While the conference is largely geared towards professionals, plenty of consumer-facing tech has emerged from previous years’ events, from advances to Microsoft Teams to the “next generation” of Windows. This year, attendees will “experience market-specific content and connection opportunities for France, Germany, Japan, Latin America, and the UK in Regional Spotlights,” according to the conference’s launch site, in addition to the standard slate of keynotes, workshops, and networking opportunities.
Registration for the conference opens in late April and will be free. You can check out the event agenda at the Build 2022 homepage.
A former DeepMind employee has accused the company of mishandling a series of serious sexual harassment allegations. In a report published Wednesday, TheFinancial Times recounts the experience of a former female staff member who alleges she was se…
It was silly of us to think the ending of The Stanley Parable was actually the end of the game. Ridiculous, even. Catastrophic, possibly.
Nearly 10 years after the award-winning indie game’s debut, original creators Davey Wreden and William Pugh are back with an upgraded, expanded and even stranger version called The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. It’s been in development for more than three years, and it’s finally due to hit Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles on April 27th.
The Ultra Deluxe edition includes expanded storylines, plus new content, secrets and choices. The release date trailer teases employee number 427’s revamped office space and the reality-bending physics at work in the new game. It looks familiar with flashes of the unknown; basic graphics with quietly trippy mechanics. And over the top of it all, a soothing voice narrating your every move.
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The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a collaboration between Pugh’s studio, Crows Crows Crows, and Wreden, while narrator Kevan Brighting is back as well. The script for the new content is longer than the original game script, and the developers said they tried to implement the fresh mechanics in unexpected ways — which is entirely expected for The Stanley Parable.
“Early in development, the plan was just to bring The Stanley Parable to consoles with a few small tweaks, but as time went on we kept getting more and more excited about what else we could do with the game,” the developers said in a press release. “We learned what we wanted it to be as we were making it.”
Crows Crows Crows
It almost sounds like the new game built itself — but that’d be impossible, right?
Intel has only just detailed its first Arc laptop GPUs, but it’s already teasing its desktop plans. The company has offered a peek at an Arc A-series Limited Edition video card arriving sometime this summer — yes, that’s another delay. There are no specs or prices, unfortunately, but the double-height design and twin-fan cooling make clear this is aimed directly at gamers who’d normally buy AMD or NVIDIA boards.
Early Arc desktop GPUs are expected to support a raft of modern features, including hardware-accelerated ray-tracing and AI-based supersampling. Intel is already developing second-generation GPUs, nicknamed Battlemage, and expects the third-gen Celestial hardware to target the “ultra-enthusiast” camp.
It’s still too soon to say if Arc desktop models will offer truly competitive performance. This latest delay doesn’t help, though. NVIDIA is poised to deliver its first Ampere Next-based GPUs (likely the RTX 40 series) later this year, and AMD will follow suit with the Radeon RX 7000 series. Intel is aiming at a moving target, and there are no guarantees a card released this summer will hold its own against the absolute latest the competition has to offer.
Traeger is one of the biggest names in backyard grilling. The company’s line of pellet grills offers WiFi connectivity and other handy features across the board starting at $900. After churning out new smart models in both 2018 and 2019, the company hasn’t debuted a new grill in about three years. Instead, it focused on redesigning its app to include recipe guidance and video tips along with an Apple Watch version and recently introduced Traeger Provisions meal (read: feast) kit service. For grilling season 2022, though, Traeger has completely redesigned its premium model, the Timberline.
And a lot of those upgrades relate to the tech. First, Traeger touts “an entirely new level of performance” thanks to a new smart combustion system. With added sensors, the grill monitors the cooking area to prevent pesky flare-ups for consistent results. The company has also swapped out the old black and white display for a full-color touchscreen unit. Not only does it offer a more modern look, but the screen can show a guided setup in addition to monitoring time and temperature. What’s more, Traeger has built in a maintenance check where the grill can self-diagnose issues and guide you to customer service or replacement parts via a unique QR code.
You won’t have to worry about the Timberline pulling cooking power for that display either. Traeger says dual controllers handle the cooking and the screen separately, and the display has its own dedicated graphics processor. The new controller automatically detects Meater’s wireless food probes and the new Timberline comes with two of those accessories (you can use up to four at a time). In case you missed it, Traeger acquired Meater last summer, so this integration was inevitable. The only caveat is you have to use the probes designed for the new Timberline grills. Previous versions from Meater aren’t the same so they won’t work here. If you prefer wired probes, you can still use those on these new models.
