Every video game is a miracle. Long hours, extraordinary technical and artistic requirements and cross-disciplinary collaboration: the very act of making games is difficult, and leaves room for catastrophic errors. It's a wonder any of them make it to release at all.

Fulcrum Defender, the new Playdate exclusive from Jay Ma, the co-founder of indie darling Subset Games, is one such miraculous game. It's the first new release from the studio since 2018's critically acclaimed Into the Breach. Ma began work on Fulcrum Defender following a life-changing Covid infection that has greatly diminished her quality of life and ability to do the thing she loves.

The story of Fulcrum Defender begins following a trip Ma made to Vancouver, Canada in August 2023 to see Subset co-founder Matt Davis and a few other members of the studio in-person. At the time, the team was working on more than one game. According to Ma, one of the larger, more promising projects was "struggling," but the trip led to a breakthrough. Then, she caught Covid-19. "It was pretty unfortunate timing," she said. "For the first time in a while, I was gung-ho about being able to figure this game out."

At first, Ma's latest bout with the coronavirus didn't seem all that different from her previous experiences. She returned to her home in Kyoto, Japan, quarantined and eventually recovered from the acute symptoms, but never bounced back completely. "I think it was the first day that I went out to be outside, bike, do normal things, and I just completely shut down," she said. "I couldn't get out of bed for like four days." She realized she was experiencing long Covid.

As we chatted over Google Meet, Ma frequently took long pauses to piece together her memories and find the right words to express her loss. "I'm a different person," she told me after one such break. "I walk around with a cane. I need to structure exactly how I do something outside. I need to know where all the chairs are. I walk at a grandma's pace, and I'm constantly forced to maintain awareness of my physical state, because if I do too much, it's already too late. It makes everything feel dangerous."

For the first four months of her illness, Ma couldn't work at all. "Even even when I was more used to needing to pace myself, not only was it harder to do things that used to come naturally to me, but I would also get lost in my own head," she said. She worried she might never make games again.

Subset Games

Fulcrum Defender was a chance to prove to herself she could still do the thing she loved. Subset’s Mauro López provided additional programming, and composer Aaron Cherof, best known for his work on Minecraft’s Trails and Tails update, made the music for the game. Panic contacted Ma about the project after she showed a few friends the game around the time of Kyoto's annual Bit Summit indie game festival in the summer of last year.   

"I would wake up in the morning and think about the game and make progress every day – even if it was only a couple of hours – that did something really important for my psychological state," she said.

In a preview released by Panic, Ma describes Fulcrum Defender as a game "that starts out slow and relaxing but gradually ramps up until it becomes frantic chaos." You can see the connective tissue between it and Ma's previous work. Players can earn upgrades to make their run easier. Success then depends on a combination of good aim (using the Playdate's signature crank), smart decision-making and a well thought out build. I expect it will have the same addictive "one more run" quality that Subset’s other games are known for.

This illness has shrunk my world and perception of time considerably.Jay Ma

"With Into the Breach, if I wanted to add one enemy, that one enemy would change how maps are designed, how character weapons are designed, and how scaling works," she said. "So a single new idea requires you to kind of keep everything in your head at once, and that specifically is just something that I struggle to do now." Fulcrum Defender taught Ma how much she had taken for granted the ease with which she one juggled those various dependencies in her mind.

Ma hasn't found a doctor in Japan who knows enough about the illness to offer her a conclusive diagnosis, and the state of research on long Covid in general is nascent. "They hate to make uncertain calls," she explained. The one thing she's found she can do is take frequent dementia tests to track the condition of her mind.

"I feel like I need to live with the possibility that it won't go away, so I just sort of operate with that mindset," she told me. "This illness has shrunk my world and perception of time considerably. My memory is way worse. I'll forget what happened like a week ago, and I don't really think about the future at all. And so I'm just in a constant present. It feels like I'm being forced to train to be a monk."

When I asked what her illness might mean for the future of Subset, Ma took a long time to consider her answer. "We set a rule that we will not announce anything unless we're absolutely certain it's coming out. We want to live with the freedom of being able to cancel rather than feeling we're stuck in having to release something we don't like," she said. "So Subset is doing fine, but my output has dropped to like 20 percent of what it used to be."

Subset Games

Davis, she adds, has been productive, but he too has had to adapt his work schedule, in his case due to two young kids. "If we want to make another Into the Breach-scale game, it feels like we might need more help in the long run. I need to come to terms with the fact I can't do all the art the way I used to."

