20, 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/housemarques-saros-will-hit-ps5-on-march-20-2026-211504381.html?src=rss 

Following the announcement of its first smart glasses with a built-in display, Meta is opening several temporary retail locations where you’ll be able to demo the Meta Ray-Ban Display, their Meta Neural Band controller and the rest of the company’s Reality Labs products. These new “Meta Lab” locations will offer another way to see the company’s new $799 smart glasses, which currently aren’t available for purchase without an in-person demo and fitting.

For the rollout of the Meta Ray-Ban Display, Meta Lab locations will be available to visit in Las Vegas starting on October 16, Los Angeles starting on October 24 and New York starting on November 13. Meta also says interested Bay Area customers will  be able to demo and purchase the new smart glasses at the company’s existing Meta Store location in Burlingame, which has been rebranded as a “Meta Lab.”

While the appeal of having the face-mounted camera and speakers of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses is easy to understand, Meta clearly believes adding a display into the mix changes that calculus. The company says interest in the new glasses is part of the reason it’s opening these new retail locations. “Demand for in-person demos of Meta Ray-Ban Display and the Meta Neural Band is strong, with appointments in many major cities already booked out through mid-October,” according to Meta. Interestingly, Meta also plans to test selling its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses from vending machines, not unlike Snap did with its Spectacles.

These new Meta Labs join Ray-Ban, Verizon, Best Buy and LensCrafters stores as the only official places where you can try Meta’s new wearable. It’s hard to say if demand for demos will translate into actual sales, but clearly the positive buzz the company’s Connect showing was able to drum up has caught some people’s interest. You can book a demo at a Meta Lab through the company’s website.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/meta-lab-pop-ups-will-let-you-try-on-the-companys-new-smart-glasses-for-yourself-205756155.html?src=rss 

Microsoft is bring yet another of its formerly exclusive games to PlayStation. During Sony’s latest State of Play, the company announced that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is coming to PS5 on December 8, 2025.

Based on the trailer showed during Sony’s event, the PS5 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, will carry over the same graphical detail and giant commercial aircraft of the original, along with support for the PS VR 2 headset for even more immersive cockpit gameplay. Along with accurately simulating real-life airplanes, Flight Simulator also uses real geographical and weather data for its maps, making flight as peaceful or difficult as they would be in real life.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 joins a growing collection of former Xbox and PC exclusives that Microsoft has brought to Sony’s console. The company started with games like Sea of Thieves and Pentiment, but now even bigger titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle come to PS5 eventually. 

It’s all part of Microsoft ongoing Game Pass and game streaming strategy, but it’s also working for Sony, too. Helldivers 2 was originally a PS5-exclusive, but when it came to Xbox it almost immediately became one of the best-selling games on the platform.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/microsoft-flight-simulator-2024-is-coming-to-ps5-on-december-8-213203456.html?src=rss 

Just in time for all your Halloween gaming projects, Alan Wake 2 will be the free to play for members of the PS Plus program in October. The news was announced during Sony’s State of Play presentation. 

The recent remake of the game showcases Remedy Entertainment’s skill with tell eerie, surreal interactive stories. And the fans have responded; it’s Remedy’s fastest-selling game to date. If you’re one of those people who hasn’t already bought a copy, now might be the time to join Alan and Saga in solving their supernatural murder mystery.

The new batch of PS Plus games, which also includes the compelling puzzle game Cocoon and Goat Simulator 3, will be available starting October 7. And in case you haven’t gotten enough of Joel, Ellie and the gang, Sony is also adding The Last of Us Part II to the PS Plus game catalog. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/alan-wake-2-will-be-free-on-ps-plus-in-october-213539815.html?src=rss 

If you’ve heard that Apple’s new iPhone 17 Pro models are more prone to scratches than past models, the story is not as cut and dry as it might appear. Bloomberg reported on September 19 that in-store iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro were already showing scratches, including circular marks from where the phones mounted on MagSafe stands. Now Apple tells 9to5Mac those marks aren’t scratches but rather “material transfer” from the stands to the body of the phone.

Apple’s explanation suggests that simply cleaning demo iPhone 17 Pro units and replacing old MagSafe stands will prevent those markings from happening in the future. That doesn’t account for the scratches some iPhone 17 Pro owners have noticed around the phone’s camera bump, though. In a recent scratch test video, YouTuber JerryRigEverything speculated that Apple’s decision to not add a chamfer or fillet to the sides of the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera bump left it more prone to damage. Through 9to5Mac, Apple says it designed the Pro’s aluminum camera bump in the same way as its other aluminum products and that it’s durable, but prone to “small abrasions” over time.

So Apple has effectively denied one instance of the iPhone 17 Pro scratching and sidestepped another. Notably, at no point in 9to5Mac‘s reporting is Apple or a spokesperson actually quoted, though, which might suggest the company isn’t ready to stick to a single explanation for the issues some users are dealing with. Engadget has contacted Apple for more information and will update this article if we learn more.

