‘Overwatch 2’ moderation tools include voice chat transcriptions and SMS verification

Overwatch 2 is set to go live and free-to-play on October 4th, and in preparation for the big day, Blizzard has outlined a suite of moderation tools aimed at curbing abusive and disruptive player behavior. The new system will require a phone number to be linked to every account, and will introduce audio transcriptions of reported voice chat interactions, among other changes. Blizzard is calling the initiative Defense Matrix, named after D.Va’s hologram shield ability.

The phone-linking system, SMS Protect, means every Overwatch 2 player will need to connect a phone number to their Battle.net account, and that number can’t be used to operate or create another account. This makes it easier to enforce suspensions and bans, and makes it harder for players to cheat the matchmaking system. SMS Protect isn’t a new idea in the world of competitive online gaming, and it’s a proven way to reduce smurfing — a practice where skilled players create new accounts and creep into lower-tier matches, whether to boost their friends, avoid a ban or simply troll.

Another notable feature of Defense Matrix is the addition of audio transcriptions for problematic voice chat recordings and automated review tools for the resulting text. The transcription process relies on players reporting abusive speech as it happens — but once someone is reported, this system collects a temporary recording of the match’s voice chat and transcribes it to text. That text is then analyzed by Blizzard’s existing AI-driven abuse-detection tools. 

When it comes to the longevity of the recordings and text files, Blizzard said the following: “Once the audio recording has been transcribed to text, it’s quickly deleted as the file’s sole purpose is to identify potentially disruptive behavior. The text file is then deleted no later than 30 days after the audio transcription.”

The studio said audio transcriptions will roll out in the weeks after launch. Additionally, the general chat feature won’t exist in Overwatch 2, leaving Twitch streamers one fewer outlet for their watch-me spam. Blizzard outlined the complete Defense Matrix strategy on the Overwatch blog, alongside checklists for existing and new players. October 2nd is the final full day to play the original Overwatch, and Overwatch 2 is scheduled to go live worldwide at 3pm ET on October 4th.

Nissan Ariya EV will start at $43,190

After years of hype, Nissan is finally close to releasing its first electric crossover. Autoblognotes the brand has confirmed the Ariya EV will reach US dealerships in late fall starting at $43,190 for the front-wheel drive Engage trim with a 63kWh battery. Only FWD configurations will ship at first, with some all-wheel drive editions waiting until early 2023. Customers who reserved the Venture+ model will still pay the quoted $45,950 price instead of the $47,190 for new buyers.

That starter Engage variant delivers an estimated 216 miles of range and 214HP. That’s modest, but you’ll also get a solid technology suite with driver and safety aids (such as hands-on ProPilot Assist), a heads-up display and a 12.3-inch infotainment system with Alexa, wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto. It’s clearly meant to lower the Ariya’s perceived price and upsell you to higher-end models, but it might do the trick if you’re mainly interested in an around-town people carrier.

You’ll have to pay considerably more to get Nissan’s previously touted performance figures. The Venture+ jumps to an 87kWh battery, 238HP and the peak 304 miles of range. All other front-wheel trims offer up to 289 miles of range. The $50,190 Evolve+ FWD offers perks like a power moonroof and an “around view” monitor, while the $53,690 Empower+ FWD includes hands-free ProPilot Assist 2.0 and automated parking.

All-wheel drive, as usual, boosts power and prices while decreasing range. The $47,190 Engage e-4orce tops out at just 205 miles of range, but delivers 335HP. The $51,190 Engage+ e-4orce extends that range to 270 miles while delivering 389HP and the extras of its FWD counterpart. The Evolve+ e-4orce costs $54,190, while those who insist on the best can buy the $60,190 Platinum+ with 265 miles of range, a hands-free liftgate and Nappa leather seating along with other models’ luxuries.

The Ariya may not be the most value-laden EV. There’s no mention of the destination fee, and the Japanese manufacturing rules out the updated $7,500 federal tax credit (state credits might still be valid). All the same, the machine may be worth considering if Ford’s Mustang Mach-E, the VW ID.4 and other electric crossovers don’t quite offer the blend of design or technology you’re looking for.

Intel’s mid-range Arc A770 GPU arrives October 12th for $329

Intel’s long-promised desktop GPUs are finally close to reaching gamers worldwide. As part of its flurry of announcements, Intel has confirmed the Arc A770 GPU will be available in a range of models on October 12th starting at $329. As the price suggests, this is aimed squarely at the GeForce RTX 3060, Radeon RX 6650 XT and other mid-tier video cards — Intel claims both “1440p gaming performance” and up to 65 percent stronger “peak” ray tracing performance than rivals, although it didn’t name specific hardware.

Like competitors, Intel is counting as much on AI as it is raw computing power. The Arc A770 supports Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) that, like NVIDIA’s DLSS or AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution, uses AI upscaling to boost frame rates at higher resolutions. It supports Intel’s dedicated and integrated GPUs, and should be available in over 20 games by the end of 2022.

Tom’s Hardwarenotes the Intel’s first mainstream desktop GPU, the Arc A380, was exclusive to China. This is the first chance many outside of that country will have to buy a discrete Intel graphics card.

Intel is delivering the A770 later than expected, having promised the GPU for this summer. Even so, the timing might be apt. NVIDIA is currently focusing its attention on the high-end with the RTX 40 series, while AMD hasn’t done much more than speed-bump the RX 6000 line. The A770 may stand out as a viable option for budget-conscious gamers, particularly when GPUs like the RTX 3060 still have higher official prices.

