With a trailer that’s been out in the world for almost a year now, expectations couldn’t be any higher for Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Except they can go higher, now that Paramount’s screened 20 minutes of breathtaking footage at CinemaCon 2023.
SpaceX is getting ready to launch its super heavy-lift rocket for the second time this year, carrying a hefty broadband satellite to a distant orbit above Earth’s equator, as well as a pair of smaller satellites, before being disposed entirely.
Meta will soon start rolling out its latest Quest firmware, and there’s a particularly handy feature for Meta Quest Pro owners. The company’s highest-end VR headset is gaining WiFi 6E support. So, if you have a compatible router and a fast enough internet connection, your headset will supports speeds of up to 1.6Gbps.
Faster downloads could come in useful for those who try another new feature, which will be available on all models (except the first one, unfortunately). After you install the v53 firmware, you’ll have the option to automatically update all of your apps before the headset shuts down. Meta says this should help avoid having to wait for an app update when you pick up your headset again. This might only be truly effective for more ardent Quest users, though. If you tend to go a few weeks between VR sessions, you might still end up having to update apps when you put your headset on again. You can opt out of this feature from the power off dialog.
Elsewhere, there’s another tool to help parents and guardians manage what teens can access in the Quest browser. The Quest Browser Website Category Filter is fairly self-explanatory. It can be used to block websites that fall under certain categories, such as gambling or hate and terrorism. The filters are tied to accounts, not devices, and can be set up from the parental supervision tab in the Quest mobile app.
Speaking of the Meta Quest Browser, it’ll possible to watch Twitch there (unless perhaps a parent or guardian says otherwise). On top of that, Meta is moving some advanced camera settings it has been testing from the Experimental Settings panel into the core camera settings. Finally, users will at last have the option to record video with stereo audio instead of only mono.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-quest-pro-will-soon-support-wifi-6e-210046900.html?src=rss
Some of the most popular archaeological sites, such as the Acropolis, will still remain pet-free, as will ancient theaters, temples, graves and monuments with mosaic floors.
Whether you are looking at a 911 Turbo from the showroom or a classic air-cooled model, here are the things you should know about Porsches before buying one.
The unusual Dyson Zone headphones with an air-purifying visor are finally available to purchase in the United States alongside a massive price tag.
Lyft had warned of impending layoffs last week, and now it’s taking action. The ridesharing company is cutting 1,072 jobs, or about 26 percent of its employees. It’s also scaling back hiring and will scrub 250 open roles. The decision will carry severance and benefits costs of up to $47 million in the second quarter, but Lyft believes the savings will help with ‘improvements” for drivers and passengers. More details are coming during an earnings call on May 4th.
The firm had already laid off 13 percent of its team in November last year. This latest decision also follows just weeks after co-founder Logan Green stepped down as CEO following a rough earnings call. Green said the company would have to boost spending to remain competitive with Uber. While neither Lyft nor Uber has turned a profit on an annual basis, Uber was profitable last quarter thanks to investments in other businesses.
New Lyft chief (and former Amazon executive) David Risher, who started this month, has called for streamlined business and a renewed focus on the “needs of riders and drivers.” He’s part of a broader executive shakeup that sees president and co-founder John Zimmer move to the board of directors, where Green still has a role.
Lyft is far from alone. Numerous tech giants have laid off staff in 2023, in many cases due to a rough global economy. However, its rival Uber has so far avoided severe cuts in recent months. Layoffs.fyisays Uber laid off about 60 engineers in Lithuania last fall, and 150 Uber Freight workers in January. This doesn’t guarantee that Uber will avoid trouble, but it suggests the ride hailing giant is feeling less pressure than Lyft.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lyft-is-laying-off-26-percent-of-employees-172550913.html?src=rss
We’ve all been there: You’re in a conversation with friends, and you desperately try to find a TikTok that you had scrolled past that could serve as a funny contribution to the current topic of conversation. You hastily search and scroll through the app and finally find it, but it’s too late—your companions have moved…
Fans of the long-dormant Armored Core series can look forward to the franchise’s return before long, as FromSoftware announced today that Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon launches on August 25th. In addition, there is a new trailer and fresh story / gameplay details that shed more light on the upcoming mecha-based title.
