Wyze, the Seattle-based tech company that specializes in smart home products and wireless cameras, has released a major security update that it hopes will rebuild some lost trust. The company has been plagued by numerous security failures over the past few years, most notably when an AWS outage led to thousands of users gaining access to recorded videos from other people’s homes. That incident, paired with the company’s history of lackluster responses to security flaws, even led The New York Times to explicitly stop recommending Wyze products more than a year ago.

Now, in a YouTube video announcement that cheekily mentions the AWS outage, Wyze is introducing a new layer of security that the company is calling Wyze VerifiedView. The added layer of security works by embedding a unique user ID into the firmware of a Wyze camera upon setup. The camera in turn stamps that ID onto every photo, video and livestream. Before any device can access that footage, the Wyze software will check that the embedded ID matches the one for the user before it allows the footage or images to be seen.

Wyze is adamant that this new layer is simply building upon its already robust security structure, which the company somewhat meaninglessly says is akin to “barbed wire fencing, booby traps, security guards, acid sharks, laser scanners, and AI robot guard dogs.” While it’s not mentioned in the press release, the announcement video clarified that VerifiedView may never come to older models like the Wyze Cam Pan V1 and V2 due to hardware limitations.

Wyze says it has been pushing this update to its most popular models since the beginning of April, and that users of those models just need to update their firmware and app to receive the update. Which models exactly remains unclear, as Wyze also mentioned that some other models will receive the updates over the coming weeks and months, but again did not specify which models they were referring to.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/wyze-adds-major-security-update-to-its-security-cameras-after-numerous-security-lapses-181735619.html?src=rss

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© Wyze

It’s that time of year again, and Amazon Prime Day is around the corner. There’s a lot to expect from this year’s extended event running July 8 to 11, the longest Prime Day ever. That’s not to say you have to wait until it starts to find great deals. Right now you can grab a pair of Anker Soundcore Space wireless earbuds at the lowest price we’ve ever seen them. Normally retailing for $80, they are on sale for $45.

The Anker Soundcore Space earbuds are currently our top pick for best budget wireless earbuds. While their performance doesn’t rival that of more premium products, we felt the Space A40’s feature set offered excellent value for such a budget-friendly set of earbuds.

These earbuds connect via Bluetooth, support connection to two devices at once, and come in a case that supports wireless charging. We were most impressed with the Space A40’s active noise cancellation (ANC), a feature rarely seen at this price point. While it’s not the most sophisticated ANC on the market, it does its job in blocking out the steady rumble of a train or jet engine. Battery life is solid for a budget pair of earbuds, reaching roughly eight to 10 hours depending on use, with another 40 hours or so supplied by the case.

In-ear fit is comfortable, as the round earpieces are pretty light and evenly balanced. The audio quality is impressive for its price point, offering a warm sound that can be fine-tuned with an EQ in the Soundcore app. A subpar built-in mic means the Space A40s don’t have the best transparency mode and aren’t the best for phone calls in noisy areas, but overall for $45 these are a great deal.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-budget-wireless-earbuds-are-almost-half-off-ahead-of-prime-day-145248634.html?src=rss

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© Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Meta’s Threads is deepening its integration with the fediverse, a collection of decentralized social media platforms that includes Mastodon. Starting today, users who have enabled sharing to the fediverse in Threads will be able to see posts from federated accounts that they follow. These posts will now appear in a dedicated feed.

From this feed, users can now search for federated users from within Threads. These posts will populate in reverse chronological order, ensuring the newest posts from accounts you follow appear first.

Decentralized platforms currently compatible with Threads include Mastodon, Bookwyrm, WriteFreely and more, with Meta hoping more services will sign on in the future. When searching for fediverse accounts, simply input their username and corresponding service into the search bar, such as “@[email protected],” and if an exact match exists, their profile will appear alongside the fediverse icon.

Meta has spent the last year working on building the fediverse into the Threads experience, and the company says that Threads “has interacted with over 75 percent of all fediverse servers” since sharing to the fediverse was launched a year ago.

The social media conglomerate states that its goal “remains to grow the fediverse responsibly, prioritizing the success of a safe community from multiple platforms and with multiple points of view.” Integrations like the features being launched today, however, make it much easier for the company’s users to see federated posts without ever navigating away from Threads to do so. Furthermore, fediverse engagement on Threads remains an “opt-in” feature, and replies you receive to posts shared in the fediverse are still not integrated into Threads.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/threads-adds-new-dedicated-feed-for-fediverse-content-174105370.html?src=rss

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© Meta

Nissan has unveiled its third-generation Leaf EV with a completely new design. The 2026 model sheds the last vestiges of its original compact car body and leans fully into crossover SUV territory. The new look offers some design features that are commonly seen in the all-electric vehicle marketplace, allowing it to compete against other models in its class. These include available dual 14.3-inch displays, flush door handles for better aerodynamics, and liquid-cooled lithium-ion batteries.

