2026-03-27 23:43:41
Anxiety, more so than technological rigor, sits at the heart of The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. Director Daniel Roher is anxious about the future he's bringing a child into — will it be an AI-driven utopia? Or does it spell certain doom, something explored in countless sci-fi stories. To figure it all out, he interviewed some of the most well known AI proponents and critics, including The Empire of AI author Karen Hao, AI researcher Emily Bender and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
The AI Doc, which hits theaters this weekend, doesn't really shed new light. For that, I'd recommend reading Hao's industry-defining book, which chronicles the rise of OpenAI and the precarious nature of its business. But I don't think tech-heads are the main audience for this film. Instead, Roher is trying to break down the state of AI for mainstream audiences, the folks who may occasionally use ChatGPT or Google's Gemini, but aren't aware of why they're controversial. In particular, the film exposes the near-religious devotion many in the tech world have around AI.
It's not a spoiler to say that Roher ultimately adopts an "apocaloptimist" viewpoint. He's aware of the potential dangers of AI, and that it will likely have some serious societal impact. But, he also thinks humans have the ability to shape where it's headed. AI proponents have a near-religious belief in the eventuality of artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI that can match and surpass human capabilities. But AGI isn’t inevitable, and Roher argues there’s room for critics and the public to push back.
We’re seeing small examples of AI resistance already. Just look at the viscerally negative response to NVIDIA's DLSS 5 AI upscaling; Microsoft's recent plans to pull back on Copilot AI features in Windows 11; or OpenAI shutting down its Sora AI video generation app. (The latter may be due to the sheer expense, but Sora has certainly seen plenty of criticism.) If enough people say no to various implementations of AI, tech companies will be likely to respond.
The AI Doc splits its narrative between true believers — like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei — and prominent AI critics — like Tristan Harris, the co-founder and president of the Center of Humane Technology, as well as linguistics professor Emily M. Bender. It's easy to feel a bit of whiplash when the film moves from people who genuinely think AI will lead to some sort of utopia (and who will also become insanely rich in the process), and the extreme critics who think it will mean the end of humanity. At one point, Harris mentions that some of his friends working in AI risk assessment believe that their kids "won't see high school." There's that anxiety again.
While The AI Doc squeezes an impressive amount of notable interviews in its hour-and-43-minute runtime, I would have liked to hear more from critics like Timnit Gebru, a former Google AI researcher who also ties the development of AI into a rise of "techno-fascism" in Silicon Valley. She appears briefly in the film, but her perspective isn't fully fleshed out. The AI Doc doesn't dig very deeply into the driving forces behind AI, whereas Ghost in the Machine, this year's other major AI documentary, draws a direct line between the rise of eugenics and Silicon Valley. (Ghost in the Machine is headed to theaters this summer, and will air on PBS in the fall.)
It's the sort of energetic, animation-heavy documentary that wants to make sure the audience is never bored. But the threat of AI deserves more nuance and critical scrutiny. At worst, The AI Doc may make more people question the value of AI as the tech industry becomes more desperate to make it a success.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-ai-doc-explores-how-we-can-survive-an-uncertain-ai-future-154341735.html?src=rss2026-03-27 21:31:42
It was only last August that Sony raised PS5 console prices in the US, blaming a "challenging economic environment" at the time. Today it has slightly tweaked the phrasing to "continued pressures in the global economic landscape," but the outcome is the same: price rises across the board, this time even affecting the PS Portal handheld.
Starting April 2, the price of the standard PS5 (that’s the one with the disc drive) is going up to $650. That’s a whopping $100 hike, or $150 if you go back to before the August price increases. The Digital Edition is getting the same increase, up to $600 from $500 since August.
But the most eye-wateringly huge bump goes to the PS5 Pro, which will now cost you $900, $150 more than its (already very high) previous $750 MSRP. If you managed to pick up a Pro during last year’s Black Friday sale, when its price was slashed to $650, then you’re probably feeling pretty smug right now.
