Hasta La Gadget!

A decade after its untimely demise and countless clones later, the original Flappy Bird is coming back. Under the banner of the Flappy Bird Foundation, some dedicated fans acquired the rights to the viral mobile hit, per a press release. Flappy Bird will return to iOS and Android as native mobile apps in 2025. But you’ll be able to play it elsewhere before then. The team is planning to bring the game to other platforms, such as desktop and the mobile web, starting this fall.

The Flappy Bird Foundation has some big plans for the revived title, and it showed off some of those in a trailer. While maintaining the original game design is key, you can also expect new modes, characters, progression and multiplayer challenges.

A blend of difficult gameplay and a crude art style (including pipes that seemed very inspired by Mario games) helped Flappy Bird become a sensation. The challenge posed by tapping the screen to flap the bird’s wings and squeeze through gaps between pipes caught the imagination of legions of gamers — more than 100 million of them, according to the Flappy Bird Foundation.

Flappy Bird debuted in May 2013 but it didn’t blow up until the following January. Developer Dong Nguyen soon revealed that the game was raking in $50,000 per day from advertising. However, Flappy Bird‘s success was all too much for its creator. Nguyen removed it from the App Store and Google Play in February 2014 for seemingly altruistic reasons (though he brought another version to Amazon Fire TV later that year).

“Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” he told Forbes. “But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever.” Thankfully for fans (but maybe not people who were reselling old phones with the original game still installed), “forever” isn’t necessarily permanent.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/flappy-bird-is-finally-returning-10-years-after-its-demise-142756765.html?src=rss

After slashing 1,900 jobs across Xbox and Activision earlier this year, Microsoft is laying off another 650 employees, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge. The cuts are again related to its Activision Blizzard acquisition and will mostly affect corporate and supporting functions, Xbox head Phil Spencer told employees. 

“We have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming… to organize our business for long term success,” Spencer wrote. “No games, devices or experiences are being cancelled and no studios are being closed as part of these adjustments today.” 

Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard in October 2023, following a 21-month battle with regulators in the US and UK. To clear the deal with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, Microsoft agreed to sell its cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft so that titles will appear on multiple game-streaming services. 

Since then, the company has closed multiple game studios, including Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games and Roundhouse Games. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-lays-off-another-650-xbox-employees-as-part-of-its-activision-deal-123042523.html?src=rss

September marks Suicide Prevention Month, a time to recognize the people impacted by suicide and suicidal thoughts, as well as the importance of working together to raise awareness and take preventive steps. A new collaboration aims to fulfill the latter, with Meta teaming up with the Mental Health Coalition to create Thrive, a signal-sharing program. Thrive should allow participating companies to send signals about content focused on self-harm or suicide to each other, thus locating and investigating the same or similar posts more easily. Snap and TikTok join Meta as founding members.

Thrive will initially work through companies providing hashes (codes corresponding to the violating content). Each one will only provide information about the image or video and shouldn’t include specific information about users or the account. Meta says it will prioritize content that is graphic or depicting or promoting viral challenges around suicide or self-harm.  

Meta announced the news in a statement and shared it’s providing Thrive’s technical infrastructure. The company, which has been far from a shining example in preventing harm on its site, also acknowledged the need for cross-platform collaboration. “Unfortunately this content isn’t limited to any one platform — especially when it comes to viral challenges — and it’s imperative that the technology industry works together to help prevent it from spreading,” said Antigone Davis, vice president of Global Safety at Meta. 

Thrive’s director, Dr. Dan Reidenberg, will oversee the program, stating, “The integration of signal sharing, coupled with cross-industry collaboration and moderated by an independent and neutral intermediary, represents a major breakthrough in industry collaboration and public protection on the global, public health crisis of suicide and ultimately save lives.”

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 or you can simply dial 988. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-and-the-mental-health-coalition-launch-a-data-sharing-program-to-reduce-violating-suicidal-content-124446825.html?src=rss

The Nintendo Switch is now over seven years old and due for a refresh, even if the storied console maker isn’t chasing technical specs, like its rival. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors (again, I’d wager real money it won’t be called that) have been bouncing around for years, even. Sometimes they teased DLSS, NVIDIA’s “deep learning supersampling” upscaling tech to add polish and higher resolution to existing Switch games. Other times, rumors just ended up being the OLED Switch — largely the same console as the original.

Will this be something like the Wii? Another left turn, console wise? Or something evolutionary, like the Wii U or GameBoy Color. It’s unlikely the company will ditch the hybrid form-factor as it effectively married home and portable consoles together — and is probably a huge reason for the Switch’s success.

We’re expecting it to be backwards compatible with the Switch’s game library, while Nintendo’s account system management should make it smoother to swap between console generations than in the past. Crucially, when will it launch? While it’s mostly speculation, Nintendo’s next console could arrive March 2025, but couch that with the necessary levels of skepticism.

We’ve pulled together all the reports, leaks and rumors right here.

— Mat Smith

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Adobe previews AI video tools that arrive later this year

You’ll be able to create AI clips from text, still images and existing video.

Adobe’s Firefly AI video generation tools will arrive in beta later this year. Like many things related to AI, the examples are equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying as the company slowly integrates tools built to automate much of the creative work done by folks who buy its software. The company, of course, reiterates that these tools are supplementary. Of course!

Continue reading.

The audio earrings Kamala Harris didn’t wear during the debate barely even exist

Sometimes, it’s not the tech.

Associated Press

With even Fox News and senior Republican figures admitting Vice President Kamala Harris won Tuesday night’s presidential debate, some supporters of former president Trump are chasing the same old conspiracy theories: an earpiece used during debates. A tale as old as 2012, the same accusations were cast at President Joe Biden in 2020, at Hillary Clinton in 2016 and at Barack Obama in 2012. However, internet sleuths’ finds boiled down to a Kickstarter startup called Nova and earring-styled earpieces that never quite made it beyond vaporware. We detangle the nonsense.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-700-ps5-pro-111538227.html?src=rss

You can save big on a Disney+ subscription if you can live with some ads. New and returning customers can get a Disney+ Basic (with ads) subscription for $2 monthly for three months. That tier is currently $8 per month and includes all Disney+ content.

A Disney+ Basic (with ads) subscription unlocks all of the platform’s series and movies. That includes Disney-branded originals, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, The Simpsons and National Geographic (among others). It even has Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) for the Swiftie in your life.

As for the fine print, the subscription will auto-renew at the full price after three months unless you cancel first. And that tier is about to get more expensive, increasing to $10 monthly starting on October 17. So, set a reminder to cancel if you only want to plow through Andor, the WandaVision spinoff Agatha All Along or The Acolyte’s first and only season before your three cheap months run out.

The deal is only eligible for those 18 or older and expires on September 27. If $2 streaming tickles your fancy, head to the Disney+ website to sign up or reactivate your subscription.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/disney-basic-is-only-6-for-three-months-in-this-limited-time-deal-070055707.html?src=rss