Technology

Sony has clarified more details surrounding a controversial new PlayStation voice chat recording feature, first mentioned in its recent 8.0 update earlier this week, after some users were led to believe the company would be actively recording and moderating conversations among private groups. In a new blog post published Friday, Catherine Jensen, Sony’s vice president of global consumer experience, admits the company “should have more clearly explained why this function was being rolled out.” Jensen now confirms Sony will not be actively listening in on voice chats whatsoever when the feature launches with the PS5 next month. “Its sole purpose is to help in reporting of inappropriate behavior, including actions that violate our Community Code of Conduct,” she writes. “Please note that this...

If you bought a new Oculus Quest 2 with the hopes of experiencing games from the now-discontinued Oculus Go, I have bad news: the company has decided not to include support for Go titles on the Quest 2, Oculus’ consulting CTO John Carmack confirms on Twitter. When the Oculus Quest 2 launched three days ago, some people noticed there was no feature on the UI that allowed users to access Go apps and games, something the original Quest headset featured. Carmack did not go into much detail on why support was not added other than “[he] totally lost the internal debate over backwards compatibility.” The Oculus Go was discontinued in June, but last year, Carmack tweeted out that Oculus planned to bring Go emulation to the Quest, allowing users to play games originally released on the Go onto its ...

A new crowdsourced report finds that the algorithm for shopping delivery platform Shipt has led to reduced pay for 40 percent of its workers. First reported by Gizmodo, the report from Coworker.org, a pro-labor nonprofit organization that helps workers organize, gathered screenshots from more than 200 Shipt workers — who the company calls shoppers — in 140 different US metro areas. The screenshots showed more than 40 percent of the workers saw a reduction in pay following the rollout of Shipt’s “V2” pay model. The so-called “effort-based” pay model replaced Shipt’s previous flat-fee model. The Coworker.org team worked with PhD student Dan Calacci at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to analyze the information it had collected and found that the workers who reported lower wages were...

Riot is taking Wild Rift, the mobile version of League of Legends, into open beta on October 27th. The developer announced the news today, noting that it will first be available in Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand on both iOS and Android. Wild Rift is expected to hit locations such as Europe, the Middle East, and Russia by December; a Stateside release is coming in spring 2021. In addition to a new champion, Riot will also be testing six others, alongside in-game rewards and location-specific content. Riot announced Wild Rift last year; the game is specifically built to better suit mobile devices and consoles. The developer has previously said it will be “a new game built from scratch to ensure it is a polished, legitimate LoL experience tha...

Brian Awadis, better known as Faze Rug, loves to be scared. He watches horror movies, visits haunted attractions at Halloween, and frequently films himself getting spooked on his YouTube channel. “I get scared super easy, but I think that’s what makes it more fun to watch,” he says. “I want to get scared. I just love the thrill of it.” So, around a year ago, when he was given the chance to star in a horror movie — his first ever acting role — he jumped at the chance. “That’s a no-brainer,” says Rug. For the uninitiated, Faze Clan is a new kind of entertainment company that’s part esports organization, part influencer supergroup, and part merchandise brand. It counts some of the biggest YouTube and Twitch stars in the world among its members, including Rug, along with more traditional celeb...

Elon Musk’s Boring Company’s system of tunnels to shuttle people under the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) may not be able to move as many people as originally promised, according to documents obtained by TechCrunch. That’s not just disappointing — it may also mean financial penalties for The Boring Company. The choke point isn’t technology — it’s fire regulations. In one of the three loading zones for the tunnel network, called the Convention Center Loop, only 800 passengers an hour are allowed. If that’s true of all three loading zones, the Loop will only move about a quarter of what it promised: just 1,200 people an hour, according to TechCrunch. It’s unclear what might be enforcing that limit of 800 passengers, as the plans don’t include any turnstiles or barriers that could help co...

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After releasing beautiful aftermarket versions of the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, Analogue has now set its sights on NEC’s library of old-school hardware. Today the company unveiled the Analogue Duo, a console that supports a huge range of hardware including the TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, SuperGrafx, TurboGrafx CD, PC Engine CD-ROM, and Super Arcade CD-ROM. It’s slated to launch in 2021 for $199.99. “Sadly, they never got anywhere near the love they deserve,” Analogue’s Christopher Taber says of NEC’s consoles. “I’d say they are probably the greatest under-appreciated video game systems. Analogue Duo is designed to be the ultimate way to explore nearly all of NEC’s history, and for most people it’s gonna be their first introduction to this piece of video game history.” In order to play all...

General Motors is rebranding its Detroit-Hamtramck plant for its future in building electric and autonomous vehicles. The automaker has said it would spend $2.2 billion to retool the factory to swap out the production of engines and transmissions for electric motors and battery packs. The new facility will be called “Factory Zero,” GM said — a reference to the automaker’s corporate mantra of “zero emissions, zero crashes, and zero congestion.” Earlier this year, GM announced that it would spend $2.2 billion to retrofit Detroit-Hamtramck to build electric and autonomous vehicles, like the forthcoming Hummer EV pickup truck and the driverless Cruise Origin shuttle. GM had been planning on closing its Detroit-Hamtramck facility in June 2019 but changed course after discussions with the United...

OtterBox has launched the first third-party iPhone 12 cases that officially support Apple’s new MagSafe accessory system, with the company debuting its Figura, Aneu, and Symmetry Series Plus cases for the new phones today. According to OtterBox, the company is the “exclusive third-party case provider for the introduction of the advanced MagSafe system” — which makes it sound like these will be the only official MagSafe cases outside of Apple’s own that you’ll be able to get, at least for now. The Figura Series cases are the simplest, at $49.95, offering a basic plastic case with colorful, watercolor-style designs. The Aneu Series cases (also $49.95) add grippy rubber edges and textured material for the rest of the case. Both of those models are available for the iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro,...

Google is adding new election features to its voice assistant, Google Search, and Google Maps, to make it easier for US citizens to find voting locations ahead of the election next month. In Google Search, queries like “early voting locations” and “ballot drop boxes near me” will give details about where you can vote in person or return mail-in ballots, while asking the Google Assistant where to vote will “soon” provide relevant information on your phone, speaker, or smart display, Google says. Then, once you’ve found a location, Google says its Maps service can now give you directions to voting or ballot drop box locations, and will provide information about voting hours. Google Maps will provide information on voting hours and locations Information like this is especially important this ...

More than any other smartphone I’ve used this year, the Sony Xperia 5 II feels like a tool. It’s not just that it has a very understated design (though this definitely plays a part), it’s that Sony’s whole approach is to give you as much control over the phone as possible. Control over how it looks, and sounds, and takes photos and video. Like any tool, though, you get more out of the Xperia 5 II when you’re prepared to put more in. A good workman never blames their tools, after all. But I’d wager that most people who are paying $949 (£799 / €899) for a phone are probably looking for a device that’s prepared to meet them halfway, and can handle most jobs on default or automatic settings. That’s what I want to see if the Xperia 5 II can accomplish. The Xperia 5 II goes on sale on December 4...