Even the PlayStation Portal is getting a $50 increase, up from $199 to $250. The Portal has gotten a lot more capable in the last 12 months, but $250 for a device that can’t run any games natively might make a purchase harder to justify for a lot of people.
In a blog post, Sony acknowledged the impact of prices increases on its audience, but said after "careful evaluation" that it was "a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide."
Global economic turbulence is affecting the entire games industry right now. Valve has already pushed back the launch date for the Steam Machine, while the ongoing RAM crisis could also be to blame for Steam Deck stock shortages.
Microsoft also raised Xbox prices twice last year, and earlier this week Nintendo announced that some of its physical first-party Switch 2 games will soon be more expensive than purchasing the game digitally. While Nintendo has experimented with this kind of pricing structure before, it might point to the increasingly prohibitive costs of making and shipping products right now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps5-is-getting-more-expensive-again-133141514.html?src=rss2026-03-27 20:26:01
It turns out people don't actually love having Copilot shoved into their faces. This week, Devindra and PCWorld Senior Editor Mark Hachman discuss Microsoft's surprising plan to "fix" Windows 11 by refocusing on customization and core features, instead of bringing Copilot AI into tons of apps. Is there any enthusiasm left for Windows? Or will most people be better off considering macOS or Linux?
Microsoft hits the reset button on Windows 11, de-emphasizing Copilot AI – 1:03
OpenAI pulls the plug on its Sora video generation app after just 5 months – 25:23
Meta’s terrible week in court, part 1: $375 million ruling in New Mexico child engagement case – 33:58
Meta’s terrible week in court, part 2: Meta and Google lose landmark social media addiction suit – 38:49
OpenAI puts erotic chat on hold indefinitely – 43:49
Update your iPhones: iOS exploit ‘Darksword’ released on GitHub – 46:39
Epic games lays off 1,000 workers after Fortnite engagement dips – 47:48
Honda and Sony kill off their Afeela EV collaboration – 49:26
Listener Mail: Which Mac Mini to get for a budding pro photographer – 55:15
Pop culture picks – 57:52
Host: Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Mark Hachman
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
2026-03-27 20:15:39
Honda and Sony announced that they are discontinuing both the Afeela 1 and 2, their electric cars. The company is reviewing its “business direction,” but it's hard to expect much from a car company that’s cancelled all of its cars.
The Afeela 1, casually called the PlayStation Car, was meant to be a fusion of a modern EV and your own digital media bubble. (You could have a God of War-themed dash — if you wanted that.)
There’s a wider pressure on Honda, beyond this risky collaboration with Sony. It expects to take a $15.7 billion loss after writing off a large portion of its EV investment. The US’s removal of federal EV tax credits and the imposition of tariffs have hit everything hard.
The Afeela was exciting on paper, but in person, it was a pretty unassuming sedan. And expensive! Rival EV makers were offering more for less. Also: don’t tease a car for six full years. It’s never a good sign. Check out Tim Steven’s editorial on how it all fell apart.
– Mat Smith
A jury in Los Angeles has found that Meta and YouTube were negligent in a closely watched trial over social media addiction. The two companies were ordered to pay $6 million in damages to a woman who said their addictive features harmed her.
For Meta, it's the second legal setback in recent weeks, after a New Mexico jury ruled against it on child safety issues. Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in penalties, making this settlement seem small in comparison. The companies are planning to appeal.
The Sonos Play could be the company’s reset button, a way to remind people what the company does well – and move on from busted updates, expensive gambits and fussy apps. The $299 Play is a portable speaker that sits between the $499 Sonos Move 2 and the $179 Roam 2. The new speaker sounds great, has a wide and versatile feature set and won’t break the bank. We particularly like the inclusion of Bluetooth grouping.
