Concord game director Ryan Ellis has stepped down following the decision to take the game offline, according to Kotaku. Developers at Concord developer Firewalk Studios are also uncertain of the future of the studio.

Ellis, whose resume also includes more than seven years at Bungie, informed staff of the change role last week, Kotaku reports. (His LinkedIn still lists his title as “Game Director.”) Ellis also authored the PlayStation Blog post announcing Concord’s shutdown.

That post said the Firewalk team would be exploring options for what to do next with Concord, but Kotaku reports that some developers have “been asked to explore pitches for something completely different.” Some Firewalk developers are apparently refreshing their...

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Apple announced that starting today, California residents can add their driver’s licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet on their iPhones and Apple Watches as part of the state’s mobile driver’s license (mDL) pilot program.

As announced last month, up to 1.5 million pilot participants can add the documents to Apple Wallet by scanning their driver’s license or state ID card using their iPhone and then providing a scan of their face using a “series of facial and head movements” as an added security measure. The scans will need to be verified by the state before the documents are made available in Wallet.

However, as it’s still only authorized for limited usage, the state DMV advises users to continue carrying their physical IDs, too.

S...

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You can’t have everything at this price, but you can get a great smartphone. Whether you want an iPhone, a 120Hz screen, or water resistance, you’ve got options.

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The Federal Trade Commission published a new report about the data collection policies of social media platforms and video streaming services, and the results are damning, if not unexpected. The report, which was released on September 19th, found that these platforms not only surveil consumers but often retain vast troves of data indefinitely about users and non-users alike — and suggests they can’t be trusted to regulate themselves.

Given the billions of dollars companies stand to earn from collecting and monetizing user data, “self-regulation has been a failure,” the report says. “Predicting, shaping, and monetizing human behavior through commercial surveillance is extremely profitable — it’s made these companies some of the most...

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Logitech is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its G502 gaming mouse with a limited-edition aluminum version. The G502 X Plus AL Edition has the same functionality as the standard wireless G502 X mouse, plus an aluminum chassis with laser-etched markings, including a serial number from 1 to 502.

Sorry to put my high school chem lab assistant hat on, but that L in “AL Edition” should really be lowercase — though I speculate Logitech wanted to avoid people confusing Al with AI, as in artificial intelligence.

In the 10 years since it launched, the G502 has been a mainstay of Logitech’s gaming lineup. The original was a wired mouse, a version of which you can still buy new today for around $50. In 2019, the G502 X made the jump to...

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Apple has just released public betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, and they include upcoming Apple Intelligence features like text rewriting tools, the glowy new Siri design, a “Clean Up” tool to remove objects from your photos, and more.

To be able to access the betas, you’ll need to register on Apple’s beta software program site. Once you’ve done that, you should be able to see the beta update available in settings for you to download and install. Note that a only few iPhones can access the Apple Intelligence features: last year’s iPhone 15 Pro phones as well as the nearly-here iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. iPads and Macs with M1 chips or newer can try Apple Intelligence as well.

Previously, these Apple Intelligence...

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Hipstamatic’s new Party! Disposable Camera app is designed to digitally replicate the experience of guests snapping candid photos at a wedding or other event using a disposable film camera. There are no film development fees afterward, but it’s only free if your guest list is no larger than five people.

At its core, the app is yet another attempt to streamline the process of collecting all the smartphone photos that guests take during a special event. Using a custom QR code generated by a host, guests are directed to download the Party! Disposable Camera app and join the specific event. All the photos taken through the app will be collected into a single private gallery the host and guests can view and comment on.

There are similar...

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One of Starship Technologies’ autonomous food delivery robots tripped up a school employee at Arizona State University last September. As 404 Media reports, when contacted by the police, an employee asked for the person’s info to share insurance info and to offer a few promo codes.

A police report said video footage confirmed the person’s description of the incident. They waited for a delivery robot to pass. Once they continued, the robot suddenly reversed and knocked them over before driving a short distance away and reversing to hit them again while they were on the ground. They reported lower back pain and a 4-inch cut on their arm that was treated by the local fire department.

A company spokesperson told 404 Media that the robot hit...

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Previous versions of watchOS allowed the Apple Watch to be used as a remote control for an Apple TV, with limited functionality. With watchOS 11, the smartwatch can potentially completely replace the Siri Remote that now ships with Apple’s streaming box, with new capabilities spotted by 9to5Mac.

Before watchOS 11, the Apple Watch’s Remote app could only be used to play and pause videos or navigate tvOS using swipe gestures to move through menus and screen taps to make selections. It was useful if you couldn’t reach the Apple TV’s remote, but it couldn’t replace its features entirely.

The company has updated the Apple Watch User Guide on its website to include the new Remote app functionality introduced with watchOS 11. Turning the...

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Almost a year since the horrifying crash in which one of its driverless vehicles ran over and dragged a woman 20 feet, Cruise is planning its return to the Bay Area. The company said in a post on X that it is deploying “several” manually driven mapping vehicles in Sunnyvale and Mountain View, with the goal of progressing to “supervised testing” with five autonomous vehicles later this fall.

