Why touch grass alone when you can pretend to be squids together? Usually my younger siblings wait until I’m done with work — they’re in earlier time zones than I am, so they’re being polite — then the group chat lights up: “Splat.” “Splat.” “Splat.” This is our shorthand for “It’s time to play Splatoon 3.” … Read more
On Wednesday morning, a Nintendo Direct livestream will show off new Switch games coming this year from “partners,” which might include Xbox. This year’s first Direct will take place Wednesday morning at 9AM ET, and, according to Nintendo, the 25-minute presentation will feature Switch games “coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing … Read more
Earlier this week, Google updated the Pixel 8 Pro to let its strange new temperature sensor finally take readings of human bodies. I regret to tell you that, having used it, it doesn’t make this feature any less baffling. To measure body temperature, you have to sweep the phone’s infrared temperature monitor over the side … Read more
In the European Union, Apple is finally letting third-party app shops work with the iPhone. This could be the start of a new era for its app ecosystem that is busy, hard to manage, and full of different kinds of apps. At least, it might, based on how developers deal with a €0.50 fee that … Read more
A new car mount for your smartphone just launched that offers a rare combo: Qi2 wireless charging at high speeds — and at a fair price. The Qi2 car mount, from accessories maker ESR, offers 15W wireless charging to fast-charge your iPhone 15 and 15 Pro at its highest capacity while you’re en route. 9to5Toys … Read more
Ring will no longer let local cops publicly ask people for doorbell footage through its Neighbors app. The Amazon-owned business announced it’s going to sunset its Request for Assistance tool this week, forcing police to obtain a warrant for most of its video requests. This change might seem like a step in the right direction, … Read more
Epic plans to launch the Epic Games Store on the iPhone this year in the European Union — and it’s bringing Fortnite back to the device along with it. The news comes after Apple shared how it will open up iOS in response to the EU’s crackdown on Big Tech. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney described … Read more
With iOS 17.4, Apple is making a number of huge changes to the way its mobile operating system works in order to meet with new regulations in the EU. One of them is an important product shift: for the first time, Apple is going to allow different browser engines to run on iOS — but … Read more
Over the last day, sexually explicit pictures of Taylor Swift made by AI have been going around on X (formerly Twitter). This is the latest example of how easy it is for fake pornography made by AI to spread and how hard it is to stop it. More than 45 million people saw one of … Read more
Cruise, the self-driving car subsidiary of General Motors, tried to send a 45-second video to regulators of an incident in which one of its driverless cars dragged a pedestrian 20 feet but was hampered by “internet connectivity issues,” according to a report compiled by a law firm investigating the incident. The law firm, Quinn Emanuel … Read more
