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Apple introduced some new tools to its Apple Business Connect program that could be useful for the everyday consumer. The most notable update is the introduction of Business Caller ID. When this feature rolls out next year, companies of any size can register to have their name, logo and department appear when they contact customers. In practice, that can help people distinguish between a phone call from a legitimate business and spam.
Apple Business Connect allows companies to have more control over how they appear within different apps across the Apple ecosystem. In 2023, Apple offered businesses customization for their listings in Maps, Messages, Siri and Wallet. Today’s updates make Business Connect branding tools available to any company, including those without a brick-and-mortar location. In addition to the eventual rollout of Business Caller ID, the program is also adding brand info within the Mail and Phone apps. Participating companies can also add their logo to the Tap to Pay feature for contactless payments.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-will-launch-a-business-caller-id-service-next-year-223913262.html?src=rss

Apple introduced some new tools to its Apple Business Connect program that could be useful for the everyday consumer. The most notable update is the introduction of Business Caller ID. When this feature rolls out next year, companies of any size can register to have their name, logo and department appear when they contact customers. In practice, that can help people distinguish between a phone call from a legitimate business and spam.

Apple Business Connect allows companies to have more control over how they appear within different apps across the Apple ecosystem. In 2023, Apple offered businesses customization for their listings in Maps, Messages, Siri and Wallet. Today’s updates make Business Connect branding tools available to any company, including those without a brick-and-mortar location. In addition to the eventual rollout of Business Caller ID, the program is also adding brand info within the Mail and Phone apps. Participating companies can also add their logo to the Tap to Pay feature for contactless payments.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-will-launch-a-business-caller-id-service-next-year-223913262.html?src=rss

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Newly unsealed grand jury documents revealed that two Sudanese nationals allegedly attempted to launch thousands of distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks on systems across the world. The documents allege that these hacks aimed to cause serious financial and technical harm to government entities and companies and even physical harm in some cases.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed charges against Ahmed Salah Yousif Omer and Alaa Salah Yusuuf Omer that resulted in federal grand jury indictments. The two are allegedly connected to more than 35,000 DDoS attacks against hundreds of organizations, websites and networks as part of a “hacktivism” scheme as part of the cybercrime group Anonymous Sudan and a for-profit cyberattack service.
Even though Anonymous Sudan claimed to be an activist group, the pair also held some companies and entity’s systems for ransom for rates as high as $1,700 per month.
Both face indictments for their role in the coordinated cyberattacks including one count each of conspiracy to damage protected computers. Ahmed also faces three additional counts of damaging protected computers and could receive a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison, according to court records filed last June in the US Central District Court of California.
The brothers’ activities date back to early 2023. The two used a distributed cloud attack tool (DCAT) referred to as “Skynet Botnet” in order to “conduct destructive DDoS attacks and publicly claim credit for them,” according to a DoJ statement. Ahmed posted a message on Anonymous Sudan’s Telegram channel, “The United States must be prepared, it will be a very big attack, like what we did in Israel, we will do in the United States ‘soon.’”
One of the indictments listed 145 “overt acts” on organizations and entities in the US, the European Union, Israel, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Skynet Botnet attacks attempted to disrupt services and networks in airports, software networks and companies including Cloudflare, X, Paypal and Microsoft that caused outages for Outlook and OneDrive in June of last year. The attacks also targeted state and federal government agencies and websites including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Pentagon and the DoJ and even hospitals including one major attack on Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles causing a slowdown of health care services as patients were diverted to other hospitals. The hospital attack led to the hacking charges against Ahmed that carry potential life sentences.
“3 hours+ and still holding,” Ahmed posted on Telegram in February, “they’re trying desperately to fix it but to no avail Bomb our hospitals in Gaza, we shut down yours too, eye for eye…”
FBI special agents gathered evidence of the pair’s illegal activities including logs showing that they sold access to Skynet Botnet to more than 100 customers to carry out attacks against various victims who worked with investigators including Cloudflare, Crowdstrike, Digital Ocean, Google, PayPal and others.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was one of Anonymous Sudan’s victims as part of the hacking-for-hire scheme, according to court records and an AWS statement. AWS security teams worked with FBI cybercrime investigators. Security teams discovered the attacks were coming from “an array of cloud-based servers, many of which were hosted at a US server-hosting provider.” The discovery helped the FBI determine that the Skynet Botnet attacks were coming from a DCAT instead of a botnet that forwarded the DDoS to its victims through cloud-based servers and open proxy resolvers.
Perhaps the group’s most brazen and dangerous attack took place in April of 2023 that targeted Israel’s rocket alert system called Red Alert. The mobile app provides real time updates for missile attacks and security threats. The DDoS attacks attempted to infiltrate some of Red Alert’s Internet domains. Ahmed claimed responsibility for the Red Alert attacks on Telegram along with similar DDoS strikes on Israeli utilities and the Jerusalem Post news website.
“This group’s attacks were callous and brazen — the defendants went so far as to attack hospitals providing emergency and urgent care to patients,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said in a released statement. “My office is committed to safeguarding our nation’s infrastructure and the people who use it, and we will hold cyber criminals accountable for the grave harm they cause.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/two-sudanese-brothers-accused-of-launching-a-dangerous-series-of-ddos-attacks-215638291.html?src=rss

Newly unsealed grand jury documents revealed that two Sudanese nationals allegedly attempted to launch thousands of distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks on systems across the world. The documents allege that these hacks aimed to cause serious financial and technical harm to government entities and companies and even physical harm in some cases.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed charges against Ahmed Salah Yousif Omer and Alaa Salah Yusuuf Omer that resulted in federal grand jury indictments. The two are allegedly connected to more than 35,000 DDoS attacks against hundreds of organizations, websites and networks as part of a “hacktivism” scheme as part of the cybercrime group Anonymous Sudan and a for-profit cyberattack service.

