Technology

Enlarge / The Thermonator robot flamethrower dog. (credit: Throwflame)

If you've been wondering when you'll be able to order the flame-throwing robot that Ohio-based Throwflame first announced last summer, that day has finally arrived. The Thermonator, what Throwflame bills as "the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog" is now available for purchase. The price? $9,420.

Thermonator is a quadruped robot with an ARC flamethrower mounted to its back, fueled by gasoline or napalm. It features a one-hour battery, a 30-foot flame-throwing range, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for remote control through a smartphone.

It also includes a LIDAR sensor for mapping and obstacle avoidance, laser sighting, and first-person view (FPV) navigation through an onboard camera. The product appears to integrate a version of the Unitree Go2 robot quadruped that retails alone for $1,600 in its base configuration.

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Enlarge / Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan talks with guests during an event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 03, 2024 (credit: Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla )

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced that it has issued a final rule banning noncompete clauses. The rule will render the vast majority of current noncompete clauses unenforceable, according to the agency.

"In the final rule, the Commission has determined that it is an unfair method of competition and therefore a violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, for employers to enter into noncompetes with workers and to enforce certain noncompetes," the FTC said.

The US Chamber of Commerce said it will sue the FTC in an effort to block the rule, claiming the ban is "a blatant power grab that will undermine American businesses' ability to remain competitive."

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Hackers abused an antivirus service for five years in order to infect end users with malware. The attack worked because the service delivered updates over HTTP, a protocol vulnerable to attacks that corrupt or tamper with data as it travels over the Internet.

The unknown hackers, who may have ties to the North Korean government, pulled off this feat by performing a man-in-the-middle (MiitM) attack that replaced the genuine update with a file that installed an advanced backdoor instead, said researchers from security firm Avast today.

eScan, an AV service headquartered in India, has delivered updates over HTTP since at least 2019, Avast researchers reported. This protocol presented a valuable opportunity for installing the malware, which is tracked in security circles under the name GuptiMiner.

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On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a new, freely available lightweight AI language model named Phi-3-mini, which is simpler and less expensive to operate than traditional large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI's GPT-4 Turbo. Its small size is ideal for running locally, which could bring an AI model of similar capability to the free version of ChatGPT to a smartphone without needing an Internet connection to run it.

The AI field typically measures AI language model size by parameter count. Parameters are numerical values in a neural network that determine how the language model processes and generates text. They are learned during training on large datasets and essentially encode the model's knowledge into quantified form. More parameters generally allow the model to capture more nuanced and complex language-generation capabilities but also require more computational resources to train and run.

Some of the largest language models today, like Google's PaLM 2, have hundreds of billions of parameters. OpenAI's GPT-4 is rumored to have over a trillion parameters but spread over eight 220-billion parameter models in a mixture-of-experts configuration. Both models require heavy-duty data center GPUs (and supporting systems) to run properly.

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Grindr is facing a class action lawsuit from hundreds of users over the sharing of HIV statuses and other sensitive personal information with third-party firms.

UK law firm Austen Hays filed the claim in the High Court in London yesterday, the firm announced. The class action "alleges the misuse of private information of thousands of affected UK Grindr users, including highly sensitive information about their HIV status and latest tested date," the law firm said.

The law firm said it has signed up over 670 potential class members and "is in discussions with thousands of other individuals who are interested in joining the claim." Austen Hays said that "claimants could receive thousands in damages" from Grindr, a gay dating app, if the case is successful.

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Enlarge (credit: Apple/Andrew Cunningham)

Last year, Apple introduced the ability to set multiple timers at once in the Clock app on its various platforms.

“We truly live in an age of wonders,” deadpanned Apple’s Craig Federighi in the company’s official presentation, tacitly acknowledging the gap between the apparent simplicity of the feature and the amount of time that Apple took to implement it.

The next version of iPadOS may contain another of these "age of wonders" features, an apparently simple thing that Apple has chosen never to do for reasons that the company can't or won't explain. According to MacRumors, iPadOS 18 may finally be the update that brings a version of Apple's first-party Calculator app to the iPad.

