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The astronauts part of SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission are on their way back home. Their Dragon capsule called Endurance is scheduled to splash down at approximately 11:33 AM Eastern time off the coast of California. Endurance undocked from the International Space Station at 6:15PM Eastern on August 8 with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov onboard. They stayed on the ISS for five months and left a week after Crew-11 arrived to take their place. 

While they were on the space station, Crew-10 helped expand our knowledge on the physiological and psychological changes humans undergo on long-duration missions that range from weeks to a year. They also observed how blood flows from the brain to the heart in microgravity, among the other studies and experiments they conducted. 

As NASA notes, this will be its first Commercial Crew mission to splash down into the Pacific Ocean, as previous capsules splashed down off the coast of Florida. NASA will broadcast the crew’s return, with its coverage starting at 10:15AM today, August 9. You can watch Endurance splash down into the ocean on NASA+ or on the YouTube video embedded below. NASA will also hold a teleconference after retrieving the astronauts and will broadcast the event on its website. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/watch-nasas-spacex-crew-10-astronauts-return-to-earth-133004329.html?src=rss 

Welcome to our latest recap of what’s going on in the indie game space. This week, Nintendo held its latest Indie World showcase to spotlight titles that are coming to Switch and Switch 2, as well as some that arrived on the eShop on the day of the presentation.

One of the latter was UFO 50, which featured on many best of 2024 lists after it debuted on PC. Another was Is This Seat Taken?, which is about placing picky people in the right seats. This chill puzzle game from Poti Poti Studio and publisher Wholesome Games Presents arrived on Steam, iOS and Android as well this week. It has a look that reminds me a little of last year’s pretty platformer, Schim.

Looking further ahead, the Indie World revealed the October release date for Ball x Pit, a Breakout-esque roguelite I’m very excited for. In addition, Mina the Hollower, the next game from Shovel Knight studio Yacht Club Games that we already knew was coming to Steam on Halloween, has been confirmed for a Switch and Switch 2 release on the same day.

The showcase also revealed that Neverway, a creepy life-sim RPG from a studio founded by Pedro Medeiros (the pixel artist of Celeste) and Murder Engine creator Isadora Sophia, is coming to Switch and Steam in 2026. Meanwhile, sci-fi RPG Caves of Qud is coming to Switch as a console exclusive later this year. This is a turn-based, sci-fi roguelike RPG from Freehold Games and publisher Kitfox Games that’s rated overwhelmingly positive on Steam after nearly 10,000 player reviews (a quick scan indicates that those who get into Caves of Qud can sink hundreds of hours into it).

Elsewhere, The International Game Developers Association, The International Game Developers Association Foundation and Women in Games International teamed up for an interesting announcement this week. The organizations are collaborating on a project called Port Quest, which is designed to help successful developers bring their games to mobile platforms. Studios who take part can receive assistance from industry veterans, access to workshops and more.

Applications are open now and will close on September 15. Those chosen to participate will be featured in a showcase. However, only games that have earned at least $10,000 per month for the last six months are eligible. The games can’t have previously been made available on mobile devices either.

New releases

A game called Ritual of Raven, from Spellgarden Games and publisher Team17, arrived on Steam and Switch this week. It’s billed as a “cozy, story-based farming sim” but you’re not going to be making your character till the land, plant seeds and carefully nurture crops here. 

Instead, this is more of a deckbuilder, as you’ll collect tarot cards and make use of their magical powers to do the work for you. It seems like an interesting twist on the Stardew Valley formula, especially if you’re into card-based games.

Kimchi: A Stars in the Trash Story is a free, short game from Valhalla Cats that dropped this week on Steam and Itch.io — just in time for International Cat Day. As a kitten named Kimchi, you’ll explore a cat museum and solve puzzles as you learn about the history of cats.

This is a spinoff of Stars in the Trash, a hand-drawn platform adventure with a gorgeous aesthetic that came out late last year. I bought that game months ago but haven’t gotten around to playing it. The arrival of Kimchi is a good reminder for me to do that.

I mentioned this one in a previous edition of this roundup, though I can’t help but highlight it again (not least because I feel the need to switch things up after highlighting a couple of cozy games). Turbo Kid is a delightfully gory Metroidvania that acts as a quasi-sequel to a film of the same name that I utterly adore. It finally landed on Switch this week, alongside an update for a PC update that enhances a lot of the weapons and makes them easier to acquire. Outerminds says the update also brings performance improvements to lower-spec systems.

