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OnePlus is finally ready to take the wraps off its first tablet, and it’s just different enough that it might be worth considering in a sea of Android slates. The OnePlus Pad revolves around an 11.6-inch display with an unusual 7:5 aspect ratio and a speedy 144Hz refresh rate — this might be your pick if you’re a gamer or avid reader. The design also stands out with an easier-to-grip “2.5D” edge and a central camera hump you’re less likely to cover with your fingers.

Some technical details aren’t available as we write this, but the OnePlus Pad will be reasonably quick thanks to MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 chip and up to 12GB of RAM. Battery life might be healthy, too. The 9,510mAh power pack reportedly offers up to 14.5 hours of video playback, and 67W SuperVOOC fast charging can top up the tablet in 80 minutes. Dolby Atmos, meanwhile, promises cinematic audio. 

You won’t have to hunt for accessories, either. The OnePlus Pad will ship with a pen (the Stylo) and a magnetic keyboard. The software will be familiar, although there are some appreciated touches if you also have a OnePlus phone. The Pad can easily use a handset as a cellular data hotspot, for instance.

Don’t expect to buy one right away. Release dates and pricing for the OnePlus Pad will be available in the “coming weeks,” the company says. As such, it’s too early to say if this represents a good value compared to the Galaxy Tabs and iPads that dominate the higher-end tablet space.

Not that OnePlus is leaning solely on a tablet. The company has introduced the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, the expected sequel to its 2021 wireless earbuds. They’re some of the first earbuds to support Android 13’s official spatial audio implementation with compatible content, such as Disney+ and YouTube videos. If you have a OnePlus 11, you can expect Dolby Atmos support with head tracking.

Regardless of how you listen, audio quality is also a focus — complete with an unusual collaboration. OnePlus claims a studio-like sound thanks to dual drivers (with an 11mm woofer and 6mm tweeter) developed with help from Dynaudio, and LHDC 4.0 Bluetooth audio that’s close to wired fidelity. And if the usual custom equalizers aren’t enough to fine-tune the characteristics, composer Hans Zimmer has created his own EQ, Soundscape, to emphasize the brighter tones and wider soundstages of movie soundtracks. Improved active noise cancellation (particularly for human voices) and lower-latency Bluetooth 5.3 LE are also available, and a 10-minute charge is enough to deliver 10 hours of listening (39 hours total with the case).

The Buds Pro 2 will be available in the US on February 16th for $179 (£179 in the UK). It’s evident OnePlus is hoping to match or undercut competing products like the Pixel Buds Pro and second-gen AirPods Pro.

And yes, it wouldn’t be a OnePlus announcement without teasing future hardware. The brand is hinting at plans to unveil both its first mechanical keyboard, the OnePlus Featuring Keyboard 81 Pro (a team-up with Keychron. below) and the OnePlus 11 Concept, a still-mysterious prototype phone with “imaginative” design and “industry-first” features. You won’t hear more about these in earnest until Mobile World Congress in late February.

 

This is your chance to grab one (or some) of Amazon’s Echo Show displays at a discount if you’ve been planning to buy any of them. Several models of the smart display are currently on sale, and Amazon is even offering most of them for almost half their original price. You can get the second-generation Echo Show 5 released in 2021 for $45 or 47 percent less than its retail price of $85. And, yes, all its available colors — Charcoal, Deep Sea Blue and Glacier White — are being sold at that price. Even the version for kids, which comes with parental controls, one-year free access to Amazon’s Kids+ service, and a two-year worry-free guarantee, is available for $45 right now. The Echo Show 5 for kids will typically set you back $95. 

We gave the Echo Show 5 a score of 85 in our review and recommended it for those who want an alarm clock for their nightstand. It also has great sound quality for its size, and it lets you snooze your alarm by tapping the top part of the device.

If you’re looking for a smart display for your living room or kitchen, however, the Echo Show 8 may be a better fit. It’s currently on sale for $75, which is 42 percent less than its retail price of $130. The device, available in Charcoal and Glacier White, has an 8-inch HD touchscreen and a 13-megapixel camera, making it a better option for video calls. In comparison, the Echo Show 5 has a 5.5-inch screen and a 2-megapixel camera. We found Echo Show 8’s audio to be superior to its smaller sibling’s, as well. 

Finally, in case you’d rather have a wall-mountable smart display, the Echo Show 15 is also on sale for $225, or $55 less than retail. It has a 15.6-inch full HD screen surrounded by a white bezel. Since the whole device is housed in a black metal frame, it could look like a painting or a large picture frame if you use it to display artwork or photos. The device’s large screen real estate also means you can display widgets and see various information at a glance. 

