Sackboy: A Big Adventure has joined the rapidly expanding list of PlayStation games that Sony is bringing to PC. The PS5 launch title (which is also available on PS4) will pop up on Steam and the Epic Games Store on October 27th.
Sony says the PC version will support 4K resolution, have a targeted framerate of 120 FPS and offer variable refresh rates. You’ll be able to explore Craftworld in an ultra-wide format as there’s support for a range of screen ratios, including 21:9. Those with recent NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs should get a performance boost as well via DLSS2. There’s also haptic feedback and dynamic trigger support if you use a DualSense controller. Alternatively, you can play with a mouse and keyboard.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure won’t require an ultra powerful gaming rig. You will need at least an Intel Core i5-6400 or AMD FX-6300 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R7 265 GPU, 8GB of RAM and 60GB of storage.
It’s shaping up to be a busy fall for PlayStation on the PC gaming front. The Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection will hit Steam and the Epic Games Store on October 19th. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is also slated to land on PC by the end of the year.
When Amazon introduced its Fire TV Omni line last year, it mostly offered affordable sets oriented toward budget-conscious consumers. At its fall hardware event today, the company announced two new models with QLED panels. Priced at $800 and $1,100 for 65- and 75-inch 4K models, the Omni QLED TVs feature “up to” 96 local dimming zones, support for Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10 Plus Adaptive. Those are features that should significantly improve the picture quality the new sets can offer over their predecessors.
New presence and ambient light sensors also allow the Omni QLED TVs to offer a feature Amazon is calling “Ambient Experience.” Taking a page from Samsung’s Frame TVs, the Omni QLED TVs can display artwork when you’re not watching a TV show or movie. At any time, you can ask Alexa to tell you more about the piece or the artist who created it. The Ambient Experience automatically turns on when you enter the room and off again when you leave.
If you want something more practical, the TVs can also display Alexa widgets with information on the news, weather and more. You can disable the built-in far-field microphones at any point if you don’t want Alexa listening, and it’s even possible to use the TV to play music without keeping the display on. Preorders for the Fire TV Omni QLED series open today, with orders shipping October 27th.
Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!
BMW began incorporating smart voice features into its infotainment systems using Amazon’s Alexa in 2018. In the intervening years, the number of models sporting the digital assistant have only increased. At Amazon’s 2022 Devices & Services Event on Wednesday, the two companies announced a deepening of their partnership: BMW’s next-generation of infotainment systems will feature an Alexa-based assistant specifically developed with the driver in mind.
The as-of-yet unnamed BMW assistant will be constructed from an Alexa Custom Assistant, “a comprehensive solution that makes it easy for BMW and other brands and device makers to create their own custom intelligent assistant tailored to their brand personality and customer needs.” Those capabilities might include a proactive notification from the vehicle’s assistant alerting the driver that the battery charge is low while automatically reserving a charging slot at the next off-ramp or preemptively scheduling regular service with the local dealership, and “will enable an even more natural dialogue between driver and vehicle,” per a Wednesday BMW press release.
Building off of its success convincing the public to outfit their homes and offices with various Alexa-enabled Echo devices, Amazon introduced the very first Echo Auto in 2018. More than a million pre-orders and four years later, the Echo Auto is getting an upgrade, Amazon announced Wednesday at its 2022 Device and Services event.
The new unit will be slimmer than its predecessor and will include a mounting plate that adheres more securely than the last version — so make sure you really like where it’s positioned before taking off the backing film. The unit still leverages five separate mics to pick up commands over road noise so you’ll still have a good amount of flexibility in where you can place it. Once installed, it does what every Alexa does: respond to voice commands. It handles the standard fare of playing music — including a “follow me” function that allows you to switch audio from your home stereo to the vehicle as you get in — as well as navigation and hands-free calls.
“Ambient technology is at its best in environments where people are focused on other tasks, and nowhere is that more important than in the car,” Heather Zorn, Amazon’s vice president for Alexa said during the event. “Voice can minimize distractions and help you keep your eyes on the road so you can focus on the fun of driving.”
What’s more, with help from Amazon’s cloud the $55 Echo Auto will also be able to alert the driver when their pre-ordered Whole Foods grocery order is ready for pickup will also summon a tow truck if you run out of gas. Simply say, “Alexa, call Roadside Assistance.”