Traeger Grills
To help with sauces, frying, searing and other tasks, the new Timberline grills have a side burner. Sure, a lot of grills have that extra burner, but they’re not common on pellet models. More specifically, Traeger says this Timberline features the first outdoor-rated induction burner for both precision and power. It should especially be handy for fans of the reverse sear as it will heat up much faster than trying to get the entire grill up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit or higher after a quick smoke.
Plenty of grills offer lighting to help you see at night, with Weber being one of the biggest names to do so. Until now, Traeger hadn’t included built-in illumination, but the new Timberline has it. The company’s vice president of product Michael Colston explained that Traeger spent a lot of time researching where the best location for the lights should be so that smoke doesn’t interfere with visibility. Instead of putting lights inside the smoke chamber, it positioned them on the outside, so it can be activated by a lid sensor and it won’t get smoked up while lighting the entire cooking surface.
“We’ve thought about where that light needs to be placed,” he told Engadget. “It also signals to the controller that the door is open and barely keeps the smoke going.” So when the lid is up, the grill is no longer working to produce the same level of smoke as when it’s closed. It’s also not trying to recover from the drop in ambient temperature before you’re ready for it to do so.
Traeger Grills
Inside, a new grease and ash collection system sends all of the waste out of the bottom instead of rolling grease to a small pan on the side. Colston described the Timberline as “nearly self-cleaning” since a new FreeFlow firepot ejects the ash over to what Traeger calls the EZ-Clean Grease & Ash Keg. New plates channel grease to the same receptacle where gravity carries over wood pellet ash and debris. Besides putting all the waste in one spot, this new setup also means you won’t have to break out the shop vac as frequently to clean up. Colston explained he’s been using a new Timberline for months and probably could’ve gone longer without vacuuming out the inside. If the description is accurate, this will alleviate a key headache with pellet grills.
Instead of a four-post support for the new Timberline, Traeger opted for a cart stand like you typically see with gas grills. This offers more storage via a cabinet and small shelves below the pellet hopper. The company also designed what it calls the Pop-And-Lock (P.A.L.) rail system for accessories — things like an adjustable roll holder (paper towels, foil or butcher paper), tool hooks and a basket for rubs/sauces. The rails wrap around the front and sides of the grill, but not the back, so you have some room to move things as needed. Traeger relocated the pellet hopper cleanout chute to right below the hopper, so it’s accessible from the front. The cart was designed so you can easily slide in a storage container and empty pellets between cooks. So not only are you able to keep your fuel fresh, but you might also be more likely to use different types of wood instead of sticking to your go-to variety (read: buy more pellets).
The new Timberline should also offer more consistent performance in chilly weather thanks to full stainless steel insulation and a multi-level heat delivery system that wraps the cooking area in radiant warmth. Traeger says all of this creates hotter temperatures at the grates for better searing and improved overall heat regulation.
Traeger designed the new Timberline so it can be installed in an outdoor kitchen’s countertop setup. A trim kit can be purchased for a finished look and you can install the induction side burner off to the side of the grill as well. Lots of Traeger users have built outdoor setups with counters and bigger carts by removing the legs that come with the grills, so the company is catering to those folks by designing its latest model so that this process is relatively easy.
Traeger Grills
Even if you don’t want a full kitchen on your patio, the company has more accessories to add other culinary capabilities to the Timberline. With ModiFire products, you can purchase a stainless steel fish/veggie tray or a griddle for the induction cook top. The company says a two-sided griddle for use inside the grill is coming this fall alongside pizza stone and cover system that has its own sensors and cooking algorithm.
Despite all of the new stuff, some old favorites are still here. The Timberline is still powered by Traeger’s D2 platform and WiFire wireless connectivity. The company’s app still provides step-by-step guidance, video tutorials and a wealth of recipes, in addition to giving you control over every grill setting except for pressing the ignite button to get things going. And yes, you can use it to control that new side burner with the app too. The company has swapped out the WiFi antenna for a 360-degree component is says is more powerful that what was on previous models. Super Smoke mode is also back for low-and-slow cooking, but Traeger says it’s capable of even more flavor with that new firepot that can churn out more smoke.
