2025-04-17 01:02:34
Xbox is finally rolling out the ability to purchase games and DLC, as well as sign up for Game Pass directly from its mobile app. But there’s a catch: you’ll no longer be able to access remote play within the Xbox app.
The update is arriving for beta testers on iOS and Android, but Xbox says it will be available to everyone “soon.”
Xbox president Sarah Bond first announced plans to let players purchase and play games within the Xbox app in October – just days after a court ruled that Google must crack open Android to third-party app stores. But users won’t be able to play games within the app as initially promised. The feature was supposed to arrive in November, but Bond blamed a “temporary administrative stay” for holding it back.
Once Microsoft officially launches in-app game purchases, you’ll see a “Buy” button on game pages if you already have a form of payment saved. You’ll also be able to preorder games and set them to preinstall in your Xbox, as well as redeem Game Pass Ultimate perks. With this update, Xbox has done a complete reversal, as its app previously let users purchase games without remote play.
Though remote play will no longer be available in the app, Xbox notes that you can still access it from your mobile browser. Xbox is also bringing remote play to supported Samsung TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, and Meta Quest headsets.
A few other updates are coming to Xbox as well, including the ability for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to stream select games they own from Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles, which means they won’t have to download games before they can play. Xbox recently added more titles to its “stream your own game” collection, including Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed and Subnautica 2.
There’s also a new game hub feature on Xbox that pulls up “relevant information” about a game, such as player stats, achievements, friends currently playing the game, events, and available add-ons.
2025-04-17 01:00:00
OpenAI is releasing two new AI reasoning models today: o3, which the company calls its “most powerful reasoning model,” and o4-mini, which is a smaller and faster model that “achieves remarkable performance for its size and cost,” according to a blog post.
The company also says that o3 and o4-mini will be able to “think” with images, meaning they will “integrate images directly into their chain of thought.” That could be useful if you show the models things like sketches or whiteboards. OpenAI says that the models will also be able to adjust images by zooming in on them or rotating the image “as part of their reasoning process.”
In addition, OpenAI is announcing that its reasoning models will be able to use all ChatGPT tools, including things like web browsing and image generation. The tools will be available today for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users in o3, o4-mini, and o4-mini-high, and will come to o3-pro in “a few weeks.” (o1, o3-mini, and o3-mini-high will be phased out from those tiers.)
Today’s announcements follow OpenAI’s reveal of its flagship GPT-4.1 AI model on Monday, its successor to GPT-4o.
2025-04-17 01:00:00
In recent years, Do Not Disturb has evolved on both iPhones and Android phones: it’s no longer just a simple block on notifications and distractions, but rather a selection of modes you can customize to suit all the different scenarios in your life (like driving, sleeping, working, or exercising at the gym).
This means you have more control over which apps and contacts can interrupt you and when. If you want Slack to be able to send you alerts during office hours but not family time, for example, you can set this up with just a few taps.
It’s worth spending a few minutes getting these various modes configured to suit you and your schedule, as it’ll make your phone less distracting without causing you to miss anything important.
Android being Android, the exact details for Do Not Disturb vary by manufacturer, but you’ll find instructions below for a Pixel 9 running Android 15 and a Galaxy S25 running One UI 7 â if you’re using anything else, the process should be similar. If you’re on an iPhone, you can try Focus modes.
In previous versions of Android, Do Not Disturb had its own category in Settings. However, starting from Android 15, you can f …
2025-04-17 00:37:24
As a part of its ongoing Book Sale, Amazon isn’t just cutting prices on its budget-friendly Fire HD tablets — it’s also offering a great deal on the latest Kindle Scribe. Right now, you can buy it with 16GB of storage for an all-time low of $324.99 ($75 off). If you need more storage, you can also buy the 32GB model for $339.99 ($80 off) or the 64GB variant for $364.99 ($85 off), which are prices Best Buy is also matching.
Like the original Scribe, the 2024 model is a 10.2-inch e-reader that comes with a stylus so you can write directly on the device. But this version introduces meaningful software upgrades that make the note-taking experience more intuitive, many of which are also available for the original Scribe. You can now directly annotate ebook pages and scribble notes in expandable margins, for example. Plus, if you’re connected to the internet, you can take advantage of new AI-based tools that let you summarize notes taken in the e-reader’s built-in notebook or clean up your handwriting with a single tap.
