Technology

Nintendo and Illumination’s upcoming Mario movie just got a big update during today’s Nintendo Direct presentation: it’ll hit theaters on December 21st, 2022, with Chris Pratt set to voice Mario. The upcoming film will also feature a ridiculously star-studded cast of voice actors, including Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong. Charles Martinet, who’s voiced Mario in Nintendo’s games for over three decades, will also appear in the film for “surprise cameos.” Also set to appear in the film are Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike. Originally announced back in 2018, there’s been little news on the upcoming Mario film until today, beyo...

Ever since Game of Thrones, every network seems to want something similar: an expensive genre epic that they can point to as our big thing. This is especially true in the world of streaming. Netflix has The Witcher, Amazon is spending an unseemly amount on Lord of the Rings, and Apple has Foundation, a sci-fi series based on the classic Isaac Asimov novels that kicks off with two episodes on September 24th. (New episodes will debut weekly on Apple TV Plus after that.) In many ways, Foundation fits that tentpole epic formula quite well. It’s a story about the downfall of a galactic empire, with lots of political intrigue to follow. It’s also a lavish production, with incredible special effects and gorgeous production design. You can tell it’s expensive in every frame. Apple clearly has big ...

Update 8:55PM ET, September 23rd: Walmart is going to try again at 9PM ET, good luck! If you don’t get through at first, then try again. Walmart usually restocks in waves every ten minutes or so until systems are sold out. Update 12:25PM ET, September 23rd: Walmart’s console restock didn’t get off to a good start. Pages weren’t loading for most people, it seems, and the retailer updated its site with a header saying “Console event to be rescheduled”. We’ll update this post again once we know when the event will happen. Walmart is hosting a big console restock event today, September 23rd, at 12PM ET / 9AM PT. It’s going to have the PS5 consoles, along with the standard Xbox Series X and the limited edition Halo Infinite-themed Series X. In case you’re after that Halo-themed console, try you...

DJI may be about to upend the world of aerial photography yet again — by introducing a drone with drastically improved battery life and two cameras instead of one. DroneDJ and leaker Jasper Ellens are both independently reporting that the Mavic 3 Pro is real, coming this November, and it sounds like it’ll have some significant improvements over the three-year-old Mavic 2 Pro and even the Mavic Air 2S introduced earlier this year. While DJI’s standard-sized drones have typically topped out at just half an hour in the air before requiring a battery swap or recharge, DroneDJ’s source says we’re now looking at up to 46 minutes of flight time. And that’s despite the additional hardware on board: an entire second camera (with its own sensor and lens) so you can have telephoto and wide angle capa...

Twitter on Thursday announced the rollout of its Tips feature and said it would soon enable Bitcoin tipping. In addition, the company said it plans to allow users to connect to their crypto wallets and verify NFT ownership. tested the Tips feature, turns out people love money rolling out on iOS with Android coming soon pic.twitter.com/pkmLHzg6fu — Twitter (@Twitter) September 23, 2021 Twitter first touted its Tip Jar feature in May, which allows users to list payment services or platforms that the account is connected to. Earlier this month, the social network’s head of consumer product, Kayvon Beykpour, hinted that crypto tipping would be arriving soon. In a blog post on Thursday, Twitter’s staff product manager Esther Crawford provided more details. The feature — now calle...

Microsoft has a new phone of its own, the Surface Duo 2, arriving October 21st — and if you buy an optional “Surface Duo 2 Pen Cover,” you’ll be able to magnetically dock and wirelessly charge the company’s optional $130 Surface Slim Pen 2 stylus and use it with the Android phone. The need for a special cover wasn’t quite made clear during the company’s presentation last week, nor a price or release date, but Microsoft confirmed to Windows Central today that it’ll cost $65 on October 21st. While that’s the same day the Surface Duo 2 is slated to launch, it strangely didn’t go up for pre-order alongside the phones, and still isn’t available to add to a cart now. You can find its product page here, with the Pen Cover listed as “Coming soon.” The listing says it adds 32g (0.07oz) worth of wei...

