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We’ve been hearing rumors about the foldables Apple may or may not be making for years, from clamshell iPhone prototypes to plans for a foldable iPad, but the latest suggests we may also be in for something much bigger. According to Mark Gurman in the Power On newsletter this weekend, Apple is developing a foldable device with a display that opens up to be nearly 20 inches. The plan is for “something akin to a giant iPad that unfolds into the size of two iPad Pros side-by-side,” with elements of both iPad and Mac functionality, according to Gurman. The company is reportedly targeting a 2028 release.
Not only will the device be enormous, but Apple is also working to make it creaseless when opened, Gurman reports, which other companies have failed to do in their own foldables. Apple’s prototypes “have a nearly invisible crease,” he writes, but it’s not completely gone. The report comes about a week after a leak that described a similar device with an 18.8-inch display that’s allegedly due to be released between 2028 and 2030. Gurman predicts the foldable will run on “iPadOS or a variant of it.”.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/apple-is-reportedly-trying-to-make-a-giant-ipad-like-foldable-with-no-crease-160821177.html?src=rss

We’ve been hearing rumors about the foldables Apple may or may not be making for years, from clamshell iPhone prototypes to plans for a foldable iPad, but the latest suggests we may also be in for something much bigger. According to Mark Gurman in the Power On newsletter this weekend, Apple is developing a foldable device with a display that opens up to be nearly 20 inches. The plan is for “something akin to a giant iPad that unfolds into the size of two iPad Pros side-by-side,” with elements of both iPad and Mac functionality, according to Gurman. The company is reportedly targeting a 2028 release.

Not only will the device be enormous, but Apple is also working to make it creaseless when opened, Gurman reports, which other companies have failed to do in their own foldables. Apple’s prototypes “have a nearly invisible crease,” he writes, but it’s not completely gone. The report comes about a week after a leak that described a similar device with an 18.8-inch display that’s allegedly due to be released between 2028 and 2030. Gurman predicts the foldable will run on “iPadOS or a variant of it.”.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/apple-is-reportedly-trying-to-make-a-giant-ipad-like-foldable-with-no-crease-160821177.html?src=rss

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We may see the next HDMI standard, HDMI 2.2, in only a matter of weeks. According to an email from the HDMI Forum sent around to press including Engadget this weekend, a new HDMI specification will be announced on Monday, January 6 in Las Vegas ahead of the official start to CES 2025. The details at this point are pretty scant — all we’re told is that the new spec “enables a wide range of higher resolutions and refresh rates and will be supported with a new HDMI Cable.”
It’s been seven years since the introduction of HDMI 2.1. It was most recently updated to version 2.1b in 2023, to support bandwidths of up to 48Gbps and resolutions up to 10K. The new specification with the next gen HDMI technology will bring higher bandwidth, according to the email. That’s about all we know now, but we’ll have a team on the ground at CES keeping you up to speed on this and all the other announcements as they come.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/hdmi-22-could-make-its-debut-at-ces-next-month-233627519.html?src=rss

We may see the next HDMI standard, HDMI 2.2, in only a matter of weeks. According to an email from the HDMI Forum sent around to press including Engadget this weekend, a new HDMI specification will be announced on Monday, January 6 in Las Vegas ahead of the official start to CES 2025. The details at this point are pretty scant — all we’re told is that the new spec “enables a wide range of higher resolutions and refresh rates and will be supported with a new HDMI Cable.”

It’s been seven years since the introduction of HDMI 2.1. It was most recently updated to version 2.1b in 2023, to support bandwidths of up to 48Gbps and resolutions up to 10K. The new specification with the next gen HDMI technology will bring higher bandwidth, according to the email. That’s about all we know now, but we’ll have a team on the ground at CES keeping you up to speed on this and all the other announcements as they come.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/hdmi-22-could-make-its-debut-at-ces-next-month-233627519.html?src=rss

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According to a report from Reuters, president-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is trying to kill a rule set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that requires automakers to report crashes if advanced driver assistance technology or automated driving systems were in use within 30 seconds of the crash. The NHTSA issued the Standing General Order in 2021, stating that its goal is to gather data that could help it identify potential safety issues. 
The data has been used in investigations into crashes involving six companies so far, including Tesla and GM’s Cruise (which is shutting down its robotaxi program as of this week). Tesla “despises” the reporting requirement and believes the data could be misleading to consumers, Reuters reports, citing sources close to Tesla executives. In a document seen by Reuters, the transition team in charge of making a 100-day strategy for automotive policy reportedly recommended that the incoming administration repeal the requirement, saying it calls for “excessive” data collection. 
It’s unknown whether Elon Musk — who donated over $250 million to help Trump get elected and was chosen to lead the new “Department of Government Efficiency” alongside Vivek Ramaswamy — had any hand in the recommendation. Tesla has reported over 1,500 crashes, and accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to the NHTSA, Reuters reports. But, according to University of South Carolina law professor Bryant Walker Smith, who spoke to Reuters, Tesla has more cars on the road with advanced driver assistance technology and collects more real-time crash data than other companies, which could make for a disproportionate number of incidents reported.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/trumps-team-reportedly-wants-to-end-nhtsa-reporting-requirement-for-car-crashes-involving-automated-systems-213720835.html?src=rss

