National Drive Electric Week wants to spread the gospel of EVs

National Drive Electric Week is right around the corner. Plug In America, the Electric Vehicle Association, environmental organization Sierra Club and Nissan (one of the main sponsors) are all backing the initiative, which aims to highlight the benefits of having an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid. Between September 23rd and October 2nd, EV owners will show off their rides and chat to folks curious about making the switch at events across the US (some are taking place in Canada and Mexico as well). Many dealers are taking part too. 

The website has a list of dozens of events. You can see which ones are happening in your neck of the woods by punching in your zip code or city. Alternatively, you can see all the events on a map view. With many jurisdictions phasing out sales of new gas-powered cars in the coming years, it may not be a bad idea to have more clarity on EVs and what it’s like to own one sooner rather than later.

Uber finds ‘no evidence’ that sensitive user data was stolen in hack

The intruder who claims to have hacked Uber might not have done much damage. The ridesharing firm has determined that there’s “no evidence” the perpetrator accessed sensitive user data, such as trip histories. All services are functioning properly, and the company has restored the use of internal software it took down upon discovering the breach.

Uber didn’t say more about the reported culprit or the nature of the incident. Bleeping Computer says it has seen screenshots from the hacker that purport to show Uber’s IT resources, including its Amazon Web Services console, Google Workspace dashboard and virtual machines. The perpetrator also gained access to Uber’s bug bounty program, suggesting they might be aware of security holes the company hasn’t necessarily fixed.

Account info appears to be safe. However, there are concerns the attacker might have access to source code, or could sell the bounty data to other hackers who might use vulnerabilities for their own campaigns. There may be fallout in the days ahead, even if Uber passengers don’t have any immediate reasons to worry.

Sony says ‘PS VR games are not compatible with PS VR2’

With PS VR2 set to arrive early next year, Sony is starting to accelerate the hype train for its next-gen virtual reality headset. The hardware made its public debut at the Tokyo Game Show this week (early impressions are largelypositive) and the company revealed some more titles that are coming to the platform during Tuesday’s State of Play. Some other important information just emerged, albeit on the negative side: PS VR games will not work on PS VR2.

“PS VR games are not compatible with PS VR2 because PS VR2 is designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience,” PlayStation senior vice-president of platform experience Hideaki Nishino said on the latest episode of the Official PlayStation Podcast (as spotted by Nibellion). “PS VR2 has much more advanced features, like [an] all-new controller with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, inside-out tracking, eye tracking, 3D audio is coming together and 4K HDR, of course. This means developing games for PS VR2 requires a whole different approach than the original PS VR.”

Some games that do work on PS VR have been confirmed for PS VR2 (such as No Man’s Sky), but this is still disappointing news. It means players will not be able to access PS VR games from the new headset, so if they want to be able to dip back into older games from time to time, they’ll need to keep the old hardware around. 

It seems that newcomers to PlayStation VR will also not be able to check out games they might have heard good things about, such as Astro Bot Rescue Mission or Moss, unless the developers port their games to PS VR2. A more limited library of games may make the new headset a less appealing purchase.

The decision could have something to do with the fact that the PS VR2 uses different tracking methods. The controllers are completely different. PS VR uses the PlayStation Camera and light-based tracking, while Sony tracks the position of the new Sense controllers using infrared LED. Still, those hoping to bring (almost) their entire PS4-era collection of PlayStation games over to the current generation when PS VR2 arrives may feel discouraged.

Intel drops the Celeron and Pentium names for its low-end laptop CPUs (updated)

Intel has used the Celeron and Pentium brands for CPUs since the 1990s, but they’re finally fading away — if not quite in the way you’d expect. The company is replacing both brand names for low-end laptop chips in favor of the simpler (if not exactly creative) “Intel Processor” badge starting in 2023. The move will help “simplify” the lineup, Intel VP Josh Newman said.

The Core, Evo and vPro labels will stick around. Intel didn’t say how it will handle branding for desktop processors, which still include Celeron and Pentium models released this year. We’ve asked the company for comment and will let you know if we hear back.

The decision isn’t shocking. Both the Celeron and Pentium names have been synonymous with low-end processors for years, and the practical differences for users have been modest at best. This clarifies what you’re getting. If you don’t see “Core,” it’s a basic model. And let’s be honest — people shopping for entry-level laptops aren’t hunting for specific branding like their enthusiast counterparts. Here, pricing and base functionality are more important.

Update 9/16 3:42PM ET: Intel tells Engadget it has “no new” desktop CPUs due in this category for the first quarter of 2023, but that it can’t comment on any other plans at the moment.

‘Hollow Knight: Silksong’ will come to the PS4 and PS5, eventually

Hollow Knight fans who tend to only play games on PlayStation can breathe a sigh of relief. The long-awaited sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, will be coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. The game had already been confirmed for Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC, Mac and Linux. Silksong is also coming to Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming on its release day.

Only trouble is, we still don’t know exactly when that will be. Xbox indicated during its June showcase that Silksong would be out in the following year, so the release date will likely be sometime in the next nine months. Here’s hoping developer and publisher Team Cherry reveals that date very soon.

Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad drops to $280, plus the rest of the week’s best tech deals

A number of our favorite gadgets dropped in price this week across the web. Apple’s base iPad remains on sale for the best price we’ve seen it — only $280. Many GPS + Cellular models of the Apple Watch Series 7 are on sale, some for as low as $379. Con…

A ‘Genshin Impact’ anime is on the way

Genshin Impact is one of the biggest gaming success stories of the last few years. Fans will have another way to enjoy the world of Teyvat at some point, as developer miHoYo has teamed up with animation studio Ufotable to create an anime based on the free-to-play action RPG.

Ufotable has worked on several other game-related projects. God Eater and Tales of Zestiria the X are both based on Bandai Namco properties, for instance. A concept trailer (which was spotted by IGN) offers a peek at the art style Ufotable will employ this time around. As you might expect, the studio doesn’t seem to veer too far away from the look of the game.

If anything, it’s a little surprising that it took this long for an official Genshin Impact anime announcement. The developers took inspiration from anime in the first place and the game has long seemed primed for an adaptation.

Several other notable games have been turned into animated series in recent years. Cyberpunk 2077 spinoff Cyberpunk: Edgerunners hit Netflix just this week, while Arcane (which is based on League of Legends), became the first animated streaming series to win an Emmy earlier this month.

It’s not clear when or where fans will be able to watch the Genshin Impact anime. However, given that the trailer is only showing off the concept and it refers to the Ufotable collaboration as a long-term project, it might be quite a while before the first season debuts.

The Genshin Impact anime reveal came as miHoYo offered a look at version 3.1 of the game, which will arrive on September 28th. The update will expand the new region of Sumeru and help to continue the game’s core story. It will introduce King Deshret’s Mausoleum, dungeons, new Archon Quests, more weapons, three playable characters, two fresh bosses and more. Meanwhile, miHoYo will add a permanent card game mode in version 3.3.