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Enlarge / At critical pressures, the fluid's spheres become a mixture of different states. (credit: Adel Djellouli/Harvard SEAS)

Building a robot that could pick up delicate objects like eggs or blueberries without crushing them took lots of control algorithms that process feeds from advanced vision systems or sensors that emulate the human sense of touch. The other way was to take a plunge into the realm of soft robotics, which usually means a robot with limited strength and durability.

Now, a team of researchers at Harvard University published a study where they used a simple hydraulic gripper with no sensors and no control systems at all. All they needed was silicon oil and lots of tiny rubber balls. In the process, they’ve developed a metafluid with a programmable response to pressure.

Swimming rubber spheres

“I did my PhD in France on making a spherical shell swim. To make it swim, we were making it collapse. It moved like a [inverted] jellyfish,” says Adel Djellouli, a researcher at Bertoldi Group, Harvard University, and the lead author of the study. “I told my boss, 'hey, what if I put this sphere in a syringe and increase the pressure?' He said it was not an interesting idea and that this wouldn’t do anything,” Djellouli claims. But a few years and a couple of rejections later, Djellouli met Benjamin Gorissen, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Leuven, Belgium, who shared his interests. “I could do the experiments, he could do the simulations, so we thought we could propose something together,” Djellouli says. Thus, Djellouli’s rubber sphere finally got into the syringe. And results were quite unexpected.

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Engineers have partially restored a 1970s-era computer on NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft after five months of long-distance troubleshooting, building confidence that humanity's first interstellar probe can eventually resume normal operations.

Several dozen scientists and engineers gathered Saturday in a conference room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or connected virtually, to wait for a new signal from Voyager 1. The ground team sent a command up to Voyager 1 on Thursday to recode part of the memory of the spacecraft's Flight Data Subsystem (FDS), one of the probe's three computers.

“In the minutes leading up to when we were going to see a signal, you could have heard a pin drop in the room," said Linda Spilker, project scientist for NASA's two Voyager spacecraft at JPL. "It was quiet. People were looking very serious. They were looking at their computer screens. Each of the subsystem (engineers) had pages up that they were looking at, to watch as they would be populated."

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Enlarge / The 2020 4K Chromecast with Google TV. It comes in colors. (credit: Google)

It sounds like Google is cooking up another Google TV dongle. 9to5Google's sources say a new 4K model of the Chromecast with Google TV is in the works. It would be a sequel to the aging 2020 model that was never really fit for the job in the first place. It would also sit alongside the 2022 HD model.

The report says the new device would stay at the $50 price point and come with a new remote. A new chip would be the primary motivation for a new device. The current 4K dongle has an Amlogic S905X3 (it's just for Cortex A55 CPUs), and if Google sticks with Amlogic, a good upgrade would be the upcoming Amlogic S905X5. Besides a faster CPU and GPU, it also supports the AV1 video codec, something Google has been pushing across its ecosystem because it can cut down on what must be an incredible YouTube bandwidth bill. It has made AV1 a requirement for some new devices in order to get the YouTube app, and despite forcing it on competitors like Roku, Google's best dongle doesn't have hardware support for the codec yet. Technically the S905X5 is not official yet, so we don't have a full spec sheet, but partners have been talking about it since last year.

The No. 1 thing a new Google TV dongle needs, and has needed for years, is more storage. Google Hardware is supposed to make devices that are purpose-built for Google's software, but the 4K and HD Chromecasts with Google TV have never really been up to the task thanks to the 8GB of total device storage. Back in the early Chromecast days when these dongles ran a custom OS and only showed video streams, that was fine. These new devices run full-fat Android now, complete with a Play Store, access to millions of apps, and lots of preinstalled software. 8GB is not nearly enough.

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• The "Laugh it Up" emote is one of four that can now be blocked using a setting in Fortnite. [credit: Epic Games ]

For online players tired of being harassed by randos over voice chat, animated emotes have long served as a "safe" way to communicate in-game via simple, pre-approved non-verbal messages. In Fortnite, though, a few of those emotes have become so "confrontational" (as developer Epic puts it) that individual players can now choose to block them with an in-game settings toggle.