According to a report from Reuters, president-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is trying to kill a rule set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that requires automakers to report crashes if advanced driver assistance technology or automated driving systems were in use within 30 seconds of the crash. The NHTSA issued the Standing General Order in 2021, stating that its goal is to gather data that could help it identify potential safety issues. 

The data has been used in investigations into crashes involving six companies so far, including Tesla and GM’s Cruise (which is shutting down its robotaxi program as of this week). Tesla “despises” the reporting requirement and believes the data could be misleading to consumers, Reuters reports, citing sources close to Tesla executives. In a document seen by Reuters, the transition team in charge of making a 100-day strategy for automotive policy reportedly recommended that the incoming administration repeal the requirement, saying it calls for “excessive” data collection. 

It’s unknown whether Elon Musk — who donated over $250 million to help Trump get elected and was chosen to lead the new “Department of Government Efficiency” alongside Vivek Ramaswamy — had any hand in the recommendation. Tesla has reported over 1,500 crashes, and accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to the NHTSA, Reuters reports. But, according to University of South Carolina law professor Bryant Walker Smith, who spoke to Reuters, Tesla has more cars on the road with advanced driver assistance technology and collects more real-time crash data than other companies, which could make for a disproportionate number of incidents reported.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/trumps-team-reportedly-wants-to-end-nhtsa-reporting-requirement-for-car-crashes-involving-automated-systems-213720835.html?src=rss

