A federal appeals court in Brazil on Saturday lifted the country-wide ban that had been put in place against Telegram earlier this week. Per Reuters, judge Flávio Lucas ruled a complete suspension of the messaging app was “not reasonable” given that thousands of people in Brazil who rely on the platform for their communication needs. At the same time, he upheld the daily $200,000 fine on Telegram for failing to provide local authorities with the data they requested.
The original ban came on Wednesday after a federal court instructed Apple and Google to temporarily remove the service from their domestic app stores. Brazilian authorities sought the suspension after Telegram failed to hand over a full set of data on a pair of neo-Nazi groups on the app accused of inciting violence against schools.
According to The New York Times, a teenager accused of committing two school shootings in November, which left three dead and 13 people injured, was involved with the two groups. Authorities say they saw Nazi content, violent videos and bomb-making instructions shared in those group chats. When it didn’t comply with the initial court order, Telegram reportedly said the two groups had been deleted and that it couldn’t recover the requested information. Telegram did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request.
This isn’t the first time Telegram has been briefly banned in Brazil. In 2022, the country’s highest court suspended the app for failing to freeze accounts accused of spreading disinformation ahead of the country’s recent presidential election. Similarly, that ban was lifted just days later.
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Apple is reportedly working on its most significant software overhaul to watchOS in recent memory. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is redesigning the Apple Watch’s user interface to make widgets a “central part” of how you will interact with the wearable. In describing the new UI, Gurman says it brings back elements of the Glances system that was part of the original watchOS while borrowing the “style” of widgets Apple introduced alongside iOS 14 last year.
He adds the new interface will be “reminiscent” of the Siri watch face that the company introduced with watchOS 4 in 2017 but will function as an overlay for whatever watch face you wish to use. “It’s also similar to widget stacks,” Gurman adds, referencing the iOS feature that allows you to scroll through widgets you've placed on top of one another.
Simultaneously, Apple is reportedly testing a tweak to the Apple Watch’s physical buttons. With the interface redesign, pressing down on the digital crown could launch the operating system’s new widgets view instead of taking you to the home screen like the dial currently does with watchOS 9.
With the likelihood that the redesign will be jarring for some, Gurman speculates Apple plans to make the new interface optional at first. Additionally, he suggests the overhaul is an admission that an iPhone-like app experience “doesn’t always make sense on a watch – a place where you want as much information as possible with the least amount of poking around.” With WWDC 2023 a little more than a month away, it won’t be long before Apple shares more information about what Watch users can expect from its wearable’s next big software update.
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Assume that Meta, Google, Microsoft, and other big tech companies soon have their way, and neural interface devices replace keyboards and mice. In that likely future, a large segment of the population will routinely wear neural devices like NextSense’s bio-sensing EEG earbuds, which are designed to be worn twenty-four hours a day. With wide-scale adoption of wearable neurotechnology, adding our brain activity to nationwide identification systems is a near-term reality.
One of the most extraordinary discoveries of modern neuroscience is the uniqueness of each person’s functional brain connection (its physical wiring), especially in the brain areas devoted to thinking or remembering something. Because of this, algorithms can be used to analyze our brain activity and extract features that are both unique to each person and stable over time. How your brain responds to a song or an image, for example, is highly dependent upon your prior experiences. The unique brain patterns you generate could be used to authenticate your identity.
Nationwide identification systems vary by country but generally involve the assignment of unique identification numbers, which can be used for border checks, employment screenings, health-care delivery, or to interact with security systems. These ID numbers are stored in centralized government databases along with other significant personal data, including birth date and place, height, weight, eye color, address, and other information. Most identification systems have long included at least one piece of biometric data, the static photo used in passports and driver’s licenses. But governments are quickly moving toward more expansive biometric features that include the brain.
Biometric characteristics are special because they are highly distinctive and have little to no overlap between individuals. As the artificial intelligence algorithms powering biometric systems have become more powerful, they can identify unique features in the eyes and the face, or even in a person’s behavior. Brain-based biometric authentication has security advantages over other biometric data because it is concealed, dynamic, non-stationary, and incredibly complex.
The promise of greater security has led countries to invest heavily in biometric authentication. China has an extensive nationwide biometric database that includes DNA samples, and it also makes widespread use of facial recognition technology. Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have conducted mass collections of biometric data from the Uyghur people and used it for targeted discrimination.
The United States has also massively expanded its collection of biometric data. A recent report by the US Government Accountability Office detailed at least eighteen different federal agencies that have some kind of facial recognition program in place. US Customs and Border Protection includes facial recognition as part of its pre-boarding screening process, and an executive order signed by President Trump in 2017 required the United States’ top twenty airports to implement biometric screening on incoming international passengers.
Increasingly, governments are investing in developing brain biometric measurements. The US Department of Defense recently funded SPARK Neuro, a New York–based company that has been working on a biometric system that combines EEG brain wave data, changes in sweat gland activity, facial recognition, eye-tracking, and even functional near-infrared spectrometry brain imaging (fNIRS), a particularly promising (if expensive) technology for brain authentication, since it is wearable, can be used to monitor individuals over time, can be used indoors or outdoors while a person is moving or at rest, and can be used on infants and children. China has been funneling substantial investments into EEG and fNIRS as well.