Ma has been through so much, and yet Fulcrum Defender isn't a game about chronic health concerns, disability or memory loss. It seems to studiously avoid borrowing any biographical detail from Ma's life whatsoever. People will play and enjoy it knowing nothing of the challenging circumstances in which it was made. It turns out, that's the only way Ma would have it.

"I know of a lot of developers who put themselves into their game. You can see the author's intent, emotional state and the things they were processing in it. I've wondered what it would be like to make a game like that, but I have no idea how. Basically, the only thing that drives me is mechanics," she told me. "So I have no expectation, or really desire for people to see the author in the little arcade games I make. I would be very happy to never be perceived."

Fulcrum Defender — along with 11 other games — arrives as part of Playdate's second season of weekly games beginning on May 29. You can pre-order Season Two for $39 through the Catalog store.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/subset-games-co-founder-jay-ma-went-through-hell-to-make-fulcrum-defender-153028909.html?src=rss

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© Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

You can sink a lot of money into your kitchen without even realizing it. There’s no doubt that some of the best kitchen gadgets are on the pricey side, but there are also plenty of budget-friendly tools that can make your time meal prepping, cooking for a party and reheating leftovers much easier. All the recommendations on this list are either products I use currently, or more affordable versions of something I decided to splurge on after years of food prep. You may not consider every single item an essential for your kitchen, but all of them can save you time when you need to get dinner on the table quickly.

Best cheap kitchen gadgets for 2025

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/best-cheap-kitchen-gadgets-130049897.html?src=rss

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© Engadget

A few years ago, it may have been fashionable to spend $1,000 on the latest flagship smartphone, but for most people, that’s neither practical nor necessary. You don't even have to spend $500 today to get a decent handset, whether it’s a refurbished iPhone or an affordable Android phone, as there are plenty of decent options as low as $160.

However, navigating the budget phone market can be tricky; options that look good on paper may not be in practice, and some devices will end up costing you more when you consider many come with restrictive storage. While we spend most of our time reviewing mid- to high-end handsets at Engadget, we've tested a number of the latest budget-friendly phones on the market to see cut it as the best cheap phones you can get right now.

Best cheap phones

What to look for in a cheap phone

For this guide, our top picks cost between $100 and $300. Anything less and you might as well go buy a dumb phone instead. Since they’re meant to be more affordable than flagship phones and even midrange handsets, budget smartphones involve compromises; the cheaper a device, the lower your expectations around specs, performance and experience should be. For that reason, the best advice I can give is to spend as much as you can afford. In this price range, even $50 or $100 more can get you a dramatically better product.

Second, you should know what you want most from a phone. When buying a budget smartphone, you may need to sacrifice a decent main camera for long battery life, or trade a high-resolution display for a faster CPU. That’s just what comes with the territory, but knowing your priorities will make it easier to find the right phone.

It’s also worth noting some features can be hard to find on cheaper handsets. For instance, you won’t need to search far for a device with all-day battery life — but if you want a phone with excellent camera quality, you’re better off shelling out for one of the recommendations in our midrange smartphone guide, which all come in at $600 or less.

Wireless charging and waterproofing also aren’t easy to find in this price range and forget about the fastest chipset. On the bright side, most of our recommendations come with headphone jacks, so you won’t need to buy wireless headphones.

iOS is also off the table, since, following the discontinuation of the iPhone SE, the $599 iPhone 16e is now the most affordable offering from Apple. That leaves Android as the only option in the under-$300 price range. Thankfully today, there’s little to complain about Google’s operating system – and you may even prefer it to iOS.

Lastly, keep in mind most Android manufacturers typically offer far less robust software features and support for their budget devices. In some cases, your new phone may only receive one major software update and a year or two of security patches beyond that. That applies to the OnePlus and Motorola recommendations on our list.

If you’d like to keep your phone for as long as possible, Samsung has the best software policy of any Android manufacturer in the budget space, offering at least four years of security updates on all of its devices. Recently, it even began offering six years of support on the $200 A16 5G, which we recommend below. That said, if software support (or device longevity overall) is your main focus, consider spending a bit more on the $500 Google Pixel 9a, or even the previous-gen Pixel 8a, which has planned software updates through mid-2031.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/best-cheap-phones-130017793.html?src=rss

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The Washington Post is partnering with OpenAI to bring its reporting to ChatGPT. The two organizations did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement, but the deal will see ChatGPT display summaries, quotes and links to articles from The Post when users prompt the chatbot to search the web.

"We're all in on meeting our audiences where they are," said Peter Elkins-Williams, head of global partnerships at The Post. "Ensuring ChatGPT users have our impactful reporting at their fingertips builds on our commitment to provide access where, how and when our audiences want it."