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The holiday season has barely begun, but some of us are already getting ready for CES 2025. Shortly after New Year’s Day, many from the Engadget team will be packing our bags to fly to Las Vegas, where we’ll be covering tech’s biggest annual conference. As usual, our inboxes are already flooded with pitches from companies that are planning to be there, and our calendars are filling up with appointments for briefings and demos.
Based on our experience, as well as observation of recent industry trends, it’s fairly easy to make educated predictions about what we might see in January. Over the years, the focus of the conference has spanned areas like TVs, cars, smart home products and personal health, with a smattering of laptops and accessories thrown in. At CES 2025, we expect to see AI get even more pervasive in all areas of the show floor. But we are also likely to get the usual slew of new processors and subsequent laptops, as well as all manner of wearables, trackers, bathroom appliances and massage chairs. Oh, the massage chairs.
If you’re already looking ahead to 2025 and are studiously researching what might be coming in January, here’s a taste of what our team expects to see at the show.
New video cards from AMD and NVIDIA
There’s no doubt 2025 is going to be a momentous year for PC gamers. NVIDIA is expected to debut its long-awaited RTX 5000 video cards at CES, while AMD CEO Lisa Su has confirmed we’ll see next-generation RDNA 4 GPUs early next year. Of the two companies, AMD could use the upgrade more. Its last batch of Radeon 7000 cards were decent mid-range performers, but they lagged far behind NVIDIA’s hardware when it came to ray tracing, and AMD’s FSR 3 upscaling also couldn’t compete with NVIDIA’s AI-powered DLSS 3.
“In addition to a strong increase in gaming performance, RDNA 4 delivers significantly higher ray-tracing performance and adds new AI capabilities,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said in an October earnings call.
As for NVIDIA’s new hardware, a rumor from the leaker OneRaichu (via DigitalTrends) suggested that the RTX 5090 could be up to 70 percent faster than the RTX 4090. (That’s a GPU that I previously described as having “unholy power.”) They also note that other “high level” cards could see 30 to 40 percent performance bumps. Those gains might be enough to tempt wealthy RTX 4090 owners to upgrade, but RTX 4070 and 4080 owners might want to skip this generation. For NVIDIA holdouts with RTX 3000 and earlier GPUs, though, next year may be the perfect time to upgrade. — Devindra Hardawar, senior reporter
AI PCs round 2
Last year, I predicted that AI PCs would dominate CES, and that mostly turned out to be true. As 2024 rolled on, we saw even more powerful NPUs in chips from Intel, AMD and Qualcomm. Microsoft also doubled down on AI PCs with its Copilot+ initiative, which gave a big marketing push for artificial intelligence features and premium specifications (like having at least 16GB of RAM).
Expect more of the same going into CES 2025, alongside even more AI being stuffed into every category of product imaginable. This year, in particular, PC makers are likely to gear up to take advantage of Windows 10 support ending next year. Instead of just upgrading your old computer to Windows 11, the likes of Dell and HP would rather you buy a whole new AI PC with the new OS pre-installed.
While 2024 was a year of endless AI PC hype, 2025 might end up being a year of reckoning. Microsoft’s long-delayed Recall feature is slowly trickling out to more users, but it’s already showing some glaring security holes, like failing to scrub social security and credit card numbers from screenshots. We’ve also been mostly underwhelmed with Apple Intelligence’s image generation capabilities. PC makers have been eager to talk up the potential of AI-powered features until now, but in 2025 they’ll have to actually prove they can live up to their fantastical claims. — D.H.
Earbuds that follow Apple’s lead on hearing health
I’m fully aware not every audio company has the ability to build out a clinical-grade hearing test and hearing aid features in their apps. However, Apple’s recent update for the AirPods Pro 2 should inspire the competition to offer some form of hearing health tools on their flagship products. Jabra was probably the best equipped to do this since parent company GN has extensive hearing aid experience. Sadly, the company announced earlier this year that it wouldn’t make earbuds anymore.
Samsung and Google could probably integrate something like what Apple made for the AirPods, given both companies’ existing health platforms. If they did, those announcements are unlikely to be made at CES, as both companies prefer to host their own standalone hardware events throughout the year.
That leaves Sennheiser as the biggest audio company that consistently launches earbuds and headphones at CES. Last year, it showcased multiple new models, including one with heart-rate tracking for workouts. Plus, it already offers hearing assistance with dedicated devices like the true wireless Conversation Clear Plus. Those earbuds are more hearing focused than for general content consumption, so it would be great to see Sennheiser bring some features from that product to its flagship Momentum line of earbuds. Perhaps a Momentum True Wireless 4 Pro or Plus is in the cards, but the current model is just nine months old.
Of course, there’s plenty of room for other companies to innovate here, and there will be no shortage of new earbuds in Vegas next month. We also tend to see a ton of assistive devices and technology launch at CES, from major accessibility companies like OrCam and all manner of smaller brands. I just hope some of the new tech includes more general hearing tools on the models most people will want to use. — Billy Steele, senior editor
Vehicle electrification goes sky high
As the growth of electric cars nears 10 percent of new models sold in the US, it’s easy to forget that wheeled vehicles aren’t the only kind of transportation seeing the shift to battery-powered propulsion. Flying taxis have been a mainstay of CES for the past few years, with concept vehicles from brands as large as Hyundai dotting the show floor in Vegas.
Granted, these contraptions look more like giant drones with cockpits than anything the Jetsons ever dreamed up. But with companies like Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation pledging to actually launch eVTOL services (electric vertical take-off and landing) in 2025, the era of air taxis may have landed for real this time. — Sam Rutherford, senior reporter
Expanded dialog improvement features on soundbars
When it comes to the main aspects of soundbars, there really isn’t a ton of innovation from year to year. Heck, Samsung’s biggest update last year was the addition of HDMI 2.1 support to its flagship model, which should’ve been there already. Companies have also been focused on the transition to cable-free everything, whether that’s wireless Dolby Atmos or wireless transmission boxes. Audio enhancement features are a place where companies can really rise above the fray, and tools like Sonos’ TV Audio Swap and Bose’s Personal Surround Sound are great examples of this. A key area nearly every company can improve is dialog boost, a feature that raises the volume or separates spoken word from background noise and music for better clarity.
Sonos made a huge leap in this regard on the Arc Ultra, offering two additional settings for its so-called Speech Enhancement. Previously, this was just an all-or-nothing toggle, which is how most companies handle their versions of this tool. Not only is the Sonos update customizable to a degree, it’s also just better, thanks in part to the redesigned architecture of its new premium soundbar. This is an obvious area where other companies can improve.
LG and Samsung typically announce new soundbars at CES, and there are plenty of smaller companies that will debut some too. I’d love to see all of them take dialog enhancements a step further and at the very least give multiple options for how it’s applied. LG has been using AI Sound Pro from its TVs since 2021 and Samsung offers something called Adaptive Sound on its home theater speakers. I would expect them both to generally improve the quality of their features, but I’m hoping they’ll expand the capabilities too. — B.S.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ces-2025-preview-the-new-technology-were-expecting-and-hoping-to-see-in-las-vegas-200052618.html?src=rss

The holiday season has barely begun, but some of us are already getting ready for CES 2025. Shortly after New Year’s Day, many from the Engadget team will be packing our bags to fly to Las Vegas, where we’ll be covering tech’s biggest annual conference. As usual, our inboxes are already flooded with pitches from companies that are planning to be there, and our calendars are filling up with appointments for briefings and demos.

