There aren't a lot of roguelikes out there that I've clocked hundreds of hours in, but the ones that do reach three digits in playtime hours are usually unforgettable. Such is the case of Hades, a roguelike that puts you in control of Zagreus as he attempts to escape the Underworld, much to the chagrin of his father Hades. It's one of those games where you find an excuse to do just one more run, and there's always more runs to do.

Every PC gaming peripheral seems to hinge on marketing with impressive numbers; numbers like 32,000 DPI, 8,000 Hz polling, or a 0.1 ms response time. On paper these specs sound like game-changers (and they're easy to market), but in reality most are just marketing fluff beyond a certain point. Gamers have been led to chase ever-higher metrics that don't actually improve gameplay in any meaningful way, and as proof of that, you'll find that professional players in esports titles have also identified these metrics simply don't matter.

Meta just showed off all the latest in wearable technology, virtual reality, augmented reality, and more at its annual Connect keynote. In addition to the long-awaited reveal of Meta’s updated Ray-Ban smart glasses, the company had some other exciting surprises to share, too.Here’s a roundup of all the new tech and software updates announced by Meta.Meta’s display-equipped smart specs make their debutRumors have swirled for months about Meta launching a pair of smart glasses with a display, and now they’re finally here. The glasses, dubbed the Meta Ray-Ban Display, feature a full-color, high-res screen in the right lens that you can use to view messages, take video calls, read live captions, see walking directions, and preview the pictures you’re about to take with the built-in 12-megapixel camera.You control the display with a wristband, allowing you to scroll, click, and, eventually, write out messages, using different gestures. The glasses offer up to six hours of “mixed-use” battery life, or up to 30 hours with the collapsible charging case.The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses start at $799, with both the wristband and glasses coming in black or brown. The glasses will be available in the US starting September 30th at Best Buy, LensCrafters, and Ray-Ban stores.The next-gen Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have longer battery lifeMeta is launching a new version of its popular Ray-Ban smart glasses with an upgraded eight-hour battery life that nearly doubles that of the original model. The second-gen smart glasses still come with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, but they now support 3K video capture and allow wearers to record videos up to 60 frames per second.Meta upgraded the charging case that comes included with the glasses, too, as it now offers an extra 48 hours of charging, up from 36 hours. There’s also a new “conversation focus” feature coming to the Ray-Ban Meta and the Oakley Meta HSTN glasses that amplifies the sound of the person speaking to you in noisy areas.The Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) glasses will start at $379 and are available now in the familiar Wayfarer, Skyler, and Headliner styles.New athlete-focused AI glasses integrate with Garmin and StravaMeta is partnering with Oakley to launch a new pair of smart glasses designed for “high-intensity sports.” The Oakley Meta Vanguard feature a wraparound design, an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, along with integrations with fitness apps like Garmin and Strava, allowing you to ask Meta AI about your fitness data and stats.Additionally, the Vanguard glasses feature a 12MP, 122-degree camera on the nose bridge, with the ability to record videos in up to 3K resolution, and they support new capture modes, like slow-motion, time-lapse, and hyperlapse, which are coming to Meta’s other AI glasses as well. Some other standout features include upgraded speakers and up to nine hours of battery life.The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses cost $499 and will come in four frame and lens color combinations when they launch on October 21st. Preorders are available now.Quest headsets can now put real spaces into VRMeta’s new Hyperscape feature allows users wearing a Quest 3 or Quest 3S headset to scan their surroundings and transform them into a digital space. The company first showed off a demo of the feature at Meta Connect last year, but now users can try out a beta using the Hyperscape Capture app.A new entertainment hub for Quest headsetsMeta is putting a new Horizon TV entertainment hub inside Quest headsets. There, you’ll find all of the streaming apps available on Quest headsets, including Prime Video, Peacock, Twitch, and YouTube. Meta also announced today that Disney Plus with ESPN and Hulu is coming to the platform.The Horizon TV hub supports Dolby Atmos surround sound, and Meta plans on adding Dolby Vision later this year. Some movies you watch through Horizon TV, like M3GAN and The Black Phone, will also come with “immersive special effects” that you can only see inside Quest headsets.The engine powering the metaverse gets a boostMeta revealed that its Horizon Engine “powers better graphics, faster performance, and more advanced worlds.” The engine is capable of powering Meta’s new Hyperscape feature, as well as allowing for larger capacities in virtual worlds. Meta also plans on upgrading its Horizon Studio with an agentic AI assistant that helps “stitch” together its existing AI tools that help people make virtual worlds.

Obsidian is where I jot down my thoughts and keep all my important notes. I use it to track story drafts, research, and personal notes, so I have my notes in one place instead of scattered everywhere. Still, if I want to bold text or add a link, I have to reach for my mouse. But like most apps, Obsidian also has keyboard shortcuts that can help speed things up.

Borderlands 4 is now out in the wild, and there's a lot to love and criticize. While people are complaining about the performance issues, it seems they're also gelling with the actual meat and potatoes of the game. In fact, our delightful sister website, GameRant, gave Gearbox's latest title a highly respectable 9/10 score, citing performance as a minor ding but praising the writing, gunplay, and seamless multiplayer experience.

Right now, we're witnessing an arms race between Microsoft and Valve. For a while, the two had been content in their own camps; Valve had its Steam Deck, and Microsoft had delivered Windows 11 to other handheld PCs. However, things began to escalate when Valve released the Steam Deck's operating system, SteamOS, for general use on any handheld device. Not only that, but Valve began actively fixing bugs and creating patches for specific non-Deck models, including some that were previously Windows-only.