The new "See Confrontational Emotes" setting, announced Tuesday, can be set to automatically block the appearance (and associated sound effects) of four emotes "that are sometimes used in confrontational ways," Epic wrote. Those four emotes are (links go to video examples):

• Laugh It Up
• Take the L
• Whipcrack
• Make It Plantain

By default, the toggle will be set to only display these emotes from friends in an online party, Epic wrote. That setting can be changed to always allow or always block those emotes at any time.

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Enlarge (credit: Apple)

Apple is going to announce some new things on Tuesday, May 7, at 10 am Eastern, according to an invitation the company sent out to members of the press (and posted to its website) this morning.

The name Apple has given the event (“Let Loose”) doesn’t tell us much about what the company might announce, but the art does: It’s a hand holding an Apple Pencil, which almost certainly means the event will be iPad-focused.

Apple has reportedly been on the cusp of releasing new iPads since late March, and the rumor mill has already delivered most of the key details. The headliner is likely to be a pair of new iPad Pros with M3 chips, OLED displays, slightly larger screens, and refined designs. Riding shotgun will be a refreshed 10.9-inch iPad Air with an M2 chip, plus a brand-new 12.9-inch Air meant to give large-screened iPad fans an option that doesn’t cost as much as the iPad Pro.

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Razer has rolled out the Viper V3 Pro, its latest high-end wireless gaming mouse. What makes a gaming mouse “high-end,” you might ask? Mainly, it’s super lightweight and packed with impressive wireless and sensor tech, all of which makes it extremely responsive in competitive games. I’ve had one on hand for about two weeks now and have felt next to zero delay flicking through rounds of Halo Infinite and Apex Legends.

The other thing is the price: The Viper V3 Pro is available today for $160 in the US or €180 in Europe. That isn’t unheard of — Razer’s own DeathAdder V3 Pro, the top wireless pick in our gaming mouse buying guide, costs the same — but it’s certainly not cheap.

If you keep up with the gaming mouse market, here’s the short version: The Viper V3 Pro has virtually the same shape and soft-touch coating as last year's midrange Viper V3 HyperSpeed, but it’s far lighter at 54 grams, plus it has optical switches, a technically superior sensor and a few small design tweaks. It’s the follow-up to the popular Viper V2 Pro from 2022 and the ambidextrous complement to the aforementioned DeathAdder V3 Pro, which has a more dramatically contoured ergonomic shape.

The Razer Viper V3 Pro (left) and Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 (right), another high-end wireless gaming mouse with a symmetrical shape.Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

For everyone else, the main thing to know about mice like this is that they’re built for competitive gaming above all else. As such, the Viper V3 Pro deliberately excludes features that’d make it more convenient for day-to-day use: There’s no Bluetooth and only two side buttons, while the DPI switch is located on the bottom of the mouse. The scroll wheel can't tilt left or right, and there’s no lighting, either. But these omissions make sense if you view the mouse as a tool for esports: They keep the weight down and make it harder to hit buttons by accident.

The most important thing with any gaming mouse is its shape, and the Viper V3 Pro’s should fit most hand sizes well. It’s highly similar to Logitech's G Pro X Superlight 2, its chief competitor, but slightly longer and flatter. A modest but noticeable hump in the center rests naturally in your palm, while the sides are gently contoured in then out to welcome the tops of your thumb and ring finger (or pinkie). The main click buttons are grooved, slightly flared and amply sized. None of the angles are aggressive. Razer says it works best with a fingertip or claw grip; I have few issues as someone who uses the latter. But the design isn’t so short or flat that it’s horrible for palm grips. In total, it measures 5.0 x 2.51 x 1.57 inches.

The mouse’s coating is pleasingly soft and smooth. It’ll pick up fingerprint smudges over time, but it should be grippy enough for most people out of the gate. (Razer includes some pre-cut grip tape in the box if it still feels too slippery.) The device as a whole is sturdily built, with no sign of flex or creaking in my two weeks of daily use.