The new Timberline and the larger Timberline XL will sit at the pinnacle of Traeger’s product lineup. Both models will be available this spring for $3,499 and $3,799, respectively. For comparison, the previous-gen Timberline 850 and 1300 are $2,100 and $2,300, so you’ll have to pay quite the premium for all of the upgrades the company has added to it’s high-end models.
Yesterday, Google officially released version 100 of its Chrome browser, and today it’s following suit by releasing version 100 of Chrome OS. While there weren’t a lot of big features for Chrome 100 besides a new icon, the update for Chrome OS brings a handful of changes worth noting. Probably the most significant is a redesigned app launcher experience. When you press the “everything” button (where caps lock is on most keyboards) or click the circle icon on the lower left side of the screen, the new launcher pulls up in a window on the left side of your display rather than covering all your open windows. Longtime Chrome OS users might remember that this was how the launcher behaved years ago.
Besides that visual change, Google has made it easier to organize the apps you have installed. You can choose to sort them alphabetically or by color, and new apps you add will stick to that organization scheme. From a functional perspective, Google has also improved search results that come up when you type in the launcher, automatically pulling up information for your query without having to open more details in a browser window. The search field also can look through all your open tabs if you’re trying to find a specific site you had open.
The next new feature is purely for fun — the camera app can now create GIFs. When you pop open the camera, you can choose to record a five-second video that’ll automatically be turned into a GIF. Once that’s done, you can share it to pretty much any app on your Chromebook or send it to an Android phone using the nearby share feature.
Google also improved the dictation feature on Chromebooks. Previously, you could dictate text into any text field on your device, but today Google is adding some editing features. Chrome OS now recognizes commands like “delete” to remove the last letter or “move to the next character” to adjust where your cursor is. Asking for “help” will also pull up a list of commands that you can use if you’re not sure how to accomplish a specific task with your voice.
As is usually the case with most Chrome OS updates, these aren’t exactly earth-shattering updates. But as Google now updates Chrome OS and the Chrome browser every four weeks, they’re not all going to bring big features. But there are still a few quality of life improvements worth checking out once the update hits your device — I’ve always found managing the apps in my launcher a bit cumbersome, so I’m hoping today’s update makes things a bit better.
Google plans to use artificial intelligence in more ways to make using search safer. In the coming weeks, it will roll out some updates for its AI model, MUM. The upgrades should help it detect a wider variety of personal crisis searches about sexual assault, substance abuse, domestic violence and suicide.
The company says people search for information about these topics in a broad range of ways. By employing MUM’s machine learning capabilities, Google says it can better understand the intent behind queries to recognize when someone is in need. As such, it’ll be able to provide them with more actionable, reliable information at the appropriate time.
With the help of local partners, the company plans to use the AI to improve how it handles personal crisis searches in other countries in the coming months, since MUM can translate knowledge between 75 languages. Google says it will harness the model in other ways, including to improve spam protections and enhance safety measures in countries where it doesn’t have much training data.
Other companies have been making use of multimodal AI systems similar to MUM. Meta, for instance, said it has been using AI to tackle hate speech and misinformation across its platforms in recent years. Its AI models can also obtain knowledge by analyzing videos and use that information in new products. Meanwhile, China’s Wu Dao seems to be the Swiss army knife of AI models. It can write essays, poems and couplets in traditional Chinese, analyze images to generate alt text, create almost-photorealistic images from written descriptions and much more.
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.
Canada is joining the ranks of countries and states planning to ban sales of combustion engine cars. Canada has outlined an Emissions Reduction Plan that will require all new passenger car sales to be zero-emissions models by 2035. The government will gradually ramp up pressure on automakers, requiring “at least” 20 percent zero-emissions sales by 2026 and 60 percent by 2030.
Officials didn’t say whether this applied to a make’s product mix or simply the volume of cars sold. The strategy is more forgiving for the workplace — the Canadian government wanted 35 percent of total medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales to be zero-emissions by 2035, and 100 percent of a “subset” of those machines by 2040.
The country is also offering $1.7 billion CAD (about $1.36 billion US) to extend incentives for buying electric cars and other zero-emissions vehicles. The current federal program offers up to a $5,000 CAD ($4,010 US) rebate for EVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars that meet varying price, seat and battery requirements. Some provinces, such as British Columbia and Nova Scotia, offer their own incentives.
