Category: Technology

Apple has rolled out the Emoji Game exclusively for its News+ subscribers in the US and Canada, just in time for World Emoji Day. While the company originally announced the game for iOS 26 at WWDC earlier this year, the Emoji Game is now available to subscribers on iPhone, iPad and Mac running iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4 or later, respectively. The game is similar to other word games out there like Wordle in that players would have to fill in the blanks to guess words and phrases. But like its name implies, players will have to fill the blanked-out letters with emoji instead.

If the letters for “apple” are missing in the word “pineapple,” for instance, users would have to use the “apple” emoji to complete the word. For the phrase “the night is young,” players can choose the baby emoji if it’s the word “young” that’s missing. In addition to standard emoji, the game also uses Genmoji, which are custom emoji created using Apple Intelligence. For each round of the game, players will have to complete three phrases. They can reveal the clues baked into the phrases if they want, but it will use up one of their moves, which are limited in number.

News+ subscribers will be able to play the game in the Puzzles section of the Apple News app. Later this year, they’ll be able to play it in the upcoming dedicated Apple Games app, as well. An Apple’s News+ subscription costs $13 a month. It gives subscribers access to magazines and newspapers, audio stories and regional publications, along with daily puzzles like crosswords and sudoku. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apples-emoji-game-is-now-out-for-news-subscribers-in-the-us-and-canada-121505775.html?src=rss 

Roblox is joining the growing ranks of online platforms that are trying to better understand the ages of their teen users. The company is rolling out a new “age estimation” feature for teens 13 and older.

With the update, teens will be prompted for an age check that requires a video selfie in order to access its new less restrictive chat feature called “trusted connections.” Roblox is relying on third-party identity company Persona for the actual “estimation,” and users who fail the check will also have the option of providing an ID. Once teens have “unlocked” trusted connections via video selfie or sharing an ID, they’ll be able to participate in chats with friends “without filters,” including “party” group text and voice chats.

Roblox has previously faced scrutiny for not policing its chat features enough and making it too easy for adults to seek out children on the platform. The company notes in its announcement that parents will be able to monitor their kids’ “trusted connections” via parental control features, and that the feature is intended only for people who teens already “know and trust.” Teens are only able to add trusted connections via their existing contacts list or a QR code.

“We believe chat without filters should only be accessible to users who have verified their age.” the company writes in a blog post. “This isn’t just about compliance; it’s about building engaging and appropriate digital spaces for everyone.”

While Roblox is notably not using the term “age verification,” the new feature comes at a time when there are increasing calls for social media companies and other platforms to check the ages of their youngest users. Reddit and Bluesky recently announced age verification features for users in the UK — a change required of major platforms ahead of a new online safety law going into effect. Age verification mandates have also been gaining steam in the United States.

A number of states have introduced age verification measures for social media, though laws in Arkansas and Utah have so far been blocked. Utah also recently passed a law requiring app stores to verify users’ ages — an approach that has been endorsed by companies like Meta and Snap. And the Supreme Court recently upheld a Texas law that requires websites hosting adult to conduct age verification checks.

Roblox, which unlike most online platforms allows children under 13 to have accounts, is in a slightly different position. And for now, it’s billing its age checks as “optional.” But already having an age estimation feature in place could certainly be useful should it be required to take an even stricter approach in the future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/roblox-is-adding-an-age-estimation-feature-for-teens-110047092.html?src=rss 

South Korea’s top court has upheld an appeals court ruling to dismiss all charges in a long-running fraud case against Samsung chairman Jay Y. Lee. The accounting fraud and stock manipulation charges stemmed from a merger of two Samsung subsidiaries in 2015. Prosecutors had accused Lee of manipulating share prices to help clear the way for the merger in an attempt to consolidate his power.

In 2024, a court ruled that the prosecutors failed to prove their claims. The case has worked through the appeals process since then. In a statement to Reuters, Samsung’s lawyers said the latest ruling confirmed that the merger had been completed legally and added they were “sincerely grateful” to the Supreme Court.

