Google’s tool to turn old laptops into Chromebooks is now widely available

Earlier this year, Google announced ChromeOS Flex, a tool that lets anyone take an old Windows or Mac laptop and give it new life by installing Chrome OS. After launching ChromeOS Flex in “early access,” Google now says that Flex is ready to “scale bro…

A single-player Aliens game is in the works for PC, consoles and VR

Between Alien: Isolation, Aliens: Fireteam Elite and the upcoming Aliens: Dark Descent, fans of Aliens games already have a number of titles to enjoy or look forward to. Now, Survios is adding another one to the mix. 

The studio is working with 20th Century Games on an untitled Aliens game for PC, consoles and virtual reality. It will be a single-player, action-horror game. The developer will reveal more details at a San Diego Comic-Con panel on July 21st.

To date, Survios’ games have mostly been for VR, including a racing title called Sprint Vector and a licensed The Walking Dead offering. It has made one non-VR game so far, a boxing title based on the Rocky/Creed franchise. The studio’s Aliens game is likely some time away — Survios is still putting together a team to work on it. However, VR is typically a good fit for horror games. Alien: Isolation’s VR mode alone might be enough to convince you of that.

The best study-from-home essentials for students

Engadget recommends a variety of laptops every year as part of our back-to-school guide. But that’s not quite enough if you want a productive study environment. Whether you’re a student staying home this year or you’re returning to campus, you’ll benef…

Amazon promises fairer seller program to avoid EU fines

Amazon is making some significant commitments in an attempt to escape EU fines for allegedly misusing seller data. The European Commission is asking for public feedback on Amazon proposals that theoretically give third-party sellers a better chance of competing with Amazon’s direct sales. The company has pledged to avoid using private seller data in situations where there’s competition with Marketplace shops, whether it’s obtained through automated tools or employee access.

The firm has also promised “non-discriminatory” terms for third parties selling to Prime subscribers, including a choice in delivery and logistics services. Amazon also won’t use participants’ Prime data to give its own logistics a boost, according to one proposal. In another commitment, Amazon vowed “equal treatment” when ranking sellers in the Buy Box section that lets you quickly purchase goods. Runners-up will also have a better chance at grabbing your attention — you’ll see a second offer in the Buy Box if it’s substantially different in terms of price or delivery.

Comments on the proposals will remain open until September 9th. Whatever conditions the EU accepts, they’ll remain in effect for five years with oversight by a trustee reporting to the Commission. They would also cover all of the European Economic Area, although the Buy Box and Prime changes wouldn’t apply to Italy when the country already demanded changes to Amazon’s behavior.

In a statement, Amazon told Engadget it still felt the EU was “unfairly” targeting the company with legal efforts like the Digital Markets Act, but that it “engaged constructively” with regulators to address issues. You can read the full response below. It previously denied allegations in an April 2020 Wall Street Journalreport that it misused third-party seller data to launch competing products, and said the practice was against its policies. However, it caught flak from the US’ House Judiciary Committee for purportedly withholding documents and obstructing an investigation into its practices. The internet giant maintained that it offered “good-faith cooperation” with the House inquiry.

Should the Commission greenlight the proposals, they could bring an end to a long saga. The EC opened an antitrust investigation in July 2019 over concerns Amazon might have been using sensitive Marketplace info to give itself an unfair advantage, and in November 2020 offered a preliminary stance that Amazon shouldn’t rely on those merchants’ business data to refine its sales strategy. With that said, Amazon won’t avoid further trouble even if the EU deal moves forward. It’s still facing a reported SEC investigation in the US, not to mention a Senate bill meant to help third-parties selling through platforms like Amazon.

“While we have serious concerns about the Digital Markets Act unfairly targeting Amazon and a few other U.S. companies, and disagree with several conclusions the European Commission made, we have engaged constructively with the Commission to address their concerns and preserve our ability to serve European customers and the more than 185,000 European small and medium-sized businesses selling through our stores. No company cares more about small businesses or has done more to support them over the past two decades than Amazon.”

Sony’s first PlayStation loyalty program rewards you for earning trophies

Sony has announced its first PlayStation loyalty program. PlayStation Stars will be free to join and you can earn points by playing games and making purchases on the PlayStation Store. You’ll be able to redeem those points for things like PSN wallet funds and certain products from the store.

There will be a “Monthly Check-in” program that will enable you to earn a reward by playing any game. Sony plans to offer rewards to those who win tournaments and earn certain trophies. The first player to earn a platinum trophy for a certain game in their time zone will earn a reward too.

