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Nintendo has confirmed that Kirby Air Riders, a modern revival of the 2003 GameCube cult classic Kirby Air Ride, will be released exclusively on Switch 2 on November 20. The announcement came during a marathon 45-minute Nintendo Direct devoted entirely to the new game, hosted by Kirby’s creator Masahiro Sakurai. Sakurai said he was asked to create Air Riders while still working on DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and drafted a written proposal for the game at the request of Shinya Takahashi, head of software development for Nintendo. The Direct showed a roster of playable characters, including King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee, Knuckle Joe and others. Each rider has distinct traits and special attacks that influence how their machines perform. The ride mechanics will be fairly simple, with players able to boost, drift, glide and rail-grind their way around. Players will be able to customize and upgrade their vehicles throughout the game, which includes two major modes. Air Ride is the straightforward racing mode, with players competing on themed tracks. City Trial lets players explore a floating island called Skyah, where they can find power-ups and encounter random events like Dustup Derby, where they battle opponents to knock them out and earn more power-ups. Once players feel their machine is sufficiently powered up, they can head to the Stadium to complete different challenges against opponents. Local multiplayer supports up to eight players, while online lobbies can hold 16. A demo version of Kirby Air Riders will be playable by reservation for attendees of PAX West 2025 in Seattle at the end of the month. Masahiro Sakurai said a similar demo will be available to play at Gamescom in Cologne this week. Kirby Air Riders will release on November 20 and marks yet another Switch 2 exclusive coming early in the life cycle of the hit console. Nintendo has already found success with Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/kirby-air-riders-launches-november-20-exclusively-on-switch-2-171054821.html?src=rss

Is it finally happening? Team Cherry just announced a livestream for the long-anticipated sequel Hollow Knight: Silksong. It takes place on August 21 at 10:30AM ET. The company says it will be making a “special announcement” about the game. We don’t exactly know what this announcement will be, but it’s starting to feel like a release date or at least a release window. Rumors have been swirling that the title would finally be getting a release date during this week’s Gamescom festivities, with Geoff Keighley offering a tease a couple of days ago. This is all happening more than six years after the game was first announced. It’s possible that the special announcement won’t involve the release date at all, but will instead offer new game modes or a deeper dive into the story. It’s worth noting that reports have indicated that the game would finally see the light of day this year, though we’ve been fooled by that kind of thing before. For the uninitiated, Hollow Knight: Silksong is the followup to Hollow Knight, which was an indie Metroidvania that absolutely took the world by storm. It actually started as DLC for the original game before the developers realized the scope of their ambitions would take nearly seven years to see through. Correction, August 19, 2025, 12:55PM ET: This story originally stated that the livestream was set for April 21. That was a mistake, as the actual date is August 21.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/theres-a-hollow-knight-silksong-livestream-on-august-21-at-1030am-et-153220026.html?src=rss

Helldivers 2 is getting a Halo crossover. On August 26, gear inspired by Halo 3: ODST will be available in the Sony-published Helldivers game. Practically speaking, this is about some new armor, guns and abilities — just another Tuesday in the gaming world. But symbolically, it evokes Sonic the Hedgehog’s first appearance on a Nintendo console. The crossover’s arrival coincides with Helldivers 2’s arrival on Xbox Series X/S. (That’s also on August 26.) It also comes amid rumors that Halo: The Master Chief Collection could arrive on PlayStation as soon as this year. The times they are a-changin’, as Microsoft adjusts to its new reality as a console hardware also-ran. The gear will be available through the Helldivers 2 x Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond. In Helldivers, a Warbond is essentially a non-expiring equivalent of a battle pass. This one costs 1,500 Super Credits in the game’s Acquisitions Center. Here, ODST no longer means Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Adopting Helldivers’ cheeky tone, it now stands for Obedient Democracy Support Troopers. Kind of them to lend a hand to the cause. PlayStation So, what do you get for those Super Credits? The standout is the Halo 3: ODST armor, which has a Master Chief-esque flair. There are two variants: A-9 Helljumper Armor Set modeled after an ODST trooper. Meanwhile, the A-35 Recon Armor Set is a stealth-focused variant. Both include a Feet First passive boost. This makes you quieter, increases your range when finding points of interest and makes you immune to leg injuries. As for the guns, you get the Halo series’ classic MA5C Assault Rifle and M6C / SOCOM Pistol. Also available for your arsenal: the M90A Shotgun and M7S SMG. And who doesn’t love a cape? There are two of those — one with an ODST logo and an Eye of the Clandestine one for the stealth getup. The Helldivers 2 x Halo: ODST warbond arrives on August 26 at 8AM ET. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/sony-and-microsoft-continue-to-make-nice-with-halo-x-helldivers-2-crossover-165024127.html?src=rss

