Russia denies cosmonauts wore yellow jumpsuits in protest of Ukraine invasion

On Friday, cosmonauts Denis Matveyev, Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Korsakov arrived at the International Space Station wearing bright yellow and blue jumpsuits. They were the first Russian astronauts to travel to the ISS since the war in Ukraine began, and many saw their choice of uniform as a statement against their country’s invasion of its neighbor.

One day later, per Space.com, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency dismissed those suggestions. “Sometimes yellow is just yellow,” it said in a Telegram post spotted by the outlet. Roscosmos went on to claim the three cosmonauts were wearing the colors of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, their shared alma mater. And for what it’s worth, the school’s crest, like Ukraine’s national flag, features plenty of blue and yellow. 

“Under no circumstances will we force cosmonaut graduates of Bauman University not to wear the colors of the coat of arms of their alma mater,” said Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos. The space agency also later shared a photo of Artemyev wearing a white jumpsuit with the colors of the Russian displayed prominently across the chest.

The cosmonauts didn’t say too much about their choice of uniform. “It became our turn to pick a color,” said Artemyev when asked about the subject during a subsequent press conference. “We had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it. That’s why we had to wear yellow.”

While astronauts from the US and Germany looked happy to see their new crewmates, tensions between the West and Russia threaten the future of multiple joint projects. This week, the European Space Agency said it was suspending its ExoMars mission while looking for a way to move forward without the involvement of Roscosmos.

Netflix will release a Tekken animated series later this year

Having helped bring properties like DotA 2 and Castlevania to TV, Netflix is once again turning to a historic gaming franchise to add to its content library. On Saturday, the streamer announced it would release Tekken: Bloodline, an animated adaption of Bandai Namco’s popular fighting game series, in 2022.

In the trailer Netflix shared alongside the announcement, we’re introduced to protagonist Jin Kazama, who joined the franchise as a playable character in 1996’s Tekken 3. In the show, Kazama embarks on a quest for revenge when his mother Jun falls to what she calls a demon. Kazama subsequently turns to his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima, for help. If old man Mishima gives off a sinister vibe, it’s because he’s the main villain of the Tekken franchise. Kazama’s quest eventually leads him to The King of Iron Fist Tournament where we see some familiar faces.

Outside of knowing it will come out later this year, we don’t have an exact release date for Tekken: Bloodline. Netflix’s track record with video game adaptations has mostly depended on the companies it has partnered with to work on those projects. Productions like Arcane and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf have been a success for the company thanks to the involvement of studios like Fortiche and Studio Mir.

Hackers are corrupting the save files of ‘Elden Ring’ players on PC

If you’re playing through Elden Ring on PC, you may want to disable the game’s online functionality for the time being. According to a Reddit report spotted by Eurogamer, some malicious individuals have found a hack that can send PC players into an endless death loop.

You can see the exploit in action in a video posted by Elden Ring Update on Twitter. A hacker will invade your game and use a specific ability that forces Elden Ring to crash. When you reload your save, your character will repeatedly fall to their death. Elden Ring is a big game, and some players have reported losing as much as 100 hours of gameplay in this way.

If all of this sounds familiar, it’s because FromSoftware was recently forced to disable Dark Souls 3’s multiplayer features after a hacker identified a vulnerability within the game that allowed them to execute code remotely. The studio has been working to address the issue since February.

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco have yet to comment on the exploit. We’ll update this article when they say something on the matter. In the meantime, your best bet is to play offline. Failing that, you’ll want to regularly backup your save in case someone uses the exploit on one of your characters. In the worst-case scenario, it’s possible to salvage a save, but the process isn’t easy. You need to press Alt F4 before your character dies, and then quickly fast travel to a Site of Grace when you reload the game.  

Epic will donate two weeks of ‘Fortnite’ proceeds to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine

Starting today through to April 3rd, Epic Games will donate all of its Fortnite proceeds to humanitarian organizations providing on-the-ground relief to Ukrainians affected by the invasion of their country. Players can support the action by making…

Apple’s AirPods Pro are back on sale for $175

If you missed the chance to buy Apple’s AirPods Pro when they were $175 in February, they’re now back down to that price once again. Amazon has discounted the company’s best-sounding earbuds by 30 percent for a limited time. You could probably get them for less if you’re patient, but we’re unlikely to see them drop to their previous low of $159 for quite some time.

Buy Apple AirPods Pro at Amazon – $ 175

While they’re a few years old now, the AirPods Pro are still one the best pair of wireless earbuds you can buy. We awarded them a score of 87 when Apple first released them in 2019. Since then, the company recently refreshed the included case to offer MagSafe charging in addition to the original Qi and Lightning options that came at launch.

