Genshin Impactis one of the biggest gaming success stories of the last few years. Fans will have another way to enjoy the world of Teyvat at some point, as developer miHoYo has teamed up with animation studio Ufotable to create an anime based on the free-to-play action RPG.
Ufotable has worked on several other game-related projects. God Eater and Tales of Zestiria the X are both based on Bandai Namco properties, for instance. A concept trailer (which was spotted by IGN) offers a peek at the art style Ufotable will employ this time around. As you might expect, the studio doesn’t seem to veer too far away from the look of the game.
If anything, it’s a little surprising that it took this long for an official Genshin Impact anime announcement. The developers took inspiration from anime in the first place and the game has long seemed primed for an adaptation.
Several other notable games have been turned into animated series in recent years. Cyberpunk 2077spinoff Cyberpunk: Edgerunners hit Netflix just this week, while Arcane (which is based on League of Legends), became the first animated streaming series to win an Emmy earlier this month.
It’s not clear when or where fans will be able to watch the Genshin Impact anime. However, given that the trailer is only showing off the concept and it refers to the Ufotable collaboration as a long-term project, it might be quite a while before the first season debuts.
The Genshin Impact anime reveal came as miHoYo offered a look at version 3.1 of the game, which will arrive on September 28th. The update will expand the new region of Sumeru and help to continue the game’s core story. It will introduce King Deshret’s Mausoleum, dungeons, new Archon Quests, more weapons, three playable characters, two fresh bosses and more. Meanwhile, miHoYo will add a permanent card game mode in version 3.3.
The board did not specify why it denied the request, after deciding in October 2021 to recommend that Floyd receive a posthumous pardon from the governor.
London-based Ravensbourne University student Holly Grounds has developed ramen noodle packaging that dissolves in hot water in order to help cut down on plastic waste. That’s a great idea! Also, I wonder if her parents had any idea they were *this close* to naming their daughter Holy Grounds.
The biofilm is made entirely from safe-to-consume potato starch, glycerin, and water and is embedded with herbs and spices to season the noodles inside when it dissolves. How about that! If I were Nissin Top Ramen, I would be snatching up the patent rights to this faster than you can boil water.
I can’t even tell you how many packets of Ramen noodles I’ve eaten in my lifetime, but you could easily build a mountain out of the sodium I’ve ingested, no question. Ramen noodles and $1 personal frozen pizzas – those were my entire culinary life in college. I mean, they still are now, but they were back then too. My wife says I’m gross, and she isn’t wrong.
V/H/S returns in another creepy new anthology. Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween hoovers up a She-Hulk and other stars. Plus, what’s coming on Stargirl, and a look at Jacob Batalon’s new vampire series. To me, my spoilers!
The White House released its first official framework laying out its plans to handle digital assets, namely cryptocurrencies. Though the overall scheme authored by the executive branch does lay out some new moves and directions for agencies to strive toward, all-in-all it seems to offer little actual guidance other…
Uber has expanded its Comfort Electric service “nationwide” to 24 US cities, letting users request rides in all-electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3, Polestar 2 and Ford Mustang Mach-E. It also expanded to Vancouver in British Columbia, which has the highest sales rate of zero-emission vehicles in North America.
Comfort Electric launched last May in several cities as part of the Uber Comfort service. That allows riders to request extra legroom and other high-end features for a 20-40 percent premium over Uber X trips. It’s separate from the Uber Green service, which gives drivers an extra fee for electrified vehicles. Uber Green allows both EVs and hybrids, though, while Comfort Electric is limited to EVs.
Uber said that its partnership with Hertz “helped pave the way for the expansion of Comfort Electric, with more than 25,000 drivers renting a Tesla.” Last year, Hertz announced that it would order 100,000 Teslas, and shortly afterwards, said it would make up to 50,000 of those available for rent solely to Uber ridesharing drivers in the US.
The service is now available in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore-Maryland, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Connecticut, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey, NYC Suburbs, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St Louis, Vancouver (Canada) and Washington, DC — up from 11 cities previously.
The expansion looks like a small step in Uber’s goal of becoming a zero-emissions platform in the US and Canada by 2030. It has promised to spend $800 million to help drivers transition to all-electric vehicles by 2025. California will require ride-hailing services to be all-electric by 2030, and other states like New York also plan to ban sales of gas-burning cars.
Today is as good a time as any to remember that the internet can always get worse. Parler, the right-wing social network that was once kicked off the internet for its role in the January 6 Capitol riots, is entering the clouds. The revived version of the platform has acquired Dynascale Inc., a web hosting and cloud…
Once upon a time, desktop computer speakers actually mattered. That was more than a decade ago, long before gaming headsets filled the land and wireless Bluetooth headphones were any good. In the early 2000’s, more people also had actual desktops computers chained to desks, so it was worth investing a bit in decent audio. SteelSeries’ new Arena 9 surround sound PC speakers reminds me of that era, a time when I eagerly strung cables throughout my dorm room to connect Logitech’s legendary Z-680 surround sound speakers. (Apologies for anyone who lived near me. I tried to keep things civil, I swear!)