Mark Rober will bring his scientific talents to Netflix with two upcoming projects. Rober is a former NASA engineer who parlayed his skills into an entertaining and educational YouTube career. In past years, we’ve seen him develop not just one, but two stinky glitter bombs to fend off porch package thieves, as well as leading work on a Guinness World Record-holding robot called the Dominator.  According to an announcement from Netflix, Rober “will bring some of his most beloved, ambitious, and informative experiments” to the streaming platform later this year. Then in 2026, he’ll also host a competition series aimed at kids and family viewers. Rober’s CrunchLabs business and Kimmelot, late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s production company, will be producing. Netflix has been adding several YouTube creators to its content lineup, with a particular angle toward family-friendly science programs. Earlier this year, it brought some content from Rachel Accurso’s Ms. Rachel channel, with educational topics for very young children, to the platform. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/youtuber-mark-rober-is-bringing-his-experiments-to-netflix-201853920.html?src=rss

NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW game streaming service is leveling-up in September with the addition of RTX 5080 GPUs, which will allow for 5K streaming at up to 120fps (or 1080p/320fps for the truly frame-hungry). While you’ll need to be on the $20-a-month GeForce Now Ultimate tier to use RTX 5080 streaming servers, NVIDIA at least isn’t raising that tier’s price. Subscribers at that level will still receive 100 hours of monthly playtime (with 15 hours of rollover), up to eight-hour long sessions and access to all of GPU’s respective DLSS features, including Frame Generation. NVIDIA claims the RTX 5080 GeForce Now servers will perform up to 2.8 times faster than the current RTX 4080 systems — but of course, that’s due to the new GPU’s 4X Frame Gen capabilities, which interpolates frames using AI modeling. The 4080 only supports up to 2X Frame Generation. At launch, GeForce Now’s RTX 5080 servers will support popular games like Doom: The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Cyberpunk 2077 and Flight Simulator. We’re still waiting for a full list of supported titles from NVIDIA, as well updates on when we can expect more games that will support the RTX 5080. While the raw power of the RTX 5080 will be the main draw for the GeForce NOW Ultimate tier, NVIDIA is also improving something that’s always bothered me with game streaming: image quality. No matter the resolution and framerate I’ve seen while streaming games across multiple services, I’ve always noticed that the color fidelity and overall sharpness doesn’t look as good as rendering a game locally on a PC. NVIDIA’s new Cinematic Quality Streaming (CQS) aims to change that, with support for YUV 4:4:4 chroma subsampling (for more accurate colors), smoother video streaming performance with the AV1 codec, and AI video filtering to reduce artifacts. CQS will also be able to automatically detect and optimize its settings for the DPI of your screen — that’s helpful for high DPI laptop screens. With CQS turned on, GeForce Now streams will max out at a hefty 100Mbps. That’ll make it ideal for people with 1Gbps or faster connections, but it could be out of reach if you’ve got slower internet or restrictive bandwidth caps. I’ve only seen a screenshot of CQS in action, but it’s definitely something I’ll be testing further once the new GeForce NOW servers launch in September. NVIDIA also plans to expand the number of titles on GeForce NOW with a new feature called Install-to-Play games, which will automatically get installed to cloud storage servers. Performance and Ultimate-tier subscribers will get 100GB of storage for free, and they can upgrade to 200GB for $2.99 monthly, 500GB for $4.99 per month and 1TB for $7.99. Typically, GeForce NOW games are preinstalled on servers and wait for players to queue them up. (It’s also worth noting that the service taps into games you’ve already bought on existing storefronts like Steam, your subscription doesn’t get you a collection of games to play like Xbox cloud streaming.) NVIDIA says that GeForce Now will have up 2,300 pre-installed games this year, and together with Install-to-Play options there will be over 4,500 games on the service. That goes a long way towards making GeForce Now more appealing to mainstream players — if you could play most new titles over the cloud for a monthly fee, why have a gaming PC at all? To that end, NVIDIA is also making GeForce NOW work even better across a wide variety of devices. It’ll support up to 90fps on the Steam Deck through its native app, and it will also stream in 5K on newer LG OLED monitors. LG TVs will also get a native GeForce NOW app that supports up to 4K 120Hz streams, a first for any TV maker. NVIDIA also says that many Logitech racing wheels will be supported, as well. (Though I wonder how many people are traveling with wheels when they want to game on the go.) While its unclear if game streaming will ever replace local gaming, GeForce NOW is certainly getting close with the addition of RTX 5080 GPUs and a wealth of new features. And given the rise of streaming TV service costs these days, its pricing seems relatively fair. You can test out a free ad-supported version of GeForce NOW, or pay $10 a month (or $100 a year) for ad-free 1,440p support. For most people, especially if they’re just streaming to laptops and handhelds, that’ll be more than enough. But the Ultimate tier isn’t unreasonable at $20 a month, $100 for six months or $200 annually. That’s a small price to pay to game in 4K (and 5K!) without a huge rig. During my recent testing of GeForce NOW Ultimate with RTX 4080 servers, I noticed that it’s relatively easy to launch games, performance is generally smooth and it works well across handhelds, TVs and multiple computers. I’d expect much of the same for the RTX 5080 servers, but I’ll report back next month when they actually launch. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/nvidias-geforce-now-game-streaming-gets-rtx-5080-gpus-better-image-quality-and-more-193040331.html?src=rss