What a lovely billboard for ads. | Image: Samsung A software update rolling out to Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerators in the US is putting ads on the fridges for the first time. The “promotions and curated advertisements” are coming despite Samsung insisting to The Verge in April that it had “no plans” to do so.Samsung is calling it a pilot program for now, which — I kid you not — is meant to “strengthen the value” of owning a Samsung smart fridge.Here’s the full statement Samsung sent to Android Authority:Samsung is committed to innovation and enhancing every day value for our home appliance customers. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen that value, we are conducting a pilot program to offer promotions and curated advertisements on certain Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models in the U.S. market.As a part of this pilot program, Family Hub refrigerators in the U.S. will receive an over-the-network (OTN) software update with Terms of Service (T&C) and Privacy Notice (PN). Advertising will appear on certain Family Hub refrigerator Cover Screens. The Cover Screen appears when a Family Hub screen is idle. Ad design format may change depending on Family Hub personalization options for the Cover Screen, and advertising will not appear when Cover Screen displays Art Mode or picture albums.Advertisements can be dismissed on the Cover Screens where ads are shown, meaning that specific ads will not appear again during the campaign period.News of the ads was met with incredulity when it first appeared on Reddit. But the writing’s been on the wall ever since Samsung embraced a “screens everywhere” initiative for its home appliances. After all, it was Samsung that started bunging ads into its old smart TVs ten years ago.

At its Connect keynote on Wednesday, Meta officially introduced the $799.99 Meta Ray-Ban Display, also known as Hypernova. The brand's new, high-end smart glasses feature an in-lens display you can control with wrist-based gestures via the new Meta Neural Band that's included. The display pairs with your phone and allows you to see everything from text messages and Instagram Reels to maps and more - all without having to pull out your device. They seem like a more fully-realized version of Google Glass, and they'll be released on September 30th. That's also when in-store demos will be available at Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ba …Read the full story at The Verge.

A frame from Also’s October 22nd announcement teaser. | Image: Also Rivian’s heavily financed micromobilty spinoff Also is promising something on October 22nd. Also’s calling it “transcendent mobility,” which is a fancy way of saying e-bike after a poorly masked video leaked the rather unique design.While Also is a legally separate company from Rivian, it’s chaired by Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. Rivian also has a substantial minority ownership stake in the startup.Electrek’s Micah Toll did the dirty work of parsing a recent teaser video frame-by-frame to extract a few blurry images that Also failed to fully mask. What’s revealed is a compact pedal-assisted commuter than can double as a utility vehicle with optional cargo rack, integrated lighting, and what appear to be 20-inch wheels. It looks like a cross between a compact Gocycle electric bike and a Cake electric scooter. I can only hope that its battery can be easily swapped out and that it folds down to make it more suitable for multimodal travel on trains, trams, and the back of a Rivian. Palo Alto-based Also had previously said that it plans to launch its first flagship product in early 2026 with an initial focus on the US and Europe. That could mean that whatever’s announced on October 22nd will have a healthy preorder period which is exactly what we’d expect from an EV company, even when that EV is a bicycle.

I'm a big fan of the Windows 11 Snipping Tool. Sure, it's no ShareX, but as a default screenshotting feature you can use on any Windows 11, it does the job just fine. However, Microsoft has been slowly adding new features to the Snipping Tool that make it a pretty good contender, even against third-party options.

Horizon TV puts your streaming apps in one spot. | Image: Meta Meta is making it easier to stream movies and TV shows on your Quest headset. During its Meta Connect keynote on Wednesday, the company announced that it’s rolling out a Horizon TV hub with access to streaming apps like Prime Video, Peacock, Twitch, and — finally — Disney Plus with Hulu and ESPN.The image shared by Meta shows content recommendations and streaming apps lined up on the homepage, along with tabs to switch between movies, TV shows, “immersive” experiences, sports, music, and your watchlist. It’s unclear whether the tabs will show content from all of these platforms, or just the ones you subscribe to.As part of the launch of Horizon TV, Meta is also partnering with Universal Pictures and Blumhouse, allowing you to watch movies like The Black Phone and M3GAN with 3D effects. Apple similarly partners with Disney to offer 3D movies on its Vision Pro headset.Horizon TV currently supports Dolby Atmos surround sound, but Meta plans on launching support for Dolby Vision later this year.

Meta has announced a new generation of its Ray-Ban smart glasses, featuring significantly improved battery life and the ability to record 3K video, which brings them up to par with the Oakley HSTN smart glasses. The new glasses, technically called the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2, are available to order today and start at $379.Let’s dig in on battery, which is better on a few fronts. You can use the new Ray-Bans for up to eight hours on a single charge, which is twice the four-hour battery life of the previous generation. The charging case can charge the glasses to 50 percent in 20 minutes — a slight improvement over the 22 minutes to 50 percent for the first generation. The case for the Gen 2 glasses offers an additional 48 hours of battery life, up from 32 hours. As for the camera, you’ll be able to record 3K at 30fps, 1440p at 30fps, and 1200p at 60fps, all for up to three minutes. Later this fall, Meta will also add the ability to capture hyperlapse and slow-motion videos — a feature coming to all of its AI glasses.Meta is adding a cool audio-focused feature called “conversation focus” down the line, too, which will use the speakers on the glasses to boost the voice of a person you’re talking with. The company is improving live translation by expanding it to support German and Portuguese.I tried the Gen 2 glasses at Meta’s Connect event, and there’s not much to say about them at first blush — they’re a solid upgrade on paper, but they’re ultimately still Meta Ray-Ban glasses, so if you’ve used the first generation before, you pretty much get the idea. You’ll be able to buy them in Wayfarer, Skyler, and Headliner styles. The first-generation glasses will still be available, too, starting at $299.