The hits keep coming in Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s first trailer
The first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day is finally here, and it looks like Marvel and Sony are about to put Peter Parker through a different kind of existential crisis.
Though nobody in Brand New Day's trailer knows who Peter (Tom Holland) is or that he's the one saving people as Spider-Man, he still has vivid memories from the past when he was still close with MJ Watson (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon). Peter seems to have made peace with his "new" life as a secret crimefighter butting heads with villains and other New York vigilante fixtures like the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). But with Aunt May dead and all memory of him eras …
The great EV pullback: all the obstacles, cancellations, and delays
The auto industry bet big on electric vehicles, but now those ambitious goals are falling apart. Demand was already slowing down when Donald Trump took office and took an ax to pro-EV policy: the elimination of the federal EV tax credit, kneecapping clean energy, and bulldozing emissions rules. Tariffs have been taking their toll as well. And now US and European automakers are taking a bath on its EV investments, forcing them to readjust their model lineup. Hybrids are the new bet, and the EV future looks further away than ever — at least for the US. China continues to outpace the rest of the world in EV development, and stands poised to win that future.
Follow along below for all the latest updates about the EV industry.
- Two more EVs for the trash heap: Volvo EX30 and Honda Prologue
- Honda cancels Zero Series EVs, citing ‘extremely challenging’ situation
- Stellantis is in a crisis of its own making
- America is at risk of becoming an automotive backwater
- Trump’s new ‘Buy American’ requirement for EV charging would dramatically curtail build-out
- Stellantis takes a $26 billion hit on EVs.
- So much for the Chevy Bolt.
- Ford’s big bet on EVs didn’t pan out — now it’s pivoting to hybrids and energy storage
- Trump embraces gas guzzlers and air pollution by weakening fuel economy standards
- GM to end production of electric Chevy Brightdrop vans
- The EV tax credit is gone — now the hard part begins
- Honda cancels Acura ZDX in latest casualty of EV pullback
- Stellantis cancels Ram 1500 REV as electric truck demand dims
- The great EV pullback has begun
- Ford lost $5 billion on EVs in 2024, teases new models
- Volkswagen cancels ID.7 sedan for US
- Hertz is asking EV renters if they want to keep it, permanently
- Ford cancels its electric three-row SUV and delays futuristic electric truck
- Hertz is selling 20,000 EVs so it can buy more gas guzzlers
Nvidia has lost the plot with gamers
Nvidia surely thought it was doing a good thing for gamers by "upgrading" the faces of our favorite video game characters. But that just shows how much the company has lost the plot.
Nvidia could've marketed its new DLSS 5 real-time lighting technology as a way to make future, next-gen games look better. Instead, it told the world that games people already know and love look bad. It focused on retconning characters' faces. And now, confronted with the predictable backlash, Nvidia's CEO is telling critics that we're "completely wrong."
Regardless of how it works, the tech presents as an AI filter that tries to optimize everyone and everythi …
DLSS 5: Has Nvidia’s AI graphics technology gone too far?
Nvidia has revealed a new “3D guided neural rendering model” called DLSS 5 that can change a game’s lighting and materials in real-time, and… many gamers aren’t happy. From DLSS 5 memes to complaints about how it’s “yassified” Resident Evil Requiem characters in demos, the first impression has not been a good one, no matter how much Nvidia insists that this pursuit of photorealism is still honoring the original artists’ intent.
Follow along below for all the latest updates about Nvidia’s DLSS 5 upgrades.
- Nvidia has lost the plot with gamers
- Jensen Huang, on the critical reaction to DLSS 5: “Well, first of all, they’re completely wrong.”
- Nvidia’s DLSS 5 is like motion smoothing for video games, but worse
- DLSS 5 looks like a real-time generative AI filter for video games
- Nvidia just announced DLSS 5 and Digital Foundry already has a video.
BMW brings back the i3 as a funky four-door EV
BMW's new class of EVs begins with the iX3 SUV, but you had to know it wouldn't end there. The company's engineers didn't spend all that time working up a completely redesigned and substantially more efficient EV platform just for one crossover, and now it's time for the second wave.
Meet the new i3, which takes the same basic motor, battery, and electronics package that powers the iX3, plus the Neue Klasse's controversial styling cues, and applies it to a more familiar sedan shape, the sort of silhouette that BMW's reputation was largely built upon.