Human resources technology company Workday has confirmed that a data breach has affected its third-party CRM platform. In a blog post announcing the breach, the company said that a social engineering campaign had targeted its employees, with threat actors posing as IT or HR in order to trick employees into sharing account access or personal information. The company says that while the threat actors were able to access some information from the CRM, there is no indication of any access to customer accounts or the data within them. “We acted quickly to cut the access and have added extra safeguards to protect against similar incidents in the future,” the post reads. Workday says that the information gathered from the CRM consists of “commonly available” business contact information such as names, email addresses and phone numbers. From the sound of its blog post, the information of Workday end users was not revealed, only information from the companies it has contracts with. What is known with some certainty at this point is that Workday’s CRM was breached. The company’s statement that “no indication” of a deeper customer data breach was found is far from a guarantee — often, the full scope of hacks like this aren’t known until later. Earlier this year, Workday laid off around 1,750 employees, or around 8.5 percent of its workforce. The company said it was “prioritizing innovation investments like AI and platform development, and rigorously evaluating the ROI of others across the board.” The precise third-party CRM Workday is referring to was not disclosed. Earlier this year Google fell victim to a hack via the Salesforce app, and last year Disney said it would stop using Slack, the Salesforce-owned messaging platform, after a hack exposed company data. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/workday-says-hackers-used-social-engineering-to-access-personal-data-during-a-breach-183451732.html?src=rss