The Post is no stranger to generative AI. In November, the publisher began using the technology to offer article summaries. Since the start of February, ChatGPT Search has been available to everyone, with no account or sign-in necessary. 

Later that same month, Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, announced a "significant shift" in the publisher's editorial strategy. As part of the overhaul, the paper has been publishing daily opinion stories "in defense of two pillars," personal liberties and free markets. Given that focus and Amazon's own investments in artificial intelligence, it's not surprising to see The Washington Post and OpenAI sign a strategic partnership.

More broadly, today's announcement sees yet another publisher partnering with OpenAI, following an early but brief period of resistance from some players in the news media industry — most notably The New York Times. According to OpenAI, it has signed similar agreements with more than 20 news publishers globally.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-washington-post-partners-with-openai-to-bring-its-content-to-chatgpt-141215314.html?src=rss

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© Washington Post, OpenAI

A mere two days after announcing GPT-4.1, OpenAI is releasing not one but two new models. The company today announced the public availability of o3 and o4-mini. Of the former, OpenAI says o3 is its most advanced reasoning model yet, with it showing "strong performance" in coding, math and science tasks. As for o4-mini, OpenAI is billing it as a lower cost alternative that still delivers "impressive results" across those same fields.

More notably, both models offer novel capabilities not found in OpenAI's past systems. For first time, the company's reasoning models can use and combine all of the tools available in ChatGPT, including web browsing and image generation. The company says this capability allows o3 and o4-mini solve challenging, multi-step problems more effectively, and "take real steps toward acting independently." 

At the same time, o3 and o4-mini can not just see images, but also interpret and "think" about them in a way that significantly extends their visual processing capabilities. For instance, you can upload images of whiteboards, diagrams or sketches — even poor quality ones — and the new models will understand them. They can also adjust the images as part of how they reason.  

"The combined power of state-of-the-art reasoning with full tool access translates into significantly stronger performance across academic benchmarks and real-world tasks, setting a new standard in both intelligence and usefulness," says OpenAI. 

Separately, OpenAI is releasing a new coding agent (à la Claude Code) named Codex CLI. It's designed to give developers a minimal interface they can use to link OpenAI's models with their local code. Out of the box, it works with o3 and o4-mini, with support for GPT-4.1 on the way. 

Today's announcement comes after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company was changing course on the roadmap he detailed in February. At the time, Altman indicated OpenAI would not release o3, which the company first previewed late last year, as a standalone product. However, at the start of April, he announced a "change of plans," noting OpenAI was moving forward with the release of o3 and o4-mini.  

"There are a bunch of reasons for this, but the most exciting one is that we are going to be able to make GPT-5 much better than we originally though," he wrote on X. "We also found it harder than we thought it was going to be to smoothly integrate everything. and we want to make sure we have enough capacity to support what we expect to be unprecedented demand."

That means the streamlining Altman promised in February will likely need to wait until at least the release of GPT-5, which he said would arrive sometime in the next "few months." 

In the meantime, ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Team users can begin using o3 and o4-mini starting today. Sometime in the next few weeks, OpenAI will bring online o3-pro, an even more powerful version of its flagship reasoning model, and make it available to Pro subscribers. For the time being, those users can continue to use o1-pro. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-new-o3-and-o4-mini-models-are-all-about-thinking-with-images-170043465.html?src=rss

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Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a labor of love. You can see it in every pixel, animation and cutscene of the new 2D action game. It might be a surprise then that it's not the work of Team Ninja, the studio most closely associated with the series, but rather franchise newcomer The Game Kitchen. The Spanish studio is best known for its work on Blasphemous, a series of Souls-like Metroidvanias influenced by Spain’s own Andalusian culture and history with Roman Catholicism.

"I'm an '80s kid," says David Jaumandreu, game director and producer on Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. "I still have my copy of the first Ninja Gaiden in the basement." The way Jaumandreu tells it, Ragebound is a dream project for him and his coworkers. The Game Kitchen began working on the game about halfway through the production of Blasphemous 2. French publisher Dotemu, best known for releasing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, approached the studio after seeing its work on Blasphemous.

There's some superficial visual overlap between Ragebound and Blasphemous 2, but when it comes to tone and gameplay, they could not be more dissimilar. Where Blasphemous 2 is dark and solemn, Ragebound leans into the franchise's origin as a product of the '80s. It's loud and frequently cheesy, but in an endearing way. It's also a lot faster paced, with levels that grade on how quickly you can complete them, often while taking as little damage as possible.

