Re @seanonolennon Upgraded voice ready in about 2 hours

With Balatro surprise-dropping on Game Pass today, Microsoft has also revealed some other games that'll be coming to Xbox within the next several months and even in 2026.Some big games coming to Game Pass include 33 Immortals, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, Revenge of the Savage Planet, and Descenders Next.Ratatan, a new game from the creators of Patapon, as well as Suda51 and Swery's Hotel Barcelona collaboration are coming to Xbox too, though they won't launch on Game Pass.As a reminder, players should check out nine games that are leaving Game Pass this month before it's too late. 33 Immortals33 Immortals joins Game Pass for console and PC on March 18. Created by the developers behind Spiritfarer, 33 Immortals is a co-op action roguelike for 33 players. BalatroBalatro is out now on Game Pass for console and PC. It also has a new update with Friends of Jimbo Pack 4, which includes collaborations with Assassin's Creed and Fallout. Blue PrinceBlue Prince launches on Game Pass for Xbox Series X|S and PC on April 10. It's a puzzle game involving the Mount Holly manor where players engage in a mixture of mapmaking, exploration, and card game systems. Buckshot RouletteBuckshot Roulette will receive an Xbox port and will join Xbox Game Pass, although no specified release date was revealed. Here, players face off in a high-stakes game of Russian roulette with a shotgun. Descenders NextDescenders Next launches on Game Pass for console and PC on April 9. It's a full sequel to its 2019 predecessor, Descenders. This entry will feature a variety of extreme sports aside from mountain biking. Echo WeaverEcho Weaver will launch on Game Pass for console at a later date. It's a metroidvania by the developers behind The Wild at Heart. HerdlingHerdling will launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC sometime this summer. This is the next game by the developers behind Far: Lone Sails and Far: Changing Tides. It's the studio's first fully 3D game where players herd cattle across a ruined world. Hotel BarcelonaHotel Barcelona will launch on Xbox Series X|S sometime this year. It's a 2.5D action-platformer game by Swery and Suda51. Jump ShipJump Ship is joining Xbox Game Preview at a later date. It's a first-person-shooter game made by veterans of Hazelight Studios and Mojang. Lies of P: OvertureThe big story DLC for Lies of P, titled Overture, is set to launch this summer for Xbox. The new story trailer reveals more details about this prequel. The Lonesome GuildThe Lonesome Guild launches this fall for Xbox Series X|S. It's a new action-RPG from Don't Nod following a ghost aptly named Ghost as they recover their lost memories. Moonlighter 2: The Endless VaultMoonlighter 2: The Endless Vault will join Game Pass for Xbox Series X|S and PC sometime this year. It's a fully 3D game with an isometric camera angle. OutboundOutbound launches on Xbox Series X|S in 2026. It's an open-word exploration game where players start with an empty camper van and slowly turn into a home. RatatanRatatan launches sometime this year for Xbox. It's a rhythm game by the creators of Patapon. Revenge of the Savage PlanetRevenge of the Savage Planet launches on May 8 and will come to Game Pass on release day. It's a sequel to the 2019 game, Journey to the Savage Planet. RockbeastsRockbeasts will launch for Xbox Series X|S sometime this year. Players assume the role of the manager of a legendary '90s band. Tanuki: Pon's SummerTanuki: Pon's Summer will launch in late 2025 and is coming to Game Pass. TempopoTempopo launches on April 17 for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, as well as Game Pass on release day. Tron: CatalystTron: Catalyst launches on June 17 for Xbox Series X|S. It's a new game from developer Bithell Games. Ultimate Sheep RaccoonUltimate Sheep Raccoon launches on Xbox sometime this year and will come to Game Pass on release day. It's a bike-racing party game where players build the course together. Wax HeadsWax Heads launches in 2026 for Xbox Series X|S. WoodoWoodo is coming to Xbox Series X|S, but no release date or window was shared.