Even though Anonymous Sudan claimed to be an activist group, the pair also held some companies and entity’s systems for ransom for rates as high as $1,700 per month.

Both face indictments for their role in the coordinated cyberattacks including one count each of conspiracy to damage protected computers. Ahmed also faces three additional counts of damaging protected computers and could receive a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison, according to court records filed last June in the US Central District Court of California.

The brothers’ activities date back to early 2023. The two used a distributed cloud attack tool (DCAT) referred to as “Skynet Botnet” in order to “conduct destructive DDoS attacks and publicly claim credit for them,” according to a DoJ statement. Ahmed posted a message on Anonymous Sudan’s Telegram channel, “The United States must be prepared, it will be a very big attack, like what we did in Israel, we will do in the United States ‘soon.’”

One of the indictments listed 145 “overt acts” on organizations and entities in the US, the European Union, Israel, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Skynet Botnet attacks attempted to disrupt services and networks in airports, software networks and companies including Cloudflare, X, Paypal and Microsoft that caused outages for Outlook and OneDrive in June of last year. The attacks also targeted state and federal government agencies and websites including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Pentagon and the DoJ and even hospitals including one major attack on Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles causing a slowdown of health care services as patients were diverted to other hospitals. The hospital attack led to the hacking charges against Ahmed that carry potential life sentences.

“3 hours+ and still holding,” Ahmed posted on Telegram in February, “they’re trying desperately to fix it but to no avail Bomb our hospitals in Gaza, we shut down yours too, eye for eye…”

FBI special agents gathered evidence of the pair’s illegal activities including logs showing that they sold access to Skynet Botnet to more than 100 customers to carry out attacks against various victims who worked with investigators including Cloudflare, Crowdstrike, Digital Ocean, Google, PayPal and others.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) was one of Anonymous Sudan’s victims as part of the hacking-for-hire scheme, according to court records and an AWS statement. AWS security teams worked with FBI cybercrime investigators. Security teams discovered the attacks were coming from “an array of cloud-based servers, many of which were hosted at a US server-hosting provider.” The discovery helped the FBI determine that the Skynet Botnet attacks were coming from a DCAT instead of a botnet that forwarded the DDoS to its victims through cloud-based servers and open proxy resolvers.

Perhaps the group’s most brazen and dangerous attack took place in April of 2023 that targeted Israel’s rocket alert system called Red Alert. The mobile app provides real time updates for missile attacks and security threats. The DDoS attacks attempted to infiltrate some of Red Alert’s Internet domains. Ahmed claimed responsibility for the Red Alert attacks on Telegram along with similar DDoS strikes on Israeli utilities and the Jerusalem Post news website.

“This group’s attacks were callous and brazen — the defendants went so far as to attack hospitals providing emergency and urgent care to patients,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said in a released statement. “My office is committed to safeguarding our nation’s infrastructure and the people who use it, and we will hold cyber criminals accountable for the grave harm they cause.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/two-sudanese-brothers-accused-of-launching-a-dangerous-series-of-ddos-attacks-215638291.html?src=rss

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Amazon is sunsetting the Kindle Oasis. This decision means there will be no models of the ereader remaining with physical buttons for turning pages. “Once current inventory of Kindle Oasis sells out online and in stores, we will not restock the device,” Amazon rep Devon Corvasce told The Verge. “Today, all of our devices are touch-forward which is what our customers are comfortable with.”
The Oasis model debuted in 2016. Its lightweight, asymmetrical design for one-handed use was a standout, but the high price tag may have kept most people from really considering the product. If you are not most comfortable with a touch interface for your reading, there are still options for flipping pages via buttons on the market. The Kobo Libra Color is one of our favorites.
Even with the Oasis becoming nothing but a mirage, the Kindle family isn’t getting any smaller. Amazon announced several upgrades to the device line this week, including its first ever color ereader in the Kindle Colorsoft. We also got hands-on time with the latest Kindle Scribe and the Kindle Paperwhite has also received a refresh.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/the-kindle-oasis-will-be-discontinued-as-amazon-says-goodbye-to-page-turn-buttons-213538052.html?src=rss

Amazon is sunsetting the Kindle Oasis. This decision means there will be no models of the ereader remaining with physical buttons for turning pages. “Once current inventory of Kindle Oasis sells out online and in stores, we will not restock the device,” Amazon rep Devon Corvasce told The Verge. “Today, all of our devices are touch-forward which is what our customers are comfortable with.”

The Oasis model debuted in 2016. Its lightweight, asymmetrical design for one-handed use was a standout, but the high price tag may have kept most people from really considering the product. If you are not most comfortable with a touch interface for your reading, there are still options for flipping pages via buttons on the market. The Kobo Libra Color is one of our favorites.

