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Starfield is here! It’s just too bad we only like some of it. This week, Devindra chats with Senior Editor Jessica Conditt about Bethesda’s latest massive open world title, and why it just feels like Fallout 4 in space. Also, we dive into reports around Nintendo demoing the Switch 2 at Gamescom, and we dream up what our ideal sequel console could be. (Just call it the Super Switch!)

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

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Topics

Engadget’s Starfield review: You will like some of it – 1:25

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a big win for games in Early Access – 22:11

Eurogamer reports Nintendo demoed the Switch 2 to devs at Gamescom – 33:42

What we’re playing: Viewfinder, Sprawl, Armored Core VI and more – 41:44

Pixel 8 Pro 360 render has leaked – 52:00

New York City reins in AirBnb – 53:37

Logitech’s UE EpicBoom sounds like a killer party speaker – 57:45

Mozilla report finds that cars are a data privacy nightmare – 1:00:44

AI News: How much of Kaedim’s 3D modeling AI is actually AI? – 1:06:57

Working on – 1:14:20

Pop culture picks – 1:15:43

Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Jessica Conditt
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-podcast-starfield-review-switch-2-123018901.html?src=rss 

One of the consequences of Brexit was that the UK was forced out of several key European Union science programs, including the Galileo satnav project and Horizon, the EU’s flagship science research scheme. Now, the UK is set to rejoin Horizon as an associate country under what UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a “bespoke deal.” 

The UK will also become an associate member of Copernicus, the EU’s £8 billion (€9 billion) Earth observation satellite program. It won’t be rejoining the Euratom nuclear research group, however, instead choosing to focus on its own nuclear fusion research. Under the terms of the deal, the UK will contribute almost €2.6 billion (£2.2 billion or $2.75 billion) per year on average for its participation in both Horizon and Copernicus.

“We have worked with our EU partners to make sure that this is the right deal for the UK, unlocking unparalleled research opportunities, and also the right deal for British taxpayers,” said Sunak. “The EU and U.K. are key strategic partners and allies, and today’s agreement proves that point. We will continue to be at the forefront of global science and research,” added von der Leyen.

Scientists in the UK who feared research isolation expressed relief. “Thank you to the huge number of researchers in the U.K. and across Europe who, over many years, didn’t give up on stressing the importance of international collaboration for science,” biomedical researcher Paul Nurse told the Associated Press. 

The UK was kept out of Horizon due to a dispute over the Northern Ireland Brexit trading agreement, despite positive negotiations in 2020. A deal was struck for a UK return in February 2023, but negotiations stalled over the UK’s level of financial commitment.

A key tenet was that the UK would not pay for the years of absence, but the UK’s opposition Labour Party also noted that Britain had missed out on a lot in that time. “Two years of global companies looking around the world for where to base their research centers and choosing other countries than Britain, because we are not part of Horizon,” said Labour science spokesman Peter Kyle. “This is two years of wasted opportunity for us as a country.”

Horizon Europe “tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth,” according to the European Commission. It includes all EU member states and 17 associate nations as of January 2023, and boasts a budget of €95.5 billion ($102 billion).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uk-rejoins-the-european-science-research-program-it-brexited-out-of-100001243.html?src=rss 

Tesla and Hilton have struck a deal to make EV charging more accessible while attracting guests to the latter’s hotels at the same time. The companies have announced that starting in 2024, they will install 20,000 Tesla Universal Wall Connectors at 2,000 Hilton properties across the US, Canada and Mexico. This deal expands a previous partnership between the two and will see each chosen property get at least six new chargers. 

Matt Schuyler, Hilton’s chief brand officer, told CNBC that the second most searched attribute for its hotels is EV charging. Using the “EV charging” filter on its website, we found that there are 1,148 Hilton hotels with EV chargers in the US at the moment, along with 67 properties in Canada and 22 in Mexico. That’s but a fraction of what this expansion entails — according to The Points Guy, it would put Hilton ahead of Los Angeles County for having the most chargers in the continent by the time the project is done. 

While the companies didn’t give a timeline for the installations, their deal has the potential to assuage a lot of people’s range anxieties, especially since Tesla’s Universal Wall Connectors are designed to work even with EVs from other brands. According to the automaker’s website, the wall connector has the capability to add up to 44 miles of range per hour. It’s also not exclusively available to big companies like Hilton. Tesla is selling the device for $595, and orders for it will start shipping in October. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-is-installing-20000-chargers-across-hilton-properties-in-north-america-090753306.html?src=rss 

There was a time when Walgreens championed Theranos’ blood tests and offered them at “wellness centers” in its stores. That was before it came to light that Theranos’ tests were faulty, leading to a bitter breakup between the two companies. Now, according to Bloomberg, Walgreens has agreed to pay $44 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by customers who received flawed Theranos blood tests through its centers in Arizona and California. 

Lawyers for both sides struck a deal after a US district judge ordered the case to go to trial, and they filed a notice for a tentative settlement back in May. A court still has to approve the proposal, but based on the court filing by the plaintiffs, those customers will receive around double their out-of-pocket damages if the terms remain unaltered. 

The lawsuit accused Walgreens of being “willfully blind” to its partnership with Theranos, alleging that it had good reason to be suspicious of the latter’s fingerprick testing method. Bloomberg says the plaintiffs’ lawyers have acknowledged, however, that Walgreens had a “potent” defense argument when it said that it was also defrauded by the blood-testing company. 

Walgreens took Theranos to court in 2016 for a reported $140 million shortly after it formally ended their relationship. They eventually settled the lawsuit in a way that “resolve[d] all claims,” but details about that agreement were undisclosed. As for Theranos, well, the company is now dead, with company founder Elizabeth Holmes currently serving time in prison with a scheduled release date of December 29, 2032.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/walgreens-agrees-to-pay-44-million-to-theranos-blood-test-customers-054227666.html?src=rss