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After achieving action camera success, Insta360 invaded DJI’s turf with the first mass-market panoramic drone, the Antigravity A1. It had instant appeal for drone pilots, offering 8K 360 video and features like subject tracking, obstacle detection and FPV flying.

Though beaten to the punch, DJI has responded quickly with the Avata 360, aided by its drone experience and camera tech from the new Osmo 360 action cam. It has a lot in common with its rival, but it’s safer to fly around people and offers single camera 4K footage on top of 8K 360 video.

To find out how the Avata 360 stacks up against the A1, I tested it both indoors and out, around people and even “stunt” horses. The Avata 360 isn’t perfect, but it is far more polished than its rival. As with other DJI drones of late, though, US availability remains unclear.

How the Avata 360 works

The 360 camera makes the Avata 360 different from any other DJI drone. It features two ultrawide cameras with f/1.9 lenses and 1.1-inch 64-megapixel sensors, with one pointing up and the other down for unobstructed 200-degree views. Those are then stitched together by software to create 360 degree video at up to 8K 60 fps.

This setup fundamentally changes the way you pilot a drone and capture video. Since the 360 camera records everything around it, you can focus on flying and reframe shots later in DJI’s Studio app. That 360 view is also handy when piloting in FPV mode. With the head tracking on DJI’s Goggles N3, you can look all around you simply by turning your head.

Unlike the Antigravity A1 that only shoots 360 video, the Avata 360 supports regular single-camera shooting as well. When you switch to that mode, the camera rotates forward and shoots 4K video at up to 60 fps with a 28mm field of view. DJI’s drone also works with a regular controller, which isn’t an option on the A1. You have to use the Insta360’s goggles at all times.

Design

Because of the chunky 360 camera, the Avata 360 is slightly bigger than the Avata 2. It’s also quite a bit heavier at 455 grams (one pound) and so, unlike the 249-gram Antigravity A1, you’ll need a permit to fly one in most regions.

The Avata 360’s propellers are shielded to protect the drone and keep it safe indoors or around people, unlike the open-prop A1. For additional protection it has two omni obstacle sensors on the side, a Lidar sensor up front, landing sensors on the bottom and, of course, a camera that points in all directions. To keep the lenses off of bare ground, it comes with a foldable 18x18-inch landing mat.

DJI’s Goggles N3 (available with the RC Motion 3 controller as an option) are comfortable and allow you to wear eyeglasses. Unlike the Goggles 3, though, there’s no external camera to see outside. If you’d rather pilot conventionally, you can get the Avata 360 bundled with DJI’s RC 2 screen controller in another kit.

Performance and features

As an FPV drone, the Avata 360 is fast and agile. It can hit speeds up to 40 MPH in sport mode (without obstacle avoidance) or 35 MPH in normal mode. When used with the optional FPV Remote Controller 3, you can do flips, rolls and other “cinewhoop” style maneuvers. Once you get used to flying it that way, it’s incredibly fun.

The 38.7Wh batteries have 26 percent more capacity than the Avata 2’s cells, but rated endurance is about the same at 24 minutes. I never got more than about 18 minutes in real-world flying though, so it’s a good idea to buy the Fly More kit with three batteries and a fast charger that can replenish them all in about 100 minutes.

Samuel Dejours for Engadget

Part of my testing of the Avata 360 was capturing “trick riding” horses, so it was important that the drone noise didn’t spook them. At 81db the Avata 360 is louder than the Mini 4 Pro (67 db) and less banshee-like than the Neo 2 due to the larger propellers, so the horses weren’t alarmed.

Video is transmitted to the Goggles N3 and RC Motion 3 controller (or the RC screen controller) at 1080p 60 fps via DJI’s OcuSync 4.0+ system. The maximum flying range is 20 km (12.4 miles), double that of the Avata 2. This is an impressive distance for an FPV drone.

The 45GB of internal storage (42GB usable) can fill up quickly when you’re shooting 8K video, but the drone also has a microSD slot. To get your footage onto a PC or smartphone, you can transfer it via the USB-C port or over Wi-Fi using DJI’s Fly app.

The Avata 360 has DJI’s usual tracking and obstacle detection features, but they’re available only with the RC 2 controller and not the Goggles N3. To follow a subject, simply draw a box around them on the controller to enable Focus Track and its three modes: Spotlight, Point of Interest and ActiveTrack. The latter tracks a subject automatically and lets you control the drone’s position via an on-screen “steering wheel.”

Steve Dent for Engadget

To test that, I biked in a narrow forested lane and walked around a bamboo-covered obstacle course. When using Focus Track, the drone dodged most obstacles and was only confused by small leaves and branches. If it did contact one of those, it sailed right through without crashing thanks to the propeller guards.

Subject tracking works in both 360 and single camera modes, but when using the latter, The Avata 360 can’t see and avoid obstacles behind it. It contacted branches several times during my testing, but fortunately the prop guards prevented crashes. Other automatic features include Dronie, Rocket and Quickshot modes that let you capture clips for social media.

Video

The Avata 360 prioritizes FPV freedom and flexibility over pure video quality. Though the specs promise 8K, that only applies to the full 360 degree video — your final, flat video will actually be 4K or less after processing. And the 360 camera zooms digitally (not optically), which further reduces resolution. On top of that, you can often see a “seam” in the video where stitching occurs, and dewarping (used to output flat video) can create softness at the edges. With all that, video is less sharp than DJI’s regular Mini, Air and Mavic drones.

