Virtual reality is coming to Audi vehicles. On Saturday, the automaker announced it would support Holoride’s in-car VR technology starting this summer. In June, select Audi models with the company’s MIB 3 infotainment system, including the A4, A6, A8, Q5 and e-tron GT, will ship with the necessary software to sync with Holoride-compatible headsets, with the company planning to support the feature first in Germany, the UK and US before making it available in other markets.
At the center of the experience is something Holoride calls “Elastic Content.” When passengers play an interactive video or game, the experience adapts to the car’s movements. So say you’re playing something involving a spacecraft. When the vehicle accelerates, so will the spaceship. In that way, not only is the experience more immersive, but it’s also less likely to lead to motion sickness, according to Holoride.
Holoride spun out of Audi, but the startup’s system is brand-agostic, which means other automakers have the option to support the tech in their vehicle. The software for making Holoride content is open-source as well.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened the door for self-driving vehicles to operate without manual controls under updated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. While fully autonomous vehicles are likely several years away from going on sale, the new rule paves the way for automakers to remove the steering wheel and pedals.
“Through the 2020s, an important part of [the Department of Transportation’s] safety mission will be to ensure safety standards keep pace with the development of automated driving and driver assistance systems,” transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “This new rule is an important step, establishing robust safety standards for [Automated Driving Systems]-equipped vehicles.”
The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards regulate all elements of production cars, as Roadshow notes. The latest rule stipulates that whether or not they have a steering wheel and pedals, vehicles with automated driving systems need to offer the same level of protection to drivers and passengers as other cars.
Fully autonomous (Level 5) cars aren’t on the market yet. Teslas are at Level 2 (they have some autonomy, but a human driver needs to be ready to take control). Volkswagen is making a Level 4 version of its ID.Buzz EV, while pilot projects for robotaxis and self-driving shuttles are underway. At CES 2022, Cadillac showed off a luxury concept EV without a steering wheel or pedals.
NHTSA acknowledged uncertainty about the development and deployment of vehicles equipped with ADS. “Nevertheless, NHTSA believes it is appropriate to finalize this action at this time in anticipation of emerging ADS vehicle designs that NHTSA has seen in prototype form,” the agency said.
Now’s a good moment to get a cellular Galaxy Watch 4. Woot is offering the 44m LTE version in green at an all-time low price of $225. That’s better than we saw in February, and a whopping $105 below the official sticker. It’s substantially less expensive than its non-cellular counterpart, in fact. Just remember that Woot’s return policy isn’t the same as its parent Amazon, and that inventory might run out.
The Galaxy Watch 4 rejuvenated Samsung’s smartwatch lineup. The switch from Tizen to Wear OS gave it a more robust app ecosystem, and the improved health tracking (including continuous blood oxygen detection) will help with your fitness regimen. Add the attractive display, a newer processor and a touch-based rotating bezel and you’ll have a watch that should be appealing all day round, whether you’re working out or streaming from Spotify.
There are some limits. We found the battery life to be short, and the body mass scans weren’t consistent at review time. And unlike some Wear OS watches, it’s a no-go if you’re an iPhone user. Provided those aren’t obstacles, though, the Galaxy Watch 4 remains one of the best values in Android-friendly smartwatches — especially at this price.
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The Nintendo theme park experience is headed to the US. Universal Studios Hollywood announced Super Nintendo World — a ride and interactive area in the style of the Super Mario game series — will debut at the California theme park in 2023.
Nintendo’s debut park in Osaka was delayed by nearly a year due to the pandemic, opening to limited numbers in March 2021.
For the US spin, fans can expect an interactive area, a special themed ride and themed shopping and dining — because the park has to make money, right? Like the Osaka iteration, Super Nintendo World will be an expansion of the current Universal Studios Hollywood, marking the first major expansion of the Hollywood park since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was added in 2016. If your heart is still set on seeing the Japanese original, it will be getting a Donkey Kong expansion in 2024.
Activision is currently hiring for new roles to build the game.
Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale, will soon have a mobile version. In a tweet, the game’s publisher, Activision, announced it was hiring for a slate of new mobile roles. It’s not the first CoDtitle adapted for mobile — Activision released the kinda-OK Call of Duty: Mobile in 2019.