Luckily, it’s not as tough to go surround sound today – though it will still cost you a ton. The $550 Arena 9 connect over USB, so you don’t have to worry about a specialized sound card, and they feature wireless rear satellites, which only need to be connected to power and each other. There’s no need to string anything to the front speakers. That solves a huge pain point, and it makes the Arena 9 a far more viable option for the cable-averse. But is setting up a surround sound system worth it when gaming headphones are cheaper, more immersive and kinder to your neighbors? You’ll have to decide that for yourself.
Assuming you do want to fill your room with speakers, the Arena 9 are notable for existing at all. There aren’t many PC alternatives today, and they’re mostly several years old, like Logitech’s Z906 (released in 2011). You could, of course, set up an amplifier and connect whatever speakers you’d like, but anyone doing that probably isn’t in the market for a self-contained kit. SteelSeries is striking a delicate balance between complexity and convenience – for the most part, I think the Arena 9 is a success.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
In the box, you’ll find two front speakers (both equipped with RGB lighting along their base and rears), two wireless rear satellites, a center channel, a control module, and a 6.5-inch downward-firing subwoofer. The two-way speakers don’t exactly feel high-end, but their matte plastic casing should blend in with your keyboards and other PC components. They’re also far lighter than I expected, which is rarely a good sign with audio gear. My biggest gripe, though, comes down to the cabling. The front and center speakers are hard-wired to the rear of the subwoofer. From what I can tell, there’s no easy way to replace those cables, so you’re stuck chucking the entire speaker if something goes wrong (or getting very familiar with soldering). I’d much rather have removable cables instead of superfluous RGB lighting.
SteelSeries
I can understand why SteelSeries chose to include all of its audio inputs behind the subwoofer. It gets more cables away from your desk, and it’s a smart place to house the amplifier and power components. But that’s also the only place with an aux connection, so you’ll need to string a long 3.5mm cable if you want to plug in any other devices. Thankfully, there’s also Bluetooth support, which gives you an easy way to wirelessly stream tunes when your computer is off. For devices with digital audio, like the PlayStation 5, you can connect them via an optical cable (there’s also optical output port to pass sound to other gear).
Unfortunately, the PS5 can only output 2.1 sound (two front speakers and the subwoofer) over optical or USB. You could upmix that audio across all of your speakers via the control pod, but that would still just be simulated surround. That’s a shame for anyone who wants a system that can seamlessly work across their gaming systems and computers. It’s also doubly disappointing since the Logitech Z-680 handled Dolby Digital and DTS surround processing from consoles and other devices all the way back in 2003 for just $400. For the price, I’m surprised the Arena 9 can’t handle their own decoding.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
At least SteelSeries isn’t trying to push the Arena 9 as an ideal surround sound system for your home theater. What’s notable is that it’s the first 5.1 gaming speakers that work over a single USB connection. Typically, PC speakers either rely on three 3.5mm jacks or a digital connection like optical or coaxial. Since it’s relying on USB, setup is simple – even for laptop users, who would typically have to get some sort of external sound card to use a 5.1 system.
It only took a few minutes to get the Arena 9’s front and center speakers hooked up to the subwoofer, while the rears found homes on bookshelves behind my desk chair. Those took a bit more effort, since I had to find a nearby outlet to power the right rear speaker, as well as string a cable across the floor to the left one. (If you’ve got a large space, you can also use an extra long RCA cable to connect those speakers.) On my desk, the Arena 9 looks cleaner than the huge KEF Q150 bookshelves I typically use.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
I’ll be honest, though, I care far more about sound quality than aesthetics when it comes to speakers. Despite their relatively small size and average build quality, the Arena 9 sounds fantastic across games and movies. The opening monster attack in Netflix’s The Sea Beast rocked my office with explosions, the sounds of giant waves and the rumble of a pissed off monster. While playing Halo Infinite, I felt fully immersed in every firefight, so much so that I could clearly hear enemies creeping up behind me on the rear speakers. One Halo Infinite match, which equipped everyone with rocket launchers and skewers, sounded like I was front row in a 15-minute long fireworks show.
The Arena 9s are best when you can crank the volume as much as possible – making them ill-suited for apartments and smaller homes. (Do as I say, not as I did.) They’re peppy and energetic enough for games and films with large soundscapes. I would have liked to see a larger subwoofer, though. A 6.5-inch ported unit for a system this expensive just feels limiting. I had to push the subwoofer’s volume dial almost to its maximum to get a satisfying amount of low-end punch. A larger sub wouldn’t need to work so hard.
