Valve is still figuring out ‘how and when’ to do Steam Deck 2
Now that Valve has finally launched its entire 2026 hardware lineup - the Steam Controller, the Steam Machine, and today's Steam Frame - are we any closer to a next-gen Steam Deck handheld? Valve isn't saying so yet. The company is figuring out "how and when we can deliver something like that," Valve designer Pierre-Loup Griffais now tells IGN.
Valve has been clear for years that 1) a Steam Deck 2 will indeed happen, and 2) it's not coming until Valve finds the right chip. The original Steam Deck worked because it delivered the right combination of price, performance, and battery life, and Valve has repeatedly said it won't sacrifice effici …
Is Big Tech’s AI slowdown a safety pact or a cartel?
When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis, and SpaceX head Elon Musk loosely agreed over the weekend to slow down AI development, skeptics spotted an ulterior motive immediately. The AI titans had declared that their aim was to "pace the frontier," signing on at least partially to a proposal for embedding third-party auditors, regulating domestic labs, and reaching a global slowdown agreement. Their critics, however, argued they simply wanted to stop would-be competitors, kneecap the open-source movement, and avoid real legal safeguards - some dubbed it an outright "cartel."
The truth …
Apple Home’s new security camera features cost as much as $60 a month
With the public release of iOS 27 and tvOS 27, Apple Home is getting an injection of Apple Intelligence - but you'll have to pay more for it.
Apple Intelligence for Home brings AI-powered video summaries to HomeKit Secure Video, so you can get short text descriptions of who and what compatible security cameras saw, along with the clip. It also adds a new video search feature and the ability to stitch footage from multiple cameras into one clip, making it easier to keep an eye on what's happening around your home without scrolling through footage.
But to get these features, you'll need to pay $9.99 a month for the 2TB iCloud Plus plan (or $ …
What execs and politicians are saying about slowing down AI development
Dario Amodei kicked off a flood of statements over the past few days about AI safety by publishing a long essay titled "We Must Pace the Frontier" detailing why AI development should be slowed down. Other AI leaders and politicians are speaking out in favor of or opposing his points, and we've compiled some of them here.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
Amodei's Saturday morning essay outlined three steps for pacing AI development: embedded third-party evaluators that can verify if a company is adhering to safety practices and commitments and report incidents, coordination between frontier AI companies in democratic countries on standards and li …
Trump throws out power plant climate pollution rules
The Environmental Protection Agency announced its plans today to kill any remaining standards on how much greenhouse gas pollution power plants are allowed to emit in the US. The move will only make electricity dirtier as AI, electric vehicles, and a revival of domestic manufacturing drive up power demand.
The EPA's proposal today is a major escalation of President Donald Trump's efforts to promote fossil fuels while making it easier to build out energy-hungry data centers. Environmental and consumer advocates, meanwhile, are fighting back - arguing that Trump's deregulation spree comes with higher costs for the environment, public health, …
Jensen Huang puts Trump on speakerphone onstage to announce robots won’t take over the world
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took a call from President Trump on Monday while onstage at the All-In Podcast's All-In Summit. It's not the first time Huang has taken a call from the president during work, but this time he put Trump on speakerphone before a big crowd.
During the call, the president launched into his take on recent fears about AI development, which he called a "hoax," and told the crowd that "the robots will not be taking over."
It's already a frothy week for AI news. The call with the president followed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's long essay published this weekend titled "We Must Pace the Frontier" where he argued for slowing …
Valve’s virtual reality plans hit actual reality
The Steam Frame headset is here, and it may not surprise you: it was supposed to cost less than $1,059. "We set out to come out with a device that would have been far more affordable, but the global RAM market, the global storage market have impacted us the same way they've impacted everybody," Valve developer Jeremy Selan told the BBC. "We fought hard to get it even to this price."
I haven't yet seen Valve say whether it's selling the Steam Frame at cost, like the company confirmed it was doing with the $1,049 Steam Machine living room PC. But Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais hinted maybe so in an interview with Tom's Hardware: "there' …
The best deals from Nintendo’s ‘customer appreciation’ sale
As promised, Nintendo has marked down a wide variety of Switch games and accessories at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, as well as its own digital storefront. Its “Customer Appreciation” sale is happening because of tariff-related refunds it received from the US government, and it ends on September 26th at 8:59 PM PT.