Early on in the project, one of the things the team knew they wanted was to include two protagonists, with one of them hailing from the Black Spider Clan. For the uninitiated, the Black Spider Clan has usually served as the antagonists of the Ninja Gaiden series. Ragebound is set during the events of the 1988 NES game. After series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa leaves for the US to avenge his father's death, demons descend on peaceful Hayabusa Village and it's up to newcomer Kenji Mozu to save his clan.

The Game Kitchen / Dotemu

"We thought if we're taking the series back to its roots, wouldn't it be cool to control one of the Black Spider Clan?" says Jaumandreu. "It's like when you get to make a Star Wars game, and you fantasize about controlling an Empire character." 

To the surprise of everyone at The Game Kitchen, both Dotemu and Koei Tecmo — Ninja Gaiden's original license holder — liked the idea. In the demo I played, I didn't see the exact circumstances of how Kenji and the Black Spider Clan's Kumori end up working together, but the gist of it is that they're forced to merge souls to survive a deadly encounter.

From what I can tell, outside of one mission that serves as an introduction to Kumori's skillset, you'll spend most of your time playing as Kenji in Ragebound. However, once the two of them join forces, Kenji's ability to engage enemies at range is greatly increased since he has access to Kumori's kunai.

The Game Kitchen / Dotemu

Moreover, some of the platforming sections I ran into during the demo required that I play as Kumori to progress through the level. The tricky thing about these segments is that Kumori can only manifest for a short time, a gauge above her head indicating how much time I had left with her before I was back to Kenji and had to try the section again. It's possible to extend her gauge by taking out enemies along the way. At least in the demo, Kumori's segments weren't too difficult, but I could also see how the structure could really test players — maybe not to the level of Hollow Knight's Path of Pain, say, but something close.

One of the things that stood out about both characters was how nimble they felt. Kenji can pogo off enemies and projectiles to gain additional height over his foes. During her platforming segments, Kumori can use her kunai to teleport across gaps and complete jumps Kenji can't. Most levels also include ceilings the two can climb along, and I frequently had to fight my way through multiple enemies to get to the other end. Speaking of combat, it's frenetic in a way that has mostly gone out of style in modern gaming. Outside of bosses, most enemies will fall after one or two slashes from Kenji's katana.

The Game Kitchen / Dotemu

Even in early combat scenarios, I often had to fight two or three enemies simultaneously, while dodging and deflecting ranged attacks along the way to my next target. Once the combat system started to click for me, it felt incredibly satisfying to bounce between enemies and use Kenji and Kumori's abilities in unison.

I left my hands-on with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound excited to play the final product. Of course, the ultimate test of the game will be how fans receive it. "We really put a lot of effort into creating a Ninja Gaiden game," says Jaumandreu. "We didn't want it to be a Blasphemous game with ninjas. We really hope when players get the controller, they feel at home with the series."

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound arrives this summer on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ninja-gaiden-ragebound-is-a-love-letter-to-the-series-nes-roots-150050773.html?src=rss

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© The Game Kitchen / Dotemu

Following a limited, four-month preview, Google is making its Veo 2 video generation model available to more people. The company has begun rolling out the tool to Gemini Advanced users, who can use it to create 720p clips that are up to eight seconds long. "The more detailed your description, the more control you have over the final video," Google says of the model.

For the time being, Gemini will only generate footage in 16:9 landscape orientation, meaning it won’t be great for creating social video. That said, Google notes you can upload videos directly to TikTok or YouTube through Gemini's share sheet, and any footage you create through the chatbot will automatically be formatted as a MP4 file. Relative to the model’s iteration, Google says Veo 2 has a better understanding of real-world physics and human motion.

If you want to start using Gemini to generate video clips, you'll need Google's $20 per month One AI Premium Plan. Once the company completes the roll out of Veo 2, video generation will be available in every language you can use Gemini on both on the web and mobile. Separately, Google is bringing Veo 2 generation to Whisk. For the uninitiated, Whisk is an experimental AI application the company offers through its Google Labs beta platform. It allows you to generate images from both text and image prompts, and with Veo 2 now baked in, you can use Whisk to animate what you create through the app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-brings-veo-2-video-generation-to-gemini-advanced-170014422.html?src=rss

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A few years ago, I gave up on my Gmail inbox. I used to be meticulous. I would assign labels to every new email that came in, starring those that I wanted to find later easily. But between a job in journalism and way too much spam, the volume of new messages became unmanageable. And as of this article, I have more than 21,000 unread emails. After trying Notion's new email client, I might have a chance to reclaim my inbox.