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

The Viper V3 Pro isn’t the absolute lightest gaming mouse, but calling a 54g device too heavy to move around would be splitting hairs. Notably, it achieves this weight without any cutouts in its top or bottom shell. Rival gaming mice like the Pwnage Stormbreaker or Pulsar X2V2 are similarly light but leave their interiors more open to dust and detritus.

The mouse’s main click buttons are fast, not sticky and on the softer side for a device that uses optical switches. They aren’t as loud as the clicks on the G Pro X Superlight 2, though the right-click panel on my test unit sounds a little less full than the left-click one. (That’s more of a nitpick than a dealbreaker.) As with most optical mice, the main buttons may not be as satisfying to press as good mechanical switches, but they’re more likely to avoid durability issues over time. I’d also give the Viper V3 Pro the edge over Logitech’s mouse when it comes to the side buttons and scroll wheel. The Viper's wheel is tighter, quieter and has grippier ridges on its exterior, while its side buttons are a bit less mushy by comparison.

In terms of performance, the Viper V3 Pro uses Razer’s new “Focus Pro 35K Optical Sensor Gen-2.” It can reach a maximum of 35,000 DPI, and you can adjust that sensitivity in 1 DPI increments. A max speed of 750 IPS and max acceleration of 70 G accompany that. Per usual with gaming mice, these higher figures are partly marketing fluff: Many older gaming mice have few issues when it comes to sensor accuracy and consistency.

The mouse is available in black or white, though Razer says the white model weighs a gram more.Razer

Along those lines, the mouse comes with Razer’s HyperPolling Wireless Dongle, which costs $30 on its own. It advertises a maximum polling rate of 8,000Hz, which technically allows for more precise movements but has a negligible effect on real-world performance. Mostly, it saps battery life: Razer says the Viper V3 Pro can last up to 95 hours at a 1,000Hz polling rate, which is fine, but that dips to just 17 hours at 8,000Hz.

Still, while I am far from an pro-level player, I can’t foresee many complaints about the Viper V3 Pro’s responsiveness or connection quality. The shape, weight and sensor all play a role in that — as do the large PTFE feet, which let the mouse glide smoothly across surfaces. Somewhat less agreeable is the included cable, which is cleverly angled to reduce drag but isn’t the thinnest or most flexible cord I've seen. The dongle still requires running the cable from a PC to a desk, too.

Nevertheless, the Viper V3 Pro is well worth a look if you take competitive gaming seriously, prefer an ambidextrous shape and have money to burn. To be clear, there are still several gaming mice that’ll feel comfortable and perform well for less cash, especially if you’re OK with a wired model. And if you own an older Viper you’re still happy with today, there’s no pressing need to upgrade. A mouse like this is closer to a Ferrari, when most people can live just fine with a Subaru. That said, Ferraris are pretty nice, right?

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nobody-needs-to-spend-160-on-a-gaming-mouse-but-razers-new-viper-v3-pro-is-excellent-anyway-150017198.html?src=rss

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is only a few weeks away, but the company simply can't wait that long to make some more announcements. It has scheduled a virtual event for May 7. The stream will be available on Apple's website and the Apple TV app (and likely YouTube) and it will start at 10AM ET.

As usual, Apple hasn't been totally forthcoming about what to expect. However, the animated image it included in the announcement shows a hand holding an Apple Pencil in the center of a stylized, colorful Apple logo. That indicates the event is very likely going to be focused on iPad.

Rumors have been swirling for some time that Apple was likely to update the iPad Pro and iPad Air in a couple of sizes in May with M3 and M2 chips, respectively. The company is expected to bring OLED displays to the iPad Pro, while adding a larger 12.9-inch iPad Air to the lineup. Reports suggest a new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro and a fresh Apple Pencil may be in the offing too. In any case, it's been over two years since the last iPad Air and around 18 months since the M2-powered iPad Pros debuted, so both are due for a refresh.

