Category: Technology

Meta has spent the last few years remaking Facebook’s main feed into a “discovery engine” that primarily serves up recommended content from pages, groups and accounts users don’t already follow. But while the company has said the change is necessary to compete with TikTok, it’s also frustrated Facebook users who miss seeing posts from people they actually know.

Now, Meta is trying to remedy this with a revamped “Friends” section of the app that will only show posts and content related to your Facebook friends. The company says the update is the first of many meant to bring “OG” features back into the 21-year-old social network.

With the update, the “Friends” tab of the Facebook app that used to only be for friend requests will now be home to a feed exclusively made up of content related to your friends. This includes feed and Story posts, as well as Reels, birthdays, friend requests and “people you may know suggestions.”

While Meta is spinning the change as a part of a larger push to make Facebook feel more “social,” it’s not the first time the company has offered dedicated feeds for “friend only” content. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg showed off dedicated “friends” feed in 2022 amid the company’s push to bring more recommendations to users’ “home” feeds. That feed, which surfaces posts from friends in reverse chronological order, is still available, though it’s somewhat buried in the app.

It’s not clear what else Meta has in store for other “OG” Facebook features that could play on nostalgia for the 21-year-old social network. (Facebook’s once infamous “poke” feature already had a brief resurgence last year.) But it’s apparently a priority for Zuckerberg.

“I actually think that there’s this whole opportunity that I think is going to be pretty fun to to go after and build which is just to kind of go one-by-one and build up a a bunch of these things that used to be these joyful experiences that people had as part of Facebook that just kind of don’t exist on the internet today,” Zuckerberg said in a podcast appearance promoting the change.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/mark-zuckerberg-decides-content-from-your-actual-friends-is-an-og-facebook-feature-180803853.html?src=rss 

Ubisoft is continuing its efforts to course-correct after several challenging years. Today, the video game company announced that it will launch a subsidiary centered around three of its most familiar franchises: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. The as-yet-unnamed subsidiary will fold in the teams working on those three series, including Ubisoft studios in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona and Sofia.

This new business will receive an investment of €1.16 billion (roughly $1.25 billion) from its longstanding partner Tencent, granting the conglomerate a minority ownership stake. Following the transaction, Ubisoft will narrow focus to its other franchises, such as The Division and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon.

“Today Ubisoft is opening a new chapter in its history,” CEO and Co-Founder Yves Guillemot said. “As we accelerate the company’s transformation, this is a foundational step in changing Ubisoft’s operating model that will enable us to be both agile and ambitious.”

Ubisoft has been cutting costs and jobs over the past several months after several of its new projects flopped. There have been hints for a while that the company’s leaders were interested in either finding a buyer or exploring a joint venture with Tencent to help reverse its fortunes. It’s encouraging that the recent Assassin’s Creed: Shadows has already reached 3 million players, but Ubisoft will probably need a few more wins to fully stabilize.

There is some extra good news in the announcement. The description of the new subsidiary does specify that “it will drive further increases in quality of narrative solo experiences.” So while we can expect to also see multiplayer and free-to-play offerings from the Ubisoft umbrella, they aren’t giving up on single-player games.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-spins-out-subsidiary-with-a-billion-dollar-investment-from-tencent-183516992.html?src=rss 

The highly customizable Vivaldi web browser now has built-in ProtonVPN integration. CEO Jon von Tetzchner described the collaboration as part of a broader shift toward “privacy over profiling, sovereignty over surveillance, independence over inertia,” noting Vivaldi and Proton’s headquarters are in Europe (a region with significantly better privacy regulations than the US). “We don’t believe your personal data should be a bargaining chip.”

Built-in ProtonVPN is only available on Vivaldi’s desktop app, which is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. You can use Proton integration by clicking a new “VPN” icon at the top right of the toolbar. Doing so will prompt you to sign in with your Vivaldi account.

It connects with ProtonVPN’s free plan by default, which offers solid speeds but only automatic server locations from (via The Verge) five randomly selected countries. Or, you can log into a paid Proton account for the fastest speeds and manual server selection. (Proton’s service is Engadget’s pick for the best VPN app.)

In a blog post announcing the collab, Tetzchner framed it as a people-focused deal. “With this partnership, we’re uniting two forces in tech that build for people, not investors,” he wrote. “It’s not about growth hacks or shareholder slides. It’s about protecting the web for the people who use it.”