The only problem is that EVs are pricey. So why not embrace a hybrid that also happens to be a small truck with a very impressive starting price? The 2022 Ford Maverick starts at $20,000 and ships with a hybrid powertrain that delivers up to 42 MPG. In addition to being a truck, it has a bed built for customization. Plus, thanks to makers like Robert Trapp, the FITS (Ford Integrated Tether System) already has 3D designs for printing or manipulation. It’s relatively cheap, customizable and a hybrid. Roberto Baldwin gives it a test drive.
There’s finally a month-to-month payment option for GeForce Now RTX 3080. Before, NVIDIA only offered six months of access for $100. Now, it costs $20 per month to try that tier. That lowers the barrier to entry, though you’ll save more in the long run with the six-month plan. Expect 1440p resolution gaming with ray-tracing at up to 120 fps on Mac and PC and 4K HDR resolution at 60 fps on NVIDIA Shield.
Activists and artists pressured Denver Arts and Venues to stop using the system.
Red Rocks Amphitheater, one of the most recognizable concert venues in the US, no longer plans to use Amazon’s palm scanning technology for ticketless entry. Activists and artists including Fight for the Future, Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) and Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill) pressured Denver Arts and Venues to refrain from using Amazon One at the venues it manages.
Those who signed an open letter cited concerns about Amazon sharing palmprint data with government agencies that seek to track marginalized people and activists.
Users on Samsung’s Korean community forums are receiving an update for the Galaxy S22 series that adds a “Game Performance Management Mode” to Game Booster. The release should let users override the throttling feature and wring more speed out of the flagship phones, at least so long as they’re willing to accept reduced battery life.
The founder said he is “sickened” by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The search engine DuckDuckGo will down-rank sites that spread Russian propaganda and disinformation. Founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg tweeted that the privacy-focused search engine would be releasing updates to ensure Russian disinformation sites rank further down in search results. Earlier this month, DuckDuckGo announced it would pause its relationship with Russian-state-owned search engine Yandex.
Razer’s Seiren Bluetooth lapel microphone packs an omnidirectional mic and AI-based noise suppression. The lapel mic includes a 3.5mm jack for monitoring through headphones, and you can customize it through the Razer Streaming App to tweak the noise suppression level, making for a pretty compelling mobile mic experience, at least on paper.
The Seiren Bluetooth is available for $100 and should work with “all” phones as well as common streaming apps like Streamlabs, Twitch and YouTube.
You don’t have to lean on a special tool to know whether or not a Microsoft game will play properly on your Steam Deck. The Vergenotes Microsoft has published a list of the Xbox Game Studios titles you can play on Valve’s handheld, and it’s mostly good news. Recent releases like Deathloop and Psychonauts 2 are listed as “Verified” (that is, known to play well), and you can expect 2017’s Prey to thrive.
Forza Horizon 5 (and 4), Sea of Thieves, Fallout 4 and Quantum Break are some of the games labeled as “Playable.” They should work, but you may need to spend extra time setting them up or dealing with quirks (such as using the on-screen keyboard).
You’re out of luck if you want to play a few of Microsoft’s best-known games, however. Gears 5, Halo: Master Chief Collection, Halo Infinite and Flight Simulator X are all deemed “unsupported” due to their anti-cheat tools.
This list only includes the games Microsoft offers on Steam. You’ll have to install Windows (and lose official support from Valve) if you insist on playing the company’s wider catalog. Microsoft said Steam Deck compatibility is up to individual studios, however, so don’t be surprised if a previously unviable game becomes playable in the future.
Samsung doesn’t seem to have wasted any time delivering its promised performance throttling update. XDAreports users on Samsung’s Korean community forums are receiving an update for the Galaxy S22 series that adds a “Game Performance Management Mode” to Game Booster. The release should let users override throttling and wring more speed out of the flagship phones, at least so long as they’re willing to accept reduced battery life and more heat.
We’ve asked Samsung for more details, including timing for the update in the US and other countries. It’s also unclear if or when older Galaxy models will see updates. Releases like this won’t necessarily take long, but they may be staggered by region and device.