Stephen King's Graveyard Shift on 4K Blu-ray $31.49 (was $45) | Releases February 25 See at Amazon Collectors of Stephen King adaptations can add one of the author's lesser-known stories to their shelves this week. Graveyard Shift, the 1990 horror movie adapted from a short story King penned in 1970, releases on 4K Blu-ray and standard 1080p Blu-ray on February 25. Amazon is offering a 30% discount on both editions, so fans can order Graveyard Shift on 4K Blu-ray for $31.49 (was $45) or just $21 (was $30) on Blu-ray.King fans will be happy to learn this new "special edition" is packed with bonus features, including interviews with the cast and crew, new audio commentary, and other exclusive content. Stephen King's Graveyard Shift on 4K Blu-ray $31.49 (was $45) | Releases February 25 The 4K edition also comes with the standard Blu-ray disc, the film's bonus features are spread across both discs. If you dont need the 4K format, the film is also available as a standard Blu-ray.Graveyard Shift, the short story, originally appeared in Cavalier Magazine in 1970 before being included in King's excellent story collection, Night Shift, in 1978. Set in a small town in Maine, it focuses on an abandoned textile mill that has just reopened. However, it's quickly plagued by a series of mysterious deaths, with workers being killed in the middle of the night.The story and adaptation employ similar themes and plot devices as other King tales from that time. The workers discover a haunting subterranean system of tunnels underneath the factory--and what lurks inside could be the culprit for their coworkers deaths.If you're interested in reading the short story first, you can pick up a trade paperback copy of Night Shift for $10.49 (was $18). See at Amazon Graveyard Shift Bonus FeaturesHeres a look at the bonus features that come Graveyard Shift. Note that the 4K edition comes with both lists below, whereas the standard Blu-ray edition is specifically the content on Disc 2.Continue Reading at GameSpot

After escaping from the cells of Trosky Castle, players will travel and find themselves in the region of Kuttenberg, where the second part of the story continues. The starting area for this region is Suchdol, where players can mount their horses and explore what the region has to offer in terms of quests and treasure hunts.

Aside from gameplay, one of the most interesting aspects of Overwatch 2 is the numerous hero cosmetics and skins that portray different esthetics, themes, or concepts across the different heroes and villains of the game. New cosmetics are introduced with every new event, season, and special in-game celebration, meaning there are constantly new options when it comes to collecting and showing them off in your matches.

As with other AI bots like ChatGPT and Copilot, there are free and paid options for Google Gemini: For $20 a month, you can upgrade to a Google One AI Premium plan, which includes Gemini Advanced. Chances are you're already signed up to a host of digital subscriptions, so is Gemini Advanced shelling out even more cash?Here's how the features on the free plan and the Google One AI Premium plan stack up against each other right nowbear in mind the paid plan includes some extras beyond the Gemini Advanced AI, which I've listed at the end. As a Google One AI Premium subscriber, I've talked a little bit about my experience of these features, too.Comparable features You couldn't create this image as a free Gemini user, because it's got a person in it. Credit: Lifehacker Features that match across both the free and paid plans is probably a good start. All users, whether they subscribe to a paid plan or not, can make use of file uploads and analysis in their prompts, though Gemini Advanced users can work with larger files (uploads can go up to 1,500 pages if you're paying).Image generation is available for all Gemini users, though images including people are only available on Gemini Advanced. All users can have real-time chats with the AI through the Gemini Live interface, and all users can connect to other Google apps, including Google Maps and Google Flights.The other basic AI capabilitiesgenerating and rewriting code and text, looking up information online, offering advice on just about every topic imaginable, and coming up with new ideas and perspectives are the same across the board. However, Gemini Advanced is smarter in all of these areas.Better models The current model picker for Gemini Advanced users. Credit: Lifehacker With Gemini Advanced, you get access to the best AI models Google has to offer: These models do eventually travel down to the free tier, as new ones are released. It's hard to quantify the difference, but Google says it's