You’ve long been able to use a DualSense controller with your PC, but it wasn’t quite so appealing when you couldn’t update the firmware without access to a PlayStation 5. Thankfully, that’s no longer necessary. Sony has released a firmware update tool for Windows that lets you upgrade the DualSense through a USB connection on your PC — no console required. You won’t miss out on bug fixes or refinements just because you prefer computer gaming.
The software requires Windows 10 or 11. You’ll need to update multiple controllers one at a time.
The tool will be helpful for PC-only gamers who want the same controller functionality as their PS5 counterparts, of course. At the same time, it might also useful for Remote Play. You can keep a DualSense by your computer knowing that you won’t have to visit the living room (and partly defeat the purpose of Remote Play) just to bring the gamepad up to date.
PC players can now update their DualSense wireless controller with the latest firmware from Windows 11 and select Windows 10 devices, without connecting to a PS5. Details: https://t.co/PF5E3VnoXMpic.twitter.com/PF2ASo8Fw6
Spotify is losing Barack and Michelle Obama after their partnership ends in October, according to Bloomberg. The former first couple’s exclusive podcast deal with the streaming giant is coming to an end, and they won’t be signing a new one. Their production company, Higher Ground, is reportedly seeking a partner that would allow it to produce several shows and release it on multiple platforms at the same time. Spotify typically seeks exclusivity from famous personalities in a bid to promote its platform, which is likely why (as Bloomberg reports) it declined to make an offer for a new contract.
Higher Ground is in the midst of negotiating with several other potential partners, though, including Amazon’s Audible and iHeartMedia for a deal that’s expected to be worth tens of millions of dollars. The Obamas are each looking to appear in an eight-episode program, so we can expect shows with a limited number of episodes.
The Obamas’ deal with Spotify was rumored to be worth $25 million and produced Renegades: Born in the USA with Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen, as well as The Michelle Obama Podcast, wherein the former First Lady talked about relationships with friends and family. The Michelle Obama Podcast was one of Spotify’s most popular shows in 2020 and was eventually made available on other platforms.
While Higher Ground has yet to issue an official statement, a Vanity Fair report from February during the height of the Joe Rogan debacle may shed some light on its decision not to pursue another exclusive deal with a single platform. Apparently, Higher Ground was frustrated with Spotify at times and found it difficult to get additional shows off the ground under their partnership. Further, the Obamas are more interested in producing shows for young new voices than for their own, and that vision just doesn’t align with Spotify’s.
You no longer need to bring out an iPad or iPhone just to use Zoom’s gesture recognition. Zoom has updated its Mac and Windows apps with visual gesture support. Raise your hand or give a thumbs-up and you’ll send the appropriate reaction. As you might imagine, this promises more natural interaction in virtual classrooms and meetings than you’d get from clicking buttons.
The feature requires the latest version of Zoom as of this writing (5.10.3). It’s disabled at the individual level by default, but you can enable it per user, per account or entire groups.
Gesture recognition comes alongside multiple updates that include a revamped Zoom Whiteboard collaboration tool that now exists as a full-fledged feature, not just a meeting extension. A chat etiquette tool helps administrators block or warn about rude behavior, and events now have a “Backstage” that lets organizers and panelists talk without facing the audience. Simply speaking, Zoom is adapting to reflect a world where remote and hybrid workplaces are likely here to stay.
While established automakers try to come to grips with the electric revolution, fresh EV startups are thinking up innovative ways to cater to a new generation of drivers. And after checking out an early version of its upcoming car at the New York Auto Show, it feels like INDIEV may have created the first electric car made for gamers.
When it comes to general specs and performance, INDIEV’s Indi One seems to be using the Tesla Model Y as a template. The base model is slated to cost around $45,000 and features a 75 kWh battery, all-wheel drive and 230 miles of range. Meanwhile, the $65,000 premium version will sport a 95 kWh battery with 300 miles of range and a 0 to 60 time of 4.2 seconds. Even the shape of the Indi One is somewhat reminiscent of Tesla’s popular electric crossover, sporting a shortish hood, room for five passengers and a sloping rear end.
