It has already been a depressingly busy year for layoffs at Ubisoft, and the French publisher’s Toronto studio is the latest workforce to be hit. Around 40 jobs have been cut at the studio, which is one of Ubisoft’s largest and has previously worked on games including Watch Dogs: Legion and Far Cry 6.

"This decision was not taken lightly and does not in any way reflect the talent, dedication, or contributions of the individuals affected," Ubisoft said in a statement to Mobile Syrup, which first reported the new layoffs. "Our priority now is to support them through this transition with comprehensive severance packages and robust career placement assistance."

Ubisoft Toronto is currently working on the long-awaited Splinter Cell remake, which was first announced in 2021. The publisher says the game remains in development, and the Canadian studio will continue to assist with development on other games.

The Toronto layoffs come after similar staff cuts at its Swedish studios, while up to 200 people could reportedly be let go at its Paris headquarters. The affected roles are casualties of a wider organizational restructuring at the troubled company, which recently canceled another high-profile remake in The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Last week, 1,200 Ubisoft employees went on strike in reaction to the recent layoffs and sweeping cost-cutting measures.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-lays-off-40-staff-working-on-splinter-cell-remake-says-game-remains-in-development-151139753.html?src=rss

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© Ubisoft

It’s a big month for Pokémon, with February 27 marking 30 years since the world’s highest-grossing media franchise first introduced itself in the shape of two Game Boy games. Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green, which later arrived in the West as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue, kicked off a craze in Japan that would soon spread worldwide. And to mark the series’ 30th anniversary, the little turn-based RPGs that started it all are being re-released on Nintendo Switch.

Well, sort of. The versions we’re actually getting are the Game Boy Advance remakes, Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version, which originally came out in 2004. Explaining its decision to bring back the enhanced GBA titles rather than the originals, Nintendo said in an FAQ that it thought Switch owners would like the opportunity to revisit the "ultimate versions of the original Pokémon adventures in the Kanto region."

These aren’t modern remakes or remasters. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen will look and play pretty much the same as they did in 2004, just on a far superior display, obviously. There’s no online play, but the original games’ local multiplayer features return via the Switch’s built-in wireless features. If you’re playing on Switch 2, you can also play using GameChat. Other than that, it doesn’t sound like there are any notable differences between the Switch and Switch 2 versions. 

In a move that might surprise some, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen won’t be available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online GBA library. In fact you don’t even need an NSO membership to play them. Instead, the games are being sold as standalone titles for $20 in the eShop. No physical release is planned outside of Japan. Nintendo added in its FAQ that there are no current plans for more old-school Virtual Console-style releases beyond these ones, with the company still committed to building out its NSO subscription offerings.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen will be available to buy after a Pokémon Presents showcase that will air next Friday, February 27 (the day of Pokémon’s 30th anniversary), at 9am ET. And if you need yet more Pokémon after that, Pokémon Pokopia, which is the series’ long-awaited stab at a cozy Animal Crossing-like, arrives on March 5.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-firered-and-leafgreen-are-coming-to-switch-next-week-for-the-series-30th-anniversary-123505741.html?src=rss

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© Nintendo

Last year’s Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition was significant for a few reasons. It was the final major first-party Switch game ahead of the Switch 2’s arrival in June, and the last doomed Wii U game to be granted a second life on Nintendo’s infinitely more successful console. Nearly a year on, a Switch 2 update for one of the most technically impressive games Nintendo has ever published has finally arrived.

Somewhat hilariously titled Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (you get the feeling Nintendo has started a naming convention it may come to regret here), the updated version of Monolith Soft’s sprawling sci-fi RPG now supports up to 60fps performance and 4K resolution when docked to a TV.

As impressive as the Switch remake of the 2015 Wii U game was, given the frankly absurd size of its open-world setting, you could almost feel the hardware creaking under its weight every time you booted the game up, so this patch was much-needed. Unfortunately the graphical and performance enhancements aren’t free for anyone who already owns the Switch version of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. A $5 upgrade pack is available on the eShop, and the Switch 2 game costs $65 on its own. A physical version is also arriving on April 16.

