WhatsApp is working on a setting that will let users more easily bypass its iffy image compression and send photos and videos in the highest available fidelity. The "best quality" option will likely join "auto" and "data saver" choices in a future version of the app.
It appears users will eventually have the choice of whether to compress photos and videos to perhaps save on their data allowance, send them in the best available quality or let WhatsApp automatically select the optimal level of compression for files.
The settings are present in an update WhatsApp submitted to the Google Play Beta Program, as spotted by WABetaInfo. The options will probably arrive in the public Android build of the app, though it's not clear when — they're currently in development. It's likely the additional image quality options will come to iOS as well, since WhatsApp generally maintains the same features across both platforms.
This could come as welcome news for those who don't use the stock messaging apps on iOS or Android and often share photos and videos of their loved ones (Apple Messages retains the original image quality most of the time). Meanwhile, multi-device support is also on the way to WhatsApp.
Amazon is reportedly turning back to the UK's Premier League for the focus of its next All or Nothing sports documentary. Deadline has learned the new series will cover Arsenal as it plays the League's 2021-2022 season. The documentary deal hasn't been finalized, according to the site's sources, but Amazon, Arsenal and production company 72 Films all confirmed the plans.
The Gunners' documentary will debut on Prime sometime after the season in 2022.
Whether or not it's an exciting series is unclear. Arsenal is a legendary team, but its current roster hasn't produced top-tier results. It finished the 2020-2021 season in eighth place and bowed out of the UEFA Europa League (below the Champions League) in the semis. It does have a rising star in the form of midfielder Bukayo Saka, though, and Deadline pointed out that the team finished the Premier League season on a strong note. Arsenal might make for a good comeback story, then.
Amazon has diversified the scope of All or Nothing over the years to include three soccer teams, New Zealand's All Blacks rugby squad, a range of American football teams and soon a veteran hockey team (the Toronto Maple Leafs). The strategy, however, has remained the same — Amazon is determined to be a go-to source for sports shows and give you a reason to subscribe to Prime Video instead of (or alongside) rivals like Netflix.
The movement to get the FCC to restore net neutrality just gained some serious traction. The White House just announced that president Joe Biden will be signing a new executive order today that will establish a "whole-of-government effort to promote competition in the American economy." In other words, it's targeting anticompetitive practices across a wide range of industries, including internet services and tech.
The order contains 72 proposals and actions, among which it specifically says "the President encourages the FCC to restore Net Neutrality rules undone by the prior administration." It also asked the agency to consider limiting early termination fees and prevent internet service providers from making deals with landlords that limit tenant choices. In addition, it urged the FCC to revive the Broadband Nutrition Label that was developed under the Obama administration that would offer greater price transparency.
The order also looked at how "dominant tech firms are undermining competition and reducing innovation," and announced an administration policy of greater scrutiny of mergers. It would focus on "dominant internet platforms," especially around "the acquisition of nascent competitors, serial mergers, the accumulation of data, competition by “free” products, and the effect on user privacy."
As part of its crackdown on Big Tech, the order called on the Federal Trade Commission to "establish rules on surveillance and the accumulation of data," along with banning "unfair methods of competition on internet marketplaces" and "anticompetitive restrictions on using independent repair shops or doing DIY repairs of your own devices and equipment."
In other industries, like banking and personal finance, the order similarly asked for more robust scrutiny of mergers. It also urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to "issue rules allowing customers to download their banking data and take it with them."
Similar notions of price transparency, consumer rights, increased scrutiny of mergers and prevention of excessive fees were prevalent across the other industries covered. Under agriculture, for example, the order also highlighted the need to give consumers the right to repair their tractors and equipment.
Proposals for the healthcare sector include allowing for hearing aids to be sold over the counter, supporting price transparency rules, preventing surprise hospital billing and standardizing plan options in the National Health Insurance Marketplace for easier comparison shopping. In the transportation section, airlines were the focus of the suggestions. The order called for rules around greater transparency and disclosure over baggage, change and cancellation fees, as well as better guidelines on when a company must issue refunds over delayed baggage or non-working services (like in-flight WiFi or entertainment).
After the order is signed later today, the administration will have plenty of work to do to get these initiatives moving. It's not a guarantee that all the suggestions announced here will eventually happen, but it's a clear sign that the Biden team is paying attention to the issues of anticompetition, a lack of transparency in multiple industries and other unfair practices.
