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UK police’s facial recognition system has an 81 percent error rate

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The report, obtained by Sky News, is the first independent evaluation of the scheme since the technology was first used at Notting Hill Carnival in August 2016. Since then it has been used at 10 locations, including Leicester Square and during Remembrance Sunday services. Researchers measured the accuracy of the technology from six of these locations and found that of 42 “suspect matches,” only eight were correct, giving an error rate of 81 percent.

However, the Met measures accuracy in a different way, by comparing successful and unsuccessful matches with the total number of faces processed by the system. If interpreted in this way, the error rate is just 0.1 percent. In response to the report, the Met’s deputy assistant commissioner, Duncan Ball, said the force was “extremely disappointed with the negative and unbalanced tone of this report.” The authors of the report, meanwhile, said their findings posed “significant concerns.” This is not the first time UK police have come under fire for such inaccuracies — in 2018 South Wales Police misidentified 2,300 people as potential criminals.

The use of facial recognition technology has skyrocketed in recent times, with systems being installed in public transport hubs and at large events. Despite some apparent “successes” — such as the identification of an illegal traveler at Dulles airport just three days after the system was launched — the technology continues to pose a number of ethical and legal dilemmas. In China, for example, facial recognition is being used to monitor ethnic minorities and track children’s classroom behavior. Meanwhile, a number of tech giants have made clear their apprehensions about the technology. Microsoft has been outspoken about its desire for proper regulation, while both Apple and Google have expressed similar concerns. As this new report demonstrates, the technology still has a long way to go before it can be considered truly reliable.

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Firefly 2+ is a smart and stylish vape for cannabis connoisseurs

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The process is a bit easier with concentrates. Simply plunk the included steel wool disc into the crucible chamber, add a dollop of concentrate, and replace the cover. You’ll have to take a few initial shallow puffs to melt the concentrate into the disc but after that, just go to town.

Labor intensiveness aside, the Plus has one of the fastest heating elements I’ve ever used. It takes just three seconds to fully engage. “In addition to not having to wait to vape, you need a quick cool down time to preserve the material in the bowl so that you’re not cooking it off while you’re not actually ingesting,” Firefly CEO Steve Berg explained to Engadget. “So it takes good care of your materials and helps it go a long way.”

As such, you’re able to really dial in the kind of hit you want by adjusting the temperature range and your draw speed. Since convection vapes like the 2+ continually heat throughout the draw — ie, the longer you suck on it, the hotter the bowl gets — you can take little “sips” to enjoy the terpene flavors or give it a good “heeeep” to get a stronger, hotter, and more vapory hit. In general, I found a 10-15 second steady draw granted the best of both worlds.

Adjusting the temperature range is easy so long as you use the associated iOS/Android app. The on-board controls allow you to adjust the range from 320 – 420 degrees in 20 degree increments but doing so is a bit clunky (per the user manual):

  • Press and hold the right button.

  • Tap the left button 3 times quickly, just like checking the temperature (while still holding the right button). This puts the Firefly 2 into “temperature setting” mode.

  • The LED blinks red 1 to 7 times, to indicate what the current set temperature is.

You then have to tap the left button up to seven times while holding down the right to select the desired heat level. Or you can simply use the app and select the exact temperature you want in 10 degree increments. Using the app also expands the available heating range to 200 degrees on the low end.

The app is helpful in other ways as well. It allows you to adjust various settings, see the remaining charge available, and calibrate the unit for more visible vapor. It also offers a number of how-to and instructional videos for vaping neophytes.

Berg assured Engadget that the app will not snoop on your personal data when installed. “We are not collecting data. We have a privacy policy and we’re very careful in honoring individual consumers data,” he said. And if the company decides to do so in the future, the process would be opt in and “likely cast in the context of helping them better understand their own behaviors and use cases, and how to optimize what they’re looking for in their cannabis vaporization experience.”

