Selena Gomez teased that her new album could be dropping sooner than expected. Here are all the details you need to know about the upcoming record.
Selena Gomez teased that her new album could be dropping sooner than expected. Here are all the details you need to know about the upcoming record.
OpenAI’s recent drama hasn’t only caught UK regulators’ attention. Bloomberg reported Friday that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking into Microsoft’s investment in the Sam Altman-led company and whether it violates US antitrust laws. FTC Chair Lina Khan wrote in a New York Times op-ed earlier this year that “the expanding adoption of AI risks further locking in the market dominance of large incumbent technology firms.”
Bloomberg’s report stresses that the FTC inquiry is preliminary, and the agency hasn’t opened a formal investigation. But Khan and company are reportedly “analyzing the situation and assessing what its options are.” One complicating factor for regulation is that OpenAI is a non-profit, and transactions involving non-corporate entities aren’t required by law to be reported.
In addition, Microsoft’s $13 billion investment doesn’t technically give it control over OpenAI in the eyes of the law, another factor in determining what action a governmental agency might be able to take. However, the recent ousting and re-hiring of Altman — and the integral role Microsoft played in reverting those chess pieces to its preferred positions — suggests the lack of control over the nonprofit is more a technicality than the relationship’s underlying essence.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (left) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) wrote earlier today that it’s considering investigating the relationship between AI’s two dominant players. It said it’s weighing “recent developments,” referring obliquely to the Altman-Microsoft drama. “The CMA will review whether the partnership has resulted in an acquisition of control — that is, where it results in one party having material influence, de facto control or more than 50% of the voting rights over another entity,” the CMA wrote in its news release.
Khan, also challenging Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition, has previously sounded the alarm about the need for AI regulations.
“As these technologies evolve, we are committed to doing our part to uphold America’s longstanding tradition of maintaining the open, fair and competitive markets that have underpinned both breakthrough innovations and our nation’s economic success — without tolerating business models or practices involving the mass exploitation of their users,” the youngest-ever FTC chair wrote in May. “Although these tools are novel, they are not exempt from existing rules, and the F.T.C. will vigorously enforce the laws we are charged with administering, even in this new market.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ftc-is-reportedly-looking-into-microsofts-13-billion-openai-investment-185201614.html?src=rss
Alan Wake 2 won big at last night’s The Game Awards and the developer wasted no time to capitalize on that momentum. Remedy just announced that the game is getting free DLC next week, December 11, in the form of a New Game Plus mode. This has been a long-requested feature for fans of the title. Well, if by long-requested you mean within the past two months.
Alan Wake 2: The Final Draft will include a brand-new ending for the story, though you must first beat the game in the traditional way to access it. Remedy says this ending will “spark speculation and theories from dedicated fans.” The updates go beyond the last act, however, as The Final Draft will feature new lore videos and manuscript pages and, of course, tougher enemies.
These enemies will populate a new Nightmare difficulty level. The baddies in the original game were already notorious bullet sponges, so we’ll see what happens with the DLC. Once you beat the game, you’ll be able to access New Game Plus. Also, you’ll have all of your weapons, charms and character upgrades from the first playthrough.
Alan Wake 2: The Final Draft will be available on all platforms, including PS5, Xbox X/S and PC. Set your calendars for December 11 and get ready to venture back into Bright Falls. In related news, the titular hero recently popped up in Fortnite as part of a cross-promotional campaign.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/alan-wake-2-to-dispatch-a-new-game-plus-mode-on-december-11-193451922.html?src=rss
Sophie and Peregrine seemingly confirmed their relationship after being spotted together again in Europe.
Sophie and Peregrine seemingly confirmed their relationship after being spotted together again in Europe.
Nine ‘Big Brother’ legends will be competing for $100,000 on the show’s new holiday-themed spinoff.
Nine ‘Big Brother’ legends will be competing for $100,000 on the show’s new holiday-themed spinoff.
Depending on what you buy and where you shop, many online purchases should arrive before December 25th, so if you’re still working through your gift list, it might not be too late. Even if you’re just looking for deals in general, there are plenty out there. Despite the fact that the official “shopping holidays” have ended, retailers and brands are still discounting many gadgets and devices at prices that meet their Black Friday lows. Right now, you can save on Sonos speakers, Tile trackers, Google phones and tablets, and Amazon’s most popular Echo device. We also found discounts on Xbox gift cards, a Nintendo Switch bundle and noted that a PS5 bundle was still selling for it’s Cyber Monday low. Here are the best tech deals from the week that you can still get today.
As part of a larger sale, the Sonos Era 100 smart speaker is back down to $199 from the manufacturer’s store front. That’s $50 of the list price and matches the price we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We named it the best midrange smart speaker in our guide and gave it an 88 in our review when it debuted earlier this year. It’s an improvement over its predecessor, the Sonos One, which was in itself already pretty great.