The Indi One’s VIC lives beneath the hood, which means you won’t get a frunk.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
However, where INDIEV is changing things up comes on the inside. That’s because unlike other cars, the premium version of the Indi One features a VIC, or vehicle integrated computer designed to let occupants play games, edit photos and videos, or even live stream while on the go.
Now other car makers like Tesla have dabbled with in-car gaming, with owners enjoying support for titles like the Witcher 3, Stardew Valley, Cyberpunk 2077, and more on its vehicles. But the few dozen or so games available in Tesla’s Arcade feature are still a far cry from what you can get from PC marketplaces like Steam or the Epic Game Store. Additionally, due to NHTSA regulations, you can’t game on a Tesla’s main screen while the car is in motion, which makes a lot of sense, but is a bummer for any passengers seeking alternative entertainment.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
But on the One, INDIEV gets around that restriction by having two large screens on the car’s dashboard. There’s a main infotainment screen powered by Android Automotive, along with a second screen on the passenger’s side running Windows. Not only does this mean guests can play while moving, it also means you can install pretty much any PC app you want. The car’s gaming credentials aren’t too shabby either. At the show, INDIEV reps told me the car currently features an Intel Core i7 CPU and an Nvidia RTX 2080 GPU. But by the time the One officially goes on sale next year, the company is hoping to upgrade that to an RTX 3080 or better (assuming we’re still not in the midst of a chip crunch).
While it probably won’t be easy, INDIEV says the car’s GPU may even be user-replaceable, so you shouldn’t have to worry about buying a whole new car after a few years when it struggles to play the latest AAA games. And while I didn’t get a chance to game on it myself, I was able to pull up Twitch, get a glance at the standard Windows UI running underneath and see the One’s in-car streaming setup in action. INDIEV even lets users access one of the car’s built-in cameras to capture your face, so there’s no need for an external webcam. That said, because there isn’t a built-in mouse, keyboard or gamepad, you’ll need to figure out a control setup that works for your needs.
The Indi One’s VIC will run Windows so you can install games or apps like Streamlabs, which you can see running here.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
INDIEV also teamed up with markers of ARK Park so guests can dive into in VR, with the game set to mimic the motion and turns of the car to reduce motion sickness. Additionally, the VIC will be open-sourced and will have an SDK for developers, so if you’re not afraid of some code, you can create custom apps and routines. And thanks to military-grade vibration reduction surrounding the VIC, the car’s gaming components shouldn’t come loose due to unforeseen bumps in the road. How’s that for geeky?
Finally, INDIEV says the One supports blockchain integration, allowing the car’s computer to function as a node for an unspecific decentralized ledger. This means the car could rake in a bit of passive income when you’re not driving it, which sounds like a nice idea in an alternate world where crypto has overtaken cash and credit, but I don’t think we’re yet. I should also point out that it’s hard to say how much juice gaming or running a node will have on the One’s range, which could render both of these features moot if you’re low on battery.
Of course, EV startups are kind of a dime a dozen these days. And for every Tesla that makes it big, there are sure to be others that crash and burn before reaching critical mass. But as someone who has always wondered why car makers don’t try to get more utility out of the computers inside them, I appreciate the ambition. And as we seen from Tesla and other EV makers have already proven, the tech inside a car matters just as much as how it looks or drives.
Now I admit that the newness of being able to game in your car makes it difficult to say if INDIEV’s endeavor will be a success or even help sell an extra car or two. But as someone who never has enough time to play games as it is, the idea of fitting in a quick round of Apex Legends while recharging or poking away in Civ 6 as a passenger during a road trip sounds fantastic. So if you’ve ever dreamed about an EV that can push pixels just as well as your rig at home, the One provides an interesting glimpse at a next-gen driving machine.