You can install ProtonVPN’s extension for Chrome, Firefox and Chromium-based alternatives like Edge, Brave and Opera, so this is far from the only way to use it in your browser. Vivaldi’s new button essentially automates the installation process.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/the-customizable-vivaldi-browser-adds-built-in-protonvpn-163824848.html?src=rss 

Today’s Nintendo Direct gave us our first real look at the forthcoming Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake, and it sure is easy on the eyes. It uses Square Enix’s HD-2D engine, just like last year’s Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake.

We knew this JRPG was coming, but now we have some actual in-game footage. As the name suggests, this title will include remakes of the first two Dragon Quest titles that were originally released all the way back in the 1980s. This is a very good thing, as the first game is pretty short.

Technically, Dragon Quest 3 is a prequel to the first two titles in the franchise, so this release schedule makes a certain sort of sense. Once this game comes out, the entire Erdrick trilogy will be available to modern players.

We still don’t have a release date, other than later this year. We do know that it’s coming out for the Switch, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. These are the same platforms that Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake released for, which ended up being a surprise hit for the company. Square Enix said it sold over two million units globally, as of December. It was also the best-selling game in Japan throughout 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-gorgeous-remake-of-the-first-two-dragon-quest-games-hits-switch-this-year-165757991.html?src=rss 

It might be around that time of year when you’re starting to figure out your summer vacation plans. Google has revealed some new features that can help with that, including a handy AI-powered one for Maps.

If you turn on the new screenshot list, Gemini can automatically recognize locations that are mentioned in screenshots you take in the app. You can then save the places you’re interested in to a list. These saved spots will appear on the map, and you can share the list with your travel companions. This feature will be available on iOS in English in the US starting this week. It’s coming to Android soon.

Google has long offered flight price tracking features, and now the company is expanding that to hotel pricing via its dedicated search tool. If you have your eyes on a destination for particular dates, you can track prices for hotels and get alerts when they drop. Just tap or click the price tracker toggle underneath the search filters. If prices for any of the hotels in the results drop dramatically, you’ll get a notification via email. This feature will be available globally this week.

In a blog post announcing these updates, Google also suggests that you could use AI Overviews in Search to help with travel planning. Starting this week with English queries in the US, the tool will offer trip planning for certain regions or whole countries. So if you enter something like “create a foodie itinerary for Japan,” AI Overviews should offer some ideas you can export as a list of recommendations in Docs or Gmail. You can save these suggestions in Google Maps as a custom list as well. I’m not sure I’d trust a tool that doesn’t know how many days there are in a month to come up with travel ideas for me, but, hey, the option’s there.

On that subject, Google is expanding AI Overviews in Lens and Circle to Search. They’ll soon be available in Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, in most of the countries where AI Overviews are accessible.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/google-can-save-locations-you-screenshot-in-maps-to-help-with-travel-planning-170144012.html?src=rss 

More than a decade after debuting on the iPhone in 2014, the Monument Valley series is making its way to Switch consoles. On Thursday, Nintendo announced Monument Valley and Monument Valley 2 would hit the eShop on April 15, with Monument Valley 3, the most recent entry in the series, arriving sometime this summer.  

This isn’t the first time Monument Valley and Monument Valley 2 have been available outside of mobile devices. In 2022, series creator Ustwo Games released the two games on PC. The work the studio did then likely made the job of porting the games to Switch a lot easier; there was likely no need to rework the art assets for the console’s widescreen display. Both games will come with all the additional chapters, add-ons and DLC Ustwo released over the years.  

For most people, this will probably be their first chance to play Monument Valley 3. Although the game has been available on mobile devices since the end of last year, it requires a Netflix subscription to access, and with the cost of the Standard plan increasing at the start of the year to $18 per month, it’s understandable if you decided to skip it.   

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-monument-valley-games-are-finally-coming-to-the-switch-171801177.html?src=rss 

It’s been a while since Engadget has highlighted a Humble Bundle, but the latest one is just too good to ignore. The Dice and Destiny collection brings together six incredible RPGs in support of CARE, an NGO that fights hunger and poverty globally. For about $15, you get Broken Roads, Citizen Sleeper, Disco Elysium, Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Roadwarden and a coupon for 15 percent off of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector. 

Having played most of the games in this bundle, I can safely say they’re all well-worth your time, but a few stand out. Disco Elysium needs no introduction. It was one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2019, and if you haven’t played it yet, this is great way to get Disco Elysium for cheap. But it’s not my favorite game in the collection. That distinction is shared by Citizen Sleeper and Roadwarden. 

