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Activision's latest Call of Duty title is now out in the wild, which means players are getting their hands on all the content the game has to offer. As has been the case for a number of years now, PlayStation has its own set of exclusive content in this year's Modern Warfare 2, and it's quite an extensive list.
CharlieIntel has pulled this image from the Call of Duty website, which shows every chunk of MW2 content that's only available on PlayStation. Here's the list:
Sure, some of this stuff is a bit superficial (XP events, weapon XP), but we're pretty bummed out that certain bits of content aren't coming to Xbox. We could really do with those extra custom loadouts given the sheer number of weapons and gadgets available in this game!
Of course, the other ironic side effect about this whole thing relates to the current Xbox / PlayStation / Activision Blizzard saga. Sony has repeatedly claimed that Xbox's 'Call of Duty offer' is insufficient, as the company takes stock of the fact that Call of Duty content could sway back in Xbox's favour.
According to reports, Activision and Sony had previously penned "existing agreements" relating to MW2, Warzone 2.0 and another upcoming Call of Duty game, so this exclusive content has probably been locked in for some time. For now, Xbox players will have to grin and bear it, but the landscape could change in the not-too-distant future.
What do you make of this exclusive content list? Disappointed to miss out on Xbox? Let us know below!
Lego's Mindstorms robotics kits have been on the market since 1998, born from a collaboration between Lego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Now, Lego has announced it will be discontinuing Mindstorms at the end of the year and providing support for the mobile app for at least another two years beyond that, Gizmodo has reported.
Starting as the Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System over 24 years ago, the kits used Lego's advanced Technics pieces with gears and other robotics parts, powered by the basic "Brick" processing unit. They took a big step forward in 2006 with the introduction of the company's next generation of Mindstorms kits, dubbed NXT.
Another big jump came in 2013 with the EV3 robotics platform. This new lineup was backwards-compatible with the NXT series, offering enhancements to its sensor load and processing power. Lego also launched dedicated mobile apps, turning iOS and Android devices into remote controls for Mindstorms projects. Finally, it set up a Mindstorms community where users could share their creations and collaborate with other builders.
The last official product was the Robot Inventor lineup from 2020, but with nothing seen since, the writing seemed on the wall for Mindstorms — particularly as Lego was focusing on other educational ventures.
"Now having a number of priorities in LEGO Education and other Build & Code experiences, we have decided to focus our resources and future plans by redirecting our Mindstorms Robot Inventor team and their expertise into different areas of the business," the company said in a statement to Brick Fanatics. "This means the physical Mindstorms Robot Inventor product (51515) and its related elements (88016 and 88018) are to exit our portfolio from the end of 2022, whilst digital platforms—such as the LEGO Mindstorms Robot Inventor App—will remain live until at least the end of 2024."
It was one of the first toys to actively promote STEM learning while getting kids and adults alike interested in robotics. (Engadget collaborated with Lego on a Mindstorms robotics contest in 2014.) While it's the end of an era in robotics education, there are now plenty of kits on the market, including Lego's own Boost robotics kit for beginners. And if you happen to own a Mindstorms robot, it might soon become a collector's item.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
Earlier this week, Apple released a document clarifying its terminology and policies around software upgrades and updates. Most of the information in the document isn't new, but the company did provide one clarification about its update policy that it hadn't made explicit before: Despite providing security updates for multiple versions of macOS and iOS at any given time, Apple says that only devices running the most recent major operating system versions should expect to be fully protected.
Throughout the document, Apple uses "upgrade" to refer to major OS releases that can add big new features and user interface changes and "update" to refer to smaller but more frequently released patches that mostly fix bugs and address security problems (though these can occasionally enable minor feature additions or improvements as well). So updating from iOS 15 to iOS 16 or macOS 12 to macOS 13 is an upgrade. Updating from iOS 16.0 to 16.1 or macOS 12.5 to 12.6 or 12.6.1 is an update.