Let me ask you a question: Do you really want to buy a pair of Personal Cinema glasses? As cool as they could be, they always feel like an artefact from a dystopia that’s yet to engulf us. When the air burns and the seas boil, you won’t be able to fit a 40-inch HDTV into your existence-support-pod, so these will have to do. It hardly screams “aspirational.”
It doesn’t help that nobody — not Sony,Avegant, Royole nor others — has managed to make this concept work. Personal cinemas, then, have replaced VR as the go-to whenever anyone needs to talk about a product that’s perennially on the edge of breaking through, and never has. But, despite them being a solution in search of a problem, and their historical suckiness, things may be about to change.
You see, TCL has been banging against this particular door for years and now, it’s gearing up to launch its first model. The Nxtwear G Wearable Display Glasses solve many of the problems that dogged those earlier attempts. They’re not perfect, and you’ll probably not want to buy a pair now, but this is the closest anyone has gotten to making this concept work.
TCL’s Nxtwear G puts two tiny displays close to your eyes in order to trick you into thinking you’re looking at a bigger screen. Rather than cram the glasses full of tech, TCL put two displays, a pair of speakers and positioning hardware inside. That keeps the weight down to a very manageable 130 grams (4.5 oz), much kinder to your neck for long-term wear.
Everything else, including power, is handled by the device you plug this into, and the list of compatible hardware is pretty long. You can use major phones from Samsung, LG and OnePlus, as well as over 30 laptops and more than 25 tablets and 2-in-1s. Essentially, TCL made a plug-and-play external display for your head that should play nice with any compatible DisplayPort-equipped USB-C device.
The company decided to swim against much of the received wisdom that we’ve seen with other personal cinemas. Rather than trying to enclose the user in a black void, all the better to replicate that tenth-screen-in-a-mall-multiplex feeling, TCL wants you to see the outside world. Even when I tried the prototype, back in 2019, its representatives said that you should feel comfortable wearing this on public transport, interacting with people as you do.
Daniel Cooper
With every device I’ve tried them with, you simply need to plug the Nxtwear G in and everything starts. If you’re using a compatible TCL phone, you’ll get a pop-up asking if you want to use mirror mode, or PC mode, which sets you up inside Android’s desktop mode. The phone then acts as a touchpad for you to navigate around with your finger, although if you want to do more than hunt-and-peck, buy a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
Connecting it to my MacBook Pro, too, and the machine recognized it as an external display and I was able to work and watch TV with my primary displays turned off. In fact, I wrote a chunk of this piece while inside this thing, even if I had to turn the zoom up to mad levels to make sure everything was readable.
The Nxtwear G packs a pair of 16:9, 60Hz micro-OLED 1080p displays that the company says is the equivalent to a 140-inch screen. That requires the usual suspension of ocular disbelief but the effect works here, and the speakers do their job well enough. It’s worth saying that they are essentially blasting audio in every direction, so grab your Bluetooth headphones if, say, your partner gets really annoyed when they can hear you watching Columbo when you’re both in bed.
I don't know if you should expect pixel-perfect video quality from a pair of screens this tiny but be advised that they won't beat your smartphone. Certainly, HD video looks fine, but the smallness of the screens means it's really tough to see good detail. Colors were washed out, certainly compared to the footage that was playing back on the TCL 20 Pro 5G and MacBook Pro I was connected to during testing.
TCL’s pitch is to say that, as well as passive viewing, you can also use the glasses to work and it’s here that I think TCL may have some success. As I said, it’s possible to work with these on, and it would make sense to use them if you had to view sensitive documents. When you’re working, say, on a train, this is the perfect antidote to shoulder surfers and other drive-by snoopers. Of course, for whoever makes the inevitable joke about watching adult content with nobody noticing, have a cookie.
What TCL has managed to do is, several times over, solve the riddle as to why you could ever want to use a personal cinema. There are times and places where you could do so both for work (more or less) and play (in some circumstances). Unfortunately, while the company was making great strides to solve the technical issues, it didn’t have a huge amount of time to devote to making this experience comfortable.
Your mileage may vary, but I found using these glasses to be a delightful experience right up until the moment it became painful. It is, right now, impossible to use these for a prolonged period of time before something starts hurting, either inside or outside your skull.
Daniel Cooper
One of the more problematic design decisions that TCL took was to include a trio of nose pads that push the screen up and higher. The idea is to keep the screens in line with your eyes, but the unfortunate result is that you need to put the nose pads way down your nose. Like, to the point where you feel like, no matter the size, it feels like you’re wearing those wire grips to close your nostrils that professional swimmers wear during sporting events.