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (again, won’t someone please think of us writers) was the last of a number of Xenoblade Chronicles games to make its way to Switch. It’s a bit different to the other entries in the series, with its hard sci-fi story, emphasis on side quests and completely seamless open world to explore. Also, stick with the game long enough and you can eventually fly around the entire planet of Mira in a giant mech, which is as fun as it sounds.

Like the other games in the series, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a standalone experience, so don’t worry about jumping in if you’ve never played one before. The series’ signature MMO-like hybrid real-time combat system takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s part of what makes these games stand out from other RPG series.

The other Xenoblade games in the Switch library, which are Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, are yet to receive Switch 2 updates, but hopefully they'll arrive eventually too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-announces-surprise-switch-2-version-of-sci-fi-rpg-xenoblade-chronicles-x-definitive-edition-153121689.html?src=rss

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A decision to ban Telegram on home soil may have backfired on the Kremlin. Last week, Russia went on a blocking spree, banning a number of Western apps in an effort to push domestic users towards Max, an unencrypted state-owned app. One of the restricted apps was WhatsApp (which was also blocked) rival Telegram, a move that drew rare internal criticism from soldiers and pro-war bloggers, with the army being heavily reliant on the cloud-based messaging service for communications.

As reported by Bloomberg, pro-Russian military channels are now complaining that the sudden Telegram blackout — coupled with Elon Musk cutting Russia’s access to Starlink earlier this month — is now actively harming frontline operations. As well as being the messaging app of choice for millions of Russian civilians, soldiers also use Telegram to liaise directly on the battlefield. The government said last week that it was banning Telegram for violating national law, and that the decision was for the "protection of Russian citizens."

Bloomberg was told by senior European diplomats that the double blow of Telegram’s sudden unavailability and SpaceX moving to block Russia’s use of "unauthorized” Starlink terminals in Ukraine earlier this month has had a significant impact on Russian comms. Starlink’s satellite coverage is particularly important for coordinating the Russian military’s drone strikes, the frequency of which has seemingly been disrupted in recent weeks, giving Ukrainian forces an advantage.

Whether these developments will have a longer term effect on the tide of the conflict remains to be seen, but a Ukrainian drone operator who calls himself Giovanni has told the BBC that the Russian army has lost "their ability to control the field" in the wake of the Starlink outage. "I think they lost 50% of their capacity for offence," he said. "That's what the numbers show. Fewer assaults, fewer enemy drones, fewer everything."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/russias-recent-blocking-of-telegram-is-reportedly-disrupting-its-military-operations-in-ukraine-135250159.html?src=rss

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Last year Dyson introduced the PencilVac, which it immediately declared the "world’s slimmest vacuum cleaner." Presumably, then, the title of world’s slimmest wet floor cleaner goes to the newly unveiled PencilWash.

Promising a "lighter, slimmer and smaller solution to wet cleaning without compromising on hygiene," the PencilWash is designed to let you clean everywhere you need to with minimal hassle. Like the vacuum cleaner with which it shares the first part of its name, the handle measures just 1.5 inches in diameter from top to bottom, and the whole thing weighs little more than 2kg.

The ultra-thin design allows the cleaner to lie almost completely flat, allowing you to get into tight corners or under low furniture, where more traditionally bulky devices might struggle. Its slender proportions also make it easier to store if your home is on the smaller side.

Dyson says the PencilWash only applies fresh water to floors, and after swiftly eliminating spills and stains it should dry up pretty quickly. Its high-density microfiber roller is designed to tackle both wet and dry debris in one pass, and because it doesn’t have a traditional filter, you won’t have to worry about trapped dirt or lingering smells.

Above the power buttons there’s a screen displaying remaining battery level, and the handle can be slotted into a charging dock when not in use.