"Because of dependency on architecture and system changes to any current version of macOS (for example, macOS 13)," the document reads, "not all known security issues are addressed in previous versions (for example, macOS 12)."
In other words, while Apple will provide security-related updates for older versions of its operating systems, only the most recent upgrades will receive updates for every security problem Apple knows about. Apple currently provides security updates to macOS 11 Big Sur and macOS 12 Monterey alongside the newly released macOS Ventura, and in the past, it has released security updates for older iOS versions for devices that can't install the latest upgrades.
This confirms something that independent security researchers have been aware of for a while but that Apple hasn't publicly articulated before. Intego Chief Security Analyst Joshua Long has tracked the CVEs patched by different macOS and iOS updates for years and generally found that bugs patched in the newest OS versions can go months before being patched in older (but still ostensibly "supported") versions, when they're patched at all.
This is relevant for Mac users because Apple drops support for older Mac and iDevice models in most upgrades, something that has accelerated somewhat for older Intel Macs in recent years (most Macs still receive six or seven years of upgrades, plus another two years of updates). This means that every year, there's a new batch of devices that are still getting some security updates but not all of them. Software like the OpenCore Legacy Patcher can be used to get the newest OS versions running on older hardware, but it's not always a simple process, and it has its own limitations and caveats.
That said, this probably shouldn't dramatically change your calculus for when to upgrade or stop using an older Mac. Most people running an up-to-date Big Sur or Monterey installation with an up-to-date Safari browser should be safe from most high-priority threats, especially if you also keep the other apps on your Mac updated. And Apple's documentation doesn't change anything about how it updates older software; it merely confirms something that had already been observed.
We've asked Apple to be more upfront about its security communication, and this is a step forward in that regard. But if you believe you're being specifically targeted by attackers, you have another reason to make sure your software (and hardware) are fully updated and upgraded.
iCloud has been available on the web for a long time, but you might not have rushed to use it given a basic and sometimes clunky interface. You might have a reason to give it another look, though. Apple has introduced a beta iCloud web client that presents far more info at a glance, with a customizable tile layout that reflects your priorities. It's easier to switch between apps thanks to launchers on the home page and menu bar, and you can quickly start tasks (such as writing email or adding calendar events) thanks to another menu option.
The revamp also improves access to iCloud+ features like custom email domains and Hide My Email. And if you're panicking at the thought of lost info, a "Data Recovery" tool will help you reclaim bookmarks, calendars, contacts and iCloud Drive files deleted within the last 30 days. Except for iCloud Drive, you can restore from specific moments in time. Some features still need to be controlled through Apple hardware, including Family Sharing, HomeKit Secure Video and Private Relay.
Apple hasn't said when the new iCloud web interface might leave beta testing. We've asked the company for comment and will let you know if we hear back. However, the tech firm pitches this as an upgrade for customers whose only Apple product might be an iPhone — you can more readily access content and manage services through your Windows PC's browser.
This redesign probably won't persuade Android users to switch, and the individual web apps haven't changed much. The beta may encourage you to stick to the Apple ecosystem, though. Combined with web access to services like Music and TV+, it also shows that Apple is eager to court users who can't (or just don't want to) run dedicated apps on their platforms of choice.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
The iMessage and FaceTime services available across Apple's platforms appear to be experiencing problems at the current time, with some users unable to send messages and make FaceTime calls.
There are a number of tweets about the issue on Twitter, and Apple's System Status page is listing an ongoing outage. The feature is not down for all users as of now, but Apple says that the service is unavailable for some and has been down since 11:48 a.m. Eastern Time.
Update 12:55 p.m Eastern Time: According to Apple's System Status page, the outage has been resolved.
As expected, Apple today confirmed in a press release that iOS 16.1 will be released on Monday, October 24 alongside iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura. iOS 16.1 includes at least eight new features for iPhone users, such as iCloud Shared Photo Library and Live Activities support in third-party apps on the App Store, along with several bug fixes. Below, we have recapped everything new in iOS 16.1...