top-tier models are "far more capable at highly complex tasks" such as coding, reasoning, and creative collaboration.At the time I'm writing this, the best AI model available for free users is Flash 2.0, and the best Gemini Advanced AI model is 2.0 Pro Experimental. In the tests I've run with code and text generation, the advanced AI model is noticeably better in terms of detail and comprehensivenessbut the free AI model is perfectly fine.The more demanding your needs, the better Gemini Advanced is going to be for you. If you're working on thorny math problems or complex software coding, then the upgrade is probably worth it; if you're sticking to making your emails sound less prolix, maybe not.More AI features Deep Research is one of the extra tools paying users have access to. Credit: Lifehacker Another extra you get with Gemini Advanced is Deep Research, which essentially goes off and writes a comprehensive report on a topic of your choice, using resources found on the web. I asked the tool for a full breakdown of the features of the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and what it means for the foldables market, which it returned in seven minutes.The article that came out the other end was mostly accurate and well-written, if a bit generic. It hit all the key points that users would need to know, before listing website sources at the end, which is handy for fact-checkingas well as a reminder that AI doesn't actually know anything, it just scoops up and sorts human knowledge.Then there's NotebookLM, the research-focused AI tool from Google that can make AI-hosted podcasts for you. You get more of NotebookLM across the board, if you're on the Google One AI Premium plan: 20 audio podcasts per day rather than 3, 500 questions and answers per day rather than 50, 300 sources per notebook rather than 50, and 500 notebooks per user rather than 100. Gemini Advanced subscribers can also create their own custom Gems. Credit: Gemini After that there are the Gemini Gems, the customized AI bots you can create inside Gemini to concentrate on specific tasks. You can create Gems for coding, resume writing, or fitness coaching for example, load up documents for them to refer to and train from, and specify the tone and approach of their responses.Certain other features are exclusive to Gemini Advanced right now, including the option to have Gemini remember certain pieces of information about you (like your job and interests), and the ability to access previous chats. It remains to be seen whether these more minor features will eventually make their way down to the free plan.Finally, Gemini Advanced users can get the AI built right into Google's online apps, including Google Docs and Gmail. This can be useful for analyzing files and messages, and composing new ones, but it's something I tend to completely ignore because I can't really find a use for ityour mileage may vary. Is Google One AI Premium worth it? You can try Gemini Advanced for free for a month. Credit: Google I should also mention that Google One AI Premium is a Google One plan: You get 2TB of storage for Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Drive, which would set you back $10 a month separately. You're essentially paying another $10 for Gemini Advanced, so your choice depends partly on whether or not you need any more Google storage.If you spend a lot of time making serious use of AI or just playing around with it, then Gemini Advanced may well be worth it for you: The AI is better, you've got the tools like Deep Research and Gems to make use of, and you get AI piped into other Google apps too. For my job, it's of course beneficial to be able to test out the latest models, and all the features Gemini has to offer (but not to churn out articles, of course).If you're not finding any practical applications of AI for yourself right now, then the free version of Google Gemini is perfectly fine: There's still a lot you can do with it, and it still returns a high standard of responses across a full range of tasks. It's also worth bearing in mind that you can try out Google One AI Premium free for a month, to see for yourself whether you can get enough value out of it.