Threads users have complained about its recommendation algorithm since the dawn of time 2023. Users even started writing posts addressed to the algorithm, specifying the topics they wanted to see more of. Now, thats part of the system: Users can write a post that begins with dear algo to adjust their preferences, officially.For example, you could write: Dear algo, show me more posts about sous vide recipes. You can also ask to see fewer posts about topics you dont want to see, like Dear algo, stop showing me posts about air fryers. You can even retweet other users dear algo posts to have those topics reflected in your feed. Dear algo posts will work for Threads users in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, with more countries coming soon. Mat SmithThe biggest stories in tech you might have missed.The first Control Resonant gameplay trailer shows a sideways NYC Apples Siri relaunch is reportedly behind schedule The next Metal Gear Solid remaster collection arrives this summerElon Musks latest scheme is a satellite catapult on the MoonI think thats a Drag Race song.With a bigger focus on the Moon, Elon Musk is making some wild new plans. According to audio heard by The New York Times, Musk said xAI needed to build an AI satellite factory on the Moon with a gigantic catapult to launch the satellites into space. Sometimes you just want to be the Bond villain.You have to go to the Moon to build the required AI capabilities, Musk told employees. Its difficult to imagine what an intelligence of that scale would think about, but its going to be incredibly exciting to see it happen. Such a catapult would certainly need to be powerful though the Moon has only one-sixth Earths gravity, the minimum escape velocity required for orbit is still around 3,800 mph, or five times the speed of sound. Thats currently possible with electromagnetic railguns, but the satellites would have to withstand that force.Continue reading.Pokémon Pokopia is cosy AFStardew Valley + Animal Crossing X Pokémon.TMANintendoIn a bid to distract from a lot of things, Nintendos new Pokémon game is a gently paced game where, instead of playing as a generic trainer, you take control of a sole Ditto. As a Ditto, you can transform into other Pokémon, though the process is sort of incomplete, meaning you can only learn one skill from the monsters you befriend. Instead of using tools, you can transform into other Pokémon (like Lapras or Dragonite) to use their abilities to traverse obstacles or shape the world around you.Continue reading.Sony WF-1000XM6 headphones reviewFacing tougher competition.TMAEngadgetSony unveiled the latest entry in its best wireless earbud series, the WF-1000XM6, featuring yet another redesign, both inside and out. Once again, strong features and audio performance remain, but competition from all sides is tougher than ever. As Billy Steele explains in his review, if you want the strongest active noise cancellation, that will be Boses QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. If the best sound quality is your goal, the Technics AZ100 is your best bet in this price range. Ill also mention Sennheisers Momentum True Wireless 4, which offers great sound quality, respectable ANC and a comfier fit than the M6. The WF-1000XM6 is available now for $330.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-meta-turned-threads-algorithm-complaints-into-an-official-feature-121500663.html?src=rss
There's a new AAA John Wick game coming with Keanu Reaves portraying the main character both in voice and likeness, Lionsgate and Saber Interactive announced. Currently untitled, it's in development for PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC, and will be a single-player third-person experience designed for "mature" audiences. So far, there's no release date.
"The new single-player third-person action game will combine John Wicks unparalleled, adrenaline-fueled 'gun-fu' fighting style with Sabers proven reputation for creating thrilling gaming experiences that leave players craving more," the companies said in an announcement post. They added that franchise director Chad Stahelski and star Keanu Reeves are both involved in the games production, with Reeves reprising his character's look, voice and more.
The story is original and "addresses a significant time in John Wick's life," according to the game's director Jesus Iglesias. It will include both familiar film characters and new ones created for the game. As for gameplay, it will offer "a hard-hitting gun-fu combat system, jaw-dropping camerawork, intense driving experiences, cinematic storytelling, and a bold range of atmospherically immersive environments," the team said.
Saber Interactive is the developer behind Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and is also developing the upcoming titles Jurassic Park: Survival and John Carpenter's Toxic Commando. It will be the first John Wick game since John Wick Hex, which came out in 2019 but was recently delisted. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/theres-a-new-john-wick-game-on-the-way-103900064.html?src=rss
Marvel Tkon: Fighting Souls was first announced last year as a tag fighting game feature superheroes including Captain America, Ms Marvel and Spider-Man, with a launch sometime in 2026. We expected more details to be revealed at Sony's State of Play yesterday and indeed they were. The game will arrive August 6 on PS5 and PC and include the Unbreakable X-Men's Storm, Magik, Wolverine, and Danger.