Back in 2017, Lee was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of bribing public officials with regards to the merger. However, the Supreme Court overturned the decision and ordered a re-trial. As a result of that, Lee was handed a 30-month prison sentence and served 18 months before being paroled. Then-South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol (who was removed from office this year and recently rearrested over a failed martial law attempt in 2024) later pardoned Lee.

While the Supreme Court’s ruling had been widely expected, it clears “a layer of legal uncertainty” related to Samsung, one analyst said. It will allow Lee to focus more of his attention on Samsung, which earlier this month projected a 56 percent drop in operating profit for the April-June quarter compared with the same period in 2024. That is due, in large part, to sluggish sales of its AI chips.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/samsung-chairman-cleared-of-fraud-by-south-koreas-top-court-113043402.html?src=rss 

The Federal Communication Commission plans to vote on new rules that will ban the use of Chinese technology in undersea cables, according to a press release from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. The proposed rules will apply to any company on the FCC’s existing list of entities that pose “an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.”

Besides “prohibiting the use of ‘covered’ equipment,” the FCC’s new rules will also limit the ability for Chinese companies to receive a license to build or operate cables that connect to the US. Undersea or submarine cables are a key piece of internet infrastructure, and a potential site of foreign espionage in the eyes of the FCC. Banning, or at least severely limiting the influence of Chinese companies is an attempt to benefit American cable providers while hurting the country’s perceived enemies.

During President Donald Trump’s first term, the FCC made similar moves to prevent mobile carriers from using Chinese equipment in the US. Trump signed a law that required carriers to “rip and replace” old Huawei and ZTE mobile infrastructure, and the FCC provisioned funding to make it happen. The new rules around undersea cables are being proposed by a very different commission, though.

Currently, there are only three commissioners on the FCC, down from the typical five. Under Carr, the commission has taken a much more aggressive approach to regulating the telecommunications industry, bordering on violating the First Amendment. Carr has threatened to investigate companies for their diversity, equity and inclusion policies and committed to not approving any mergers of companies that insist on keeping them. 

The FCC is expected to vote on the new rules on August 7. Besides being consistent with past FCC actions, they could be justified as a way of securing American infrastructure following the widespread “Salt Typhoon” hack the affected US carriers and other companies last year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-fcc-plans-to-ban-chinese-technology-in-undersea-cables-215207536.html?src=rss 

Google is continuing to double down on its AI Mode, bringing more features to its dedicated Search chatbot. Today, the company is adding the Gemini 2.5 Pro model and the Deep Search capability to AI Mode. These features will be available to Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra subscribers. Although both of these tools can still be accessed through other means, Google’s move to incorporate them into the chatbot points to an end goal of AI Mode being the primary form of engagement with the company’s signature search service.

These developments are follow-ups to announcements made during Google’s I/O conference this spring. AI Mode began rolling out to all Google users in May, and Deep Think was also announced as an option for the Gemini 2.5 Pro model at that time.

Another AI tool teased at I/O was the ability for Gemini to place phone calls with Project Astra. This agentic option is also coming in a limited form to AI Mode. For starters, it will only be able to contact local businesses and its topics will be limited to inquiring about availability and pricing. When a person searches for companies or services, they may see an option such as “Have AI check prices” that will initiate a call to that business. These AI phone calls are rolling out today to all Search users, but Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers will have higher limits.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-expands-ai-mode-with-extra-features-for-search-205252812.html?src=rss 

Virtuos, the studio that developed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, is reportedly laying off seven percent of its staff, or around 300 employees, according to Gauthier Andres, a reporter and co-founder at Origami. The studio has provided support on a number of large game projects — including a recent patch for Cyberpunk 2077 — and employs over 4,200 people across the US, Europe and Asia.

The brunt of the layoffs are happening to Virtuos employees in China, where Andres reports that around 200 positions are being eliminated. Virtuos’ teams in France, who were primarily responsible for the surprise release of Oblivion Remastered back in April, are also expected to be impacted.

