Meta Quest headsets will soon no longer need a Facebook login

Meta is changing course on its controversial requirement for users of its virtual reality headsets to log in with a Facebook account. Instead, they’ll need a new Meta account, which won’t need to be linked to Facebook. The company will start rolling out the new account next month for existing and new Meta Quest users. Those with a legacy Oculus account will need to have a Meta account to keep using their headset after January 1st, 2023.

The company stressed that a Meta account is not a social media profile, saying that it “lets you log into your VR devices and view and manage your purchased apps in one place.” It noted that future devices will require Meta accounts too.

There is a social aspect to the new account type though, at least for VR headsets. When you create a Meta account, you’ll need to create a Meta Horizon profile with the username, avatar, profile photo and so on that you’ll use in the company’s vision of the metaverse.

Oculus friends will become your followers and you’ll automatically follow them back. You can, of course, unfollow people and stop others from following you. You’ll still have the option of linking your Meta account to Facebook and Instagram, so you’ll be able to chat with friends in the VR version of Messenger or find some buds to play games with. 

While Facebook has a one-account-per-person rule, the company is fine with you having multiple Meta accounts. Perhaps you’ll have one for virtual meetings and another for hanging out with friends.

The new accounts will offer privacy controls, including the option to make your profile private and manually approve follower requests. Users aged between 13 and 17 will have private profiles by default.

This is an important shift for Meta as it continues to place more focus on its vision of the metaverse. However, Meta is said to have scaled back its metaverse ambitions in the last few months, having reportedly killed off some Reality Labs projects and put a planned dual-camera smartwatch on hold. 

Still, there are at least some positives of Meta divorcing VR from its social media apps. Folks who are interested in Meta Quest but want nothing to do with Facebook will no longer need an account for the latter.

Critically acclaimed card game ‘Inscryption’ is coming to PS4 and PS5

Inscryption, one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2021, is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. So far, it’s only been available on Windows, macOS and Linux but publisher Devolver Digital is bringing it to consoles.

At its core, Inscryption is a card game that’s dripping with horror. You’ll sacrifice certain animal-based cards to play more powerful ones against your opponent. There’s so much more to it than that, though this is definitely one of those games where the less you know about it going in, the better. It’s not too much of a spoiler to say things get pretty strange. Inscryption will absolutely mess with your expectations.

The roguelike deckbuilder scooped up game of the year honors from a few publications and it received some Game Awards nominations. Inscryption has been a hit with players too. It sold more than a million copies in less than three months.

Developer Daniel Mullins is adding some extra features to the PlayStation versions, particularly for the PS5’s DualSense controller. There’ll be haptic feedback and you’ll hear audio from your companion, a talking stoat card, through your controller’s speaker. Mullins also promises to bring atmospheric lighting to the controller through the light bar. There’s no release date for PS4 and PS5 as yet, but here’s hoping it’s not too far away.

Netflix starts using new Ambeo spatial audio tech from Sennheiser

Sennheiser has developed an approach to spatial audio that doesn’t require a surround sound system. The tech, called Ambeo 2-Channel Spatial Audio, will work on standard stereo speakers, Sennheiser says. The company says Ambeo will deliver “an improved audio experience wherever stereo is delivered today, be it standard TV sets, stereo systems, headphones, tablets or laptops.”

A number of Sennheiser’s partners have worked with the company to fine-tune Ambeo. One of those is Netflix, which is the first streaming service to employ the tech. The first title that used Ambeo is season four of Stranger Things. Others include Red Notice, The Witcher and the upcoming live-action Resident Evil series.

As long as your device’s audio output is set to stereo audio, you won’t have to adjust any settings to try Ambeo. Netflix is making it the default setting for two-channel setups for certain titles (you can find those by searching for “spatial audio” on Netflix). 

Ambeo renders the full immersive audio mix into two channels. It uses existing industry standard file types and it doesn’t need a separate mix. Sennheiser says the renderer offers granular control over spatialization.

​“What sets Sennheiser apart from other solutions is that the Ambeo rendering respects the original mix, tonal balance and dialog integrity, which is exactly what the re-recording mixer is looking for,” Dr Renato Pellegrini of the Ambeo team said in a statement. “The processing is in line with Sennheiser’s reputation to deliver tools that are ‘transparent’ and do not interfere with the original sound. In a nutshell: Sennheiser 2-Channel Spatial Audio seeks to translate mixer intent, not to overpower it.”

If Ambeo works as well as promised, this could be a solid solution for folks who don’t have sufficient equipment to take advantage of Dolby Atmos and other spatial audio tech.

CDPR’s single-player ‘Gwent’ spin-off is out today on PC and mobile

CD Projekt Red has released another entry in its series of The Witcher games. The studio is billingGwent: Rogue Mage as a single-player expansion for Gwent, but it’s sold separately. It’s out today on PC, iOS and Android for $10. A $20 premium edition comes with perks for Gwent.

Rogue Mage was announced earlier this year under the working title of Project Golden Nekker. It takes place hundreds of years before the birth of Witcher protagonist Geralt of Rivia. You’ll play as the mage Alzur, who is attempting to create the very first witcher to protect humanity from an onslaught of monsters.

Don’t go into it expecting a ton of details that will play into the next mainline Witcher game, though. “While we have a story to tell about Alzur’s obsession to create the first witcher, we do not treat this expansion as an official addition to The Witcher lore,” game director Vladimir Tortsov told IGN. “We hope that players will get enough immersion to complement the gameplay-first formula, but we do not expect the story to be the main reason for players to appreciate this release.”

The game is a roguelike deckbuilder. You’ll move around a procedurally generated map and take part in card battles based on mechanics from the original Gwent. You’ll be able to upgrade your army by collecting more cards and gear. There are dozens of difficulty modifiers too.