The trailer teases each character's fighting style, with Magik and Wolverine using a more in-your-face melee fighting style. Storm and Danger, meanwhile, offer more diverse attack abilities, with Storm manipulating wind and lightning and Magik deploying sorcery skills. We also saw a team-based finisher attack with all four characters joining forces to unleash a flurry of attacks. The trailer also revealed that Marvel Tkon: Fighting Souls will offer an Episode Mode with a "new form of storytelling adapted for a modern video game format" that marries Manga with American comics.
MARVEL Tkon: Fighting Souls launches on August 6, 2026 for PS5 and PC. Pre-orders open February 19, 2026 at the PlayStation Store and PC storefronts. It will be sold in three versions: the $60 Standard Edition, $85 Digital Deluxe Edition (includes the full game, all pre-order incentives, a Year 1 Characters and Stage Pass) and Howard the Duck and Cosmo. Finally, the $100 Ultimate Edition includes all the preceding, plus costumes for Storm, Captain America, Doctor Doom, Iron Man, and Spider-Man, along with an Animated Chromatic color unlock for all 20 launch characters. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/marvel-tokon-fighting-souls-lands-on-ps5-and-pc-august-6-with-x-men-in-tow-095235773.html?src=rss
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be available on PC starting on March 19, Kojima Productions has announced at State of Play. The studio worked with Dutch video game developer Nixxes Software, which Sony acquired in 2021 to help bring PlayStation games to PCs. The sequel to the first Death Stranding is set in Australia almost a year after the events of the original game. It still features a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by strange creatures, and youll still control Sam Porter Bridges to connect survivors in the continent to the chiral network communications system. Kojima Production says the PC version of the game will come with a bunch of improvements, will work with NVIDIA, AMD and Intel Upscaler and FrameGen, and will have uncapped framerates. It will support 4K gaming and will come with support for ultrawide monitors with 21:9 aspect ratio, as well as for super ultrawidescreen monitors with 32:9 aspect ratio for PC. When it comes to audio, the PC version of the game supports 3D audio via Dolby Access and DTS Sound Unbound, as well as Windows Sonic for headphones. You can play using a mouse and a keyboard if you wish, but you can also play with a DualSense controller.Youll be able to pre-purchase Death Stranding 2: On the Beach starting today for $70 on Steam or Epic Games and receive extra in-game items. The Digital Deluxe edition, which comes with more in-game extras, will set you back $10 more. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/death-stranding-2-for-pc-arrives-on-march-19-095157946.html?src=rss
At Sony's State of Play yesterday, developer Nomada Studio revealed a DLC prequel to its gorgeous and award-winning puzzle platformer Neva. Entitled simply Neva: Prologue, it tells the story of how Alba and her wolf companion Neva met, while introducing new gameplay mechanics, locales and challenges.
"In Neva: Prologue, players follow Alba as she chases a trail of white butterflies deep into the corrupted swamps, only to discover a frightened wolf cub, lost and alone," Nomada writes. "To survive, Alba must earn the cubs trust and guide them both through the blighted wetlands and the dark forces that stalk them."
The developer adds that Neva: Prologue is designed to be experienced after completing the main game. It adds three new locations, "each featuring unique gameplay mechanics, alongside new enemies and intense boss encounters." Completionists will also get five hidden challenge flowers.
