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The navigation app Waze is dropping Google Assistant support for iPhones, citing “ongoing difficulties” with integrating the service. The company says it plans on replacing it with an “enhanced voice integration solution” at some point in the future. Google Assistant will still work for Android users.

This is happening a full year after iPhone users began reporting issues related to Google Assistant, with many people noting that voice commands were totally broken. Waze says that it has “not been working as intended for over a year” and that it would rather “phase out Google Assistant on iOS” instead of “patching a feature that has faced ongoing difficulties.”

As previously stated, Google Assistant for Waze will continue to work on Android phones. However, there’s a valid question to be asked about how long Android users will continue to be able to issue voice commands in the app via the digital assistant. Google has pledged to transition users away from Google Assistant to Gemini.

As a matter of fact, the company said that “the classic Google Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices” as the year winds on. It’ll also no longer be available for downloads on app stores starting later this year. Waze has already begun testing Gemini within the platform, which allows users to use natural language to report traffic incidents.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/waze-is-officially-stopping-support-for-google-assistant-on-iphones-173545610.html?src=rss 

Indie publishers and developers are once again teaming up to show off the fruits of their labor in a gaming showcase from The Triple-i Initiative. The second edition will take place on April 10 (the same date as last year’s show) at noon ET.

The first showcase included the announcements of The Rogue Prince of Persia and Slay the Spire 2, along with expansion reveals for Brotato and Vampire Survivors. Major updates for Palworld, Risk of Rain 2 and V Rising were unveiled as well.

This time around, you can expect 45 minutes of world premieres, gameplay reveals, release dates, demo drops and more from 30-plus games. V Rising will be on show again this year, alongside the likes of Enshrouded and Deep Rock Galactic. The showcase trailer includes a peek at Sifu developer Sloclap‘s intriguing 5v5 arcade soccer game, Rematch, so it looks like we’ll get an update on that one. Vampire Survivors studio Poncle is also among the list of developers with something to reveal.

Not only that, Playstack, the publisher of a little game called Balatro, has something up its sleeve. “We had been saving our big announcement for a special showcase,” Marta Matyjewicz, marketing manager at Playstack, said in a statement. “We were amazed by the quality of last year’s Triple-i, so when the opportunity came to be a part of it, we knew we had to take it. It’s truly an honor to showcase our game alongside so many awesome titles.” Insert three side eyes emoji here.

You’ll be able to watch the showcase on several platforms, including YouTube, Twitch, Bilibili and Steam. After the main event, there will be a post-show including deep dives on some of the games. A week-long sale featuring games from both editions of Triple-i Initiative will go live on Steam, Epic Games Store, Humble and elsewhere on the same day as the showcase.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-triple-i-initiative-indie-game-showcase-returns-on-april-10-160402636.html?src=rss 

The Kindle Colorsoft e-reader is on sale for $225 as part of the Amazon Spring Sale. That’s a discount of 20 percent, as the typical price hovers at $280. This deal also comes with three months of Kindle Unlimited, which is a good way to rack up some quick reads.

We loved the Colorsoft in our official review, calling it the “missing link in Amazon’s e-reader lineup.” The reason is right in the name. This is the only Kindle with a color screen. The company led the e-reader space for 17 years before releasing a model that could display color. Amazon says it took so long because the technology just wasn’t good enough to implement until recently.

The end result? The colors do really pop. This is a great choice for those who primarily read full-color materials like comics and graphic novels. There’s a pinch-to-zoom feature to get closer to details and an auto-adjusting front light. Just like most modern Kindles, the pages turn fast and the lag is minimal. It’s also waterproof, for reading poolside or in the bathtub.

This model doesn’t include lock screen ads by default, which is nice. The primary downside here is the cost. It’s hard to recommend any e-reader for $280, even if it displays color. This is a premium product, however, so it’s easy to recommend it at $225.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-kindle-colorsoft-is-20-percent-off-during-the-amazon-spring-sale-162409959.html?src=rss 

The Amazon Spring Sale has given us a few great deals so far, but anyone looking for affordable earbuds is going to really appreciate this one. Right now, the Anker Soundcore Space A40 earbuds are down to $45 from $80 — a 44 percent discount. That’s an incredible price for earbuds with active noise cancellation. 

The $45 deal on our favorite budget wireless earbuds is available for the Black and Blue models, while the White, Green and Purple options are slightly more expensive at $50. However, the latter two typically retail for $100, so they’re actually half off with the current sale. 