It definitely looks a lot like the iX3, but with a slightly different intent. Sebastian K …
I went to the Pentagon to watch Pete Hegseth scold war reporters
It is day 13 of America's surprise war with Iran - by sheer coincidence, it's Friday the 13th - and I am delirious. I haven't had a coffee since I woke up at 5AM, because I'm not allowed to bring outside beverages into the Pentagon (the security screening cutoff was at 7AM for the 8AM), and ever since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth changed the rules last year, journalists are not allowed to go anywhere in the building without an escort, especially to wherever coffee is available. Also, I am struggling to comprehend why I, a reporter who has never covered a war, was assigned to sit in one of the good seats in the briefing room, watching Hegse …
The Beats Studio Pro are nearly $200 off ahead of Amazon’s big spring sale
Earlier this week, Apple unveiled the AirPods Max 2. The forthcoming over-ear headphones build on their predecessor with an H2 chip that powers a range of new features; however, they still don’t offer the sort of cross-OS compatibility you’ll get with a modern pair of Beats headphones — including the Beats Studio Pro, which are on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for an all-time low of around $169.95 ($180 off) in the run-up to Amazon’s annual Big Spring Sale.
Beats Studio Pro
Where to Buy:
Although they’re undoubtedly getting a little long in the tooth — the Beats design hasn’t fundamentally changed since 2017 — the Beats Studio Pro remain a solid pair of platform-agnostic headphones, particularly at this price. They offer one-touch pairing with both iOS and Android devices, along with support for Apple’s Find My and Google’s Find Hub networks, allowing you to locate them a little easier should you ever misplace them. Apple users get hands-free Siri access and support for head-tracking spatial audio, while Android folks get an AirPods-like audio switching trick that lets you effortlessly jump between different Android devices (phones, Chromebooks, etc.).
As far as sound quality is concerned, the Studio Pro aren’t going to rival that of newer options like Bose’s latest QuietComfort Ultra or Sony’s WH-1000XM6 (or even the last-gen XM5, for that matter). Their custom 40mm drivers don’t deliver anything exceptional, but their signature is balanced and decent enough, even if it sheds some of the low-end oomph for which Beats was once known. Plus, they offer an excellent transparency mode for piping outside noise and support lossless playback over USB-C, letting you leverage 24-bit / 48kHz audio from compatible platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Now, if only USB-C playback didn’t disable all access to their noise cancellation and transparency modes when active.
Read our full Beats Studio Pro review.
Remedy’s live-service shooter Firebreak is getting its final major update
Remedy is winding down its team shooter FBC: Firebreak with a big update that launches today. But while the game won't be getting any new content going forward, the studio intends to keep it alive for the foreseeable future. It's yet another example of a live-service game struggling amidst a volatile market.
The new update is called "Open House," and it includes a handful of new areas pulled from Control (Firebreak is a spinoff that takes place in the Control universe), along with what Remedy describes as "gameplay improvements and balance changes aimed at making combat clearer, smoother, and more flexible." You can check out Steam for the …
Spotify adds ‘Exclusive Mode’ audiophile feature for Windows PCs
Starting Tuesday, Spotify users will have access to "Exclusive Mode," a new feature in the streaming service's Windows app that can help maximize audio quality by giving the Spotify app full control over your device's audio processing. According to Spotify, "your computer may alter audio before it reaches your DAC by resampling it, mixing other system sounds in, and changing the volume." Turning on Exclusive Mode prevents this, which Spotify says allows for "Bit Perfect playback."
Exclusive Mode is currently only available to Spotify Premium users on Windows, but Spotify says it will also be coming to the Mac app "in a future release." To …
Ikea tried to build a smart home for everyone — here’s why it’s not working yet
Ikea's new Matter-over-Thread products were supposed to prove that the smart home could be cheap, accessible, and reliable. The highly anticipated line - which includes sensors, remotes, smart plugs, air-quality monitors, and smart bulbs - has most everything you need to build a smart home, with prices starting at $6. It's an exciting idea, but it's still not ready for primetime.
When I first got the Ikea devices in January, I had a lot of problems connecting them to my main platform, Apple Home. And it turned out I was not alone. Reddit forums and user reviews were full of reports of onboarding and connectivity issues. Many people were str …