In her review of the original game, Engadget's Jessica Conditt found Neva "faultless" thanks to the exquisite swordplay and intuitive platforming action, along with the "stunning" world composed of "lush forests, sun-drenched valleys, soaring mountains and twisting cave systems." Neva: Prologue will released as a standalone DLC on February 19. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-neva-prequel-is-arriving-next-week-081239628.html?src=rss
Ring has canceled its partnership with Flock Safety, after receiving backlash for running a Super Bowl ad touting its Search Party feature. If youll recall, Ring revealed back in October 2025 that it was entering a partnership with the surveillance company, which would make it possible for law enforcement to ask smart doorbell owners for videos captured by their devices. In its announcement, the company said that the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated. The decision to call off the partnership was mutual, Ring added, and Flock Safetys integration was never launched. Apparently, no Ring customer footage was ever sent to Flock. Under the partnership, law enforcement agencies using Flock's Nova platform or FlockOS would have been able to use Rings Community Requests to ask for doorbell videos from users. They would have been asked to specify the location and timeframe of the incident, as well as provide a unique investigation code and the details about what is being investigated. Their requests would then be forwarded to relevant users, who could choose to share footage from their doorbell. Ring said the whole process would have been anonymous and optional. Ring was known to have shared security cam videos to law enforcement without a court order or the device owners consent at least 11 times in the past. In 2024, however, it seemed to have walked back its police-friendly stance and said that it would stop sharing videos with the police without a warrant. This alliance with Flock would have marked a return to police collaboration after the company distanced itself from law enforcement. Flock is known for its automatic license plate readers and for centralizing the information it collects into a database that police can search without a warrant. While law enforcement says the system can help them solve crimes like kidnapping. 404Media reported last year that ICE has been using the database, citing immigration-related reasons. While Rings official reason was that the Flock partnership would need more resources than expected, its worth noting that the company recently got flak for its Super Bowl Search Party ad. Ring touted it as a way to find lost dogs by using its cameras AI to identify pets running across their field of vision and then pooling feeds together to identify missing pets. While Search Party isnt new and was announced last year, the ad sparked concerns about surveillance and how the tech could be misused, leading users to disable the feature for their cameras altogether. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/ring-calls-off-partnership-with-police-surveillance-provider-flock-safety-031717605.html?src=rss
Barcelona was just named Europe's first Capital of Small Retail, crowning years of deliberate policy work.The city's small retail sector accounts for 13.2% of GDP and supports more than 152,000 jobs, with over 90% of ground-floor commercial premises occupied. But what earned Barcelona the designation isn't the size of its retail ecosystem so much as the depth of its strategy. The city runs over 40 interlocking initiatives spanning sustainability, digitalization, mobility and entrepreneurship.Among the most distinctive is Amunt Persianes ("Raise the Shutters"), through which the city council has invested EUR 17 million in purchasing empty ground-floor premises and offering them to local entrepreneurs at 30-50% below market rent. Rather than waiting for market forces to fill vacant storefronts, Barcelona is treating street-level retail space as public infrastructure. Italy's Silandro and Portugal's Caldas da Rainha also earned the EU-backed title, in the small and mid-sized city categories, respectively.TREND BITEThe European Capitals of Small Retail initiative formalizes a new urban strategy: treating small retail as a public good. For decades, small shops have been framed as casualties of progress: charming but doomed by e-commerce and big-box efficiency. Barcelona's approach flips that script, treating independent retail as essential civic infrastructure a generator of jobs, social cohesion and neighborhood identity that justifies active municipal investment.The playbook is practical: combine data-driven policymaking with direct intervention, embed sustainability into existing retail networks rather than bolting it on, and build public-private coalitions broad enough to survive political cycles. For businesses watching the slow hollowing-out of commercial streets in their own cities, the takeaway is that revitalization doesn't require a savior brand or a market upswing; it requires treating every shuttered storefront as a design problem with a policy solution.
During its State of Play livestream on Thursday, Sony revealed the first PlayStation Plus Game Catalog addition for February and it's a doozy. Marvels Spider-Man 2 (PS5) will finally websling its way onto the Game Catalog on February 17.
Marvels Spider-Man 2 was released in October 2023, and Insomniac's third Spidey game is the the best of the bunch. You can play as both Peter Parker and his protégé Miles Morales. Each Spidey has his own skill tree and moveset to master.
Traversing New York (with a lot more of it explorable than in previous entries) has never felt better thanks to the addition of the wingsuit, while the set pieces are frequently breathtaking. Marvels Spider-Man 2 remains one of the PS5s flagship games, and with Marvels Spider-Man: Remastered and Miles Morales already on the Game Catalog, Extra and Premium subscribers can now play the whole series while they wait for Insomniac's Wolverine game to arrive later this year.