Shop Echo Show deals at Amazon

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Only adults 18 and older can sign up for Meta’s Horizon Worlds at the moment, but according to The Wall Street Journal, that could change very, very soon. Meta is reportedly opening up its virtual reality social experience to younger players aged 13 to 17 as soon as this March as part of its efforts to grow Horizon’s numbers and improve user retention. The Journal says it saw the information in a memo entitled “Horizon 2023 Goals and Strategy” in which Gabriel Aul, Meta’s VP for the VR experience, outlined its goals for the first half of 2023. 

In the memo, Aul reportedly wrote that these younger users are the “true digital citizens of the metaverse” and that Meta needs to ensure that it serves them for Horizon to succeed. Meta spokesperson Joe Osborne told the publication that “[t]eens are already spending time in a variety of VR experiences on Quest, and [the company wants] to ensure that [it] can provide them with a great experience in Horizon Worlds as well, with age-appropriate tools and protections in place.” 

Osborn didn’t say what the experience will offer in the way of protecting young users. In 2021, The Journal reported that the company’s own researchers found Instagram “harmful for a sizable percentage” of teens, particularly teenage girls. Meta paused its work on an Instagram for Kids as a result, and it has also launched a bunch of teen safety features for the app since then. It also automatically limited triggering or sensitive content for new users under 16. 

In addition to welcoming younger teens to Horizon, Meta is aiming to grow the game’s monthly active users to 500,000 from 200,000 within the first half of the year. Perhaps more importantly at this point in time, it’s targeting a retention rate of 20 percent. Apparently, Horizon had an 11 percent retention rate in January, which means only one in nine users returned to the experience the following month. Meta is hoping to achieve those goals by improving the service’s reliability and performance and getting rid of bugs that may affect people’s enjoyment. 

The company is aiming to release 20 new Horizon experiences built by third-party studios in an effort to win more people over, as well. Plus, it’s apparently hoping to make the VR game a lot more accessible by rolling out a web version for mobile and desktopf by June. Meta teased the web version of the experience in the past, but the company missed its initial launch target last year. This year, the company is not only hoping to launch Horizon’s web version within the next few months, it’s also looking to have as many as 150,000 monthly cross-screen Horizon users in the first half of 2023. 

 

In the face of so much ChatGPT news and buzz, Google announced on Monday its own chatbot AI project, Bard, will be unveiled with more details at Wednesday’s Google Presents event in Paris. Bard will serve as an “experimental conversational AI service,” according to a blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Monday. It uses Google’s existing Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) platform, which the company has been developing for the past two years.

However, it won’t be open to everyone, like ChatGPT currently is, which ruins the hype a little. Google is starting with a lightweight version of LaMDA, open to a select group of trusted users before scaling up. “We’ll combine external feedback with our own internal testing to make sure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information,” Pichai said.

As we’ll get into below, it’s a busy time for OpenAI’s chatbot tech. Microsoft has a surprise event later today, and that AI-generated Seinfeld stream (based on OpenAI’s GPT-3 Davinci model) was banned from Twitch.

– Mat Smith

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Sony’s expansive PlayStation VR2 FAQ answers (almost) all your burning questions

The $550 peripheral will arrive on February 22nd.

Sony has published a lengthy FAQ for all things PS VR2. It’s promised more than 30 games to choose from during the launch window, defined as the first month from the release date. Among those are Horizon Call of the Mountain (a VR spin-off of the Horizon games) and VR modes for Resident Evil Village and Gran Turismo 7, which will both be free for folks who already own them. As you’ve probably already heard, original PS VR games won’t play on PS VR2. However, several developers have created PS VR2 versions of existing games and some are offering free upgrades. Unlike with PS VR, you don’t need to plug in a camera to your PS5 to use PS VR2. You can, however, film yourself while playing by connecting a PS5 HD Camera.

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Microsoft is holding a press event tomorrow, with ChatGPT expected to feature heavily

Microsoft may show just how cozy it’s getting with OpenAI.

Microsoft isn’t going to let Google get the jump on the AI chatbot buzz. It has an event today, at 1 PM ET. The company is keeping tightlipped, but it’s expected to show its integration of ChatGPT into Bing and other uses of the conversational AI technology. Microsoft first invested in OpenAI in 2019 and backed the startup again in 2021. Last month, it committed to a “multibillion-dollar” deal unofficially believed to be worth $10 billion over several years. Microsoft has had some misses with chatbots in the past – hopefully, this will be different. Does this mean I’ll actually start using Bing?

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AI Seinfeld was surreal fun until it called being trans an illness

“Where’d everybody go?” the Jerry character asked after a transphobic rant.