The Firefly 2+ is not for everybody, mind you. Berg points out that users with breathing issues or who simply don’t enjoy the act of smoking and vaping would likely be better served by edibles, sublinguals or topical remedies. Conversely, vape users hoping to blow massive clouds should probably look elsewhere.

“If that’s what somebody’s going for, they may not be best served by a Firefly 2+,” Berg explained. “You can turn the temperature up and create a huge cloud but really we’re being very thoughtful about cannabis, about the compounds, about delivering a full-service and very comfortable experience. And so that’s really where our focus is.”

Overall, the plus stands a head and shoulders above Firefly’s last model and certainly gives the Pax 3 a run for its money. We’re excited to see if the 2+ can breathe new loose leaf life into a market currently dominated by concentrates and edibles.

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Our foldable future is running a little late, and that’s OK

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I have no doubt that Samsung believed in the Galaxy Fold’s usability and potential. Even so, it’s clear in hindsight that the company was in a rush to get these things out the door, and didn’t think through some key design decisions. That top-most layer of protective plastic? Yeah, it shouldn’t have been made to look like a removable screen protector. (In fairness to Samsung, Galaxy Folds meant for actual consumers instead of picky reviewers were supposed to have clearer messaging about not removing that top layer of plastic.) Those small gaps formed by the hinge above and below the main, folding display never inspired much confidence either.

Now, it seems like we’re finally getting somewhere. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Samsung has completed its Galaxy Fold redesign: That protective top plastic layer should cover the internal foldable screen edge to edge, and tuck under the edges of the bezel so you can’t remove it by hand. The phone’s hinge is now also said to protrude upward when the device is unfolded, adding more tension to that plastic film and making it feel “harder.” Not having seen this redesign, we can’t be sure that Samsung has fixed all of the Fold’s potentially ruinous design choices. And some decisions, like the air gap that separates the two halves of the screen while closes, probably can’t be changed at this point. Even so, it sounds like this newer version of the Galaxy Fold is at least a little closer to what it should’ve been all long.

Galaxy Fold

And now we wait. Bloomberg suggests that Samsung doesn’t yet know when it should officially release the Fold, and that the company won’t publicly address the matter at its upcoming Unpacked event in Brooklyn. To be clear, I don’t mind waiting for the Fold, or any other foldable for that matter. I am, however, a little miffed that the industry as a whole was more than happy to push the idea that foldables were ready to go before they actually were. I would much rather these companies truly polish their first attempts so that their customers wouldn’t shell out gobs of money for what amounts to experimental hardware.

Think the Fold fiasco was bad? Imagine what would’ve happened if Samsung started selling the handset in April as it planned, and actual consumers who paid $2,000 had to deal with those problems instead of just us reviewers. Had I gone out and purchased one of these things (rather than received a review loaner) only to discover its design was inherently compromised, I’d be pissed. That’s not just bad for Samsung’s reputation — that’s bad for anyone trying to build a foldable. It’s easy enough to phone in a regular slab of a smartphone, but the industry isn’t at the point where it can fudge things in a device that bends in half.

Samsung shouldn’t have tried to push the Galaxy Fold out the door when it did; it honestly feels like the company’s primary concern was being first. What’s most telling is that neither of the companies that were seemingly close to launching their own attempts at foldables stepped in to fill the gap Samsung’s problems created. And their launches don’t appear to have stuck to schedule either.

At this year’s Mobile World Congress, Motorola VP of Global Product Dan Dery told me point-blank that the company had been working on foldables for a long time, and didn’t plan on releasing its first foldable phone later than the rest of its competitors. A few hours later, Motorola confirmed to CNET that it was eyeing a foldable launch window in the summer. (For what it’s worth, my informed-but-unconfirmed hunch pointed to a release date in July.) While that’s still possible, the notion of an imminent launch seems questionable. The rumor mill has been remarkably quiet, and a launch of that significance can’t really happen in 2019 without something leaking. (Motorola has not responded to a request for comment at time of publication.)

