Bioware fans have been waiting quite some time to return to Mass Effect, the studio’s stalwart sci-fi franchise. After 2012’s Mass Effect closed out Commander Shepard’s story on a polarizing note and 2017’s Mass Effect Andromeda disappointed, the franchise has remained dormant. We know a new Mass Effect is in development, but we don’t know much about the game yet.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences acknowledged the existence of generative AI yesterday in new rule changes for its annual Oscars awards ceremony. Rather than dictate its use or require disclosures, the Academy simply says using AI doesn’t, on its own, hurt a movie’s chances — but that how it’s used could.Here’s what the Academy says in a passage added to its film eligibility guidelines:With regard to Generative Artificial Intelligence and other digital tools used in the making of the film, the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination. The Academy and each branch will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award.As The New York Times notes, the organization almost went further by requiring filmmakers to disclose whether they used AI in creating a movie.The mention of AI is a first for the Academy’s rules, as the Times writes, and a significant one given lengthy actor and writer Hollywood strikes that started in 2023 and were, in part, prompted by the rise of the technology and its perceived threat to creative workers in the industry. The Academy didn’t just address AI with the new rule changes. Another new rule states that members are only eligible to participate in the final round of voting if they’ve watched all of the films being considered for a given category. But as the Times notes, it’s an honor-system requirement, as voters self-certify that they did so, and don’t have to prove it beyond that.

Instead of actually making Windows 11 worthwhile by adding features and resolving bugs that would convince a Windows 10 user to willingly upgrade, Microsoft takes a somewhat interesting approach. They quietly break Windows 10 features that people like, thinking that would finally convince users to take the plunge.

Max has become the latest streaming service to clamp down on password sharing. Warner Bros. Discovery announced on Tuesday that Max will charge an extra $7.99 per month to add someone to your account outside your household.The new “Extra Member Add-On” allows subscribers across all tiers to invite a friend or family member to create a separate account with their own login credentials. These members can stream from one device at a time and “enjoy all other benefits included in the primary account owner’s base plans,” according to Warner Bros. Discovery. Subscribers can only add one extra member per account.Max is also rolling out a profile transfer feature, which is supposed to make it easier for extra members to carry their watch history, recommendations, and settings over to a new account. Right now, Max’s extra member add-on is only available to people who subscribe directly to the service — not bundle subscribers.Max has been hinting at adding paid sharing to the service since last year, with Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming head JB Perette saying in December that users will be able to add extra members in the first quarter of 2025. Netflix recently upped the price of its ad-free extra member offering to $8.99 in January, while an extra membership with ads costs $6.99 per month. Disney Plus launched a similar add-on for people you don’t live with, which also starts at $6.99 per month with ads.

For a little over a decade, Microsoft has been working on a file system to succeed NTFS, which has been used in Windows since the introduction of the Windows NT kernel in the 1990s. This file system, called ReFS has been around for quite some time, but for most of us, it's still new, considering Microsoft has gradually been adding new features that make the file system more viable in more scenarios.

Solar cells are joined together during production at the SunSpark Technology Inc. manufacturing facility in Riverside, California, U.S., on Tuesday, April 3, 2018. | Photo: Getty ImagesSolar cells from four Southeast Asian countries that have been major suppliers to the US are facing newly increased tariffs, hiked up as high as 3,521 percent. The tariffs affect Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, which together accounted for more than three quarters of total module imports last year, according to Bloomberg. The tariffs essentially make the products “unmarketable” in the US, the Wall Street Journal reports.The tariffs essentially make the products “unmarketable”The move comes after long-running Commerce Department investigations into whether Chinese companies were funneling products through Southeast Asia to avoid tariffs and lower prices. It also heightens Donald Trump’s trade war with China after roiling global markets with drastic tariff proposals this month. The president called a 90-day pause on tariffs, excluding China. US solar companies have been split on what to do about cheap solar cells from Southeast Asia. Domestic manufacturers petitioned the Commerce Department to investigate, while renewable energy project developers are worried about the tariffs raising costs for construction and the manufacturing of panels in the US using imported cells.Cambodia refused to comply with the investigation, and got hit with the highest tariffs at 3,521 percent. Duties for companies in Vietnam reach as high as 395.9 percent, 375.2 in Thailand, and 34.4 for Malaysia. The US International Trade Commission still has to weigh in on the proposed tariffs in June to finalize them.

When it's time to choose a PC case for a new build, you can either go with a small form factor case, a standard mid-tower, or one of the largest cases on the market. While each form factor is suited to different builds, picking a spacious case is seldom associated with anything other than limitless compatibility and enhanced upgradability. Spacious cases are beneficial in many more ways when you consider things like heat dissipation, cable management, PC cleaning, and larger case fans. If you're in the market for a new case, take these factors into account before choosing your case form factor.