With Notion Mail, Notion isn't trying to reinvent email. "I feel like every email client has their own system, and many have a religious onboarding experience," Notion Mail Lead Andrew Milich tells me over video chat. "You know, it's either keyboard shortcuts, a screening feature, a chatbox or something else. We tried to do something more lightweight."

Milich knows a thing or two about rigid email apps. Before joining Notion, he was the co-founder of Skiff, a startup that offered, among other things, end-to-end encrypted email. Notion acquired Skiff at the start of 2024. Since then, the Skiff team has been working on Notion Mail. For those keeping track, Notion Calendar was similarly born out of the company's acquisition of Cron.

"We want Notion Mail to stand alone as an email product you would love and want to use independent of Notion, but also one that every existing Notion user will find familiar and enjoyable," Milich says.

To that point, current Notion users will find much that's familiar. For instance, in the compose window there’s support for slash commands, code blocks and Markdown shortcuts. However, it's the new features Milich and his team created for Notion Mail that are what make the app interesting.

Notion

It starts with two related tools: AI labels and views. The first time you open Notion Mail, the software will analyze your inbox and suggest personalized labels for broad categories of messages, and create corresponding folders where those emails will be automatically sorted. You can filter, group and sort emails independently within each view for added flexibility. If you ever want to create additional AI labels, a button at the top of the interface to do so quickly. Additionally, any labels you create through Notion Mail will be preserved in Gmail, and your data won't be used to train future AI models.

"We try to sync as much data as possible, so that means all these labels, even the ones that are applied by AI as the emails are received, get synchronized to Gmail too," Milich says, adding, "we've deliberately moved drafts and sent lower and tried to focus users on the labeling, views and templates."

The final pillar of Notion Mail revolves around scheduling. Provided you've granted Notion Calendar access to your Google Calendar, you can insert booking links directly within the compose window by typing "/schedule". For the recipient, a single click will get them on your calendar.

Notion

Outside of those big features, Notion Mail offers the usual time savers you'll find in its competitors, including suggested replies, keyboard shortcuts and a built-in AI editor for drafting and editing messages. There's also a snippet library you can use to save yourself from writing the same section of text over and over again in different emails.

In the short time I've had with Notion Mail, I've noticed it's incredibly flexible. According to Milich, the app isn't designed to push users toward a goal like inbox zero that isn't obtainable (or really useful) in a modern context. Instead, he says his hope is that Notion Mail limits how much the act of managing your inbox drains your time, energy and attention, and so far I can say it has done exactly that.

If you want to try Notion Mail for yourself, Notion is making the client available to everyone, including free users, at no additional cost. You will only need to pay for the app if you frequently use some of its AI features. At launch, it works with Gmail. Milich says support for Outlook and iCloud is on the roadmap, but didn't share a specific date.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/notion-mail-is-a-powerful-but-lightweight-email-client-for-busy-people-150007543.html?src=rss

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A great phone doesn’t need to cost a fortune. In 2025, features once exclusive to high-end devices – big batteries, multi-camera arrays, high refresh rate displays and more – have trickled down to more affordable models. Sure, you’ll still need to buy a flagship smartphone to get the best camera or fastest processor, but you don’t need to compromise nearly as much anymore if you’re looking for a great handset at a reasonable price. If you have less than $600 to spend, let us help you figure out what features to prioritize when trying to find the best midrange smartphone.

The best midrange phones for 2025

What is a midrange phone, anyway?

While the term frequently appears in articles and videos, there isn’t an agreed-upon definition for “midrange” beyond a phone that isn’t a flagship or an entry-level option. Most of our recommendations cost between $400 and $600 — any less and you should expect significant compromises. If you have more to spend, you might as well consider flagships like the Apple iPhone 16 and the Samsung Galaxy S25.

What to consider before buying a midrange smartphone

Buying a new device can be intimidating, but a few questions can help guide you through the process. First: what platform do you want to use? If the answer is iOS, that narrows your options down to exactly one phone. (Thankfully, it’s great.) And if you’re an Android fan, there’s no shortage of compelling options. Both platforms have their strengths, so you shouldn’t rule either out.

Of course, also consider how much you’re comfortable spending. Even increasing your budget by $100 more can get you a dramatically better product. Moreover, manufacturers tend to support their more expensive devices for longer. It’s worth buying something toward the top limit of what you can afford.

Having an idea of your priorities will help inform your budget. Do you want a long battery life or fast charging? Do you value speedy performance above all else? Or would you like the best possible cameras? While they continue to improve every year, even the best midrange smartphones still demand some compromises, and knowing what’s important to you will make choosing one easier.