The next two weeks will be fairly busy for Apple, with multiple new product launches, software releases, and more expected over that time. Below, we have recapped five key dates coming up for Apple so that you can mark your calendar accordingly. Key dates to remember:Monday, October 24: Apple confirmed that iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1, and macOS Ventura will be released on October 24, and it's...
With this week's announcements of new iPad Pro, iPad, and Apple TV models out of the way, attention now turns to the Mac. Rumors suggest Apple plans to launch new high-end MacBook Pro and Mac mini models with M2 series chips later this year. In his newsletter this week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the initial version of macOS Ventura launching on Monday, October 24 will include support for...
Largely in line with expectations, we saw a number of Apple product updates this week via press release with the iPad Pro, iPad, and Apple TV. All three products are available to order now with launches coming over the next couple of weeks. We also got official confirmation of release dates for macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16, while we're still expecting some Mac-related updates before the end...
Apple today added several new accessories to its online store, debuting popular products from brands like Anker, Mophie, and Twelve South. The new Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe is a MagSafe-certified charging accessory that can charge the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods all at once. Priced at $150, the Anker Cube is available in Apple retail stores as of right now, and it should soon be...
In an email to developers this week, Apple announced that app-related ads will begin appearing in the App Store's main Today tab and in a "You Might Also Like" section at the bottom of individual app listings starting Tuesday, October 25, in all countries except China. All ads in the App Store have a blue background and an "Ad" icon. "With a Today tab ad, your app can appear prominently on...
Video calling.
After several days of using the Qualcomm-powered Surface Pro 9 as my daily driver for every task in my daily process, video calling has been, hands down, the best experience I’ve had on it. This device has a good webcam with some great features. But most other tasks you might need to do in a workday were frustratingly slow.
That is due — at least in part, I’m sure — to the fact that most of the apps I use are not running natively on Arm. These are not obscure apps, however. I chat with people, I watch video, and I game, and I tend to use the same programs that lots of other people use to do those things.
I will not go so far as to say that this laptop will be as slow for everyone as it was for me. This is just to illustrate the gamble that one is taking when purchasing the Arm version of the Surface Pro 9 — how heavily dependent the payoff will be on the makeup of the constellation of apps that comprises your online life.
The Surface Pro 9 is nice-looking, nice-feeling, well-built, and portable, keeping all the traits that were excellent about the Surface Pro 8’s chassis. Unfortunately, it is also quite expensive. The cheapest SQ3 model is $1,579.98 including the keyboard and stylus (which, remember, are not included in the base price). My test unit (and it’s still not the most expensive Pro 9 you can get) is $1,879.98 with the keyboard and pen included. And for heavy users of many emulated apps, this device is too slow to be asking for well over $1,000 of your money.
Here’s the good news: the design department didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken, and the Pro 9 is as portable, well-built, and nice-looking as the Pro 8 was. The keyboard deck is sturdy, the kickstand holds its shape, and the stylus is quite comfortable (with a very handy garage folded into the keyboard). The 2880 x 1920, 120Hz display is as smooth as ever. The Pro 9 is slightly lighter than the Pro 8, but it’s not noticeable.
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The only really visible change that’s been made to the chassis is the color scheme. Surface Pro 8 models only came in graphite (black) and platinum (silver) last year, and the only way to customize them further was to buy a funky-colored keyboard deck. The Pro 9 has added new colors to the full exterior, with options including Sapphire, Graphite, Forest (which is my personal favorite) and Platinum. (As of now, it looks like only Intel Core i7 models have this medley of color options; the SQ3 and Core i5 SKUs are platinum-only.)
There’s also a limited-edition floral design. I, however, was sent the plain-old platinum one, so that’s what you’ll see here. If you want to see the cuter colors, Verge editor Tom Warren got a look at them in Redmond earlier this month.