Even with the Oasis becoming nothing but a mirage, the Kindle family isn’t getting any smaller. Amazon announced several upgrades to the device line this week, including its first ever color ereader in the Kindle Colorsoft. We also got hands-on time with the latest Kindle Scribe and the Kindle Paperwhite has also received a refresh.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/the-kindle-oasis-will-be-discontinued-as-amazon-says-goodbye-to-page-turn-buttons-213538052.html?src=rss

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Last week, the California Coastal Commission rejected a plan for SpaceX to launch up to 50 rockets this year at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The company responded yesterday with a lawsuit, alleging that the state agency’s denial was overreaching its authority and discriminating against its CEO.
The Commission’s goal is to protect California’s coasts and beaches, as well as the animals living in them. The agency has control over private companies’ requests to use the state coastline, but it can’t deny activities by federal departments. The denied launch request was actually made by the US Space Force on behalf of SpaceX, asking that the company be allowed to launch 50 of its Falcon 9 rockets, up from 36.
While the commissioners did raise concerns about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s political screed and the spotty safety records at his companies during their review of the launch request, the assessment focused on the relationship between SpaceX and Space Force. The Space Force case is that “because it is a customer of — and reliant on — SpaceX’s launches and satellite network, SpaceX launches are a federal agency activity,” the Commission review stated. “However, this does not align with how federal agency activities are defined in the Coastal Zone Management Act’s regulations or the manner in the Commission has historically implemented those regulations.” The California Coastal Commission claimed that at least 80 percent of the SpaceX rockets contain payloads for Musk’s Starlink company rather than payloads for government clients.
The SpaceX suit filed with the Central District of California court is seeking an order to designate the launches as federal activity, which would cut the Commission’s oversight out of its future launch plans.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/spacex-is-suing-the-california-coastal-commission-for-not-letting-it-launch-more-rockets-204610537.html?src=rss

Last week, the California Coastal Commission rejected a plan for SpaceX to launch up to 50 rockets this year at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The company responded yesterday with a lawsuit, alleging that the state agency’s denial was overreaching its authority and discriminating against its CEO.

The Commission’s goal is to protect California’s coasts and beaches, as well as the animals living in them. The agency has control over private companies’ requests to use the state coastline, but it can’t deny activities by federal departments. The denied launch request was actually made by the US Space Force on behalf of SpaceX, asking that the company be allowed to launch 50 of its Falcon 9 rockets, up from 36.

While the commissioners did raise concerns about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s political screed and the spotty safety records at his companies during their review of the launch request, the assessment focused on the relationship between SpaceX and Space Force. The Space Force case is that “because it is a customer of — and reliant on — SpaceX’s launches and satellite network, SpaceX launches are a federal agency activity,” the Commission review stated. “However, this does not align with how federal agency activities are defined in the Coastal Zone Management Act’s regulations or the manner in the Commission has historically implemented those regulations.” The California Coastal Commission claimed that at least 80 percent of the SpaceX rockets contain payloads for Musk’s Starlink company rather than payloads for government clients.

The SpaceX suit filed with the Central District of California court is seeking an order to designate the launches as federal activity, which would cut the Commission’s oversight out of its future launch plans.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/spacex-is-suing-the-california-coastal-commission-for-not-letting-it-launch-more-rockets-204610537.html?src=rss

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Sony makes some of the best headphones around at the higher end but it has a broad range of options available at other price points as well. Our pick for the best wireless headphones is the company’s WH-1000XM5, which will typically run you $400. If you can’t swing that, the mid-range ULT Wear headphones are a decent option, especially since they’re on sale. They’ve dropped to $148, which is $52 off the regular price of $200. That marks an all-time low price for this model.
These are the first headphones to use ULT Power Sound, a new iteration of Sony’s Extra Bass lineup. So it’s safe to say you can expect plenty of oomph on the low end with the ULT Wear.

In fact, we believe that Sony has done a better job of implementing its bass boost tech here than in previous models. We gave the ULT Wear headphones a score of 78 in our review, highlighting the comfortable design, generally strong audio quality and improvements to active noise cancellation.
However, the ULT boost feature can prove to be a bit much. We felt that the ULT 2 setting, which delivers deeper bass and more powerful all-round audio, didn’t sound all that good and was somewhat overbearing on the low end. The sound can get muddy in some other instances, such as when playing metal and synth-heavy electronica.
As you might expect, the ULT Wear doesn’t have all of the same features as Sony’s higher-end headphones. But it does have a number of nifty functions. Putting an open hand over the right ear cup activates Quick Attention mode, which lowers the volume. Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control tool can automatically adjust settings based on your activity or location. Other features include 360 Reality Audio with head tracking and 30 hours of battery life.
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/sonys-ult-wear-wireless-headphones-are-down-to-a-record-low-price-200721256.html?src=rss

Sony makes some of the best headphones around at the higher end but it has a broad range of options available at other price points as well. Our pick for the best wireless headphones is the company’s WH-1000XM5, which will typically run you $400. If you can’t swing that, the mid-range ULT Wear headphones are a decent option, especially since they’re on sale. They’ve dropped to $148, which is $52 off the regular price of $200. That marks an all-time low price for this model.

