One day after Montana Governor signed the first statewide ban on TikTok into law, the measure is already facing a legal challenge. Five TikTok creators are suing in an effort to block the ban from taking effect.In court filings, lawyers representing the TikTok creators say the ban is unconstitutional and that it violates their First Amendment rights. They also take issue with Montanas supposed national security justification for the ban. Montana has no authority to enact laws advancing what it believes should be the United States foreign policy or its national security interests, nor may Montana ban an entire forum for communication based on its perceptions that some speech shared through that forum, though protected by the First Amendment, is dangerous, the suit states. Montana can no more ban its residents from viewing or posting to TikTok than it could ban the Wall Street Journal because of who owns it or the ideas it publishes.In an interview on Fox News, Montanas Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, said that legal challenges to the ban were expected. There are some important issues here that I do think we probably need the federal courts to step in and answer for us here, he said. And that was part of our calculus in bringing this.The lawsuit is among the first legal challenges to the law, and will likely be closely watched as federal officials consider a nationwide ban on the app. Right now, the Montana ban is set to take effect January 1, 2024, though lawsuits challenging it could delay that timeline. TikTok itself hasnt commented on whether its planning to bring its own litigation in Montana, but said in a statement following the bills signing that it planned to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-creators-sue-montana-over-statewide-ban-of-the-app-225725851.html?src=rss
Sony may be having some problems with PlayStation Plus games today. Commenters in forum posts on Reddit, ResetEra and NeoGAF report various users being alerted to an alert, reading, The game will expire in 15 minutes, and then booting them to the PlayStation home screen. Engadgets Kris Holt also ran into the issue Wednesday evening while playing Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.Users experiencing the glitch say it appears to happen with any game in the PS Plus catalog. Fortunately, you can apparently return to the game from the home screen and quickly continue playing. However, the cycle seems to repeat in regular 15-minute (and possibly other) increments.It isnt yet clear how widespread the issue is. (Some users in the Reddit post claim theyre playing PS Plus games without problems.) Additionally, the bug doesnt have any known fixes. PlayStation hasnt yet acknowledged the issue publicly; Engadget has reached out to ask for a comment, and we will update this article if or when we hear back.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/playstation-plus-bug-warns-that-games-will-expire-in-15-minutes-205015372.html?src=rss
Hulu has a bit of "good news" for Futurama fans. The streaming provider announced on Twitter today that Bender and the gang (yes, John DiMaggio will be reprising his role as Bender) will return for season eight on July 24th. After the eighth seasons announcement in early 2022, DiMaggio said in a tweet that he would not be returning to the show after a pay disagreement with Disney and Hulu, though he quickly changed course. Series creator Matt Groening and producer David X. Cohen are returning to lead Futurama once again.As reported by Variety, the eighth season will consist of two parts, with an initial run of 10 episodes. The new season airs on Mondays, on a weekly basis on Hulu. Notably, this is the second time (or fourth time, depending on whos asking) the show has been brought back, and the first time the show will be airing first on a streaming platform. Hulu did not announce an air date for part two, which will include an additional 10 episodes.Futurama originally debuted in 1999, with the first four seasons airing on Fox. The show then had a new home on Comedy Central, which aired seasons six and seven, which ended in 2013. The so-called "fifth season", which was also under Comedy Central, was a series of four movies that were eventually split into short-length episodes. Now, after being canceled and renewed several times by several cable networks, the next season lives on in the streaming world nearly 10 years after the last season had aired.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/futurama-returns-july-24th-as-a-hulu-original-after-a-10-year-hiatus-203316031.html?src=rss
Apple added a multiview feature today for watching live sports on the Apple TV 4K. You can now watch up to four live streams of Major League Soccer matches, Friday Night Baseball games and the studio shows MLS 360 and MLB Big Inning. Previously, multiview options for Apples set-top box were limited to third-party services like FuboTV, YouTube TV and March Madness streams.After choosing a compatible match, other available live games will appear at the bottom of the screen in the Apple TV app. There, you can customize whether to watch one stream prominently (with others tiled in smaller windows to the right) or two to four matches in split-screen (of equal sizes). In addition, it lets you choose which audio to hear, including home radio broadcasts for MLS and home or away feeds for Friday Night Baseball. Finally, you can switch to full-screen mode with one click if a stream demands your total attention.MLS Season Pass, which has no obnoxious blackouts, requires a $15 / mo. (or $99 / season) subscription to watch and use multiview. (Apple TV+ subscribers pay a bit less at $13 / mo. or $79 / season.) Additionally, Apple offers a one-month trial for new and returning subscribers until the end of October. Meanwhile, Friday Night Baseball is available to all Apple TV+ subscribers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-tv-adds-multiview-for-live-sports-192952130.html?src=rss