You’ll soon have an alternative if the Monster Hunter games are feeling a bit stale. EA and Dynasty Warriors creator Omega Force have introducedWild Hearts, a feudal Japan-inspired twist on the beast slaying formula. You (and your friends, in co-op) take on giant creatures using not just the usual bows and swords, but gadgets you build on the spot. You can craft giant mines that explode when a monster draws near, or harpoons that hold these enemies in place.
Omega Force isn’t a stranger to the concept. It developed the monster-slaying Toukiden franchise in the 2010s. In that sense, the team is mainly refining an experience it has been developing for years.
Wild Hearts will arrive on February 17th, 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC (via Epic Games Store, Origin and Steam). You’ll learn more about the gameplay in an “extended” debut on October 5th. It’s too soon to say if the game will be derivative or a fresh take, but it could serve as a welcome fix for Monster Hunter fans who’ve exhausted the most recent titles and are looking for more.
Netflix has launched the ability to create public handles for its games, laying the foundation for additional features that would make the service more social. People can use this public username across all its titles, allowing them to find friends (or to meet new ones) to play with in multiplayer games like Rival Pirates without having to reveal their Netflix name and profile icon. It’s also what’s going to be displayed on leaderboards for single-player games, such as Dominoes Café and the platformer Lucky Luna.
As TechCrunch had previously reported, there are codes in the app suggesting that the company is also working on ways that would allow users to invite each other to play games and to show other people that they’re online. Netflix didn’t confirm that those features were underway, but Mobile Games Product Manager Sophia Yang said in the company’s announcement that the launch of game handles “is only the beginning in building a tailored game experience for our members around the world.” Yang added: “We’ll continue to adapt and evolve our service to meet the needs of our members…” Seeing as Netflix recently revealed that it’s going all in on games and is building its own studio in Helsinki, Finland, it wouldn’t come as a surprise for the company to roll out features that would make its service more interactive.
To set a public nickname, Android users can select the games tab in the navigation bar and navigate to “Create your Netflix game handle.” iOS users will first have to download Rival Pirates or Lucky Luna and then launch the game to get a prompt asking them to create a handle.
A few years ago, Samsung had major battery issues when several faulty Galaxy Note 7 phones had exploding batteries. The devices were recalled, and the company spent a lot of time over the following years outlining all the rigorous battery tests it did to ensure it didn’t happen again.
Now, YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss, as well as others, have noticed batteries in Samsung phones are swelling up at a disproportionately high rate. This usually affects older devices, but some are only a couple of years old – the 2020-era Galaxy Z Fold 2, for instance.
Samsung hasn’t formally responded yet, but battery swelling isn’t a new problem, nor one unique to Galaxy phones. As lithium batteries age, their increasingly flawed chemical reactions can produce gas that inflates battery cells. Many companies suggest you keep device batteries at a roughly 50 percent charge if you won’t use them for extended periods.
$1.5 billion is available to fund charging stations along highways.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law earmarked $5 billion in funding over five years to help states install chargers along highways, and that process just took an important step forward. The Department of Transportation has approved EV charging plans for all 50 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. The proposals cover 75,000 miles of highways.
The biggest change with iPadOS 16 may be Stage Manager, a totally new multitasking system that adds overlapping, resizable windows to the iPad. The latest iPadOS 16 developer beta can run Stage Manager on several older devices: It’ll work on the 11-inch iPad Pro (first generation and later) and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (third generation and later). However, there is one notable missing feature for the older iPad Pro models – Stage Manager will only work on the iPad’s built-in display. You won’t be able to extend your display to an external monitor.
Intel’s 13th-gen Core chips, AKA Raptor Lake, have landed. The company’s new top-end chip, the Core i9-13900K, sports 24 cores (eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores) and can reach up to a 5.8GHz Max Turbo frequency. Last year’s i9-12900K offered 16 cores and a maximum speed of 5.2 GHz. Intel claims the new 13900K is 41 percent better for multi-threaded work, like video encoding. If you skipped last year’s chips or are running even older Intel hardware, the 13th-gen CPUs look like the update you’ve been waiting for.
Set to debut on its upcoming flagship EX90 electric SUV, Volvo’s new radar system monitors both the cabin and trunk, to prevent a car from being locked while anyone is inside. The idea is to guard against situations where pets or children may be inadvertently trapped inside a car on a hot day, with the car surfacing reminders if it recognizes there are occupants inside when being locked. Volvo says the multiple radars in the trunk, in the car’s overhead console and in roof-mounted reading lamps can detect “sub-millimeter” movements.