In tone, they’re very different games. Citizen Sleeper is set in a dystopian far future, while Roadwarden is a dark fantasy RPG that fans of The Witcher series will love. However, both feature incredible writing, music and art, and if you love games where your decisions matter, few will scratch that itch like Citizen Sleeper and Roadwarden.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-latest-humble-bundle-brings-together-six-must-play-rpgs-154850448.html?src=rss 

The original AirFly Pro is a fantastic little device that lets you stream wireless audio from any standard 3.5mm headphone jack. This made it a great tool for inflight entertainment systems, treadmills, CD players and any other old-school gadgets that lack Bluetooth. Manufacturer Twelve South just announced a follow-up, the AirFly Pro 2, that brings even more features to the table.

The AirFly Pro 2 doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It’s still a dongle that connects to headphone jacks to provide wireless audio via Bluetooth. This new release offers improved sound quality, thanks to the Qualcomm QCC3056 audio processor. The company says this upgraded processor “optimizes sound quality and latency, making movies, music and games sound even better.” It also helps reduce background noise.

There’s a dedicated volume control button right on the dongle, which is a nice touch. This device offers multipoint connectivity, so two people can stream audio simultaneously. Twelve South says that the AirFly Pro 2 should also connect to headphones faster than previous models.

It’s available to purchase right now for $60. This is a small bump from the first AirFly Pro, which cost $55.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/the-airfly-pro-2-wireless-headphone-dongle-offers-improved-sound-and-volume-control-155811522.html?src=rss 

Electronic Arts (EA) has signed a multi-year deal with Amazon Luna, the tech company’s cloud gaming service. Now Luna+ subscribers can access EA games such as Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Dead Space. 

The games will be available on any device with Luna, including Amazon’s Fire TV and tablets, PC, Mac, smartphone and some LG and Samsung smart TVs. More of EA’s titles, including some of its EA Sports games, will also come to Luna in the coming months. Luna has previously expanded its offerings through a partnership with gaming storefront, GOG. 

“Our teams are focused on building experiences that entertain and engage EA’s massive online communities, and we’re excited to partner with Amazon to make those games available to even more people,” said David Tinson, EA’s chief experiences officer and EVP, in a release. “We look forward to a selection of EA games joining Amazon Luna, offering new ways for players and fans to come together across a variety of devices they already own, wherever they are.”  

Luna+ is available for $10 a month, which includes all the games in its library. That option has a seven-day free trial or Amazon Prime members can play a select few games each month for free with Luna. 

The cloud gaming service first launched in 2022 and has previously launched in the US, UK, Germany and Canada. Today it’s also expanding its availability to Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and Portugal. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/select-ea-games-are-now-available-on-amazon-luna-160025719.html?src=rss 

Light, the company behind a pair of minimalist handsets, just released the Light Phone III. This is the perfect device for those who are tired of modern smartphones, with their easy access to doomscrolling and their abundance of wonky AI tools. 

The Light Phone III features a sleek black-and-white OLED display, which is a new design element. The previous models included e-paper screens. The big draw, however, is not what this phone has but what it doesn’t have. There are no third-party apps. There’s no access to social media, the internet or even email. It’s intended to be, first and foremost, a phone.

It’s not completely bare. This model includes an embedded NFC chip for making payments, a bare-bones music player, a podcast player, a messaging app, a flashlight, voice notes, a calendar, a timer and an alarm. It also includes a simple camera system that was inspired by point-and-shoot models. There’s a two-step shutter button with center focus and a fixed focal length. The company calls it “genuinely fun.”

The Light Phone III has a navigation app, which is likely the most useful part of modern smartphones, but with a twist. The company paid for private access to navigational information, so Google won’t get ahold of any tracking data.

Other specs include 6GB of RAM, up from 1GB in the Light Phone II, 128GB of memory and a newer Qualcomm chip. It includes a fingerprint ID on the power button, a USB-C port and some loudspeakers at the bottom. The battery is also user-replaceable, which is a huge bonus. It’s larger than previous generations and I find it to be pretty cute. It’s around the width of a modern iPhone, but much shorter. This was on purpose, the company says, to make it easier to text while holding it vertically.

There is a spot of bad news here. The Light Phone III costs $800, which dwarves the price of the second-gen model. It was available for much cheaper as a pre-order bonus, but those days are gone.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-minimalist-light-phone-iii-is-officially-available-for-purchase-150056138.html?src=rss