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The Orion capsule carrying the Artemis II astronauts has successfully splashed down off the coast of San Diego at 8:07PM Eastern time on April 10. It signals the conclusion of Artemis II’s 10-day journey around the moon, which is meant to be a test flight for a future mission that would bring humanity back to the lunar surface. The Orion crew module carrying the mission’s astronauts separated from the service module at 7:33 PM. While the service module was designed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, the crew capsule was built to bring the astronauts back home safely. By 7:53 PM, Orion reached our planet’s upper atmosphere, where a six-minute communication blackout occurred due to the capsule heating up as it started its guided descent. The capsule has 11 parachutes, with its drogue parachutes being deployed at 23,400 feet to stabilize and slow it down. When Orion reached 5,400 feet above the ground, the drogue parachutes were cut off so that the three main parachutes could be deployed. That decreased the capsule’s velocity to 200 feet per second, enabling a safe splashdown. NASA’s engineers conducted several tests while the capsule was in the water before the recovery team headed to the capsule on inflatable boats to extract the crew from Orion. By 9:34 PM, all four crew members were out of the capsule. They were then hoisted into helicopters and flown to the USS John P. Murtha dock ship, where doctors will assess their health. Artemis II launched on April 1 with four astronauts on board: NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen. They traveled around the moon for almost 10 days, reaching distances no other crewed mission has before it. The astronauts took photos of the far side of the moon, the side we don’t see from our planet, including amazing closeups of the lunar surface using their smartphones. That makes them the first humans to directly and personally view the lunar far side. During NASA’s post-splashdown news conference, the agency said it will announce the Artemis III crew soon. Artemis III will rendezvous with one or both commercial landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin in low Earth orbit, which will take humans to the lunar surface. It will test the lander’s ability to dock with Orion before NASA lands humans on the moon again. Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy! 🫶 The Artemis II astronauts have splashed down at 8:07pm ET (0007 UTC April 11), bringing their historic 10-day mission around the Moon to an end. pic.twitter.com/1yjAgHEOYl — NASA (@NASA) April 11, 2026 This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/the-artemis-ii-astronauts-are-back-after-a-10-day-journey-around-the-moon-033800654.html?src=rss

