Author: News Room

Sony can be somewhat stingy about offering discounts on first-party accessories like the PlayStation Portal, which is why the latest PlayStation sale is worth checking out. Now through February 19th, PlayStation Plus members can buy two PlayStation 5 accessories and get 20 percent off purchases over $100. If you aren’t a PS Plus member, you can still save if you sign up for a subscription, which starts at $9.99 a month.In case you need a refresher, the PlayStation Portal is a handheld device with a crisp, eight-inch 1080p LCD display you can use to stream games from your PS5 over…

Introduction I haven’t driven anything electric from Ford for ages. The last was the Mustang Mach-E mid-size family SUV, fairly early on in its lifetime. I quite liked it, despite some reasonably hefty dimensions and the fact it had nothing in common with the muscle car it shared a name with. The Ford Explorer is a variation on the theme, only it sits on a Volkswagen platform rather than Ford’s own. With European manufacturers facing tough competition from the Chinese car makers, it’s understandable to see why these sort of tie-ins happen. But I liked the ID 4 and Skoda…

Apple has reportedly been ordered by the UK government to create a backdoor that would give security officials access to users’ encrypted iCloud backups. If implemented, British security services would have access to the backups of any user worldwide, not just Brits, and Apple would not be permitted to alert users that their encryption was compromised.The Washington Post reports that the secret order, issued last month, is based on rights given under the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, also known as the Snoopers’ Charter. Officials have apparently demanded blanket access to end-to-end encrypted files uploaded by any user worldwide,…

Microsoft has started rolling out a new scareware blocker in its Edge browser this week. The AI-powered feature runs on Windows PCs and can identify and block existing scams, and even detect new and emerging ones thanks to a local machine learning model.“Scareware blocker adds a new, first line of defense to help protect the users exposed to a new scam if it attempts to open a full screen page. Scareware blocker uses a machine learning model that runs on the local computer,” explains the Microsoft Edge team in a blog post. “The model uses computer vision to compare full…

The (deep breath) Predator Helios Neo 16 AI and Predator Helios Neo 18 AI can be configured with up to Intel’s Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and RTX 5070 Ti GPUs. They each feature a boatload of ports and will start at $1,899.99 for the 16-inch and $2,199.99 for the 18-inch. The 16 launches in the US in April (other countries in May), and the 18 launches in May (other countries in June).Both laptops feature RGB logos on their lids, four-zone keyboard lighting, and up to 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. Also in the high-end configs is a…

Looking ahead, this calendar year is shaping up to be one of the strongest ever for Take-Two, as we plan to launch Sid Meier’s Civilization VII on February 11th, Mafia: The Old Country in the Summer, Grand Theft Auto VI in the Fall, and Borderlands 4. Read the full article here

The video shows a researcher completing tasks with two robots, one labeled “Expressive” and the other labeled “Functional,” and the former is way more fun.Both robots are desk-style lamps on an articulating arm, with what appears to be an LED light, camera, speaker, and projector built in. They respond to gestures and voice commands and have a voice that sounds suspiciously like Apple’s Siri. One of them exhibits a lot of personality.When the researcher in the video plays music, the “Expressive” robot lamp dances with her; when she asks about the weather, it looks outside first; when she’s working on…

Apple’s next iPhone SE might be announced “as early as next week” ahead of it being on sale later in February, Bloomberg reports. The new phone has already seemingly appeared in photos and video and Bloomberg says Apple’s inventory of the current iPhone SE has started running low, which all could point to an imminent launch.The next iPhone SE is expected to look like an iPhone 14, meaning it will have a bigger screen, drop Touch ID in favor of Face ID, and come with an A18 chip, which will let it run the company’s Apple Intelligence features, according to…

Tinder is updating its Explore page with new categories to help you find dates with similar relationship goals. With the update, you can now browse profiles in groups such as “Serious Dater,” “Long-Term Partner,” “Non-monogamy,” and “Short-Term Fun.”The dating app notes that you can only qualify for the Serious Dater category if you have a bio, upload at least four photos, and set your relationship goals to a long-term option. Tinder first rolled out its Explore page in 2021, which initially let you browse profiles with similar interests like “Gamers,” “Animal Parents,” and “Binge Watchers,” as well as see matches…

Marko Elez — the 25-year-old Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer who has reportedly been combing through the Treasury Department’s payment systems — resigned from his position after the Wall Street Journal uncovered an old social media account linked to him with numerous posts promoting racism and eugenics.“99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced by slightly smarter LLMs, they’re going back don’t worry guys,” the user of the since-deleted X account @nullllptr posted in December, amid the H-1B debate that divided the tech-right. The account’s previous handle was @marko_elez, according to the Journal’s report.Other posts called for repealing the Civil…

Thousands of retailers and carrier stores in the US will be stocked with the Samsung Galaxy S25 ($799.99), S25 Plus ($999.99), and S25 Ultra ($1,299.99) on Friday, February 7th. Hardware-wise, the S25 series is a marginal improvement over last year’s S24 series, with the most noteworthy changes coming in the form of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and an expanded 12GB of RAM. Each device also supports Qi2 Ready charging (with a magnet case) and a spate of new AI features thanks to Android 15, while the S25 Ultra gets an upgraded 50-megapixel ultrawide camera.While you likely aren’t in danger…

Lawmakers’ efforts to limit the use of social media by kids are continuing into 2025 with the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA). The bill, which would prevent kids under 13 from creating social media accounts, advanced through the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday, as reported earlier by Politico.Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced the bill, positioning it as a way to curb the “unprecedented mental health crisis” affecting young people. Along with restricting kids’ access to social media, it would also prevent companies from using recommendation algorithms for users under 17, while requiring schools to “limit…