Then there’re the Temple Tips, the part of the glasses arms which bend down to hook over your ears. Whereas with regular glasses those tips are semi-plastic and can be adjusted by an optician (or at home, with a hairdryer and some guile), the Nxtwear G’s arms are rigid. Prolonged periods of wear mean that you’ll get two slices of hard plastic sticking into the soft fleshy bit of your head behind your ears.
The solution I found to alleviate both of those issues, at least for a bit, was to pull out the nose pads entirely and wear them as I would regular glasses. After all, as a seasoned specs wearer, I accepted that the experience might not be as good — but found that this was actually better. I got a full view of the screen and it was significantly more comfortable to wear for longer periods of time. But, unfortunately, the reason the nose pads stand the glasses off your schnozz is to avoid it getting warm, since the Nxtwear G does generate a decent amount of warmth (not heat, warmth, mind you).
And then, finally, there’s the issue of eye strain which, no matter how I wore these things, still meant I had to give up for significant rest periods. Maybe, it’s because I’m short-sighted, and so my eyes are already weak and feeble compared to the average personal cinema enjoyer. But I doubt it, and suspect that lots of people may run the risk of an eye-strain headache if they use this for too long at once.
Now, I bet you’re thinking ‘gee, if these were priced like an accessory, I’d grab a pair just to see what the fuss is about.’ I don’t blame TCL for needing to recoup some of the development costs for these things, but boy. These glasses are going on sale in Oz for $899 AUS, which is the better part of $700 in the US. Heck, you can buy TCL’s new 20 Pro 5G for $500 and just hold it near to your face and pat yourself on the back for your thriftiness.
Facetiousness aside, I think TCL deserves enormous credit for making what can only be described as the best wearable display ever made. And if you’re able, I’d say you should go and try these out, because my comfort-related dealbreakers may not affect you. And TCL deserves a fair crack at making these things cheaper and a little less prone to pinching, because we’re so damn close. Sincerely, if personal cinemas are going to become a success, it’ll be because it follows the template that TCL has laid down. It just needs a few tweaks.
Infrastructure cyberattacks are quickly becoming a significant problem in the US, and New York City is opening a facility that could help fend off those potentially dangerous hacks. The Wall Street Journalreports that NYC has launched a long-in-the-making Cyber Critical Services and Infrastructure (CCSI) operations center in Manhattan to defend against major cyberattacks.
The initiative's members are a mix of public and private sector organizations that include Amazon, the Federal Reserve Bank, IBM, the New York Police Department and multiple healthcare providers. If a cyberattack hits, they'll ideally cooperate closely to both overcome the attack and muster a city response if the digital offensive hobbles NYC's infrastructure.
Politicians first floated the idea in 2017, but CCSI has been a strictly virtual initiative until now.
NYC is the first US city to have such a cyberdefense center, but it might not be the last. Cities like Atlanta and Baltimore have reeled from ransomware attacks in recent years, in numerous cases taking a long time (and a lot of money) to recover. A coordinated operations facility could help those cities bounce back quickly from a wide variety of hacks, or at least mitigate the damage.
This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss Nintendo’s surprise OLED Switch announcement along with Time Tech Columnist Patrick Lucas Austin. It definitely isn’t the Switch Pro we’ve been hearing so much, but there are still some nifty upgrades for true Switch diehards. So is it worth $350? Tune in to find out! Also, we chat about the DOD cancelling its $10 billion JEDI contract, and a futuristic new electric scooter from BMW.
Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low Guest: Patrick Lucas Austin Producer: Ben Ellman Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphics artists: Luke Brooks, Brian Oh Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
As studios and streaming services continue to strike deals, jump ship and generally settle with preferred partners, it’s getting harder to figure out which movies will be available where — and when. Amazon’s latest deal with Universal is case in point.
Amazon has struck a multi-year deal for exclusive Prime Video streaming rights for Universal's live-action theatrical releases, which will kick in next year. According to a report from Deadline, it will cover blockbusters such as Jurassic World: Dominion, Get Out director Jordan Peele's next horror film and Halloween Ends.
However, the deal is for a chunk of the pay-one window, which is the 18-month period after a movie's theatrical run. Just days ago, Universal struck an agreement with its NBCUniversal sibling, Peacock, for the first four and last four months of the window.