For biometric features to be successfully used for authentication, they must have universality, permanence, uniqueness, and be secure against fraud. Over time, static biometrics like facial IDs and fingerprints have become prone to spoofing. Functional biometrics, such as brain activity, are less prone to attack. That feature has motivated researchers like Jinani Sooriyaarachchi and her colleagues in Australia to develop scalable brain-based authentication systems. In one of their most recent studies, they recruited twenty volunteers and asked them to listen to both a popular English song and their own favorite song while their brain wave activity was recorded with a four-channel (an electrode capturing brain wave activity is called a channel) Muse headset. Afterward, the researchers analyzed their recorded brain wave activity using an artificial-intelligence classifier algorithm. Remarkably, they achieved 98.39 percent accuracy in identifying the correct participant when they listened to the familiar song, and a 99.46 percent accuracy when they listened to their favorite song. Using an eight-channel EEG headset on thirty research subjects, another group achieved a similar 98 percent accuracy in authenticating participants by their brain wave data after they’d looked at novel images. It might not even take eight or even four electrodes to achieve the same result. Even with just a single-channel EEG headset, researchers have achieved 99 percent accuracy in distinguishing between participants when they performed the same mental tasks. Most of these studies had a small number of participants; it is not yet clear if neural signatures will be as accurate at scale, when billions rather than dozens of people must be authenticated. EEG is inherently noisy—meaning the signals the electrodes pick up can come from eye-blinking or other movement, which can make it hard to tell the difference between brain activity or interference. But researchers have made substantial progress in developing pattern classifiers that filter noise, allowing them to discriminate between individuals based on their resting-state EEG brain wave activity and when performing tasks. As noted previously, EEG devices have been used to recover sensitive information from a person’s brain, such as their PIN codes, and their political and religious ideologies. Obviously, this poses clear risks to our digital and physical security.
Governments can already tap our phone conversations and snoop on us digitally. Will they similarly tap our brain activity data without our knowledge or consent? Will they deploy AI programs to search our brains for terrorist plots? Will they gather neural data to make inferences about individuals’ political beliefs to predict and prevent peaceful protests? China is reportedly already doing so.
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A Valorant PS5 and PS4 release date has been heavily requested by fans of Riot Games’ first-person shooter, with many hoping for a console version of the popular game. While Riot’s other incredibly popular title, League of Legends, hasn’t made its way to consoles, Valorant seems like an easier fit for PlayStation systems given that it’s an FPS. But is it coming out on PS5 and PS4? Here’s what you need to know.
When is Valorant coming out on PS5 and PS4?
Riot Games confirmed back in 2020 that it was working on a prototype version of Valorant for consoles, but there is no confirmed PS5 or PS4 release date for the game at the time of this writing.
Riot Games’ Anna Donlon revealed to GameSpot that the team was working on a console version of Valorant, though would only release it if it “translates completely to console play.” Considering that we’ve yet to see Valorant on PS5 and PS4, we can come to the conclusion that Riot has yet to fully nail that transition.
Riot job listings posted in 2022 also hinted at the studio working on a PS5 version of the game, while strings found in the game’s files reference both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. This suggests a console version is underway and could be released sooner rather than later, but without official confirmation from Riot, we still don’t know if this port will ever come to fruition.
Honkai: Star Rail is a gacha RPG from HoYoverse, the developer behind the behemothic Genshin Impact. As such, many PS5 and PS4 owners are excited to play the recently released game — but when is it coming out on Sony’s consoles, and is there a confirmed release date?
When is Honkai: Star Rail coming out on PS5 and PS4?
Honkai: Star Rail launched on April 26, 2023, on PC, Android, and iOS devices, with a PS5 and PS4 launch also confirmed. However, HoYoverse has stated that its PlayStation release date is “pending.”
In a press release, HoYoverse confirmed that Star Rail’s “PlayStation version is also under development,” though stopped short of revealing when exactly it would launch on consoles.
The press release reads:
Honkai: Star Rail confirmed its availability on PlayStation, which will be launched later in addition to the current iOS, Android, Epic Games Store and PC platforms. As the first time, Honkai: Star Rail’s PlayStation version gameplay was showcased to grant a peak at the extradentary astral adventure lies ahead. More information and release schedule of Honkai: Star Rail’s PlayStation version will be updated later.
— HoYoverse
Honkai: Star Rail is definitely on its way to PS5 and PS4, then, but PlayStation gamers will have to be a little more patient.
Twitter might provide publishers with a new way to earn from their content outside of the typical recurring subscription option. According to company chief Elon Musk, Twitter will allow media publishers to charge users for access to individual articles they post on the website as as soon as next month. Users will end up paying a higher per-article price than what the cost of access to every article would amount to if they had a subscription instead. But Musk said it's for those who want to read the occasional story from a specific outlet, so each article probably wouldn't cost as much as a monthly subscription.
Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click.
This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per article price for when they want to read an occasional article.…
At this point in time, though, details about the upcoming feature remain vague. Musk only said that it will start rolling out next month — it's unclear what kinds of accounts and media outlets will be able to offer per-article charging. In addition, Twitter's owner didn't say how much the website would be taking as commission. When the company officially replaced Super Follows with Subscriptions, Musk announced that it won't be taking any money from creators for the next 12 months. After the year is up, Twitter will be taking a 10 percent cut on subscriptions.
Engadget has reached out to the website for clarification, but it doesn't have a press team anymore. We'll have to wait for more information to know if Twitter will implement the same rule for per-article payments. Ultimately, the company will be taking a cut — Twitter, under Musk, has been introducing more and more paid features to boost revenue. It's pretty common knowledge at this point that its verification badge now comes as a perk for its $8-a-month Blue subscription. Twitter also shut down its free API to launch a new one that users would have to pay for. It would cost enterprise customers almost $50,000 a month to access the new API, so some organizations and companies such as NYC's transport authority had chosen to end Twitter integration or to leave the website instead.
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After more than three years of litigation, Apple has quietly dropped its lawsuit against Gerard Williams III, the former chip executive the company accused of poaching employees. Williams spent nearly a decade working for Apple, leading development on some of its most important chips – including the A7, the first 64-bit processor for mobile devices.
In 2019, Williams left Apple to co-found Nuvia, a chip design firm later acquired by Qualcomm in 2021. When the tech giant first sued Williams, it accused him of “secretly” starting Nuvia and recruiting talent for his startup while he was still an Apple employee. Williams disputed Apple’s claims and accused the company of spying on his text messages.
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple filed a request to dismiss the suit against Williams earlier this week. The document does not state the company’s reason for dropping the case. However, it does say Apple did so “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot file the same claim against Williams again. It also suggests the two sides came to a settlement. Apple did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request.
In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s dismissal request, court documents show Apple sought the recusal of Judge Sunil Kulkarni. Around March 17th, 2023, the company added two lawyers from the legal firm Morrison and Foerster to the team litigating its case against Williams. On March 28th, Judge Sunil Kulkarni filed a brief disclosing that he had worked at Morrison and Foerster for approximately 13 years and had kept in contact “over the years” with Bryan Wilson and Ken Kuwayti, the two “MoFo” attorneys Apple hired on as counsel earlier in the month.
“I have occasional social interactions with them (e.g., bimonthly lunches, seeing them at parties of mutual friends, and so on),” Judge Kulkarni wrote. “I believe I have recused myself from past cases involving Mr. Wilson and/or Mr. Kuwayti, but solely as a prophylactic measure.” After learning of the involvement of his former colleagues, Judge Kulkarni held an “informal” meeting with the two sides where he said he was “leaning toward recusal” if Apple retained the counsel of either Wilson or Kuwayti. In that same meeting, Kulkarni says he told Apple and Williams his recusal from the case would likely mean a delay in the case going to trial. Before the meeting, the case was scheduled to go to trial on October 2nd, 2023.
In a brief filed on April 6th, Williams and his legal team came out strongly against the idea of Judge Kulkarni removing himself from the case, arguing Apple’s position on the subject “should not matter” and that the move had the potential to be “prejudicial” against the former exec.
“Given that this case has been pending for over three years – with a fast-approaching discovery deadline and trial date – and given the Court’s familiarity with the parties, the case history, and the applicable law, the Court’s recusal decision has the potential to be prejudicial and disruptive,” the brief states. It then argues it was Apple that introduced a potential conflict of interest to the case.
“Even if a conflict existed that might warrant recusal, the procedure imposed by the Court – allowing the party that introduced the ‘conflict’ and would theoretically stand to benefit from it – to decide whether to waive it is inconsistent with basic rules of fairness and due process,” the brief concludes. “Such a procedure would set a dangerous precedent for judge shopping in the middle of a case: any part, at any time, could recruit former colleagues of a sitting judge and then force his or her recusal.”
Putting together what happened after that point is more difficult. However, after the 6th, the court in Santa Clara held multiple hearings where no one from either side appeared. Apple then filed to dismiss the case on April 26th. Qualcomm, Williams' current employer, did not immediately respond to Engadget's request for comment.
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The PS5 background and theme are a sore spot for PlayStation 5 owners, with Sony deciding to stick with a dynamic home screen that also means players can’t select their own images as their wallpaper. As a result, many have wondered if there’s a workaround. While that isn’t the case, there is a way to at least partially customize the appearance of your account on the console.
Is there a way to change your PS5 background?
You cannot change your PS5 background or theme, as the console does not allow users to move away from its default dynamic theme. However, you can customize the appearance of your profile to whatever image you’d like, which isn’t quite the same thing but at least allows you to spruce things up a little. Follow these steps to do just that:
Go to Game Base
Go to Messages
Send the message ‘Google.com’ or ‘Bing.com’ to another account and click the link
Search an image in Google Images or Bing Images
Press the Share button and save a screenshot
Edit the image to fit your screen
Go to your Profile
Select Edit Profile and Change Image
By following the above steps, you’ll be able to select the screenshot you saved on Google/Bing and set it as your cover image.