If you want to lose a lot of money, become an automaker. Cars are incredibly difficult to build and scaling manufacturing is nearly impossible. It took Tesla years to get the Model 3 to market after bringing the Model S and Model X to the road. So Vietnam's VinFast decision to become an EV automaker after it spent a few years building vehicles based on BMW's platform is sort of insane. And yet, this week we had the opportunity to drive the VF 8, the first VinFast EV to land in the United States.Driving the VF 8 in San Diego was a stark reminder of the difficulty of building a vehicle. While we were impressed with what the company has done, we also have to report that the VF 8 electric SUV needs work if it's going to truly compete with the rest of the US EV market.Oddly, VinFast had us drive the lease-only California edition that's actually only available in the Golden State. It has a shorter range than its competitors and the standard version of the vehicle that's hitting US shores right now.Overall though, we found the car needs a few more months of tweaks (most of which are software) to battle it out in the increasingly competitive mid-size electric SUV market. But don't count them out: VinFast has the foundation to be a major player sooner than you think. Watch our first drive video below for the full story.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vinfasts-first-ev-is-almost-ready-for-the-world-190049624.html?src=rss
Horror collection Layers of Fearalready had a concrete release date of June 15th for many platforms, but now the day one launch also includes Apple Mac computers. This is only for recently-released models with Apple-manufactured silicon chips, but its certainly a feather in the companys cap, as Apple has been busy trying to further its gaming ambitions.The collection includes full remakes of the original Layers of Fear and Layers of Fear 2, including DLC for both titles and an original chapter made just for this release. These remakes arent simple upscales, as each title was recreated in Unreal Engine 5 and include all manner of modern graphical touches, though its still unknown if the Mac version will handle advanced techniques like ray-tracing. Developer Bloober Team has stated that it made full use of Apples proprietary Metal 3 upscaling tech.Apple silicon has transformed gaming on Mac delivering incredible graphics performance, new capabilities, along with extraordinary battery life, said Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno.In addition to the Mac platform, Layers of Fear is launching on PC via Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. In other words, itll be playable on just about everything but a Switch. Bloober Team is also porting former Xbox-exclusive The Medium to Apple Macs later this summer. The number of available modern titles on Apple computers is still paltry compared to other platforms, but silicon Macs have gotten some recent high-profile releases like Resident Evil Village. Some games, like Grid Legends and No Mans Sky, have been announced for the platform but have yet to materialize.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/layers-of-fear-remake-is-launching-on-day-one-for-mac-184727990.html?src=rss
Nike and connected fitness subscription platform Strava are partnering up to simplify the act of transferring activity data from one service to the other. In the past, it was fairly complicated to send Nike+ data to the Strava platform.Sending activity data from the Nike Run Club and Nike Training Club apps to Strava allows athletes a new way to track their workouts and connect with the overall community. This move gives Nike+ users access to more than 750,000 connected clubs and 100 million fitness enthusiasts that exist within Strava.In addition to easing the frustration of sharing data, the partnership also allows Nike to create and post curated content on Strava via Nike-branded clubs. The company says this content will feature world-class coaches and athletes. Another reason Strava is so popular is its robust selection of outdoor maps, powered by adventure platform FATMAP. When the integrated service launches later in the summer, Nike+ users will also have access to these 3D fly-through maps.Nike plans on hosting curated challenges on Strava later in the summer. The company says these hosted contests will inspire connection and engagement around a shared goal and indicates that they will feature unlockable rewards.Strava is using this partnership as a springboard to place a renewed emphasis on the apps community-based clubs and groups. It says this is just the first step toward enabling deeper and richer community interactions. These future updates include a new interface and an easier method to integrate videos, routes and various activities. Recently, the app even got heavily-requested Spotify controls.The fruits of this partnership will begin to show up on the Strava app throughout the summer. Strava has also announced some new features that extend beyond Nike+ integration, such as live mountainside sun and snow tracking, avalanche risk profiles for skiers and more.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nike-and-strava-partner-up-for-curated-workouts-and-original-content-183019760.html?src=rss