So, that should mean that within four months of their theatrical release date, Universal's live-action movies will start streaming on Peacock. Four months after that, they'll move over to Prime Video for a 10-month run, before going back to Peacock for at least another four months.
Universal’s plan seems to be shuffling the release schedule around different streaming platforms to ensure its movies get to more audiences across different services — while keeping said platforms satisfied with what they get. The trouble is you might struggle to find the film you want to watch — or miss the chance to see it — unless you’re paying a lot of attention to movie release dates.
ASUS and Qualcomm have teamed up to make a smartphone that shows off some of the latter's mobile tech. Although the phone is ostensibly for the 1.6 million members of the Snapdragon Insiders program, it'll be more broadly available by August.
Oddly, it won’t pack the very highest-end Qualcomm mobile processor (Snapdragon 888+), but a Snapdragon 888 5G chipset, with what’s described as "the most comprehensive support for all key 5G sub-6 and mmWave bands" of any device, along with WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E. There’s also 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
The screen, too, is specced out: It’s a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate and up to 1,200 nits of brightness. The rear 64-megapixel camera will also be capable of recording 8K video.
It’ll be one of the first phones to support Snapdragon Sound, which features low Bluetooth latency, listening profiles, active noise cancellation (ANC) and high-resolution audio support up to 24-bit 96kHz. Along with stereo speakers, the phone comes with Master & Dynamic true wireless ANC earbuds, which is a nice touch. The ASUS-designed Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders will initially be available in a few countries, including the US, UK, Japan and South Korea. It will cost a heady $1,499 when it arrives later this summer. Continue reading.
The first electric motorcycle from the company's LiveWire brand is here.
Harley-Davidson
The most eye-catching feature of Harley-Davidson’s new LiveWire One is its price tag. The electric motorcycle will cost $21,999. That’s almost $8,000 less than the $29,799 the original LiveWire sold for when it came out in 2019. With federal subsidies, Harley-Davidson expects most US buyers will be able to get the LiveWire One for less than $20,000.
Harley-Davidson has also improved the motorcycle’s range. Driving on slower city streets, the LiveWire One can travel 146 miles on a single charge, the company claims. By comparison, its predecessor was limited to a maximum of about 110 city miles. Using a DC fast charger, the company says you can get the LiveWire One’s battery from dead to a full charge in about an hour.
The second electric motorcycle from Harley-Davidson will initially be limited to customers who live in California, New York and Texas since only 12 dealerships in those states are authorized to sell the LiveWire One at the moment. However, the bike will be available at more dealers come this fall. Continue reading.
Square is building a bitcoin hardware wallet and service, a month after company CEO Jack Dorsey announced it's considering the move. Jesse Dorogusker, Square's Hardware Lead, revealed on Twitter that the company came upon the decision "to make bitcoin custody more mainstream.” At this point, the company at least knows it wants to make the product available globally and prioritize mobile use. Continue reading.
Paramount has greenlit a “full restoration” of Robert Wise’s 2001 Director’s Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The project will apparently take between six and eight months to finish, be formatted in 4K, with Dolby Vision HDR, and have a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
The film, which was the first time Kirk, Spock et al. hit the big screen, was a slower affair than you might expect from a sci-fi series, taking some inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
And no, this isn’t the one where Kirk shouts “Khan!” Continue reading.
If it can make parenting easier, it’s a good gadget in our book.
Withings
When it comes to dealing with a newborn baby, you need all the help you can get. While tech can’t help with everything — where’s our diaper-changing robot of the future? — you can upgrade your nursery with some reliable, simple to use and effective kit. We pick out our favorite baby monitors, smart breast pumps and more. Continue reading.
Netflix has hired N'Jeri Eaton, the former head of content for Apple Podcasts, to head up its own podcast operations. According to Variety, she's the first person to lead Netflix's podcast programming, indicating the streaming service's growing commitment to audio content. Netflix has long been releasing companion talk shows for its original movies and TV series, including ones for The Crown, The Witcher and Stranger Things. Eaton will now oversee those companion audio shows, as well as any original ones the company produces.
The new executive will be part of the company's editorial and publishing team, which will be under the leadership of Michelle Lee, the former editor-in-chief of Allure. Both Lee and Eaton will join the streaming service later this month. As Bloomberg notes, Netflix is expanding its editorial and publishing division as a whole and has been growing its stable of journalists. Eaton and Lee will report to Netflix CMO Bozoma Saint John, who also used to be an Apple executive.
