Hasta La Gadget!

Blockchain features in games haven’t met with the warmest reception so far, but they just got the support of a major publisher. Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda has published a New Year’s letter indicating that decentralized games using technologies like blockchain will be a “major strategic theme” for the company from 2022 onward. Matsuda didn’t name titles, but he did hint at how future releases would incorporate the distributed technology.

The company would incorporate token economies to foster “self-sustaining game growth,” Matsuda said. While the leader understood many people would be skeptical, he believed at least some gamers wanted to “play to contribute.” Blockchain games theoretically provide a direct incentive to those players to build their own content instead of relying on “goodwill and volunteer spirit.” The suggestion, at least, is that users would make items in part to earn rewards.

Matsuda didn’t directly announce plans for NFTs in Square Enix games. He expected those tokens to become mainstream over time, though, and believed the “overheated trading” for them would cool down. Don’t be shocked if you can buy NFTs in the company’s games at some point.

Square Enix would keep watch on trends in the market and develop accordingly. The president was optimistic, however, and suggested his firm might issue its own tokens. Whether or not the market follows suit is another story. Even a heavyweight publisher like Ubisoft has struggled with early NFT sales for games, and Square Enix isn’t guaranteed to fare better even with hit series like Final Fantasy in its lineup.

“That post-Presidential glow looks amazing on them both,” one person said about the couple.

Now that the third-generation AirPods offer some of the same features as the AirPods Pro, how will Apple make its higher-end wireless earbuds stand out? By further improving the audio quality, apparently. According to 9to5Mac, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims Apple is launching its second-generation AirPods Pro in the fall with support for Apple Lossless (ALAC) audio. There’s no mention of support for other lossless formats, unfortunately, but the rumored upgrade would at least ensure you could listen to Apple Music (and locally stored ALAC songs) without compromising on quality.

Kuo also expects the updated AirPods Pro to offer a “new form factor design.” You might not have to worry quite so much if you lose your earbuds, either — they’ll supposedly include a charging case that can make sounds, much like AirTags. You might only have to ‘ping’ your buds to find them on the sidewalk.

It’s not certain if or how Apple would support its lossless format given Bluetooth’s data pipe limitations. However, company acoustics VP Gary Geaves recently told What Hi-Fi in an interview that his team would “like more bandwidth,” teasing the possibility of new technology. Apple won’t necessarily augment or replace wireless standards like Bluetooth, but it could develop an aptX Lossless-style codec to make wireless ALAC viable.

However accurate Kuo might be, we wouldn’t count on lossless support just yet. The purported launch is still several months away, and Apple might cancel or delay plans. With that said, an upgrade strategy like this would make sense. While the AirPods Pro still have advantages like active noise cancellation and silicone eartips, the latest standard AirPods are much closer in terms of sound quality and features (like spatial audio) while offering longer battery life. The currently Pros are only truly a good value when you can find them on sale. Lossless music, a new design and a smarter case could help justify a higher price.

Twitter isn’t shying away from banning more high-profile US politicians. As The New York Timesreports, the social network has permanently banned Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal account after a fifth “strike” for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. Her official account is still active as of this writing because it hasn’t run afoul of Twitter’s rules.

It’s not certain what post led to the permanent ban. Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough said only that the company had “been clear” it would issue permanent suspensions for “repeated violations” of its COVID-19 misinformation policy.

Greene had faced an escalating series of bans over her inaccurate claims. She falsely claimed in July that COVID-19 wasn’t dangerous unless you were over 65 or obese, and in August incorrectly maintained vaccines were “failing” against the new coronavirus’ Delta variant. The posts respectively led to 12-hour and one-week suspensions.

In a statement, Greene said technology companies and Democrats “can’t stop the truth” and accused Twitter of hypocrisy in dealing with Democrats, calling Twitter an “enemy to America.” However, she signalled no intentions to challenge the ban and said only “we don’t need them.”

The crackdown comes just under a year after Twitter permanently banned former President Trump, and reflects the social media giant’s less forgiving attitude toward politicians in the past year — it’s willing to ban officials for violations rather than apply warning labels and otherwise avoid direct action. And while ban targets like Trump can start their own social networks or jump to anything-goes alternatives, there’s little doubt they’ll lose some online influence by getting kicked off mainstream platforms.