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Sony’s CES 2025 press conference was huge on the entertainment front if you’re a PlayStation fan. In a series of rapid-fire announcements, the company announced it was making an anime based on Ghost of Tsushima Legends, the cooperative multiplayer mode from the acclaimed game. It then followed that up with news that Columbia Pictures was in the early stages of developing a movie based on the post-apocalyptic PlayStation game Horizon Zero Dawn. Finally, Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog popped out to announce that season two of The Last of Us would hit HBO in April.

We already know a fair bit about The Last of Us season two — its based on 2020’s The Last of Us Part 2, but it won’t take us through all of the events of the second game. It’ll take at least two seasons to retell the story of that terrific but complex misery simulator. This season, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Catherine O’Hara and Jeffery Wright join season one veterans Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. 

The other projects remain a mystery for now. A bit over two years ago, we heard that Horizon Zero Dawn was being adapted as a series for Netflix, but the project eventually fell apart. I’m definitely curious to see how they’ll streamline the game’s sprawling storyline into a tight narrative for a two-hour movie (or even a three-hour one), but hopefully a strong creative team is behind this one.

As for Ghost of Tsushima, it’s another of the most well-regarded and popular PlayStation Studios titles, with a sequel on the way, so this is just another example of Sony using some of its best gaming titles to expand into the broader entertainment space — making these stories more accessible to people who are less likely to play a 20-to-40-hour game.

On a personal note, The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn are two of my favorite games of all time, so this 10-minute blast of good news was most welcome in the middle of a very long day at CES! 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-last-of-us-season-2-arrives-in-april-and-a-horizon-zero-dawn-film-is-in-the-works-020950940.html?src=rss 

Sony has been discussing its EV ambitions for five years, but now the company is ready to sell you a car. Through Sony Honda Mobility, you can reserve an vehicle now with a $200 fee. The car that was once the Vision-S and Vision-S 02 will actually be a thing you can buy. Now known as Afeela 1, the EV has a host of convenience updates, including an in-vehicle assistant and updated interior design. 

There are two models, the Afeela 1 Origin and the Afeela 1 Signature, priced at $89,900 and $109,900 respectively. Initially, reservations will only be available for customers in California, but the first vehicles won’t be delivered until mid 2026. Those will be the pricier Signature version, with the Origin trim following in 2027. Both versions will come with a three-year subscription to the requisite services, which include Level 2+ ADAS known as Afeela Intelligent Drive, immersive entertainment, the Afeela Personal Agent and more. Other features are a selection of media apps, 3D maps, spatial sound and 5G connectivity.

We’re getting a closer look at the near-final Afeela 1 tomorrow, so you can expect detailed impressions of the revised vehicle and its features later this week.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/sony-opens-afeela-1-ev-reservations-at-ces-2025-011826937.html?src=rss 

CES 2025 is full swing and Samsung has already made a slew of laptop and TV announcements, but the company already has more news on the horizon. The company is hosting it’s first Galaxy Unpacked event on January 22, 2025 at 1 PM ET to show off the latest in Galaxy AI, and presumably new Galaxy devices it runs on.

Samsung is hosting its event in San Jose, and like previous years, even if it hasn’t shared what its actually announcing, you can reserve the company’s new gear in advance for a $50 off and the chance to win a $5,000 Samsung gift card. That’s on top of Samsung’s typically generous trade-in credit — this year the company says you can get up to an additional $900 credit if you trade-in an old device.

Given the timing of Unpacked, Samsung is likely to announce the Galaxy S25 series, and there’s a good chance it’ll use the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and sport an updated design, at least on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. What might be more interesting are the non-smartphone devices Samsung could show off. The company is rumored to already have a Galaxy Ring 2 in the works, and there’s a good chance Samsung’s “Project Moohan” Android XR headset could make an appearance at the event.

Engadget will have all the details of Samsung’s announcements right here, but if you want to watch the event yourself, you’ll be able to tune in on Samsung.com, Samsung’s Newsroom or the company’s YouTube channel.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsungs-first-unpacked-event-of-2025-will-be-on-january-22-230035883.html?src=rss 

UFC CEO Dana White is joining Meta’s board, the company announced today. The addition of the mixed-martial arts impresario jives with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s well-documented UFC fandom, but also the larger strategy Meta appears to be using heading into a second Trump term: tacking right.