Unfortunately, the Arena 9s aren’t as well-suited to music, something that seems to be the case for most gaming speakers. They handled some of my typical speaker and headphone testing tracks just fine, like Clint Mansell’s “Death is the Road to Awe” from The Fountain, as well as George Benson’s “White Rabbit.” But the sound felt trapped by the small front boxes, and the sub was far too boomy for my tastes. Maybe my ears have been spoiled by my KEF speakers, but I would have liked a larger sense of presence from the Arena 9. Flipping on the simulated surround sound, which plays music across all of the speakers, just made the limitations of the entire system all the more clear.
I’ll admit, the Arena 9 have a bit more depth than the Logitech Z-680s, but they can’t touch Klipsch’s classic ProMedia 2.1 speakers when it comes to music. That system is legendary at this point – it was originally released in 2000 (which is when I bought it for college), but the same exact hardware is still being sold today. These complaints won’t matter much if you’re focused on gaming, but discerning audiophiles would be better off with a bigger set that’s better suited to tunes.
As much as I love great gaming headsets, like SteelSeries’ own Arctis Pro and Nova Pro, there’s something more visceral about having speakers moving the air around you. If you’re a gamer looking for something a bit different, and you have the money and space to spare, the Arena 9 could help you appreciate your favorite titles in entirely new ways. But if you don’t have the freedom to blast your nightly Halo Infinite runs at full volume, it doesn’t make sense to spend $550 on PC surround sound speakers. Get a decent 2.1 system for music, and stick with your headphones for gaming.
Maybe you like to run, or perhaps you’re many years into a regular gym habit. You’ve dabbled with fitness wearables and thought about treating yourself to a massage gun, but never got around to buying one. Perhaps your foam roller is starting to crumble, and that free tee you got with protein powder has seen better days. You might be fitter, but your fitness equipment and tech are due for an upgrade.
The Engadget team has picked some of their favorite exercise tech purchases that have made our fitness journeys less of a struggle. From the best wearable tech to our favorite smart scale, some selections command premium prices, while a few are surprisingly affordable.
Oura Ring
Mat Smith / Engadget
As we said in our review, the Oura ring is a wearable for people who hate wearables. It also offers more robust sleep tracking than many watch-like devices. Despite the size and weight remaining unchanged from the second-gen Oura ring, it’s incredible how much technology is crammed into this thing. The third generation has sensors that can track your heart rate continuously; temperature monitoring; blood oxygenation; and period prediction.
The Oura ring is very serious about tracking everything it can. Given the lack of a display, you’ll need your smartphone to check on your recovery scores and how well you slept. These scores are synthesized from biometrics, including your heart rate variability, body temperature, resting heart rate and breathing rate. With a subscription – yes, something you may have to pay beyond the $299 asking price – you’ll get weekly summaries to show how your activity levels and sleeping hours are trending. I like Oura’s ability to tell when you’ve been training a little too hard and that the app suggests taking a day off to recover.
The ring isn’t perfect. The company has let some features drag for months – especially frustrating when some users pay a monthly sub. For example, blood oxygenation (SpO2) level tracking was promised when the third-gen Oura Ring was first announced and has only just arrived on most rings – almost half a year late.
A warning: If you’re planning to track weight lifting workouts with the Oura ring, the black edition is likely to show some conspicuous scratches if you’re gripping metallic bars and plates. I also struggled with pull-ups, as I’m not quite used to wearing a ring while gripping for my life. – Mat Smith, UK Bureau Chief
The most popular smartwatch series continues to lead on the feature front – if you ignore sleep tracking. The Series 7 has the biggest screen yet of any Apple Watch. It’s over 50 percent bigger than the Series 3 and 20 percent larger than the Series 6 that came before it. With more screen space and bigger buttons, it’s easier to stop and start workouts and check your heart rate and time elapsed during exercise. In addition, since watchOS 5, Apple’s wearables have been able to auto-detect specific workouts, which is great for when you forget to start logging a run or a spin session.
The Series 7 can track your VO2 Max levels, measuring your cardiorespiratory fitness level. What’s cool here is how the wearable notifies you when your levels tangibly change. So if you start a new intensive workout regime, you’ll see these figures creep up. Your iPhone will notify you when you make tangible improvements, say moving from below to above average cardio fitness levels, possibly even to its high fitness level. I’ve been hovering around 50 VO2 Max, but I’ll get to 52 eventually.
The Apple Watch also has its own connected workout platform in the form of Fitness+, offering HIIT, dance, pilates, yoga classes and more, streaming classes to your iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV. Your heart rate will show on screen during many classes, indicating how you’re faring compared to other Fitness+ members and hopefully inspiring you to push a little harder.