With Google I/O less than two weeks away, the Pixel leaks are starting to come hard and fast. On Friday, leaker (and former Engadget editor) Evan Blass shared (via The Verge) two 4K renders of the Pixel Fold. The images almost certainly originally came from Google, so they offer our best look at the device yet.
Unfortunately, Blass didn’t post an image of the front of the foldable, so, for at least the time being, we can’t compare the renders against the alleged video of the Pixel Fold that leaker Kuba Wojciechowski uploaded on April 21st. What’s more, the one render of the Fold’s back cover doesn’t give a sense of how pronounced the camera bump is. However, they do show a device that looks sleeker than the one we’ve seen leak before.
Evan Blass
The Pixel Fold will reportedly cost $1,700 when it arrives later this year. According to a recent CNBC report, the device will feature a 7.6-inch foldable display and a 5.8-inch external screen. It will also supposedly sport the “most durable hinge” on any foldable device to date. Judging from the images Blass shared, there may be some merit to that claim.
Separately, Blass shared an image of the Pixel 7a in a striking coral colorway. Google is expected to offer its next midrange device in three other colors — blue, black and white — and the device could cost $50 more than its predecessor. With Google I/O set for May 10th, expect to learn more about the Pixel Fold and Pixel 7a soon.
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In nearly every niche online community, there are two kinds of people: those who like the porn related to their obscure interests, and those who don’t.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is suffering from crashing issues on PS5, as the game’s performance and technical issues continue to be a pain across platforms. As a result, many of those who have suffered from these problems are wondering what is causing them, and if there’s a way to prevent crashes on the PlayStation 5. Given that the game crashes on startup for some, this is a pretty debilitating problem that many inevitably want to see fixed. So, is there a way to fix it?
Why is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor crashing on PS5?
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor isn’t perfectly optimized, with it suffering from some notable issues on PC in particular. However, there are also problems on PS5, which include a nasty crashing problem that is causing the game to freeze at its title screen or during gameplay.
If you’re experiencing this problem, don’t worry — it isn’t a fault with your PS5. Many are reporting that they’re facing similar problems with the action RPG, even though EA and Respawn has only officially released a statement about technical issues with the game’s PC port.
Is there a Star Wars Jedi: Survivor crashing fix?
EA has provided a solution to the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor crashing problem that involves putting your PS5 in safe mode and rebuilding the console’s database.
In order to do this, follow these steps:
Press and hold the PS5 power button after the console is turned off
Release the button after the second beep
Connect your PS5 DualSense controller via USB cable
Select ‘Rebuild Database’ in Safe Mode options
However, while this resolution is the only response from EA we could find regarding how to fix this problem, according to a forum user the issue persisted after they’d carried it out. If you also find that your game continues crashing after rebuilding the database, try reinstalling it on your PS5.
EA and Respawn have noted that updates are on their way to fix the game’s technical issues, though it’s
The PlayStation 5 continues to outperform Sony’s wildest expectations. The console manufacturer announced another banner year for hardware sales, including over 6 million in the last quarter alone. With Spider-Man 2 just around the corner, Sony says it’s planning to sell an unprecedented 25 million PS5s in 2023.
None of the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor ports are doing so hot right now. But reviewers who have been playing the PC version had additional problems with how it performs on their machines. The framerate is neither consistent nor up to standard with what players might expect from a AAA game, compared to console versions…
I’ve developed an odd fascination with body-measuring technology, especially as it relates to the fashion world. Many companies are working on infrastructure that will hopefully one day let us buy clothes custom-tailored for the exact contours of our bodies. That should make people like me, who feel very under-served by the traditional fashion industry, a lot happier. It should also help to reduce the waste generated by the overproduction of clothes nobody wants to buy, which is a problem both for businesses and the planet. So, when Zozofit, makers of the Zozosuit, asked if I wanted to try its skin-tight body-measuring outfit, which has now been repurposed as a fitness tool, I agreed, albeit with my usual degree of trepidation.
The Zozosuit isn’t new, but its makers are using this year as a form of soft relaunch, with a new focus on breaking into the US. It was actually set up back in 2018 by Japanese high-end fashion retailer Zozo as a way of launching a custom-clothing line. Users bought the suit, scanned their bodies and then could order clothes that, on paper, were tailored to better suit their bodies. And while the clothes weren’t custom-made, the idea was that the outfits would be a better fit for them than the usual mass-produced stuff. But that idea, great in theory, didn’t necessarily shake out that well in practice.
Fashion Network said that the cost and complexity involved in launching the suit ate away at the company’s otherwise healthy profits. QZ reported that while people bought the suits, which were sold at a deep discount, few went on to purchase the custom threads as Zozo had planned. It got worse, as many reporters who tested the system found the clothes they had ordered, like Gizmodo’s Ryan F. Mandelbaum and theEconomist’s Charlie Wells, didn’t actually fit. A better suit with higher-resolution dots for imaging was developed, but the project was subsequently put on ice.