Pinterest is testing a new pop-up prompt it will display to minors in the US and Canada during school hours, encouraging them to close the app and turn off notifications until the end of the day.“Focus is a beautiful thing,” the prompt says. “Stay in the moment by putting Pinterest down and pausing notifs [sic] until the school bell rings.”The pop-up will only appear to minors aged 13 to 17, and only between 8AM and 3PM, Monday to Friday. It’s a large-scale test, which Pinterest says will reach “millions” of school-age users. It claims to be the first tech company testing this sort of “proactive” feature to help students focus, after CEO Bill Ready announced support for the Kids Online Safety Act and phone-free school policies.New York is close to implementing a statewide ban on phone use during the school day, and several other states already have policies limiting or prohibiting phone use. In Europe, countries like Denmark and the Netherlands have already banned phones in schools and France recently announced that teens will have to lock their phones away while at school from the next academic year.Pinterest has also announced a $1 million grant to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to “support school leaders in creating a healthy digital culture in their schools.” The money will fund task forces across 12 US school districts to develop policies that “improve students’ digital wellbeing.”“At Pinterest, we believe that schools can take advantage of all that technology has to offer students, while minimizing the harms and distractions,” said Wanji Walcott, Pinterest’s chief legal and business affairs officer. “Tech companies need to work together with teachers, parents, and policymakers to build solutions that ensure in the hands of our students, smartphones are tools, not distractions.”

Marvel Rivals has added more ways to get players to express themselves through new customization features. NetEase issued a statement regarding the option to release a big update for the game on Thursday (April 17), detailing general fixes and character-specific issues that sometimes broke the game.

Google Fi is launching a new Unlimited Essentials plan, costing $35 per month for one line. It’s now Google Fi’s most affordable plan, offering unlimited calls, text, and data, along with access to 30GB of high-speed data.As part of the change, Google Fi is renaming its Simply Unlimited plan to Unlimited Standard, which still costs $50 per month for one line. The plan will now offer up to 50GB of high-speed data instead of 35GB. That means you can use your data for longer without experiencing a slowdown. The Unlimited Standard plan now has 25GB of high-speed hotspot tethering instead of 5GB, too.Google is also increasing the high-speed data cap on its Unlimited Premium plan (formerly Unlimited Plus) from 50GB to 100GB. The plan will remain at $65 per month for one line, but it no longer offers unlimited high-speed hotspot tethering and now has a 50GB limit.In addition to these updates, Google Fi will now let you connect a secondary tablet or laptop to your plan with a data-only eSIM, which devices like Apple’s newest iPad Air and iPad Pro come with. Google Fi has long offered the ability to add a secondary device to your plan, but it previously required you to use a physical, data-only SIM card.To add a device with an eSIM to your plan, head to fi.google.com/account from your phone, select Manage plan, and then tap Connect your tablet. Google will then prompt you to scan a QR code with your tablet or laptop, and you’ll be able to connect your device to the internet “at no extra cost.”There are a couple of other updates coming to Google Fi as well. It will now let iPhones as well as Android phones access international 5G, and is expanding international 5G coverage to over 92 countries for users on its Unlimited Premium and Flexible plans. Google is also adding the ability to listen to voicemails from your Phone app instead of the Fi app “in the coming weeks.”

When the eufyMaker UV Printer E1 landed on my doorstep, I was excited to finally get hands-on with this unreleased machine. It promises direct-to-surface printing on everything from T-shirts and tumblers to canvas, wood, metal, and even glass. Since it hasn’t officially launched yet, I didn’t have the usual safety net of community tips, YouTube walkthroughs, or Reddit threads to fall back on. At first, there were just a few videos showing what it could do and a handful of tutorials included in the press kit.

Earn one mile per dollar spent on Uber rides to the airport. | Image: UberDelta SkyMiles members can now link their accounts to Uber, earning miles for money spent on rides and food delivery, the companies announced today. The news kicks off a partnership between Uber and Delta Air Lines that was first announced earlier this year. Once a customer’s accounts are linked, they can earn one mile per dollar spent on UberX rides to the airport, two miles for every dollar spent on premium rides like Uber Comfort and Uber Black, and three miles per dollar on Uber Reserve trips. For Uber Eats, customers can earn one mile for every dollar spent on orders over $40 from restaurants and grocery stores. Likewise, Delta customers can now use the airline’s smartphone app to book an Uber ride to or from the airport. And later this year, SkyMiles members who log in to the in-flight WiFi will receive a special offer of 30 percent off to book an Uber Reserve ride for pickup when they land. Uber is the latest to team up with Delta for expanded loyalty earnings. The airline has also formed partnerships with Starbucks, Hertz, and Ticketmaster.Delta had previously teamed up with Lyft on a similar deal to earn miles from ridehail trips. Now, the airline has dropped the smaller rival in favor of Uber, which is significantly larger in terms of market share, ride volume, and revenue. Uber is also announcing the launch of an airport shuttle in Atlanta, after launching similar shuttles for JFK and LaGuardia airports in New York City. (The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is a major hub for Delta.)Introductory pricing will be $10, which rises to $18.50 after the promotion. Starting in May, Uber will offer multiple routes from Downtown and Midtown locations to and from the airport, with service every 30 minutes from 6:00am – 10:00pm, 7 days a week. The company says it said it’s currently in talks with Boston’s Logan International Airport about bringing its shuttle service there.