The second season of Prime Video’s Fallout is coming this December and the marketing machine is just starting to ramp up. The streamer has released some light plot details and, more importantly, several cool images. Two of these photos reference the franchise’s iconic New Vegas location, which was teased at the end of the first season. Prime Video says that season two will take “audiences along for a journey through the wasteland of the Mojave to the post-apocalyptic city of New Vegas.” However, we still don’t know if the show’s depiction will be franchise accurate. The released images show Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) touring the actual Las Vegas in the before times, long before becoming the Ghoul. Prime Video However, one picture does show the Lucky 38 casino, which is extremely important to fans of the games. The remaining images catch up with other major players from season one. There’s one of Lucy (Ella Purnell) butting heads with the Ghoul and another showing Maximus (Aaron Moten) back with the Brotherhood of Steel after the events of the season finale. Prime Video We don’t have a trailer yet, but that should be coming soon. December is just a few months away. The Fallout TV show has proven to be a huge hit, both with fans and critics. Prime Video has already renewed it for a third season. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/first-images-from-fallout-season-2-tease-new-vegas-182528357.html?src=rss

Liquid Glass is a huge new change coming to iOS 26. (Apple) We’re past the the halfway point of August, which means that we’re very likely less than a month away from Apple’s annual iPhone event. In addition to announcing its newest iPhone 17 lineup, the company will also give us an official date for downloading iOS 26. While we wait to find out, you can download and install the newly released public beta 2 (or iOS 26 developer beta 6 for developers). I’ve been playing around with it for the past couple of weeks, and have found that taking screenshots is way better in the new operating system — Google and ChatGPT search options are now in the screenshots editor, for instance. You can see a more complete view of the new features in our preview of the iOS 26 public beta release, which shows off the fresh home and lock screen redesign. Called Liquid Glass, the new translucent look will extend across all of Apple’s upcoming operating systems. The overhaul is one of several big changes coming to iOS, macOS, iPadOS and the rest of Apple’s software suite, all of which were showcased during the company’s WWDC keynote on June 9. After overpromising on AI plans last year, Apple kept its iOS roadmap focused more on basic quality of life improvements this year. There are multiple useful additions coming to the Phone and Messages apps on your iPhone, for instance: Apple execs outlined the ability to weed out spam texts or other unknown senders and an option to hold your spot on a phone call when you’ve been waiting for a representative to pick up. Plus, a treasured feature that we took for granted is coming back (hint: it’s in the Photos app). Siri, meanwhile, is in a holding pattern. Apple has previously specified that its smarter voice assistant — first promised at WWDC 2024 — is delayed until some point “in the coming year,” so you shouldn’t expect any major changes in the current betas. But there are reports that Apple is aiming to give Siri a bigger brain transplant by basing it on third-party artificial intelligence models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, which could make 2026 a pivotal year. The company is also reportedly working on a ‘stripped-down’ AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT. With each beta, it seems like additional new improvements are popping up, like this new AirPods gesture we’re all curious about, and this FaceTime feature that’ll freeze your video if it detects nudity. With the release of the iOS 26 developer beta 5, we saw more added features, like a new bouncy animation on the passcode screen and in the Control Center, MacRumors reports. Some or all of those changes will likely soon migrate into the separate public beta (see below). Most newer iPhone models are eligible to download iOS 26 (both the betas and final version). Want to see the full list of new features coming this fall? Read on.  What is iOS 26? The current iPhone operating system is iOS 18, and Apple is still actively updating it — version 18.6.1 was just recently released to restore Apple Watch blood oxygen monitoring functionality for certain users in the US, and another minor iOS 18 update is expected before the newest OS is launched, according to a leaker who shared the info with MacRumors. But don’t expect to see iOS 19. Instead, Apple is skipping the numbering ahead to iOS 26 later this year. The company has decided to line up its iOS version numbers with a year-based system, similar to car model years. So while iOS and its sibling operating systems will be released in late 2025, they’re all designated “26” to reflect the year ahead.  It’s official, we’re moving to iOS 26. (Apple) What is Liquid Glass design? Let’s be honest. Out of everything announced at WWDC this year, the new Liquid Glass design was the star of the show. The iPhone’s home and lock screens have looked pretty much the same year after year — the last exciting thing (in my opinion) was the option to add your own aesthetic to your home screen by customizing your apps and widgets. So seeing the home and lock screens’ new facelift is refreshing. So what exactly is Liquid Glass? Apple calls it a “new translucent material” since, well, the apps and widgets are clear. However, the screen can still adapt to dark and light modes, depending on surroundings. You’ll also notice buttons with a new floating design in several apps, like Phone and Maps. They’re designed to be less distracting than the current buttons, but are still easy to see. While the design overhaul has proven to be controversial since its announcement, some — including Engadget’s own Devindra Hardawar — like the new direction, even if it’s somewhat reminiscent of Microsoft’s translucent Windows Vista Aero designs from nearly twenty years ago. That said, as of the release of the iOS 26 beta 2, Apple has already incorporated some user feedback into the design, dialing back the transparency in at least some places. And while it will continue to evolve, Apple users won’t be able to escape it: Liquid Glass was designed to make all of Apple’s OSes more cohesive. Here’s a look at how the translucent aesthetic will look with the new macOS Tahoe 26 on your desktop. What are the new and notable features of iOS 26? iOS 26 has a laundry list of new features. Among the most worthwhile: Phone app redesign: You’ll finally be able to scroll through contacts, recent calls and voicemail messages all on one screen. It also comes with a new feature called Hold Assist that’ll notify you when an agent comes to the phone so you can avoid the elevator music and continue on with other tasks. Live Translation in Phone, FaceTime and Messages: iOS 26 is bringing the ability to have a conversation via phone call or text message with someone