Announced at The Game Awards 2022, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is the franchise’s first mainline game in over a decade. Fresh off the success of the acclaimed Elden Ring, FromSoftware had previously said the new entry is a reboot that will take advantage of the developer’s expanded resources to make the Armored Core game it always “wanted to make” while honoring the 26-year-old franchise’s roots, according to president Hidetaka Miyazaki. “What we are aiming to create with AC6,” game director Masaru Yamamura toldXbox Wire, “is a new mech action game as a product of what the current day FromSoftware can output.”
Armored Core VI’s story is set on the planet Rubicon, where a precious but dangerous resource called Coral is discovered. Having previously been turned to ash by a massive disaster (thanks to Coral), Rubicon is a world of “hollowed-out industrial ruins” only barely concealed beneath a corporate “shiny shell of state-of-the-art mining constructs encasing the planet.” Whether the game flies or not, that’s a fun premise with plenty of opportunities for staggering set pieces (which you can see in the trailer) and real-world metaphors with present-day relevance.
“It’s an intricate and multi-layered world, brimming with mega-structures and enormous underground facilities built by its former inhabitants. These structures cover a planetary surface wracked with extreme cold and contamination in the aftermath of the great disaster, and the player will be exploring these various environments as they proceed,” game director Masaru Yamamura explained toPlayStation blog.
New gameplay features include the new Assault Boost, a button-triggered skill that lets you instantly switch between long-range shooting and melee. “Assault Boost is an offensive action that helps close the gap between enemies and lets you quickly go from long distance to close range,” Yamamura said. “Say you activate Assault Boost to make your approach while using machine gun fire and a missile salvo to stagger the enemy, then use your pulse blade to score a direct melee hit once you’re up close.”
The developer says it’s building on and fine-tuning the franchise’s familiar customization. “The main thing we focused on in AC6 was to make sure that this customization element is not just about the parameters going up and down and numerical values; we want to reflect these changes in customization in the way the game and action feel as much as possible,” said Yamamura. “For example, you obviously you have the head, core, arms, and leg parts of the AC. The leg parts in particular control the mech’s movement and so these will change the basic behavior of the AC depending what type they are. Like, tank-type legs will be able to perform drift turns. Weapons will differ in terms of how they fire, how much recoil they have, and how the projectiles behave. We’ve been conscious of how this all affects the game feel and the individuality of different builds.”
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon launches on August 25th, and you can pre-order it now (in a $60 standard edition or $70 deluxe edition) for PlayStation 5 / 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One and PC.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-delivers-fast-paced-mech-combat-this-august-172837938.html?src=rss
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to play Super Smash Bros. a decade before it came out — with online gaming tech that didn’t exist in the 80s — Super Tilt Bro. is your answer. The retro homebrew NES game pays homage to Nintendo’s fighting franchise (while steering clear of Nintendo IP) in a lovingly crafted passion project now seeking funding on Kickstarter.
The platform-fighting game will ship as an NES cartridge using a custom memory management controller (MMC) with a WiFi chipset and antenna, allowing for online matches and software updates. It even uses modern tricks like rollback netcode, which predicts each player’s moves to account for potential network lag, correcting itself quickly if needed. In addition to online play, you can enjoy local co-op or try its solo story mode with AI-controlled opponents. It’s retro gaming with some modern luxuries, and Ars Technicanotes that it “shines when played on a real NES and CRT television set.”
Super Tilt Bro. has been years in the making. Developer Sylvain Gadrat began work in 2016 on an ode to both the Smash Bros. franchise and NES pixel art aesthetics. After soliciting feedback from friends and fellow enthusiasts, Gadrat unveiled the retro platformer’s first version two years later, with subsequent iterations fine-tuning the game engine while adding new characters, stages and initial online capabilities. He even shipped a more rudimentary WiFi-friendly cartridge in a limited run of 50 copies. In sum, this isn’t some hasty money grab: Today’s version is the culmination of seven years of dedication.
At publication, the game’s Kickstarter campaign has raised nearly $60,000, surpassing its initial $44,182 goal with 26 days to go. If you want to contribute, you’ll need to pay €55 (just over $60) for a WiFi-capable cartridge; a €15 pledge will get you a digital copy to play with an emulator. Delivery is expected in April 2024. Finally, you can download a demo here to see if Super Tilt Bro.’s retro vibe suits you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/super-tilt-bro-is-like-nes-smash-bros-with-online-matches-193043097.html?src=rss
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