The Dyson PencilVac will cost $349, with a release date yet to be announced.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/dyson-announces-the-pencilwash-wet-floor-cleaner-230152299.html?src=rss

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Netflix has been in the game adaptation business for a while now, but until recently most of its attention had been on adapting video games. That’s still very much happening, but the streaming giant is also now buying up rights for board game IP too, with the latest being Asmodee’s Ticket to Ride.

Netflix will look to greenlight a number of projects spanning TV, film and "additional formats," it wrote in a press release. The first of these will be a feature film written by Ben Mekler and Chris Amick. Ticket to Ride creator Alan R. Moon will serve as an executive producer on the project, which will be the game’s first on-screen adaptation. Exactly what it will look like is not yet clear, but the internet already has plenty of theories.

Ticket to Ride is a train-themed turn-based strategy and route-building game first released over 20 years ago. Since then it has gone on to ship more than 20 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. It’s also been given the video game adaptation treatment before.

This is actually the second of Asmodee’s IP that Netflix has acquired the rights to, after announcing last year that Catan will also be making its way to screens in various forms. And it isn’t just interested in scripted TV and movie opportunities. In early 2025, the company also signed a deal with Hasbro to adapt Monopoly into a TV game show.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/netflix-is-adapting-the-board-game-ticket-to-ride-180505164.html?src=rss

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Nintendo’s Virtual Boy app is now available to download on Switch and Switch 2 as part of its Nintendo Classics offering. You’ll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership to access the launch titles, and unlike Nintendo’s other retro emulators, this one also requires a dedicated accessory.

As a reminder, the Virtual Boy was a portable tabletop system released in 1995, and the first console capable of rendering stereoscopic 3D graphics. It had a facemask with a monochrome red display built onto a bipod, so rather than wearing it like a modern VR headset, you had to awkwardly push your face towards it to play games.

While undeniably innovative for the time, the console never took off (to put it gently), but Nintendo is giving anyone who missed out in the '90s a chance to experience one of the strangest experiments in its history in 2026. Aesthetically, the $100 Virtual Boy add-on is a near perfect replica of the original console, with the big difference being that rather than a built-in display, it has a slot for sliding in your Switch or Switch 2. And unlike the OG Virtual Boy, this one is also wireless.

If $100 seems a bit steep for something that’ll almost certainly be collecting dust before summer rolls around, Nintendo is also selling a $25 cardboard version (unfortunately your old Labo VR headset won’t work here). Both are available to buy from the My Nintendo Store.

The Virtual Boy app is launching with the following games today: 3d Tetris, Galactic Pinball, Golf, The Mansion of Innsmouth, Red Alarm, Teleroboxer and Virtual Boy Wario Land. More games will be added in the future, including Mario Clash, Mario’s Tennis and Space Invaders Virtual Collection.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-virtual-boy-app-is-now-available-to-download-150705800.html?src=rss

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Meta has backed away from highly controversial facial recognition tech in its products and services before, but seemingly not so far that it isn’t willing to have another crack at it. A new report from The New York Times claims Mark Zuckerberg’s company wants to add facial recognition to its lineup of branded smart glasses at some point this year.

The NYT spoke to four anonymous people with knowledge of Meta’s plans, who told the publication that the feature is codenamed "Name Tag" internally. As you’d expect, it would let people wearing Meta-powered Oakley or Ray-Ban glasses identify people and "get information about them" using AI.

Such technology naturally carries huge privacy and ethical risks, which is reportedly why Meta was hesitant to unveil Name Tag at a conference for the blind last year. It also may have shelved plans to include facial recognition in the first version of its smart glasses, which launched in 2023.

In an internal memo from Meta’s Reality Labs viewed by the NYT, Meta said that the current political instability in the US presents a good opportunity for it to push ahead with its plans. "We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns," it said.