Prior to joining Apple in August 2020, Eaton worked at NPR for four years, where she acquired new talent, content and partnerships. She announced her departure from Apple in a tweet on July 2nd and more recently confirmed that she's joining Netflix as Head of Podcasts.
I'm thrilled to join @netflix as the Head of Podcasts. 16 years ago, I watched three DVDs from Netflix a day while working the late night lab shift at a university. My obsession for storytelling has taken me all kinds of places but this is truly a dream!https://t.co/sn8EbS7zr0
— N’Jeri Eaton (she/her) (@njerieaton) July 9, 2021
When Amazon launched Watch Party for Prime Video last year, it only made the option accessible on desktop browsers. Now, the e-commerce giant has expanded support for the feature, allowing you to host or join a Watch Party on Fire TV devices. While Amazon didn't make a big announcement for the feature's arrival on the platform, it updated the list of compatible devices on Watch Party's FAQ, as noticed by XDA Developers. The section now says that you can co-watch with friends and fellow Prime members on a Fire TV device within the Prime Video app.
You still can't co-watch movies and shows with friends on mobile, but you can access the chat section of a Watch Party when you update to the latest version of the Prime Video app for phones and tablets. That'll give you an easy way to talk to other participants without access to a computer, as well as an easy way to create and share Watch Party invites.
Amazon originally launched the feature on Twitch back in 2019, allowing streamers to watch videos with their viewers. The version available from within Prime Video itself is more suitable if you're not a streamer and just want to watch with people you're close to. All participants in a party must also have Prime subscriptions, though, and they must rent or purchase the movie or show the host is watching.
When Texas was hit by an extreme cold snap earlier this year and the state’s independent power grid failed, many people couldn’t use their phones to access the internet and get information about the situation as it developed. Climate change is making those types of previously once in a lifetime weather events a more frequent occurrence and it’s forcing carriers to adapt.
On Tuesday, Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) introduced the Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response (THOR) vehicle. The carrier built THOR using a modified Ford F650 truck. The front of the vehicle has seats for a driver and five passengers, while the “command center” you see at the back has room for three individuals. THOR can bring 5G and satellite connectivity to an area where a natural disaster may have knocked network access out or there wasn’t any connectivity in the first place.
Verizon envisions THOR assisting first-responders and the military “under nearly any conditions,” be that wildfires out in California or following a hurricane in Florida, as just some examples. The company developed the prototype with help from the Pentagon’s NavalX and the SoCal TechBridge. Outside of connecting first-responders and military personnel, it also comes with a tethered drone that can be used for search and rescue operations and collecting information on a disaster.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a US carrier trot out an initiative like this. Back in 2019, AT&T showed off FirstNet One, a 55-foot aerostat the carrier said could float above disaster sites and provide wireless communication for first responders.
After years of advocacy work, the right to repair movement in the US could soon see a significant breakthrough. According to Bloomberg, President Joe Biden will “in the coming days” direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to draft new regulations to empower consumers to repair their devices on their own and at independent shops.
While there aren’t many details on the executive order just yet, it will reportedly mention phone companies as a possible target of regulation. However, farmers are expected be the primary beneficiary. During Tuesday's White House briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the order would give them "the right to repair their own equipment how they like.” White House economic adviser Brian Deese said on Friday thatthe order is broadly designed to drive “greater competition in the economy, in service of lower prices for American families and higher wages for American workers.”
Over the years, states across the US have tried to pass right to repair legislation. However, companies like Caterpillar, John Deere, and Apple have consistently lobbied against those efforts, claiming they would put consumers at risk by compromising the security and safety of their devices. And to date, no state has passed legislation that makes it easier for consumers to repair their products independently. As Motherboard notes, Biden’s order will mark the first time a president has weighed in on the issue.
"Big tech has been taking advantage of consumers for too long, at the expense of local small businesses. We're very encouraged that the Biden administration is planning to use the rulemaking power of the FTC to restore competition," a spokesperson for iFixit told Engadget when we reached out to the company to ask about the order.
The move comes as support for the right to repair movement builds in other parts of the world. In 2020, the European Commission said it would introduce legislation to push manufacturers to create products that are easier to repair and reuse. That same year, the European Parliament voted to direct the Commission to develop and introduce a mandatory labeling system that assigns a reparability score to products.