Since then, Zozo has tried to open up its technology to third parties, but has now pivoted the technology toward something more fitness-focused. Since it already had the tech to make a body-measuring suit, it might as well be put to good use, or so the thinking goes. A number of health and fitness professionals advocate that, for people looking to get fitter, measure their bodies instead of stepping on the scale. So it makes sense for this to be offered as an elegant alternative to wrestling with a tape measure on a weekly basis.
Buying a Zozosuit is easy enough, just give it your weight in pounds, as well as your height in feet and inches, and cough up $98 plus tax. Not long after, you’ll get a slender package which contains a skinsuit made out of polyester and spandex. It looks very much like a motion capture suit commonly used in the production of visual effects, and functionally does the same job. Coming in two parts, the app will give you guidance on how to wear it, making sure that the waistband is pulled up high and covered by the top. You’ll need to try and keep everything as flat as you can, since visible creases will prevent you from taking an accurate scan.
Zozofit
As a 5’11”, 231-pound man, I did wonder if Zozo would have a suit large enough to cater for my body shape. The website has images of much more athletically-adept models wearing its clothing and you may be concerned there’s no option for bigger-sized folks. The suit I tried on was tight, as intended, but didn’t feel restrictive, and I don’t think you should be nervous that the company can’t accommodate your needs. Other users in a similar situation have documented a similar experience, including YouTuber The Fabric Ninja, who produced a “Plus-Size Review” in 2020. That said, I don’t think I could pull this off as some form of athleisure fashion statement, for all of the reasons you can probably presume.
Inside the package is a cardboard phone stand, which you’ll need to pop out and fold into place to prop your smartphone onto. The Zozofit uses your handset’s primary camera, and so you’ll need to stand it on a table and then stand six feet or so away from it. Once activated, you’ll get voice guidance talking you through the setup and measurement process, and you’ll be asked to hold your arms slightly away from your body. The coach will then ask you to turn to every position on the clock, taking 12 images as you shuffle around in a circle. Once completed, you’ll be notified that you can pick up your phone and then wait 30 seconds-or-so for the model to process.
And you’ll get a headless 3D-mesh model of your body with various measurements labeled off the sides. These include measurements for your upper arms, chest, waist and hips, upper thigh and your calves. After you’ve pawed at your vital statistics, you’ll be invited to set some fitness goals based on those initial measurements. Interestingly, these are capped, I suspect to keep you picking smaller, more sustainable goals and avoid becoming disappointed. It measured my waist at 46.6-inches, and you can only set the goal at inch-wide increments down to 41.6-inches or up to 51.6-inches. This will change in a later update, but I appreciated the more realistic form of goal-setting it promises.
You’ll also get the app’s rough calculation of your body fat percentage, which it clocked at 35.6 percent. Not long after, I jumped on my smart scale and it registered me as having 31.6 percent, and I suspect, too, the imaging might struggle to be as accurate when you’re dealing with such big figures. I’d wager, too, that body fat percentages might not be so easily calculated by sight alone, and perhaps Zozo could look to remove those measurements which aren’t as reliable. It may also dent the PR braggadocio the company is putting out, claiming that this setup is the “world’s most accurate at-home 3D body scanner.” (It says it has compared its results to several rivals on the market, as well as professional hand-measurements.)
Zozofit / Daniel Cooper
Now, the company says that its body fat measurements use the US Navy Body Fat system, which calculates your body fat based on a series of body measurements. That method was developed to create a quick-and-dirty measurement to determine if someone was fit for service. (In the process of researching this, I learned that personnel describe it as the “rope and choke,” which isn’t relevant, but thought you’d appreciate the slang.) The company’s representatives added, to me, that it has found that curvier bodies are more likely to see less accurate results than thinner ones, and that it is working on its algorithms to improve this situation.
With any health-and-fitness technology, there’s a question of how much you can rely upon the accuracy of its measurements. Few consumer-level devices offer the same level of data quality you can get from a much more expensive clinical tool. Straight after my first scan, I ran a second, to see the sort of variation you can expect from an imaging-based measurement. The margin is fairly small, only a few tenths of an inch difference between each scan, which seems fair to me. I’d say, too, that what matters more with these sorts of tools is the trend and direction of travel, rather than obsessing over the pinpoint accuracy of each individual measurement.
And, to test that, as soon as I’d run my second scan (and changed back into normal clothes), I asked a friend to help measure me with a tailor’s tape. And there was a wider delta than I think some people might expect, especially if they’re in need of millimeter-perfect measurements. For instance, the app measured my chest at 43.4-inches, while the tape clocked it in at 44. My upper arms measured 14.5-inches, compared to 14.2 and 14.3-inches inside the app. With my waist and hips, the app said they were 44.6 and 45.3-inches, respectively, while the tape measure clocked them in at 44.5-inches and 47-inches.