Based on our experience, as well as observation of recent industry trends, it’s fairly easy to make educated predictions about what we might see in January. Over the years, the focus of the conference has spanned areas like TVs, cars, smart home products and personal health, with a smattering of laptops and accessories thrown in. At CES 2025, we expect to see AI get even more pervasive in all areas of the show floor. But we are also likely to get the usual slew of new processors and subsequent laptops, as well as all manner of wearables, trackers, bathroom appliances and massage chairs. Oh, the massage chairs.

If you’re already looking ahead to 2025 and are studiously researching what might be coming in January, here’s a taste of what our team expects to see at the show.

New video cards from AMD and NVIDIA

There’s no doubt 2025 is going to be a momentous year for PC gamers. NVIDIA is expected to debut its long-awaited RTX 5000 video cards at CES, while AMD CEO Lisa Su has confirmed we’ll see next-generation RDNA 4 GPUs early next year. Of the two companies, AMD could use the upgrade more. Its last batch of Radeon 7000 cards were decent mid-range performers, but they lagged far behind NVIDIA’s hardware when it came to ray tracing, and AMD’s FSR 3 upscaling also couldn’t compete with NVIDIA’s AI-powered DLSS 3.

“In addition to a strong increase in gaming performance, RDNA 4 delivers significantly higher ray-tracing performance and adds new AI capabilities,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said in an October earnings call.

As for NVIDIA’s new hardware, a rumor from the leaker OneRaichu (via DigitalTrends) suggested that the RTX 5090 could be up to 70 percent faster than the RTX 4090. (That’s a GPU that I previously described as having “unholy power.”) They also note that other “high level” cards could see 30 to 40 percent performance bumps. Those gains might be enough to tempt wealthy RTX 4090 owners to upgrade, but RTX 4070 and 4080 owners might want to skip this generation. For NVIDIA holdouts with RTX 3000 and earlier GPUs, though, next year may be the perfect time to upgrade. — Devindra Hardawar, senior reporter

AI PCs round 2

Last year, I predicted that AI PCs would dominate CES, and that mostly turned out to be true. As 2024 rolled on, we saw even more powerful NPUs in chips from Intel, AMD and Qualcomm. Microsoft also doubled down on AI PCs with its Copilot+ initiative, which gave a big marketing push for artificial intelligence features and premium specifications (like having at least 16GB of RAM).

Expect more of the same going into CES 2025, alongside even more AI being stuffed into every category of product imaginable. This year, in particular, PC makers are likely to gear up to take advantage of Windows 10 support ending next year. Instead of just upgrading your old computer to Windows 11, the likes of Dell and HP would rather you buy a whole new AI PC with the new OS pre-installed.

While 2024 was a year of endless AI PC hype, 2025 might end up being a year of reckoning. Microsoft’s long-delayed Recall feature is slowly trickling out to more users, but it’s already showing some glaring security holes, like failing to scrub social security and credit card numbers from screenshots. We’ve also been mostly underwhelmed with Apple Intelligence’s image generation capabilities. PC makers have been eager to talk up the potential of AI-powered features until now, but in 2025 they’ll have to actually prove they can live up to their fantastical claims. — D.H.

Earbuds that follow Apple’s lead on hearing health

I’m fully aware not every audio company has the ability to build out a clinical-grade hearing test and hearing aid features in their apps. However, Apple’s recent update for the AirPods Pro 2 should inspire the competition to offer some form of hearing health tools on their flagship products. Jabra was probably the best equipped to do this since parent company GN has extensive hearing aid experience. Sadly, the company announced earlier this year that it wouldn’t make earbuds anymore.

Samsung and Google could probably integrate something like what Apple made for the AirPods, given both companies’ existing health platforms. If they did, those announcements are unlikely to be made at CES, as both companies prefer to host their own standalone hardware events throughout the year.

That leaves Sennheiser as the biggest audio company that consistently launches earbuds and headphones at CES. Last year, it showcased multiple new models, including one with heart-rate tracking for workouts. Plus, it already offers hearing assistance with dedicated devices like the true wireless Conversation Clear Plus. Those earbuds are more hearing focused than for general content consumption, so it would be great to see Sennheiser bring some features from that product to its flagship Momentum line of earbuds. Perhaps a Momentum True Wireless 4 Pro or Plus is in the cards, but the current model is just nine months old.

Of course, there’s plenty of room for other companies to innovate here, and there will be no shortage of new earbuds in Vegas next month. We also tend to see a ton of assistive devices and technology launch at CES, from major accessibility companies like OrCam and all manner of smaller brands. I just hope some of the new tech includes more general hearing tools on the models most people will want to use. — Billy Steele, senior editor

Vehicle electrification goes sky high

As the growth of electric cars nears 10 percent of new models sold in the US, it’s easy to forget that wheeled vehicles aren’t the only kind of transportation seeing the shift to battery-powered propulsion. Flying taxis have been a mainstay of CES for the past few years, with concept vehicles from brands as large as Hyundai dotting the show floor in Vegas.