Not everyone needs a $1,000 soundbar. It’s easy to argue the sonic superiority of those flagship models from Samsung, Sonos and Sony, but for some people a simple boost to their TV speakers can provide a world of difference. As part of its 2026 soundbar lineup, Sony debuted the Bravia Theater Bar 5: a $350 entry-level model that covers the basics and comes with a wireless subwoofer in the box. The real question here is how many features are you willing to live without.  The good: Sound quality, bass performance and setup The Theater Bar 5 is the most compact soundbar among Sony’s new models, measuring just 35.5 inches wide. For comparison, that’s still about 10 inches wider than the second-gen Sonos Beam, but nearly 16 inches smaller than Sony’s flagship Theater Bar 9. This stature makes the Bar 5 well-suited for smaller spaces with smaller TVs. In fact, Sony says the soundbar will fit between the legs of Bravia TVs with multi-position stands. Plus, the Bar 5 is just over 2.5 inches tall, slightly shorter than the Beam, so it won’t block the bottom edge of most TVs.  Despite its small size, the Bar 5 cranks out some excellent sound. There’s plenty of crisp, clear audio from the 3.1-channel configuration, and the included subwoofer provides an ample amount of booming bass. The Bar 5 supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, but it doesn’t have up-firing drivers. Instead, the soundbar relies on Sony’s Vertical Surround Engine and S-Force Pro Front Surround tech to virtualize much of the directional and overhead audio. More on that in a bit.  While watching Netflix’s Drive to Survive, I experienced the excitement of F1 cars zooming around various circuits as the Bar 5 does well with general movement. The soundbar’s wide soundstage, excellent detail and booming bass provide some degree of immersion that doesn’t rely on audio projected overhead. That overall clarity and powerful bass are also great for listening to music, as the Bar 5 can handle a range of genres with ease.  The Bravia Theater Bar 5 has a basic, compact design Billy Steele for Engadget From Kieran Behden & William Tyler’s acoustic/electronic 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s to Thursday’s screamo masterpiece Full Collapse, the soundbar performs admirably. Although with heavier genres, I preferred to dial down the bass slightly. Tucker Rule’s kick drum on Full Collapse, for example, was a bit much for the standard tuning here.  After struggling with the setup on LG’s Sound Suite, I was thankful that configuring the Bar 5 was super easy. It’s very much a plug-and-play situation, and the Bravia Connect app guides you through the initial steps. It takes about five minutes to get up and running and I’d wager even the least tech-savvy person in your life can probably figure this out. You can also opt for Night mode (less bass), Sound Field (enhanced audio) and Voice mode (louder dialogue) in the Bravia Connect app.  All of this certainly makes the Bar 5 a solid option for someone who doesn’t need a lot of features, but stands to benefit from augmenting the sound from their TV alone.  The not so good: Constrained Dolby Atmos and limited features  While the Bar 5 supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio, Sony’s virtualization tech was a disappointment. There’s some side-to-side directional sound, but I noticed almost no simulated overhead noise. The Bar 5’s sonic clarity makes it a solid option for boosting living room audio, just don’t expect the enveloping effects that more robust (and more expensive) soundbars would offer.  There are several features you won’t find on the Theater Bar 5, starting with the lack of onboard controls. I’m well aware that those buttons on top of soundbars don’t get used much, but if you’re like me, you still reach for them occasionally. There were several times during my testing when I tried to blindly tap the non-existent volume controls on the Bar 5. Other than a power button on the right side, your options for controlling this soundbar are a remote and the Bravia Connect app.  The power button on the right side Billy Steele for Engadget You also won’t find a Wi-Fi connection on the Bar 5. This means that AirPlay and Google Cast aren’t available to easily beam audio from your devices to the soundbar. There is Bluetooth 5.3, so you do have an option for music and podcasts from your phone or laptop if you need it. However, pairing your devices to the soundbar via Bluetooth isn’t as quick as selecting the soundbar in your streaming app when AirPlay or Cast are on the spec sheet.  Lastly, Sony doesn’t offer any type of room calibration on Theater Bar 5. Sure, a smaller soundbar like this is better in smaller spaces, but it would still be nice to have the system dial in the audio for the aspects of the room. After all, not every living room is a perfect rectangle. I can understand why the company left this feature out of a $350 model, since the tool would require extra components like microphones. This is certainly one of the more noticeable trade-offs for saving some money.   Wrap-up Sometimes the basics are all you need. Sony’s Bravia Theater Bar 5 provides an entry-level boost to TV audio that will be fine for people looking for just that. While there is support for immersive audio, the soundbar’s 3.1-channel setup isn’t the best for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X performance, and that’s really the biggest knock against the Bar 5. However, this model’s excellent audio quality, especially the powerful bass, will suffice for customers just looking to hear their TVs better.  The Bravia Theater Bar 5’s included subwoofer Billy Steele for Engadget If you want a compact soundbar that provides respectable Atmos performance, the second-gen Sonos Beam is your best bet. Sure, it’s more expensive at $499 and it doesn’t come with a subwoofer, but its additional drivers, tweeter and passive radiators offer more robust audio

Google News has begun showing Polymarket bets and odds alongside actual stories, according to a report by Futurism. These look to appear as large blocks that include links to numerous ways for people to lose their money. Bets tend to appear in the “For you” section of Google News, which is supposed to be tailored to a person’s particular interests. Futurism notes that the platform actually placed a Polymarket bet as the top news result when inquiring about the price of Bitcoin. The publication saw links to the prediction market all over Google News, including in searches. It popped up in queries regarding the Strait of Hormuz, which presents a link that lets people bet on the number of ships that would be allowed to pass through the critical passageway. The report even indicates that users were able to set the gambling platform as a source, which directs readers to an aggregate page of other Polymarket links. Oof The Top Google News Result Is For Polymarket LOL. We Cooked. pic.twitter.com/IFBbYFdn2A — Anthony Higman (@AnthonyHigman) March 26, 2026 There’s a caveat here. I wasn’t personally able to confirm most of these results. This could indicate that Google has quietly made some changes behind the scenes following Futurism’s initial report. Complaints from users on social media indicate that Google started doing this at the tail-end of March. However, one user noted all the way back in January that Polymarket results had started showing up in the news section of a traditional Google search. I was able to replicate that one. Lawrence Bonk/Google News Engadget has reached out to Google to see just what’s going on here and if it plans to continue displaying Polymarket bets alongside actual news stories. The company did announce a partnership with both Polymarket and Kalshi back in November. This deal indicated the two gambling platforms would feed prediction data into Google’s finance platform, but didn’t say anything about News. It’s pretty easy to see why Polymarket would be attractive to Google’s algorithms. The platform generates huge numbers on pages that are constantly updated. This could make these algorithms think the links are leading to valuable news stories and not, you know, a place to bet on human misery. Prediction markets like Polymarket give users the ability to place bets on real world outcomes, which includes wars and other gruesome things. This has led to numerous scandals, which include an incident in which an unknown Polymarket user made more than $400,000 after “predicting” the capture of Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro just hours before US troops invaded the country and abducted him.  Polymarket has hosted bets on the use of nuclear weapons in current global conflicts, which is pretty dang chilling when you consider the possibility of government employees tipping the scales in their favor. President Trump did, after all, recently threaten to end an entire civilization.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-has-reportedly-started-to-add-polymarket-data-to-news-results-161708462.html?src=rss