Pencil us in for May 7! ✏️ #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/1tvyB7h450

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 23, 2024

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-will-host-a-pre-wwdc-virtual-event-on-may-7-145859085.html?src=rss

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

There's a new Linux distro on the scene today, and it's a bit specialized. Its development was led by the automotive electronics supplier Elektrobit, and it's the first open source OS that complies with the automotive industry's functional safety requirements.

One of the more interesting paradigm shifts underway in the automotive industry is the move to software-defined vehicles. Cars have increasingly been controlled by electronic systems during the past few decades, but it's been piecemeal. Each added new function, like traction control, antilock braking, or a screen instead of physical gauges, required its own little black box added to the wiring loom.

There can now be more than 200 discrete controllers in a modern vehicle, all talking to each other through a CAN bus network. The idea behind the software-defined vehicle is to take a clean-sheet approach. Instead, you'll find a small number of domain controllers—what the automotive industry is choosing to call "high performance compute" platforms—each responsible for a different set of activities.

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For almost a decade, Nick Roy has been scanning North Korea’s tiny Internet presence, spotting new websites coming online and providing a glimpse of the Hermit Kingdoms’ digital life. However, at the end of last year, the cybersecurity researcher and DPRK blogger stumbled across something new: signs North Koreans are working on major international TV shows.

In December, Roy discovered a misconfigured cloud server on a North Korean IP address containing thousands of animation files. Included in the cache were animation cells, videos, and notes discussing the work, plus changes that needed to be made to ongoing projects. Some images appeared to be from an Amazon Prime Video superhero show and an upcoming Max (aka HBO Max) children’s anime.

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For most wireless headphones, active noise cancellation (ANC) is a primary feature, especially at the mid-range to premium levels. ANC is a popular tool, especially for headphones you’re going to use in a variety of locations and settings. To help you cut through the noise of all the options on the market, we’ve compiled a list of the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy right now. Judged primarily in terms of ANC performance, this guide not only offers suggestions in various scenarios and prices, but also gives you advice on what to look for on a spec sheet while you’re shopping.

How to choose the best noise-canceling headphones for you Design

When you’re shopping for a pair of wireless headphones, the first thing you’ll need to decide on is wear style. Do you prefer on-ear or over-ear? For the purposes of this guide, I focus on the over-ear style as that’s what most noise-canceling headphones are nowadays. Sure, you can find on-ear models with ANC, but over-ear, noise-canceling headphones are much more effective at blocking sound since your ears are completely covered.

Type of noise cancellation

Next, you’ll want to look at the type of ANC a set of headphones offers. You’ll come across terms like “hybrid active noise cancellation” or “hybrid adaptive active noise cancellation,” and there are key differences between the two. A hybrid ANC setup uses microphones on the inside and on the outside of the device to detect ambient noise and cancel it out. By analyzing input from both mics, a hybrid system can combat more sounds than “regular” ANC, but it does so at a constant level that doesn’t change.

Adaptive ANC takes the hybrid configuration a step further by continuously adjusting the noise cancellation for changes in your environment and any leakage around the padding of the ear cups. Adaptive ANC also does a better job with wind noise, which can really kill your vibe while using headphones outdoors. For the purposes of this best headphones list, I’m only considering products with hybrid ANC or adaptive ANC setups because those are the most effective at blocking noise.

Customization

You’ll also want to check to see if the ANC system on a prospective set of headphones offers adjustable levels of noise cancellation or presets. These can help you dial in the amount of ANC you need for various environments, but it can also help you save battery life. Master & Dynamic, for example, has ANC presets that provide both maximum noise blocking and more efficient cancellation that is more energy efficient. Other companies may include a slider in their companion apps that let you adjust the ANC level to your liking.

How we test noise-canceling headphones

The primary way we test headphones is to wear them as much as possible. I prefer to do this over a one-to-two-week period, but sometimes deadlines don’t allow it. During this time, I listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the headphones to take both voice and video calls.

Since battery life for headphones can be 30 hours or more, I drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent). Due to the longer battery estimates, I’ll typically power the headphones off several times and leave them that way during a review. This simulates real-world use and keeps me from having to constantly monitor the process for over 24 straight hours.