As mentioned above, one of the great things about Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 earbuds is that they offer ANC. Anker claims that using it can reduce potential noise by 98 percent. The earbuds also hold up to 10 hours of battery and up to 50 hours with the charging case. Plus, you can get up to four hours of extra juice with just 10 minutes in the case. The sound quality is also pretty decent, especially for the price. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazon-spring-sale-deals-include-our-favorite-budget-anker-earbuds-for-45-144520277.html?src=rss 

It turns out Nintendo Directs are like buses. You wait ages for one then get two in quick succession. Days before Nintendo fully spills the beans on the Switch 2 during a dedicated showcase on April 2, the company is hosting a surprise Direct on March 27 at 10AM ET. You can watch it above.

The stream will run for around 30 minutes and focus on upcoming Switch games. There won’t be any Switch 2 info, but pretty much every game you see here will run on the new console anyway, thanks to backwards compatibility.

Since this isn’t billed as an Indie World Direct (those focus on indie games), it’s not really clear what we can expect from this one. Nintendo’s developers will largely be focused on making Switch 2 games at this point. Still, the Switch has a massive install base — the company has sold more than 150 million of those consoles — so Nintendo probably won’t want to leave all those players behind any time soon. 

To that end, we can expect a stream of games for the original Switch to keep coming for the foreseeable future. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, for instance, is still slated to hit the Switch sometime this year. Third-party games will still be coming to the Switch as well, including a certain one from Team Cherry that we expect to show up in every single gaming showcase but won’t mention here because we don’t want to jinx it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/a-switch-2-less-nintendo-direct-will-stream-on-march-27-145809333.html?src=rss 

GeoGuessr, the geography game that tasks players with guessing a location in the world based on a random Google Street View image, is coming to Steam. It’s slated to hit early access on the platform sometime in April. That should hopefully make the game much easier to access on Steam Deck without having to fiddle with browser settings on desktop mode.

The developers are taking the early access approach on Steam so they can “refine the gameplay, introduce new features and ensure the best possible experience with direct feedback from players” with the aim of making “the ultimate competitive and casual geography game.” The early access version on Steam will at the very least have a competitive solo mode and casual Team Duels, though there are plans to add more modes and competitive features in the coming months.

GeoGuessr has a fairly thriving competitive scene — this year’s world championship has a $100,000 prize pool — so you could stand to cash in if you become great at the game. But be warned: if you think pro GeoGuessr might be your calling, you’ll be up against some incredibly skilled players. They can pinpoint parts of the world based on corn growing at the side of a road, clouds in the sky and room decor. GeoGuessr pros are absolutely absurd.

It’s not clear how much the full Steam version will cost. A free version will include unlimited access to the amateur division, which is GeoGuessr’s lowest rank, as well as unranked Team Duels. A Steam Pass that’s available to purchase inside the game will be required to access the full Solo Duels mode.

The store page notes that the price won’t change during the time the game is in early access (a period that’s expected to be at least six months). Nor do the developers expect to increase the price when the game exits early access.

The original, 12-year-old web version allows players to make three free daily guesses, but to play more you have to pay for a subscription, which starts at $2.50 per month. Unlimited access on the mobile apps is available on the $3 per month Pro Unlimited plan. While there will be cross-play between Steam and the browser/mobile versions, the current GeoGuessr plans don’t include full access to the Steam edition.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/geoguessr-is-coming-to-steam-in-april-150001770.html?src=rss 

The Levoit LVAC-200 cordless vacuum has been discounted to $150 as part of the Amazon Spring Sale. That’s 25 percent off and close to a record-low price. The sale only applies to the standard white model and not the blue one.

The LVAC-200 made our list of the best cordless vacuums. We loved the lightweight design. It only weighs three pounds and it can easily be disassembled for storage. Just pop the cleaning head from the extension arm and the arm from the motor base. It also features a locking mechanism, so it can stand upright between cleaning sessions.

The cleaning power here is more than sufficient. We found that it did a good job with “all kinds of dry messes.” It has three suction modes, so it can handle both hard and carpeted floors. It can even suck up pet hair, which is the true test of any vacuum. The design allows for the vacuum to easily reach underneath couches and beds, which is a fantastic bonus.

On the downside, the dustbin is pretty small, at just 0.75 liters. We found during our testing that the bin could fill up with just one full cleaning session. The vacuum also includes a five-stage filtration system, but it doesn’t include a true HEPA filter.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-cordless-vacuums-drops-to-150-in-the-amazon-spring-sale-153019530.html?src=rss