After its history-making trip around the Moon, NASA’s Artemis II mission is set to return to Earth later today. The Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07PM ET. NASA will stream the landing on YouTube and its NASA+ website, as will Netflix and HBO Max. The official broadcast will begin at 6:30PM ET.   After leaving Earth on NASA’s super heavy-lift SLS rocket and spending nine days in space, the most dangerous part of the Artemis II mission still lies ahead. It will take approximately 13 minutes for the Orion spacecraft to complete re-entry. During that time, it will be subject to temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).  Reentry is dangerous for any crewed spacecraft, but is of particular concern here because of a “skip reentry” during the Artemis 1 mission. At that time, the Orion crew vessel briefly used its own lift to “skip” back out of Earth’s upper atmosphere before re-entering for the final descent, suffering excess charring in the process. NASA spent months investigating and determined the craft was safe to fly, but Artemis II will take a more gradual approach back to Earth in hopes of reducing its exposure to excess heat.  Still, this is the first time in 53 years that NASA will need to guide a human crew back from the Moon. Once all is said and done, however, the Artemis II crew will have traveled 695,081 miles (1,118,624 km), captured amazing images along the way and reminded the world what’s possible when nations work together.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/how-to-watch-the-artemis-ii-landing-145344873.html?src=rss

Google has announced that end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for Gmail on Android and iOS is now rolling out for its enterprise users. Emails that require E2EE in Workspace can be composed and read within the Gmail app, so eligible users won’t need additional apps or portals. The new feature expands Google’s client-side encryption (CSE) offering, a little more than a year after E2EE was introduced to Gmail on the web. According to a Google blog post, any encrypted message sent to a recipient who uses the Gmail app will appear in their inbox as any email thread would. If they don’t have the app, they’re still able to read and reply to the email in their browser securely, regardless of their email address. Google says the new functionality “combines the highest level of privacy and data encryption with a user-friendly experience for all users, enabling simple encrypted email for all customers from small businesses to enterprises and public sector.” Of course, “all users” applies only to Enterprise Plus members here, with the millions of people who use Gmail as their personal email service currently unable to take advantage of the highest level of privacy and data protection. In order for Gmail users to start using E2EE in the app, an admin must first enable Android and iOS clients in the CSE admin interface, which is available in the Admin Console. When sending an email, you have to click the lock icon and select additional encryption before sending. Attachments can then be added as normal. E2EE is available straight away in the Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. Enterprise users will need the Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on, which provides businesses and organizations that handle sensitive data with extra security and compliance-related tools. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/google-adds-e2e-to-gmail-for-ios-and-android-enterprise-users-165345116.html?src=rss