To test ANC performance specifically, I use headphones in a variety of environments, from noisy coffee shops to quiet home offices. When my schedule allows, I use them during air travel since plane noise is a massive distraction to both work and relaxation. Even if I can’t hop on a flight, I’ll simulate a constant roar with white noise machines, bathroom fans, vacuums and more. I also make note of how well each device blocks human voices, which are a key stumbling block for a lot of ANC headphones.

ANC-related features are something else to consider. Here, I do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as I work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double checked for improvements or regression. If the headphones I’m testing are an updated version of a previous model, I’ll spend time getting reacquainted with the older set. Ditto for the closest competition for each new set of headphones that I review.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-noise-canceling-headphones-130029881.html?src=rss

If you use Sonos speakers, chances are you’ve used their app and encountered at least a little frustration at some point. I don’t think it’s a bad app when you consider the many functions it needs to juggle: finding and playing music from dozens of services, managing multiple connected speakers, running people through setup and troubleshooting and so on. But at the very least, it’s fair to suggest that it’s a little long in the tooth. Sonos knows this, too, and is announcing a totally new app for Android and iOS that was written from the ground up. It’ll be available on May 7.

I spoke to Sonos VP of user experience and user research Neil Griffiths about the redesign, and he said that it came as a result of talking to hundreds of customers about their listening habits and the way they want to use the app. From those conversations came two principles the company followed for the new app. One was to make it easier for people to play back whatever audio content they have, whether it’s streaming music, podcasts, radio, audiobooks, devices plugged into Sonos speakers like TVs or turntables and more. The second is making the app into a hub that’s better-suited to getting to exactly what you want to hear.

The end result is a much simpler app — the old one had the usual five tabs along the bottom, three of which could be used to find music. Now, there’s a single, customizable home screen with a persistent search bar and rows of content. By default, you’ll see a “recently played” section at the top that pulls things in from any service you use; below that you’ll see a carousel of the different services you have hooked up to Sonos. There’s also an area that controls different inputs, like line-in to speakers that support it or TVs plugged into soundbars. That way, you can tap those to switch between streaming music and playing back the connected device.

Sonos

There’s still a “now playing” bar at the bottom of the app that you can tap to get the full playback controls and volume adjustments, but if you swipe up from the bottom of the screen you’ll instead get a view of your whole Sonos system. This shows all your speakers and what’s playing where; you can adjust volume for each from here or group speakers together.

Easily the best thing about this new app is the customizable home screen, though. Not only can you change the order of things that appear there, you can also pin content directly from within different apps so you can get to it immediately. For example, Spotify, Apple Music and basically every other music service typically have a “new releases for you” section that shows recent albums based on your listening habits. If you always want to see that, you can pin it straight to your home screen and it’ll dynamically update when Spotify has new picks. And you can re-order these carousels so your most-used one is right at the top of the screen.

The old Sonos home screen had a recently played section at the top and let you pin songs, albums, playlists and stations from across your services, so it had some degree of flexibility. But being able to add full, dynamically updating sections from the apps you use feels like a major step forward. I can easily see pinning a half-dozen lists from different apps to my home screen, which will make the process of starting music from the Sonos app itself a lot more fluid. I still mostly use AirPlay or Spotify Connect to broadcast to my speakers, but I think it’ll be worth setting up my home in this new app and see if I use it more. Pulling together content from the too many streaming apps I use in one place sounds like a nice improvement over jumping in and out of apps depending on what I want to hear.

Sonos also made it easier to jump right into the service of your choice. All of the streaming apps that you’re logged in to will appear in a carousel as well, with your default / favorite option always at the beginning of the list. The same goes for search — when you open the search bar and type something in, you’ll get the results from your favorite service first.

Sonos

The company is also replacing its existing desktop controller app for Mac and Windows with a web app that'll offer the same functionality and design as you get on your phone. That's probably a good call, as the Sonos controller feels pretty out of step with the company's current design and feature set, though I'm sure some will bristle at it being a web app. That should also start rolling out on May 7, and the existing Mac and Windows app will eventually be shut down.

