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Microsoft has confirmed it will increase the prices of some of its first-party Xbox games to $70 starting in 2023. Specifically, major games built for Xbox Series X/S will cost $10 more in the US, including Starfield, Redfall and Forza Motorsport. Regional price increases may vary.

“This price reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles,” a Microsoft spokesperson told IGN, which first reported the news. “As with all games developed by our teams at Xbox, they will also be available with Game Pass the same day they launch.”

Other major publishers, including Sony, EA and Take-Two Interactive, have been charging $70 for select current-gen games. Microsoft was able to hold off on increasing prices, likely because the company doesn’t rely on games as its primary revenue driver.

In August, Sony increased the price of the PlayStation 5 in most countries, but not the US. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in October his company wouldn’t raise Xbox prices ahead of the holiday season (the Xbox Series S actually went on sale in November), but noted that “I do think at some point we’ll have to raise the prices on certain things.” We’re starting to see that play out now.

One possible outcome of Xbox raising prices on first-party games is that more people may be willing to try out Game Pass. Starfield, Redfall and Forza Motorsport will all be available on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass on day one. That could make Game Pass more attractive and an even better value proposition — at least until Xbox inevitably raises the price of its subscription services too.

Furthermore, this seems to mark the beginning of a shift away from releasing major new games on previous-generation consoles. With the exception of Microsoft Flight Simulator, Microsoft has made native Xbox One versions of its Series X/S games.

 

Why settle for a desk and an ultrawide monitor when you can buy a multi-purpose computing pod? That’s the question Cooler Master hopes the Orb X, its newly announced semi-enclosed work and gaming station (via Gizmodo), will prompt you to ponder. While the Orb X won’t completely isolate you from the outside world, your family and roommates will definitely accuse you of being antisocial once you’re cocooned inside its ABS plastic shell.

The built-in recliner is made from “genuine leather,” and features a fully adjustable headrest, lumbar support and leg rest. Once you’re seated, the motorized dome at the top of the Orb X lowers a screen to eye level. Speaking of screens, you can configure the pod with either a single 34-inch monitor or up to three 27-inch displays. Completing the multimedia experience, the Orb X also comes with a built-in surround sound system that Cooler Master says will let you enjoy a realistic soundstage without fancy headphones.

Other nifty features include a hidden compartment where you can store your PC and consoles. Inside, you’ll also find a desk with built-in wireless charging and a handful of USB-A and USB-C ports. Oh, and the whole thing obviously features RGB accent lighting.

While it’s far from a crowded market, Cooler Master isn’t the only company producing a behemoth like the Orb X. In 2018, Acer announced the $20,000 Predator Thronos before following it up with the more affordable Thronos Air one year later. Cooler Master has yet to announce pricing details for the Orb X, or, for that matter, a release date. If you’re keen on finding out when it’s available for pre-order, you can register for a waiting list.

 

Warner Bros. Discovery will soon combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming service with a new name. Right now, it seems that the frontrunner for the merged platform’s moniker is “Max,” which would ditch the more instantly recognizable part of HBO Max’s branding.

Lawyers for the company are vetting several names, but Max is said to be the leading the pack. A Warner Bros. spokesperson told CNBC that the company was still discussing the name. They’ll need to make a decision fairly soon, though, as the merged streaming service is slated to arrive in the spring.

HBO has built up a certain level of prestige over the years. However, Warner Bros. Discovery leaders are said to see some value in positioning HBO as a sub-brand alongside the likes of Discovery and CNN. The company’s CEO David Zaslav slashedspending on HBO Max after WarnerMedia and Discovery merged earlier this year. The streaming service will have much more to offer than HBO content as well.

As CNBC notes, there has been some confusion surrounding the branding of HBO streaming apps — HBO Max was preceded by HBO Go and HBO Now. Having another one with HBO in the name could further muddy the waters. Moreover, executives are said to have expressed concern that the HBO Max name could weaken the value of HBO as a brand if consumers link it to less-prestigious content on the streaming service.

The new-look platform will reportedly have a similar to set up to Disney+, with hubs for content from HBO, Discovery, DC Comics, Warner Bros. and more (Disney+ has ones for Star Wars, Pixar, National Geographic and so on). It’s not yet clear how much subscriptions to Max, or whatever it ends up being called, will cost.

 

Google is releasing its latest round of Pixel updates today, including the free VPN the company teased at its October event. Clear Calling also launches to the public alongside updates for its voice memo app and new sleep features for the Pixel Watch.

Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro users can now use the Google One VPN on their phones for free (rather than buying it bundled with a $10-per-month storage plan). Although Google’s VPN doesn’t support regional location switching, it secures your browsing activity on the web and in apps.

Clear Calling, Google’s voice isolation for calls which had been in beta since October, is now available for all Pixel 7 series owners. The AI-powered feature makes calls in noisy environments sound better by bringing your voice to the forefront while drowning out background noise. Recorder, Google’s AI-based voice memo app, now transcribes and organizes recordings for multiple people. It labels each speaker’s text, separating their transcriptions with line breaks — handy for meetings or interviews. That feature is also exclusive to the Pixel 7 series.

Google says spatial audio will arrive in January for Pixel Buds Pro paired with a Pixel phone. Like the iPhone/AirPods feature of the same name, it provides a head-tracked surround-sound effect for movies and shows. However, Google’s version doesn’t yet support music or a fixed-position surround effect.

Pixel owners will also see a new security and privacy hub. The app shows risk levels and settings for protecting your data, and it will alert you to any concerns it detects while recommending fixes.

New sleep features are available for Pixel Watch owners. Fitbit Sleep Profiles analyze your slumber with insights like “time before sound sleep” and “nights with long awakenings.” It also assigns you a monthly Sleep Animal, a critter whose sleep patterns mirror yours. Anyone who already tracked their sleep for at least two weeks this past November will see their animal today, while everyone else will have to wait until January.

The Pixel Watch also receives new Wear Tiles (Wear OS widgets) for Weather and Contacts. Additionally, Google says the smartwatch will receive a Fall Detection feature in 2023. Like the Apple Watch feature of the same name, it contacts emergency services if you fall and don’t respond.

 

Allow me to pull the curtain back on something that happens when you get to spend some time with a very early phone prototype: Often, there’s a list of conditions that mean you can’t really talk about your experiences in a specific manner. Bear this in mind when I talk about this prototype Honor Magic VS that I’ve been diddling around with for the last few days. I’m actually pretty impressed by it, although I’ve been asked not to make any solid conclusions about its non-final hardware, software, imaging, performance and display quality.

The Magic VS is the company’s second folding phone, albeit the first that’ll be available on sale outside of China when it hits selected global markets at the start of 2023. It’s a close cousin of Honor’s first folder, the Magic V, which was first released at the start of 2022, and this feels like a polish, rather than an evolution, of the existing model. The major difference is a vastly redesigned hinge with far fewer parts, which should make it more reliable. And the company promises that the handset will withstand 400,000 folds, or more than 100 per day for the better part of a decade. It’s also two grams lighter than Samsung’s Z Fold 4, which Honor is very proud of, but it’s still only two grams.

The rest of the differences between the Magic VS and the Magic V are all fairly minor; a 5,000mAh battery, up from the last model’s 4,750mAh. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 gets swapped for an 8+, and there’s one major change on the imaging front. Whereas the V was packing a trio of 50-megapixel lenses, the VS dropped the third in favor of an 8-megapixel, f/2.4 3x optical zoom. Of course, I can’t talk about the power of those beefy zoom lenses, or the speed at which it takes an image. Or that, much like many other Android handsets, you do wish that images weren’t so washed out.

As for the displays, you’ll find the 6.45-inch exterior OLED screen is no slouch, especially since it has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Honor knows that most people will default to the external display for the bulk of their smartphone use, and so it’s almost the first thought here. The 21:9 ratio is still cramped, and initially disorientating, but it’s hardly a deal breaker. And, if I’m honest, you’ll accept a slightly narrow external display in order to get at that 7.9-inch, foldable OLED inside. Now, it’s not as high-res, or as fast (it tops out at 90Hz) but it’s just so much bigger that you’ll want to use it as much as you possibly can.

Honor says that the display is “creaseless,” a term which I’ll take a small amount of issue with, if only because there’s no such thing. Hold the device face-on and, when watching video or browsing, you’ll barely notice the crease unless you catch the light at a bad angle. Sit anywhere off center, and you can see the bumps in the terrain just fine – but that’s not to say that this is a dealbreaker at all. Just that some promises sound better on paper than they do when you’re looking at a very faint ridge in a flexible OLED display.

One thing I can talk about is the hinge, which helps the two halves of the handset fold flat (except for the dreaded camera bump) and sit very comfortably in my pocket. No doubt, this is still a hulking slab of a device, with a 6.45-inch display that’ll be uncomfortable if you’ve a penchant for ultra-skinny jeans. But if you’re looking for something that’ll pull double duty as a slate, this feels like the most elegant in the admittedly limited pantheon.