“Resuming testing in the Bay Area is an important step forward as we continue to work closely with California regulators and local stakeholders,” the post reads. “This will allow our local employees to engage directly with our product as they refine and improve our tech through R&D.”

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Amazon’s October Prime Day event is just a few weeks away, but if you can’t wait until then, eBay’s taking 20 percent off select new and refurbished items as part of its fall sale when you apply code FALL20OFF at checkout. The promotion will last through 11:59PM PT on September 30th, offering you an excellent chance to save on a wide range of gadgets if you can’t wait until October.

The sale includes deals on a lot of products we’re fans of, including Eufy’s 11S Max robot vacuum, which you can buy refurbished for just $87.99 instead of $249.99 — about a third of the price it sells for new. Anker’s Soundcore Sleep A20 Earbuds are also down to just $95.99, saving you $54 over buying them new. And if you’re in the market for a pair of...

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Microsoft is launching a Windows app today for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, web browsers, Android devices, and even Windows PCs. The Windows app is essentially a hub for streaming a copy of Windows from a variety of sources, including Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Remote Desktop, and more.

This new unified app has been in testing for nearly a year and includes a customizable homescreen, multi-monitor support, and USB redirection so you can use local devices like webcams, storage devices, and printers as if they were plugged directly in to a cloud PC.

This Windows app is limited to Microsoft work and school accounts, as it’s primarily designed for existing users of Remote...

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Before Sony went all in with a pricey mid-cycle console refresh by announcing its upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro, Microsoft laid out plans for a premium console with aesthetics at the forefront. The 2TB “Galaxy Black” special-edition Xbox Series X is mostly the same as the standard Series X, but it features a double-capacity SSD and a slick paint job. We’re inching toward its October 15th release, and interested parties willing to pony up the $599.99 asking price can already preorder one at Best Buy and directly from Microsoft.

Those who crave the pricier Xbox are primarily getting three unique things for their money:

• 2TB of built-in storage, which is twice the amount available on the standard $500 Xbox Series X (which can still be...

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Amazon has introduced a batch of new generative AI tools that aim to improve the retail experience for both customers and sellers on the platform. One of the more notable features announced at the Amazon Accelerate event on Thursday will use customers’ preferences, search, browsing, and purchase history to create personalized product recommendations on Amazon’s homepage.

Instead of the “more like this” feature that suggests similar, specific items, the new recommendations will be offered as larger categories based on a customer’s shopping habits — such as those catering to holiday events or sporting activities. The company says it’s leveraging a large language model to recommend products with specific features, but it’s not clear how...

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Implementing Project 2025, the conservative manifesto written by ex-Trump officials, could have serious repercussions on public health, former Environmental Protection Agency employees warn.

Air quality protections issued over the past four years are supposed to cut down pollution and associated health risks, preventing premature deaths and hospital visits for years to come. A group called the Environmental Protection Network (EPN), created by hundreds of former EPA employees during an exodus of scientists from the agency under the Trump administration, counted up the benefits in a recent report.

But that outcome isn’t guaranteed. Many of the policies recently enacted under the Biden administration could be in jeopardy if Donald Trump...

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Top policy executives from Meta, Microsoft, and Google testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday about what they’re doing to protect US voters from foreign election threats in 2024. But the elephant in the room was the pressure campaign social media companies have faced from the right to take a more hands-off approach when it comes to labeling or demoting misinformation.

With 48 days until the US presidential election, Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) called in tech companies to discuss the threats they’re seeing so far and how they’re responding. Warner took pains to emphasize that his chief concern was with foreign malicious activity, not domestic — seemingly in an effort to find common ground with his...

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Google is improving passkey support in Chrome by making it easier to use the passwordless sign-in credentials across different devices. The search giant is introducing a Google Password Manager PIN that allows users to securely save and synchronize passkeys for use across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android devices. These updates are available in beta on ChromeOS as well, with iOS support “coming soon.”

Passkeys needed to be saved to Google Password Manager on Android prior to this update and required users to scan a QR code on their Android device to access them on other platforms. The new PIN replaces the need to scan the QR code while ensuring that your saved passkeys remain protected by end-to-end encryption, so not even Google can...

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Preorders are now open for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 through the Microsoft Store. The next installment of the franchise will launch on Xbox and PC on November 19th, with updates that include new aircraft like hot air balloons and a more realistic-looking simulated earth. But the most welcome upgrade could be a much smaller installation size.

The current version of Microsoft Flight Simulator needs over 130GB of storage, but that’s just for the base version of the game. Players can enhance their experience by downloading additional aircraft or installing world updates that bring more details to local scenery and airports, but that can gobble up even more storage. Those playing on the Xbox Series S, which only offers players 364GB of...

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A few months ago, I was driving my 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 when, seemingly out of nowhere, my driver-side door made several unusual clicking noises and then popped open.

“That’s not good,” I thought, as I quickly shut the door while also attempting to keep my hands on the wheel. And apparently, I wasn’t the only one experiencing this problem. Hundreds of other VW owners were also struggling to keep their doors closed while driving.

The issue culminated this week with VW halting production of the all-electric ID.4 at its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as it scrambles to find a fix for the faulty electronic door mechanism. According to the recall, water was seeping into the door and shorting out the electronics, causing the circuitry...

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