Why curved TVs failed but curved gaming monitors thrived - Engadget
Curved TVs walked so curved gaming monitors could run.
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Much like 3D sets, curved TVs at one point seemed like they were everywhere. Throughout the 2010s, many TV makers tried to market curved TVs as a more immersive way of viewing your new flat screen set. And simply put, they also looked pretty cool, especially if they were replacing a clunky first-gen LCD. But by 2020, even Samsung, the last holdout for curved TVs, gave up on the idea.
Waymo receives permission to offer rides in Sacramento and San Diego - Engadget
The company will also be able to expand its fleet across more of the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
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Self-driving trucks are officially testing on California highways
Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI, two companies developing self-driving trucks, have received permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test their autonomous vehicle technology on public roads. And Kodiak has already started.
Google will now allow users to remove visible watermarks from AI content - Engadget
The invisible SynthID will remain.
Google VP Josh Woodward just announced that users will be able to remove visible watermarks from AI-generated images and videos. A toggle will soon be available for the Nano Banana, Omni and Lyria models, which all use the familiar sparkle icon to denote AI. It's also coming to Gemini and the video editor Flow in the future.
How To Convert Or Upscale A Photo - Engadget
The many ways to give your pics the high-res makeover
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On the surface, upscaling a photo seems like a simple enough task. You open your photo editing tool of choice, find the size adjustment menu, enter the new size for your photo and the app does the rest. Forget photo editing tools. Even the default photo viewer on your Mac or Windows PC can do it.
Uber surprised robotics company Serve by selling its entire stake
Uber has sold off its entire stake in Serve Robotics, the autonomous delivery robot company that spun out of the ride-hailing company more than five years ago.
Uber made the disclosure in a regulatory filing that was first reported by Bloomberg. Uber’s exit from Serve Robotics has been brewing for at least a year, according to regulatory filings that show the company reduced its stake in 2025.
General Catalyst leads $1.1B round into 2-month-old River AI
River AI, an AI startup founded by xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, has secured $1.1 billion in funding in a seed/Series A round led by General Catalyst and AMP PBC, with participation from Nvidia, AMD Ventures, Y Combinator, and Temasek.
How the iPhone has changed in the last five years - Engadget
Five years of progress, quirks, surprises, and the occasional eyebrow raise
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Smartphone progress has become so incremental that you might struggle to spot any differences between the latest two models of a given device. But when you zoom out and survey longer periods, it's much easier to see what's shifted. You might want to know what an upgrade offers you, or perhaps you enjoy iPhone history for nostalgia.
How to fix stick drift on PS5 and Xbox controllers - Engadget
Give your controllers a good clean.
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Stick drift in modern video game controllers has been a problem for years at this point. Hall Effect thumbsticks can reduce stick drift, so it's extra annoying that neither the PS5 DualSense or the Xbox Wireless Controller uses this tech. You can easily identify stick drift if you're not touching your controller but the in-game camera starts to pan without your input or your character/vehicle gently begins to move.
X replaces ‘misaligned’ revenue sharing program with Original Content Rewards
X, the social media platform now owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is shaking up how it pays influencers and creators.
In announcing the change, the company said it will be winding down its existing Revenue Sharing program and replacing it with something called Original Content Rewards. X will stop accepting new Revenue Sharing participants, while existing participants will continue earning money through September 7.