The Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is finally out, bringing together an ensemble of the early years of the franchise into one big package. Fans of Mortal Kombat can relive the glory days of challenging others in the arcades, or simply go on a nostalgia run with the many different versions of titles included in the collection. Everything that people loved about these games is present and exactly as they remember. But that also includes one thing that can still get my blood boiling when I play any of the classic Mortal Kombat titles.

Pretty much every major browser company has jumped onto the bandwagon of integrating AI into their browser in some way or the other, and frankly, I'm all here for it. I'm not talking about browsers with AI features here and there. I'm talking about full-fledged browsers that are built with AI at their core. Some big names are Perplexity's Comet, Opera's Neon, and one you've surely heard of by now: ChatGPT's Atlas.

Just when we thought Epic v. Google might be over, just one Supreme Court rejection away from a complete victory for Epic, both sides have agreed to settle Tuesday evening. And if Judge James Donato, who ordered Google to crack open Android for third-party stores, agrees to the changes, it might turn Epic’s victory into a lasting global one. Previously, Judge Donato agreed to some of Epic’s biggest demands. He issued a permanent injunction that will force Google to carry rival app stores within its own Google Play Store, and give those rival stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps, to restore competition to the Android marketplace. The injunction also forced Google to stop requiring developers to use Google Play Billing, after a jury found the company had illegally tied its app store to its payments system.But those changes only applied to the United States, only lasted for three years, and didn’t change how much Google would charge in app store fees. Now, instead, Google is agreeing to reduce its standard fee to 20 percent or 9 percent, depending on the kind of transaction. It’s agreeing to create a new program in the very next version of Android where alternative app stores can register with Google and (theoretically) become first-class citizens that users can easily install. And it appears to be agreeing to offer “Registered App Stores” and lower fees around the world, not just in the US, through June 2032 — six and a half years from now.“If approved, this would resolve our litigations,” wrote Google Android president Sameer Samat on Tuesday evening, introducing the news:Exciting news! Together with Epic Games we have filed a proposed set of changes to Android and Google Play that focus on expanding developer choice and flexibility, lowering fees, and encouraging more competition all while keeping users safe. If approved, this would resolve our litigations. We look forward to discussing further with the Judge on Thursday.And here’s Epic CEO Tim Sweeney agreeing that this would “settle our disputes”: Google has made an awesome proposal, subject to court approval, to open up Android in the US Epic v Google case and settle our disputes. It genuinely doubles down on Android’s original vision as an open platform to streamline competing store installs globally, reduce service fees for developers on Google Play, and enable third-party in-app and web payments. This is a comprehensive solution, which stands in contrast to Apple’s model of blocking all competing stores and leaving payments as the only vector for competition. The public filings are live.The details of how, when, and where Google would charge its fees are complicated, and they seem to be somewhat tailored to the needs of a game developer like Epic Games. Google can charge 20 percent for an in-app purchase provides “more than a de minimis gameplay advantage,” for example, or 9 percent if the purchase does not. And while 9 percent sounds like it’s also the cap for apps and in-app subscriptions sold through Google Play, period, the proposal notes that that amount doesn’t include Google’s cut for Play Billing if you buy it through that payment system. That cut will be 5 percent, Google spokesperson Dan Jackson tells The Verge, confirming that “ This new proposed model introduces a new, lower fee structure for developers in the US and separates the service fee from fees for using Google Play Billing.” (For reference, Google currently charges 15 percent for subscriptions, 15 percent of the first $1M of developer revenue each year and 30 percent after that, though it also cuts special deals with some big developers.)If you use an alternative payment system, Google might still get a cut: “the Google Play store is free to assess service fees on transactions, including when developers elect to use alternative billing mechanisms,” the proposal reads. But it sounds like that may not happen in practice: “If the user chooses to pay through an alternative billing system, the developer pays no billing fee to Google,” Jackson tells The Verge. According to the document, Google would theoretically even be able to get its cut when you click out to an app developer’s website and pay for the app there, as long as it happens within 24 hours. Speaking of Google’s Play Billing, it sounds like Epic is now fine with Google continuing to force developers to provide it in their apps. Instead, “Alternative payment options shall be shown side-by-side along with Google Play Billing,” though developers would be able to set their own prices and even offer lower prices if you pick alternate billing instead.If Judge Donato approves the settlement and these revisions, it sounds like it could also resolve one of Epic’s biggest arguments against the big app stores since day one: the friction and “scare screens” that Epic alleged keep users from sideloading alternative app stores. “Starting with a version of the next major Android release through June 30, 2032, Google will modify future versions of the Android operating system so that a user can install a Registered App Store from a website by clicking on a single store install screen using neutral language. This will also grant the permission to the store to install apps,” the proposal reads.The proposed modified injunction keeps many of Epic’s other wins in place, including ones that are already in effect today: it has to stop sharing money or perks with phonemakers, carriers, and app developers in exchange for Google Play exclusivity or preinstallation, and let developers communicate with their customers about pricing outside the Play Store.Google and Epic say they will discuss this proposal with the judge on Thursday, November 6th. We’ll let you know what we hear. If approved and the fees truly are meaningfully lower, I wonder if the lower fees might ripple across the industry, changing Apple and Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo and Valve’s stance on them too.Here’s the full proposed modified injunction:View LinkAnd here’s Epic and Google’s legal argument for the modifications:One quote that seems pertinent: The Proposed Modified Injunction, and the Settlement it enables, also address a limitation of the Catalog Access and Third-Party Store Distribution remedies arising from the territorial scope of the Existing Injunction. In Epic’s view, because the Existing Injunction applied only to the United States, even when those remedies were in full bloom, third-party app stores would still face challenges in building the scale necessary to compete vigorously with the Google Play store, with its global footprint. If the Court adopts the Modified Injunction and the Settlement goes into effect, however, the Registered App Store program will result in changes to the Android operating system worldwide, thereby strengthening competition across Android, including in the United States.