Nintendo games and accessories tend to stick close to their list price, so it’s nice to have some big discounts, especially this far ahead of the holiday season. Some of the company’s best titles for the original Switch are significantly marked down, with a few Switch 2 titles thrown in, too. The most notable inclusions include the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe digital bundle with the Booster Course pass for just under $60 (Amazon, Nintendo), The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for $49 (Amazon, Nintendo, Best Buy), and Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the DLC for $60 (Nintendo). The Switch 2 Editions aren’t currently discounted, but upgrade packs are fairly affordable, costing $9.99 for the Tears of the Kingdom (Amazon) or $4.99 for Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Amazon).
We’ve gathered some more of our favorite picks down below, and Nintendo has a dedicated page for all of the discounts.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Physical)
Tears of the Kingdom is the latest mainline installment in the Zelda franchise. The storyline and gameplay are similar to Breath of the Wild’s, but enough has changed to make Link’s return to Hyrule plenty special. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Physical)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a popular kart racing game packed with plenty of courses and characters, as well as 48 new tracks if you opt for the paid DLC.
Where to Buy:
Nintendo Alarmo
The Alarmo takes dozens of characters and scenes from classic Nintendo franchises and places them in a charming alarm clock that’s designed to help you sleep and wake. It uses motion sensors to detect whether you’re still in bed and gets more aggressive the longer you sleep in.
Where to Buy:
Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
The Switch Pro released alongside the Switch console in 2017, and it’s a tough controller to beat. It offers an unmatched set of features (HD rumble, motion controls, NFC), and it’s one of the most comfortable Switch controllers out there.
Where to Buy:
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Physical)
Metroid Prime 4 is still a first-person adventure game like prior entries in the series, but this time around, bounty hunter Samus Aran is armed with a motorcycle and a slate of psychic powers. Not all of the new gameplay elements work, but Beyond is a fitting follow-up to what came before, with a lore-heavy story, great combat, and plenty of eerie exploration.
Where to Buy:
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Digital)
Explore the mysteries of an abandoned civilization in this 3D platformer for the Nintendo Switch. It’s still a Kirby game, with a delightful tone that had us smiling the whole way through. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Super Mario Odyssey (Physical)
Super Mario Odyssey is one of the crowning achievements of the original Switch thanks to its tight platforming, ingenious level design and a game mechanic that lets you control certain enemies and parts of the environment. There are still bosses to battle and coins to collect, but Odyssey feels like a breath of fresh air.
Where to Buy:
Splatoon 3 (Physical/Digital)
Splatoon 3 is proof that Nintendo isn’t done showing off its take on an online shooter—with paint instead of bullets, of course. The game looks great, and has a single player mode that fills out the series’ lore through scrapbook pages you find while navigating and shooting your way through each level. Online multiplayer remains Splatoon’s 3’s big draw, so be prepared to square off against fellow squid kids. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
TIFF 2026: The latest movie reviews from Toronto
If you want an idea of what’s next in film, the Toronto International Film Festival is a good place to start. Every year TIFF features a huge range of features from around the world, and often some of them go on to be huge hits or awards contenders; the 2025 edition, for instance, included the likes of both Hamnet and Obsession.
Covering a sprawling festival like TIFF solo is next to impossible, so I do my best to see as much as I can, and then write about everything with bite-sized reviews published each day. For 2026, that means exciting upcoming films like Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, and a gigantic Elon Musk documentary, and even a few streaming series, like Crystal Lake and Carrie.
You can keep up with my thoughts on everything I watch right here.
macOS 27 is available now
Apple released macOS 27 Golden Gate on Monday, which brings the new Siri AI assistant, Liquid Glass improvements, improved performance, and more. The update is compatible with all Macs with Apple Silicon, but not Intel Macs - Apple released its final big update for Intel-based Macs last year with macOS Tahoe.
Siri AI is arguably the biggest feature in macOS 27, and it allows you to ask questions, search through things involving your personal context like photos and emails, and take actions in apps such as Messages and Reminders. There's a new dedicated Siri app that keeps an archive of your chats for easier reference. However, Siri AI will …