I probably can’t draw conclusions about the speed of the power button-mounted fingerprint sensor, or the camera face unlock. Certainly, you wouldn’t expect a Snapdragon 8+ handset to stutter, especially when it’s paired with 12GB storage, as is the case here. Honor gave strict instructions not to test app performance on the device, but I can’t imagine that – given the performance of what’s pre-loaded, this device will struggle to deal with much. I did try out a very popular Battle Royale-type game, that I won’t name to respect Honor’s wishes, and it ran beautifully.

The Magic VS won’t ship with, but does support, Honor’s Magic Pen stylus input, which I’d say is a good start, but not really what this device should be about. After all, the benefit of a device like this is in what it can offer you when you need to get a little blast of focused work done when you’re out and about. (Okay, that’s my interest, I’m sure others just want a bigger screen to play Fortnite on, and that’s absolutely okay.) If Honor shipped this thing with a little stand and a matching wireless keyboard (or both) then I can see it becoming every commuter’s dream purchase.

Now, here’s something that I think should make the folks over at Samsung feel just a little bit jittery. It’s an imperfect comparison, but imagine you’re keeping an eye on the Z Fold 4, currently retailing for $1,700 in the US. Honor’s planning on selling the Magic VS for 7,499RMB in China, which shakes out to around $1,048. Now, for one, Honor probably won’t sell to the US market, and taxes and exchange rates will play their part. But if the final version of this handset can offer something very similar to the Z Fold 4 for a significantly lower price, I can imagine it turning plenty of would-be Fold owners’ heads.

Now, as I said, I can’t make any solid conclusions about this device, but what I can say is that I really think it’s worthy of a full review when it hits global markets early next year. And that there’s enough here to say that Honor may be making a very compelling case to be spoken about as a fair competitor to Samsung at the highest end of the Android space.

 

Adobe is the latest stock image provider to take a stance on AI-generated art. The company has updated its guidelines to allow generative AI artwork on its stock photo service as long as it meets certain criteria. Contributors will have to label any AI-made content, and they’ll require permission for any reference images or text prompt used to produce the art. Creators will likewise need releases for any material depicting recognizable people.

The new policy also warns producers against misusing AI by submitting multiple images based on the same prompt. They can’t use misleading, repetitive or vague descriptions, and must submit their works as illustrations (not pictures) even if they’re photorealistic. As with regular images, Adobe promises indemnification in the event there’s an intellectual property dispute. You shouldn’t be in deep trouble if you unwittingly use items that infringe someone else’s rights.

Adobe is effectively trying to strike a balance between embracing new technology and avoiding copyright issues. Other stock photo providers have taken wildly varying approaches. Getty Images banned AI-generated imagery over rights concerns, while Shutterstock has teamed with DALL-E creator OpenAI to sell algorithm-based images. In some cases, tool developers have avoided wading into the debate — Google won’t offer Imagen to the public until it believes there’s a “responsible” way to do so. 

This move might not lead to a flood of AI-made images to use for your next presentation or website. However, it could be helpful if you’re eager to use unconventional content without worrying about the risks of unexpected lawsuits or royalty payments. If nothing else, Adobe’s move could increase acceptance of AI stock art by making it available to a wider audience.

 

So much for streaming the influential anime seriesBerserk on Netflix in the US, at least on day one. As PiunikaWeb and viewers have noticed, the 1997 manga-based show still isn’t available on the service in key markets like the US, UK and Canada well after its December 1st release date. You can watch the saga in countries like Portugal, so it is viewable — just not where you might have expected. For now, you’ll likely have to rely on a VPN with the right local servers if you’re determined to watch the 25-episode program.

We’ve asked Netflix for comment. There’s still a countdown on the official Japanese Berserk website that suggests something is coming in about five days, but this appears to relate to the “Memorial Edition” that recut the 2012 movie trilogy for TV, not the original anime production. Given that the decade-old movies have plenty of critics, you may be better off waiting for their well-received predecessor.

The classic Berserk was a dark and unflinching fantasy tale that covered the Golden Age Arc of the manga, when Guts joined up with major characters like Casca and Griffith. The title is frequently considered the best adaptation of the manga, and is said to have inspired other legendary anime releases like Attack on Titan and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Limited regional launches certainly aren’t new to Netflix. The company has a long history of international distribution for shows that are only available on a rival service in the US. However, Netflix bought worldwide streaming rights to Berserk and other well-known anime offerings as part of a deal with Nippon TV. There’s theoretically nothing preventing a wider release. Barring surprises, though, you may have to settle for Netflix’s many alternative movies and series if you’re looking for a Japanese animation fix this winter.