Because the camera is fixed when shooting 360 video, the Avata 360’s gimbal can’t smooth out jolts or correct for roll. Instead, it uses action cam-style electronic stabilization. What’s more, that type of smoothing causes motion blur and artifacts in low light due to the lower shutter speeds — something I also noticed with the Osmo 360.

Steve Dent for Engadget

With that said, video quality was as sharp and color-accurate as the Osmo 360, and a touch better than the Antigravity A1 when filming in daylight. For tricky, contrasty conditions like a shaded path on a sunny day, the D-LogM option boosted dynamic range, helping me bring out shadow detail and tone down overly-bright highlights. However, the cityscape I shot at night was soft and occasionally blurry due to the aforementioned stabilization issues.

In exchange for this lower video quality, the 360 camera provides incredible flexibility. For a vlog style tracking shot, for instance, I usually need to film twice to show the forward and backward directions. With the Avata 360, though, I was able to get both POVs from the same shot and output an overhead view too for good measure.

DJI Studio is where you go to select your desired framing and output the flat video. It’s not quite as versatile as Insta360’s app, but it allows you to reframe shots and create smooth transitions between camera angles. And to save time, you can use the Intelligent Tracking feature to center your subject. The app also offers color correction and other features, but I found it easier to export the final shots to DaVinci Resolve for any additional work.

Flat video a mixed bag. Sharpness is mildly better than the 360 video, but the lack of a gimbal roll axis means that the camera can’t level itself when the drone banks into the wind. As a result, most of my footage was tilted and often unusable.

Wrap-up Steve Dent for Engadget

With the Avata 360, DJI has a surprisingly sophisticated drone that offers better video quality and more features than its only rival, Insta360’s Antigravity A1. It can do everything you’d expect from a DJI FPV drone like tracking, obstacle avoidance and acrobatics, while operating safely around people (or horses).

DJI also managed to undercut Insta360 on price, with the Avata 360 starting at 459 euros (approx. $530), or 939 euros ($1,089) in a kit with a screen controller, three batteries and a charger. It’s also available with the extra batteries and charger, DJI’s FPV Goggles N3 and the RC Motion 3 controller for 939 euros ($1,089). As mentioned, there’s no word yet on US pricing, but the Avata 360 has been approved by the FCC so it could appear in the US soon.

Like 360 action cams though, this is a niche product. If you’re a vlogger, extreme action shooter, FPV pilot or solo filmmaker who wants speed and flexibility, the Avata 360 is a great choice. If it’s pixel perfect image quality you want, however, you’re better off with DJI’s Mini 5 Pro, Air 3S or Avata 4 Pro drone.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/dji-avata-360-drone-review-360-video-hits-new-highs-120014666.html?src=rss

OpenAI has "indefinitely" abandoned plans to release an a erotic chatbot for adults following concerns from employees and investors, the company confirmed to The Financial Times. Plans for such a feature, first announced in October 2025 for release in December last year, had already been delayed while company debated whether to release it all. It's the second app OpenAI has decided to shelf this week, after announcing on Tuesday that it was shutting down its Sora video generator.

The adult-oriented chatbot, reportedly called "Citron mode," is now on hold with no planned release date. The company reportedly had difficulty training models that previously avoided erotic content and also removing illegal behavior like bestiality or incest, two people familiar with the matter told the FT. 

Open AI said that it wanted to conduct long-term research on the effects of erotic chats and user attachment to AI, adding that there was currently not yet enough "empirical evidence" on the subject. The company also said it wanted to focus on its core productivity tools like coding assistants and drop "side quests" like Sora and the erotic chatbot.

The idea for adult features came after OpenAI announced that it would add parental controls and automatic age detection features for ChatGPT. CEO Sam Altman said back in October that the company had always been careful about such issues over concerns around unhealthy AI attachments, but felt comfortable that it could "safely relax the restrictions in most cases."

However, the adult mode had reportedly caused concern among investors, particularly amid the controversy caused by rival xAI's Grok model that generated deepfake nudes of real people and children. Staff also worried about the feature, with one senior employee even leaving the company over the issue. "AI shouldn’t replace your friends or your family; you should have human connections," he told the FT. 

Another challenge is OpenAI's age-checking tech, introduced following lawsuits from families who said that ChatGPT harmed their children. The tech reportedly has an error right higher than ten percent, which would still give a large number of young people access to the tech. OpenAI said that figure is in the industry standard range and that it is continuing to work on its accuracy. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-drops-plans-to-release-an-adult-chatbot-113121190.html?src=rss

Uber and Chinese company Pony.ai are gearing up to launch a robotaxi service for Europe, starting with Zagreb in Croatia. The companies are working with Croatian company Verne, which will provide the service ecosystem and operational framework for the service. They’re using Arcfox Alpha T5 vehicles made by Beijing-based automaker BAIC Motor powered by Pony.ai’s Gen-7 autonomous driving system. Initially, the autonomous rides will be offered on Verne’s app, but they will eventually be available through Uber.

In their announcement, the companies said they have already started on-road testing in Zagreb, where the service will be available “soon.” They’re hoping to expand it to other European cities in the future, and then to more markets, with the goal of deploying a fleet with thousands of robotaxis over the next few years. Verne will be in charge of securing regulatory approval for the rollouts, while Uber has agreed to invest in the Croatian company.