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In what’s likely to be a controversial move, Microsoft has also removed the headphone jack from the Pro 9. (There are otherwise two USB-C 3.2 ports, as well as the slot for the funky little Surface charger.) Power and volume buttons have been moved to the top. The design is now quite close to that of the once-niche Surface Pro X, with the latter a bit thinner and lighter.
Inside, the big news is 5G. This is a feature the Intel model doesn’t have and may partially explain why the Arm version is more expensive. I ended up purchasing a prepaid plan through Ubiqi, which runs on T-Mobile’s network in the US. (Getting this plan set up was a bit of a process that had me bouncing back and forth between Microsoft’s Mobile Plans app and Ubiqi’s website several times. The Mobile Plans app, speaking of which, was very slow and froze up at multiple points during the process.)
Once 5G was up and running, I was getting speeds of around 40mbps down and 55mbps up in The Verge’s Manhattan office. These would be fine LTE speeds, but it seems likely that Ubiqi is using T-Mobile’s low-band 5G network, at least where I’m located. Pages all loaded fine, but nothing was lightning-fast. (Also to note: 5G models appear to be capped at 16GB of RAM and come with LPDDR4x, while those without 5G can go up to 32GB and get LPDDR5).
The other advantage Qualcomm has over the Intel model is its Neural Processing Unit (NPU). The idea behind this is that it handles some AI features directly, taking that load off of the Pro 9’s CPU. It powers some new camera features, including portrait background blur, automatic eye contact, and a Voice Focus feature that removes background sound.
These features did work, but their efficacy was slightly inconsistent. The one that worked well across the board was automatic eye contact; regardless of where my gaze was, co-workers consistently told me that it looked like I was staring directly at them. This actually seems like a very useful feature and something I’d have on all the time since my eyes tend to wander during calls, even when I’m paying attention. The blur effect was pretty good as well and did a fine job of differentiating me from my background. Automatic Framing generally followed me as the name promised, panning while I moved from side to side, but there were times here and there when it didn’t pick up that I was moving.
Voice Focus seemed to have some trouble. On a Zoom call with loud music playing behind me, my co-worker Umar Shakir told me that while he could consistently hear me, the tracks seemed to be fading in and out in the background. There were times when instrumental portions would be muted entirely, then lyrics would be clear when they came back in and then would fade out again. He could, however, consistently hear the same songs playing behind me on a Teams call and didn’t get the sense that anything at all was being done to suppress them (though he could still hear me).
Putting a super-smart camera on this device feels to me like putting fancy headlights on a car that can only go 15 miles an hour. I really wish that Microsoft had put these great features on the Intel models (or on the Surface Laptop 5) for reasons that will shortly become clear.
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The mandatory policies, for which agreement is required to use the laptop, are:
In addition, there are a bunch of optional things to agree to:
That’s two mandatory agreements and eight optional ones.
The Pro 8, with an Intel Core i7 inside, was fast. It’s unsurprising to me that Microsoft is continuing to sell an Intel model of the Pro 9 alongside this Qualcomm model because shifting away from Intel entirely would likely have been a dangerous bet. While Windows on Arm is no longer in 2020 territory where compatibility was an absolute disaster, it is far from where it needs to be worth $1,800.
My frustration with this computer wasn’t a workload thing. It didn’t start out fast and gradually slow down as I opened more things and started more processes. It was peppered with glitches and freezes from start to finish.
I’d have only Slack open, and switching between channels would still take almost three seconds (yes, I timed it on my phone). Spotify, also with nothing in the background, would take 11 seconds to open, then be frozen for another four seconds before I could finally press play. When I typed in Chrome, I often saw significant lag, which led to all kinds of typos (because my words weren’t coming out until well after I’d written them). I’d try to watch YouTube videos, and the video would freeze while the audio continued. I’d use the Surface Pen to annotate a PDF, and my strokes would either be frustratingly late or not show up at all. I’d try to open Lightroom, and it would freeze multiple times and then crash.