For a lot of people, I wager the Sonos app will still be a “set it and forget it” kind of thing, used to get speakers set up and then tucked away in case something goes wrong. If you only have one or two speakers and do nearly all your listening through Spotify, for example, it’ll probably be preferable to just use the Spotify app itself still. But people who have a more involved speaker setup and use multiple sources for audio should find a lot to like here when the app arrives in a few weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-rebuilt-sonos-app-focuses-on-getting-you-to-your-tunes-faster-130022601.html?src=rss

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, the director's cut version of Castlevania for the Nintendo 64, is a classic today despite issues like blurry graphics and wonky gameplay. You'd think a title designed in the last century (well, 1999) would have no new surprises, but there's a twist to the story. A new Konami Code has been found and it's interesting enough that Castlevania fans may want to give it a fresh look. 

The trick was first revealed by Moises and LiquidCat on the Castlevania 64 Discord server, as shared by YouTuber JupiterClimb. To unlock it, you just need to double the inputs of the original Konami Code (press ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A, twice), and all the characters from Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness — Cornell, Reinhardt, Carrie and Henry — are instantly unlocked. 

It also opens up all their alternate costumes, along with the game's hard mode. Without the code, you have to win the game (twice!!) to unlock all four characters. 

Along with the main code, Moises and LiquidCat also dug up codes to fill all inventories, regardless of character being played. The PAL and JPN version also lets players max out their jewels and weapon power. 

JupiterClimb speculates that the code was a developer shortcut accidentally left in the game, as has happened before with Konami titles. In any case, it's a fun surprise that breathes some new life into the 25-year-old vampire game. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/castlevania-fan-uncovers-new-konami-code-in-1999-game-124727119.html?src=rss

Travel is once again a rite of passage for many new grads, and as a parent, you probably want to ensure your child has a great time exploring the world. Visiting a new place can be a little tricky, but a few gadgets can help make the experience easier and more enjoyable for your new grad. These are some of the best travel accessories that always earn a spot in our bag whenever we head out on a new adventure.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-travel-tech-for-graduates-123028465.html?src=rss

Enlarge / The third-generation Porsche Macan drops the internal combustion engine—this one is only available as a battery electric vehicle. (credit: Porsche)

Porsche provided flights from London to Nice and accommodation so Ars could drive the Macan. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

Porsche's Taycan has been a nice electric vehicle for the German brand, and the recently updated model is supposed to offer more of the good stuff and less of the bad. The sedan is on the expensive side, and it doesn't scream "family lugger," which is where the new electric Macan comes in. Porsche's volume-selling entry-level SUV is now electric, and it might be just the car to convince skeptics and non-Porsche people alike that EV is the way to go. Maybe.

At launch, you'll be able to pick up a Macan 4 or Macan Turbo. Peak power sits at 402 hp (300 k) and 630 hp (470 kW) respectively, but that's just when you use the car's overboost. Most of the time, you'll have to make do with an adequate 382 hp (285 kW) and 576 hp (430 kW). Torque for both is a healthy 479 lb-ft (650 Nm) and 833 lb-ft (1,130 Nm). With all that grunt on board, Porsche reckons you'll be able to hit 62 mph from rest in 4.9 and 3.1 seconds, respectively (0–100 km/h takes 5.2 and 3.3 seconds, respectively), as well as topping out at 137 mph (220 km/h) and 162 mph (260 km/h). Not having a gas motor under the hood isn't a penalty when it comes to performance.

The electric Macan sits on the all-new PPE (Premium Platform Electric) architecture. Shared with Audi and its upcoming Q6 e-tron, PPE was built with electricity in mind. Its party piece is a hefty 100 kWh battery (95 kWh usable) that sits under the cabin, giving the Macan 4 381 miles (613 km) of range and the Turbo 367 miles (590 km), although that's according to the less-accurate WLTP testing scheme used in Europe—EPA range estimates will be available closer to the Macan's arrival in the US in the second half of this year.

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