This is but one of Uber’s partnerships centering around its efforts to offer more and more driverless rides to its passengers. Just earlier this month, it announced that it was launching a pilot program for a robotaxi service in Tokyo in late 2026 with Nissan and UK self-driving startup Wayve. Uber also started offering robotaxi rides to passengers in Las Vegas at the same time. The fleet deployed in the city is made up of Hyundai Ioniq 5 autonomous EVs, developed in partnership with Motional.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-and-ponyai-are-testing-a-robotaxi-service-for-europe-104811944.html?src=rss

Meta didn't consult its Oversight Board last year when it announced sweeping policy changes to content moderation and a rollback of third-party fact checking in the United States in favor of Community Notes. But the company did ask the board for advice on how to expand the crowd-sourced fact checks to other countries.

Now the Oversight Board is publishing its advice to Meta. In a 15,000-word policy advisory opinion, the group urged Meta to be cautious with an international rollout, warning that an expansion of the program could "pose significant human rights risks and contribute to tangible harms" if safeguards are not put in place. 

The board, notably, was asked to weigh in on a fairly narrow set of questions, including how it should evaluate whether to withhold the feature in certain countries. Meta "respectfully" asked the Oversight Board to avoid "general" critiques about the system, which it has said is modeled after X.

In its opinion, the Oversight Board said that Community Notes "could enhance users’ freedom of expression and improve online discourse" with enough safeguard. But it recommended Meta withhold the feature in countries with "high polarization," as well as countries in the midst of a crisis or "protracted conflict." The board also said that Meta should avoid countries with a history of organized disinformation networks, because the notes may be more easily manipulated in such places, and countries with "linguistic complexity" that Meta may be ill-equipped to understand. 

Depending on how you interpret that advice, that could exclude quite a few countries, though the board stopped short of making country-specific recommendations. Still, it raises questions about how closely Meta will follow the suggested guidelines. For example, the United States could be considered a country with "high polarization." (Community Notes has been live in the US for more than a year.)

While the Oversight Board was careful to say it "neither endorses nor opposes" an expansion of Community Notes, it did discuss Meta's approach to fact checking, noting that its partnerships with outside fact-checking organizations are still largely in place outside of the US. And the opinion cautions against ending these relationships, noting that research into Community Notes on X shows that authors writing notes often rely on work done by professional fact checkers.

"Community Notes and fact checking are not mutually exclusive," Oversight Board member Paolo Carozza tells Engadget. "One doesn't have to replace or substitute for the other, they can coexist. And in some situations, there are really important reasons for them to coexist. The board really deliberately stayed away from any kind of suggestion that the introduction of Community Notes ought to result in the removal or ending of fact checking."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/oversight-board-tells-meta-expanding-community-notes-outside-of-us-poses-significant-risks-100000213.html?src=rss

Today marks the start of the 2026 baseball season and in what has sort of become an annual tradition, T-Mobile is once again offering a free subscription to MLB.TV.

In order to take advantage of the deal, T-Mobile customers simply need to log into the T Life app, navigate to the Benefits tab and then hit Redeem after clicking the banner for a free season of MLB.TV. From there, you just need to download the latest version of the MLB app to your mobile device and sign in or create an account. That said, this is a time-limited offer, so if you want the ability to stream regular season baseball for free, you’ll need claim the deal prior to March 31 at 4:59 AM ET. For anyone on a different carrier, this may be enough time to switch providers and still get in on the savings.

Unfortunately, MLB.TV is subject to blackouts and market restrictions, so depending on where you live and where your favorite team is playing that day, you may not be able to catch every game. Sadly, this includes tonight’s 8:05 PM ET matchup between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants, which is streaming exclusively on Netflix. Even so, with a one-year subscription to MLB.TV currently going for $150, this is one of the best perks available from any of the big cellular carriers.

In addition to full season of games, an MLB.TV subscription also includes access to a collection of baseball documentaries, game streams from previous years, World Series films, highlights, news and more. And with over 1.25 million customers having redeemed last year’s offer, this is potentially one of T-Mobile’s biggest offers of the year, with the company claiming to have delivered more than $1 billion in savings since it first started running the promotion 10 years ago in 2016.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/psa-t-mobile-customers-have-a-week-to-sign-up-for-a-free-year-of-mlbtv-211306444.html?src=rss

A jury in Los Angeles has found that Meta and YouTube were negligent in a closely-watched trial over social media addiction. The companies were ordered to pay $6 million in damages to the woman who said she was harmed by their addictive features as a child.

The case was brought by a 20-year-old woman, named in court documents as “K.G.M,” who sued Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap, saying that she had been harmed by the platforms as a child due to addictive features. TikTok and Snap reached a settlement ahead of the trial. 

According to NBC News, Meta was ordered to pay 70 percent of the $3 million in compensatory damages with YouTube taking on the remaining portion. The jury awarded an additional $3 million in punitive damages. “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. “We disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal.,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement. “This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.”

The weeks-long trial has been closely watched because it's the first of many court cases in which plaintiffs have argued that social media platforms harmed minors due to how they were designed. Meta's lawyers and executives have disputed the idea that social media should be considered an "addiction." CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified that the company wants Instagram to be "useful," and repeatedly accused the plaintiff's lawyer of "mischaracterizing" his past statements. 