With the smart glasses market expected to become more competitive in the coming years, Meta seemingly believes facial recognition would give it an edge on rival products from the likes of OpenAI. As for how it would work, the company is considering its options. It could recognize people the wearer is already connected to via one of Meta’s apps, or potentially display information from public Instagram accounts. The NYT’s sources said that universal facial recognition, effectively allowing you to look up the identity of anyone you walked past, would not be possible.

Meta shut down Facebook’s Face Recognition system, used when tagging people in photos, in 2021, following widespread public backlash over privacy concerns. Three years later, it brought it back, this time as a tool for Instagram and Facebook designed to detect scam ads that use the faces of celebrities and other public figures. Last year Meta rolled out the feature beyond the US, so Facebook and later Instagram users in the UK, Europe and South Korea could also use it on their accounts.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-is-reportedly-working-to-bring-facial-recognition-to-its-smart-glasses-144721330.html?src=rss

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© Karissa Bell for Engadget

During its State of Play livestream on Thursday, Sony revealed the first PlayStation Plus Game Catalog addition for February and it's a doozy. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (PS5) will finally websling its way onto the Game Catalog on February 17.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was released in October 2023, and Insomniac's third Spidey game is the the best of the bunch. You can play as both Peter Parker and his protégé Miles Morales. Each Spidey has his own skill tree and moveset to master.

Traversing New York (with a lot more of it explorable than in previous entries) has never felt better thanks to the addition of the wingsuit, while the set pieces are frequently breathtaking. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 remains one of the PS5’s flagship games, and with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered and Miles Morales already on the Game Catalog, Extra and Premium subscribers can now play the whole series while they wait for Insomniac's Wolverine game to arrive later this year.

Sony later revealed the full PS Plus Game Catalog lineup for February on the PlayStation Blog. It includes Neva (PS4 and PS5), a stunning 2D platformer that's pretty much an interactive fairytale. Engadget’s Jessica Conditt opened her review of the game by saying she had "absolutely nothing negative to say" about it, which is surely about as effusive as a recommendation can get. (A paid expansion that acts as a prequel is on the way next week too.)

The other titles coming to the PS Plus Game Catalog on February 17 are:

• Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown (PS5)

• Season: A Letter to the Future (PS4 and PS5)

• Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (PS4)

• Monster Hunter Stories (PS4)

• Venba (PS5)

• Echoes of the End: Enhanced Edition (PS5)

• Rugby 25 (PS4 and PS5)

PS Plus Premium members will have an extra game to play on PS4 and PS5 in the form of Disney Pixar Wall-E. This version was originally released in 2008 for the PlayStation 2.

Looking further ahead, Tekken Dark Resurrection will be available to Premium subscribers in March. Premium members will be able to play the original Time Crisis on their PS5 with gyro controls in May, which sounds fun. Also, Big Walk, a multiplayer game from Untitled Goose Game developer House House, will be available on all three PS Plus tiers when it debuts later this year.

Update February 12, 6:43PM ET: Added the full list of PS Plus Game Catalog titles for February.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps-plus-game-catalog-additions-for-february-include-marvels-spider-man-2-232459779.html?src=rss

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At the end of last month, Ubisoft workers in the publisher’s native France threatened to strike in the wake of sweeping layoffs and cost-cutting measures. This week, they made good on those threats. According to GamesIndustry.biz, union members confirmed that at least 1,200 staff participated in the three-day strike, which was due to run from February 10 to February 12.

While the strike action primarily took place in France, GamesIndustry.biz was told that Ubisoft’s Milan office also took part. The union Solidaires Informatique, which represents French workers from a number of companies in the video game sector, including Blizzard and Ubisoft, had previously called for strikes to take place on January 27. Their demands included a 10 percent increase on all salaries and the implementation of a 4-day work week.

Some striking employees held up signs outside Ubisoft’s Paris headquarters, with one (pictured) wearing a Rabbids mask to hide their face. Their grievances are wide-ranging. As well as reportedly laying off hundreds of employees already in 2026, Ubisoft also introduced a mandate for its staff to return to work on site for five days a week. One employee who publicly voiced their disapproval of the new policy was reportedly fired for doing so.