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$450 off an LG OLED TV

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LG B8 55-Inch OLED TV

LG TV

Street price: $1450; deal price: $1000

At $1000, this is a new low for the 55-inch size of this OLED TV, beating previous low pricing from reliable retailers by about a hundred dollars. While we’re seeing the expected drops on last year’s OLEDs at this point, it’s still a great price and one well worth your notice. It’s also available from Best Buy for the same price if you want a store pickup option.

The LG B8 is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best OLED TV. Wirecutter Senior Staff Writer Chris Heinonen wrote, “If the LG C8 is out of stock, or if you just want to save a little money, the LG B8 offers almost identical performance, usually for about $200 less. The C8 produces slightly improved image processing and brighter highlights, so we recommend buying it over the B8, but with a lot of movie and TV content, you would be unlikely to notice the difference.”

Heinonen continues, “Aside from some external styling differences, the main difference between the C8 and B8 is the SoC (system on a chip) that each TV uses. The C8 uses a more advanced version that allows for better color accuracy (because of a larger LUT) and more advanced video processing, which results in cleaner gradients between colors and other image improvements—but even so, the improvement over the B8 isn’t huge.”

Wemo Mini Smart Outlet

WeMo

Street price: $25; deal price: $18

On sale once again for $18, this is a nice deal on this recommended smart outlet. The Wemo Mini is a reliable, compact, affordable and easy to use smart outlet that offers an easy way into the world of smart-home devices. This model supports Alexa, HomeKit/Siri, Google Assistant, Nest, and IFTTT. We’ve seen a number of deals for this smart plug in recent months, but this is still a good price if you’re looking to try out a smart outlet. Also from Best Buy with store pickup.

The Wemo Mini is the top pick in our guide to the best plug-in smart outlet. Wirecutter Staff Writer Rachel Cericola wrote, “The Wemo Mini is the only model that has been rock-solid reliable over long-term use, offers a compact design that won’t block both outlets on a wall plate, and supports all the major voice-control platforms. Like most of the smart plug-in switches we tested, the Wemo Mini is easy to set up: Plug it into an outlet, download an app to your phone, make the wireless connection, and then control lamps, small appliances, and even higher-draw devices like fans and air conditioners.”

Q Acoustics 3020i Bookshelf Speakers

Wirecutter

Street price: $300; deal price: $270

While not a huge discount, this is a new low price for the Q Acoustics 3020i and the first sale we’ve posted. At $270, it’s nice to get a discount where you can on speakers we already think look and perform better than their typical $300 price point. These speakers come in four finishes that should be able to match just about any decor, and they’re all on sale right now.

The Q Acoustics 3020i are the top pick in our guide to the best bookshelf speakers. Wirecutter Senior Staff Writer Chris Heinonen wrote, “The Q Acoustics 3020i bookshelf speakers impressed us with their clarity, detail, wide soundstage, and excellent bass response with a wide variety of music. This pair also features the best build quality we’ve seen in a speaker set of this price, with high-quality binding posts (as opposed to cheaper spring-clip attachments), magnetically attached grilles, and nicely rounded corners that resist chipping. The 3020i set comes in a variety of finishes to match your decor, and Q Acoustics sells a matching center channel for use in a home theater system. The 3020i is a bit larger than the prior 3020 (which was our previous top pick), but we still consider it to be fairly compact.”

UST 30-Day Duro LED Lantern (Glo White)

Wirecutter

Street price: $32; deal price: $25

Down to $25 from $32, if you like to camp and are in need of an LED lantern, this is a great price for one of our recommendations in a Glo White finish. In our guide, we praise this lantern for providing enough power to light an entire campsite, including a lifetime warranty, and offering great battery life. While we saw some extreme lows during Black Friday, this is one of the best prices we’ve seen since.