Sony later revealed the full PS Plus Game Catalog lineup for February on the PlayStation Blog. It includes Neva (PS4 and PS5), a stunning 2D platformer that's pretty much an interactive fairytale. Engadgets Jessica Conditt opened her review of the game by saying she had "absolutely nothing negative to say" about it, which is surely about as effusive as a recommendation can get. (A paid expansion that acts as a prequel is on the way next week too.)
The other titles coming to the PS Plus Game Catalog on February 17 are:
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown (PS5)
Season: A Letter to the Future (PS4 and PS5)
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (PS4)
Monster Hunter Stories (PS4)
Venba (PS5)
Echoes of the End: Enhanced Edition (PS5)
Rugby 25 (PS4 and PS5)
PS Plus Premium members will have an extra game to play on PS4 and PS5 in the form of Disney Pixar Wall-E. This version was originally released in 2008 for the PlayStation 2.
Looking further ahead, Tekken Dark Resurrection will be available to Premium subscribers in March. Premium members will be able to play the original Time Crisis on their PS5 with gyro controls in May, which sounds fun. Also, Big Walk, a multiplayer game from Untitled Goose Game developer House House, will be available on all three PS Plus tiers when it debuts later this year.
Update February 12, 6:43PM ET: Added the full list of PS Plus Game Catalog titles for February.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps-plus-game-catalog-additions-for-february-include-marvels-spider-man-2-232459779.html?src=rss
Last year marked 20 years since God of War hit the PlayStation 2 and kicked off one of gaming biggest franchises. Now, at the tail end of that 20th anniversary celebration, Sonys Santa Monica Studio has announced two new project. First, and most significantly, the original God of War trilogy from the PS2 and PS3 is being remade for the modern era. Theres no footage of it yet the developer says that theyre very early in development, so we likely wont see or hear much about this for a while. But given renewed interest in God of War thanks to the excellent two Norse games from 2018 and 2022 (not to mention the upcoming Amazon series), it makes sense to revisit these classics. God of War and God of War II were released for Playstation 2 in 2005 and 2007, respectively, while the third of the Greek trilogy hit PlayStation 3 in 2010. The third game was also remastered for the PS4. But its safe to say that while the first two games are classics for their era, they also really show their age in some gameplay spots. Hopefully the remake will smooth out those rough edges. (Who else has nightmares in the Hades level near the end of the first game? Not just me, right?)While we wont see the remakes for a while, there is a new God of War-inspired game out right now: God of War Sons of Sparta. It was developed by Mega Cat Studios, a developer known for its love of retro games it even still releases games for the SNES and Genesis. Given their pedigree, its no surprise that Sons of Sparta has vibes of classic 2D action/platformer games. Its apparently canon for the series and takes place in Kratos youth while he trains with his brother. It obviously looks nothing like the other God of War games but the combat and monsters shown off in the trailer definitely feel right at home in the series. Perhaps the most fun part of all this is that its available today for $30. While Sons of Sparta looks like a fun curio for God of War fans, itll only go so far towards whetting our appetite for that remake series. Might I suggest binging some Valhalla in the meantime?This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/god-of-war-is-getting-a-remake-trilogy-and-a-new-retro-inspired-action-game-is-out-today-234056618.html?src=rss
Coming off the success of Slient Hill f, which moved the series psychological horror to the Japanese countryside, Konami, Annapurna Interactive and developer Screen Burn Interactive have chosen a foggy island as the setting for Silent Hill: Townfall.The first gameplay trailer for Townfall, introduced during Sonys latest State of Play, follows Simon Ordell, a man who keeps mysteriously waking up in the water off the coast of the empty island town of St. Amelia. In the trailer, Simon hides from monsters, peers at a portable television, swings a fire axe, and deals with the psychological turmoil typical of a Silent Hill protagonist, all in first person, one of the unique twists of this new game.Silent Hill: Townfall was originally announced alongside Silent Hill f and the remake of Silent Hill 2 in 2022. The game is developed by Screen Burn Interactive (formerly known as No Code), the creators of Observation and Stories Untold. Konami will share more details about Townfalls gameplay and story in an upcoming Silent Hill Transmission presentation later today.Silent Hill: Townfall is coming to PlayStation 5 in 2026.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/silent-hill-townfall-takes-the-series-trademark-fog-to-an-eerie-coastal-community-233324897.html?src=rss