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Gardening season is approaching faster than it might seem, and like a lot of modern gardeners, I get an assist from technology every year. I use tech to help raise seeds into seedlings, plant them outside, produce a harvest, and still have a whole life outside of the garden.From weather stations and soil monitors to apps and calendars, here's all the tech I'm dusting off right now to start getting ready.A weather stationIt begins with the basics. I have a Tempest weather station in my front yard, and a few smart temperature gauges in the backyard. Although you can easily pull weather information from a local weather station (youd be surprised how many neighbors have them; locate them at Weather Underground), I still find it incredibly helpful to know the real microclimate of my yard. I know when rain, hail, snow is going to hit, and the actual temperature at any time, whether Im at home or away. For outdoor temperature monitoring, Ive yet to find sensors that are as hardy as the Aqara or Switchbot.Soil monitorsThe temperature outside is important for planting, since you shouldnt place plants outside until the overnight temps are stable above fifty degrees, but soil temperature is just as important. Theres never been great soil sensors before now, but this year Im trying the ThirdReality Smart Soil Sensor in a few locations. Im also excited to try the new Moen soil sensors. Not only are the sensors going to tell me when my soil is warm enough for planting, they can give important humidity data to my smart watering systemIve used a Hydrawise for three seasons and Im incredibly happy with it. Hydrawise looks and acts like a normal drip or sprinkler control, but it has a wifi module that will connect to your phone and a local weather station and it uses the data to decide whether to water that day, and how much. It's great to be able to control my drip system from my phone, and get detailed reports on how much water was used.Garden appsThats all helpful to know when to plant, but I start seeds inside, and I use a bucket of different tech tools to help. First, theres the planning stage. You dont start all your seeds at once, you seed so the seedlings they produce are ready at about the time they can go out into the ground outside. Keeping track of what to plant when can be overwhelming, so I use Seedtime to create a planting calendarits app and desktop interface are incredibly helpful.. A seedsheet in excel, and the trays they represent Credit: Amanda Blum The seed trays themselves hold 50, 72, or 128 seedlings, and you dont put a label marker into each cell, which would be time consuming. I use a method taught to me by Meg Cowden of Seed to Fork, and use Google Spreadsheets to keep track of what is in each tray. The trays are numbered and marked with a front and back, and the spreadsheet details what is in each cell of the tray. When I go to plant, I bring my phone with me, or sometimes I print out a sheet.Automations and controllersIve discussed at some length how I plant seeds and what I use, but I rely on technology to ensure Im keeping my seedlings on track. For instance, seedling heat mats ensure the soil in the trays is warm enough for seeds to germinate, but you need to control that heat because if the temperature gets too high, seeds get baked. I use an Inkbird controller to do so. It includes a probe to put into the soil, and then from your phone (or the controller), you specify a temperature range. The controller will turn the heat mat on and off to ensure it maintains the right temperature.Ive also learned (the hard way) that too much humidity can lead to viruses and other problems in my seed-starting room, so with an Aqara temperature and humidity sensor, I use a Google Home automation to kick on the overhead fan when humidity gets too high. The fans air benefits the plants, too, which form stronger stems with a breeze.Calendars, voice assistants and remindersOutside, the Monty compost monitor reminds me to turn over my compost occasionally when the worms arent doing their job. It sends notifications to update me on the status of my compost, which is quite helpful. Truly, reminders are the key to much of my garden success. I have an entire Google calendar that is solely for garden reminders, such as when to plant specific seeds outside, check on plants, or put trellises up. Those reminders stream to my Google Nest speakers and my voice assistant will speak up to let me know if I forgot something.Most importantly, the calendar can be repurposed year to year. Security cameras Ive been surprised how much I engage my smart cameras around the yard; yes, they catch critters who can cause damage (Im particularly aware of neighborhood cats setting up in my garden this year, due to their ability to transmit bird flu), but its even helpful during a storm to check on how some fragile plants are doing. Im excited to test the new Petal cameras coming from Bird Buddy, which use solar power and are installed at plant level. They use AI to report how your plants are faring. I hope to use these to capture weekly updates of my yard from the cameras positions. I use these photos in wintertime, to decide what to plant each year.