“This is the first time in history a jury has heard testimony by executives and seen internal documents that we believe prove these companies chose profits over children,” Joseph VanZandt, one of K.G.M.’s lawyers, said in a statement to The New York Times,

For Meta, it's the second legal setback in as many days. The verdict comes one day after a jury in New Mexico ruled against Meta in a trial over child safety issues. The company was ordered to pay $375 million in penalties; the company said it would appeal.

Update, March 25, 2026, 11:22AM PT: Added a statement from Google.

Update. March 25, 2026, 2:05PM PT: Added details about punitive damages.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/jury-rules-against-meta-and-youtube-in-social-media-addiction-case-181344860.html?src=rss

HBO released a teaser trailer and premiere date for its take on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The show will premiere on the HBO Max streaming network this December 25. It's a rare case where a big-ticket project is coming out earlier than anticipated instead of later; the series wasn't expected to arrive until 2027. 

HBO has already proved its bona fides with lush adaptations of fantastical stories several times over, and this trailer looks like more of the same. The team behind the camera includes notable names who have worked on series such as Succession, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us and Killing Eve. Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, who alienated many fans after outing herself as transphobic, is also one of the show's executive producers.

Engadget's Jess Conditt has already written eloquently on the struggle of when and how to engage with the Harry Potter franchise while rejecting Rowling's worldview, although the author’s involvement at the top level may make this adaptation a harder sell to the disillusioned community than, say, the Hogwarts Legacy video game where Rowling was barely involved and the studios took a more proactive approach toward presenting many types of diversity, including gender expression. If you’re hyped for this particular show, seems you'll have a shorter time to wait for it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/hbo-maxs-harry-potter-series-premieres-this-christmas-202818238.html?src=rss

The ESA, NASA and CSA have released new images of Saturn captured by the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes that offer an unprecedented view of the gas giant's atmosphere. Particularly, comparing shots captured with Hubble against an infrared view from Webb highlights details in the composition and movement of Saturn's outer layers.

The Hubble images were captured as part of the Outer Planet Atmosphere Legacy program in August 2024, while the Webb images were shot a few months later. "Both sense sunlight reflected from Saturn’s banded clouds and hazes," NASA says, "but where Hubble reveals subtle color variations across the planet, Webb’s infrared view senses clouds and chemicals at many different depths in the atmosphere, from the deep clouds to the tenuous upper atmosphere."

Hubble has historically been used to track storms on Saturn, and you can see bands of atmospheric clouds in the telescope's new photo. The infrared sensors on the Webb telescope are able to highlight even more detail, like the highly-reflective ice of Saturn's ring, which is practically white in the photo, and grey-green shading on the planet's poles. The different coloring in the Webb photo could be caused by a "a layer of high-altitude aerosols" scattering light across latitudes, or "charged molecules interacting with the planet’s magnetic field" and causing "auroral activity."

The visual information from both telescopes is valuable to scientists and should prove to be more valuable over time. "These 2024 observations, taken 14 weeks apart, show the planet moving from northern summer toward the 2025 equinox," NASA says. "As Saturn transitions into southern spring, and later southern summer in the 2030’s, Hubble and Webb will have progressively better views of that hemisphere."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/webb-and-hubble-telescopes-combine-forces-for-a-new-view-of-saturn-202526270.html?src=rss

After leaning into some questionable AI antics at CES 2026, Razer is making some altogether more practical updates to its 16-inch laptop by giving it newer chips and faster RAM. The new Razer Blade 16 features Intel's new Core Ultra chips and speedy LPDDR5X-9600 MHz RAM, and is available to order today for $3,500.

The Razer Blade 16 is designed to split the difference between the portable Razer Blade 14 and the monstrous Razer Blade 18, mostly by being thin but offering improved performance. Razer says the 2026 Blade 16 is 0.59 inches (14.9mm) at its thinnest point, which matches the thinness of the 2025 Blade 16. The laptop also has a similar 16-inch QHD+, 240Hz OLED screen to last year's model, though the company says it's 100 nits brighter than before. Port selection also remains respectable: the laptop includes three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, a Thunderbolt 4 port, a Thunderbolt 5 port, a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port and a UHS-II SD card reader.

Razer

The real notable upgrade is Razer's switch from AMD Ryzen chips to new Intel Core Ultra 9 386H chips on the 2026 Razer Blade 16. The new Core Ultra chips are some of Intel's first processors made with its new 18A process and pitched as the company's comeback. Razer says the new chip es 16 cores and an integrated NPU that "provides up to 50 TOPS" for things like image generation and live translation, which the Razer Blade 16 supports natively as a Copilot+PC. The efficiency of the new chip also contributes to the laptop’s up to 15 hours of battery life. Of course, if you want power, the Razer Blade 16 has it: the laptop includes NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series Laptop GPUs and up to 64Gb of LPDDR5X-9600MHz RAM, which should give the Razer Blade 16 plenty of pep for games.

Hardware upgrades don't come cheap, and the higher $3,500 starting price of the Razer Blade 16 — which includes 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and a GeForce RTX 5080 GPU at a minimum — is likely reflective of the growing cost of memory and storage that's already negatively impacting the PC industry.

The Razer Blade 16 is available to purchase now through Razer’s website.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/razers-new-blade-16-has-intels-latest-chips-and-ultra-fast-ram-185858799.html?src=rss

Nintendo just announced it will soon start charging different prices for first-party Switch 2 games based on whether the content is digital or physical. This could actually be a good thing for those who like to download their games instead of heading to a brick-and-mortar store to pick up a copy, as digital titles are getting a nice discount.