Partially, I think these divergences are because computer imaging, even with help, isn’t going to hit as perfectly as a tape measure. Not to mention that the suit pulls you in a little compared to normal clothes, which are far baggier by comparison. I’m sure, too, that the garb sits less well on a larger body compared to a smaller one, where there are fewer issues with terrain. Maybe I’m grading on a curve, but it’ll depend on what exactly users want to get out of this system.
The other question, and a likely more relevant one, is if squeezing into a Zozosuit is easier and less time-consuming than using a tape measure. It’s nice to have an automated process, and to have that data tracked over time, but nothing the app does could qualify as essential. That’s a fairly neat way to sum this up – if you’re a dedicated gym-goer looking for a more elegant way to monitor your vital statistics, then you may find some value here. I’m not sure how compelling this would be, however, if you’re expecting this to be the sum total of your fitness universe.
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Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, the long-awaited next game in the FromSoftware series that most definitely isn’t a Soulslike, dropped its first gameplay trailer on April 27. The trailer comes along with an official release date: August 25 of this year.
Telegram might soon disappear from Brazilian app stores after a federal court in the country has issued a temporary ban against the messaging service. Judge Wellington Lopes da Silva has ordered Google and Apple to remove the app from their stores and for mobile carriers to block access to it for failing to hand over complete user data from two neo-Nazi group chats. Telegram will also have to pay a fine worth almost $200,000 a day until it's able to give authorities data from the groups believed to have been used to incite attacks on schools in Brazil.
According to The New York Times, the group chats were found on the phone of a teenager accused of committing two school shootings in November, which left three dead and 13 people injured. Authorities said they saw murder tutorials, bomb-manufacturing instructions and violent videos in those group chats, in addition to Nazi content. Brazilian justice minister Flavio Dino said: "The so-called antisemitic movement is acting in these networks. And we know that this is at the base of violence against our children, our teens."
Judge da Silva explained that Telegram only handed over information on the administrator of a channel named the "Brazilian Anti-Semitic Movement." It failed to give authorities information on members of that group and any data from another channel called "Anti-Semitic Front." The service reportedly said that the groups had been deleted and that it couldn't recover any information, but that wasn't enough to justify not complying with the court's subpoena to the judge
The Brazilian Supreme Court previously banned Telegram for failing to freeze accounts spreading disinformation ahead of last year's presidential elections. However, the ban was reversed in just a couple of days, and Telegram blamed its noncompliance to lost emails.
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After being beaten to the punch a few times by Sony, trusty Dealabs user billbil-kun has managed to leak PS Plus Essential May 2023 games line-up. It’s another good month for Essential subscribers, with GRID: Legends, Chivalry 2, and Descenders.
PS Plus Essential May 2023 games will go live on Tuesday, May 4th
If billbil-kun’s leak is correct (and we have no reason to believe it won’t be, considering their excellent track record), all of the aforementioned games will be yours to keep starting Tuesday, May 4th, as long as you have an active PS Plus subscription.
Released last year, GRID: Legends needs no introduction. We nominated it for PlayStation LifeStyle’s Sports/Racing Game of the Year award in 2022 because of the variety of its tracks, vehicle options, and the fact that it caters to all types of racing fans.
Chivalry 2 is another excellent addition to the line-up. The multiplayer hack-and-slash action video game can be played in both first-person and third-person, and offers players some medieval melee fun.
Last but not least, Descenders is a cycling video game that originally released in 2019 to favorable reviews. It’s a fun romp for those into extreme sports games, which remain a niche genre.
PS Store ‘May Savings’ sale is rolling out worldwide today, offering discounts of up to 75 percent on select titles including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS4 and PS5). Elsewhere, Need for Speed: Unbound Deluxe Edition’s price has been slashed by 50 percent, and WWE 2K23 Standard Cross-Gen Edition has been discounted by 25 percent.
Full list of games included in PS Store May Savings sale
Log into your local PS Store page for regional prices. The sale will end on May 10th. Full list of games included in the promotion is as follows:
23,000 Source Crystals
8-Bit Armies
8-Bit Hordes
8-Bit Invaders!