Ubisoft has had a rocky start to 2026 on the software side too. The long-awaited Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was among six games canceled by the struggling publisher last month, when it also confirmed several studio closures as part of the company’s organizational restructuring.

Update, Feb. 12 2026, 12:39PM ET: "We understand these changes, particularly those affecting work organization, are generating strong feelings," Ubisoft wrote in a statement shared with Engadget. "Since the announcement, we have held a series of discussions and information sessions at multiple levels to help teams better understand the new organization and to give them the opportunity to share their questions and concerns." The company added that it "remains committed to maintaining an open and constructive dialogue with employees and employee representatives.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/1200-ubisoft-workers-went-on-strike-in-response-to-company-restructuring-and-mandatory-return-to-work-policy-163714986.html?src=rss

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© NurPhoto via Getty Images

If there’s any area of your life that you might be willing to introduce more AI into, it’s likely something as mundane as grocery shopping. That’s what Uber is betting on with its new AI-powered feature in the Uber Eats app.

Cart Assistant lets you "build grocery baskets faster and with less effort" by using AI to automatically fill your basket with items included on your shopping list. To use it, you search for a supported grocery store on the home screen of the app and tap the new Cart Assistant icon that appears at the top of the screen.

From there, you can either manually type out a shopping list or upload a photo of a handwritten one, and Cart Assistant will fetch your requested items and add them to your basket. A screenshot of ingredients needed for a recipe will also suffice.

Uber says its AI assistant will factor in availability before selecting an item and will also display prices and any available promotions. If you don’t want something it recommends, you can delete or swap it for something else. Anything you forgot to add in the original list can be added later, and if you’ve purchased something in the past, these familiar items will be prioritized so you’re less likely to need to make changes. Uber advises users that the new shopping feature is in beta right now, so might not perform perfectly. 

Cart Assistant is the latest development in the gradual AI-ification of Uber Eats. Last summer, Uber added a suite of new features to the app, including AI-enhanced food images, AI menu descriptions and AI summaries or restaurant reviews.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/uber-eats-new-cart-assistant-feature-is-an-ai-hack-for-your-grocery-shopping-145733478.html?src=rss

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© SOPA Images via Getty Images

Good deals on Apple products aren’t as frequent as we’d like them to be, but if there’s one of the company’s products that does seem to enjoy pretty regular price cuts, it’s the AirTag. Right now you can pick up a four-pack of Apple’s diminutive first-generation Bluetooth trackers for $64, which translates to 35 percent off and a near record low price.

Bear in mind that this deal brings the price per AirTag down to about $16 if you were to buy them individually, and when not on sale they usually cost $29.

If you use Apple devices and consider yourself to be a serial thing-misplacer, AirTags are extremely useful. Adding one to your account takes a single tap, and with Apple’s Find My network so well established, locating missing items has never been easier.

Using your iPhone you can trigger a sound from the AirTag’s built-in speaker, or alternatively Precision Finding can be used to pinpoint its location via Find My. You just follow the instructions on your iPhone, paying attention to the vibrations that signal you’re getting closer.

A reminder again that the above deals apply to the first-generation AirTag only. Apple introduced a refreshed tracker with greater range and a louder speaker last month, which retails at the same price as its predecessor. For deals on the new AirTag, you may have to wait a bit.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-a-four-pack-of-first-gen-airtags-for-only-64-163619159.html?src=rss

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One of the more surprising tech developments in 2025 was Google bringing two-way support for Apple’s AirDrop functionality to its Pixel 10 series of phones. At the time, Google said it intended to expand the feature to other devices at a later date, and that date could be just around the corner.

At a press briefing attended by Android Authority at Google’s Taipei office, Eric Kay, Android’s Vice President of Engineering, confirmed that AirDrop interoperability will expand in 2026. "We spent a lot of time and energy to make sure that we could build something that was compatible not only with iPhone but iPads and MacBooks," he said. "Now that we’ve proven it out, we’re working with our partners to expand it into the rest of the ecosystem, and you should see some exciting announcements coming very soon."