Of course, Apple Watch Series 8 (as well as a new ‘pro’ Ultra model) are both launching very soon. The Watch Ultra, in particular, packs longer battery life and a brighter screen — perfect for outdoor sports. – M.S.
Theragun’s unique triangle design helps its devices stand out from a legion of other massage therapy guns. Multiple ways to grip the Theragun make it easier to target trickier body parts. As one of the more premium massage devices, it offers 16mm amplitude (typically only bested by devices several hundred dollars more) and speeds of up to 2,400 percussions per minute. Some health claims (like improved performance) are backed up by limited studies, but others (including sped-up muscle recovery) are not. I love using mine to target specifically tight areas; it even feels good ahead of a workout.
The Theragun Prime is better than most of the massage gun competition. It’s more flexible, too. Compared to Therabody’s own more basic options, the Prime comes with three extra attachments in addition to the standard ball: a cone, a dampener with a flattened head, and a thumb attachment, which can help dig deeper. The battery is thankfully long-lasting, too. – M.S.
It’s time to throw away that chunky analog scale with the wobbly dial. Instead, for a more aesthetically pleasing design and deeper insight into your body weight and composition, it’s time to go digital. Several smart scale options are available, but I’ve used the sensibly priced Eufy Smart Scale P1. This smart scale connects with your smartphone to sync your data, and you just need to remember to open the app. Otherwise, it won’t track your progress.
It can monitor your weight in imperial or metric measurements and even make a rough guess at your body fat and water percentages. However, it’s worth noting that domestic smart scales are often not hugely accurate at gauging these measurements.
There are even more advanced smart scales too. Still, they are usually over double the price of the Smart Scale P1, often adding unnecessary features like multiple user profiles, Alexa voice activation, athletic modes for pro athletes and more. At some point, it’s diminishing returns, but the ability to digitally track (as well as set up weigh-in reminders) helped me form better habits to monitor my weight. – M.S.
Many true wireless earbuds, let alone conventional headphones, weren’t made for working out. Some have non-removable parts that can get gunked up, while others lack water and dust resistance or have wires liable to tangle up or tug at you during workouts. For many of these reasons, I swear by true wireless earbuds and the Beats Fit Pro deliver on everything I want from workout buds. That includes active noise cancellation (less weight slamming and awful gym music), an understated profile, and a comfortable fit with a convenient fin design to lock it into your ear without making your ears ache.
Thankfully, they don’t stick out your ears like many earbud options. The company recently launched a series of even more subtle skin-colored buds in collaboration with Kim Kardashian. With Apple’s H1 chip, the Beats Fit Pro can offer hands-free Siri functionality and enhanced Find My item tracking. – M.S.
One of the best things I’ve done for my fitness routine as of late is introducing some variety. Since I work out in the morning right after waking up, it’s pretty easy for me to fall into a routine of doing the same thing over and over again. However, I’ve found it much easier to switch things up by relying on an on-demand fitness subscription.
I’ve tried a handful of the many services out there now, but the ones I’ve stuck with are Peloton and Alo Moves. I don’t own a single piece of Peloton hardware; I instead spend $13 each month for app access only, and that’s where I take most of my strength-training classes. I like that they’re constantly putting out new offerings every day, but the backlog of on-demand classes is bursting at the seams, too. The sessions are challenging and engaging, and there are plenty of options if you don’t have any equipment at all.
Alo Moves is more focused on yoga, pilates and barre, and it’s a bit more expensive at $20 per month. I’m more interested in toning than bulking up, so I try to incorporate some of these classes into my strength training routine. I particularly like that Alo Moves has a “series” of sessions that fall under the same umbrella that you can take over the course of many days. When I really don’t want to think about what I’m doing on a given morning for a workout, it’s easy just to turn to the next class in the barre series I was already working on. – Valentina Palladino, Senior Commerce Editor
For a lot of us, space is at a premium. We might have enough space to roll out a yoga mat, but not much more beyond that. Consolidating (and shrinking) your home workout gear is a nice way to keep your exercise habits going without tripping over weights or resistance band. Bowflex is a well-established fitness company that’s made adjustable dumbbells for several years now. The weight range will depend on the model, but the Bowflex SelectTech 552i can be dialed (literally) down to 2kg (4.4 pounds) and up to 24kg (53 pounds) each, making them suitable for all kinds of full-body and dedicated muscle group moves. A dial on each side of the weight adjusts how many plates the bar latches onto, with the remaining weight staying behind in the included storage tray.
There are several adjustable dumbbells out there, but I prefer this classic ‘dumbbell’ look compared to some of the more squarish-looking rivals. One minor issue is that you’ll have to tinker with both sides to adjust the weight. Also, if you’re looking for an on-demand workout service, Bowflex includes a free one-year subscription to its JRNY streaming service. – M.S.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