Granted, these contraptions look more like giant drones with cockpits than anything the Jetsons ever dreamed up. But with companies like Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation pledging to actually launch eVTOL services (electric vertical take-off and landing) in 2025, the era of air taxis may have landed for real this time. — Sam Rutherford, senior reporter

Expanded dialog improvement features on soundbars

When it comes to the main aspects of soundbars, there really isn’t a ton of innovation from year to year. Heck, Samsung’s biggest update last year was the addition of HDMI 2.1 support to its flagship model, which should’ve been there already. Companies have also been focused on the transition to cable-free everything, whether that’s wireless Dolby Atmos or wireless transmission boxes. Audio enhancement features are a place where companies can really rise above the fray, and tools like Sonos’ TV Audio Swap and Bose’s Personal Surround Sound are great examples of this. A key area nearly every company can improve is dialog boost, a feature that raises the volume or separates spoken word from background noise and music for better clarity.

Sonos made a huge leap in this regard on the Arc Ultra, offering two additional settings for its so-called Speech Enhancement. Previously, this was just an all-or-nothing toggle, which is how most companies handle their versions of this tool. Not only is the Sonos update customizable to a degree, it’s also just better, thanks in part to the redesigned architecture of its new premium soundbar. This is an obvious area where other companies can improve.

LG and Samsung typically announce new soundbars at CES, and there are plenty of smaller companies that will debut some too. I’d love to see all of them take dialog enhancements a step further and at the very least give multiple options for how it’s applied. LG has been using AI Sound Pro from its TVs since 2021 and Samsung offers something called Adaptive Sound on its home theater speakers. I would expect them both to generally improve the quality of their features, but I’m hoping they’ll expand the capabilities too. — B.S.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ces-2025-preview-the-new-technology-were-expecting-and-hoping-to-see-in-las-vegas-200052618.html?src=rss

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Meta sent a letter to California’s attorney general on Thursday urging him to stop OpenAI from converting to a for-profit company, a move that Meta says would be “wrong” and “could lead to a proliferation of similar start-up ventures that are notionally charitable until they are potentially profitable.” The letter from Meta Platforms to Attorney General Rob Bonta, first reported on by The Wall Street Journal, comes on the heels of an injunction filed by Elon Musk at the end of November that also asked for OpenAI’s conversion to be blocked.
Meta argues in its letter, which The Verge has published in full, that OpenAI was able to raise billions of dollars from investors under its original nonprofit mission and now “wants to change its status while retaining all of the benefits that enabled it to reach the point it has today.” It goes on to say, “OpenAI should not be allowed to flout the law by taking and reappropriating assets it built as a charity and using them for potentially enormous private gains.” The letter also calls upon the attorney general to look into OpenAI’s past practices as a nonprofit. Engadget has reached out to OpenAI for comment.
Meta’s letter also voices support for Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis to represent public interests in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, which was revived in August. On Friday, OpenAI published a timeline citing emails and other communications from Elon Musk to show how he previously pushed for OpenAI to become a for-profit with him at the helm. 
In a statement shared with The Verge in response to Meta’s letter, OpenAI board chair Bret Taylor said, “While our work remains ongoing as we continue to consult independent financial and legal advisors, any potential restructuring would ensure the nonprofit continues to exist and thrive, and receives full value for its current stake in the OpenAI for-profit with an enhanced ability to pursue its mission.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/now-meta-is-trying-to-stop-openais-for-profit-conversion-too-181623327.html?src=rss

Meta sent a letter to California’s attorney general on Thursday urging him to stop OpenAI from converting to a for-profit company, a move that Meta says would be “wrong” and “could lead to a proliferation of similar start-up ventures that are notionally charitable until they are potentially profitable.” The letter from Meta Platforms to Attorney General Rob Bonta, first reported on by The Wall Street Journal, comes on the heels of an injunction filed by Elon Musk at the end of November that also asked for OpenAI’s conversion to be blocked.

Meta argues in its letter, which The Verge has published in full, that OpenAI was able to raise billions of dollars from investors under its original nonprofit mission and now “wants to change its status while retaining all of the benefits that enabled it to reach the point it has today.” It goes on to say, “OpenAI should not be allowed to flout the law by taking and reappropriating assets it built as a charity and using them for potentially enormous private gains.” The letter also calls upon the attorney general to look into OpenAI’s past practices as a nonprofit. Engadget has reached out to OpenAI for comment.