Right now, Pixel 10 users can send and receive files and photos between Apple devices and Android using Quick Share. For an Android device to receive from an iPhone, they have to set their Quick Share visibility settings to "everyone for 10 minutes" and make sure they’re in "receive" mode on the Quick Share page.

It’s a similar story for an Android-to-Apple file share. You have to set your iPhone, iPad or Mac’s Airdrop visibility to "anyone for 10 minutes," which enables someone from outside your contacts to use Quick Share on their Pixel 10.

When this feature launched, it wasn’t clear how much involvement, if any, Apple had had, or if the infamous walled garden would once again banish Android-minded intruders in a subsequent software update. But that hasn’t happened, and back in November, Qualcomm confirmed that devices powered by its Snapdragon chips would also soon be able to transfer files to iPhones using Quick Share, suggesting that Pixel exclusivity wouldn’t last for much longer.

Google’s own willingness to play nice with Apple gear is seemingly a move designed to make the lives easier of anyone thinking about making the jump from an iPhone to an Android device. As reported by Android Authority, Kay also said his company was committed to making it as simple as possible to transfer data when switching.

It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of Apple and Google teaming up to make device-hopping more consumer-friendly was the stuff of fantasy, but in December it emerged that the longstanding rivals were working on a new simplified data transfer system. Each company already offers a method for swapping ecosystems, but a new build of Android Canary hinted at something that would work at the operating system level.

Last month, Apple and Google also released a joint statement confirming previous reports that the new version of Siri will utilise Google Gemini’s models, effectively resulting in a Google-powered voice assistant on your iPhone.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/google-will-soon-offer-airdrop-support-on-more-android-devices-141523521.html?src=rss

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We found the iPhone Air to have a pretty decent battery life for such a thin-and-light phone, somewhere in the region of 27 hours if you’re continuously streaming video. But it's still a phone, arguably your most used device on a daily basis, so you may need to top it up during the day if you're using it constantly. That’s where Apple’s iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack comes in, and it’s currently on sale for $79.

This accessory only works with the iPhone Air, but much like the phone it attaches to, it’s extremely slim at 7.5mmm, so crucially doesn’t add so much bulk when attached that it defeats the point of having a thin phone in the first place. The MagSafe Battery isn’t enormous at 3,149mAh (enough to add an extra 65 percent of charge to the Air), but it can wirelessly charge the AirPods Pro 3 as well, making it an even more useful travel companion. You can also charge your iPhone while charging the battery pack.

At its regular price of $99, the MagSafe battery pack is an admittedly pricey add-on to what is already an expensive phone, but for $20 off it’s well worth considering what Engadget’s Sam Rutherford called an "essential accessory" for some users in his iPhone Air review.

Many Apple loyalists will always insist on having first-party accessories for their iPhone, but there are plenty of third-party MagSafe chargers out there too, a lot of them considerably cheaper than Apple’s lineup. Be sure to check out our guide for those. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-iphone-air-magsafe-battery-pack-is-cheaper-than-ever-144516417.html?src=rss

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© Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Fallout’s second season is coming to a close, and it’s been well worth the wait. But if a reluctance to add yet another subscription to your streaming rotation means you haven’t watched Amazon’s surprisingly excellent adaptation yet, you might be interested to know that the company is currently releasing season one for free on the Prime Video YouTube channel.

Whether driven by Amazon wanting even more people to watch what has become one of its biggest TV success stories, or a move that speaks to how few people are actually signed up for Prime Video, it’s good news for anyone who hasn’t seen the show yet. Fallout’s first season did a great job of taking everything that’s great about the long-running post-apocalyptic RPG series and weaving it into a wildly entertaining live-action show, elevated by excellent performances from Ella Purnell as a hopelessly naive but endearingly optimistic vault-dweller, and Walton Goggins as the Ghoul.