Whether or not this fully addresses concerns is another matter. Users have accused Samsung of throttling non-game apps like Netflix and TikTok. Samsung has denied slowing those titles and pins any limitations on its Game Optimizing Service, but Galaxy phone owners might still be frustrated if they feel some of their apps are being held back.
As it stands, the update might be necessary for Samsung to regain some trust. Those same users criticized Samsung for throttling games while letting benchmarks run at full speed. That led Geekbench to delist four years of high-end Galaxy phones from its benchmark list over concerns the tests didn’t represent real-world capabilities. The new software could help Samsung reclaim its place on that list and improve its standing among enthusiasts.
It’s easy to point to EVs and declare them the official vehicles of nerds. The only problem is that EVs are pricey. We’ve been waiting for pricing parity between EVs and gas vehicles for years and it’s likely going to take longer to come to pass thanks…
Sony’s State of Play livestream today was short on major news, but there was one surprising nugget: Returnal is getting a beefy update on March 22nd. Returnal: Ascension adds co-op capabilities and a new survival mode to the game, and it’ll be completely free.
Returnal is a PlayStation 5 exclusive developed by Housemarque. It’s a roguelike shooter where players are trapped in a time loop on a hostile alien planet, and it gets a lot of things right, including massive enemies and a punishing reward system. As a PS5 exclusive, Returnal makes good use of the DualSense controller’s haptics and Sony’s 3D audio tech.
Ascension will be Returnal‘s 3.0 update. The game’s 2.0 update in October 2021 added photo mode and a suspension option that allowed players to save their progress mid-run, but only under certain conditions. It is a roguelike, after all.
Just when you thought video games were getting too serious comes Capcom with Exoprimal, an entirely new IP that will see you and your friends facing off endless waves of dinosaurs that fall from the sky.
In an absolutely bananas trailer the publisher showed off during Sony’s State of Play presentation on Wednesday, we saw a game that looks like a mix of Anthem, Dino Crisis and Dynasty Warriors. Exoprimal is both a co-op and competitive game. In the game’s main mode, Dino Survival, you’ll team up with four other players to take on hordes of dinosaurs and an opposing team of five players. If you’ve played Destiny 2‘s Gambit mode, the setup will sound familiar. Each exosuit features a different suite of abilities, and you’ll need to work as a team to defeat both the cold- and warm-blooded killers out for your neck. Capcom said it plans to release Exoprimal in 2023 on PlayStation 4 and PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Steam.
Samsung’s newest tablets have only been available for a few weeks, but they’re already receiving discounts on Amazon. You can snag both the Galaxy Tab S8 and S8+ for less right now thanks to clippable coupons that knock $50 and $75 off the tablets, respectively. Just make sure to clip the coupon on the product page before checking out and you’ll receive the discount. Amazon has credit codes for each as well that will give you up to $75 to use in the future. Use the code ZXDDSPWVWFRB if you’re buying the Tab S8 and the code 3SQB2LND8NEE if you’re buying the S8+ at checkout to get the respective credits.
We gave the Galaxy Tab S8+ the full review treatment and it earned a score of 85. It’s a powerful, premium Android tablet that more than holds its own against the competition thanks to things like Dex mode and Samsung’s S Pen. The slab is pretty sleek, measuring 0.22-inches thick and weighing only 1.24 pounds, and it has a gorgeous 12.4-inch OLED display that can hit 120Hz refresh rates. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip and 8GB of RAM, and you can choose from 128GB or 256GB of storage. You may want to spring for Samsung’s book cover keyboard if you want to use the tablet as a laptop replacement, but Samsung does include the S Pen in the box, which is a great perk.
Dex mode has come a long way since Samsung first debuted it, and now it’s a handy feature for multitasking. It switches from the standard Android UI to one that’s more desktop-like, with support for things like multiple windows and a taskbar. You’ll likely spend a lot of time in Dex mode if you plan on using the Tab S8 as an on-the-go productivity machine. And if you’re a fan of handwritten notes, Samsung’s S Pen is better than ever on these tablets. The company reduced the input latency to only 2.8ms, making the pen an even better, smoother tool with which to take notes, doodle and more. As far as battery life goes, we got nearly 9.5 hours out of the Tab S8+, which should be enough to get you through most of a work day.
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