What won’t you get from a midrange smartphone?

Every year, the line between midrange and flagship phones blurs as more upmarket features and specs trickle down to more affordable models. When Engadget first published this guide in 2020, it was tricky to find a $500 phone with waterproofing and 5G. In 2025, the biggest thing you might miss out on is wireless charging – and even then, that’s becoming less true.

One thing your new phone probably won’t come with is a power adapter; many companies have stopped including chargers with all of their smartphones. Performance has improved in recent years, but can still be hit or miss as most midrange phones use slower processors that can struggle with multitasking. Thankfully, their cameras have improved dramatically, and you can typically expect at least a dual-lens system on most midrange smartphones below $600.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/best-midrange-smartphone-183006463.html?src=rss

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© Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The next time you conclude a conversation with ChatGPT, it will save what you said to memory, even if you don't ask it explicitly to do so. "We have greatly improved memory in chatgpt — it can now reference all your past conversations!" OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on Thursday in an X post spotted by The Verge. "This is a surprisingly great feature imo, and it points at something we are excited about: ai systems that get to know you over your life, and become extremely useful and personalized."

OpenAI has been working on improving ChatGPT's memory since 2023 when the company began testing custom instructions, a feature that allows users to set preferences that ChatGPT will consider in future conversations. For example, you can tell the chat bot you have a family of four, and it will remember that detail when you ask for it dinner recipes. At the start of last year, OpenAI began allowing users to tell ChatGPT to remember specific details from chats. With this latest update, ChatGPT will remember both you tell it to and insights it gleans from your conversations. 

"The more you use ChatGPT, the more useful it becomes. New conversations build upon what it already knows about you to make smoother, more tailored interactions over time," OpenAI says of the feature. The company is currently rolling out the update to users of its $200 per month Pro plan and $20 per month Plus tier. Team, Enterprise and Edu users can expect to gain access "in a few weeks." OpenAI did not say when it would roll out the update to free users. 

If you don't want ChatGPT to save your conversations with it, you can disable the feature through the settings menu. "If you’ve already opted out of memory, ChatGPT won’t reference past conversations by default," says OpenAI. You can also use the Temporary Chat feature on a case by case basis for conversations you don't want ChatGPT to save to memory. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chatgpt-can-now-remember-all-your-past-conversations-134642785.html?src=rss

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© Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

Google is bringing AI Mode to more people in the US. The company announced on Monday it would make the new search tool, first launched at the start of last month, to millions of more Labs users across the country.

For uninitiated, AI Mode is a new dedicated tab within Search. It's essentially Google's answer to ChatGPT Search. It allows you to ask more complicated questions of Google, with a custom version of Gemini 2.0 doing the legwork to deliver a nuanced AI-generated response. Labs, meanwhile, is a beta program you can enroll your Google account in to gain access to new Search features before the company rolls them out to the public.

In addition to bringing AI Mode to more people, Google is unlocking the tool's multimodal capabilities. Starting today, you can snap and upload images to AI Mode, allowing you to ask questions about what you see. The feature brings together AI Mode with Google's Lens technology.

"With Gemini's multimodal capabilities, AI Mode can understand the entire scene in an image, including the context of how objects relate to one another and their unique materials, colors, shapes and arrangements," Google explains. "Using our query fan-out technique, AI Mode then issues multiple queries about the image as a whole and the objects within the image, accessing more breadth and depth of information than a traditional search on Google."

AI Mode's new Lens integration is available through the Google app on Android and iOS.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-ai-mode-rolls-out-to-more-testers-with-new-image-search-feature-160054334.html?src=rss

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Later than expected, Google has begun rolling a pair of new Gemini Live features to Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 devices. The company first previewed Gemini live video and screensharing during Mobile World Congress in March. As you might have guessed from their names, the two features allow you to take advantage of Gemini's multi-modal capabilities to ask Google's chatbot questions about what you see in front of your or on your phone's screen. 

If you don't own a Pixel 9 or Galaxy S25, Google says you can still access the new features through the Gemini app on Android. However, you'll need a Google One AI Premium plan, which costs $20 per month.    

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-live-video-and-screensharing-starts-rolling-out-to-pixel-9-and-galaxy-s25-phones-151032356.html?src=rss

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Nintendo has delayed US Switch 2 pre-orders in response to the new set of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump earlier this week, as first reported by Polygon. Following Nintendo's announcement of the console on Wednesday, pre-orders in the United States were slated to open on April 9. They're now delayed indefinitely.   

"Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions," the company told Engadget. "Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged."

As mentioned earlier, Nintendo officially announced the Switch 2 on April 2. Hours later, the Trump administration said it would impose a sweeping set of new tariffs targeted against a broad swath of countries, including Japan, China and Vietnam. Products from the latter two countries, where Nintendo manufactures much of its hardware, will be subject to import duties of 54 percent and 46 percent, respectively.  

In the US, Nintendo said the Switch 2 would cost $450. As Polygon notes, sticker shock was already dominating the conversation around Nintendo's new handheld, with many fans begging the company to "drop the price!" of console during its recent livestreams. It's unclear what could happen following Nintendo's assessment of the situation, but one possibility is that the company could allocate less stock for the US market.              

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-delays-switch-2-us-pre-orders-following-trump-tariffs-150747208.html?src=rss

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Yesterday, we learned a lot about the Switch 2 we didn't know before, including the fact Nintendo that will offer a webcam alongside the new console. As far as accessories go, the $50 Switch 2 Camera looks boring, and judging from the footage the company shared on Wednesday, not particularly great at its intended purpose of, you know, capturing moving pictures. 

The good news? Nintendo is allowing third-party manufacturers to make their own webcams for the new console. Enter the Hori Piranha Plant Camera. 

Hori

Hori's Switch 2 camera has a couple of features you won't find on Nintendo's first-party offering. First, the pot the Piranha Plant sits in functions as both as a stand and USB extension for the device. The part of the Piranha that houses the webcam can detach from the pot, allowing you to, ahem, plant it directly on the top of the Switch 2. In that way, you can take your new buddy on the road. Want to trash talk your friends over video in GameChat while on a domestic flight? With the Piranha Plant and in-flight Wi-Fi, you can. 

Second, the Piranha Plant camera has a built-in privacy shutter. You can simply close its mouth to obscure the lens. If that's not clever, functional design, I don't know what is.

Hori

Hori has yet to list the Piranha Plant camera on its US website, but over in Germany, retailer Media Markt has the accessory priced at €40 or €20 less than the official Switch 2 Camera from Nintendo. Practical, stylish and affordable, what's not to love? 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/horis-piranha-plant-switch-2-camera-is-a-work-of-art-194430377.html?src=rss

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In 2002, Microsoft launched Xbox Live with built-in voice chat as one of the main selling points of the then new service. Now, nearly 25 years later, Nintendo is finally giving its fans an easy way to talk to their friends online over a friendly match of Mario Kart World.

Considering some of the solutions Nintendo has offered in the past, GameChat is surprisingly elegant. A tap of the Switch 2's new C button, conveniently located below the Home button on the right Joy-Con, brings up a dedicated interface that allows you to quickly start screensharing, mute and unmute your mic and, if you decide to buy the optional Switch 2 Camera, enable video.

What's more, the Switch 2 has a built-in mic. We'll need to test the handheld to see how well the microphone performs in a noisy environment; Nintendo touted its noise-reduction features in today's introduction. But if nothing else, kudos to Nintendo for realizing it couldn't release a new console in 2025 without voice chat built-in and making that feature standard on all models.

However, if the demo Nintendo showed off today is any indication of the final product, the company has some work to do. Voice chat looks like it works well enough, with users allowed to invite up to 11 other people to join their conversation. That said, screen sharing and video chat look very rough. 

When everyone in the video started streaming their gameplay, it looked like the games were running at less than 30 frames per second, making it difficult to see how it would be possible to use the feature to guide a friend through a tricky section, like Nintendo suggested in the demo. Video chat was equally janky, with the footage from the Switch 2 Camera looking like something captured by a webcam from the mid-aughts. Moreover, if you want to see your friend's screen, there's an additional tradeoff. 

Nintendo showed off three different interface options, with two of them devoting a fair amount of screen space to tiles for your friends. I imagine this won't be a problem if you're playing on a TV, but even on the Switch 2's large 7.9-inch screen, the interface looks like it could get cramped fast.

To Nintendo's credit, the company has thought a lot about parental controls, with features that allow parents and guardians to decide who their kids can chat with online and if they can join a session with video. But the thing is none of GameChat’s capabilities are new. They've existed in apps like Discord for years, which begs the question why some of them look so rough this close to launch.