The new Leaf is also the latest EV to adopt the NACS charging port after Tesla made it open-source in 2022. Since then, just about every major automaker from Ford to Mercedes has adopted the standard, with these brands getting access to Tesla's Supercharger network on a rolling basis. For added convenience, a J1772 port, the most common standard for Level 2 chargers, is included on the driver's-side fender. The Leaf's video announcement highlights bi-directional V2X technology that allows drivers to power their homes, send power to the grid, or provide power when camping, though details are sparse.

In the same video, Nissan’s head of global design, Alfonso Albaisa, explains the lengths the company went to in making the car as aerodynamic as possible in order to achieve the car’s stated 300-mile range. The rear door handles, for instance, are built into the C-pillar, which could make for an awkward angle when trying to open the door with your hands full. The body of the Leaf has a chunky, SUV-like stance, with a wide front reminiscent of the Volkswagen ID.4. In the end, all these design choices helped the new Leaf reduce its drag coefficient by 10 percent from the previous generation.

Nissan

Nissan is also bringing the new Leaf's battery thermal management to par with other major EV brands, which will improve charging performance in cold weather. The car will capture wasted heat from the drive motor and the on-board charger, and use it to help warm the battery to its ideal temperature for charging. In frigid conditions it can also use the car's heat pump, and a dedicated battery heater to further maintain battery temperatures.

Design easter eggs throughout the car pay homage to the brand’s name by incorporating “2-3” iconography in the form of stripes, which are meant to represent the kanji writing of two and three in Japanese, pronounced “ni” and “san.”

The new Leaf is built on a 75-kWh, liquid-cooled battery pack and packs a 214-horsepower electric motor. It will be offered in a wide variety of color options along with a slew of optional features like 19-inch wheels, dimming panoramic roof and 64-color ambient lighting. Built-in Google integrating Google Maps, Google Assistant and the Play Store into the Leaf is also an available option. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be standard on the Leaf S and S+. Nissan says a cheaper 52-kWh version with a 174-horsepower motor will become available at a later date.

This major redesign comes amid a turbulent last year for Nissan, culminating in its CEO stepping down after a failed merger with Honda. The automaker had previously gone through a downsizing last year as part of its mission to cut billions of dollars in costs.

The 2026 Nissan Leaf will hit showrooms this fall, though pricing has yet to be announced.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/nissan-unveils-the-third-generation-leaf-ev-145620303.html?src=rss

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Don’t throw all your popcorn at the screen, but A Minecraft Movie begins streaming exclusively on HBO Max (which used to be Max, which used to be HBO Max) on June 20. The big studio adaptation of the best-selling video game of all time was something of a surprise hit for those unfamiliar with the game’s mammoth audience.

Movie adaptations of video games can be really hit or miss. The Super Mario Bros. Movie set the box office record for the highest-grossing video game movie of all time and was a fun, if safe, movie. On the other end of that spectrum is Borderlands, which was a massive letdown and a box-office failure. With that spotty track record, we were pleasantly surprised when A Minecraft Movie turned out to be…pretty good, actually.

The movie stars Jack Black as Steve, the original player character from the video game, who ends up transported into the voxel world of Minecraft, while Jason Momoa stars as an egomaniacal former gaming superstar. The movie will also debut on the HBO linear cable channel on Saturday, June 21, at 8PM ET.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a-minecraft-movie-is-coming-exclusively-to-hbo-max-on-june-20-175859982.html?src=rss

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© Warner Bros. Pictures

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has announced that it will be splitting up into two separate media companies. The new structure will see one entity retain Warner Bros. film, television and game studios, along with New Line Cinema, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, while the other will hold the company’s full portfolio of live cable channels, which includes many household names like CNN, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Discovery, TCL and others.

In a shareholder deck, WBD refers to these two entities as “WBD Global Networks” and “WBD Streaming & Studios,” and highlights the strengths of each portfolio. The company points out that the newly minted entities would each produce healthy free cash flow and intends for each to be listed as publicly traded companies. This comes just three years after the original merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery.

David Zaslav, the current CEO and president of WBD, will serve as president and CEO of Streaming & Studios. Gunnar Wiedenfels, currently CFO of WBD, will serve as president and CEO of Global Networks. Both remain in their current roles until the separation is complete.

“The cultural significance of this great company and the impactful stories it has brought to life for more than a century have touched countless people all over the world. It’s a treasured legacy we will proudly continue in this next chapter of our celebrated history,” said Zaslav in a statement. “By operating as two distinct and optimized companies in the future, we are empowering these iconic brands with the sharper focus and strategic flexibility they need to compete most effectively in today’s evolving media landscape.”

In an investor presentation, WBD announced it will be taking a $17.5 billion loan from J.P. Morgan to assist in a cash tender and consent solicitation for all of its approximately$35.5 billion in outstanding bonds. This means it will be buying back some of the bonds while also asking bondholders to loosen their terms, and will offer cash incentives to those who agree to sell or restructure. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the majority of the total debt will be held by Global Networks, while “a not-insignificant portion” will remain with Streaming & Studios. The exact breakdown of the debt at each entity remains to be seen, pending the outcome of the companies' debt restructuring.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/warner-bros-discovery-will-split-into-two-media-giants-144553585.html?src=rss

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© Reuters / Reuters

Chinese propaganda and social engineering operations have been using ChatGPT to create posts, comments and drive engagement at home and abroad. OpenAI said it has recently disrupted four Chinese covert influence operations that were using its tool to generate social media posts and replies on platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Reddit and X.