Besides reviving Bethesda classics, Virtuos has contributed work to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and several ongoing live service games, like Dune: Awakening and Sea of Thieves. Nothing about the company’s output or the critical reception of its games would suggest it needs to conduct layoffs, but that reflects the current precarious state of the games industry. Even having theoretically steady work doing post-release support and game remasters isn’t enough.

Virtuos’ layoffs follows the sweeping cuts Microsoft made to its Xbox division in early July. Microsoft reportedly cancelled games, like Rare’s long-in-development Everwild, and shutdown whole studios, like The Initiative. Romero Games, which had an unannounced funding deal with Microsoft, was also forced to cancel its current project, though it hopes to find a new publishing partner.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/virtuos-the-studio-behind-oblivion-remastered-is-reportedly-laying-off-staff-195714384.html?src=rss 

Threads is testing letting you sign up with a Facebook account rather than an Instagram account. The new option, spotted by Social Media Today, doesn’t appear to be widely available yet, but is already mentioned in a Meta support article.

Besides making it easier for people who don’t have an Instagram account to quickly create an account on Meta’s X and Bluesky competitor, this new Facebook sign up option should influence the kind of posts and ads that get recommended to you.

“Signing up to Threads with your Facebook account helps unlock features that work across Threads and Facebook, like using the same login info to access both apps,” Meta writes in a support article. “If you create a Threads profile with your Facebook account, we’ll combine your info across Threads and Facebook.”

Encouraging users to build their Threads profile using the information and followers they had on Instagram was one of the ways Meta quickly grew its Threads user base. It hasn’t always led to the best experience on Threads, though. As it turns out, growth-obsessed Instagram users produce fairly shallow text posts. And because most people’s Instagram accounts are associated with their Threads profile, they get served a lot of that subpar engagement bait by default. If you came to Threads looking for the relative wit of X, you’d come away pretty disappointed.

Letting you sign up with Facebook will likely have its own shortcomings (namely, modern Facebook is pretty spammy, too), but it at least acknowledges that what people want from Instagram is different from what they want from Threads. 

Meta has made a concerted effort as of late to establish Threads as more of an independent entity. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram at Meta, shared that the company planned to remove “the Instagram graph import from the onboarding flow” back in November 2024. Threads also started testing using its own separate direct messaging inbox in June, after relying on Instagram DMs since launch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-is-testing-facebook-account-sign-ups-191214734.html?src=rss 

There’s another big update for Cyberpunk 2077 coming our way. Update 2.3 brings some notable new features to PC and consoles. CD Projekt Red (CDPR) is adding official in-game support for VRR on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. This should help with screen tearing when the frame rate drops and is of particular use when running the game in performance mode.

There’s also an official AutoDrive feature, which is something that has long-existed in the modding community. This is available in all cars and motorcycles and lets players drive from place to place automatically. Just set the destination marker and let the game do the rest. This isn’t teleportation. The vehicle still drives, it does just so automatically.

With AutoDrive enabled, players can turn on a “cinematic camera” to make the journey a bit more visually stimulating. There’s even a new “wandering” mode for aimless joyrides, for those who just want to experience the splendor of Night City and its environs.

Speaking of driving, the update also brings four additional vehicles to the game, and they all look to be attached to new side jobs. More content is always appreciated.

PC players are getting support for AMD FSR 3.1, Intel XeSS 2.0 and HDR 10 Plus. AMD’s FSR 4 is also being added, but it requires a specialized driver that isn’t available yet. CDPR says it’s coming at a “later date.”

The update drops on July 17, which is the same day the Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition comes to Mac computers. It looks like the Mac version will include these new features. Update 2.3 is coming to the Switch 2, but not just yet. Cyberpunk 2077 was a launch title for the recently-released console.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/cyberpunk-2077s-latest-update-brings-vrr-to-consoles-and-introduces-an-autodrive-mode-181933646.html?src=rss