DJI responded quickly to Insta360’s debut drone, the Antigravity A1, with the Avata 360. It’s drawn from years of drone experience (and tech from its new Osmo 360 action cam). Compared to the A1, it’s safer to fly around people and offers single-camera OIS 4K footage in addition to 8K 360 video. The 360 video it shoots offers incredible editing flexibility, but overall quality is lower than that of DJI’s other drones. It’s cheaper than its 360 drone rival, too, though US availability remains unclear.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121539576.html?src=rss2026-03-27 20:00:00
There were two questions I was looking to answer as I fired up MLB The Show 26. First, how much does the game cater to a baseball newbie like me? Second, will it keep me hooked enough to keep playing after my first few games?
I think it's important to share some personal context. I have very limited experience with baseball. I have been to one MLB game, which was on my first visit to Canada as a teen. The lead-off Toronto Blue Jays hitter scored a home run on his first at-bat. Fireworks went off and everyone was going wild. Fun!
But that was the only score of the whole game. My dad and I (both lifelong soccer fans, for what it’s worth) were bored lifeless for the rest of the three hours.
An incredible run of a dog playing a baseball game at Games Done Quick aside, I had no real interest in the sport for the next couple of decades until the Blue Jays made a deep run into the 2025 playoffs. This time, now as a Canadian citizen, I bought into the excitement and watched all of the World Series last year. I was enthralled.
I slowly started to appreciate the nuances of pitching, the skill of trying to make every pitch look identical at the time the ball is thrown to hopefully hoodwink the batter. Friends who are in-the-know tolerated my most basic of questions about how everything works as the postseason wore on. Now, I’m planning to watch a lot more games this year and MLB The Show 26 arrived at just the right time to get me ready for the new season.
Sony's San Diego Studio seemed to be speaking to me, personally, when the first thing the game asked me to do was select my preferred playstyle. The Competitive track was definitely out for now. The Simulation option offers an “authentic MLB experience that plays true to player and team ratings.” I wasn't quite feeling that either. As a newcomer to all of this, I had to select the Casual style. That’s billed as “an easier, fun, pick up and play experience with an emphasis on learning the game.” Exactly what I needed.
I was immediately impressed with how deeply you can customize the gameplay, even if the vast array of batting and pitching options in particular felt a little overwhelming. Using both a thumbstick to aim and button to swing at the ball seemed too much for someone who has no idea as yet how to read pitches.
Dipping my toes in slowly was surely going to help me avoid getting too frustrated too quickly and uninstalling the game, so I chose to keep everything as simple as possible. I’m not switching off options like automated bullpen warm ups for a long time, if ever.
Finally, after about 20 minutes of fine-tuning some settings in the tutorial, it was game time.
The Dodgers didn't know what hit 'em as I won my first game 38-0. I thought this Shohei guy was supposed to be good? Pffft, he didn't even register a hit. His team only got a measly two players on base, while I had 46 hits. That blowout was a fun intro to MLB The Show 26, but I had to bump up the difficulty and make it a little more challenging if there was any chance of me sticking with it.
Instead of jumping into the Road to the Show career mode, an online match or another exhibition game to get my feet a tad wetter, I next tried the Storylines feature. This is what really drew me into MLB The Show 26.
San Diego Studio has been sharing the stories of several notable players from the Negro Leagues in the last few editions of the series. I know very little about baseball history outside of household names. So I was fascinated to learn about the likes of Roy Campanella, who debuted in the league as a 15-year-old catcher, and Mamie "Peanut" Johnson, the league's first female pitcher.
The developers did a fantastic job of connecting these athletes' stories to playable moments from their playing careers. Cutscene insights from Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, tied everything together quite beautifully. Great stories are such an effective way to pull you into a sport and to start learning about it. Stories connect us more than just about anything else.
The default difficulty in the Storylines mode was much higher than I dealt with in my first washout game. Still, that gave me a chance to practice the Competitive playstyle without having to play a full game or the stop-start nature of the tutorial.