These are the first headphones to use ULT Power Sound, a new iteration of Sony’s Extra Bass lineup. So it’s safe to say you can expect plenty of oomph on the low end with the ULT Wear.

In fact, we believe that Sony has done a better job of implementing its bass boost tech here than in previous models. We gave the ULT Wear headphones a score of 78 in our review, highlighting the comfortable design, generally strong audio quality and improvements to active noise cancellation.

However, the ULT boost feature can prove to be a bit much. We felt that the ULT 2 setting, which delivers deeper bass and more powerful all-round audio, didn’t sound all that good and was somewhat overbearing on the low end. The sound can get muddy in some other instances, such as when playing metal and synth-heavy electronica.

As you might expect, the ULT Wear doesn’t have all of the same features as Sony’s higher-end headphones. But it does have a number of nifty functions. Putting an open hand over the right ear cup activates Quick Attention mode, which lowers the volume. Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control tool can automatically adjust settings based on your activity or location. Other features include 360 Reality Audio with head tracking and 30 hours of battery life.

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/sonys-ult-wear-wireless-headphones-are-down-to-a-record-low-price-200721256.html?src=rss

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Airline travel can get expensive and sometimes you don’t wanna wade through various options to find the lowest price. You just need the cheapest flight available and you don’t care who’s offering it.
Google added the tab to its Flights search engine that will cut your flight schedule search to the chase and just show you the “cheapest” options available, according to the official blog. So instead of wading through various fees and features, you can just view the cheapest options available from airlines and third-party airline booking sites.
The new feature is available starting today for US flights. Google will roll out the “cheapest” tab globally over the next few weeks.
The cheapest options for flights often involve what Google calls “creative itineraries” like longer than usual layovers and self-transfers from flight to flight. What we call them can’t be reprinted here. These inconveniences that make flights cheaper will now be listed under one tab.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-flights-now-has-a-cheapest-tab-190035611.html?src=rss

Airline travel can get expensive and sometimes you don’t wanna wade through various options to find the lowest price. You just need the cheapest flight available and you don’t care who’s offering it.

Google added the tab to its Flights search engine that will cut your flight schedule search to the chase and just show you the “cheapest” options available, according to the official blog. So instead of wading through various fees and features, you can just view the cheapest options available from airlines and third-party airline booking sites.

The new feature is available starting today for US flights. Google will roll out the “cheapest” tab globally over the next few weeks.

The cheapest options for flights often involve what Google calls “creative itineraries” like longer than usual layovers and self-transfers from flight to flight. What we call them can’t be reprinted here. These inconveniences that make flights cheaper will now be listed under one tab.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-flights-now-has-a-cheapest-tab-190035611.html?src=rss

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Hades II just got its first major update, which is all the reason I need to jump back into the inspired roguelite. Supergiant Games is calling the Olympic Update “practically mountain-sized”, likely because there’s a new region set in the mountains of Olympus.
With a new region, comes new story elements. The studio says “hours of new dialogue” has been added to the game. The area will also feature two new allies, but Supergiant remains mum on their identities. In other words, you’ll have to traverse Olympus to find out. I’d bet some Obol Points that they are Greek Gods of one type or another, given the region.

The update also includes a new main weapon, two animal companions and “dozens of new cosmetic items” to liven up Crossroads. There’s even a world map now, which will be displayed when moving from one region to another. That’s a small flourish, but a pretty fun one.
There are also dozens of quality-of-life improvements that’ll pop up throughout the game. These include faster weapon attacks, new special moves, a more responsive dash and a refined aiming system. Finally, the game now runs on Macs, so long as the computer boasts an Apple M1 chip or later.

Despite the boatload of new features, the game’s still in early access. Supergiant says this won’t be the last major content drop while still remaining in early access, as another big update hits early next year. So we have that to look forward to. The first game was in early access for nearly two years as it slowly transformed into the game we know and love today. Hades II has only been around five months.
For the uninitiated, Hades II is a roguelite hack-and-slash action game with fluid controls, a diverse array of upgrades and a story that expertly weaves itself into every unsuccessful run. There’s also a cute cat you can pal around with. It’s quite obviously a sequel to the mega-hit Hades, which was the first video game to ever win a Hugo Award.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/hades-iis-first-major-update-adds-a-new-region-main-weapon-and-native-mac-support-183541832.html?src=rss

Hades II just got its first major update, which is all the reason I need to jump back into the inspired roguelite. Supergiant Games is calling the Olympic Update “practically mountain-sized”, likely because there’s a new region set in the mountains of Olympus.

With a new region, comes new story elements. The studio says “hours of new dialogue” has been added to the game. The area will also feature two new allies, but Supergiant remains mum on their identities. In other words, you’ll have to traverse Olympus to find out. I’d bet some Obol Points that they are Greek Gods of one type or another, given the region.

The update also includes a new main weapon, two animal companions and “dozens of new cosmetic items” to liven up Crossroads. There’s even a world map now, which will be displayed when moving from one region to another. That’s a small flourish, but a pretty fun one.

There are also dozens of quality-of-life improvements that’ll pop up throughout the game. These include faster weapon attacks, new special moves, a more responsive dash and a refined aiming system. Finally, the game now runs on Macs, so long as the computer boasts an Apple M1 chip or later.