A Fisherman’s Tale
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Abe’s Exoddus (PS1 Emulation)
Abe’s Oddysee (PS1 Emulation)
Absolver
Action Henk
Adam’s Venture: Origins – Adam Venture Avatar
Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion
After the Fall
AKIBA’S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed
AKIBA’S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed – Digital Deluxe Edition
All Legends Pack
American Fugitive
Aragami 2
Arcade Paradise
Arizona Sunshine
Asdivine Hearts
Asdivine Hearts II
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – Complete Edition
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla PS4 & PS5
Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla – Season Pass
Assault Gunners HD Edition
Assault Gunners HD Edition – Complete Set
Assetto Corsa
Attractio
Aven Colony Deluxe Edition
BALAN WONDERWORLD PS4 & PS5
Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Editions
Bassmaster Fishing: Deluxe Edition
Batman: Arkham VR
Batman: Return to Arkham
Batora: Lost Haven
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline Ultimate Edition
Battlefield V
Bee Simulator
Beyond: Two Souls
Big Buck Hunter Arcade
Big Crown: Showdown
Biomutant
BioShock 2 Remastered
BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition
BioShock Remastered
Blacktail
Blade Runner Enhanced Edition
Blair Witch
Blair Witch Deluxe Edition
Blair Witch VR Deluxe Edition
Blaze and the Monster Machines: Axle City Racers
Blood Bowl 3
Borderlands 2 VR
Borderlands Legendary Collection
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
Brawlhalla – Collector’s Pack
Brewmaster – Beer Brewing Simulator
Bright Memory: Infinite （本編）
Broforce
Bus Simulator 21
Bus Simulator 21 – Extended Edition
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – Gold Edition
Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies Chronicles Edition
Call of Duty: Ghosts – Gold Edition
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered
Call of Duty: WWII – Gold Edition
Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War – Cross-Gen Bundle PS4 & PS5
Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War – Standard Edition
Call of The Sea
Canis Canem Edit
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium Bundle
Capcom Arcade Stadium Pack 1: Dawn of the Arcade (’84 – ’88)
In what came as a shock to many this morning, U.K. regulator Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced its decision to block the Microsoft Activision deal. This news is particularly surprising because the CMA appeared to favor Microsoft in its provisional findings, and a number of high profile publications claimed to have heard that the authority will approve the merger.
Microsoft Activision deal blocked over cloud concerns, not Call of Duty exclusivity
Both Microsoft and Activision released statements expressing disappointment over the decision. The companies have announced that they’ve already begun working together to appeal CMA’s ruling. However, experts say that having a decision made by the CMA overturned is no easy feat.
It’s pertinent to mention that the CMA didn’t block the deal over Sony’s Call of Duty exclusivity concerns or concerns over competition in the console space. The authority has concluded that console business would not have been harmed by the merger. It is competition in the cloud gaming arena that CMA is concerned about. Additionally, it finds Microsoft’s proposed remedies inadequate.
“Cloud gaming needs a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice,” CMA said. “That is best achieved by allowing the current competitive dynamics in cloud gaming to continue to do their job.”
You won't necessarily have to hail one of Cruise's robotaxis at night in San Francisco. Company chief Kyle Vogt has revealed that Cruise now has permission to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week across all of San Francisco. Only employees will have access to the whole region for those hours. However, Cruise is also opening daytime rides to public "power users" for the first time. While you'll only have access to a limited portion of the city at first (mainly Pacific Heights, Richmond and Sunset), it's now just a question of where you are, not when you're going.
Staff have already been riding during the daytime for months. San Francisco officials have resisted expanding access to robotaxis from Cruise and Alphabet's Waymo over concerns the companies are moving too quickly. There have been incidents where the driverless cars blocked traffic, including emergency vehicles. The city's Transportation Authority has instead pushed for limited rollouts with gradual expansions.
Well folks, we did it. I have been waiting for this day for almost 10 years.
I am proud to announce @Cruise is now running 24/7 across all of San Francisco!
There's no timeline for wider deployments elsewhere, but Vogt promises that operations will "soon" grow in other cities. Successful use in San Francisco is a "litmus test" for robotaxis in other cities, the executive claims. The city's challenging terrain, unusual roads and wet weather are daunting for self-driving car sensors.
The wider access could help the GM-owned brand claim an edge over Waymo. Cruise was the first to start charging for self-driving rides in San Francisco. Now, it can tout non-stop service for some passengers. Waymo still has an advantage in areas like Phoenix, where it has charged for public rides for a while, but it clearly has a more difficult fight ahead.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/fmVpu9L
from Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/fmVpu9L
Spotify has released its earnings report for the first quarter of 2023 and the headline figure is the number of users the company has. As of March 31st, 515 million people were using the audio streaming service. That's the first time Spotify has had more than half a billion users. Q1 was also Spotify's second-biggest quarter for user growth to date — its audience increased by five percent from the previous quarter and 22 percent year over year. The user base grew by 26 million, which is 15 million more than Spotify had expected. The company said it saw growth in both developed and developing markets, as well as almost every age group.
Most of that growth is based on folks who use the free, ad-supported version of the Spotify service. Premium subscriptions didn't keep pace with the overall growth, as they rose by two percent from the previous quarter and 15 percent year over year from 205 million to 210 million. Still, premium subscribers grew by 3 million more than Spotify had indicated in its guidance to investors.
Overall, Spotify posted a net operating loss of €156 million ($172 million) for the quarter. That's far more than the €6 million ($6.6 million) loss it saw in the first quarter of 2022, though it's an improvement over the €270 million ($297 million) Spotify lost the previous quarter.
While overall revenue was up by 14 percent year over year from €2.66 billion ($2.93 billion) to €3.04 billion ($3.34 billion), it dipped by four percent from the previous quarter. Revenue from paid subscribers didn't change significantly from Q4 2022, but it dropped by 27 percent on the ad-supported side from €449 million ($494 million) to €329 million ($362 million) — though revenue from free users rose by 17 percent year over year. The quarter-to-quarter drop is perhaps a result of advertisers tightening their belts somewhat, leading to lower ad spend.