The best part about being a tinkerer is that, if a device doesn't exist, you can make it. Granted, it'll take a lot of work, swearing, and some minor injuries, but you can make it. It's at the point where sometimes I see what other people have made and wish that someone actually sold something like that in stores.

There sure is pride in running your own setup. You put it together from scratch, see it come to reality bit by bit, control every little aspect of it, and get your hands dirty when something fails. It all feels joyful early on, but soon things turn into the fatigue of maintenance. That’s when the freedom you chased starts to feel like a lot of work. When you start expecting your NAS to be everything, it turns into a nightmare that is not at all worth it.

Apple Podcasts will soon include automatically-generated chapters for shows in English and allow creators to add links at specific timestamps in their episodes. Timed links may also be added to episodes automatically whenever creators mention another podcast. Creators can opt-out of both features, and chapters will only be generated when creators don’t add their own. Automatically generated chapters will also be marked as such above an episode’s chapter list. Spotify rolled out a similar auto-generated chapters feature earlier this year. With the timed links feature, creators can “provide links to Apple Music, Apple News, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, and more” timestamped to appear at specific points in their episodes. The links will pop up in a banner in the Now Playing screen and show up in the transcript and episode details page. Both features will launch in iOS 26.2, which is currently in developer beta testing.

I really like my RDNA 4 GPU. My Radeon RX 9070 XT is a great GPU: it runs very cool, undervolts supremely well, and performs really well at 1440p. Biding my time and waiting for the release of RDNA 4 seemed like a good choice when I got my GPU months ago, but AMD's recent statement regarding driver support for GPUs utilizing the RDNA 1 and 2 architectures left me really disappointed as a consumer. AMD has a history of targeting the buyer who wants value and longevity of performance for their hard-earned money, and considering that RDNA 2 GPUs were still being sold as recently as this year, I'm left questioning whether my investment in a Radeon card was a misplacement of trust in AMD.