Despite the boatload of new features, the game’s still in early access. Supergiant says this won’t be the last major content drop while still remaining in early access, as another big update hits early next year. So we have that to look forward to. The first game was in early access for nearly two years as it slowly transformed into the game we know and love today. Hades II has only been around five months.

For the uninitiated, Hades II is a roguelite hack-and-slash action game with fluid controls, a diverse array of upgrades and a story that expertly weaves itself into every unsuccessful run. There’s also a cute cat you can pal around with. It’s quite obviously a sequel to the mega-hit Hades, which was the first video game to ever win a Hugo Award.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/hades-iis-first-major-update-adds-a-new-region-main-weapon-and-native-mac-support-183541832.html?src=rss

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Arcane season 2 is coming to Netflix on November 9, and Riot Games is drumming up the hype by releasing various content in its current and upcoming video game titles. All of this content will come out within the coming months.
Riot will release Ambessa Medarda, the Noxian general first seen in the show’s first season, as an upcoming Champion in League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics (TFT), League of Legends: Wild Rift, Valorant, and Legends of Runeterra.
In standard League of Legends news, the Bridge of Progress will become available in the ARAM game mode as part of an Arcane-themed update. Other additions include a Jinx skin of a new “Exalted” tier that will allow players to experience her Arcane story. It’s not the only skin as there will be an Arcane Brawler Vi skin and more.
TFT will introduce several Arcane characters as Champions, including Powder, with abilities based on what they have in the show. There will also be some cosmetics, including Arenas and Tacticians like Chibi Caitlyn. As for players who look forward to the PvE game mode Tocker’s Trials, they can rejoice as it’s making a return.
Singed and Warwick, two Champions available in Wild Rift, will receive gameplay updates. Previously announced Champion Heimerdinger will be made playable in Wild Rift after being playable in League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra. Warwick will also be playable in Legends of Runeterra. There won’t be much content beyond an Arcane-themed cosmetic bundle for Valorant.
While Riot’s fighting game 2XKO isn’t out yet, it will feature an Arcane-inspired Jinx skin. Said skin is coming on November 11. 2XKO will be released next year.
Of course, Riot isn’t confining the hype to its games. There will be merch coming out soon as November 9 approaches. Some of the products include apparel from Uniqlo and Blackmilk, collectibles from Funko and Tokidoki and Fenty Beauty makeup. If these aren’t enough to satisfy you, Riot promises plenty more is arriving.
Arcane season 2 is set to debut on Netflix on November 9, with Act One coming first. Act Two comes out on November 16, while Act Three will arrive on November 23. Keep your popcorn close at hand when the days come.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/riot-games-is-hyping-up-arcanes-second-and-final-season-across-its-various-titles-170501998.html?src=rss

Arcane season 2 is coming to Netflix on November 9, and Riot Games is drumming up the hype by releasing various content in its current and upcoming video game titles. All of this content will come out within the coming months.

Riot will release Ambessa Medarda, the Noxian general first seen in the show’s first season, as an upcoming Champion in League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics (TFT), League of Legends: Wild Rift, Valorant, and Legends of Runeterra.

In standard League of Legends news, the Bridge of Progress will become available in the ARAM game mode as part of an Arcane-themed update. Other additions include a Jinx skin of a new “Exalted” tier that will allow players to experience her Arcane story. It’s not the only skin as there will be an Arcane Brawler Vi skin and more.

TFT will introduce several Arcane characters as Champions, including Powder, with abilities based on what they have in the show. There will also be some cosmetics, including Arenas and Tacticians like Chibi Caitlyn. As for players who look forward to the PvE game mode Tocker’s Trials, they can rejoice as it’s making a return.

Singed and Warwick, two Champions available in Wild Rift, will receive gameplay updates. Previously announced Champion Heimerdinger will be made playable in Wild Rift after being playable in League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra. Warwick will also be playable in Legends of Runeterra. There won’t be much content beyond an Arcane-themed cosmetic bundle for Valorant.

While Riot’s fighting game 2XKO isn’t out yet, it will feature an Arcane-inspired Jinx skin. Said skin is coming on November 11. 2XKO will be released next year.

Of course, Riot isn’t confining the hype to its games. There will be merch coming out soon as November 9 approaches. Some of the products include apparel from Uniqlo and Blackmilk, collectibles from Funko and Tokidoki and Fenty Beauty makeup. If these aren’t enough to satisfy you, Riot promises plenty more is arriving.

Arcane season 2 is set to debut on Netflix on November 9, with Act One coming first. Act Two comes out on November 16, while Act Three will arrive on November 23. Keep your popcorn close at hand when the days come.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/riot-games-is-hyping-up-arcanes-second-and-final-season-across-its-various-titles-170501998.html?src=rss

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Sandfall Games just announced the voice cast for its forthcoming turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and it’s absolutely stacked. The actors include Andy Serkis and Charlie Cox, as a start. For the uninitiated, Serkis played a weird little guy named Gollum in some unknown movies about a magical ring. He also gave the iconic “one way out” monologue in Andor. Cox is best known for playing a masked vigilante called Daredevil.
The rest of the cast includes seasoned voice actors. There’s Ben Starr, who played a doctor in the TV show Jamestown but is perhaps best known for playing Clive in Final Fantasy XVI. Shala Nyx has plied her trade in plenty of recent games, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Diabolo IV. Other cast members include Jennifer English, who played Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Kirsty Rider.