Meta’s letter also voices support for Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis to represent public interests in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, which was revived in August. On Friday, OpenAI published a timeline citing emails and other communications from Elon Musk to show how he previously pushed for OpenAI to become a for-profit with him at the helm. 

In a statement shared with The Verge in response to Meta’s letter, OpenAI board chair Bret Taylor said, “While our work remains ongoing as we continue to consult independent financial and legal advisors, any potential restructuring would ensure the nonprofit continues to exist and thrive, and receives full value for its current stake in the OpenAI for-profit with an enhanced ability to pursue its mission.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/now-meta-is-trying-to-stop-openais-for-profit-conversion-too-181623327.html?src=rss

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The annual Game Awards came and went this week, bringing a ton of announcements and trailers for upcoming games, and crowning 2024’s game of the year: Astro Bot. Riding the excitement, The Game Awards has already announced the date for next year’s event. It’ll take place on December 11, 2025 at LA’s Peacock Theater.

#TheGameAwards returns on Thursday, December 11, 2025 to @peacock_theater in Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/vueA0jW3V0— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 13, 2024

As always, The Game Awards on Thursday treated us to an orchestra performance of music from the GOTY nominees, and it goes so hard. That includes music from Astro Bot, Balatro and Black Myth: Wukong. It’s definitely worth checking it out if you missed it during the stream. 
Among the trailers, we got a surprise look at The Witcher 4 from CD Projekt RED and an Elden Ring spinoff called Nightreign, a co-op action game coming out in 2025. We also saw previews for Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Split Fiction from Hazelight, a cute-but-spooky new co-op game called Stage Fright from the team behind Overcooked, and over a dozen other upcoming titles.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-game-awards-has-already-set-a-date-for-its-2025-show-155936829.html?src=rss

The annual Game Awards came and went this week, bringing a ton of announcements and trailers for upcoming games, and crowning 2024’s game of the year: Astro Bot. Riding the excitement, The Game Awards has already announced the date for next year’s event. It’ll take place on December 11, 2025 at LA’s Peacock Theater.

As always, The Game Awards on Thursday treated us to an orchestra performance of music from the GOTY nominees, and it goes so hard. That includes music from Astro Bot, Balatro and Black Myth: Wukong. It’s definitely worth checking it out if you missed it during the stream. 

Among the trailers, we got a surprise look at The Witcher 4 from CD Projekt RED and an Elden Ring spinoff called Nightreign, a co-op action game coming out in 2025. We also saw previews for Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Split Fiction from Hazelight, a cute-but-spooky new co-op game called Stage Fright from the team behind Overcooked, and over a dozen other upcoming titles.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-game-awards-has-already-set-a-date-for-its-2025-show-155936829.html?src=rss

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A federal court has denied TikTok’s request for a temporary pause of a law that could result in a ban of the app next month. The ruling, which came in response to an emergency injunction filed by TikTok earlier this week, is the latest legal setback for the company as it tries to avoid a total ban of its app in the United States.
In its request for a delay in the law taking effect, TikTok indicated that it planned to appeal to the Supreme Court. The company’s lawyers also cited the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump may want to take a different approach given some of Trump’s past comments about the app. But in a brief order, a panel of three judges denied that request, writing that such a pause was “unwarranted.”
TikTok’s future now depends on the Supreme Court, though there’s no guarantee the court will agree to hear the case. “As we have previously stated, we plan on taking this case to the Supreme Court, which has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech,” the company said in a statement. “The voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world will be silenced on January 19th, 2025 unless the TikTok ban is halted.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-loses-its-bid-to-pause-the-law-that-could-ban-it-next-month-004200884.html?src=rss

A federal court has denied TikTok’s request for a temporary pause of a law that could result in a ban of the app next month. The ruling, which came in response to an emergency injunction filed by TikTok earlier this week, is the latest legal setback for the company as it tries to avoid a total ban of its app in the United States.

In its request for a delay in the law taking effect, TikTok indicated that it planned to appeal to the Supreme Court. The company’s lawyers also cited the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump may want to take a different approach given some of Trump’s past comments about the app. But in a brief order, a panel of three judges denied that request, writing that such a pause was “unwarranted.”