NordVPN announced today in a blog post that its Meshnet feature will shut down on December 1. All aspects of Meshnet will stop working on that date, though nothing else about NordVPN will be affected. If you were using Meshnet to connect computers, route web traffic through a personal device or share files, you’ll need to find another solution by December. As I mentioned in my NordVPN review, Meshnet was one of the most envelope-pushing features on any VPN, letting users link their devices through a NordLynx tunnel without needing to go through a third-party server. Once the tunnel was set up, you could access either device through the other one to share files or access services. With enough connected devices, you could check your work email, visit a friend’s media server, play a remote game on another server and watch your home-based TV subscriptions — all from a single laptop anywhere on the planet. Unbelievably, it was even free to use. I’m sad to see Meshnet go, but as NordVPN’s blog post makes clear, it never found its audience. As exciting as it was to people like me who spend all day squinting at the guts of VPNs, it didn’t provide enough everyday value to catch on with the majority of NordVPN’s customers. Hindsight shows us that Meshnet’s benefits, like remote desktop and file sharing, were mainly business-oriented; selling those was always going to be an uphill battle in a market where VPNs are more commonly used for personal reasons. If you’re one of the few people who was actually using Meshnet, you have a few months to arrange alternatives. Should you want to stay within the NordVPN ecosystem, you can replace its file sharing features with NordLocker, which gives you 3 GB of storage for free. Of course, Google Drive is also an option. For remote access, NordVPN recommends ZeroTier, a platform where you can connect up to 10 devices without paying. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/nordvpn-will-discontinue-meshnet-on-december-1-175538284.html?src=rss

Substack now lets users subscribe to any paid publication via an in-app purchase from the official iOS app. The news comes after the company tested the feature with 30,000 creators. This makes subscribing to something a much speedier affair, with the entire process taking just a few taps on the old smartphone screen. Prior to this, it wasn’t always possible to upgrade to a paid subscription directly in the app. Substack However, there’s a fairly major caveat. It’s likely that subscriptions paid for by in-app purchases will be more expensive than usual. That’s to accommodate Apple’s cut of the revenue. Substack says it “automatically sets” iOS app prices higher so creators take home approximately the same amount. These creators can dive into the settings to lower the price. There’s another way to subscribe to your favorite Substack creators without burning too much time. Apple now allows iOS apps in the US to include external payment links, which stems from a legal ruling following a lawsuit from Epic Games. This isn’t quite as speedy as an iOS sub, but the prices are right. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/substack-turns-on-ios-in-app-payment-option-for-all-paid-newsletters-172237507.html?src=rss