The comments generated revolved around several topics from US politics to a Taiwanese video game where players fight the Chinese Communist Party. ChatGPT was used to create social media posts that both supported and decried different hot button issues to stir up misleading political discourse.

Ben Nimmo, principal investigator at OpenAI told NPR, "what we're seeing from China is a growing range of covert operations using a growing range of tactics." While OpenAI claimed it also disrupted a handful of operations it believes originated in Russia, Iran and North Korea, Nimmo elaborated on the Chinese operations saying they "targeted many different countries and topics [...] some of them combined elements of influence operations, social engineering, surveillance."

This is far from the first time this has occurred. In 2023, researchers from cybersecurity firm Mandiant found that AI-generated content has been used in politically motivated online influence campaigns in numerous instances since 2019.

In 2024, OpenAI published a blog post outlining its efforts to disrupt five state-affiliated operations across China, Iran and North Korea that were using OpenAI models for malicious intent. These applications included debugging code, generating scripts and creating content for use in phishing campaigns.

That same year, OpenAI said it disrupted an Iranian operation that was using ChatGPT to create longform political articles about US elections that were then posted on fake news sites posing as both conservative and progressive outlets. The operation was also creating comments to post on X and Instagram through fake accounts, again espousing opposing points of view.

"We didn't generally see these operations getting more engagement because of their use of AI," Nimmo told NPR. "For these operations, better tools don't necessarily mean better outcomes."

This offers little comfort. As generative AI gets cheaper and smarter, it stands to reason that its ability to generate content en masse will make influence campaigns like these easier and more affordable to build, even if their efficacy remains unchanged.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/foreign-propagandists-continue-using-chatgpt-in-influence-campaigns-161509862.html?src=rss

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© REUTERS / Reuters

Maybe you’ve camped out all night, or you’ve refreshed furiously at the risk of breaking your F5 key, but tomorrow you are finally getting your hands on the Nintendo Switch 2. After tearing it open and booting it up, you might quickly realize that the console’s functionality out of the box is basically non-existent. You have just purchased a very expensive paperweight.

This is all by design, as Nintendo wanted the console as locked down as possible in order to prevent leaks ahead of time. They didn’t even send review units to press ahead of launch this time around (it’s fine, I’m not bitter). Now that the Switch 2 is out in parts of the world where it’s already June 5, we’re getting our first look at the patch notes for the console’s day one update.

The Version 20.1.1 update for the Switch 2 basically turns the console on. The day one update enables support for Switch 1 games, virtual game cards, the Nintendo eShop and those Game-Key cards where the physical card you bought doesn’t actually contain the game, but allows you to download it. The patch notes themselves include some fairly important features like "use of Nintendo Switch Software" and "Nintendo Switch Online." You can read the full patch notes at nintendolife.

Users will be prompted to update their consoles during initial setup, so it should be a seamless experience. I won’t give them the clicks by linking here, but suffice to say seeing leakers and hackers get their hands on the console early only to realize they can’t do much of anything was strangely satisfying.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-day-one-update-for-the-switch-2-is-just-a-big-on-switch-175136898.html?src=rss

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© Nintendo

Stig Asmussen, the game industry veteran who directed God of War III and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Fallen Order, is developing a single-player action-adventure game set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons in partnership with publisher Wizards of the Coast.

This will be the first project for Asmussen's studio Giant Skull since its founding in late 2023. In a press release sent to Engadget, the studio shared it is "dedicated to building gameplay-driven, story-immersed action-adventure games." The new project will be built on the Unreal 5 engine and is currently in development for PC, with console details coming at a later date. No specific release dates, renderings or game content has been shared as of yet, making it unlikely this game will be out before 2026.

John Hight, president of Wizards of the Coast (the owners of the iconic tabletop RPG), said "Stig and the team at Giant Skull are exactly the type of exceptionally talented creators we want to work with and I’m so happy to be reuniting with him on this new project.” Stig Asmussen shared that the studio's goal is to "craft a rich new Dungeons & Dragons universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace."

This new project comes as Wizards of the Coast moves on from its deal with developer Larian Studios, the team behind the widely-acclaimed Baldur's Gate 3. The Hasbro-owned publisher has a slew of games in the pipeline in partnership with various game studios in the United States and Canada. These include the sci-fi RPG Exodus, which is being developed by Archetype Entertainment, and Atomic Arcade’s Snake Eyes, which is based on the G.I. Joe.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/a-single-player-dungeons-dragons-game-is-in-development-172635380.html?src=rss

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© Wizards of the Coast

TCL's QM7K is a great value that blurs the line between flagship and mid-range.