Let’s go boys! At long last, there is finally a new Bayonetta 3 trailer. Revealed during a primetime Nintendo Direct showcase, the new Bayonetta 3 trailer puts an end to four years of near radio silence on Platinum Games’ leggy, fashionable, witch. [embedded content] Bayonetta first debuted back in 2009 as a sexy, raunchy beat ‘em up to rival Capcom’s Devil May Cry. In 2012, Platinum Games announced the sequel, Bayonetta 2, would release exclusively on Nintendo’s Wii U. We got an initial glimpse of Bayonetta 3 way back during 2017’s Game Awards. The clip was little more than a 50-second teaser featuring a wounded Bayonetta and a fractured logo. In the years since a dearth of updates sparked rampant speculation about the game’s status. On several occasions, Bayonetta 3 director Hideki Kamiy...

In preparation for the busy holiday season, the latest Nintendo Direct was filled with what fans can expect on the Switch in the near future. We already knew about some of the big titles — including new Metroid and Mario Party games — but there were a handful of surprises, including a new Kirby game, an expansion of Switch Online, and a star-studded cast for the Super Mario animated movie. If you missed the event, here’s all the big news. The Super Mario movie has a date — and a cast It’s been a long time since we’ve heard about the Super Mario movie, which is being made in collaboration with Minions studio Illumination, but Nintendo had a lot to say about it. The film will be out on December 21st, 2022, and will feature quite the cast, including Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi,...

Valve promised it would work with anti-cheat software makers EAC and BattlEye to ensure some of the most popular games will run on its upcoming Steam Deck Linux-based gaming handheld, and one of those companies is now officially on board — Epic Games announced today that its Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) now supports Linux and Mac. Not only that, it’s specifically set up to work with the Proton and Wine compatibility layers that Valve’s relying on to bring Windows games to the Deck. While developers would still need to patch their games, this immediately means some of the most popular games on Steam are now theoretically within reach, including Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight and War Thunder, which are all among the top 25 games on Steam. Other popular EAC games include 7 Days to Die, Fall Guys, Bl...

Okay, I know this might be partially my fault. When I reviewed Microsoft’s 13.5-inch Surface Book 3 last year, I complained that the design was dated. I complained that my biggest nitpicks about the Surface Book 2 (which I’ve owned for years, by the way) hadn’t been fixed. Microsoft still hadn’t figured out how to do anything new or fun with the detachable, I lamented. “This form factor might be a dead end.” I love the Surface Book and am a staunch defender of the line. I couldn’t see myself using anything else as my primary driver. I hoped — prayed — that my words would result in Microsoft releasing a slimmer, sleeker, better Surface Book 4. I hoped they’d spur Microsoft into pushing the full-sized detachable workstation, a form factor that really only Microsoft has ever mastered, to heig...

Google is expanding Spanish language support for its Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max devices in the US. Perhaps the biggest change is that the entire UI for the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max has been translated into Spanish. That means things like visual answers to your queries and control panels now appear in Spanish, Google tells The Verge. The Nest Hub’s UI in Spanish.Image: Google Google has added a handful of new commands that might be useful around the house. One lets you add items to a shopping list — Google gives the example command, “Hey Google, agrega huevos a mi lista de compras” (which translates to “Hey Google, add eggs to my shopping list”). Another lets you call friends and family on Google Duo by saying something like “Hey Google, llama a mamá” (“Hey Google, call mom”). Two new featu...

After the feature was leaked last week, Clubhouse is officially launching a new way to invite people to audio chats called “Wave.” The company announced the news at a surprise town hall on Thursday and is enabling the feature today for all users on iOS and Android. With Wave, you can invite friends to a live audio room just by tapping a waving hand emoji. Once they receive their invitation, they can choose to join your call and immediately get added to an audio room. The company’s blog explains in a bit more detail: To send a Wave, swipe right on the Hallway or tap the dots icon at the bottom left of the screen. Then tape the wave button next to the person you’d like to chat with. They’ll get a notification that you said hello, and know that you’re open to chatting. If they are too, they c...