Twitch has banned “Nothing, Forever,” the AI-generated Seinfeld stream, for at least 14 days following a transphobic and homophobic outburst. It’s the latest example of “hate in, hate out” when AI chatbots are trained on offensive content without adequate moderation. As reported by Vice, during one of the recent AI-scripted standup acts, the Seinfeld counterpart suggested being transgender is a mental illness. In what almost seemed like an awareness of the material’s offensiveness, the AI comedian quickly added, “But no one is laughing, so I’m going to stop. Thanks for coming out tonight. See you next time. Where’d everybody go?”

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Tinder adds an incognito mode

The app will flag more examples of harmful language, too.

Tinder is rolling out some new safety features and updates in time for Valentine’s Day. Users will now be able to take advantage of an incognito mode, which Tinder says is a “step up” from hiding your profile completely. Only folks you Like will see you in their recommendations. In addition, you can block profiles that pop up in your suggestions, which could mitigate some awkwardness if you spot an ex or someone else from your life.

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WhatsApp has introduced some new updates to Status, the feature introduced in 2017 as an answer to Snapchat and Instagram Stories. One of the key additions is a feature called Voice Status that gives you the ability set voice notes up to 30 seconds long as status updates. The company calls it a more personal way of providing updates, particularly if you’re more comfortable talking rather than typing or creating a video.

Another key update is a feature called Private Audience Selector that lets you choose who can view your status updates. It lets you select your audience for every status update you do, providing more granular control and convenience than the current privacy settings. 

If you’re more of an emoji person, WhatsApp has also introduced Status Reactions, providing “a quick and easy way to respond to status updates from your friends or close contacts,” WhatsApp wrote. It lets you reply to any status simply by swiping up on it and tapping one of eight emojis, rather than use other means like text, voice messages and stickers.

Meanwhile, Status Profile Rings put a ring around your profile when you share a status update, and is visible in chat lists, group participant lists and contact info. Finally, you’ll now see a preview of a link when you post it on your status, giving your contacts a better idea of what it is before they click. 

Some of the new features (status reactions, profile rings and link previews) were announced previously, but are now being highlighted as a group of Status updates, WaBetaInfo notes. The new features are rolling out to users globally and will be available to everyone “in the coming weeks.”

 

The Switch just leaped over both the Game Boy and PlayStation 4 to become the third best-selling console of all time. The console has sold 122.55 million units overall as of the end of 2022, Nintendo announced in its earnings report, so it’s is now behind only the DS and PlayStation 2 in lifetime sales. 

That’s the only silver lining in a darker cloud, though. Switch unit sales for the nine-month period ending December 31st dropped to 14.91 million from 18.95 million the year before, and revenue declined 5.6 percent for the fiscal year ending in March. Game sales also fell by 4 percent over the same period, with the new Pokemon Scarlet/Violet titles unable to offset the decline. As a result, the company has lowered its fiscal year forecast from 19 million to 18 million units with 5 million fewer games — continuing a downward trend from last year.

Nintendo attributed the decline to the ongoing semiconductor shortage, with the lack of consoles affecting software sales too. However, Sony set a new sales record for PS5s last quarter with 7.1 million sold, up 82 percent year-over year. 

Nintendo’s issues likely boil down to its aging hardware, as well. Buyers are going for the latest OLED model, with the older Switch and Switch Lite models seeing a decline. The Switch is now relatively underpowered compared to the latest Xbox Series and PS5 consoles, and Sony and Microsoft are also pouring money into games and subscriptions. 

Nintendo said last year that the transition to its next console is “a major focus for us,” and it could start becoming more urgent soon. It’ll be interesting to see if the Switch can hang around long enough to become the best selling console of all time, but Nintendo will have to sell around 33 million more units to surpass the PlayStation 2. 

 

Elon Musk may have to think of a lot more ways to make Twitter Blue appealing to potential subscribers if he wants the subscription service to be a major source of revenue. According to The Information, only 180,000 people in the US have been paying for a Twitter subscription by mid-January, and that’s apparently around 0.2 percent of the website’s monthly active users. The publication said it saw the information on a document, which also revealed that 62 percent of the company’s paying users is from the US. That means Twitter has approximately 290,000 subscribers worldwide. 

Twitter Blue costs $8 a month for users who pay via web — or $7, if they pay for an annual subscription — and $11 for those who pay via Apple’s or Google’s app stores. Since the latter option gives the tech giants a cut of subscribers’ payments, Twitter still only gets $8 a month from users overall. With the current number of paying users, the website is only set to earn $27.8 million a year from its subscription services. That said, Twitter has only just relaunched Blue in mid-December last year after a bumpy initial launch a month before that. It’s bound to rack up more subscribers, though it remains to be seen if it can achieve the level of growth Musk wants to see. 