Apple plans to ramp up its US hiring and investments. On Monday, the company said it will hire around 20,000 workers and spend over $500 billion in the US over the next four years.In 2021, several months after former President Biden took office, Apple said it would invest $430 billion domestically over the following five years. Bloomberg notes today's announcement marks an added $39 billion in spending and an extra 1,000 jobs annually over its previous numbers.The newly announced package will include a new manufacturing facility in Houston to build servers for Apple Intelligence, which has increasingly become central to the company's plans and advertising campaigns. The Private Cloud Compute servers that handle Apple Intelligence's more complex server-AI queries use Apple M-series chips, which are still produced in Taiwan.Apple said most of the 20,000 new jobs will focus on R&D, AI and machine learning, silicon engineering and software development. The company will also expand its data center capacity in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada to help meet Apple Intelligence's growing backend needs.The company will also open an Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit, where its engineers will work alongside "experts from top universities such as Michigan State" to consult with small and medium-sized businesses on implementing AI and smart manufacturing techniques. Apple will also offer free in-person and online skills development courses. It already runs a Developer Academy in the Motor City.The announcement follows a meeting between Tim Cook and President Donald Trump last week at the White House. Trump implied that Apple was making additional investments to avoid tariffs due to the iPhone maker's heavy reliance on manufacturing in China. "They don't want to be in the tariffs," Trump said after the meeting.Apple hasn't said whether investments are related to tariffs, instead framing them as a sign of confidence in the nation's ability to innovate. "We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we're proud to build on our long-standing US investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country's future," Cook said in a press release.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-plans-to-invest-500-billion-in-the-us-over-the-next-four-years-181217017.html?src=rss

Blendo Games' latest installment of interactive weirdness, Skin Deep,is due to hit Steam on April 30, after nearly seven years of development. Skin Deep is a first-person sci-fi shooter, but it doesn't look (or smell?) like any of the dramatic space operas or realistic, precision-based games that generally flood this genre.Skin Deep takes place on a futuristic cargo starship managed by an insurance corporation and filled with its clients' valuables, and you're the cryogenically frozen security officer kept on board in case something goes awry. Space pirates ambush the ship, your body thaws, and a non-linear game of shooting, sneaking, sabotaging and smelling ensues, all presented in Blendo's signature blocky 3D style.Skin Deep features a mix of puzzles, madcap comedy and action scenes, and alongside the first-person gunplay, there's a sneeze mechanic and a stink system that sometimes leaves little smelly clouds in your wake, alerting nearby pirates to your presence. It's like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, but with fewer medieval peasants and way more space cats. Did we mention there are a bunch of cats that you have to save on the ship? Because there are, and some of them are dressed in little cowboy outfits.For the odor mechanics, players become stinky only when it makes sense narratively, like when they're expelled from the ship's trash shoot alongside all the fish bones and rotten things. Your smell clouds subside once you figure out how to wash up. Sneezing follows a similar in-game logic.Blendo Games"If you're crawling through a dusty vent your little sneezy air level will increase, then you'll do a big sneeze noise," Chung told Engadget in 2021. "And there's a bag of pepper that we have. If you shoot it, a big cloud of pepper flies out. You can pick up a pepper bag and throw it at someone and they'll start sneezing."Skin Deep is the most action-focused game that Blendo has ever made. The independent studio, led by Brendon Chung, has a lineup of award-winning titles under its belt, including Quadrilateral Cowboy, Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving. These titles tend to highlight clever puzzles and polygonal oddities, and Skin Deep is the first Blendo project to feature first-person shooter mechanics.That's not to say FPS development is a new idea for Chung. He got his start in game development by customizing levels in Doom, Quake, Half-Life, Quake 2 and Doom 3 when he was a kid, and FPS games are often what he's drawn to as a player. He's still using a modified port of id Software's Doom 3 engine, idTech4, to make Skin Deep."I've played like a bazillion FPS games because I just really enjoy them," Chung said in 2021, "but I feel like there's so much that can be explored and that I wish these games would explore." You know, like well-dressed cats and stink systems.Blendo GamesWhen we talked with Chung four years ago, the Skin Deep FAQ page read, "Is Skin Deep going to take 4+ years of development time like your previous game Quadrilateral Cowboy?" And the answer was, "I hope not." Today, there's an "(update: oops...)" added to that response. Development on Skin Deep started around July 2018, according to the FAQ.Skin Deep is published by Annapurna Interactive and it's heading to Steam on April 30. A new demo is live now on Steam, as part of the Steam Next Fest hullaballoo. Steam Next Fest runs from February 24 at 1PM ET to March 3 at 1PM ET, showcasing a ton of fresh game demos and developer insights on the storefront.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/blendo-games-oddball-sci-fi-shooter-skin-deep-hits-pc-on-april-30-173010803.html?src=rss