America’s Big Tech companies may soon learn that saddling up with Donald Trump doesn’t tend to work out in the end. As the president sows chaos and distrust around the globe while taking aim at EU tech regulations, Europe is looking for ways to adopt its own alternatives. The latest example is France, which said it’s dropping Microsoft Windows in favor of Linux. On Wednesday, France said (via TechCrunch) it plans to move its workstations from Windows to the open-source Linux. It’s part of a broader movement across Europe toward digital sovereignty, aimed at reducing reliance on foreign tech — especially American and Chinese. Although homegrown alternatives aren’t available in many areas, the EU seems prepared to wean itself off where it can. In January, France announced that it would move its videoconferencing from Zoom and Teams to the French-made Visio. As part of this week’s Linux announcement, France added that it would also migrate its health data to a new platform by the end of 2026. Since taking office, Trump has used tariffs and other measures to try to bully European nations into dropping their regulations on America’s tech industry. In August, he vowed to “stand up to Countries that attack our incredible American Tech Companies.” (The strange capitalizations are his, not ours.) His administration has described laws like the EU’s Digital Services Act as “censorship” and “a tax.” So far, Europe has stood firm. “I want to be very clear: our digital sovereignty is our digital sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the Munich Security Conference in February. “We have a long tradition in freedom of speech. Actually, the Enlightenment started on our continent.” Christian Kroll, CEO of German search engine Ecosia, foresaw Europe’s predicament soon after Trump’s 2024 reelection. “We, as a European community, just need to make sure that nobody can blackmail us.” He added that “if the US turned off access to search results tomorrow, we would have to go back to phone books.” Granted, the guy is selling a European-made search engine, so his bias is clear. But the salience of his point stands. Giorgos Verdi, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the Trump administration’s behavior underscores the need for Europe to break free. “Could the US use its dominance over AI chips, its dominance over cloud in Europe, its dominance over AI systems in order to exert more pressure?” Verdi asked CNN rhetorically in January. “In order to build more resilience for Europe… there is a geopolitical case for European innovations to emerge.” This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/french-government-says-au-revoir-windows-bienvenue-linux-165407232.html?src=rss

Whoop, the makers of a screen-free fitness tracker of the same name, could soon have some competition. Fitbit teased its take on a Whoop-style band with the help of Steph Curry at the end of March, and based on a trademark filing spotted by Gadgets & Wearables, Garmin appears to be working on its own band that tracks similar health metrics. This new Garmin wearable, called “CIRQA” in the trademark filing submitted in February, is designed to measure “the body’s physical parameters and other physiological data, bio-signals, and bodily behavior.” That could broadly describe the smartwatches and fitness trackers Garmin already sells. But the CIRQA apparently goes further, by also measuring “recovery from physical and emotional stress, human alertness level, and performance,” a set of more granular, wellness-focused features that could bring the unreleased wearable into the same ballpark as a Whoop. Garmin accidentally leaked that it was working on a new wearable via a hastily removed store page in January, Android Authority reports. While some phantom web pages and a trademark do not guarantee Garmin is working on a new device, or that the band will be screen-free in the same way the Whoop is. If the company is preparing a competitor, though, the timing makes sense. Where other devices try to split the difference between tracking biometrics and offering real-time information or other smartwatch features, Whoop is decidedly data-first. Its wearables monitor as much information as possible through a nondescript band, and then analyze and display what it learned via a smartphone app. The approach is attractive to anyone tired of dealing with screens, and the growing number of people obsessed with optimizing their health. In fact, Whoop just raised $575 million on the back of its current success. It would make sense that Garmin and Google (via its Fitbit brand) would want a piece of the company’s audience, too. Whoop-style bands are also a perfect fit for future uses of AI in health and fitness tracking. Google is interested in having users turn to Fitbit’s AI-powered health coach for everything from workout tracking to nutrition advice. If health data processing is going to happen in the cloud, and you’re going to have to pull out your smartphone to view that data anyway, it makes sense to sell a tracker without a screen. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/garmin-may-be-working-on-a-whoop-competitor-191802041.html?src=rss