Upgrades include a new speaker array with two tweeters instead of one plus a woofer that’s 25 percent bigger. That lends the speaker impressive bass, a clear high-end and big volume. It connects via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and now also has a line-in USB-C port to directly connect a player (though you’ll need an adapter to hook up a turntable). And the smart assistant duties come courtesy of Alexa or the music-focused Sonos assistant, unfortunately it doesn’t support the Google Assistant.
The Ray soundbar and the Sonos Move are also part of the Sonos sale with discounts of up to 25 percent off.
Amazon kicked of Black Friday early this year with discounts on their own devices. Many of the deals on Echo speaker and displays bundled with a free smart bulb didn’t end with Cyber Week and are still live today. So you can save on an Echo Show 5 and smart bulb combo — and depending on where you’re shipping, it should arrive by Christmas. The Echo Show 5 was refreshed in June and has a list price of $90. The Sengled light is $20 on its own. While both of them go on sale often, the bundle represents a 63 percent discount over buying them at full price. The set makes a nice smart home starter kit, as the Echo Show 5 gives you voice and touchscreen control over smart home devices like the Sengled bulb.
The best ereader, according to our guide is the Kobo Clara 2E. It’s currently selling for $20 off the list price of $140, a discount it hit for Black Friday. It rarely goes on sale so this is a good chance to save on an ereader with a crisp 300 ppi screen with a waterproof build and warm LED front lights. Setting the device up is easy, even for those new to ereaders and the Kobo store is nearly as vast as Amazon’s Kindle store, though without the Kindle Exclusive titles. You can also easily borrow books from your local library and read them on your Kobo for free.
Amazon is selling a two-pack of Tile Mate Bluetooth trackers for $33, which matches the record low the set hit for Prime Day in October. Or you can grab a four-pack of Tile Mates in grey directly from the manufacturer for 40 percent off. These handy fobs attach to your keys, backpack, or anything else you don’t want to lose. The app works with both iPhone and Android and uses the community of other Tile users to locate items that you misplace out in the world. The smaller Tile Sticker is also on sale, currently 33 percent off, making it just $20. Or you can get our top pick for Androids in our Bluetooth tracker guide is the Tile Pro. It’s down to $25, which is just $2 more than the record low it hit for Prime Day in July.
The Roku Ultra is our recommendation for a set-top box in our guide to the best streaming devices. Right now it’s down to $67 at Amazon and at Walmart. That’s only about a dollar more than the lowest price it has sold for. It’s been on sale for $70 for much of the past few weeks, so this is a chance to save a little more. While it’s our favorite set-top streamer, it’s not necessarily as good of a value as our top pick for a streamer, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K. That model is down to $39, which is a full $10 more than it went for during Black Friday but still $28 less than the Ultra.
The overall pick in our guide to the best budget earbuds is Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 and right now they’re on sale at Amazon for $54. That ties the all time low the buds hit for Black Friday. We like the light, evenly balanced design that’s comfortable to wear for long sessions and the sound profile is warm and pleasant. We also think the active noise cancellation is great for the price. Just note that they don’t auto pause when you remove a bud and the mic quality for calls could be better.
An unlocked Pixel 8 with 128GB of storage is back down to $549 at Amazon. That’s a $150 discount and matches its Black Friday low. You can get the same deal from Amazon and at the Google Store. For a larger screen, you can get the Pixel 8 Pro, which is $200 off at Amazon, Best Buy and the Google Store, bringing the base configuration with 128GB down to $799. We named these phones the best Android handsets you can buy and gave them a 90 in our review, calling them “Google’s most compelling phones in years.”
If you know someone who plays games on an Xbox or Switch, these two deals may make great gifts. Right now, Target is selling $50 Xbox or Nintendo eShop gift cards for $45. Both cards are delivered electronically to an email address and can be transferred to the user’s balance as soon as they get the message. They can then use the funds to buy games and add-ons through their console.
Switch gamers can also get a digital code for an individual annual Switch Online membership for $18, or a family membership for $31.50. Both are 10 percent off the going rate for a 12-month subscription.
Right now at Amazon, Target and directly from the Google Store, you can get the latest Google Pixel Tablet for $100 off the list price. That brings it to $399, which is a discount we’ve seen a few times previously and matches the low it went for during Black Friday sales. The standout feature for the slate is its ability to function as a smart display, as it comes complete with a stand that doubles (triples?) as a charging base and a much fuller speaker than any tablet can muster on its own. We gave the Pixel Tablet a review score of 85 when it debuted back in June and mention it as an alternative in our buyer’s guide to tablets — noting that it’s a good pick if you think you’ll make use of the smart display option.