The UST 3-Day Duro LED Lantern is the top pick in our guide to the best LED lantern. Eric Hansen wrote, “The 30-Day shines brightly enough that you can read text on a page from 38 feet away. It also dims to a cozy glow inside a tent, and offers a rare medium setting that’s perfect for, say, two people cooking dinner. Even though the 30-Day’s battery lid can be difficult to manipulate in the dark, the long runtimes mean that batteries rarely need to be changed. Amazon reviewers have enjoyed testing UST’s bold runtime claims only to find that the claims are actually conservative.”

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursday, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go here.

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Lightyear One is a long and expensive solar-powered statement car

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For that price, though, you get a car with a 725KM (450 miles) range. Lightyear, a Dutch company founded by former winners of the World Solar Challenge, claims the car can reach 800KM (497 miles) depending on where and how you drive. “On its own, that’s carefree driving for the entire length of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela or from Cape Town, South Africa to Grunau, Namibia,” the company boasts. If the sun is out, you can also fill the car’s battery with up to 12 km of range every hour.

You can charge the car’s built-in battery like a conventional EV, too. But the main draw, of course, is the free solar charging. Lightyear hopes that future models — the Lightyear Two or Three, perhaps — will be dramatically cheaper and, like the Tesla Model 3, more attainable for the average consumer. Then, the company can pitch its vehicles as an investment that will, over time, be more cost effective than a similarly-priced EV.

For now, though, I can only judge the car in front of me. It’s certainly luxurious — the doors, for instance, are tiny buttons that are activated with some kind of wireless key. Like Honda’s e Prototype, the car also uses cameras instead of traditional wing mirrors. The interior, meanwhile, is peppered with screens that double as digital speedometers and will, according to the company’s website, support both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I wasn’t allowed to step into the car — my dust and dirt-covered sneakers were probably to blame — but I peeked my head in and imagined what it would be like to drive this car or be chauffeured around like the tyrannical Mr. Burns or Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds.

Can I recommend the Lightyear One? Absolutely not. But I’m glad that at least one company is taking solar seriously at the moment. It could prove useful if our planet (and society) spirals into Mad Max-style desert anarchy.

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Is the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Microsoft’s biggest Surface Pro rival?

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Right now there’s only a single user review up on our Galaxy Book 2’s product page. However, whoever wrote it is effusive in their praise for the tablet: Brad says he loves his Galaxy Book 2 because his job requires a light device with a quick start up time and significant battery life. But he gave the slate a much lower score than Cherlynn did — a 70 — because he can’t upgrade the RAM and finds himself using a lot of dongles to accomplish his work.

If you also own a Galaxy Book 2, do you agree with Brad’s assessment of the tablet’s drawbacks? Tell us what score you would give Samsung’s slate and why on our Galaxy Book 2 product page. Your review could appear in an upcoming roundup article, and help educate your fellow readers on why this device is (or is not) worth their hard-earned money.

Notes: Comments for this post are turned off; please contribute your user review on the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 product page!

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The best games for PC

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Beat Saber

Beat Saber is a euphoric gaming sensation that makes the most of virtual reality. You’ll swing your unofficial lightsabers at incoming boxes, slicing and slamming them to the beat of the soundtrack. Similar to iconic rhythm-rail-shooter, Rez, which has its own VR iteration, Beat Saber often makes you feel like you’re creating the music as you hit your cues. We might have had initial reservations on the soundtrack at launch but new tracks and customizations continue to add to the challenge. There’s even a level creator for PC players, making this the definitive version. MS

Buy Beat Saber from Steam

Doom (2016)

Best PC games

It’s fair to say that not a lot of people were excited about Doom. id Software’s much-loved series had essentially been absent for over a decade, and a pre-release beta, which only showed off the game’s multiplayer, was judged harshly by critics and players alike. Within minutes of booting up the single-player campaign, though, essentially everyone realized they needn’t have worried. id successfully updated an antiquated formula for modern gamers, and in doing so, created a truly unique first-person shooter.