As before, what the AirPods Pro lack in sound quality, they more than make up in utility. They feature active noise cancellation alongside a transparency mode that’s useful for ensuring you’re safe when out walking on a busy street. An IPX4 rating also means you can safely use them during workouts. With Apple’s included H1 chip, Hey Siri support allows you to control the AirPods Pro without reaching for your iPhone or one of the stems. That might not seem like much, but it’s one of those features that’s invaluable when your hands are full.

Last but certainly not least, since the AirPods Pro come with interchangeable silicone tips they’re the Apple earbuds to buy if you’re unsure if the one-size-fits-all approach of the second- and third-generation AirPods will work with your ears.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Lawsuit accuses Google of fostering systemic bias against Black employees

A new lawsuit against Google accuses the company of fostering a “racially biased corporate culture” that offers Black employees lower pay and fewer opportunities to advance than their white counterparts, reports Reuters. Filed on Friday with a federal court in San Jose, California, the complaint alleges the company subjected former diversity recruiter April Curley and other current and former Black employees to a hostile work environment.

In 2014, Google hired Curley to design a program to connect the company with Black colleges. Shortly afterward, she claims she was subjected to denigrating comments from her managers, who allegedly stereotyped her as an “angry” black woman while passing her over for promotions.

“While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity, they were actually undervaluing, underpaying and mistreating their Black employees,” Curley’s lawyer told Reuters. The complaint notes Black people make up only 4.4 percent of employees at Google and approximately 3 percent of its leadership.

We’ve reached out to Google for comment.

Curley is not the first person to accuse Google of fostering a work environment hostile to Black employees and other people of color. In the aftermath of Timnit Gebru’s controversial exit from the company, Alex Hanna, a former employee with the tech giant’s Ethical AI research group, said she decided to leave Google after becoming tired of its structural deficiencies. “In a word, tech has a whiteness problem,” Hanna wrote on Medium at the time. “Google is not just a tech organization. Google is a white tech organization.”

Judge dismisses lawsuit accusing Amazon of antitrust violation over third-party pricing

On Friday, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia threw out a complaint that Attorney General Karl Racine had filed against Amazon accusing the retailer of anticompetitive behavior, according to The Wall Street Journal. Last June, Racine’s office alleged that Amazon had used a variety of contract provisions to prevent third-party sellers from offering their wares for less elsewhere.

“We believe that the Superior Court got this wrong, and its oral ruling did not seem to consider the detailed allegations in the complaint, the full scope of the anticompetitive agreements, the extensive briefing and a recent decision of a federal court to allow a nearly identical lawsuit to move forward,” a spokesperson for the attorney general told the outlet.

At the center of Racine’s suit was Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy. In 2019, amid antitrust scrutiny, the company stopped telling third-party sellers they couldn’t offer their wares at lower prices on competing marketplaces. The complaint alleged that Amazon added a near-identical clause under its Fair Pricing Policy. The suit said that those guidelines allow the company to impose sanctions on merchants that sell their products for less money elsewhere.

When Racine’s office first filed its complaint, Amazon argued that many retailers employ pricing restrictions in their contracts. “The DC Attorney General has it exactly backwards — sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store,” a spokesperson for the company told Engadget at the time. “Amazon takes pride in the fact that we offer low prices across the broadest selection, and like any store we reserve the right not to highlight offers to customers that are not priced competitively. The relief the AG seeks would force Amazon to feature higher prices to customers, oddly going against core objectives of antitrust law.”

Racine’s office said it was weighing whether to appeal the ruling. “We are considering our legal options and we’ll continue fighting to develop reasoned antitrust jurisprudence in our local courts and to hold Amazon accountable for using its concentrated power to unfairly tilt the playing field in its favor,” it told The Journal.

Eufy’s RoboVac X8 is $200 off today only

If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to pick up a robot vacuum, you’ll want to turn your attention to Amazon. The retailer has discounted one of the best mid-range models: the Eufy RoboVac X8.

Buy Eufy RoboVac X8 at Amazon – $400Buy Eufy RoboVac 30C at Amazon – $170

For today only, it’s $200 off, so you can purchase one for $400 instead of $600. The X8 is missing some features you’ll find on more expensive robot vacuums. Most notably, it doesn’t come with a clean base. It also doesn’t include the mop functionality found on Eufy’s X8 Hybrid model. However, if you can do without those two features, the X8 represents excellent value, particularly at $400. It comes with four cleaning modes and four suction levels. Even running the vacuum at its lowest setting, we found it could still thoroughly suction up dust and dirt. We also found it was easy to set up, with a mobile app that offers a handful of valuable features, including a “tap and go” one that lets you pinpoint any spot in your home for cleaning.

If you’re looking for a more affordable option, consider the RoboVac 30C. It’s not as powerful as the X8 and it features a less advanced navigation system but at its current price of $170, down from $300, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better robot vacuum for the price.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.