‘The Quarry’ is a teen horror game from the creators of ‘Until Dawn’

The producers of Until Dawn are returning to their roots after years of Dark Pictures Anthology games. Supermassive Games and 2K have unveiledThe Quarry, a teen horror title that has you once again deciding the fates of frightened youth. You control nine camp counselors as a night of celebrating the end of summer camp quickly goes sideways — the trailer below hints at a Most Dangerous Game tale where someone appears to be hunting the counselors for sport.

Supermassive is leaning on star power as much as it is familiar narrative-driven game mechanics. The Quarry stars David Arquette (appropriately from Scream), Ariel Winter (Modern Family) and Lance Henriksen (Aliens), not to mention actors from productions like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Dollface and Jurassic World. And yes, any character can die. As with Until Dawn and similar games, you’ll have to work hard if you want as many people as possible to survive.

Multiplayer is important, as well. You can have “couch co-op” where people control individual counselors, but you can also have as many as seven people voting on your decisions. While it won’t be quite as pressure-filled as having a Twitch audience decide, it will help you share the thrill ride with friends. And don’t worry if it’s too nerve-wracking. On top of adjustable difficulty levels, there’s a “Movie Mode” that removes the gameplay entirely and even lets you choose how the story plays out.

The Quarry arrives June 10th for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Windows PCs. The gameplay and premise will be more than a little familiar (how many horror movies have summer camps?), but that may be part of the appeal. It’s giving you a chance to “fix” well-worn genre tropes, if just by keeping everyone alive.

Snap bans anonymous messaging from third-party apps

Snap is taking more action against bullying and harassment on Snapchat. It will no longer allow anonymous messaging from third-party apps that hook into its platform. The company said that while most people used these features in “fun, engaging, and entirely appropriate ways,” it acknowledged others might take advantage of anonymity “to engage in harmful behavior.”

From now on, third-party apps that want to let folks communicate through a Snapchat integration will need to have registered users with visible usernames and identities.

Last May, Snap locked two third-party apps that allowed for anonymous messages out of its developer platform and began a review of Snap Kit standards and policies. The decision came soon after the filing of a lawsuit related to the death of a teenager who was allegedly bullied through the apps, Yolo and LMK. The teen’s mother sought to hold the makers of all three apps liable.

Of the more than 1,500 developers with access to Snap Kit, two percent will be affected by this policy, according to The Verge. Another rule change will impact three percent of Snap Kit developers: friend-finding apps will be restricted to those aged 18 and older. Snap is enacting that change to protect younger users and make things “more consistent with Snapchat’s use case — communications between close friends who already know each other.”

Samsung’s Neo QLED 8K TVs are available for pre-order, starting at $3,500

Samsung has opened up pre-orders for many of its 2022 TVs and revealed when you’ll be able to lock in an order for some of its other upcoming displays. The company is refreshing its Neo QLED sets this year with features such as refresh rates of up to 144Hz, 14-bit processing for enhanced brightness accuracy and AI-driven upscaling via the Neural Quantum Processor 8K.

Neo QLED QN800B 8K TVs are available to pre-order now at $3,500 for the 65-inch model, $4,700 for the 75-inch TV and $6,500 for the 85-inch version. Pre-orders for the QN900B-series TVs (which have thinner bezels and 144Hz output) will open on March 21st. Pricing hasn’t been announced.

Like the 8K models, the Neo QLED 4K QN95B uses Mini-LEDs. It has a Neural Quantum Processor 4K and 144Hz refresh rate. Top-channel speakers are integrated with Object Tracking Sound with the aim of making whatever you’re watching feel more immersive. Pre-orders will open on May 23rd. 

Samsung 2022 The Frame Matte Display
Samsung

Depending on your preferred screen size, you won’t have to wait quite as long as that to get your hands on a 2022 version of The Frame. It also has new top speakers and comes with Samsung’s solar-powered remote. There’s also a matte finish that’s said to give the appearance of texture to art that you display on the Frame while minimizing glare.

The 43”, 50”, 65” and 75” models are available to pre-order now, starting at $1,000. Samsung will open pre-orders for the 32-inch, 55-inch and 85-inch sizes soon.

Samsung S95B OLED TV
Samsung

In addition, Samsung announced the S95B OLED TV. Features include the Tizen platform, Neural Quantum Processor 4K, Object Tracking Sound and QSymphony- with Dolby Atmos. Samsung says it includes an OLED brightness booster and perceptional color mapping as well. It’s available to pre-order now in 55-inch and 65″ formats, starting at $2,200.

Access to cloud gaming services such as Google Stadia and NVIDIA GeForce Now will be available on some of Samsung’s 2022 TVs. You’ll just need a compatible controller to play games on supported TVs.

Update 3/18 10:26AM ET: Samsung provided updated pricing for the S95B. It’s $200 less than previously announced.

Tile will help you scan for unwanted tracking tags

Apple isn’t the only tracking tag company making it harder for stalkers and thieves to track you. Tile is rolling out a “Scan and Secure” feature in its Android and iOS apps to help you detect unwanted tags. Use it and the app will check if any suspicious Tile tags (or Tile-equipped devices) are traveling with you. The process can take up to 10 minutes, but you won’t need a Tile account or hardware.

If there are unwanted trackers, you’ll receive safety advice. Tile stressed that it will only identify the owners of misused tags through a “properly issued court order.” The company also made clear this was just a “first step” for improved safety, and that it would team up with advocacy groups and experts to refine its efforts.