When it comes to hardware, the Scribe also continues to impress. The new model features slimmer bezels and a textured display that more closely mimics the feel of writing on paper (it’s also available in a beautiful green hue). Amazon also ditched the Basic Pen and opted for the Premium Pen as its default stylus, providing you with a built-in eraser and a customizable shortcut button. And, like its predecessor, the 2024 Scribe retains a 300ppi display with an adjustable warm light, making it just as easy to read at night as it is during the day.
2025-04-17 00:21:28
Lyft said it is acquiring mobility platform FreeNow, giving the ridehailing company its first major presence in Europe after years of operating exclusively in the US and Canada.
FreeNow aggregates taxis alongside private vehicles, including luxury rides. The acquisition of FreeNow nearly doubles Lyft’s potential market and will aide the company as it seeks to compete with the dominant player in ridehailing, Uber. While Lyft oversees several bikeshare brands in Europe, including Santander Cycles in London, it has yet to expand its ridehailing operation beyond North American borders.
“We’re on an ambitious path to build the best, most customer-obsessed mobility platform in the world, and entering Europe is an important step in our growth journey,” said Lyft CEO David Risher in a statement.
“Entering Europe is an important step in our growth journey.”
FreeNow operates in over 150 European cities, including Dublin, London, Athens, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, and Hamburg, with luxury vehicles making up a significant portion of its fleet. Taxis accounted for approximately 90 percent of the company’s gross bookings in 2024, which Lyft says will continue to be the “backbone” of its business. The company said in September it had achieved break-even status, on the back of a 13 percent year-on-year increase in 2024 revenue and its focus on taxi operations, according to Reuters.
Lyft is buying FreeNow from its parent companies, BMW and Mercedes-Benz for €175 million ($198.40 million). The company emerged from a $1 billion mobility deal between BMW and Daimler back in 2019 aimed at creating new entities focused on autonomous cars, ride-hailing, electric scooters, car-sharing, and electric car charging. In addition to FreeNow, there was ReachNow for multimodal services; ChargeNow for EV charging; ParkNow for parking; and ShareNow for car-sharing.
FreeNow will keep its own branding, but the companies say that a future rebranding is possible.
“Over time, the companies will focus on integration and any changes will be gradual, respectful, and made in consultation with appropriate stakeholders,” Lyft spokesperson Stephanie Rice said in an email.
2025-04-16 23:55:47
Falling somewhere between a 3D printer and the inkjet you use to churn out color photos, Anker’s eufyMake brand has announced what it’s calling the “industry’s first 3D-texture UV Printer designed for personal use.” The UV Printer E1 is closer in size to a 3D printer than an inkjet, but is designed to produce 2D images on various surfaces – such as paper or glass – with a subtle raised texture that can simulate the feel and appearance of materials like wood or even crocodile skin.
These types of printers are typically used in large printing and manufacturing facilities who have the budget and the room to operate what’s traditionally bulky and expensive hardware. For example, several years ago at CES, Casio demonstrated a $50,000 printer offering similar functionality. eufyMake is launching its UV Printer E1 later this month through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign with a standard bundle priced at $1,899. But those willing to reserve one now with a $50 deposit can get the E1 discounted to $1,499.
As the name implies, UV printers use a specially formulated ink that cures and dries instantly when exposed to ultraviolet light after it’s been applied to a surface. The process typically produces prints that are more durable than other printing techniques, and it can be applied to multiple surfaces, not just paper. To create 3D textures, a thicker ink is laid down and cured first, in a process similar to 3D printing. eufyMake says the E1 can create textures as thick as five millimeters deep.
Supported materials include wood, metal, glass, leather, and acrylic which can be placed on a moving bed measuring around 13 inches by 16.5 inches in size. But using an optional rotation unit, the E1 can also directly print on rounded objects like mugs and water bottles, improving the accuracy of applications by eliminating the need to manually transfer designs.
For further ease of use, the E1 includes a self-cleaning system to prevent clogs from forming that could put the machine out of use. It also uses a combination of cameras and lasers to measure and determine the location of objects being directly printed on, such as smartphone cases.
The E1’s pricing will help make UV printing accessible to a wider variety of makers and smaller companies, but eufyMake hasn’t revealed the pricing of replacement ink cartridges, or how long they’ll last. The E1 uses a set of six UV inks including CMYK plus white and an ink that creates a glossy finish. They’re included with the UV printer as part of a bundle that eufyMake says is worth $299, but details on how many projects can be printed before cartridges run dry have not been revealed.
“We want the E1 to shift the UV printing experience away from factory walls, and into homes, studios, small businesses and art markets around the world,” says eufy general manager Frank Zhu. But depending on the price of those UV inks, the UV Printer E1 may end up only being affordable for those able to sell their creations.