That’s not to say White’s seat on the board is typical, however. Most of Meta’s current board members work in the tech industry. The two members Meta is adding alongside White, John Elkann and Charlie Songhurst, fit the social media company’s usual bill. White might say he’s “a huge believer that social media and AI are the future” in Meta’s press release, but the company he keeps is likely the more important reason he’s joining now.

Dana White and President-elect Donald Trump have been friends for years. White supported Trump’s campaign for re-election, and UFC as a whole fits his strong-man tastes. Putting White on the board is as much about burnishing Zuckerberg’s self-image as it is having access to the incoming Trump Administration. The President-elect might at one point have thought that Zuckerberg should “spend the rest of his life in prison,” but Meta’s CEO is doing everything in his power to court him. 

Zuckerberg visited Mar-A-Lago in November 2024 to have dinner with Trump, one of several tech CEOs to do so. Meta’s also been adjusting its executive ranks to better work with a conservative government. The company’s former President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg announced he was stepping down just last week, to be replaced by Meta’s most prominent Republican executive, Joel Kaplan. Among Kaplan’s credits is an eight-year stint in the Bush Administration. Zuckerberg has been in UFC mode for a while now, and it seems like for at least the next four years, Meta will be too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-adds-ufc-ceo-and-trump-booster-dana-white-to-its-board-230611306.html?src=rss 

TiVo is back…sort of. Xperi, the owner of the TiVo brand as of 2019, announced at CES 2025 that TiVo OS will be available in the US for the first time on Sharp TVs. The storied TV brand was last seen stateside as the TiVo Stream 4K, a $50 streaming dongle. This new software push makes TiVo the main interface of participating affordable TVs, and puts it in direct competition with Roku’s operating system.

“The Sharp Smart TV Powered by TiVo” is a pretty standard TV for 2025, with an “Ultra High Definition and High Dynamic Range 55” QLED screen,” according to Xperi, and three HDMI ports for connecting various accessories. It’s big differentiator is TiVo OS. The operating system aggregates content from streaming services, linear TV channels, and sports packages, and gives users access to “a vast library of free and paid content,” Xperi says. The OS also supports “natural voice navigation” and “advanced search and recommendation capabilities.” Nothing too revolutionary when compared to the competition, but TiVo’s at least known for making user-friendly ways of navigating TV content.

TiVo OS was originally announced in 2022, but TVs using the operating system didn’t start shipping until 2023, and only in Europe. Sharp’s TV will be the first new TiVo product in the US since the launch of the TiVo dongle. It doesn’t exactly feel like a triumphant return, but to a certain kind of home theater aficionado, the TiVo name still means a lot, and Sharp is poised to take advantage of it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/tivo-os-is-coming-to-the-us-on-sharp-tvs-213938244.html?src=rss 

Apple will soon update Apple Intelligence notification summaries to make it clearer that they’re AI-generated. (The feature currently uses a small icon to denote their AI-generated status.) The BBC complained to the company after discovering several bogus summaries that twisted the content of some BBC headlines. On Monday, Apple told Engadget that the update will arrive “in the coming weeks.”

“Apple Intelligence is designed to help users get everyday tasks done faster and more easily,” an Apple spokesperson wrote in a statement to Engadget. “This includes optional notification summaries, which provide users who choose to opt in a way to briefly view information from apps and tap into the full details whenever they choose. These are identified by a summarization icon, and the original content is a quick tap away. Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback. A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence. We encourage users to report a concern if they view an unexpected notification summary.”

The BBC flagged several botched AI notification summaries in multiple reports over the last month — accusing the AI blurbs of spreading misinformation. One falsely claimed that Luigi Mangione, the accused murderer of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself. Other erroneous summaries said that a darts player had won a world championship before playing in the final (maybe he’s just that good!), and that tennis superstar Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.

Notification summaries are one of the features from the first wave of Apple Intelligence that arrived in iOS (and iPadOS) 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1. A second phase, bringing ChatGPT integration and Image Playground, came in iOS (and iPadOS) 18.2 and macOS 15.2.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-will-more-clearly-label-apple-intelligence-notification-summaries-soon-215159614.html?src=rss 

At its CES 2025 press conference, Samsung just announced that the Ballie home robot it first showed off last year will actually be available for sale this year. This cute yellow rolling device has a built-in projector that allows it to beam images and videos on your walls and floors, so you can interact with it. 