It starts with the release of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book on May 21, which will be $60 on the eShop but $70 at retail locations. Prior to this, most first-party games were $70 no matter how you bought them. I prefer downloading games, for convenience, and paid that much for both Donkey Kong Bananza and Pokémon Pokopia.

Nintendo

It's yet another blow, however, for consumers who prefer physical media. They aren't getting any kind of a discount, and many Switch 2 cartridges don't even contain the game nowadays. The boxes include game key cards, which allow the user to download the title to the console but are basically paperweights after that.

This isn't the first time Nintendo has participated in this kind of dual pricing structure. The digital version of Donkey Kong Bananza was cheaper than the physical version in some parts of the world, including the UK.

Is this another sign that making and shipping actual things is getting to be prohibitively expensive? There are storage and memory shortages due to AI and oil shortages due to war, not to mention an ever-shifting tariff policy here in the US. It's tough out there. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-to-start-charging-different-prices-for-first-party-digital-and-physical-games-184249374.html?src=rss

YouTube creators can start making money earlier in their careers. On Wednesday, the company said it's reducing the Shopping affiliate program subscriber threshold from 1,000 to 500.

The affiliate program launched in 2022, allowing creators to earn kickbacks when viewers buy products tagged in their videos. It applies to YouTube Shorts, VOD and Live content. Creators will still need to meet the YouTube Partner Program's other requirements to reap the benefits.

Perhaps not a coincidence, the move comes only a day after Meta added shopping links to Reels. Creators on Facebook and Instagram can now link to up to 30 distinct products from marketplace partners in a single video.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/youtube-is-bringing-affiliate-shopping-features-to-more-creators-183927027.html?src=rss

Apple’s excellent For All Mankind might be wrapping up after its recently confirmed sixth season, but as one big-budget alt-history sci-fi show departs, another is born. Apple TV has just dropped the first teaser for Star City, which focuses on the reimagined space race of the 1960s from the Soviet perspective.

ICYMI, For All Mankind has been running for nearly five seasons now (the fifth arrives later this week), with its debut season in 2019 asking, "what if Russia had beaten America to the moon?" For All Mankind has jumped a number of decades ahead since then, but Star City returns us to that initial premise, taking us behind the Iron Curtain to see how the Soviet Union orchestrated its fictional historical triumph.

The brief teaser doesn’t show us much in the way of plot, but you straight away get what vibe the streamer is going for with a show it describes as a "propulsive paranoid thriller." We also get a look at some of the cast, which includes House of the Dragon’s Rhys Ifans, Anna Maxwell Martin and Agnes O’Casey.

Interestingly, Star City’s two-episode premiere lands on Apple TV on May 29, right after the finale of For All Mankind season 5, which takes place in the 2010s. That could make for a pretty jarring backwards time jump if you watch both seasons back to back, but nobody can say that Apple isn’t serving its sci-fi audience.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/heres-your-first-look-at-for-all-mankind-spinoff-star-city-174359587.html?src=rss

Google just introduced Lyria 3 Pro, an updated version of its AI model that generates songs based on prompts. The biggest improvement here is the ability to make full three-minute songs, up from 30 seconds when the product launched last month.

The tool also brings a lot more customization into the mix. Users can now prompt the model to create specific elements within a song, like intros, verses, choruses and bridges. Google says "Lyria 3 Pro better understands musical composition" when compared to the previous model and that it's "great for experimenting with different styles or generating songs with complex transitions."

It's already available for paid Gemini users and for enterprise customers on Vertex AI. Additionally, developers have access to the tool via the Gemini API and Google AI Studio. The company is also integrating it into Google Vids, an AI-based video-generation platform.

Google says that "responsibility was foundational" when designing and training this model, so it only uses materials that the company has actual rights to. Additionally, all Lyria 3 Pro outputs are embedded with SynthID, which is a watermark for identifying AI-generated content.

That's all well and good, but do we need yet another AI music-making tool? Current estimates suggest that around 50,000 AI-generated tracks get uploaded daily to Spotify alone. The platform had to delete, and this is not a typo, 75 million of these tracks last year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-lyria-3-pro-can-now-generate-ai-music-slop-up-to-3-minutes-in-length-172738752.html?src=rss

Meta is laying off more employees. Of the hundreds of cuts made on Wednesday, the Reality Labs division is one of the prime recipients. The layoffs come a day after news broke that Meta executives (sans Mark Zuckerberg) could be set for windfalls of up to $2.7 billion each under new pay packages.

Today's cuts of “hundreds” fall well short of its reported 20 percent workforce reduction plans that leaked earlier this month. At the end of 2025, Meta's workforce stood at around 79,000 people. However, this could simply be a smaller initial round before the larger cuts come into play.

Earlier in March, Meta reportedly asked some managers to prepare cost-cutting plans. The company is looking to offset its costly AI infrastructure investments, which include a plan to spend $600 billion on data centers by 2028.

YouTube / Meta

The layoffs are also said to affect Meta's recruiting, sales, Facebook and global operations divisions. But the Reality Labs cuts further illustrate how the company's VR and metaverse bets failed to pay off. Today’s cuts follow layoffs in January that shed over 1,000 jobs from the division, which has lost over $70 billion since the beginning of 2021. Now, despite the 2021 rebranding that pivoted from social media to the metaverse, Zuckerberg now increasingly views Meta as an AI titan.