For the uninitiated, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a JRPG-inspired fantasy epic with turn-based battles and a unique take on Belle Époque-era France. We got to see it in action earlier this year and came away (mostly) impressed. We called the graphics and environments “gorgeous” but the story “clear as mud.” However, it’s tough to nail down the narrative of a fantasy RPG just by watching a demo for a few hours.
In any event, we don’t have that long to wait before the game launches. The developers say it’ll come out in Spring 2025. It’ll be available for PC via Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It’s also a day one Game Pass title. If you simply can’t wait until then for a new game in the genre, we heartily recommend checking out Metaphor: ReFantazio.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-jrpg-inspired-clair-obscur-expedition-33-has-a-stacked-voice-cast-165228134.html?src=rss

Sandfall Games just announced the voice cast for its forthcoming turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and it’s absolutely stacked. The actors include Andy Serkis and Charlie Cox, as a start. For the uninitiated, Serkis played a weird little guy named Gollum in some unknown movies about a magical ring. He also gave the iconic “one way out” monologue in Andor. Cox is best known for playing a masked vigilante called Daredevil.

The rest of the cast includes seasoned voice actors. There’s Ben Starr, who played a doctor in the TV show Jamestown but is perhaps best known for playing Clive in Final Fantasy XVI. Shala Nyx has plied her trade in plenty of recent games, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Diabolo IV. Other cast members include Jennifer English, who played Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Kirsty Rider.

For the uninitiated, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a JRPG-inspired fantasy epic with turn-based battles and a unique take on Belle Époque-era France. We got to see it in action earlier this year and came away (mostly) impressed. We called the graphics and environments “gorgeous” but the story “clear as mud.” However, it’s tough to nail down the narrative of a fantasy RPG just by watching a demo for a few hours.

In any event, we don’t have that long to wait before the game launches. The developers say it’ll come out in Spring 2025. It’ll be available for PC via Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It’s also a day one Game Pass title. If you simply can’t wait until then for a new game in the genre, we heartily recommend checking out Metaphor: ReFantazio.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-jrpg-inspired-clair-obscur-expedition-33-has-a-stacked-voice-cast-165228134.html?src=rss