Universal Audio’s Spark plugin subscription is now available on PC

Earlier this year, Universal Audio launched a new subscription service called “Spark” that gave Mac users affordable access to several plugins. Now, the company has announced that Spark is finally available for Windows 10 and 11 PCs. Similar to the service for Mac, it doesn’t require any Universal Audio hardware or even the company’s Apollo or Volt audio interfaces to work. The plug-ins included with the subscription, while include compressors, reverbs and delays, as well as preamps and several instruments, will run natively on a Windows computer. 

At the moment, Spark subscribers get access to 17 plugins from UA, Neve, Moog, API, Lexicon and Teletronix, among others, and more is expected to be added over time. Members who already own the perpetual license of a plugin included with the service will get access to a corresponding native version for Spark without having to pay subscription fees. 

To note, the plugins included with Spark cost hundreds of dollars each, while a subscription costs $20 a month or $150 a year. It could be a great affordable option for those who don’t need more plugins than what the service offers. Those who want try it out can sign up for a 14-day free trial before committing to a subscription, while Volt audio interface owners can user it for free for a whole month. 

Department of Transportation approves EV charging plans for all 50 states

A critical element of the transition to electric vehicles is ensuring that the charging infrastructure is up to scratch. 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, as well as Washington DC and Puerto Rico. The proposals cover 75,000 miles of highways, as Reuters notes. 

As a result of the DOT rubberstamping the plans, the Biden administration has unlocked over $1.5 billion in funding for states’ EV charger projects. The funds will cover up to 80 percent of EV charger installation costs, with states and private entities covering the remainder. Earlier this month, the DOT said it approved plans from 35 states, but approvals were required for all of them before it could start offering the funding.

It’s not clear how many chargers the funding will support, but Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said earlier this year that states will need to meet certain standards. The states should be installing DC Fast Chargers, the DOT said, and stations will need at least four ports. EV chargers should also be available every 50 miles on interstate highways. They should be within a mile of highways too.

Private companies, such as Tesla and GM, are building out their own charging networks. But having public infrastructure at specific intervals on interstate highways is important too.

For what it’s worth, the rapid expansion of EV chargers with the help of public funding lies in sharp contrast with broadband deployment under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Last month, it emerged that the Commerce Department had been unable to allocate any portion of the $42.5 billion earmarked by the legislation for bolstering broadband infrastructure and narrowing the digital divide, since it didn’t have adequate maps from the Federal Communications Commission by that time.

YouTuber says Samsung may have a problem with swelling phone batteries

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.

The latest iPadOS 16 beta brings Stage Manager to older iPad Pro models

Probably the biggest change Apple announced with iPadOS 16 earlier this year is Stage Manager, a totally new multitasking system that adds overlapping, resizable windows to the iPad. That feature also works on an external display, the first time that iPads could do anything besides mirror their screen on a monitor. Unfortunately, the feature was limited to iPads with the M1 chip — that includes the 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pro released in May of 2021 as well as the M1-powered iPad Air which Apple released earlier this year. All other older iPads were left out.

That changes with the latest iPadOS 16 developer beta, which was just released. Now, Apple is making Stage Manager work with a number of 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). Specifically, it’ll be available on the 2018 and 2020 models that use the A12X and A12Z chips rather than just the M1. However, there is one notable missing feature for the older iPad Pro models — Stage Manager will only work on the iPad’s build-in display. You won’t be able to extend your display to an external monitor.

Apple also says that developer beta 5 of iPadOS 16. is removing external display support for Stage Manager on M1 iPads, something that has been present since the first iPadOS 16 beta was released a few months ago. It’ll be re-introduced in a software update coming later this year. Given that some of the iPad community has been pretty vocal about issues with Stage Manager, particularly when using it with an external display, it makes sense that Apple is taking some extra time to keep working on it. 

Obviously, we’ll need to try Stage Manager on an older iPad Pro before we can say how well it works, but the A12X and A12Z chips are still plenty powerful, so the experience should hopefully not be any different than on an M1 iPad. It’s a bummer that external monitor support isn’t included, but this should still be welcome news to people who bought Apple’s most expensive iPads in the last few years.

Apple provided Engadget with the following statement about this update:

We introduced Stage Manager as a whole new way to multitask with overlapping, resizable windows on both the iPad display and a separate external display, with the ability to run up to eight live apps on screen at once. Delivering this multi-display support is only possible with the full power of M1-based iPads. Customers with iPad Pro 3rd and 4th generation have expressed strong interest in being able to experience Stage Manager on their iPads. In response, our teams have worked hard to find a way to deliver a single-screen version for these systems, with support for up to four live apps on the iPad screen at once.

External display support for Stage Manager on M1 iPads will be available in a software update later this year.

Google Play Store finally makes it easier to find Android TV and Wear OS apps

The Google Play Store is notorious for making it difficult to find apps optimized for non-phone devices —you’ve often had to guess and hope for the best. Now, however, it just involves a couple of taps. Google says it recently added Play Store home pages to its Android app with recommendations for Android Automotive, Android TV and Wear OS apps. Visit “other devices” and you can find a health tracker for your Galaxy Watch 5, or a video service for your Chromecast.

New search filters also limit results to those that support non-phone hardware. If you find something you like, you can remotely install it from your handset. Google also noted that it previously revised the Play Store website to improve navigation and features like remote installs.

Google Play Store filters for non-phone devices
Google

The move follows efforts to accommodate tablet users, and could be helpful if you can’t (or just don’t want to) search for apps on the device where you’ll use them. That’s particularly helpful for Wear OS users who might have to browse apps on a tiny screen. You might find more apps for your devices and (as Google no doubt hopes) increase your chances of sticking to the Android ecosystem.

It’s also difficult to ignore the timing. Google is formally debuting the Pixel Watch at its New York City event on October 6th, and just revamped the 1080p Chromecast. The improved app discovery could help sell these products to customers wondering if their favorite app is available. Not that you’ll likely mind if you prefer third-party gear — this might boost Android as a whole.