MasterClass is offering two annual memberships — one for yourself and one to give away as a gift — for the price of one. If you’re unfamiliar, MasterClass offers courses taught by famous people — like Spike Lee teaching directing, Aaron Sorkin teaching screenwriting and Alicia Keys teaching songwriting. Memberships start at $120 per year, which lets you watch on one device at a time and go up to $240 per year for download permissions and access on six devices simultaneously. The free membership will be at the same level you buy for yourself. The deal ends December 12th.
Google’s Pixel Watch 2 just came out in October but we’re already seeing a substantial discount of $50 off, making the Wi-Fi model just $300 at Amazon and from the Google Store. The LTE model is also $50 off and down to $350. The Pixel Watch 2 is an improvement over the previous model, with a longer-lasting battery that goes for 24 hours between charges. The Fitbit integration is even deeper this time, with a focus on stress levels using a new body-response sensor. We did find some flaws, however, such as the Fitbit branding throughout that felt like a disconnect from the Pixel brand. There were also software quirks and confusing data presentation that prevented us from giving it a glowing review.
The tenth generation iPad is on sale for $349 at Amazon, which is $100 off the list price and the same price it hit for Black Friday. It often sells for $399, so this is and additional $50 off the going rate. In our review we didn’t call it a wild improvement over the previous generation, but we did appreciate that it orients the camera to the landscape edge, which is much better for video calls. The USB-C charging is more modern than the Lightning connector on the 9th gen iPad, but for some reason this model still works with the first generation Apple Pencil (even though the slate came out after the second-gen stylus).
The Sonos Roam is 25 percent off and down to $134, which is price it went for during Black Friday and has remained there since. It happens to be our top pick for a portable smart speaker thanks to its versatility as an indoor or outdoor smart speaker you can plonk down anywhere. You can control it with Alexa or the Google Assistant it and works on Wi-Fi or via Bluetooth. The sound isn’t as big as from larger speakers, but it still packs a surprising amount of bass and distinct highs
Amazon’s best selling speaker — and our top pick for a smart speaker under $50 — is the Echo Dot and it is still down to $23, the low price it hit for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The sound is surprisingly good for the size and price and it brings Alexa’s weather-forecasting, timer-setting, joke-telling abilities into whatever room you set it in. I use it to control our smart plugs and my kid uses it to play “The Wellerman” for the 900th time.
Last week, Wellbots sold the Google Pixel Buds Pro earbuds for $120 with a code. This week you can get the same $80 discount, no special letters and numbers required. That makes the buds just $3 more than their all-time low. We called these earbuds the company’s best effort to date in our official review, praising the deep and punchy bass, the useful touch controls, wireless charging options and more. They’re currently our top pick for Android users in our guide to the best wireless earbuds.
This bundle has been on sale for a few weeks now. It pairs the $500 PS5 console with the new Spider-Man 2 game for no extra cost. We named the latest PlayStation one of the best gaming consoles you can get right now. We also liked the game, and called it better than its predecessor in our review.
The Meta Quest 2 bundled with a $50 store credit at the Meta Quest store is now $249 from Walmart. The headset by itself retails at $300 so this is essentially a $100 discount and matches similar discount-and-gift card combos we saw for Black Friday. Now that the improved Quest 3 is out in the world, this is harder sell. The new headset goes for $500 and isn’t on sale at the moment, but if you can swing it, you’ll get a better VR experience along with mixed reality improvements. That said, we’re still impressed with the bargain the Quest 2 provides and named it our pick for those on a budget in our VR headset buying guide.
16-inch macbook pro (m3 pro, 18gb ram, 512gb ssd) for $2,249 —> ties BF price iirc
If you’re willing to transport your actual human body to a GameStop and walk in the door like it’s 2009, you can save $25 on the Switch OLED bundled with a download code for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and three months of Nintendo Switch Online. Place your order online then select in-store pickup to get the deal. The bundle is going for $349 at most outlets across the internet, but if you bought the (pretty excellent) game at full price along with the console and subscription, you’d pay $68 more. Combined with the $25 it’s a good way to get the console if you somehow don’t have it already. Keep in mind that an updated Switch is likely on the horizon, but as for now, the Switch is our favorite console for gaming whilst traveling.
Samsung’s Evo Select MicroSD is $15 which is a 25 percent discount and matches its Black Friday pricing. This is the value pick in our buyer’s guide to MicroSD cards, partly because it’s often on sale. It doesn’t match the sequential write speeds of our top picks, so you may not want to use it for your camera, but if you just need more space for your Switch games, this will work well.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonos-home-theater-gear-is-up-to-25-percent-off-plus-the-rest-of-the-best-tech-deals-this-week-174542951.html?src=rss
Game studios and publishers have collectively laid off an estimated 9,000-plus workers this year. Microsoft (which itself has laid off workers from Xbox teams in 2023) is bucking the trend to a certain extent by hiring dozens of ZeniMax quality assurance contractors as unionized employees.