Upcoming

A foraging adventure called Out and About was supposed to debut this week, but it’s been pushed back by a few days as Yaldi Games unfortunately didn’t check the Early Access box in Steam’s publishing tools. As such, the studio has had to delay the game’s arrival until this Monday. That’s a bit of a pity for a developer that’s releasing its first-ever game, but Yaldi’s transparency here is quite endearing.

In any case, Out and About will see you gathering fungi and wild plants to help you cook delectable dishes and put together herbal remedies. You’ll also be helping to rebuild your community following a powerful storm. The game features real-life plants, so you might learn how to identify flora when you’re out and about in the real world and perhaps do some actual foraging of your own.

Rogue Labyrinth looks absolutely gorgeous, with a look that reminds me of my favorite game of all time, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In this story-driven action title from Tea Witch Games and publisher indie.io, you’ll seemingly be able to turn anything into a projectile (including deflected enemy attacks) by whacking it with your smacking stick. 

You’ll play as a nomad named Iris who returns home only to find that the place where you grew up has been converted into a labyrinth that hosts a reality show. The labyrinth is home to randomized biomes that feature monsters and allies alike. Rogue Labyrinth is coming to Steam on September 1. A demo, which I might just check out this weekend, is available now.

Atari revealed this week that Adventure of Samsara — a spiritual successor to Atari 2600 title Adventure from 1980 — is set to arrive on September 4. It’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Steam and GOG.

In this pixel art Metroidvania from developer Ilex Games, you’ll attempt to restore balance to the multiverse. To do that, you’ll need to explore a series of connected biomes and take down tough bosses. Of course, you’ll gain abilities and upgrades while you’re on your journey, because that’s how Metroidvanias work.

I think my favorite thing about Autumn with the Shiba Inu is that it’s a sequel to a battle royale mystery visual novel called A Summer with the Shiba Inu, so I have two of these games to check out. This is a mystery visual novel from Quill Game Studios that puts you in the paws of Quei-Li, a freelance hacker tasked with uncovering information in a corruption case.

There are multiple endings here, which should encourage replayability, and I appreciate the lovely doggo illustrations by artist Alicia García Ochoa in the trailer. Autumn with the Shiba Inu is coming to Steam on August 14, and a trailer is available now.

Dude, Where Is My Beer? A New Hop is a point-and-click adventure in the vein of those LucasArts games from the ’80s and ’90s. In this project from Arik Games and Edo Brenes, you play as a dude who just wants to drink a pilsner when all that can be found are craft beers and gross IPAs (I can’t stand IPAs, sorry). Since a master brewer has banned pilsners, you’ll have to make your own by acquiring the right ingredients and gear, then entering a brewing contest.

This is a sequel to 2020’s Dude, Where Is My Beer? and I love the Star Wars pun in the sequel’s title. There’s no release window for Dude, Where Is My Beer? A New Hop as yet, but there’s a demo up on Steam now.

Let’s wrap things up for this week with a game that’s “inspired by analog horror, outsider art and the liminal landscapes of David Lynch and Andrei Tarkovsky.” Concierge is a surrealist, non-linear game in which you’ll use a camcorder to help uncover clues and solve puzzles and trials that might require some outside-the-box thinking. This project from two-person Brazilian duo Kodino Artes and publisher Digital Tribe Games looks pretty compelling to me. Concierge is coming to Steam on September 15.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-magical-farming-sim-cat-museum-exploration-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120042340.html?src=rss 

The dream of Chromebooks that double as gaming laptops appears to be on its last legs. 9to5Google reports that Google is ending support for Steam for Chromebooks starting January 1, 2026. Porting the application launcher was part of an extended push from the company to make Chromebooks a place to play games. Companies like ASUS and Acer announced and released gaming Chromebooks, but the idea never seemed to catch on.

Google’s plan to retire Steam for Chromebooks was discovered when 9to5Google tried to install the launcher on a new laptop. “The Steam for Chromebook Beta program will conclude on January 1st, 2026,” a new notice reads when you download Steam. “After this date, games installed as part of the Beta will no longer be available to play on your device. We appreciate your participation in and contribution to learnings from the beta program, which will inform the future of Chromebook gaming.”

Engadget has contacted Google and Valve for confirmation that Steam for Chromebooks is being discontinued. We’ll update this article if we hear back.

Reports that Steam would eventually be available on ChromeOS started as far back as 2020. The joint effort to port the launcher to Chromebooks was a surprise announcement at GDC 2022. Google released a Steam alpha that March, which ultimately worked better than expected. A beta version of the app came a few months later in November, adding support for several new Chromebooks. The app has existed in beta since then, without any major updates from Google or Valve.