 

If you’ve been waiting for a deal on Samsung’s 4K Smart Monitor M8 as a good business, content creation and even entertainment monitor, now is the time to act. Just ahead of the holidays, it’s on sale at its lowest price ever of $400 in multiple colors, both at Amazon and Samsung’s online store. 

As a computer display, the Smart Monitor M8 offers UHD (3,840 x 2,160) resolution at up to 60Hz, along with HDR10+. The VA panel offers a decently bright at 400 nits, a 4-millisecond response time and up to a billion colors, with 99 percent sRGB coverage. Input-wise, you get USB-C and Micro HDMI 2.0 inputs, along with a USB-C charging interface. Finally, it has a detachable SlimFit Cam for video calls, making it a solid choice for work or light content creation.

Other features include the ability to change the angle and position with the high-adjustable stand, along with a game bar that makes it easy to switch between cloud services. And with Samsung TV Plus and Alexa built in, you can watch streaming content, play games and even do work activities without the need to be plugged into a PC. Normally the white model sells for $700 and the color models for $730, so you get a $300 off (43 percent) on the former and $330 (45 percent) on the latter.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

 

This is your chance to get one of Apple’s more powerful tablets at a much better price than usual. Amazon is selling the 2022 iPad Air with 64GB of storage and WiFi for $500, or a full $100 off. That’s an all-time low for all but one color variant of the tablet, and you’ll see similar discounts for 256GB and cellular models. The sale makes it an easier choice if you want a wide range of features but would rather not splurge on the iPad Pro.

The iPad Air M1 represents the sweet spot in Apple’s current tablet lineup. It’s still one of the fastest mobile tablets you can buy, with an excellent display and support for up-to-date peripherals like the Magic Keyboard and second-generation Pencil. Meld that with strong battery life and you’ll have a device that should last a long time, even if you’re using it as a creative tool.

There are limitations. The entry version’s 64GB of storage is meager unless you primarily stream content or work in the cloud. The Magic Keyboard and Pencil are also expensive add-ons. And while the iPad Pro M2 is overkill for many users, you might miss its 120Hz display, the option of a larger 12.9-inch screen and the convenience of Face ID. The iPad Air is still Apple’s most well-rounded slate — it’s just not the absolute best.

If you don’t need much more than the essentials, we’d note that the 64GB 10th-generation iPad is still on sale at Amazon for $399, with a matching $50 discount for the 256GB configuration. It’s not as fast as the Air and only supports the first-generation Pencil (through a dongle, no less), but it’s still very quick for everyday tasks. It even has a few advantages over other iPads, including a better-placed front camera and support for the well-made Magic Keyboard Folio. It’s just a question of whether or not you’re likely to appreciate the Air’s feature upgrades.

Buy Apple iPad (2022) at Amazon – $399

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

 

According to Elon Musk, Apple has “fully resumed” advertising on Twitter. The billionaire made the comment during a Twitter Spaces conversation he broadcast from his private plane on Saturday evening. On November 28th, Musk claimed Apple had “mostly stopped advertising on Twitter” and threatened to remove the platform’s iOS client from the App Store. Two days after that, Musk said he met with Tim Cook. “We resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store,” he posted. “Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.” On Saturday, Musk added Apple was the largest advertiser on Twitter.

Amazon also had plans to advertise on Twitter again, with reports from Platformer saying the company has committed to spending approximately $100 million per year, “pending some security tweaks.” During the first week of the World Cup in Qatar, Twitter only made about 20 percent of the ad revenue it expected to, according to The Times.

Twitter continues to try to win back its army of advertisers while wrestling with a different approach to free speech: Musk’s “general amnesty” to users that haven’t broken rules. The social network recently restored the account of Andrew Anglin, one of America’s most notorious neo-Nazis. He then tweeted a defense of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. “Saying you love Hitler is not even a big deal,” Anglin said, referencing Ye’s recent InfoWars interview with Alex Jones. This reinstatement comes in the same week Twitter suspended Ye for tweeting a photo of the Star of David merged with a swastika.

An estimate by software engineer Travis Brown suggests Twitter has restored as many as 12,000 accounts since October 27th.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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