Reservations for the Indi One are available now ahead of its official release date next year in Q2 2023.
Glorious PC Gaming Race, the maker of the Model O gaming mouse, the GMMK Pro mechanical keyboard and other popular peripherals, is changing its name. In rebranding as Glorious, the company is hoping to leave behind a name tinged with racial overtones.
The company was formed in 2014. Its original name was a spin on the term “the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race.” Game reviewer Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw of Zero Punctuation fame sarcastically coined the expression to poke fun at the elitist attitude held by some PC gamers that their platform of choice was superior to consoles. However, some gamers embraced the term despite the phrase “master race” having roots in Nazi ideology.
“While we remain committed to serving PC gamers and not taking ourselves too seriously, we have also grown and matured significantly as a brand.” Shazim Mohammad, the founder and CEO of Glorious said in a statement. “When I started this company I never could have imagined we’d be where we are today. This new brand identity is more inclusive, accessible and representative of who we’ve become and the direction we’re going long into the future.”
Glorious, which said its new name “inspires positivity,” will start updating its branding in the coming weeks. It will introduce a fresh logo and relaunch its online store with a different, to-be-revealed URL. Its upcoming products will bear the new branding, as will the existing product lineup. However, Glorious said completing the transition with its current peripherals will be a multiyear process.
When Elli Daniels started working at the Apple Store in Cumberland Mall location in Atlanta, her hourly wage was $16.50 — rosy by comparison to the federal minimum Georgia adopts, but below average for sales in her metro region. Three years later and in spite of several raises, her pay has nowhere near kept up pace with national inflation, or Apple’s soaring profits for that matter.
She’s one of the 100 eligible workers at the Apple Store location that petitioned the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, with the backing of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), to hold a union election. It will be the first such election for an Apple retail location in the US.
“One of the biggest things that we’re fighting for is going to be for fair pay and a livable wage, because with Atlanta being such a huge city, it’s just getting more and more expensive to live here,” Daniels told Engadget. “Everybody deserves the opportunity to be able to not worry about whether they can afford food or pay their bills. Everybody deserves to be able to afford to live in the city that they work in.”
Daniels, a product zone specialist, was clear however, that her and her coworkers’ desire for better pay isn’t borne out of grievance. By all indications a sincere devotee of Apple’s products, she specified that “we want to do this because we love this company, not because we want to turn our back on them.”
Similarly to the Google Fiber retail workers who recently unionized in Kansas City, Missouri, Apple has been completely silent on the issues, according to Daniels. “We haven’t heard anything from Apple corporate at all.” Consequently, the workers and CWA opted to file for both voluntary recognition and a union election simultaneously. Apple’s silence seems to indicate the company intends to let things go to a vote, though we’ve reached out to them for confirmation.
Over the pandemic years, Apple has raked in tremendous profits, even as the economy at large suffers. It has posted record-breaking quarters over and over, but the winnings aren’t being distributed equally, according to Daniels. Raising wages is an obvious way to relieve material hardship for Apple Store workers, some of whom have “had to leave the company because they just needed more money to be able to pay their bills, because they were growing a family.” But it’s also a philosophical means to “try to close the gap” between corporate and retail employees. “It’s really important that both sides of the coin get fair treatment in the company that we all work for,” she said.
Cumberland workers aren’t alone, either. Apple Store workers in New York City’s Grand Central terminal, backed by the Fruit Stand Workers United, recently called for a minimum wage of $30 per hour. They’re also riding a wave of newfound union sentiment displayed by the first successful unionization vote at a US Amazon warehouse, as well as a rash of successful union drives across Starbucks locations nationwide. As yet, Apple has not seemingly deployed the same captive audience meetings and union-busting techniques those companies have become increasingly associated with.
“We love Apple no matter what,” Daniels stressed, “I think it’s all just making sure that we all can put our heads together and really make Cumberland the best place that it can be for all of us — both for us that are here now, as well as people that are that are here in the future.”
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