Apple, of all companies, delivering the most competitively priced smartwatch you can buy in 2022? Apple’s starter smartwatch offers a comprehensive suite of health and fitness tracking tools, emergency features and snappy performance. As long as you’re not extremely clumsy or impatient, you won’t miss features like the hardier screen, dust resistance or the always-on display found on the more expensive models.
The chain is also piloting AI that tells kitchen staff what to cook.
Chipotle’s tortilla-making robot is moving to a real restaurant. In October, the machine will start cooking tortilla chips in Fountain Valley, California. Feedback from customers and workers will help the company decide on a national rollout. Artificial intelligence will influence some human cooks, too. Chipotle is piloting a demand-based cooking system that uses AI to tell staff what and when to cook based on forecasts for how much they’ll need.
With the X-H2S, Fujifilm has a new flagship camera. It features a new 26.2-megapixel stacked sensor that delivers shooting speeds up to 40 fps in electronic shutter mode. At the same time, it has the most advanced video features of any APS-C camera, with up to 6.2K video. It also offers in-body stabilization, a high-resolution EVF, CFexpress support and more. The main drawback: The autofocus still isn’t quite as fast as rival cameras.
Samsung may not have left its battery troubles completely in the past. YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss (aka Arun Rupesh Maini) and others have noticed that batteries in Samsung phones are swelling up at a disproportionately high rate. While this most often affects older devices where ballooning batteries are more likely, some of them are only a couple of years old — the 2020-era Galaxy Z Fold 2, for instance. It’s usually obvious (the phone back pops loose), but it can be subtle enough that you may not realize your battery is in a dangerous state.
Battery swelling isn’t a new problem, or unique to Samsung. As lithium batteries age, their increasingly flawed chemical reactions can produce gas that inflates battery cells and increases the risk of a fire. This author has had two non-Samsung phones meet their ends this way. It’s more likely to happen if you leave a battery without charging or discharging for a long time, and many companies (such as Apple) recommend that you keep batteries at a roughly 50 percent charge if you won’t use a device for extended periods.
The concern is that swelling appears to affect Samsung phones of the past few years more than other brands, and that the power packs are rated to last five years without hazards like this. Tech video creators are uniquely well-suited to track issues like this — Maini and people like him often store dozens or hundreds of phones in identical conditions, although they don’t necessarily keep the handsets at appropriate charge levels.
It’s not clear just how broad the problem is, or how systemic it might be. We’ve asked Samsung for comment and will let you know if we hear back. However, it’s safe to say the company would rather not deal with more battery woes. The Galaxy Note 7’s fire-prone battery led Samsung to conduct a massive recall that (temporarily) tarnished the firm’s reputation. With that said, the crisis also prompted a focus on battery safety and served as a warning sign to the phone industry. If nothing else, the swelling reports could educate users and manufacturers.
Chipotle’s tortilla-making robot will soon help out in a restaurant you can visit. The chain has unveiled a slew of technology updates that include moving the Miso Robotics-made Chippy robot to a real restaurant. The machine will start cooking tortilla chips in a Fountain Valley, California location in October. Feedback from customers and workers will help the company decide on a national rollout.
Artificial intelligence will influence some human cooks, too. Chipotle is piloting a demand-based cooking system that uses AI to tell staff what and when to cook based on forecasts for how much they’ll need. In theory, this lightens the load for employees while making sure there’s enough freshly-cooked tacos and burritos when you show up for dinner. The pilot is underway at eight Orange County, California restaurants.
There’s also an upgrade for tech you can use. An opt-in program in the Chipotle App lets you know when your order’s ready, reminds you to scan your rewards code and can even warn if you show up at the wrong pick-up location. The experiment is in progress at 73 restaurants in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Chippy and kitchen AI projects may be well-timed. While there are concerns that AI and robotics may automate people out of jobs at restaurants like Chipotle and McDonald’s, the deployments come as retail continues to struggle with staff shortages. This theoretically frees workers to concentrate on serving customers, rather than handling drudgery behind the scenes.
Four years after releasing the X-H1, Fujifilm has finally followed it up with not just one but two models. One of those is the highest-resolution APS-C camera to date, the 40-megapixel X-H2. The other is what we’re looking at today, the high-speed X-H2…