Doom is so great because it makes gamers play the game as the developers intended. The Glory Kill system, which initially was written off as violence for the sake of violence, turned out to be a vital part of the gameplay. While other games have you backing away and cowering behind cover, Doom forces you to get in the enemy’s face or, more accurately, punch their face off. Doing so rewards you with items which let you dispatch the dozens of enemies you’ll inevitably be surrounded by. It’s an adrenaline rush dressed up by a game, and it’s a must-play for anyone that loves (or can stomach) egregious violence. AS

Buy Doom (2016) from Steam

Dragon Ball FighterZ

Best PC games

Dragon Ball FighterZ is a properly crafted fighting game, with competitive esports ambitions. It’s also incredibly fun, polished and looks like an anime come to life. With a lengthy campaign mode featuring voice actors from the TV series and new characters designed especially for this game, it’s arguably the best-realized Dragon Ball game yet, with a battle system that’s fun for entry-level fighters but surprisingly complicated and nuanced enough for higher-echelon brawlers. too. MS

Buy Dragon Ball FighterZ from Steam

FTL: Faster Than Light

Best PC games

Who hasn’t wanted to captain their own spaceship? Well, after a few hours of FTL: Faster Than Light, you might be rethinking your life goals. FTL is a roguelike, which means every game starts from the same spot. All you have to do is travel through a number of star systems, recruiting crew members and collecting scrap as you make your way towards a final showdown against a stupidly overpowered ship. Gameplay is roughly divided between a map view, where you can take as much time as you like to chart the most efficient route to your goal, and combat events which play out in real-time (although you can and will be using a pause button to slow things down).

Where the real fun comes in is in the narrative, which plays out in two ways. There’s the structured side, where every so often you’ll be asked to make decisions that may improve or hinder your chances of survival. And then there’s the natural story you create for yourselves, as you’re forced to decide, for example, whether it’s worth sacrificing a crew member for the greater good. AS

Buy FTL: Faster Than Light from Steam

League of Legends

Best PC games

League of Legends represents one of the most exciting landscapes in gaming today. On top of supporting a monthly player base of roughly 100 million people, League is the most popular esports scene in the world. When you’re not watching pro matches, LoL itself is perfect for all-night gaming sessions, playing with a team of friends or solo. There are a few different roles to best match your preferred play style, and Riot Games consistently rolls out updates, new champions and visual upgrades. Plus, the studio has built a character roster 143 deep (and counting). JC

Get League of Legends from Riot Games

Nier Automata

Best PC games

Nier Automata takes the razor-sharp combat of a Platinum Games title and puts it in a world crafted by everyone’s favorite weirdo, Yoko Taro. Don’t worry, you can mostly just run, gun and slash your way through the game, but as you finish, and finish and finish this one, you’ll find yourself pulled into a truly special narrative, that’s never been done before and will probably never be done again. It’s fair to say that the PC release, as is unfortunately often the case, wasn’t exactly the best and is still remarkably lacking in options, but it’s at least stable now, and trust us when we say this one is unmissable. AS

Buy Nier Automata from Steam

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard

Many were ready to write off the Resident Evil series after the disaster that was Resident Evil 6. What started as the horror game on the original PlayStation had become a bloated mess of an action game. Instead of throwing the whole franchise in the trash and forgetting about it, Capcom took a hard look at what wasn’t working, which — surprise! — was basically everything, and thoroughly rebooted the formula. Borrowing from Kojima’s PT and, in some ways, Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is horror through powerlessness. For the majority of the game, you’re basically unable to do anything but run from or delay your foes. And that’s what makes it so good.

