Technology

You’ve always wanted your very own Ghostbusters Proton Pack. Your options have been: find a cheap toy, 3D print, sand and paint your own, pay for someone to do it for you, start with a premade kit, or painstakingly build something even more intricate from scratch. Here’s a sixth way that might be the easiest and most cost-effective yet: pay Hasbro $400 for this incredible-looking thing: The pack at an angle, covered in lovely shiny bits.Hasbro Tactical shoulder and belt straps plus what looks like a lumbar pad. Hasbro says the Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Proton Pack is based on 3D scans of the actual movie prop from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and it’s complete with lights, sounds (from both 1984 and 2021), a cyclotron you can open up and dismantle, a full set of straps so you can w...

After what seems like an eternity of leaks, teases, and two reveals, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are finally on sale. But Google seems to be running very low on inventory, as the company now offers waitlists so you can be notified of when the phone will be available again. Right at the top of the Pixel 6 Pro page on the Google Store, there’s a now banner advertising the waitlist. “Due to high demand, some Pixel 6 Pro models may be out of stock or have long delivery times,” the company says. “Get notified when they’re back in stock, or check out other authorized retailers who may have them available.” The banner includes buttons to join the waitlist and see other retailers where you can try to get the phone instead. After clicking the buy button on the Pixel 6 Pro page, I was also able to join wa...

Facebook (which is now called Meta) knows a lot of virtual reality headset owners hate logging in with Facebook. Requiring Facebook logins created bad blood almost immediately and even accidentally locked some people out of their Quest VR hardware in late 2020. And at today’s Connect keynote, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted the restriction might be ending. But his comments raised more questions than they answered, and we still don’t know exactly what they mean. Zuckerberg mentioned the changes while talking about work applications for VR. Here’s what he said: “As we’ve focused more on work, and frankly as we’ve heard your feedback more broadly, we’re working on making it so you can log into Quest with an account other than your personal Facebook account. We’re starting to test support for ...

Teenage Engineering, a design company that dabbles in everything from synthesizers to helping build the Playdate gaming handheld, has made its first computer case. It’s called Computer-1. It’s a bold orange case that’s made for mini-ITX-sized motherboards, which are reserved for small form factor builds. Like most of the company’s products, it’s not exactly affordable at $195. But that might not be an obstacle if you’re a sucker for a case that’s dripping in color and unique style. The Computer-1 case is made with powder-coated aluminum and has chrome handles, which makes it look a bit like Apple’s most recent Mac Pro desktop chassis. Though, unlike that computer, this case comes unassembled. It arrives in a flat pack, like most Ikea products. Not only will you have to build your computer,...

For the first time in 17 years, Mark Zuckerberg has a new job title. On Thursday, he officially became the CEO and chairman of Meta, the new parent company name for Facebook. The rebrand is about solidifying the social media giant as being about the metaverse, which Zuckerberg sees as the future of the internet. Zuckerberg is staying in control of everything. He told me in an interview that, unlike the founders of Google who stepped aside in 2015 when it became part of a holding company called Alphabet, he has no plans to give up the top job. “I think we’re basically moving from being Facebook first as a company to being metaverse first.” Instead, the change is about recognizing a shift inside the company that’s already taken place. Zuckerberg has been pouring billions of dollars — at leas...

Twitter regularly tests new features ahead of their official rollout, but the company is creating a new way for some people to check out new features before everyone else. On Wednesday, Twitter announced that subscribers to its paid Twitter Blue service will get early access to some new features under a new Labs banner. If you’re familiar with YouTube’s Labs features for Premium subscribers, it sounds like a similar model. Features in Twitter’s program include pinned conversations on iOS, which lets you pin DM conversations to the top of the list, and the ability to post longer video uploads from a desktop computer. You can read more about Labs in a thread from the Twitter Blue account. Like being ahead of the curve? Today, we’re rolling out Labs , giving you *early access* to some new fea...

After months of negotiations, President Joe Biden released the latest version of his Build Back Better framework on Thursday, advancing the landmark proposal into what will likely be its final phase before approval. The plan’s original $3.5 trillion budget resolution now sits at $1.75 trillion, unveiling scaled-back initiatives to tackle climate change and other social services. In its latest budget proposal, the White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same, sitting at $550 billion. What’s changed the most is how those funds will be used: focusing on manufacturing, electric power, and transportation. The White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same, sitting at $550 billion. The new framework includes $320 bil...

One of the core promises of the Nintendo Switch — the ability to easily play multiplayer games on the go — has long been undone by a flimsy piece of plastic. While the original Switch model technically made it possible to whip out the tablet for some impromptu Mario Kart, the terrible kickstand made this impractical at best and dangerous (for your Switch’s screen) at worst. The latest iteration of the hardware finally fixes that — along with the showcase feature, a much-improved OLED screen — and makes the dream of spontaneous Mario Party tournaments a reality, at last. This week Nintendo is releasing Mario Party Superstars, a sort of greatest hits collection for the digital board game series. It includes boards from the early Nintendo 64 games, alongside more than 100 mini-games pulled fr...

The scare is over and the fun can begin. That’s how I tend to think of creative endeavors involving artificial intelligence these days. We’ve moved past, I think, hyperbolic claims about AI making human art redundant and can now enjoy all the possibilities this technology affords. In that light, Shadow Planet — a new album made as a three-way collaboration between two humans and AI — shows exactly what sort fun can be had. Shadow Planet is the creation of writer Robin Sloan, musician Jesse Solomon Clark, and Jukebox, a machine learning music program made by OpenAI. After an off-the-cuff Instagram conversation between Sloan and Clark about starting a band (named The Cotton Modules), the two began exchanging tapes of music. A seasoned composer, Clark sent seeds of songs to Sloan who fed them...

Comcast’s X1 platform has slowly added apps to its library over the years, and this morning on the company’s earnings call, CEO Brian Roberts announced that the Apple TV app would join the roster soon, while Comcast’s Xfinity Stream app will launch on Apple TV devices. Comcast’s tech platform, which already has apps for Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and Disney+ in the US, isn’t just on its cable boxes anymore. It underpins the Xfinity Flex streaming platform, the XiOne streaming set-top box, and new XClass 4K TVs that recently launched from Hisense. XClass 4K TVImage: Comcast Two models of the TV are available, in 43- and 50-inch sizes, for $298 and $348, respectively. Like other smart TVs in their price range — and other devices on Comcast’s platform — they have streaming apps, Dolby Vision H...