In January, the CEO forecast the AI world Big Tech is creating when he said he was beginning to see "projects that used to require big teams now [being] accomplished by a single very talented person." That sure sounds peachy for the dwindling few reaping the benefits. Those farther down the food chain may have different thoughts.

Speaking of that sweet, sweet C-suite life, Meta is taking a page from Tesla's Elon Musk pay package. SEC filings reveal that the company is planning a lucrative new incentive system for six executives: CTO Andrew Bosworth, CFO Susan Li, COO Javier Olivan and CPO Chris Cox. They're set to receive more stock-based compensation tied to performance. Bosworth, Cox, Li and Olivan could reportedly be looking at bounties of up to $2.7 billion apiece.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-lays-off-hundreds-of-workers-including-more-from-reality-labs-171536879.html?src=rss

One of the most overly hyped, unfortunately named and curiously positioned cars has been officially killed. It's the Afeela 1, better known as the PlayStation Car, and it was meant to be an ultimate intersection of personal mobility and digital media. It is, instead, dead, killed by a combination of headwinds that even the most pessimistic of mobility analysts couldn't have foreseen when it was first revealed six years ago.

That said, the six year interval might have been the biggest blow to the Afeela 1's chances.

How did we get here?

What was to become the Afeela 1 debuted at CES 2020 as the Sony Vision S, a car that made headlines not so much for the way it looked (it was pretty plain) or the way it was supposed to drive (Sony didn't really talk feel). It was notable simply because it was a car from a company best known for TVs that looked amazing and video game consoles that were impossible to find.

A few years later, Sony paired up with Honda to show that this wasn't just a Gran Turismo fantasy made manifest. This was going to be an actual production car. In 2025, it was given a price tag: $100,000, along with a maximum range of about 300 miles. With cars like the Lucid Air already on the road, going 400 miles on a charge and costing less, Afeela 1 looked out of date well before it entered production.

Back then, I said it was already shaping up to be a PS4 in a PS5 era, and a year later, the unveiling of a slightly taller SUV version didn't exactly shift the fates in the Afeela's favor.

That incredibly long rollout, teasing a car for six full years, was pretty damning, but that was far from the only factor in the demise of the Afeela 1.

A geopolitical EV catastropheThe interior display is one of a few interesting aspects of the Afeela 1.Tim Stevens for Engadget

Back in 2020, the future was looking electrified. Manufacturers around the world were gearing up for an anticipated European ban on internal combustion by 2035, many of them promising to have fully electrified fleets years ahead of schedule.

Government incentives were generous, free chargers were popping up all over the place, and the global cheerleader for emissions-free motoring, Elon Musk, was still mostly respectable.

In the years that followed, everything fell apart, especially here in the US. Electric cars became a political firestorm, with Trump’s campaign taking every opportunity to decry them. Our federal rebates were scrapped, incentives for charger deployments were terminated and suddenly, the global automotive landscape became mired in a turbulent web of tariffs that shifted with the winds of hot air billowing around Washington.

EVs were now seen as an incredible folly by a considerable percentage of American consumers. The CEO of the world's largest EV manufacturer goose-stepping along to the beat didn't help. What was a market ripe for electrified innovation in 2020 turned into a mobility landmine by 2026.

Autonomy when?Afeela 1Tim Stevens for Engadget

One of the key selling points of the Afeela 1 was to be Sony deploying the full might of its digital empire onto four wheels. PlayStation gaming on the go! High definition movies in the dashboard! Ratchet & Clank on a weird little LCD on your bumper for some reason!

This was exciting stuff back in 2020 because autonomous cars were right around the corner. Waymo was doing incredible things, others were hot on its heels, and a significant chunk of industry analysts were predicting that hands-off, eyes-closed autonomy would be a tick of a box on vehicle configurators in just a few years' time.

Fast-forward to 2026 and, in many ways, we're no closer to that dream. Sure, we have a number of hands-off driver assistance systems available today, some more aspirationally named than others, but there are no mass-market, eyes-off autonomy systems on American roads.

That means the inclusion of Sony's media empire isn't quite the flex it was. Sure, your kids in the back seat can have a hell of a time, but chances are they already have enough devices to keep them well entertained without you having to drop six figures on a new car from a new company with a funny name.

The intangiblesAfeela 1

Another key strike against the Afeela 1 was that it, quite simply, didn't look very good. That first Vision concept had a few striking lines about it. But by the time Sony Honda Mobility came about, they'd all been ironed out. A white, featureless sedan is something that's hard for anyone to get excited about.

Not every car needs to be exciting to behold, but the Afeela 1 didn't really deliver in other regards. I've sat in a few different versions of prototypes, and while they were all nice enough, none held a candle to the sorts of posh appointments you'd expect were you to drop $100,000 on a Mercedes-Benz or a BMW.

Sony was really betting on the car's media chops to deliver value to its hardcore fans, but there are plenty of amazing-sounding cars on the road today, cars that look better and cost less than the Afeela 1 would have. Sony cachet simply wasn't enough.

Honda's cold feetHonda 0 Series α EV Honda

The final death knell of the Afeela 1 came at the hands of Honda. While the Afeela 1 was born of a Sony dream, it was to be produced in partnership with Honda. When I met with Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe last year, he was already getting cool on the company's American EV prospects. "The volume initially will probably be less than we had envisioned earlier," he said.