Valve is testing a low-power way to complete downloads on your Steam Deck without having to leave the handheld running with the screen on. As part of an update that’s currently on the Steam Deck’s Beta and Preview channels, the handheld can “complete all active downloads in a new display-off low-power mode before going to sleep,” Valve says.I’m glad this change is in the works; I download a lot of games and updates on my Steam Deck and I have often wished that I didn’t have to leave the display on while doing so. The Verge asked Valve about this two years ago when the Steam Deck OLED launched, and the company seemed to think Deck was good enough without it.“We burn a substantial amount of power when you’re downloading,” hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said at the time, suggesting to us that players might not want to accidentally leave a hot Steam Deck in their bag if they mistakenly think it’s asleep. Valve’s solution announced today seems to solve some of those concerns.With the update installed, when you press the power button while your Deck is downloading something, you’ll see a new dialog that asks if you want to keep downloading but have the screen off. If you choose Continue, your Deck will enter the low-power mode. “While in this mode, if you press a button or move Steam Deck, a new status screen will be shown with download progress,” Valve says. “From here you can fully wake Steam Deck or let it continue downloading with the screen off.”The feature is on by default when your Steam Deck is plugged in. You can also choose to enable it while running on battery in settings, though if your Steam Deck falls below 20 percent battery, your device will go into full sleep mode.

It's not a new movement, but taking back control from large corporations has been gaining momentum. Whether it's data storage, apps and services, or even communication. For the longest time, we've trusted big tech to handle messages, photos, and private conversations. But there's no ownership here. Whether it's WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, or Telegram, your messages sit on someone else's servers. Most of us made that trade willingly because of convenience. In return, you get polished apps, features, updates, and ubiquitous availability. But that same convenience is also a compromise.

Google has dreamed up a potential new way to get around resource constraints for energy-hungry AI data centers on Earth — launching its AI chips into space on solar-powered satellites. It’s a ‘moonshot’ research project Google announced today called Project Suncatcher.If it can ever get off the ground, the project would essentially create space-based data centers. Google hopes that by doing so, it can harness solar power around-the-clock. The dream is harnessing a near-unlimited source of clean energy that might allow the company to chase its AI ambitions without the concerns its data centers on Earth have raised when it comes to driving up power plant emissions and utility bills through soaring electricity demand. “In the future, space may be the best place to scale AI compute,” Travis Beals, a Google senior director for Paradigms of Intelligence, writes in a blog post today. The company also published a preprint paper, which has not undergone academic peer review, detailing its progress so far on this endeavor. “In the future, space may be the best place to scale AI compute.”There are major hurdles Google would need to overcome to turn this plan into reality, which it explains in the blog and paper. Google envisions its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) orbiting Earth on satellites outfitted with solar panels that could generate electricity almost continuously, making them eight times more productive than similar panels on Earth, according to Google. A major challenge will be to ensure that the satellites can communicate well with each other. Competing with data centers on land “requires links between satellites that support tens of terabits per second,” Google writes. Maneuvering constellations of satellites into tight formations can help them achieve that, perhaps flying satellites within “kilometers or less” of each other. That’s much closer than satellites operate today, and already space junk from collisions is a growing risk. On top of that, Google has to ensure that its TPUs can withstand higher levels of radiation in space. It has tested its Trillium TPUs for radiation tolerance and says they “survive a total ionizing dose equivalent to a 5 year mission life without permanent failures.”It would be pretty pricey to send those TPUs into space at the moment. But a cost analysis the company performed suggests that launching and running a data center in space could become “roughly comparable” to the energy costs of an equivalent data center on Earth on a per-kilowatt/year basis by the mid-2030s. Google says it’s planning a joint mission with the company Planet to launch a couple prototype satellites by 2027 in order to test its hardware in orbit.

When downloading a large file on a battery-powered device, I always like to turn the screen off and let it run while I do something else. Unfortunately, not every device allows you to download things with a dimmed screen, and the Steam Deck is one such example. If you're downloading a sizable game, you can't tell the Steam Deck to save some battery by turning off the screen, meaning you have to sit there and wait for it to finish.

If you've been looking for a gaming keyboard and mouse combo that isn't going to hurt your wallet, the MSI Vigor GK30 is going to be a pretty good way to go. This particular model comes in all white, and also has RGB lighting with effects as well. Most important is that the keyboard and mouse are comfortable, while also providing good feedback during use. Get this keyboard and mouse combo right now from Amazon for just $42. It's pretty close to the lowest price we've seen on this model, just $2 above the all-time low.