Nintendo has time between now and June 5 to polish GameChat, but in 2025, making a technically competent chat app shouldn't be so hard. Of course, I imagine most of the Switch 2's audience won't care if some of GameChat's features are half-baked. For the rest of us, the company plans to offer the feature for free until the end of March 2026. One would hope that's enough time for the company to catch up on two decades worth of progress in online gaming.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/gamechat-is-decades-late-and-looks-pretty-janky-202309823.html?src=rss

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According to a recent Digital Education Council survey, as many as 86 percent of university students globally use artificial intelligence to assist with their coursework. It’s a staggering statistic that’s likely to have far-reaching consequences for years to come. So it’s not surprising to see a company like Anthropic announce Claude for Education, an initiative it says will equip universities to "play a key role in actively shaping AI's role in society."

At the heart of Claude for Education is a new Learning mode that changes how Anthropic’s chatbot interacts with users. With the feature engaged, Claude will attempt to guide students to a solution, rather than providing an answer outright, when asked a question. It will also employ the Socratic method in conversations, asking questions like “What evidence supports your conclusion?” as a way to guide users to understanding. All of this is powered by 3.7 Sonnet, Anthropic’s new hybrid reasoning model, and tied to Claude’s Projects feature, which gives you a way to organize your chats around specific topics.

Claude for Education is available to all Pro users with an .edu email address. Additionally, Anthropic is partnering with Northeastern University, the London School of Economics and Political Science as well as Champlain College to make Claude available to all students at those institutions. 

At the same time, the company is launching two new programs. The first, Claude Campus Ambassadors, gives students the chance to work directly with Anthropic to launch educational initiatives at their school. The second, meanwhile, will see Anthropic award API credits to students working on projects involving Claude. Separately, the company says it will work with Instructure, the company behind the Canvas learning software, to increase access to tools universities are using to integrate AI into their teaching.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/claudes-new-learning-mode-will-prompt-students-to-answer-questions-on-their-own-172057828.html?src=rss

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Silksong, the long-awaited to sequel to 2017's Hollow Knight, will arrive later this year, according to a brief sizzle reel Nintendo shared during today's Switch 2 Direct. In fact, the snippet was so short you might have missed it if you blinked, and featured the same section of gameplay we first saw during the game's announcement trailer back in 2019. 

Of course this being Silksong we're talking about, I wouldn't count on the game's developer, Team Cherry, sticking to that date until we have the game in our hands. If you recall, back in 2022 there was speculation the game would arrive by June 12, 2023 after Microsoft included it in a Xbox Game Pass trailer and said all the titles featured in said clip would be available within 12 months. Well, June 12, 2023 came and went with no release of Silksong.       

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hollow-knight-silksong-purportedly-arrives-this-year-144515332.html?src=rss

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Nintendo Switch Online is getting a Switch 2-exclusive upgrade. On June 5, the same day the new console goes on sale, the service's Expansion Pack service will begin including GameCube games. At launch, Nintendo will offer The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Soulcaliber II and F-Zero GX, with more games to come following the Switch 2's release. 

Games that support multiplayer, including F-Zero GX, will offer online play, with support for up to four players. Additionally, the Switch 2 will render every GameCube game at a higher resolution for improved image quality. Nintendo will also release a new version of the GameCube's classic controller that features a USB-C connection, wireless connectivity and a dedicated C button for GameChat functionality.        

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-nintendo-switch-2-will-play-gamecube-games-141025334.html?src=rss

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Voice chat was never easy on the Nintendo Switch. Thankfully, with the Switch 2, Nintendo is making it an essential part of the new console. By pressing the new "C" button, located on the right Joy-Con, players can jump into a GameChat with their friends and family. Nintendo demoed the feature during its recent Switch 2 Direct, alongside a new Switch 2 Camera that will go on sale on June 5, the same day as the new handheld.     

If you've ever watched someone stream on Discord, you'll have an idea of what to expect from GameChat. Along the bottom of the interface are windows for every chat participant. At any time, up to four of your friends can start sharing their screen, and join with video chat if they own the Switch 2 Camera. Every Switch 2 unit features a microphone along the top of the device to facilitate voice communication, and GameChat allows up to 12 people to converse over voice. In the demo Nintendo showed off, friend streams appeared to run noticeably worse than the main gameplay. 

"Safety features are in place to help players have a safe and secure chat experience, such as the ability to report a person while in a chat session," says Nintendo. Additionally, children under the age of 16 will need approval from their parent to use GameChat, which they can obtain through an updated version of the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls App.  

Nintendo said a Nintendo Switch Online membership will be required to use GameChat. However, the company will offer a free trial through March 31, 2026. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-nintendo-switch-2-offers-built-in-voice-chat-and-screensharing-133334225.html?src=rss

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