The company agreed at the beginning of this year to formally recognize a union representing around 300 QA workers at ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda that Microsoft bought in 2021. As part of bargaining talks that have been ongoing since April, Microsoft has agreed to hire 77 temporary workers and incorporate them into the ZeniMax Workers United-CWA (Communications Workers of America) union.
Microsoft is hiring 23 of the workers as full-time, permanent employees with a pay increase of 22.2 percent. The other 54 workers are getting an immediate pay bump from $18 per hour to $20.75 an hour. Once the collective bargaining agreement is ratified, Microsoft will hire those workers as temporary employees.
According to the CWA, the new employees will now receive paid holidays and sick leave. The latter was previously only available if contractors lived in a jurisdiction that requires paid time off for illness. In addition, all of the workers will receive a copy of Starfield, the blockbuster game they had worked on. The CWA says it was not standard practice for contractors to get copies of the games they help to ship.
The CWA says the union will keep fighting for more contractors to have a pathway to permanent roles. “We look forward to continued good faith negotiations as we work towards a collective bargaining agreement,” Microsoft vice president Amy Pannoni told Bloomberg.
“We are now stronger at the bargaining table and are working to secure a fair contract for all workers — direct employees and contractors,” Chris Lusco, associate QA tester and a member of ZeniMax Workers United-CWA, said in a statement. “We are all a part of ZeniMax Studio’s success and we all deserve our fair share. We hope to set a new precedent for workers across Microsoft and the entire gaming industry so that all workers, regardless of their employment status, are able to improve their working conditions through collective bargaining.”
Last year, while Microsoft was attempting to win regulatory approval to buy Activision Blizzard, the company said it would remain neutral when the publisher’s employees wished to unionize. A pact it reached with the CWA to that effect is set to come into force on December 12, 60 days after the Activision deal closed.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-hiring-dozens-of-zenimax-qa-contractors-as-unionized-employees-180047283.html?src=rss
After much speculation and waiting, Threads is finally launching in Europe. Meta’s social media app will likely release in the EU on December 14, just in time to post photos of holiday dinners or whatever. There’s no official announcement by Zuck and the gang, but there is a countdown timer on Instagram appearing for EU users. These users will find a ticket within the app that advertises the pending release for the Twitter-like platform.
The timer is also available on the Threads website, but only for those clicking from EU-based IP addresses, as reported by The Verge. Finally, European Instagram users can simply search for “ticket” to find a scannable QR code that announces the forthcoming launch. We don’t know, however, which countries in the EU will get the app on December 14. Engadget reached out to Meta and will update this story if we hear back.
So what’s been the holdup? Meta has had trouble complying with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Meta and other tech giants were designated as platform gatekeepers back in July, forcing stricter rules regarding user consent and data protection. It looks like the company worked everything out in time for this release, though it remains unclear if the app itself would change to accommodate the regulations. We’ll find out next week.
Threads has certainly had a topsy-turvy year, launching to much fanfare amidst the dumpster fire that is X. However, user engagement fell sharply once people realized there wasn’t that much to do on the platform. Meta, to its credit, has been quickly adding features and tools to the app. In the past few months, Threads has gotten searchable topics, also known as hashtags, and an edit button that doesn’t cost $8 per month, among other upgrades.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-countdown-hints-at-eu-launch-on-december-14-183053910.html?src=rss
The football tight has ‘something special planned’ for the pop star’s upcoming birthday, a new report claims.
The football tight has ‘something special planned’ for the pop star’s upcoming birthday, a new report claims.
Hideo Kojima said his documentary, Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds, will be distributed exclusively by Disney+. The legendary game designer posted Thursday on X (formerly Twitter) that the film, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this summer, will launch globally in the spring of 2024.
Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds tracks the pioneering auteur during the development of Death Stranding while providing a rare glimpse into his creative process as he launched his studio, Kojima Productions. The film also includes “shots from the early days of our independent studio, memories from my childhood and my creative journey,” as the designer said. The film strives to capture the artistic side of gaming, which Kojima embodies as well as anyone.
The documentary announcement follows the official reveal of Kojima’s next game, OD. Although we don’t know much about it yet, its trailer blends a cinematic art style with horror, aligning with previous leaks. Director and comedian Jordan Peele is even involved. Xbox Game Studios is publishing the title, which Kojima has said will lean heavily on Microsoft’s cloud technology.
“Video gaming is an art,” director Guillermo del Toro summarizes in the documentary trailer (below) about the Metal Gear creator. “But the only person in charge of the orchestra is the auteur.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hideo-kojimas-documentary-will-be-a-disney-exclusive-171555906.html?src=rss