TikTok’s future now depends on the Supreme Court, though there’s no guarantee the court will agree to hear the case. “As we have previously stated, we plan on taking this case to the Supreme Court, which has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech,” the company said in a statement. “The voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world will be silenced on January 19th, 2025 unless the TikTok ban is halted.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-loses-its-bid-to-pause-the-law-that-could-ban-it-next-month-004200884.html?src=rss

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has seen an alarming rise in gamified job scams over the past year. The FTC says that reports of job scams have quadrupled each year since 2022 topping out at 20,000 reports at a cost of $41 million in total during the first six months of the year.
Job or task scams often involve the scammer asking someone to do a relatively simple task online such as liking videos or rating product images in assigned sets using terms like “product boosting” or “app optimization,” according to the FTC. People are promised higher payments for completing a certain amount of sets that may pay out small amounts at first but they end up costing more than they pay out in the long run.
Scammers will reach out to people via text messages or communication apps like Whatsapp offering them a task job. The most common type of this scam usually involves some kind of cryptocurrency. Then the scammer may ask their target to deposit some money or “charge up” their account through an app in order to start working on new and bigger sets of tasks. They may even try to convince their victims by hearing testimonials from fake recipients about how much money they made for completing relatively simple tasks.
The victim will “charge up” their accounts with their own money in order to avoid losing what the app shows they’ve earned in the hopes they’ll get their deposited money and the fee they are owed. Instead, the money they’ve been paid isn’t real and any money they’ve deposited to “charge up” their account is lost for good.
The FTC recommends ignoring offers from unknown text or WhatsApp messages and never paying someone for the promise of being paid at a later time or date. The commission also recommends steering clear of any job offers that involve rating or liking things online, a practice the FTC says is “illegal and no honest company will do it.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/the-ftc-warns-gamified-job-scams-are-on-the-rise-233029615.html?src=rss

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has seen an alarming rise in gamified job scams over the past year. The FTC says that reports of job scams have quadrupled each year since 2022 topping out at 20,000 reports at a cost of $41 million in total during the first six months of the year.

Job or task scams often involve the scammer asking someone to do a relatively simple task online such as liking videos or rating product images in assigned sets using terms like “product boosting” or “app optimization,” according to the FTC. People are promised higher payments for completing a certain amount of sets that may pay out small amounts at first but they end up costing more than they pay out in the long run.

Scammers will reach out to people via text messages or communication apps like Whatsapp offering them a task job. The most common type of this scam usually involves some kind of cryptocurrency. Then the scammer may ask their target to deposit some money or “charge up” their account through an app in order to start working on new and bigger sets of tasks. They may even try to convince their victims by hearing testimonials from fake recipients about how much money they made for completing relatively simple tasks.

The victim will “charge up” their accounts with their own money in order to avoid losing what the app shows they’ve earned in the hopes they’ll get their deposited money and the fee they are owed. Instead, the money they’ve been paid isn’t real and any money they’ve deposited to “charge up” their account is lost for good.

The FTC recommends ignoring offers from unknown text or WhatsApp messages and never paying someone for the promise of being paid at a later time or date. The commission also recommends steering clear of any job offers that involve rating or liking things online, a practice the FTC says is “illegal and no honest company will do it.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/the-ftc-warns-gamified-job-scams-are-on-the-rise-233029615.html?src=rss

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OpenAI published receipts, in the form of a long timeline of emails, texts and legal filings, illustrating that Elon Musk’s injunction to prevent OpenAI from converting into a for-profit company runs counter to what he wanted in 2017. Essentially, OpenAI is providing even more evidence to the fact that its former co-founder wanted the AI startup to become a for-profit company and make him CEO.
You should read the whole blog to get all of the details (and get a sense for how billionaires email) but the gist is that in 2017, Musk and OpenAI came to an understanding that the then non-profit needed to become a for-profit to “advance its mission” and seemingly capitalize on the public interest earned from its AI beating professional Dota 2 players in one-on-one matches. According to OpenAI, Musk proposed a new board structure where he “would unequivocally have initial control of the company,” which OpenAI was opposed to. That led to the disagreements between Musk and OpenAI leadership, and him ultimately leaving the nonprofit’s board in 2018. xAI, Musk’s AI startup that’s a direct competitor to OpenAI, was started in 2023.
It’s pretty clear what OpenAI is trying to do here. Musk first sued OpenAI in March 2024 over the company’s dealings with Microsoft and the belief they violated its non-profit status. He dropped the suit not long after OpenAI published a blog with emails that suggested Musk wanted OpenAI to either merge with Tesla or make him CEO. OpenAI’s new blog expands on all those details with new material and seems set up to achieve a similar effect.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-published-more-of-elon-musks-emails-if-thats-something-you-want-to-read-225614986.html?src=rss

OpenAI published receipts, in the form of a long timeline of emails, texts and legal filings, illustrating that Elon Musk’s injunction to prevent OpenAI from converting into a for-profit company runs counter to what he wanted in 2017. Essentially, OpenAI is providing even more evidence to the fact that its former co-founder wanted the AI startup to become a for-profit company and make him CEO.