It quickly became clear that I should try to stick to apps that were running natively on Arm. Trust me, I tried. I switched from Chrome to Edge, and the latter was certainly faster than Chrome (even while I was using Google’s apps), but it was still a notch slower than what you’ll see from other high-end computers — including other Arm-based devices, such as those that a certain company in Cupertino makes. While the actual experience of calling on Teams was fine, the app was still a bit unresponsive and slow to load. I literally had to force quit the Settings app one time because it completely froze. OneNote was the only Arm app I used that felt totally zippy, with no hiccups. I guess Paint was also fine. (I let Microsoft know about these issues but didn’t hear back in time for publication.)
Underscoring all of this, though, is the fact that I can fairly easily swap my whole workload over to these few Arm-optimized apps. Many people don’t have that luxury or desire, which is what makes buying the Pro 9 a risk.
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Generally, the deal with these mobile SoCs (this one is called the SQ3, and it’s based on the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3) is that you’re giving up some power in exchange for long battery life. That’s a legitimate trade for many people, and the 10 hours of continuous use that I averaged from this device is more than I’ve seen from most Windows laptops this year. I was able to eke out 12 hours and 23 minutes by bumping the refresh rate down to 60Hz. Fine. I’m sure this is a longer lifespan than you’ll get out of the Intel model.
That lifespan and built-in cellular connectivity strengthen the SQ3 Pro’s case as a portable computer, but I don’t see it as quite enough to overcome the shortcomings in performance here. Charging was also on the slow side; as much as I like the Surface connector’s compact size and magnetic attachment, it only got the Pro up to 57 percent in an hour. 5G also wrecked the battery life — I only got six hours and 42 minutes of continuous 5G use.
With an extremely lightweight build, 5G support, and good battery life, the Surface Pro 9 could be the perfect on-the-go device. And that’s a goal Microsoft has been pushing toward for years. A fanless, beautiful tablet with a fancy camera that happens to also run a full desktop operating system. An iPad alternative for those who love Apple’s hardware but are fed up with the limitations of iPadOS.
Microsoft has that hardware part down to a science. But it still hasn’t figured out how to make Windows on Arm viable for the high-end mainstream. In the past several years, Apple has created a specialized chip architecture that revolutionized its product platform, along with an emulation layer that worked almost seamlessly on its first day of release. Microsoft has not yet achieved that seamless experience with its Arm devices.
I can only speculate as to how much of that is Microsoft’s fault and how much is Qualcomm’s fault, and I’m not sure my speculation is worth more than anyone else’s. But I’m reminded of former Verge editor Dieter Bohn’s review of the original Surface Pro X, the 2019 Arm device that started it all. “Windows itself runs quite well on the Surface Pro X,” Bohn wrote. “But like previous attempts, Microsoft hasn’t done enough to offset the compromises this aspirational computer asks of customers.” While that experience has improved in the past three years, the story I find myself telling about the SQ3 Surface Pro 9 is fundamentally the same. Windows on Arm, while functional, is not ready for the $2,000 big leagues.
I’ll go a step further: AMD, whose current processor line excels in both power and efficiency, was right there. Microsoft has dropped AMD from the Surface line this year (the Surface Laptop 5 is Intel-only) but has kept Snapdragon in. That, to me, is a miss.
Look, I understand that nobody is buying a Qualcomm-powered device and expecting the power of a Threadripper. I don’t want to discount battery life and build quality as selling points, and I know the 5G is convenient. I am prepared for this comments section to be full of complaints that my performance issues are solvable and that people should just suck it up and use Microsoft’s software 24/7.
But I am fairly confident that if you are someone who uses any of the emulated apps I mentioned even once a day, most other computers, regardless of their price will give you a better experience, whether it’s an iPad Pro or a Dell XPS or, hell, even an AMD Surface Laptop from the last generation. Windows on Arm is not ubiquitously unusable — but it is ubiquitously limited.
Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Correction: A previous version of this article included the Surface Pen twice in the review unit’s quoted price. We regret the error.
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