Advertisers aren't the only businesses trying to rein in costs. Spotify, like many other major tech companies in recent months, has laid off a sizable proportion of its staff. In January, the company laid off six percent of workers, which equates to around 600 people based on the 9,800 that Spotify employed as of the end of 2022.
Additionally, Spotify seems to be placing a bigger focus on the core parts of its business. It recently announced plans to shut down both its live audio app, Spotify Live, and Heardle, the Wordle-style song-guessing game it bought last summer.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/UjQW48p
from Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/UjQW48p
Yesterday, Kotakureported that Magic: The Gathering maker Wizards of the Coast had sent Pinkerton detectives after a YouTuber after he had erroneously purchased an upcoming booster box for the collectible card game ahead of its release date. Today, the streamer revealed more details about exactly what these…
Santa Monica Studio has rolled out God of War Ragnarok update 4.02, which brings a number of fixes for issues introduced by New Game+ patch. One of the known issues involving PS4 to PS5 saves has not been fixed in this patch. However, Santa Monica Studio has provided a temporary workaround for it. Get all the details below.
God of War Ragnarok update 4.02 (April 24, 2023) patch notes and details
Audio
Fixed a case where music from the final quest would play whenever loading in from the main menu or restarting checkpoint in Midgard during post-game in New Game+.
Fixed a case where dialogue lines were skipped after a cinematic when acquiring the Mysterious Orb quest in New Game+.
Combat
Fixed a rare case where the application would crash when browsing the Sparring Arena menu and selecting ‘Ingrid’ as the companion.
Fixed a case where Kratos could branch into weapon move-sets while in the Fury Rage mode.
Fixed a rare case where Gná could trigger her Stomp too soon after Wing Shard, which would cause unavoidable player death on Give Me God of War difficulty.
Fixed a case where restarting from checkpoint before the cinematic leading into the Björn boss fight would cause Kratos’ Rage Meter to disappear and not allow the player to change which Rage they had equipped.
Equipment
Fixed a case where Kratos’ shield would visually disappear if the player upgraded the currently equipped shield to level 9.1 (or above), but did not equip the upgraded version via the prompt.
Fixed a case where base game resources would not be available to buy/sell at the shop after updating to Patch 04.00.
Fixed a case where the Pommels of the True Flame disappeared from Blades of Chaos weapon menu when upgrading them from level 8 to level 9.
Fixed a case where the player would not receive a Gilded Coin when upgrading a shield to level 9.1.
Gilded Coins not received due to this bug will be retroactively granted via the Lost Items Chest.
Fixed a case where the player would not receive a Gilded Coin when upgrading Leviathan Axe, Blades of Chaos, or Draupnir Spear to level 9.1 unless their equipped attachment was upgraded beforehand.
Gilded Coins not received due to this bug will be retroactively granted via the Lost Items Chest.
Fixed a case where the amount of the crafting resource Divine Ashes in-shop was inconsistent with the amount needed in-game to upgrade armor.
Fixed a case where the sled loot would drop a New Game+ resource during base game progression after updating to Patch 04.00.
Fixed a case where the Digital Deluxe Edition gear Darkdale Waist Guard or Risen Snow Armor could not be updated past level 9 during New Game+ progression.
Fixed a case where the recipe for Soldier’s Sauroter was missing from the shop in New Game+, preventing player from upgrading the component.
Fixed a case where there were missing weapon components from the shop/Lost Items Chest, but were shown as available.
Fixed a case where multiple enchantments would not be rewarded during Favors, Treasure, or Crucible Chests.
Enchantments not received due to this bug will be retroactively granted via the Lost Items Chest.
World
Fixed a case where Gná’s Camp would become available after player completing Muspelheim Challenges, which cased the player to become stuck.
UI/UX
Fixed a case where weapon appearance would not be able to be changed for a 9.1 weapon until player upgrades to the 9.2 and above variants
Fixed an issue of missing line within credits.
Trophies
Fixed an issue where the “Spit Shine” trophy was not earned when the player upgraded a New Game+ armor piece to level 9.
PS4-Only
Fixed an issue where an environment would take a moment to load-in after the player skipped a cinematic after sprinting to a door.
Fixed a case where two characters would not appear in their intended spots after skipping the cinematic and quickly progressing on the path.
Fixed an issue where Hardrefill the Callous would not spawn in the Berserker Soul arena and player would remain stuck inside.
Known Issue
Loading a manual save created on PS5 from an imported PS4 New Game+ save will boot the player to the main menu.
WORKAROUND: When you are importing PS4 New Game+ save data to a PS5, keep playing after the initial load-in until you have created a new Autosave. Once that has occurred, you can create new Manual Saves that will not be affected by the above issue. Please note that this Manual Save must be in a new slot and not overwriting your old save data. If you overwrite your old save data, that file may still experience the issue.
& PS5