Amazon is currently adding a new episode each day ahead of next week’s season two finale, presumably hoping a whole new set of fans hop straight into that once they’re done. But here’s the catch: you only have until February 11 to watch the whole lot. After that, the show will be for Prime Video subscribers only once again.

And that isn't the the only Fallout freebie up for grabs right now. Between now and February 5, Bethesda’s MMORPG, Fallout 76, is free-to-play on Xbox and PC, while PlayStation players have until February 4. Fallout 76 first launched in 2018, and as a fully multiplayer-focused game it represented a new direction for the series. It was, to put it bluntly, a bit of a mess for quite a while, but Bethesda has never abandoned the title or its player-base, and if you have Fallout on the brain, this is the perfect opportunity to see how it’s looking in 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/the-first-season-of-amazons-fallout-show-is-now-free-on-youtube-162920615.html?src=rss

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Honda and DriveOhio have teamed up on a new road safety initiative in which Honda vehicles are being used to collect real-time data that can advise about potential issues and road deficiencies before they become a problem. Honda’s Proactive Roadway Maintenance System, which has been in prototyping since 2021, uses "advanced vision and LiDAR sensors" to identify issues such as worn or obstructed road signs, damaged guardrails, rough roads and emerging potholes.

During the pilot, members of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s smart mobility hub drove the test vehicles on around 3,000 miles of road in central and southeastern Ohio. They covered a mix of urban and rural environments, in varying weather conditions and at different times of the day. 

ODOT operators were able to review any flagged road or infrastructure deficiencies in real time using smart dashboards developed by Honda and tech firm Parsons. The University of Cincinnati helped Honda fit the sensors to its vehicles, led the development of the damage detection feature and assisted ODOT during the pilot.

The data collected by the vehicles was processed by Edge AI models and then passed on to Honda’s own cloud platform. The system then automatically generated work orders for ODOT’s maintenance teams in order of priority.

While a relatively small pilot in scope, the Proactive Roadway Maintenance System performed well in the trial across a number of metrics, delivering as high as 99 percent accuracy at highlighting damaged or obstructed signs. Accuracy was 93 percent for damaged guardrails and a slightly lower 89 percent for spotting potholes.

Honda says its technology could also detect high-severity shoulder drop-offs that were easy to miss in a routine visual inspection, while the system also proved reliable at measuring road roughness. The team that worked on the project estimated that if implemented on a larger scale, the automated system could save ODOT over $4.5 million a year.

Honda and its partners are now looking at ways to scale up the prototype Proactive Roadway Maintenance System for real-world use. The manufacturer also says it aims to eventually have similar technology in the vehicles of its customers, who will be able to share their own detection data anonymously and help create safer roads.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/honda-vehicles-used-to-proactively-report-road-safety-issues-in-nation-first-pilot-151629967.html?src=rss

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© Jim Still-Pepper via Getty Images

Google has agreed to a preliminary $135 million settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by Android users who accused it of harvesting their data without consent. The suit alleged that since November 12, 2017, Google has been illegally collecting cellular data from phones purchased through carriers, even when apps were closed or location features were disabled.

As reported by Reuters, the affected users believed Google using their data for marketing and product development meant it was guilty of "conversion." In US law, conversion occurs when one party takes the property of another with "the intent to deprive them of it" or "exert property rights over it."

Subject to approval from a judge, a settlement of $135 million was filed in a San Jose federal court earlier this week. The payout would be one of, if not the largest ever in a case of this nature, according to Glen Summers, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Each user involved in the lawsuit would be entitled to up to $100 from Google, which denies any wrongdoing and has agreed to seek consent during the setup process of a new phone from now on. A toggle will be added to enable users to easily disable data transfer, while the Alphabet-owned company will also adjust its terms of service accordingly. A trial is scheduled for August 5.