Switching from the titanium frame of the iPhone 16 Pro to the unibody aluminum one on the iPhone 17 Pro lets Apple’s new phone be both more performant and offer longer battery life. Aluminum does come with a natural drawback, though: It’s less scratch-resistant than titanium. It’s entirely possible reports of iPhone 17 Pro scratches are just a way to squeeze a few more drops of attention out of Apple’s launch, but if the company does have a problem, its choice of material might be the cause.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-clarifies-some-iphone-17-pro-scratches-are-caused-by-magsafe-stands-200016073.html?src=rss 

Waymo has unveiled a new enterprise transportation program. The Waymo for Business service offers companies access to the brand’s autonomous vehicles on a larger scale than individual one-off rides, with features such as establishing commuter programs, transporting riders to events and providing other forms of corporate travel. Waymo for Business is available in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix at launch.

Clients who sign up for this option can use Waymo’s business portal to establish their program and manage riders, whether that’s regular employees or limited-time guests. It will also have metrics for budget management and ride activity. The whole operation is still in early days, and it seems possible that Waymo for Business will adapt based on what customers most want from the autonomous vehicle company.

2025 has been a busy year for Waymo. The company plans to test its fleet in ten new cities this year, rolled out a teen account option in July, and already has its sights set on Nashville in 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymos-newest-service-caters-to-businesses-194530536.html?src=rss 

Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days are coming up, and you can get a jump on things today. A mainstay of Prime Day sales, a pair of Blink Mini 2 cameras is on sale for only $35. That’s 50 percent off, a record low and less than what you’d usually pay for one. It’s also Engadget’s pick for the best budget security camera.

This is the newest (2024) model of Blink’s budget wired model. The camera is well-suited for nighttime video: It has a built-in LED spotlight, color night vision and a low-light sensor. Day or night, it records in sharp 1080p resolution. It also has a wider field of view than its predecessor.

The Blink Mini 2 is primarily designed for indoor use. But you can use it outdoors, too. You’ll just need to fork over $10 for a weather-resistant adapter. Wherever you use the camera, it works with Alexa and supports two-way audio. (“Hello, doggy, I’ll be home soon.”)

It also supports person detection. (That’s a neat feature that differentiates between people and other types of movement.) However, the feature requires a Blink Subscription Plan. They start at $3 per month or $30 per year for one device.

The camera is available in black or white. Both colors are available for the $35 Prime Day deal, but they can’t be mixed unless you buy each separately. It’s worth noting that this deal is open to anyone — no Prime subscription necessary.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-deals-include-two-blink-mini-2-cameras-for-35-201049269.html?src=rss 

That report from a few weeks ago was spot-on. As The Information‘s sources tipped, Microsoft 365 Copilot is adding Anthropic’s AI models. Microsoft announced today that Claude access is now rolling out for beta testers. For starters, it’s being integrated into Copilot’s Researcher and its agent development tool.

“Copilot will continue to be powered by OpenAI’s latest models,” Microsoft’s announcement was quick to stress. Following that report from earlier this month, it was easy to imagine growing tensions between the two. It didn’t help that the story came on the heels of reports of uneasy negotiations between the pair.

Whether or not there’s anything to that, OpenAI models like GPT-5 still fuel most of Copilot… for now. But Microsoft 365’s Researcher now allows testers to use Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.1. Copilot’s reasoning tool launched earlier this year. It’s designed to help you “tackle complex, multistep research.”

Microsoft posted the brief video below. It shows a new “Try Claude” button in the upper-right corner of the research agent’s interface.

Copilot Studio, Microsoft’s AI agent dev tool, offers similar functionality. There, a drop-down menu lets you choose between OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s models.

Anthropic integration is currently rolling out through Microsoft’s Frontier program. (That’s its optional beta program for AI previews.) After signing up, you’ll need to opt in to use Anthropic. This will all presumably roll out to the wider public later.

This won’t be the end of Copilot’s Anthropic integration. “Anthropic models will bring even more powerful experiences to Microsoft 365 Copilot,” Microsoft’s Charles Lamanna teased.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-adds-claude-models-to-copilot-365-185032970.html?src=rss 

Valve has broadly rolled out a new Steam store menu after testing it since July. This redesign is available for the standard Steam PC client, the Steam Deck and Steam Mobile.

The big news here is that the update makes it easier to find stuff you want to play, which is a good move given the clutter of the current Steam store. Everything has been streamlined, with a new search menu existing up top. This search menu includes options for top sellers, new releases, discounted games and more. These criteria were already available, but all options are now grouped together in a nice and colorful menu.

The new “Categories” pull-down menu provides a more tailored feed, as it snags content from your top genres and offers suggested tags to find similar games.

Valve says the pre-existing search bar has gotten some upgrades underneath the hood. It can now offer suggestions based on common searches and can bring up a list of games you’ve recently searched for.

“With these changes, we’re aiming to make your experience smoother and more tailored to your needs,” Steam wrote in a blog post back in July. “We’ve been hearing from players, and experiencing ourselves, that some of the most commonly visited areas of Steam were hard to get to.”

The store update is rolling out now, so check your preferred Steam client to get started. It might be time to start clearing out that long-neglected wishlist.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/valve-rolls-out-a-new-steam-store-menu-to-make-it-easier-to-find-games-190027385.html?src=rss