Tortsov says it will likely take players north of 30 hours to do and find everything in Rogue Mage, which is designed for gameplay sessions that take up to an hour. The game can be played entirely offline, though there are online features like leaderboards and cross-saves, so you can continue playing where you left off on other devices.

CDPR debuted the original Gwent in 2016. It’s a free-to-play multiplayer title based on a minigame in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Rogue Mage isn’t the first single-player take on Gwent, though. CDPR previously released a single-player campaign called Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.

NBA 2K23’s $150 Championship Edition includes a year of NBA League Pass

NBA 2K23 will arrive on September 9th, and it comes with a solid perk for those who plump for the premium $150 Championship Edition. Among other things, the package includes a year of access to NBA League Pass. If you’re an avid NBA viewer who plays ea…

Netflix says a ‘Stranger Things’ stage play and spin-off series are on the way

The otherworldly dust has settled on season four of Stranger Things, which just wrapped up with a blockbuster pair of episodes. While The Duffer Brothers, who created the show, have one more season of the Netflix megahit to make, they’re looking ahead to future projects.

Matt and Ross Duffer have set up a new production company as part of their partnership with Netflix. Fittingly enough, it’s called Upside Down Pictures. The studio, which will be run by Ozark and Orphan Black producer Hilary Leavitt, will “aim to create the kind of stories that inspired the Duffers growing up — stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism,” Netflix said.

The company and the Duffers also revealed some of the projects they have in the pipeline. For one thing, they’re working on a stage play set in the world of Stranger Things. Emmy- and Tony-award winner Stephen Daldry, known for his work on The Crown and Billy Elliot, will direct the play. A live-action Stranger Things spin-off series is also in the works.

Intriguingly, Netflix is taking another stab at adapting the classic manga and anime series Death Note with the help of the Duffers. Unlike the poorly received 2017 movie, this will be a live-action show.

Also in the works under the wing of Upside Down Pictures are a series from Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews and an adaption of Stephen King and Peter Straub‘s The Talisman. The production company and Netflix have teamed up with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Paramount Television for the latter series.

Stranger Things is easily one of Netflix’s biggest successes. Fans have already collectively viewed more than a billion hours of Stranger Things 4 alone. After Squid Game, it’s only the second season of a Netflix show to hit that milestone within 28 days of release.

As such, it’s not too much of a surprise that Netflix wants to expand the Duffers’ remit to (hopefully) work their magic on more shows and movies. The company is having a rough year and is in desperate need of more big hits to draw in new subscribers and keep existing ones on board.

Apple is building a Lockdown Mode to fend off cyberattacks on high-profile users

Apple has announced Lockdown Mode, an “extreme” level of security designed for a “very small number of users who face grave, targeted threats.” It will be available this fall when the company rolls out iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura.The company sa…

Marriott suffers at least its seventh data breach since 2010

Marriott confirmed it was the target of yet another data breach after attackers recently breached the company’s systems. The company said hackers used social engineering techniques to gain access to an employee’s computer. After obtaining around 20GB of data, the person or group behind the attack tried to extort Marriott, but the company refused to pay up. 

The hackers had access to Marriott’s network for less than a day. The company told CyberScoop it was already looking into the breach before it received the extortion attempt. The incident is said to have taken place around a month ago, but it only just came to light. 

Marriott has informed law enforcement and is assisting with the investigation. It also will notify regulators and between 300 and 400 individuals, most of whom are former employees. “Their information was in archived files that were not detected by the scanning tool we use as part of our proactive security efforts to identify and remove sensitive data from devices,” a Marriott spokesperson told Engadget.

According to DataBreaches, which first reported on the attack, the hackers gained access to a server at BWI Airport Marriott in Maryland. They provided the publication with screenshots that appear to show reservation documents for flight crews, along with corporate credit card numbers for an airline or travel agency. Marriott said most of the information the hackers accessed was “non-sensitive internal business files regarding the operation of the property.”  

“The incident only involved access to one associate’s device and documents on a connected file share server,” the spokesperson said. “The incident did not involve access to Marriott’s core network, the guest reservation system at the property or the payment processing system at the property.”

This is at least the seventh data security incident involving Marriott since 2010, according to DataBreaches. One of the more notable cases emerged in November 2018. The company said hackers gained access to the reservation database of its Starwood subsidiary and obtained personal details of as many as 383 million guests (though some of those were believed to be duplicate records). The data included 5.3 million unencrypted passport numbers. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office fined Marriott £18.4 million (around $21.9 million at today’s rates) over the incident.

Update 7/6 3:24PM ET: Added more details from Marriott.

Toyota runs out of federal EV tax credits, pushing prices higher

Toyota is the latest automaker to run out of US federal tax credits and it will join Tesla and GM in losing access to the $7,500 subsidy. The company surpassed the qualifying sales threshold for EVs and hybrids in June, as Bloomberg reports.

The government limited each carmaker to 200,000 EV tax credits, though Toyota and other companies have been lobbying for that cap to be lifted. Toyota says losing the credit will mean its EVs are more expensive for consumers, which will slow the transition away from combustion-engine cars to EVs.

However, Toyota and Tesla have pushed back on a Biden administration plan to grant extra credits to unionized carmakers. GM, Ford and Stellantis (the parent of Fiat and Chrysler) have unionized plants. The Build Back Better Act, which passed through the House but stalled in the Senate, also included extra credits for cars made entirely in the US.

As things stand, Toyota’s tax credits will be phased out gradually over a one-year period. Bloomberg notes that the value of the subsidy will be halved twice before it expires. However, Toyota will still be able to take advantage of incentives at the state level.