Since then, Honda took things further, canceling its 0 Series EVs. That struck me as a real shame. Where the Afeela 1 looked anonymous and was set to cost too much, the 0 Series machines were stunning and intended to be affordable. They had a real chance.

Their death effectively ripped the platform right out from under the Afeela 1. It's conceivable that Sony could take its content, car and characters to a new platform, and indeed, the press release on the cancellation of the Afeela 1 leaves the door open, saying: "SHM will continue discussions with Sony and Honda regarding its future business plans." But, that seems extremely unlikely to me.

So the Afeela 1 is dead, and so too is the dream of the PlayStation car. If you've read my coverage of the thing in the past, you know that I was never bullish on it. Pessimistic is closer to the truth, yet I still feel incredibly bad about this turn of events. I spoke with and interviewed a fair few Sony Honda Mobility employees over the years, and all were extremely excited about what they were building.

And why not? They were trying to do something new, a radically different experience in a wholly new car from a wholly new brand. That’s not something that comes along very often. Sadly, the Afeela 1 will go down in history as a lesson of exactly why that is.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/the-afeela-1-came-too-late-and-now-is-gone-too-soon-164845008.html?src=rss

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on March 25 that Cox Communications is not liable for copyright infringement committed by its subscribers, reversing a 2024 appeals court decision that had upheld the ISP's liability.

Sony Music Entertainment and other major labels sued Cox in 2018, arguing the company failed to terminate internet service for subscribers repeatedly flagged for pirating copyrighted music. A jury awarded $1 billion in statutory damages after finding Cox willfully infringed all 10,017 copyrighted works at issue, though this was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered.

Writing for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said a provider is not liable "for merely providing a service to the general public with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights." A provider is liable only if it intended or actively encouraged the infringement, Thomas wrote. The decision applies the same framework the court used in 2005 when it found file-sharing service Grokster liable for promoting piracy.

Cox serves approximately six million subscribers and contractually prohibits them from using their connections to distribute copyrighted content. A firm enlisted by the labels to track piracy sent Cox 163,148 infringement notices over a roughly two-year period. Cox terminated just 32 subscribers for copyright infringement during that span.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/supreme-court-rules-isps-arent-liable-for-subscribers-music-piracy-163412791.html?src=rss

Low-quality, mass-produced AI songs have been flooding music streaming platforms like Spotify for a couple of years now. This is annoying, but relatively easy for fans to avoid. However, it leads to real problems for artists. There's so much slop coming in that some gets falsely attributed to actual musicians on these platforms.

This messes with brand identity and audience retention, but Spotify is testing a new tool to help real artists exercise more control over their profiles. The platform's Artist Profile Protection feature lets musicians review releases before they go live and become associated with their profiles.

Spotify

This should prevent AI slop from creeping in, as the actual artist will have final say when 100 new songs show up out of the blue that sort of sound like them but with all of that pesky soul removed. It's in beta right now and if an artist denies a track, it won't be associated with their profile, won't contribute to stats and won't show up in user recommendations. This looks to be a simple and potentially effective solution to an ongoing problem.

"Music has been landing on the wrong artist pages across streaming services, and the rise of easy-to-produce AI tracks has made the problem worse," Spotify wrote in a blog post. "We know how frustrating this can be for both artists and fans alike."

This comes just a week after Sony requested the removal of more than 135,000 AI-generated songs from Spotify after it was discovered the tracks were impersonating real artists. This even happens to bands that have opted out of Spotify entirely. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard left the platform last year, to protest CEO Daniel Ek's investment in a weapons manufacturing company, but a deepfake artist quickly filled the vacuum.

Some of this isn't malicious. It's a numbers game for the "creators" of these tracks. Statistics vary, but it's been estimated that around 50,000 AI-generated songs get uploaded to Spotify each and every day. The platform deleted 75 million of these tracks last year. With this many uploads, it's easy for tracks to accidentally end up on the wrong artist's profile. Bad actors looking to attach their slop to a known quantity compounds the issue.

In any event, it's good that Spotify is doing something about this. We don't know when the tool will exit the beta phase and become available for all artists on the platform. That day can't come soon enough. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/spotify-is-testing-a-tool-to-help-real-artists-deal-with-ai-slop-on-their-profiles-161013653.html?src=rss

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has detailed the company's latest plan to fight bots and it means that some accounts will need to "verify humanness," though the company is stopping short of widespread identity verification. In an update, Huffman said that in "rare" cases accounts that seem "fishy" will be prompted for additional verification.

Such prompts "will not apply to most users," according to Huffman, but will apply to accounts where Reddit detects signs of automated posting or bot-like behavior. If the account doesn't pass the verification test, it may be "restricted" from the platform. For now, verification will take the form of on-device methods, including FaceID and passkeys. But the company is considering alternative methods, including World ID, the face-scanning orb company run by Sam Altman. "I think the internet needs verification solutions like this, where your account information, usage data, and identity never mix," Huffman writes. 

As part of the new policy, Reddit is also adding an "[APP]" label to existing "good" bots on the platform and making it easier for users to report suspected "bad" bots. The company is also grappling with a growing number of age verification laws. Reddit is “exploring” ways to “comply with these regulations without compromising user privacy,” Huffmans said.

The company is clearly trying to walk a careful line in how it approaches verification. Huffman notes that Reddit intends to "confirm humanness" rather than verify users' actual identities, which would erode the anonymity that Reddit is known for. But the rise of agentic AI has meant that Reddit is contending with the same sorts of bot-driven spam that took down the short-lived reboot of Digg.