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Panos Panay has a Diet Coke problem. It’s a topic that quickly came up when I walked into the small interview room, after he offered me a choice of beverages and I said my partner has a similar addiction. After a quick conversation on the advantages of drinking plain water over diet colas, I knew his wife, like me, advocates for less soda, but I still knew nothing of how much the man actually consumed a day.
It was Panay’s first launch event with members of the media since he left Microsoft last year to lead Amazon’s devices and services team. And the instant I walked into the event space at The Shed in New York, I thought “this feels like a Panos event.”
The room was drenched in sunlight, with various neutral and pastel pink couches and armchairs laid out in a vague semicircle facing an unassuming elevated platform. Around the stage were neatly planted assorted greenery with lavender and what looked like baby’s breath lending a general softness to the scene.
There was a leather stool on the stage that looked just big enough to perch on but not comfortable enough to actually rest, and next to it was a smaller wooden end table where a solo water bottle sat. Panay did not once sit during his 38-minute presentation. Clad in a black collared shirt, black jacket, black jeans and black shoes with a brown trim, Panay brought his typical sentimental delivery to the Kindle launch event.
As usual, he didn’t shy away from mentioning his family, showing a carefully taken picture of his daughter Bella reading a Kindle on a couch. He called out members of the media by name, saying hello to Lance Ulanoff in the front row and asking David Pierce if he could hear. At one point, he walked over to the middle row to hand a new Kindle off to tech Youtuber Jacklyn Dallas, asking her to tap repeatedly on the screen to scroll through pages and see for herself how much faster he believed it was.
Amazon
I say all this to impress on you that the Panos experience is one that’s inviting, engaging and can even lull you into feeling so charmed that you might overlook the fact that he repeatedly calls the Kindle Scribe a 2-in-1. It was certainly enough to give me more patience than I normally would have for a tech leader that had spent almost a third of his presentation talking about the Kindle’s history and where it fits into people’s lives. Instead of thinking “get on with it, I want to hear about the new devices without all this preamble,” I simply laughed at the jokes, made eye contact and related to the personal anecdotes. And though I knew we were past the 38 minutes he had promised the speech would last, I didn’t mind that he was still talking.
I was able to question him about 2-in-1s when we sat down to talk, though. The term brings to my mind the image of Surface tablets and iPads, not to mention the Surface Duo and Surface Neo that Panay launched at a remarkably similar Microsoft event years ago. Kindles? Not so much. But according to Panay, the Kindle Scribe “does two things, and it does it remarkably well. Turns out, it only does two things.”
People want to read on their Kindles, but they also want to write in books. “Both experiences have to stand on their own in a great way,” he added. “You can buy this device for writing, or you can buy this device for reading and then you can bridge it.”
But if a device tries to be too much, it might get too complicated. When I asked what was next for the Kindle Scribe and what challenges it faces, Panay said “You’ve got to be careful not to make it a Swiss army knife. That’s probably the biggest challenge — what it’s not gonna be.”
Panay explained that “at Amazon, the focus on the customers is off the charts,” saying the team talks to users, reads reviews and studies how people use their products to better understand needs. “Fundamentally, for this team, [it’s to] know what the customer needs, be passionate, make sure you deliver it.”
“Let’s not try and reinvent things that people don’t need reinvented.”
The approach Panay has brought over to Amazon is one that considers his history at Microsoft (and his entire life). He never explicitly mentions this, but I cannot help wondering if he’s learned anything from that company announcing the Surface Neo dual-screen laptop and not actually releasing it.
Panay also said that in getting to understand customers’ needs, Amazon also has to try to predict what they might want. “You also have to understand where the technology is headed and you have to have roadmaps,” he said. “You have to have invention and creation that sets you up for where it’s headed, so when people land, they have the next thing they need and hopefully it was your product that got them there.”
“Let’s not try and reinvent things that people don’t need reinvented.”Panos Panay
That desire to predict trends makes me nervous, especially at a time when every major company is rushing to stuff generative AI features into their products. How should companies like Amazon resist the urge to jump on bandwagons and avoid making products that ultimately are the result of useless hype? To Panay, the answer is patience.
“Patience is everything,” he said. “What is the right thing for the product at the right time? How is it useful? How is it elegant?” He acknowledged that “we’re at a time where AI for sure is transformational. This is not a fad.” There are things AI can bring to the Kindle Scribe and other products that could elevate them. But “making it useful for everyone is important to me, and making it simple.”
There are just two AI-based notebook features for the Kindle Scribe, and they basically read your scribbles and convert them to something more legible and digestible. They’re not groundbreaking concepts — I’ve seen at least 5 different companies launch summarization tools in the last year. But Panay made it clear through personal anecdotes on stage that these are important to him and his staff. He doesn’t want to let people see his handwritten notes, but he will let them see the version tidied up by AI. Whether the rest of the world’s Kindle users will find these helpful, I’m less certain.
For now, Panay wants to perfect the Kindle Scribe experience. “You can never make anything perfect, I’m never satisfied. But it’s so close right now… to feeling like paper, to feeling like an eraser, to feeling like you’re writing, to no distractions in your way.” He called it his favorite child during the presentation (but later saying that he felt guilty doing that).
There are plenty of other children in the Amazon hardware family that Panay oversees. He’s not only in charge of the four Kindles launched today, including the new color ereader called the Colorsoft, but the company’s smart home, robotaxi, satellite, consumer robots and Alexa products, as well as Fire TVs and tablets, too.
“It’s an eclectic group of products at some level, but it’s actually quite a connected one at the same time.” There’s also stuff that Panay couldn’t yet talk about on the record, but he said there’s “so much magic yet to be shared with the world.” In a more realistic manner of speaking, it’s about seeing these things “connected in a way that can make a difference for people’s lives every day in their homes and outside of the home.”
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
There are other ways the Kindle Scribe could evolve that wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination, either. The most obvious is getting a color display, and Panay agreed “it’s not a stretch at all, probably” before going on to say he can’t discuss future roadmaps. But I can certainly speculate.
While it’s interesting to see Amazon come up with a whole new name for the Colorsoft, indicating that it’ll perhaps be a separate product line, it would make sense for the Colorsoft to be a one-off and for the color panels to get integrated into other existing Kindles in future.
Another potential technological change to Kindles is making them foldable. To that end, Panay simply said “It’s an interesting concept.” When I pointed out that he’s no stranger to folding devices, he acknowledged “I’m definitely not,” before adding that “we have a ton of concepts in the lab.”
Crucially, though, he reiterates he doesn’t “want to create tech for the sake of creating tech.” If the idea is right, Panay is open to considering it. “But right now, keeping it simple is where we’re at.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/panos-panay-on-launching-his-first-products-since-moving-to-amazon-163024504.html?src=rss

Panos Panay has a Diet Coke problem. It’s a topic that quickly came up when I walked into the small interview room, after he offered me a choice of beverages and I said my partner has a similar addiction. After a quick conversation on the advantages of drinking plain water over diet colas, I knew his wife, like me, advocates for less soda, but I still knew nothing of how much the man actually consumed a day.

It was Panay’s first launch event with members of the media since he left Microsoft last year to lead Amazon’s devices and services team. And the instant I walked into the event space at The Shed in New York, I thought “this feels like a Panos event.”

The room was drenched in sunlight, with various neutral and pastel pink couches and armchairs laid out in a vague semicircle facing an unassuming elevated platform. Around the stage were neatly planted assorted greenery with lavender and what looked like baby’s breath lending a general softness to the scene.

There was a leather stool on the stage that looked just big enough to perch on but not comfortable enough to actually rest, and next to it was a smaller wooden end table where a solo water bottle sat. Panay did not once sit during his 38-minute presentation. Clad in a black collared shirt, black jacket, black jeans and black shoes with a brown trim, Panay brought his typical sentimental delivery to the Kindle launch event.

As usual, he didn’t shy away from mentioning his family, showing a carefully taken picture of his daughter Bella reading a Kindle on a couch. He called out members of the media by name, saying hello to Lance Ulanoff in the front row and asking David Pierce if he could hear. At one point, he walked over to the middle row to hand a new Kindle off to tech Youtuber Jacklyn Dallas, asking her to tap repeatedly on the screen to scroll through pages and see for herself how much faster he believed it was.