My pitching was less accurate, so figuring out how to compensate for that made for an interesting challenge. Batting was a lot tougher too, with balls travelling faster and pitchers trying to trick me. At first, I was swinging at every ball, but that clearly was the wrong idea. I tried to be more judicious and wait to see if a ball was breaking, but that meant I was swinging too late and fouling or giving the fielders an easy catch. That's a tricky conundrum to solve, and I'll need a lot more practice before I dream of playing online. I'm not even going to get started on how woeful I am at catching.
And yet all of this deepened my appreciation for baseball. There's so much more nuance and complexity to the sport than I realized until a few months ago. And even as someone who doesn't typically enjoy turn-based games, I found myself getting into the swing of it... so to speak.
I'm never going to care about Diamond Dynasty, MLB The Show's take on Ultimate Team modes in EA Sports games. I can't see myself diving into the team management-focused Franchise mode, in large part because I don't yet have a strong enough understanding of stats to have a decent handle on what makes a specific player great in their role. And as much as I like the idea of the Road to the Show career mode — in which you can stick with a player from their high school days all the way to a Hall of Fame induction — I don't think I can invest enough time into that to make it worth the effort.
I did find the answers to the two main questions I had about MLB The Show 26. It does a bang-up job of easing a baseball newbie like me into the fray. I'm eager to keep playing as well. I don't think MLB The Show has quite enough pull to keep me away from my actual forever game, Overwatch, for too long. But I can absolutely see myself playing it on a second screen while streaming some MLB games this season. After all, I'm always on the lookout for a great story.
MLB The Show 26 is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/mlb-the-show-26-is-turning-me-into-more-of-a-baseball-fan-120000724.html?src=rss2026-03-27 20:00:00
I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t Fender a guitar company?” It sure is, and has been one of the most iconic names in guitars and amplifiers since 1946. So what is the company doing making headphones and speakers? Well, it isn’t, exactly. Like Zound Industries used to do with Marshall (before buying the amp business), another company is licensing the Fender name for its consumer audio products. Fender Audio, the brand that’s on the headphones I’m reviewing, is owned by the Fender Corporation, but Riffsound oversees the design and production of portable audio gear.
The first products from Fender Audio are the Mix headphones and the Elie speaker (in two sizes). The company revealed these in January before properly showing them off at CES. I’ll get to those speakers in a few weeks, but the Mix headphones are first up on the review docket.
With the Mix, Fender Audio seeks to offer a set of premium over-ear, noise-canceling headphones at a lower price than the likes of Sony, Bose and Sennheiser. There’s also marathon battery life, several smart design touches, a lossless Bluetooth transmitter and swappable parts that combine for a unique formula to take on those big names. I’m honestly impressed that Fender Audio could cram all of that in a more affordable package, but the final verdict on the Mix isn’t so straightforward.
Fender Audio made numerous smart design decisions on the Mix headphones, and they resulted in my favorite things about using them. To start, you can swap out the ear pads, ear cups and headband as you see fit. The ear cups attach to the headband via USB-C ports, so they’re easy to snap on and off. Obviously, this allows you to change the look of the Mix over time, within the bounds of Fender’s available colors.
Underneath the ear pads, Fender put a storage slot for the lossless dongle on the left side and gives you access to the removable battery on the right. I’m thrilled that I can enjoy higher quality Bluetooth connectivity without having to remember to bring along such a small accessory. Plus, it’s nice to know that users will be able to install a fresh battery, provided the company sells those at some point.
I also enjoy how Fender Audio designed the onboard controls. First, they’re physical buttons, which are always my preference over touch- or gesture-based options. Second, the main one is a five-way joystick, so they’re very simple. Press it to play/pause, press and hold for pairing mode or press longer to power on or off. If you push the joystick up or down, you can adjust the volume, while moving it left and right skips the track forward or backward. You can also push down twice to enable Auracast pairing right on the headphones. A second button, which is just the regular kind, is used to cycle through noise canceling modes: ANC, transparency and both off.