Buy Resident Evil 7: Biohazard from Steam

Return of the Obra Dinn

Best PC games

This is an unforgettable ghost-story-slash-murder-mystery with a distinctive old-school graphical style. It’s unlike any game we’ve played in a while, with a low-key musical score and a style of puzzle solving that’s like one satisfying, grisly riddle. In Return of the Obra Dinn, you’re put aboard a ship, alone. There is, however, a corpse near the captain’s cabin. As you track the deceased’s final footsteps, leading to yet more grisly ends, you need to figure out what happened. Who killed who? And who is still alive? Special mention to the sound effect that kicks in every time you solve the fates of three of the crew. Goosebumps. MS

Buy Return of the Obra Dinn from Steam

The Witcher 3

Best PC games

It might be the best open-world RPG out there. Despite now being several years old, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a dense action game that acknowledges the maturity of the player with multiple — occasionally harrowing — storylines, choices that have consequences and almost too much game to wrestle with. It’s not perfect; the combat system is rough, frustrating death comes in the form of falling from just a few feet and there’s a lot of quest filler alongside many incredibly well thought out distractions. The scope and ambition on display will have you hooked, and once you’re done, there are some excellent expansions to check out. MS

Buy The Witcher 3 from Steam

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

Best PC games

There was some spirited discussion about which XCOM game we would include in this list, but in the end, War of the Chosen won out. The 2017 expansion to XCOM 2 is the latest and greatest entrant to the XCOM series. All the staples of a classic XCOM game are here. You’re a commander of a rag-tag group of elite military units. You command those units in short missions against an impossibly large alien force, carefully moving them around a grid map to take out the enemy one by one. Completing missions advances the story and also gives you the opportunity to upgrade your units — which is where XCOM‘s party trick comes in.

XCOM has permadeath. That means that once a character dies, it’s dead. This keeps the stakes high and inevitably leads to some truly painful moments. One wrong move can send your high-level, ultra-customized, definitely-not-named-after-your-co-workers soldier to its death, to be replaced by a rookie that’s even more vulnerable. Honestly, you should absolutely buy 2013’s XCOM: Enemy Within as well, but War of the Chosen remains of the finest examples of a turn-based tactics game ever to grace the PC. AS

Buy XCOM 2: War of the Chosen from Steam

Contributors: Jessica Conditt (JC), Mat Smith (MS), Aaron Souppouris (AS).

Changes:
July 2019: ‘Fortnite’ replaced by ‘Beat Saber’

The best games
Explore our top picks for every system

PS4buttons

  • Monday: PlayStation 4
  • Tuesday: Xbox One
  • Wednesday: Switch
  • Thursday: PC
  • Friday: Mobile
  • Saturday: Free-to-play

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‘Doctor Who’ might finally get a game that does it justice

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Wrenching a satellite dish from the wall and grabbing that radio, you go on the hunt for a car battery to power it. A wreck of a car is nearby, and you use your device to pop open the hood and look to see if there’s a battery inside. Assembling the gear together, you fire up the sonic to make it work and — nothing happens.

A flying saucer sails overhead and casts the yard in shadow as a Dalek voice barks “Exterminate!” from on high. You try again with the device, praying that the sonic can cajole the cobbled-together gear into life, once, twice, praying for rescue. Then, it jumps into life, and in the corner of the yard, the wheezing sound of a TARDIS filters through the din.

It sits there, magical and untouched by the dirt and grime of its surroundings, and its door swings open just a little. The saucer is bearing down upon you, and you hurry along to pull open both doors and walk inside. It’s a moment you’ll want to savor, but you can’t, because there is work to be done. And as you ride off, the Doctor Who title sequence begins rolling.

For a beloved TV series that has run for more than half a century, Doctor Who has a strained relationship with video games. The go-anywhere, do-anything nature of its premise means that the game is often crowbarred into formats that don’t suit it. I can speak with some experience when I say that almost every Doctor Who game ever made has been shit.