Amazon is ending support for third-party integrations on its Luna cloud gaming service. The most immediate changes mean that it’s no longer possible to buy Ubisoft+ and Jackbox Games subscriptions or standalone games through Luna.  Amazon will automatically any cancel active subscriptions bought through Luna at the end of customers’ next billing cycle. If you have a Ubisoft+ subscription that you bought directly from Ubisoft instead, you’ll still be able to access games on that service through Luna until June 10. The Bring Your Own Library option — which allows users to play games they own on the likes of EA, GOG and Ubisoft on Luna — is going away too. You won’t be able to access games from on those storefronts via Amazon’s streaming service after June 3. If you bought any games outright on Luna, you’ll still be able to play them there until June 10. Unlike Google did when it shut down Stadia, Amazon isn’t offering refunds for those purchases. However, you’ll still have access to them through the respective third-party platform that’s linked to your account, be it the EA App, GOG Galaxy or Ubisoft Connect.  That doesn’t exactly help folks who don’t have powerful-enough systems to play more demanding games and were relying on Luna. As such, some people might need to turn to the likes of GeForce Now in order to keep playing games they bought through Luna (and they’ll need to hope GFN actually supports their specific games).  Amazon has been reshaping Luna over the last several months. It rolled out a revamped version of the service back in October, with more of a focus on GameNight party games that you can play with a smartphone. Prime subscribers will still be able to claim PC games and stream games on the Luna Standard tier at no extra cost. The Luna Premium subscription, which includes a wider range of third-party games, is still available too.  “We’re doubling down on a broad range of gaming experiences, including strong third-party titles, delivered in ways that make great games more accessible, as well as new and unique gaming experiences like GameNight,” Amazon wrote in an email to Luna users. The company also said it will offer some folks a free Luna Premium subscription. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/amazon-luna-ends-support-for-third-party-subscriptions-and-game-purchases-171329996.html?src=rss

A 20-year-old man was arrested by the San Francisco Police Department after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s house, The New York Times reports. In a statement shared on X, SFPD wrote that it responded to a request for a fire investigation in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco around 7:12 AM ET / 4:12AM PT. “At the scene, officers learned that an unknown male subject threw an incendiary destructive device at a home, causing a fire at an exterior gate.” After the man fled on foot, police found and arrested him around an hour later while responding to a business’ complaint about an “unknown male subject threatening to burn down the building.” That business turned out to be OpenAI’s headquarters and the subject happened to be the same man who threw the Molotov at Altman’s house. View our latest statement regarding an incident that occurred early this morning at a North Beach residence. Officers have made an arrest, and no injuries were reported as a result of this incident. pic.twitter.com/t4DsF31uxh — San Francisco Police (@SFPD) April 10, 2026 “Early this morning, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home and also made threats at our San Francisco headquarters. Thankfully, no one was hurt,” an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Wired. “We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe. The individual is in custody, and we’re assisting law enforcement with their investigation.” As it’s become more commonplace, artificial intelligence has also become more divisive. While more and more people continue to use AI tools, public reaction to the encroachment of the technology, whether in gaming or customer service, is increasingly negative. Altman’s warnings of AI’s impact on employment, and a recent New Yorker investigation digging into his allegedly manipulative leadership style at OpenAI, have also raised questions about the CEO’s prominent role as a steward of the technology. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/a-man-allegedly-threw-a-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-house-210444731.html?src=rss

As child social media bans spread across Europe and beyond, Estonia isn’t having it. On Friday, the country’s education minister said the bans won’t “actually solve problems,” while warning that the kids will find a way regardless. Although companies like Meta would love for you to believe it’s a fairy tale, social media addiction is associated with tangible negative repercussions for children. Studies show that its harms range from depression and anxiety to sleep deprivation and obesity. (The latter is from all the targeted junk food advertising.) On the other hand, teens can find community and support from social media. A growing list of countries looked at the negative data and concluded that the answer was to ban social media altogether for children. Although the age cutoff varies, legislation has been floated or enacted in Australia, Greece, France, Austria, Spain, Indonesia, Malaysia, the UK and Denmark — just to name a few. Estonia’s education minister believes these countries are coming at the very real problem from the wrong angle. “The way to approach this, to me, is not to make kids responsible for that harm and start self-regulating,” Kristina Kallas said at a Politico forum in Barcelona. She added that “kids will find very quickly the ways to go around and to still use social media.” Instead, she said the responsibility lies with governments and corporations. “Europe pretends to be weak when it comes to big American and international corporations,” she added. But she called that a “pretense,” challenging the EU to “actually take this power and start regulating the big American corporations.” To be fair, the EU regulates the tech industry more effectively than anywhere else in the world. But the point on childhood social bans stands. Another argument against the bans is that it’s a short path from the well-meaning to a more sinister erosion of basic freedoms. In February, France suggested that the next logical step after passing an under-15 social media ban would be to go after VPNs. After all, once you pass the ban, you need to enforce it — and that can mean snuffing out the tools children could use to work around it. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/estonia-is-the-rare-eu-country-opposing-child-social-media-bans-194620916.html?src=rss