This story is developing, please refresh for updates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/the-cute-samsung-ballie-home-robot-will-actually-go-on-sale-this-year-223528677.html?src=rss 

If we buy Microsoft’s recent ad campaign logic that any Game Pass-running device is an Xbox, it’s time to congratulate LG smart TV owners: You’ll soon own an Xbox. (Yippee!!) Microsoft announced Monday that the Xbox app will arrive on LG’s latest smart TVs later this year, letting Game Pass Ultimate subscribers stream to their sets from Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Microsoft and LG said the Xbox app will only be available on “supported” models of LG’s newest smart TVs (without specifying any models). Once the app launches, you’ll find it in LG TVs’ new Gaming Portal, which will also include casual webOS games.

In addition to Game Pass Ultimate’s streaming library (including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and more), LG TVs will also support Microsoft’s new feature that lets you stream some of your Xbox games. That only supports around 50 titles right now, but at least some quality ones are in there, like Balatro, Hogwarts Legacy, Cyberpunk 2077 and NBA 2K25. It also only works with digital games you own; no dice for physical copies.

Microsoft says more details about the partnership will arrive “in the coming months.” Game Pass Ultimate costs $20 monthly.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-cloud-streaming-is-coming-to-new-lg-smart-tvs-204457962.html?src=rss 

During CES 2025, I had a chance to check out a demo of the way Google is integrating Gemini capabilities into its smart home platform via devices like the Nest Audio, Nest Hub and Nest Cameras. The main takeaway is that the conversations you have with the Google Assistant will feel more natural. Personally, I’d appreciate being able to ask questions as they pop in my head, without having to formulate some Assistant-friendly sentence before speaking — what I saw makes me feel like my wish could come true. 

To kick things off, you’ll still say “Hey Google,” but for follow-up questions you can skip the prompt and the Assistant will be able to hold on to the thread of your conversation. During the demonstration, held in a simulated (and very posh) kitchen, the Google representative asked things like what to cook with ingredients he had on hand (chicken and spinach). On the Nest Audio, the Assistant rattled off a few recipe ideas (creamy chicken and spinach, chicken and spinach stir fry). 

On the Nest Hub, the rep was able to play a song he didn’t know the name of by asking, “Hey Google, what’s the song from Wicked where they’re dancing in the library?” The Assistant named the song and played it after a follow up prompt. 

Possibly the most impressive trick I saw was the case of the missing cookies. The rep asked the Nest Hub the question, “Hey Google, what happened to the cookies on the counter?” Pulling footage from a connected Nest Cam, the Hub displayed a dog walking into a kitchen, swiping a cookie and scampering off. The Assistant meanwhile narrated the context of the video saying, “A dog jumped on the counter and looked at the cookies on December 12th at 1:29PM.” Of course, this was a pre-recorded clip, as there was sadly no dog in the demonstration kitchen. 

The video analysis adds to tech already available with the Nest Cam, like familiar face recognition and builds on features that were launched in beta last year where you could type questions into the Google Home app, asking things like, “Did my FedEx package get delivered?” The update here is that you’ll be able to ask these things using your voice and see relevant clips on the Hub. 

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to ask questions of my own as both the speaker and display were keyed to the Google rep’s voice. Each question was followed by a one or two second pause as, I assume, the Assistant gathered/synthesized/analyzed the information (or whatever AI does) before answering. Of course, the Assistant can still do all of the basic tasks it always has — set timers and reminders, play music and videos and control smart home routines. The Google reps were sure point out that this isn’t a replacement of the Google Assistant, but an enhancement with Gemini. 

Having used all three of the major smart home assistants fairly extensively, I’ve found the Google Assistant is best at accessing and delivering general information, but Alexa was better at smart home control and understanding me overall (for the record, Siri is best at frustrating me). With this new Gemini integration, the Google Assistant may be in a good position to overtake Alexa in that department.

These Gemini-improved improvements will be coming to Nest Aware subscribers in a public preview later this year. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/gemini-ai-smarts-are-coming-to-google-home-to-make-the-assistant-a-better-conversationalist-213644481.html?src=rss