The First Adventure (1983, BBC Micro), Legacy (2013, Mobile) and Infinity (2018, Mobile) were all knock-offs of other titles, like Pac Man and Candy Crush. Mines of Terror (1986, BBC Micro) was a platformer that, 8-bit Colin Baker avatar aside, had little to do with the show. Then there was Destiny of the Doctors (Windows, 1997), a CD-ROM title in which players roamed a maze-like TARDIS which made this Windows 95 screensaver look compelling.

There are two highlights: the title sequence to Dalek Attack (1992, Various), which is legitimately brilliant given the limits of the hardware, and the filmed inserts in Destiny of the Doctors. I’m excluding Lego Dimensions from this, if only because it’s not really a Doctor Who game. And the less said about the later-period games, like Eternity Clock (2012, Various) and Return to Earth (2010, Wii) the better.

Breaking a 36-year run of bad Doctor Who games is the challenge laid at the feet of The Edge of Time. The VR title is being made by a nine-person team at Maze Theory, a new London-based developer that previously made The Vanishing Act. According to Maze Theory’s Russ Harding, a veteran of Sony’s London VR studio, The Edge of Time is the first Doctor Who game that wants to make you “feel like you’re in the show.”

Part of this is down to the level of fidelity that the development team has put into making the title. That included heading to the TV studio to take 3D scans of the new console room so it feels as real as possible. Plus, the game was written by BBC Wales’ Gavin Collinson and approved by Doctor Who‘s producer, Chris Chibnall, for added authenticity.

In the game, your unnamed character joins The Doctor, voiced by Jodie Whittaker, to save the universe. An enemy has exiled her to the edge of time, and the only way to fix things is to use the TARDIS to recover a series of time crystals. You will journey to a handful of locations to source the gear, including a colony ship, Dalek-occupied London and a Victorian mansion in a state of perpetual flux.

Because you’ll be propelled through the game’s narrative, you won’t have time to think about exploring. And you’ll be assisted in your journey by Emma, an AI companion that helps guide you through challenging sections.

Dalek

You progress by solving puzzles like the one where you forage for parts to create a transmitter. The logic seems to be similar to that of an escape room, where there is a mix of puzzle-solving and exploration within the confines of the space. Harding said that the puzzles will get progressively harder and that there are other gameplay mechanics that will reveal themselves further on.

Playing the game with an Oculus Rift (and controllers), you’ll use the right paddle’s joystick to control your movement. Otherwise, the game is designed to let you use your hands in the virtual space, picking up and interacting with objects as you go. The sonic screwdriver is your only other tool, which sits in your right pocket at all times.

If there’s a risk, it’s that the environments are a little too well done, turning The Edge of Time into an experience rather than a game. Harding said that Maze Theory worked with experimental and immersive theatre companies to create the game.

Doctor Who

Harding said that the team’s original goal was to create an experience around two hours long, long enough for most people’s VR endurance. But the sheer volume of material that Maze Theory created meant the running time has expanded up to four hours. It’ll be released in September for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and Quest, HTC Vive and Vive Cosmos.

We won’t know until then if The Edge of Time is a good Doctor Who game, or even if it’s a good video game outright. Harding said that despite the branding, the title is designed for “everyone,” with Easter eggs to delight the faithful, rather than an excess of deep cuts. The price hasn’t been announced yet, but the team is hopeful it’ll be around or under $25.

But what is clear, even two months away from launch, is how well-suited Doctor Who is to VR. I am a child of the show’s wilderness years, when other mediums — novels, comics and audio — kept the show alive. The slogan on the back cover of the New Adventures novels was “stories too broad and too deep for the small screen.” What better way to do that than by plunging you into the middle of those stories, rather than watching from the sidelines?

Whisper it, but imagine a future in which VR Doctor Who episodes could realize those tales that really are too broad and deep for TV. Imagine wandering around Anathema or Lungbarrow in VR, and actually participating in the story as you go along. I’m hoping The Edge of Time lives up to its promise and can finally end the truth that there are no good Doctor Who games.