Tag-based stalking has been possible for a while, but Apple’s AirTags underscored the problem — it’s all too easy for someone to slip a tracker into your coat or car and follow your movements without your knowledge or consent. Apple already has alerts for unwanted trackers, but it’s promising both earlier, more prominent alerts as well as a precision finding feature to help people remove unwanted tags. In that regard, Tile is simply following suit by upgrading its privacy measures.

Android 13 DP2 requires apps to ask permission for notifications

Google has released the second Developer Preview for Android 13, and it includes a big change in how the platform delivers alerts. Apps built for Android 13 will need to ask for permission before they can send notifications. Apps made for Android 12 or lower won’t face this obligation, but this could still be very helpful if you’re tired of having to disable notifications for apps that enable them by default.

Developers, meanwhile, can establish “downgradeable” permissions that scale back once they’re no longer required. An app that needed access to your location before might switch it off if a relevant feature was disabled, or if the permission is no longer necessary in Android 13.

After that, Developer Preview 2’s biggest upgrades mostly apply to audio. You’ll find Bluetooth LE Audio support that promises “high fidelity” sound without a big hit to battery life. Musicians will find MIDI 2.0 compatibility that lets you use higher-resolution and more expressive USB instruments. The newer Android 13 build is also better at handling non-Latin languages like Japanese and Tamil.

You’ll need a Pixel 4, Pixel 4a or newer Google phone to load the Android 13 DP2 system image outside of an emulator. As with past previews, you won’t want to install this on your main phone — there are likely to be plenty of remaining glitches and compatibility headaches. Google is still targeting platform stability between June and July, and the polished release isn’t due until sometime after that. If you can afford to experiment, though, it should be clear the new OS is quickly taking shape.

Maserati plans to go fully electric by 2025

Maserati announced on Thursday that it will offer electric versions of its entire vehicle lineup by 2025 and is starting its efforts off with the GranTurismo EV, a 1,200 HP roadster slated for release next year. 

Maseratti GranTurismo Folgore
Stellantis

The GranTurismo “Folgore” will be the first entry into Maserati’s new line of electric vehicles. Its thousand-plus horses will translate into a limitered top speed of 190 MPH and a sub-3-second 0-60. It will be joined by an electrified version of the new Grecale SUV and Grancabrio GT in 2023 followed by EV variants of the MC20, the Quattroporte and the Levante SUV by 2025. The company also announced its intention to halt production of internal combustion vehicles and go fully electric by 2030. 

The company, a subsidiary of the Stellantis Group, did not elaborate on the expected MSRPs for the upcoming vehicles, but given Maserati’s current offerings, interested buyers will likely be looking to pay anywhere from the high five-figures to the mid-sixes.   

‘Elden Ring’ update adds more quests, as if there wasn’t enough to do already

Elden Ring is a massive game in every sense of the word. To fully complete it can take well over 100 hours, but for those who’ve somehow already exhausted every dungeon and boss, there are now even more things to do. In the latest patch, FromSoftware has added quests for certain non-player characters (NPCs): Diallos, Nepheli Loux, Kenneth Haight and Gatekeeper Gostoc.

Keeping track of NPCs’ locations will be easier too, thanks to new map markers that allow you to include their name. So, if you want to remember where to find a specific merchant, you might not need to jot down their location in a notebook. There’s a new NPC named Jar Bairn as well, while the developers have “added some summonable NPCs in multiple situations,” according to the patch notes.

The update brings in a host of balance changes too. One of them will reduce the effectiveness of the Mimic Tear summon. That allows players to create an AI-controlled spirit with the same loadout as the player, which has come in extremely useful for boss fights.

Meanwhile, FromSoft reduced the amount of damage dished out by the Hoarfrost’s Stomp Ash of War and increased the time it takes to cast. Speedrunners have been relying on that skill to blaze through Elden Ring in under 30 minutes, so they might need to find some new strategies — unless they play offline and decide not to update the game.

To offset those changes and some other nerfs, a bunch of skills now have lower FP (Focus Points) consumption, so you’ll be able to use them more often. Smithing Stones will be easier to find and shields are more effective. Stat scaling issues for some weapons should be smoothed out after some bug fixes. Publisher Bandai Namco says there are some performance improvements too.

Apple will fix the Studio Display’s underperforming webcam

The Mac Studio may be a fine machine for some creative pros, but its companion Studio Display needs some polishing. An Apple spokesperson told TechCrunch and The Wall Street Journal the company will update the Studio Display through software to address an issue where the webcam isn’t “behaving as expected.” The company didn’t provide a timeline for the fix.

TechCrunch, The Journal and others have complained that the Studio Display webcam’s image quality is subpar, with grainy, washed-out video even in good lighting. Center Stage’s auto-framing helps mask the issue, but doesn’t eliminate it. The problem is odd given both the high quality of the 2021 MacBook Pro’s camera and the presence of an A13 chip meant partly to process webcam imagery — Apple has the knowledge and means to produce a fine-looking picture.

The performance mars what is otherwise a solid monitor with good (if unexceptional) visuals and relatively powerful speakers. It’s safe to say you’ll want to wait for the update if the Studio Display’s webcam will play a big role in your purchasing decision. If you’re going to spend $1,599 on a monitor, you want to know all its features are working as well as possible.