This is the second settlement this week for Google. On January 26, the company also agreed to a $68 million settlement regarding claims that Google Assistant had been spying on users after being triggered by what it had misheard as wake words. Again, Google denied any wrongdoing in the class action suit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-will-pay-135-million-to-settle-illegal-data-collection-lawsuit-133012112.html?src=rss

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The latest lineup of MSI's Prestige laptops is now available to buy. The company unveiled its next-generation business laptop at CES earlier this month, all of them powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors.

Available in configurations that include up to the Intel Core Ultra 9, the updated Prestige series are equipped with chunky 91Wh batteries and, depending on the model, offer over 30 hours of 1080p video playback. In more real-world terms, if you’re on a work trip and know you won’t always have a power supply to hand, you can trust one of these to get you through a day of heavy multi-tasking.

The new Prestige models are encased in full aluminum and are slimmer than their predecessors. They feature vapor chamber cooling and dual-fan architecture to ensure they stay cool and quiet while you work. If you pick up one of the convertible 2-in-1 Flip models, you can work with a stylus too.

There’s a 2.8K OLED display option for the Prestige 16 and 16 Flip, with support for VRR and DisplayHDR True Black 1000. The Flip 14 keeps the OLED, but the resolution drops to FHD+ and you lose the VRR.

The full lineup is now available in the US, with prices starting at $1,299. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/msis-refreshed-prestige-series-laptops-are-now-available-to-buy-165234479.html?src=rss

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently went on record saying that AI still needs to prove its worth if society is to adopt it long-term, but he presumably thinks his company has cracked it with its latest innovation: AI coloring books.

A new Microsoft Paint feature currently rolling out to Windows Insiders allows you to generate coloring book pages based on the text prompt you enter. The example Microsoft uses is "a cute fluffy cat on a donut," to which the AI tool will spit out a set of slightly different options based on your prompt.

You can then choose which image you want, add it to your current workspace, copy or save it. Presumably you can also print it out for the purpose of entertaining your kids. No doubt the kind of real-world impact the Microsoft chief was alluding to.

The coloring book feature is exclusive to Copilot+ PCs, and Microsoft is also adding a fill tolerance slider that lets you adjust the precision with which the Fill tool adds color to your canvas.

As well as Paint’s new Coloring book feature, Microsoft has also improved its Write, Rewrite and Summarize AI functionality in Notepad, which integrates with GPT to fine-tune your writing and summarize complex notes. You’ll need to sign into your Microsoft account to use cloud features, but results will now appear more quickly and let you interact with the preview without having to wait for its full response. Again, you’ll need to be Windows Insider in the Canary and Dev channels on Windows 11 to take advantage of the updates initially.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/you-can-now-create-ai-generated-coloring-books-in-microsoft-paint-163512527.html?src=rss

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After being one of the first countries in the world to block Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot, Malaysia has now lifted its ban. Along with Indonesia, the country moved swiftly to temporarily halt access to X's frequently controversial AI chatbot earlier this month, after multiple reports emerged of it being used to generate deepfake sexualized images of people, including women and children.

At the time, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said the restrictions would remain in place until X Corp and parent xAI could prove they had enforced the necessary safeguards against misuse of the above nature.

Malaysian authorities appear to be taking X at its word, after the MCMC released a statement confirming it was satisfied that Musk’s company has implemented the required safety measures. It added that the authorities will continue to monitor the social media platform, and that any further user safety breaches or violations of Malaysian laws would be dealt with firmly.

At the time of writing, only Malaysia and Indonesia have hit Grok with official bans, though UK regulator Ofcom opened a formal investigation into X under the country’s Online Safety Act, in the wake of the non-consensual sexual deepfake scandal. X has since changed its image-editing policies, and on January 14 the company said Grok will no longer allow "the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis."

Earlier this week, the UK-based non-profit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), estimated that in the 11-day period between December 29 and January 9, Grok generated approximately 3 million sexualized images, around 23,000 of which were of children.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/malaysia-lifts-ban-on-grok-after-taking-x-at-its-word-144457468.html?src=rss

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