Hasta La Gadget!

Tom Clancy’s XDefiant is almost upon us. Ubisoft is releasing the free-to-play first-person shooter on May 21 for the Xbox Series X|S, the PS5 and PC through Ubisoft Connect. The developer is kicking things off with the preseason version of the game, which is scheduled to last for six weeks before XDefiant’s first season officially starts. Ubisoft announced the game way back in 2021, promising team-based matches with a focus on gunplay that will include elements from other games in the Tom Clancy universe.

The preseason will offer five different game modes with 14 maps, 24 weapons and five playable factions inspired by Ubisoft’s other franchises. Players will need to choose their faction before the match begins and before they respawn. They must also choose their primary and secondary weapon — their options include assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns and sniper rifles — and a grenade. To customize a weapon, they can add barrel and muzzle attachments, such as sights and grips. 

Each faction will give players access to two active abilities, one passive buff and another ultra ability that they have to charge up while the match is ongoing. Libertad, one of the available factions, puts a focus on healing, while members of the Cleaners faction can use fire to burn their opponents. Echelon players can reveal enemy locations with their stealth technology, whereas Phantoms’ abilities can block damage. The last faction available, DedSec, is for those who want to play as hackers. 

When the first season launches, Ubisoft is adding four new factions, 12 new weapons and 12 new maps to the game. According to the Year 1 roadmap the developer shared last year, it expects to roll out four seasons with the game’s first year, with each one adding more new content meant to keep players engaged, invested and more likely to come back and keep playing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ubisofts-first-person-shooter-xdefiant-is-launching-on-may-21-074940344.html?src=rss

The pandemic sucked. Four years ago we were all stuck at home, and would continue being stuck at home for months on end. With all of us trapped in our houses, some products experienced a serious COVID-19 bump. Grocery delivery services absolutely blew up, as did Zoom and the perfectly-timed Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

The same goes for Peloton and its line of exercise equipment. People were buying bikes and treadmills in droves, ballooning the company’s market cap from $6 billion to $50 billion. However, what goes up must come down, and Peloton’s market cap shrank to $10 billion by 2022 and now it rests at around $1 billion. The company’s pandemic-era success story has officially ended, and now it’s focused on cutting costs. So that means layoffs. Peloton is laying off 15 percent of its workforce, according to TechCrunch, which amounts to 400 people.

Aside from those massive cuts, the company is continuing to shut down brick-and-mortar showrooms. Barry McCarthy, the CEO, president and board director, is also stepping down after two years in the job. He was previously CFO at both Spotify and Netflix. Peloton says it’s currently in the process of finding a successor, with current chairperson, Karen Boone, and director, Chris Bruzzo, to serve as interim CEOs.

However, it is expanding international reach, announcing a more “targeted and efficient” marketing strategy overseas. Peloton hopes all of these steps combined will reduce annual expenses by $200 million by the end of its fiscal year 2025.

All of this comes after the company reported some really bad Q3 2024 revenue and loss numbers, with a 21 percent decline in paid subscriptions compared to 2023. Unfortunately, Q2 wasn’t much better. Not that the stock market really means anything, just look at Tesla or that bizarre Trump stock, but Peloton’s shares have gone from $156 in 2021 to, uh, less than $3 today.

These aren’t just “people going outside again” numbers, as the company has experienced its share of controversies that have nothing to do with the pandemic. The Tread+ treadmill was recalled after being linked to 90 injuries and the death of a child. Peloton also recalled over 2 million bikes over a safety issue. It’s been a bad few years. 

All of this doesn’t mean that Peloton can’t turn things around, as it’s a fairly iconic brand in the space. It sure has some work to do, however, to reverse this decline.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pelotons-pandemic-era-fairy-tale-is-officially-over-153619110.html?src=rss

The pandemic sucked. Four years ago we were all stuck at home, and would continue being stuck at home for months on end. With all of us trapped in our houses, some products experienced a serious COVID-19 bump. Grocery delivery services absolutely blew up, as did Zoom and the perfectly-timed Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

The same goes for Peloton and its line of exercise equipment. People were buying bikes and treadmills in droves, ballooning the company’s market cap from $6 billion to $50 billion. However, what goes up must come down, and Peloton’s market cap shrank to $10 billion by 2022 and now it rests at around $1 billion. The company’s pandemic-era success story has officially ended, and now it’s focused on cutting costs. So that means layoffs. Peloton is laying off 15 percent of its workforce, according to TechCrunch, which amounts to 400 people.

Aside from those massive cuts, the company is continuing to shut down brick-and-mortar showrooms. Barry McCarthy, the CEO, president and board director, is also stepping down after two years in the job. He was previously CFO at both Spotify and Netflix. Peloton says it’s currently in the process of finding a successor, with current chairperson, Karen Boone, and director, Chris Bruzzo, to serve as interim CEOs.

However, it is expanding international reach, announcing a more “targeted and efficient” marketing strategy overseas. Peloton hopes all of these steps combined will reduce annual expenses by $200 million by the end of its fiscal year 2025.

All of this comes after the company reported some really bad Q3 2024 revenue and loss numbers, with a 21 percent decline in paid subscriptions compared to 2023. Unfortunately, Q2 wasn’t much better. Not that the stock market really means anything, just look at Tesla or that bizarre Trump stock, but Peloton’s shares have gone from $156 in 2021 to, uh, less than $3 today.

These aren’t just “people going outside again” numbers, as the company has experienced its share of controversies that have nothing to do with the pandemic. The Tread+ treadmill was recalled after being linked to 90 injuries and the death of a child. Peloton also recalled over 2 million bikes over a safety issue. It’s been a bad few years. 

All of this doesn’t mean that Peloton can’t turn things around, as it’s a fairly iconic brand in the space. It sure has some work to do, however, to reverse this decline.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pelotons-pandemic-era-fairy-tale-is-officially-over-153619110.html?src=rss

There’s been a lot of talk about the Tesla Cybertruck having a deep desire to chomp people’s fingers off with its power frunk latch, but no one has been brave enough to stick their fingie in there and find out what happens… until now. So far, we’ve only seen various vegetables and dummy hands get crunched by the…

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Microsoft is celebrating World Password Day (IT folks deserve holidays, too!) by helping to kill them. The company has finally rolled out consumer passkey support for Microsoft accounts, nearly two years after Apple and Google.

Once you set it up, the passkey lets you sign into your Microsoft account using your face, fingerprint or device PIN. It works not only on Windows but also on Apple and Google’s mobile and desktop platforms.

Passkeys are an easier and more secure way to access your account. They use what’s called a cryptographic key pair to ensure only you can get in. One half of the pair is stored on your local device, only accessible via your secure local login. The other part stays on the app or website. Requiring both of them to sign in acts as a deterrent for things like password leaks and phishing attacks.

In addition to Apple, Google and now Microsoft, companies adopting passkeys include Amazon, 1Password, Dashlane, Docusign, eBay, PayPal and WhatsApp (among others). Google said on Thursday that its passkeys have already been used a billion times.

Microsoft’s passkey support works starting today on the company’s desktop apps and websites, including Microsoft 365 (Office) and its Copilot AI assistant. The Windows maker says passkey support for its mobile apps “will follow in the coming weeks.”

You can get started by signing into your Microsoft account here and following the instructions.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-finally-use-passkeys-to-sign-into-your-microsoft-account-155431241.html?src=rss