I say all this to impress on you that the Panos experience is one that’s inviting, engaging and can even lull you into feeling so charmed that you might overlook the fact that he repeatedly calls the Kindle Scribe a 2-in-1. It was certainly enough to give me more patience than I normally would have for a tech leader that had spent almost a third of his presentation talking about the Kindle’s history and where it fits into people’s lives. Instead of thinking “get on with it, I want to hear about the new devices without all this preamble,” I simply laughed at the jokes, made eye contact and related to the personal anecdotes. And though I knew we were past the 38 minutes he had promised the speech would last, I didn’t mind that he was still talking.

I was able to question him about 2-in-1s when we sat down to talk, though. The term brings to my mind the image of Surface tablets and iPads, not to mention the Surface Duo and Surface Neo that Panay launched at a remarkably similar Microsoft event years ago. Kindles? Not so much. But according to Panay, the Kindle Scribe “does two things, and it does it remarkably well. Turns out, it only does two things.”

People want to read on their Kindles, but they also want to write in books. “Both experiences have to stand on their own in a great way,” he added. “You can buy this device for writing, or you can buy this device for reading and then you can bridge it.”

But if a device tries to be too much, it might get too complicated. When I asked what was next for the Kindle Scribe and what challenges it faces, Panay said “You’ve got to be careful not to make it a Swiss army knife. That’s probably the biggest challenge — what it’s not gonna be.”

Panay explained that “at Amazon, the focus on the customers is off the charts,” saying the team talks to users, reads reviews and studies how people use their products to better understand needs. “Fundamentally, for this team, [it’s to] know what the customer needs, be passionate, make sure you deliver it.”

“Let’s not try and reinvent things that people don’t need reinvented.”

The approach Panay has brought over to Amazon is one that considers his history at Microsoft (and his entire life). He never explicitly mentions this, but I cannot help wondering if he’s learned anything from that company announcing the Surface Neo dual-screen laptop and not actually releasing it.

Panay also said that in getting to understand customers’ needs, Amazon also has to try to predict what they might want. “You also have to understand where the technology is headed and you have to have roadmaps,” he said. “You have to have invention and creation that sets you up for where it’s headed, so when people land, they have the next thing they need and hopefully it was your product that got them there.”

“Let’s not try and reinvent things that people don’t need reinvented.”Panos Panay

That desire to predict trends makes me nervous, especially at a time when every major company is rushing to stuff generative AI features into their products. How should companies like Amazon resist the urge to jump on bandwagons and avoid making products that ultimately are the result of useless hype? To Panay, the answer is patience.

“Patience is everything,” he said. “What is the right thing for the product at the right time? How is it useful? How is it elegant?” He acknowledged that “we’re at a time where AI for sure is transformational. This is not a fad.” There are things AI can bring to the Kindle Scribe and other products that could elevate them. But “making it useful for everyone is important to me, and making it simple.”

There are just two AI-based notebook features for the Kindle Scribe, and they basically read your scribbles and convert them to something more legible and digestible. They’re not groundbreaking concepts — I’ve seen at least 5 different companies launch summarization tools in the last year. But Panay made it clear through personal anecdotes on stage that these are important to him and his staff. He doesn’t want to let people see his handwritten notes, but he will let them see the version tidied up by AI. Whether the rest of the world’s Kindle users will find these helpful, I’m less certain.

For now, Panay wants to perfect the Kindle Scribe experience. “You can never make anything perfect, I’m never satisfied. But it’s so close right now… to feeling like paper, to feeling like an eraser, to feeling like you’re writing, to no distractions in your way.” He called it his favorite child during the presentation (but later saying that he felt guilty doing that).

There are plenty of other children in the Amazon hardware family that Panay oversees. He’s not only in charge of the four Kindles launched today, including the new color ereader called the Colorsoft, but the company’s smart home, robotaxi, satellite, consumer robots and Alexa products, as well as Fire TVs and tablets, too.

“It’s an eclectic group of products at some level, but it’s actually quite a connected one at the same time.” There’s also stuff that Panay couldn’t yet talk about on the record, but he said there’s “so much magic yet to be shared with the world.” In a more realistic manner of speaking, it’s about seeing these things “connected in a way that can make a difference for people’s lives every day in their homes and outside of the home.”

There are other ways the Kindle Scribe could evolve that wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination, either. The most obvious is getting a color display, and Panay agreed “it’s not a stretch at all, probably” before going on to say he can’t discuss future roadmaps. But I can certainly speculate.

While it’s interesting to see Amazon come up with a whole new name for the Colorsoft, indicating that it’ll perhaps be a separate product line, it would make sense for the Colorsoft to be a one-off and for the color panels to get integrated into other existing Kindles in future.

Another potential technological change to Kindles is making them foldable. To that end, Panay simply said “It’s an interesting concept.” When I pointed out that he’s no stranger to folding devices, he acknowledged “I’m definitely not,” before adding that “we have a ton of concepts in the lab.”

Crucially, though, he reiterates he doesn’t “want to create tech for the sake of creating tech.” If the idea is right, Panay is open to considering it. “But right now, keeping it simple is where we’re at.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/panos-panay-on-launching-his-first-products-since-moving-to-amazon-163024504.html?src=rss

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