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Sony shouldn't have killed the Vita
The Vita is still a standout in a crowded handheld market. Why did Sony have to kill it?
Spotify’s problems are bigger than Joe Rogan
Spotify's lack of transparency is why the company’s current issues are much bigger than one massively popular creator.
‘The Falcon and Winter Soldier’ fails to pay off on its initial promise
Disney+ promised us Marvel shows that would tie into the movies but the finale of 'The Falcon and Winter Soldier' just sent us back to the beginning.
The short runtime of ‘WandaVision’ really is the best of both worlds
Each episode of 'WandaVision' may be short, but that works to its advantage.
Google's Pixel 5 may be boring, and that's not a bad thing
Plus, Google has proven time and again that through smart software optimization it can squeeze great performance out of lesser devices. Just one model that will come with a 6-inch OLED -- which is smack in the middle of the 6.3 inch screen of the Pixel 4 XL and the 5.8 inch screen on the Pixel 4A.
The forgotten dream of second-screen gaming
The original iPad came out on April 3rd, 2010, at a time when most smartphone manufacturers were making the awkward transition from full QWERTY keyboards to touchscreen-only devices. Apple sold 1 million iPads in that first month, and by the end of 2010, that figure had climbed to 15 million. That same year, the top video games were Fallout: New Vegas, Bayonetta, Red Dead Redemption, Super Meat Boy and StarCraft II. The alpha version of Minecraft was generating some slight buzz.
The comic industry would rather grind to a halt than go digital
Wednesday is usually New Comic Book Day but, with everyone on lockdown due to coronavirus, this week’s selection was a little light. The main distributor, Diamond, ceased shipments both to and from its warehouse — a seemingly logical move given that many stores are shuttered anyway. Less logical is that, unlike literally every other media industry, the product wasn’t simply released digitally to consumers stuck at home. Instead, the entire comics world has been on hold.
Is the NookPhone good or bad for your Animal Crossing island?
No, you're not hallucinating and this isn't a late April Fool's joke. That is in fact, the NookPhone from Animal Crossing: New Horizons at the top of this post. It's safe to say that the game has really taken off in the two weeks since its release. It's the perfect salve for our troubled era, and a great way to kill time when you're stuck at home.
How well did the Xperia 1’s super tall screen work for users?
When our reviewer Chris Velazco took a look at Sony's oddly proportioned flagship last summer, his reaction was mixed, to say the least. It looked weird, but was comfortable to hold. The 4K screen was beautiful, but unnecessary on a smartphone, especially one with such a small battery. Ultimately, Chris declared the phone impractical for everyday use.
'Picard' finally shows us how Star Trek’s technology evolves
This article contains spoilers for the first season of 'Star Trek: Picard' up to episode nine. Star Trek: Picard is the show I've been looking forward to for 17 years. Not because I was particularly interested in finding out what happened to Picard, Troi, Riker and the rest. (But don't get me wrong, it's nice to check in with old friends.) Instead, it's because we finally get to see what happens next in the Star Trek universe. We finally get to see it grow, both ideologically and technologically.
Apple's new Air could be the MacBook for everyone
It's been about a year and a half since Apple redesigned the aging MacBook Air. In a lot of ways, that model was a big step forward over its predecessor, with an upgraded display chief among the improvements. But it also came with its fair share of compromises, including a tempermental "butterfly" keyboard and an asking price that put it a little too close to the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro. But with today's update, Apple seems to have addressed just about every issue with its flagship consumer laptop -- including the price. After a few years where Apple made multiple mis-steps with both hardware and pricing, it's encouraging to see the company make more customer-friendly decisions.
'Half-Life: Alyx' is proof Valve answers to no one
Valve is like an eccentric billionaire uncle who isn't allowed to babysit any kids in the family. He lives alone in a mountaintop mansion stocked with exotic animals, vintage pinball machines, water slides and homemade potato guns, and strange sounds flow into the valley below at all hours of the night. He disappears for months at a time and returns with suitcases full of loose candy and unmarked pills. It's not that this uncle has ever hurt anyone or done anything illegal -- it's simply clear that really, he could do anything. Valve can do anything. It's unknown just how much money the studio pulls in each year, since it's a private entity and doesn't have to publicly disclose its finances, but estimates of its annual revenue begin at $4 billion. Valve founder Gabe Newell is personally worth $3.5 billion, according to Forbes. The company's main money fountain is Steam, which has been the top PC-gaming platform for more than a decade, with 1 billion registered accounts and an average of 90 million monthly active users.
Can you really get work done on a tiny laptop?