Sonically, the Mix headphones are at the height of their powers in lossless mode, which is enabled by the Bluetooth dongle hidden inside the ear cup. Bass tuning that’s otherwise overpowering in most cases is restrained, and you can pick up finer details in the more balanced mix. When listening to Watchhouse’s Rituals, I got the sense that I was surrounded by the band, with strings, drums and vocals enveloping my ears with sound — rather than it simply being projected from the left and right channels. There’s more nuance with the lossless mode, and it kept calling me back to the Mix headphones at the times when I’d probably opt for the conveniences of earbuds or a speaker.
ANC performance is respectable, although it’s not on the level of Bose. It’s good enough to block out mild-to-moderate distractions, but it struggles with louder human voices and sudden jolts of noise. It will certainly do the job in the office or coffee shop, but you may notice some sounds invade your ears during a commute. For calls, transparency mode provides natural sound and it picks up enough of my voice that I never felt the need to shout. Call quality, though, is a different matter (more on that in a bit).
Another big perk of the Mix is its long battery life. Fender Audio says you’ll get up to 52 hours with ANC on or a whopping 100 hours with it off. The company is forthcoming with the fact that the latter number is achieved at 50 percent volume, which will be too low for most “regular” use. Still, with noise canceling enabled and the volume around 70 percent, I had 52 percent battery left after nearly 30 hours of use. I spent most of that time with either ANC or transparency mode on.
Out of the box, Fender Mix’s tuning is too bass heavy. I realize a lot of people prefer a thundering low-end tone out of their headphones, but I found it to be too overpowering here. The stock sound profile is my biggest issue with this model, although it’s somewhat alleviated by using the lossless Bluetooth dongle. In that mode, the bass is slightly subdued, but it’s still quite prominent at times when it shouldn’t be.
On that Watchhouse album, the kick drum starts to drive the sound, rather than the guitars, mandolin and other instruments. When I listen to the same songs on other headphones, I’ve noticed a better blend of drums and strings. With more intense genres, like the hardcore riffs and breakdowns of Incendiary’s Product of New York, the booming bass isn’t as much of an issue. The distorted guitars still cut through, and there’s plenty of texture in their tone. And when each song hits its climax, the cranked up lows offer extra oomph. It works for metal, but it isn’t always nice for bluegrass, jazz and synth-laiden electronic tunes where the extra bass can muddy the mix.
The Fender Mix also lacks many of the smart features that are present in premium headphones today, which is probably how the company is able to sell them for $299. Things like automatic EQ tweaks and adaptive ANC are missing, as is automatic pausing when you speak or things like head gestures. These headphones don’t have wear detection either, so they don’t pause the audio when you take them off. There’s also no app available to dial in the EQ or adjust other settings (it’s coming soon).
These headphones only have two microphones for calls, and you can tell almost instantly that those are insufficient. Despite claims of “crystal clear calls,” your voice will just sound okay to the person on the other end. Honestly, I would’ve sounded better just using my iPhone with no headphones. The Mix works to get your voice across, but don’t dream of dialing into a podcast recording with them. What’s more, the Mix isn’t good at blocking background noise, so you’ll need to use them in a quiet location to have a chance at sounding decent. Which, again, is about the best these headphones can muster.
While the modular design allows for a decent degree of customization, the extra parts you’ll need aren’t on sale yet. What’s more, only two colors — white, which is really more of a light gray, and black — are currently available. So, for now, one of the perks of the Mix remains untapped.
There’s a lot to like about the Fender Mix, from the clever design choices to the crisp, detailed sound. The lack of finesse with the bass tuning and the omission of advanced features, particularly the absence of an app for settings changes, keeps these headphones firmly planted in the midrange category.
Clearly that’s not what the company is aiming for with tools like the lossless Bluetooth dongle, but that’s where it lands for me at the end of the day. So, at $299, the Mix is a tough call when a $250 price tag would make these an easier sell. Sure, there’s enough here to make these a capable daily audio accessory, but not everything I’d need to call them a must buy.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/fender-mix-review-well-designed-headphones-that-just-fall-short-of-greatness-120000974.html?src=rss