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Honda’s e Prototype is designed to delight you

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Honda is banking on something else to sell its first fully-electric car: joy. The runaround is rear-wheel drive, for instance, which gives the car some “sporty character,” according to Honda, and a ridiculously small turning circle of 4.3 metres. That figure will mean little in most US cities, which are known for their huge parking lots and wide, open roads. But in Europe — a continent filled with tight streets and back alleys — that maneuverability will be both practical and grin-inducing. The car has a perfectly even weight distribution, too, which should keep the handling razor sharp.

And then there’s the technology. The Honda e has five — yes, five — screens to peer at inside. The outer two show what the aforementioned side cameras are seeing. Another, tucked behind the steering wheel, will show the current speed, remaining charge, and other information that’s critical for the driver. The final two, positioned roughly in the center, will be for navigation and general infotainment. They all sit on top of a wood-like material (I’m pretty sure it’s a veneer) that looks purposefully old-fashioned. It’s a strange, but effective blend of futurism and Honda brand nostalgia that I can’t help but love.

As the car cruised past, I couldn’t help but smile and wave.

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, I watched the Honda e take on the world-famous hillclimb. It was, to be perfectly honest, one of the slowest drives I’ve ever seen at the show. So slow, in fact, that both the driver and passenger were able to roll down their windows and wave at the crowd. I’m sure the car can move a little quicker — reporters have guest-imated that the can go from nought to 60MPH (roughly 97KMH) in eight seconds. But it didn’t really matter. As the car cruised past, I couldn’t help but smile and wave back at them, just like every good Brit does when a child or family waves from a passing boat or train.

Honda e Prototype

Honda’s compact EV should be no slouch to charge, either. With a CCS2 DC rapid charger (the car also accepts a Type 2 AC connector) Honda says you can get back 80 percent of the car’s maximum range (so roughly 160KM) in half an hour. Again, it’s the sort of figure that Honda hopes will delight you.

For now, the car is just a prototype. The company says that little should change in the production version, though, which will be available to order later this year in five colors, including a striking metallic yellow. The success of the Honda e will depend, inevitably, on its yet-to-be-announced price tag. The car’s range will be a disappointment to some and a deal-breaker for others. If the hatchback is priced low enough, however, it could tempt city slickers who, like me, have already fallen in love with its looks.

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Facebook and Instagram’s image outage

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Instagram without the images.Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp outage lasted through most of Wednesday

On Wednesday, Facebook’s service suffered an outage that screwed up image loading and even exposed some of the machine learning-generated tags it relies on to sort pics. According to a tweet, the issue was triggered during a “routine maintenance operation,” and took around half the day to get resolved. We survived, somehow.

That’s ‘ev-eye-a’ to you.Lotus’ electric hypercar is named Evija

While the company’s choice of name is a bit strained — it means “the first in existence” or “the living one” — it makes sense given both Lotus’ traditions and what it represents. The company has long given its cars names starting with E (Esprit, Elise, Exige), and it only seems fitting to name an EV as, well, Ev. Ahead of its formal reveal in July, Lotus is giving Goodwood Festival attendees a peek at the Type 130 hypercar’s shape via a light show.

75 percent off and falling.PlayStation Classic price drops to $25 at Best Buy, Amazon

Seriously, how cheap would it have to get for you to be interested in buying one?

A learning tool and an instrument.Blipblox is a synth made for kids that adults will like, too

Yes, the Blipblox is shiny and made of rather cheap-feeling plastic. Yes, it’s explicitly designed for children. But that doesn’t necessarily make it just a toy. And honestly, at $189, it better be more than a toy.

Wait, ‘Cuphead’ again?The best games for Nintendo Switch

The Switch’s online store isn’t the easiest to navigate, so this guide aims to help the uninitiated start their journey on the right foot. These are the games you should own — for now.

But wait, there’s more…

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