I have a dream. Or a delusion? I'm not sure. Either way, there is a gadget I have sought for many years and am yet to find: A pocket-sized laptop that I can get real work done on. In my case, "real work" is mostly writing, basic image editing and -- just to make things complicated -- fairly heavyweight music production.
The PlayStation 2 turns 20 and our readers have feelings
The PlayStation 2 came out in Japan 20 years ago today, with Sony selling 155 million units over a lifespan of almost 13 years. It's actually the best-selling console of all time, which means it's likely quite a few of you owned one and have strong feelings about it. Which is great, because the PS2 was released four years before Engadget even existed — we celebrated our 16th birthday this week — and we never gave Sony's second console generation the full review treatment. While you can check out my thoughts on the PlayStation 2 as a DVD player, for a deeper dive we're turning to the user reviews left on our PS2 product page. Between its long lifespan and impressive library of games, you had some interesting things to say.
My favorite PlayStation 2 game was DVDs
The PlayStation 2 was the first game console I ever bought. Heck, it was the first big ticket item I ever bought, period. That was a big deal at a time when I was only making $135 a week, and most of that cash was going toward college costs: tuition, textbooks and transportation. So I had to save up for months, while also finding a way to justify the high cost to myself (and my skeptical mother). The PS2 had one trump card in its deck, one thing that I could point at and say, "Look, it's not just a game machine, I didn't waste my money on such a single-use luxury!" It could play DVDs. It was in fact, my first DVD player.
How much would you pay for the fabled Nintendo PlayStation prototype?
You have until March 6th to try and nab a working Nintendo PlayStation prototype -- one of the rarest relics of lost gaming history -- and it'll only cost you a few hundred thousand dollars. The current high bid for this retro prototype at auction is $300,000 (plus a buyer's premium of $60,000), which, yeah, doesn't exactly sound like a steal. At one point, though, the Nintendo PlayStation commanded even bigger offers -- think a $350,000 top bid, which worked out to well over $400,000 with the buyer premium factored in. And even before this thing went to auction, an unknown party from Europe offered to pay owner Terry Diebold as much as $1.2 million for the prototype, though the money never actually changed hands.
As internet forums die off, finding community can be harder than ever
Before social networks took over the internet, message boards were perhaps the most essential way for people to come together online and talk about whatever was on their minds. Our discussion spaces have evolved dramatically, though -- message boards aren't as important as they used to be, thanks to the decade-long onslaught of Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and more. Many formerly prominent destinations are closing up shop, including the message board I called my online home for well over a decade.
We're all kinda fine with DRM now
Digital Rights Management. The phrase alone, or just its abbreviation, DRM, once had the power to spark scathing editorials and spawn furious debates in online forums worldwide. In the 2000s, major PC video game publishers began adding software to their discs that limited the number of times these games could be installed, tracking and verifying players in new, conspicuous ways. Variations of this system persisted throughout the early 2010s, when Microsoft attempted to release the Xbox One with built-in DRM checks. The response from fans was so vicious that Microsoft abandoned its strategy and rebuilt the Xbox One without DRM just months before its launch date. Fast forward to February 2020. NVIDIA launched GeForce Now, the first and only cloud gaming platform to operate on a "DRM-free" basis. When you buy a game via GeForce Now, you get to keep it, regardless of whether the service itself remains live -- a promise that its competitors, Google Stadia and Microsoft's xCloud, can't make. Yet, no one seems to care.
The Iowa app debacle is a bad omen for modernizing our elections
The American electoral system is a weird arcane thing. And primary politics even more so. Honestly, I could spend the next 2,000 words trying to explain the caucus process and, chances are, I'd still only be scratching the surface. So, I've got to hand it to the Iowa Democratic Party for managing to make things even more confusing with its half-baked attempt to bring modern technology into the process. It took the party nearly a week to certify the results and award Pete Buttigieg the most delegates. It's worth noting that most news outlets, including the Associated Press, which usually verifies election results, have so far refused to declare a winner. And now Bernie Sanders' campaign is asking that some precincts be re-canvassed. It's been over a week and this thing shows no signs of ending. How did we get here? Well, like so many tragedies, this is a story of good intentions gone awry.
Recommended Reading: The lasting effect of the Iowa Caucuses
Iowa might have screwed up the whole nomination process Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight By now you probably know the story. The Iowa Democratic Party decided to use an app to report results from its caucuses this week. These events were the first primary-type votes cast in the 2020 Democratic presidential race, and would've set the tone for New Hampshire and the states to follow. Except the app failed, phone lines were jammed and it took the better part of the week for the full numbers to come out. So just how badly didn't Iowa screw up the whole process? FiveThrityEight's Nate Silver explains the candidate(s) who "won" didn't get the massive bump they would have and the field is still way too crowded.