We’ve reached out to the Consumer Technology Association, which represents electronics manufacturers, for comment.
Tom Nook apparently isn't content to sell houses to millions of Animal Crossing: New Horizons players. It seems he wants Monopoly players to fork over their bells as well. That's right, as leaks suggested in recent days, Animal Crossing Edition Monopoly is on the way.
Rather than the traditional Monopoly format of buying properties and charging other players rent when they land on one of them, you'll be collecting bugs, fish, fossils and fruit. You'll also meet some other characters and carry out island tasks. When you stop by Nook's Cranny, you can use bells to buy decorations, which are worth Nook Miles. Whoever collects the most Nook Miles is the winner.
You'll need to be careful, though. If you're unlucky, you might go right to jail.
Hasbro
The crossover follows previous collaborations between Hasbro and game publishers. Along with Fortniteand Pac-Manversions of Monopoly, there have been severalMario-basededitions. ACNH is one of the biggest games of the past year or so, and it wouldn't be surprising to see Animal Crossing fans snap this up.
Animal Crossing Edition Monopoly costs $25 and it'll be available in August. You can pre-order the board game now.
Twitter has shared concepts for four features that could give users more control over who can see, read and find their accounts, and it wants feedback from the public on what it showed off. The first of those features would make it easier for those with protected accounts to make their tweets publicly viewable in instances where they want to reply to non-followers. “If you have a protected account and reply to someone who isn’t following you, you may not know they can’t see your reply,” Lena Emara, Twitter people experience designer, wrote in a thread. So one idea is to include a prompt that reminds people of that fact, as well as give them the option to easily switch their tweets to public.
Twitter
Another potential feature would help those with multiple accounts. A mockup Emara shared shows an interface element that would allow you to switch to a different account directly from Twitter’s main composition window. What’s more, the new interface would allow you to see, at a glance, the name, handle and privacy status of your accounts all in one place.
The two other concepts Emara shared focus more on privacy. One of those details a feature that would periodically touch base with users to see if they’re happy with their current discoverability and conversation settings and make it easy to tweak them as needed without visiting the app’s settings menu. Lastly, the second one would create a system for notifying you when people search for your username and give you more control over whether your account is discoverable that way. That’s something that could be significant for limiting online harassment.
Twitter
As with the last time Twitter showed off several concept features, everything you see above “are just ideas and not being built (yet?).” They may never mature into features the company ships. That said, the feedback Twitter collects could inform other tools the company builds in the future.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, the long-awaited third open-world entry in the Test Drive series, at last has a release date, but fans are in for quite the wait. Publisher Nacon plans to release the game on September 22nd, 2022.
The company made the announcement during a Nacon Connect livestream. Developer KT Racing says the automotive MMO will take place in Hong Kong, following the Oahu and Ibiza settings of previous games, and it's recreating the region in a 1:1 scale. Along with urban areas, you can expect to explore forests, mountains, marshes and beaches.
The game will feature a racing tournament as well as a conflict between two clans, the Streets and the Sharps. You'll join one of them, try to rise through the ranks and attempt to overthrow your rival clan. More details about the first Test Drive Unlimited game in over a decade will emerge in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Nacon and developer Daedalic provided another look at The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which is scheduled to arrive in fall 2022. It mixes stealth and parkour, and takes place in parts of Middle-earth that you might not have seen before. You'll encounter some other familiar characters, including Legolas' father Thranduil and Gandalf.
There was also an announcement and brief teaser for RoboCop: Rogue City, in which the legendary cyborg is tasked with cleaning up the streets of Old Detroit. It's a first-person shooter from developer Teyon and it's coming to PC and consoles in 2023.
Smart grill maker Traeger has bought wireless meat thermometer company Meater, which it says marks the next step in creating the "ultimate connected grilling experience." Traeger allows users to monitor and control connected grills through a smartphone or Apple Watch. Bringing Meater on board will help people to get an accurate temperature reading for their food from just about anywhere, Traeger said.
Meater makes several Bluetooth and WiFi-enabled thermometers, while Traeger currently only sells wired thermometers. Traeger said the acquisition will enable it to "accelerate entry into the adjacent accessories market with a highly complementary technology-enabled product." It's unclear whether Traeger plans to bundle Meater products with its grills or sell them separately — Meater will continue to run as a standalone company. Still, it wouldn't be surprising to see Traeger integrate Meater readings into its own apps for a more seamless outdoor cooking experience.