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The Federal Communications Commission has passed rules that will require all wireless calls to the 988 Lifeline to be georouted. Geographic routing ensures that attempts to reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline for intervention services will be sent to the location where the call is placed rather than to the location of the caller's area code and exchange. Once the rules take effect, national providers will have 30 days to implement georouting for these calls. Smaller, non-national providers have a timeline of 24 months to comply. The agency also issued a proposal that the same georouting policy be applied to texts sent to 988. The FCC has taken several steps to expand the reach of the 988 Lifeline over the past few years. After voting to make the three-digit number the shortcut for reaching the National Suicide Prevention Hotline in 2020, the agency expanded the service to include text support in 2021. T-Mobile was one of the first telecoms to activate 988 for customers to access mental health services. If you are struggling and need someone to listen, please, call 988. The full number is 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK), or you can reach the Lifeline by webchat.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/fcc-now-requires-georouting-for-wireless-calls-to-988-the-national-suicide-prevention-hotline-192030468.html?src=rss
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On Thursday, the FCC approved new regulations requiring all phone makers to make their handsets compatible with hearing aids. With the number of Americans 65 and older expected to balloon by nearly 50 percent by 2050, the rules will ensure those with hearing loss dont have to worry about which phones will work with their hearing aids. Under the new rules, after a transition period, Americans with hearing loss will no longer be limited in their choice of technologies, features, and prices available in the mobile handset marketplace, the FCC wrote in a press release. On the flip side, the FCC also passed a requirement for hearing aid makers that effectively bans proprietary Bluetooth coupling standards in the assistive devices. So, phones must be compatible with hearing aids and vice versa. The rule even applies to the recently approved over-the-counter hearing aids, which now include AirPods Pro 2. Other changes include requiring all new mobile handsets sold in the US to let users raise the volume without introducing distortion. In addition, the FCC now mandates that cell phones point-of-sale labels clarify hearing aid compatibility and whether the handsets meet Bluetooth or telecoil coupling requirements. The FCC worked with a consortium of cell carriers, phone makers and researchers to draft and adopt the rules. Establishing a 100% hearing aid compatibility requirement for all mobile handsets was made possible by the collaborative efforts of members of the Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force an independent organization of wireless service providers, handset manufacturers, research institutions and advocates for those with hearing loss, the Commission wrote. Members of the Task Force worked together over a period of years to reach a consensus on how the Commission could achieve its objective of requiring 100% of all mobile handsets to be hearing aid compatible.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-fcc-will-soon-require-all-hearing-aids-and-phones-to-work-together-190003074.html?src=rss
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Bloober Team unveiled what its been working on at todays Xbox Partner Showcase event. The studio showed off a cinematic trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn, which is a brand-new IP. The developer describes the game as a twisted time travel story set in an unforgiving post-apocalyptic future. Its a third-person survival horror title that looks to have plenty of action. This is a far cry from the type of psychological horror games the studio cut its teeth on, like the Layers of Fear series. We spoke to Bloober Team last year and were told it was moving away from psychological horror and, well, heres the proof. The trailer primarily consists of a lengthy scene in which a character who looks sort of like Isaac from Dead Space and a bit like a Big Daddy from Bioshock plays chess with a lady before wandering an apocalyptic hellscape. There is actual gameplay here, but only toward the end of the trailer. Bloober Team says players will need to successfully navigate that deadly wasteland and fight off monstrous abominations. It also says the game mixes the eerie atmosphere of horror with the boundless potential of science fiction. The trailer certainly confirms that sentiment. Despite being announced at an Xbox event, Cronos: The New Dawn isnt exclusive to Microsoft consoles. Itll be available on PC, PS5 and, of course, Xbox Series X|S systems sometime in 2025. The studio just released its remake of the iconic horror game Silent Hill 2.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bloober-teams-next-horror-game-is-cronos-the-new-dawn-184925036.html?src=rss
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Phasmophobia was one of the chief reasons a lot of gamers lost so much sleep during the pandemic. Now its finally headed to consoles after four years of frightening the hell out of us. Kinetic Games ghost hunting game is heading to PlayStation 5, PS VR2 and Xbox Series X/S on October 29. Players on consoles and PCs through Steam can explore haunted places together in online sessions and discover the highest octave their voices can hit. Kinetic announced the games console release last year but unforeseen delays forced the studio to push back the date. Since the game is launching on consoles just before Halloween, Kinetic Games is also holding a special in-game event. Teams will receive a special Halloween goal in which all teams playing on all platforms will work together to permanently unlock the Blood Moon weather. The achievement comes with a special badge and trophy and more reasons to scream your head off in future matches. Phasmophobia is an addictive and horrifying four-player exploration game that came to life on PCs in 2020. As part of a team of ghost hunters, youre dispatched to a haunted location to investigate and determine what type of horrifying soul is dispatching the living to the realm of the dead. Each team member uses various pieces of ghost hunting equipment and ethereal artifacts to determine the type of spirit doing the haunting and other required criteria about the entity, capture evidence of its presence and sometimes even make contact with the entity. These ghosts and otherworldly creatures dont just make doors slam shut and yell Boo! before scurrying off into the shadows. There are 20 different types of entities like banshees, demons wraiths and revenants that can call out your name in the darkness, drive down your sanity and even kill your ghost hunter if you're not careful.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/aaaaaah-phsamophobia-haunts-consoles-this-month-182546124.html?src=rss
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After a long and winding road, Remedy Entertainment has unveiled its multiplayer follow-up to Control. FBC: Firebreak is for teams of three, and the trios will face down waves of enemies with an intriguing arsenal of weapons. For instance, the trailer shows a gatling gun of gloopy poison and a gun with a launching piston attached to the front for aerial attacks. Since FBC: Firebreak is set in the same world as Control (and Alan Wake II), there will be more for players to explore about this surreal place. The trailer showed off gunfights in the Federal Bureau of Control and the Oldest House, familiar settings to those who have played Control and its DLC. But with the different approach to gameplay, FBC: Firebreak isn't intended to be a direct sequel to the psychological hit game. "I guess you could say that its a spin-off, but in the most positive sense of the word," Game Director Mike Kayatta said. "Its not designed to be some kind of lesser, bite-sized Control. FBC: Firebreak is its own, fully formed thing." A co-op project from the studio was first teased all the way back in 2021. Firebreak has clearly gone through some refinements from the original concept Remedy announced with 505 Games. At the time, it was also working on a free-to-play co-op shooter with the conglomerate Tencent, but the codenamed Project Vanguard was scrapped in 2023. The duo attempted to reenvision the game as a premium title, but that also fell by the wayside. FBC: Firebreak is currently scheduled for release in 2025 and it will be on Game Pass at launch. It is expected to launch on Xbox Series X|S, PC and PlayStation 5. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/remedys-new-game-is-fbc-firebreak-a-co-op-shooter-in-the-control-universe-180702570.html?src=rss
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