One reason Google could be giving up is that the number of games that can actually run on Chromebooks is limited, thanks to the underpowered CPUs and integrated graphics that most ChromeOS devices use. Valve’s Proton compatibility software — which helps Windows games run on the Linux-based Steam Deck — is technically available for Chromebooks, but it can’t make up for a lack of processing power.

Without Steam, using either NVIDIA GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming is the best option for running modern console and PC games on your Chromebook. ChromeOS can also runs Android apps, but then you have to be comfortable playing what you can get from the Play Store.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/steam-for-chromebooks-is-reportedly-being-discontinued-194020340.html?src=rss 

No product launch excites me more than the release of a new Tamagotchi. So when it comes time to review one, I like to first give myself a little while to just live with the device — to feel that initial delight and let it die down before I try to look at it critically. That way, I can more fairly assess whether we’ve actually got a toy that’s worth the price tag and will hold a person’s attention once the novelty wears off. 

But Tamagotchi Paradise arrived a few days ago, and while a proper review will be coming down the line, there’s one thing we need to address right off the bat: This thing’s fucking huge. 

It is slightly larger overall than the previous reigning beast of the Tamagotchi family, the Tamagotchi Pix (but a hair thinner). Tamagotchi Paradise is so big, it makes me want to resurrect out-of-fashion internet terms to describe it: absolute unit; “oh lawd, he comin'”; etc., etc. Leading up to the device’s release, there were a lot of questions about how big it really is, so for anyone who hasn’t yet had a chance to get their hands on one, here you go, I’m going to do my best to illustrate it for you.

Here’s how Tamagotchi Paradise compares in size to:

Now, don’t get me wrong, Tamagotchi Paradise’s comically large build isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Actually, I’m kind of into it. It’s certainly harder to juggle this device with anything else I might be holding, like my phone or a drink, but it does have a nice heft to it and it feels pretty good in the hand. And thanks to its sheer bulkiness, I’m probably less likely to misplace it around the house, as I’ve been known to do with smaller models that easily slip between couch cushions. 

Will I be running two of these at the same time? Probably not, beyond the brief moments when I want to use the Connection features. My bag only has so much room. But is Tamagotchi Paradise so cumbersome that I won’t be bringing one everywhere with me for the foreseeable future? I think we all know the answer to that. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/heres-the-absolutely-massive-tamagotchi-paradise-next-to-other-objects-in-the-wild-for-scale-172017149.html?src=rss 

As first reported by Bloomberg, Tesla is disbanding the team behind Dojo, its in-house AI-training supercomputer, and reassigning remaining staff to other projects within the company. This marks a shift in the company’s compute sourcing strategy for its AI-focused initiatives such as autonomous driving and the Optimus robot. Head of Dojo Peter Bannon is leaving Tesla, which is the latest departure after roughly 20 Dojo team members recently left to form DensityAI.

In a response to the Bloomberg report on X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said, “It doesn’t make sense for Tesla to divide its resources and scale two quite different AI chip designs. The Tesla AI5, AI6 and subsequent chips will be excellent for inference and at least pretty good for training. All effort is focused on that.”

Musk is referring to Tesla’s next-generation AI6 chip that will be made by Samsung following a $16.5 billion deal. These chips will drive the real-time decision-making onboard Tesla vehicles and robots. Shutting down Dojo effectively ends Tesla’s long-shot ambition of creating its own in-house training architecture and consolidates the company’s efforts on the AI5 and AI6 platforms.

While Musk says these chips are “pretty good” for training, the company will now rely heavily on vendors like NVIDIA for training-specific silicon, and is spending billions on those chips. AI5 production is targeted to begin in 2026 with AI6 to follow.

Like the rest of the big tech world, Musk’s companies have been on an AI tear, with xAI’s Grok chatbot now available in Tesla vehicles. The company is also piloting its Robotaxi fleet to mixed results.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/tesla-shuts-down-in-house-dojo-ai-supercomputer-project-155420734.html?src=rss 

Q: I’m hearing that Microsoft is pulling the plug on Windows 10 later this year. What does that mean for my current Windows 10 PC, and what are my options?