As The Information notes, Musk told Twitter employees last year that he wants half of the website’s revenue to come from subscriptions. Since the company has to pay over $1 billion a year in interests alone from the loans Musk took out when he purchased the website, the executive is aiming to take in a revenue of $3 billion for 2023. Twitter has to have quite a lot of subscribers to earn half of that from Blue. One avenue the company is considering to earn more from its subscription services is to offer a higher-priced membership tier that allows users to browse the website with zero ads. Twitter is also reportedly planning to charge businesses $1,000 a month for their gold verification badges and an extra $50 a month for each account affiliated with them. 

 

On Safer Internet Day (and with Valentine’s Day fast approaching), Tinder is starting to roll out some new safety features and updates to some others. Users will now be able to take advantage of an incognito mode, which Tinder says is a “step up” from hiding your profile completely. Only folks that you Like will see you in their recommendations. That should give you more granular control over your visibility.

In addition, you can block profiles that pop up in your suggestions. So, that could mitigate some awkwardness if you spot an ex or someone else from your life, such as (shudder) a family member. This follows a feature that allows users to block others based on their phone number.

There’s another new safety feature called long press reporting. If you receive an offensive message or unwanted picture, you can tap and hold to swiftly report it. Tinder says that it hopes this will encourage more people to report bad behavior so it can take action against users who are breaking the rules.

Meanwhile, Tinder has made some changes to features called “Are You Sure” (which asks folks to reconsider before sending a message with potentially harmful language) and “Does This Bother You,” which encourages users to report inappropriate conversations. Tinder says the features will detect more language that it deems harmful or inappropriate, including hate speech as well as sexual harassment and exploitation. The company says that, since it added “Does This Bother You,” it has received 46 percent more reports of messages containing harmful language.

Along with these updates, Tinder is rolling out a series of Healthy Dating Guides in collaboration with No More, a campaign to end domestic violence and sexual assault. The guides are designed to help users spot red flags and protect themselves at every stage of the relationship. Starting on February 8th, Tinder will also start running a campaign called Green Flags, which is about highlighting safety features and the steps people can take to safely date online.

 

Apple’s App Store policies require that the Chrome browser on iOS uses the WebKit engine rather than the usual Blink, but that isn’t stopping Google from indulging in a “what if” scenario. The Register has noticed that Google recently started work on an experiment that would port Blink to iOS. The project is limited to the stripped-down “content_shell” app rather than Chrome, and the Chromium team working on the effort stresses that it’s not a “shippable product.” It’s only meant to test graphics and input performance, the company says.

In a statement, a Google spokesperson told Engadget the Blink port is only a “prototype” that’s part of a larger open source initiative. It won’t be available to the public, and the company will “continue to abide” by Apple’s rules.

It’s not clear why Google wants to test Blink on iOS in the first place, though. If Apple’s policies stay firm, Google won’t be allowed to release any Blink-based software. Only those experienced enough to compile and run content_shell may get a taste of the experience.

The timing may not be coincidental, though. The US government wants Apple and Google to open up their platforms, giving users ways to install apps that aren’t governed by first-party store policies. Rumors have also swirled that Apple may allow third-party app stores on iOS to please European regulators. If Apple ever loosens its approach, Google’s head start on porting Blink could help it switch Chrome’s web engine relatively quickly.

A change like that could shake up browser competition on iOS. Apple’s WebKit requirement theoretically aids security by limiting the avenues for web exploits, but it also gives third-party browsers fewer ways to stand out — they can’t use custom engines that might be faster or more feature-laden than Apple’s Safari. As on Android or the desktop, an alternative browser would offer more than just a different interface.

 

A Minecraft mad scientist has recreated The Legend of Zelda inside the blocky sandbox game without any third-party mods or resource packs. Fan and YouTuber C1OUS3R, who has also made Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. inside Minecraft, took nearly a month to craft the Zelda tribute.

The developer used command blocks, custom textures and other in-game features to recreate the 1986 NES classic. “I use Blockbench to create a flat version of Link from all sides so I can rotate it to make it look like he’s facing every direction,” C1OUS3R explained in a making-of video. “I would make a Voxel model like I did in the previous video games, however, it’s pretty much unnoticeable and takes 30 times longer, and I don’t really have the time for that.

“I then overlaid this model over a carved pumpkin which is one of the items you can wear on your head in Minecraft. I then make the player invisible to make it look like you’re controlling Link. Then by using the data packs function folder, which is just command blocks in written form, I’m able to detect which way the player is moving based off armor stands and rotate the model to make it look like it’s moving. I then simply animate the textures, and boom. You have a controllable Link.”

C1OUS3R said on Reddit (viaKotaku) they will release the playable creation, which runs through the first boss fight, once their YouTube video gets 5,000 likes. (It has over 500 at the time of publication.) The developer says they want to eventually release an entire gaming engine inside Minecraft. “It’s much easier to understand rather than something like Unity. I believe Minecraft has the ability to really help people get into game development.”