The broader plan is meant to reduce emissions to 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and reach net zero by 2050. This includes funds to support renewable energy projects, shrink oil industry emissions and develop “nature-based climate solutions.”
Canada’s car market is small compared to the US. Passenger vehicle sales in Canada reached 1.64 million in 2021, according to estimates, versus an estimated 15 million for the country’s southern neighbor. However, the de facto ban on combustion engine cars could further motivate car brands already transitioning to EVs — that’s still a lot of potentially lost sales, particularly for a country known for its auto manufacturing plants.
Way back in 2018 Intel announced plans to develop its own line of discrete GPUs back designed to compete with rival cards from AMD and NVIDIA. And despite several delays including missing its original 2020 launch window, this spring the first batch of Intel’s new Arc graphics cards are finally ready for use in retail devices, starting with Samsung’s Galaxy Book 2 Pro laptops.
As a quick recap, while Intel’s Arc line will eventually cover both laptops and desktops, the first batch of A-series GPUs are lower-power cards intended mainly for ultraportables and thin-and-light notebooks. The company’s graphics cards will use a naming scheme similar to its CPUs to help differentiate between various performance tiers, beginning with the new Arc A350M and A370M, before moving on to the more powerful Arc 5 and Arc 7 cards which are due out sometime later this summer.
Intel
Across the entire family of Arc GPUs, Intel’s graphics architecture is based on four main pillars: the company’s XE cores, XE Media Engine, XE Display Engine, and the XE Graphics Pipeline. All Arc cards will also have the same basic feature set including support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, ray tracing, XE Super Sampling, AV1 hardware acceleration and more.
The Arc’s XE cores are based on Intel’s XE HPG (High Performance Graphics) microarchitecture, with each core featuring 16 256-bit Vector Engines. 16 1,024-bit Matrix Engines and 192KB of shared memory. The XE Media Engine is designed to support popular video apps with hardware encoding at up to 8K 10-bit HDR and hardware acceleration for a number of popular standards (VP9, AVC, HEVC, AV1). Meanwhile, the XE Display Engine was built to handle video output for up to two 8K displays at 60Hz simultaneously, four 4K displays running at 120Hz, or a single 1440p screen at 360Hz.
Intel
As for the two new cards themselves, both the A350M and A370M are targeting 1080p gaming at 60fps to 90fps across a range of popular games. The A350M is designed to draw between 25 and 35 watts of power and will sport six XE cores, six ray tracing units, a graphics clock of 1,150 MHz (which Intel says is a conservative estimate of the card’s typical clock speed) and 4GB of GDDR6 vRAM. Alternatively, the A370M is designed for slightly larger laptops with a power draw of between 35 and 50 watts, eight XE cores, 8 ray tracing units, a graphics clock of 1,550 MHz, and the same 4GB of vRAM. And as you can see in the image above, the upcoming Arc 5 and Arc 7 cards will be significantly more powerful. But again, they won’t be out until sometime in early summer.
Intel
Also, alongside its new GPUs, Intel created a software suite called Arc Control similar to NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience and AMD’s Radeon Software, designed to allow users to more easily monitor performance, install drivers and updates, record game highlights and even connect to live streaming apps like Xsplit. And thanks to a UI that uses a streamlined overlay, Intel’s Arc Control should be easy to access in the middle of a battle.
Intel even says it’s working more with developers to provide faster and more responsive driver support for new titles, with featured games on the Arc cards including titles such as Elden Ring, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Dolmen and a whole lot more. And as one of the largest chip makers in the world, Intel also created its Deep Link tech which is designed to give its Arc cards an additional performance boost when working in tandem with Intel’s onboard integrated graphics.
Intel
So while we’re only getting two new Arc cards right now (and relatively low-power ones at that), today marks an important moment as Intel finally becomes the true third horse in the discrete graphics space. The first retail device to feature one of Intel’s A-series cards is Samsung’s Galaxy Book 2 Pro, which goes on sale next month. However, Intel promises that there will be a slew of even more laptops featuring Arc GPUs coming soon from big names including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, MSI, Lenovo and others.
WhatsApp is looking to make it easier for people to send and listen to voice messages with a swathe of new features, albeit fairly basic ones. Users will be able to pause and resume while recording a message and listen back to it before sending.You’ll …