You should read the whole blog to get all of the details (and get a sense for how billionaires email) but the gist is that in 2017, Musk and OpenAI came to an understanding that the then non-profit needed to become a for-profit to “advance its mission” and seemingly capitalize on the public interest earned from its AI beating professional Dota 2 players in one-on-one matches. According to OpenAI, Musk proposed a new board structure where he “would unequivocally have initial control of the company,” which OpenAI was opposed to. That led to the disagreements between Musk and OpenAI leadership, and him ultimately leaving the nonprofit’s board in 2018. xAI, Musk’s AI startup that’s a direct competitor to OpenAI, was started in 2023.

It’s pretty clear what OpenAI is trying to do here. Musk first sued OpenAI in March 2024 over the company’s dealings with Microsoft and the belief they violated its non-profit status. He dropped the suit not long after OpenAI published a blog with emails that suggested Musk wanted OpenAI to either merge with Tesla or make him CEO. OpenAI’s new blog expands on all those details with new material and seems set up to achieve a similar effect.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-published-more-of-elon-musks-emails-if-thats-something-you-want-to-read-225614986.html?src=rss

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Bosch is the latest recipient of (preliminary) CHIPS and Science Act funding. The company signed a non-binding agreement with the US Commerce Department and could receive up to $225 million in funding.
Lest you think Amazon’s gruff crime solver somehow got a piece of the action, Bosch is also a German multinational corporation that makes… just about everything under the sun. (That even includes a stink-removal machine!) The company recently accelerated its silicon development, buying TSI Semiconductors in 2023 and finalizing the deal early this year. But instead of focusing on cutting-edge silicon for computers, phones and AI, Bosch specializes in chips for the auto industry.
The company plans to use the funds on the Roseville, CA facility it acquired in the TSI deal. The company will invest up to $1.9 billion to convert the plant into one that spits out silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, which are used to boost the efficiency of EV driving and charging. Bosch expects the first 200mm wafers to come off the line there in 2026.
“The Roseville investment enables Bosch to locally produce silicon carbide semiconductors, supporting US consumers on the path to electrification,” Paul Thomas, president of Bosch in North America and Bosch Mobility Americas, wrote in a statement.
Bosch’s Roseville, CA silicon plantBosch
In addition to boosting America’s primacy in the chip industry, the CHIPS Act’s other goal is job creation. The White House says the proposed funding would create up to 1,700 jobs, including 1,000 in construction and 700 in manufacturing, engineering and R&D.
“Today’s agreement catalyzes nearly $2 billion of private investment and the creation of over 1,700 jobs, while investing in a critical technology relied upon on by our defense and auto industry,” wrote Natalie Quillian, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
In November, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading advanced chip maker, was the first to have its CHIPS Act grants (to the tune of $6.6 billion) finalized. Other recipients include Intel (although its funding was recently cut), HP, Samsung, GlobalFoundries, Texas Instruments and Rocket Lab.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/bosch-signs-agreement-for-up-to-225-million-in-chips-act-funding-211031263.html?src=rss

Bosch is the latest recipient of (preliminary) CHIPS and Science Act funding. The company signed a non-binding agreement with the US Commerce Department and could receive up to $225 million in funding.

Lest you think Amazon’s gruff crime solver somehow got a piece of the action, Bosch is also a German multinational corporation that makes… just about everything under the sun. (That even includes a stink-removal machine!) The company recently accelerated its silicon development, buying TSI Semiconductors in 2023 and finalizing the deal early this year. But instead of focusing on cutting-edge silicon for computers, phones and AI, Bosch specializes in chips for the auto industry.

The company plans to use the funds on the Roseville, CA facility it acquired in the TSI deal. The company will invest up to $1.9 billion to convert the plant into one that spits out silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, which are used to boost the efficiency of EV driving and charging. Bosch expects the first 200mm wafers to come off the line there in 2026.

“The Roseville investment enables Bosch to locally produce silicon carbide semiconductors, supporting US consumers on the path to electrification,” Paul Thomas, president of Bosch in North America and Bosch Mobility Americas, wrote in a statement.

Bosch’s Roseville, CA silicon plant

In addition to boosting America’s primacy in the chip industry, the CHIPS Act’s other goal is job creation. The White House says the proposed funding would create up to 1,700 jobs, including 1,000 in construction and 700 in manufacturing, engineering and R&D.

“Today’s agreement catalyzes nearly $2 billion of private investment and the creation of over 1,700 jobs, while investing in a critical technology relied upon on by our defense and auto industry,” wrote Natalie Quillian, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff.

In November, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading advanced chip maker, was the first to have its CHIPS Act grants (to the tune of $6.6 billion) finalized. Other recipients include Intel (although its funding was recently cut), HP, Samsung, GlobalFoundries, Texas Instruments and Rocket Lab.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/bosch-signs-agreement-for-up-to-225-million-in-chips-act-funding-211031263.html?src=rss

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