Of course, Reddit is also filled with AI-generated material that's shared by actual humans but may be considered spammy by other users. The company has no plans to crack down on such content, at least for now, according to Huffman. "For better or worse, using AI to write is part of how people will communicate in the future (albeit annoying), so our current focus is to ensure there is a real, live human behind the accounts you’re seeing."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/reddit-will-prompt-some-accounts-to-verify-humanness-in-latest-bot-crackdown-161000181.html?src=rss

Sony just revealed the upcoming Bravia 3 II mid-range LED TV. It'll be available in sizes all the way up to 100 inches, for those in need of a home theater centerpiece. It's considered a mid-range device, but is still outfitted with plenty of tech typically reserved for the company's high-end displays.

First of all, these TVs ship with Sony's XR processor. This grants access to the company's proprietary Clear Image algorithm, auto HDR tone mapping and more. It's nice to see these features expand beyond flagship products.

The 4K LED display supports Dolby Vision, Atmos and DTS:X, with refresh rates up to 120Hz. It also features four HDMI 2.1 ports, so you can hook up a Switch 2, a PS5 and an Xbox Series X all at the same time with a port to spare.

The software here is integrated with Google Gemini, allowing for all kinds of voice commands. Finally, the TVs ship with Sony's new Inclusive Remote Control, which has been designed for accessibility.

The Bravia 3 II line will start showing up at retailers this spring. Prices start at $600 for a 43-inch model and go all the way up to $3,100 for that 100-inch monstrosity.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/sonys-upcoming-bravia-3-ii-is-a-mid-range-led-tv-available-in-sizes-up-to-100-inches-160002697.html?src=rss

Sony already has a robust collection of soundbars in its Bravia Theater lineup. Today, the company is adding two more, as well as new rear speakers and three new subwoofers. The Bar 7 will sit in Sony’s premium tier, alongside the existing (and larger) Bar 8 and Bar 9 models, while the Bar 5 will offer a more compact and more affordable solution just below the current Bar 6.

The Bravia Theater Bar 7 utilizes nine total drivers to produce Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and IMAX Enhanced sound. More specifically, that arrangement includes three woofers, two tweeters, two up-firing units and two side-firing drivers, in addition to four passive radiators. Compare that to the Bar 8 and Bar 9 which house 11 speakers and 13 speakers respectively. Sony says the Bar 7 has new two-way front speakers and the center, up-firing and side-firing drivers all have the company’s oval-shaped X-Balanced design. In terms of features, you get Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping and Sound Field Optimization for more immersive audio performance.

The Bar 7 will come bundled with Sony’s new Bravia Theater Sub 7 for $870, but you can also purchase it without the subwoofer (pricing TBA). For a more robust system, the Bar 7 can be paired with the company’s Bravia Theater Rear speakers.

Sony Bravia Theater Sub 7Sony

Speaking of subwoofers, Sony debuted three new models today. The aforementioned Sub 7 is the smallest, employing a 5.1-inch driver for the low-end tone. Move up to the new Sub 8 and you get a 7.9-inch driver for “enhanced atmosphere, clearer bass,” according to the company. The largest of the new options is the Sub 9 which has two opposing 7.9-inch drivers for “powerful, clean bass.” Unfortunately, these add-ons don’t come cheap: the Sub 7 is $330, the Sub 8 is $500 and the Sub 9 is $900.

Sony also touts dual subwoofer connectivity as part of the refreshed Bravia Theater lineup. All three of the new subs can be used as a pair, so long as you have a Theater Bar 7, Theater Bar 8 or Theater Bar 9. You can also use two subwoofers with some of Sony’s receivers (STR-AZ7000ES, STR-AZ5000ES, STR-AZ3000ES, STR-AZ1000ES and STR-AN1000). The company explains that opting for two subs provides “stronger, more balanced bass,” obviously, that fills the room for a more “cinematic effect.” Sony also says two subwoofers enable “richer, fuller bass” at lower volumes.

Rear speakers are something you’ll need if you truly want immersive audio, and the new Theater Rear 9 units are a big upgrade over the current Rear 8s. Most notably, you get an up-firing driver for enhanced overhead sounds along with two passive radiators, in addition to a tweeter and a woofer. The drivers all have aluminum diaphragms instead of paper, and the Rear 9s come with a swivel wall mounts that enable 60-degree movement. A pair of Theater Rear 9 speakers will set you back $750.

Sony Bravia Theater Bar 5Sony

If all of that sounds too expensive for your living room, Sony has something more affordable in the midrange area. The Bravia Theater Bar 5 is just $350 and still offers Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio. It doesn’t have up-firing drivers, it’s a 3.1-channel setup, so any overhead effects will be simulated. Still, that’s probably okay if you have a smaller space or live in an apartment as the upmixing tech (S-Force Pro Front Surround and Vertical Sound Engine) should provide ample immersion. The Bar 5 does come with a subwoofer though, and you can employ Sony’s Voice Zoom 3 feature for enhanced dialogue.

The Bravia Theater Bar 7, all three of the new subwoofers and the Rear 9 will be available for pre-order later this spring. The Bar 5 is up for pre-order starting today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/sony-adds-the-bravia-theater-bar-5-and-bar-7-to-its-soundbar-lineup-160000680.html?src=rss