OpenAI has launched a free ChatGPT app for iOS. Its the first official smartphone app for the viral language model, joining a crowded field of third-party mobile AI software vying for your attention many of which tap into the GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 APIs powering ChatGPT. Its only available in the US for now, but the company says it will expand to additional countries in the coming weeks.Feature-wise, OpenAIs app looks and behaves much like the ChatGPT website with the addition of voice input using OpenAIs Whisper speech recognition. It also allows switching between standard and GPT-4 language models for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, as well as conversation history (synced from the desktop if you sign in with the same account) and the ability to export data and delete or rename conversations. However, the companys recently launched plugins, including live web access, are absent.OpenAI suggests Android users wont be left in the dark for long, as the company promises, Youre next! In addition, the App Store version is currently made for iPhone only, so iPad users need to either stick with the ChatGPT website or use the iOS app awkwardly upscaled to tablet size.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/chatgpt-now-has-an-official-iphone-app-181454446.html?src=rss
Apple has one more batch of major OS updates in store ahead of WWDC. The company has released iOS 16.5, iPadOS 16.5 and macOS 13.4 updates that all have an Apple News section dedicated to sports. You can keep up with rankings, scores and stories without having to wade through other articles. There are likewise score and schedule cards in News that jump directly to pages for particular games.Apple TV 4K users, meanwhile, get a Multiview feature that shows up to four sports streams at once in the TV app. That includes Friday Night Baseball games as well as MLS Season Pass matches, but we wouldn't count on third-party service support.Other improvements aren't quite so dramatic. Both iOS 16.5 and watchOS 9.5 respectively add Pride wallpaper and watch face options (shown above). You can also expect the usual round of bug fixes, including issues with CarPlay and Spotlight on iOS as well as Screen Time syncing on multiple platforms.This probably won't be the last substantial update before iOS 17. MacRumorsunderstands that Apple is privately testing iOS 16.6, and might offer a public beta in the near future. Whatever happens, it's evident Apple is winding down work on its current software as it prepares to deliver major updates this fall.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-releases-ios-165-with-easier-access-to-sports-news-180229620.html?src=rss
Starting today, every time you buy something from the Epic Games Store, you'll get five percent of the value of your purchase back in store credit. The new program is called Epic Rewards. You'll receive the credit for almost all Epic purchases, including games, apps, DLC and even virtual currency like V-Bucks for Fortnite. Some subscription purchases are eligible too.You'll receive the credit two weeks after you make a purchase. The credit stacks with discounts and coupons, though you can't use it on subscriptions like Fortnite Crew. You won't have to spend it on another game immediately, though it's worth bearing in mind that each reward will expire 25 months after Epic adds it to your account. All users will be automatically enrolled in the program after they accept the store's latest End User License Agreement, except for those who can't make purchases on their account due to parental controls.Epic is rolling out the program on the same day that the storefront's latest Mega Sale gets underway. The prices of many games have been cut by up to 75 percent. You can find deals on the likes of Returnal (20 percent off), Far Cry 6 (75 percent off), Cyberpunk 2077 (50 percent off) and Alan Wake Remastered (60 percent off).The store will also automatically apply an Epic Coupon to purchases of at least $14.99. This will slash another 25 percent off the price at checkout. This applies to any game except for FIFA 23 Ultimate Edition, Madden NFL 23 All Madden Edition and EA Sports PGA Tour Deluxe Edition. The sale runs until June 15th.Along with the rewards program and sale, Epic is continuing to offer users free games on a weekly basis. This latest title is another repeat but if you haven't already snagged it, it's worth picking up Death Stranding and at least taking a peek at Hideo Kojima's strange, one-of-a-kind game.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-epic-games-store-starts-giving-users-five-percent-credit-back-on-purchases-175628763.html?src=rss