A: Microsoft will officially end support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, a little over 10 years after the operating system was released. While you can continue to use Windows 10 PCs after that date — and it’s understandable why, I gave it a glowing review at launch — you’ll no longer receive any customer support, security updates or any other sort of upgrades. Windows 10 will effectively become a zombie operating system, shuffling along until some sort of malware or massive security breach renders it far too insecure. (Think about it this way: Would you actually feel safe running Windows XP, a notoriously malware-prone OS that hasn’t received a significant security update since 2019, today? I would hope not!)

So what’s a Windows 10 user to do? Let’s consider your choices.

The best option: Upgrade to Windows 11

For most users, the simplest way to move on from Windows 10 is to step up to Microsoft’s new OS. Windows 11 is a free upgrade for Windows 10 users running the latest 22HS update and who also meet the minimum hardware specifications. Microsoft isn’t asking for much — just a 1 GHz dual-core 64-bit processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage -— but security requirements may be a problem for very old PCs. Those include the ability to launch in Secure Boot mode, as well as having a TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform 2.0) module. Windows 11 relies on the latter for biometric logins, BitLocker data encryption and other security features. If you don’t have TPM 2.0, you’ll be stuck with Windows 10 until you get a new PC. )

If that all sounds too complicated, Microsoft’s PC Health Check app can also let you know if your system is ready for Windows 11. And if you’ve been bombarded by Windows 11 upgrade notifications over the past few years, that’s also a not-so-subtle nudge that your PC is likely ready for the new OS. (There are various hacks that can let you install Windows 11 without TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, but they’re risky and could make your OS installation vulnerable.

If you do choose to upgrade, you can expect a relatively painless process. Gone are the days when a Windows upgrade could easily wipe out your entire system. Assuming you’ve got enough hard drive space to hold the new OS, now the upgrade process is merely a matter of sitting back and watching your system reboot a few times. I’d still recommend backing up any essential data before upgrading, though, just in case you run into any issues. (Pairing a cloud-based Microsoft OneDrive backup with a local hard disk is a good belt and suspenders solution.)

The pricey option: Buy a new PC

If your system is too old to support Secure Boot mode and TPM 2.0, it’s probably just time for an upgrade. (Expert users can find workarounds on YouTube and elsewhere, but you need to be adventurous enough to handle the likes of Github downloads and security overrides.) Luckily, we’ve got a slew of buying guides to help you out. Be sure to check out our best laptop guide, which includes some tips on the best specs to seek out, as well as some of our favorite systems like the Dell 14 Premium and MacBook Air (because it’s also a good time to consider switching from Windows to Macs). Our best Windows laptops guide also highlights systems like the ASUS ZenBook S14 and the Surface Pro Copilot+ tablet. While the sweetspot for new PCs tends to be in the $750 to $1,200 range, with current back-to-school promos, you can find very capable laptops and desktops for as low as $500, and occasionally less. But if you’re looking for something higher end ($1,400 and up), our best gaming laptop guide would be helpful. 

The risky option: Keep on trucking with Windows 10

Windows 10 won’t self-destruct when its support ends, so you could conceivably just use your older PC until it dies. But that’s a risky option since you won’t be getting any security updates. All it takes is for one intrepid hacker to find a new security flaw and you could easily fall victim to any number of issues. That includes getting malware, which could slow down performance and leak your data to hackers, or falling victim to a ransomware data theft scheme. And every day past October 14 just raises the likelihood of OS-level vulnerabilities that third-party antivirus software would be ill-equipped to fight off. Trust me – you don’t want to do this. At the very least, buy yourself another year to figure things out

The procrastinator option: Pay to extend Windows 10’s security updates

If your hardware can’t support the move to Windows 11, you can at least hit the snooze button while you figure things out. For a one-time payment of $30 (or 1,000 Microsoft reward points), you can subscribe to the Windows 10 extended security update (ESU). As its name implies, the ESU will get you Windows 10 security updates, bug fixes and technical support until October 13, 2026. Sure, it’s only a year of additional support, but that can at least buy you enough time to do more research on a new PC, or wait for a holiday sale. For what it’s worth, this marks the first time Microsoft has offered any sort of ESU to consumers. Typically, they’re just a way for corporate IT admins to get additional support without migrating to a new OS.

Have a tech question you’d like Engadget to answer?

As tech reporters, the Engadget staff is always answering questions from friends and family about electronics, software, gaming, big tech policies and more. So we decided to write down our answers. This question is a composite of ones we’ve been asked recently. If you’ve got a tech-related question you’d like us to answer for you, please email ask@engadget.com.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/ask-engadget-what-are-my-options-when-windows-10-support-ends-on-october-14-160534495.html?src=rss