One aspect of the program ruffled some feathers on social media after the announcement. Sony says it will offer digital collectibles as rewards. These are “digital representations of things that PlayStation fans enjoy, including figurines of beloved and iconic characters from games and other forms of entertainment, as well as cherished devices that tap into Sony’s history of innovation.” It said fans will always have collectibles to earn and there will be “ultra rare” ones.

Calling them “digital collectibles” certainly makes them sound like NFTs, but that’s not the case. “It’s definitely not NFTs. Definitely not,” Grace Chen, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s vice president of network advertising, loyalty and licensed merchandise, told The Washington Post. “You can’t trade them or sell them. It is not leveraging any blockchain technologies and definitely not NFTs.” If only Sony had clarified that in its own blog post to avoid confusion.

PlayStation Stars follows similar reward offerings from Microsoft and Nintendo. Microsoft’s program, which is now called Microsoft Points, has been around for many years. Along with earning points by playing Xbox, users can accrue them by searching on Bing and buying products.

Similarly, folks can snag My Nintendo Gold Points by making purchases from the eShop and performing well in tournaments. They can be used for discounts on Switch games. For completing various tasks, you can also earn platinum points which are redeemable for rewards.

Sony says it will build out PlayStation Stars over time. It’s currently testing the program and it’s planning a phased rollout later this year. More details will be revealed in the coming months.

Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is $250 off right now

If you’ve already decided you want to go big on your next laptop, consider the 16-inch MacBook Pro. We gave it a score of 92 in our review, and we didn’t find too much to knock it for. However, it’s pretty pricey with its $2,499 starting price. But right now you can pick it up for $250 less at Amazon as the online retailer has knocked the price of the 512GB version down to $2,249. That’s the best price we’ve seen it, and you can get the discount on their the silver or space gray model.

Buy 16-inch MacBook Pro at Amazon – $2,249

Unlike many of Apple’s other notebooks, the 16-inch MacBook Pro was redesigned a bit to make it more of a power user’s machine. It has a 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display that’s only interrupted by a top notch that houses the 1080p webcam. The TouchBar is gone but Apple’s Magic Keyboard remains a dream to type on, and the trackpad is wonderful to use as well. But arguably most importantly, the sides of the MacBook Pro now have a bunch of ports that have been missing from the notebook for a long time. It has three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, a full-sized HDMI port, and SD card reader, a headphone jack and a MagSafe power connector — all of that’s to say that you won’t be living as much of the dongle life as you might have been before, although you might still need a USB-A adapter every now and then.

The base model that’s on sale runs on Apple’s M1 Pro chipset, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and it comes in at fairly hefty 4.7 pounds. While it’s not the most portable machine (we recommend going for the 14-inch version if that’s a priority for you), it’s certainly a powerhouse when it comes to performance. In our benchmark testing, the Pro blew most comparable Windows machines out of the water and did so while maintaining a strong battery life. The 16-inch Pro lasted about 16.5 hours during our battery tests, and it’s worth noting that we didn’t see a performance dip while running on battery power alone.

Ultimately, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is best for audio and video producers or others in creative fields who want the maximum amount of screen space possible along with some of the best performance you’ll find on a laptop today. Yes, it remains pricey even when on sale, but it’s a much better buy when you can grab it for $250 less than usual.

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MacBook Air M2 review (2022): Apple’s near-perfect Mac

The new MacBook Air is one of Apple’s most important computers since Steve Jobs pulled the original Air out of an envelope. It shows what’s possible when Apple builds an ultraportable entirely around its mobile chips, instead of lazily sticking them in…

Twitter suffers worldwide outage

Twitter’s recent troubles include more than its battle with Elon Musk. The social media giant has suffered a global outage that started shortly after 8AM Eastern. Users reported a variety of glitches, including generic “error” messages and even broken website alerts. The issue affected both Twitter’s web version as well as apps, including third-party clients. The service appeared to be recovering as of 9AM ET, but the collapse still put a damper on many morning tweets.

We’ve asked Twitter for comment. The company’s status page made no mention of platform problems during the outage.

This isn’t the first significant downtime for Twitter this year. There were two partial outages in February that limited posting and loading tweets for some people. This new failure is considerably more substantial, however, and it brings further attention to Twitter’s uncertain future now that Musk is trying to cancel his $44 billion acquisition.