‘Hitman 3’ owners will get the previous two games for free

IO Interactive is making things easier to parse for newcomers to the Hitman series and giving Hitman 3 owners who don’t already own the previous two games a bonus. On January 26th, the company will rename Hitman 3 to Hitman: World of Assassination. That’s the moniker IOI gave to the recent rebooted trilogy. What’s more, Hitman: WOA will include access to all three games.

Those who already owned Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 were supposed to be able to access levels from them in the third installment. However, the approach caused some confusion. This change should streamline things a bit.

If you own Hitman 3, you’ll get a free upgrade to Hitman: WOA. IOI will delist the previous two games, though you’ll still be able to download them again if you already own them. Hitman: WOA, which will cost $70, will be the only entry point for the trilogy moving forward. Hitman 3‘s current standard price is $60, but it’s on sale for $21 on Steam until January 5th. You might find PlayStation, Xbox and Switch deals elsewhere.

A new $30 Deluxe Pack will grant you access to three expansion packs, which include two extra levels, a pair of sniper maps, the Seven Deadly Sins expansion for Hitman 3 and other challenges. The three expansions (Hitman 3 Deluxe Pack, Hitman 3 Seven Deadly Sins Collection and Hitman 2 Expansion Access Pass) will still be available separately on consoles and Epic Games Store. The Deluxe Pack will be pro-rated on Steam if you already own one or two of those DLCs.

IOI noted in a blog post that a key consideration for the updates was the roguelite Freelancer mode, as being able to access all levels from across the trilogy is important for players to get the most out of it. The Freelancer mode was supposed to debut last year, but it will go live on January 26th as well.

“We’re absolutely certain that these changes will have a hugely positive effect on existing players and new players alike. It will also make our lives a lot easier too, there’s no doubting that,” IOI wrote. “For many players, it will mean free content to enjoy. For others, it will mean significantly cheaper DLC prices. For new players, who probably aren’t reading this here, they’ll have a much better experience buying Hitman games.”

South Korea fines Tesla $2.2 million over EV range disclosures

Tesla has suffered another blow after a South Korea regulator said it would fine the company 2.85 billion won ($2.24 million) for failing to disclose the shorter ranges of its electric vehicles in low temperatures. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said that Tesla EV ranges drop by up to 50.5 percent in cold weather, compared with the ranges that the company stated online.

The antitrust agency claimed that Tesla exaggerated the ranges of its vehicles on a single charge, the performance of Superchargers and fuel cost effectiveness versus combustion engine vehicles, as Reuters reports. The KFTC said that Tesla did so on its South Korean website between August 2019 and recently.

Studies have shown that ranges for all EVs can drop significantly in colder weather, mainly because the battery that’s used to power those cars also heats the interior. Based on data from South Korea’s environment ministry, a local consumer group claimed in 2021 that the ranges of most EVs drop by up to 40 percent in cold weather. Tesla’s vehicles saw the biggest drop, according to Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty. Tesla doesn’t have a communications department that can be reached for comment.

While the fine is a relatively small one, it’s more bad news for Tesla. The company said on Monday that it set a new quarterly record for EV deliveries in the last three months of 2022 with more than 405,000 (an increase of nearly 97,000 compared with a year earlier). However, analysts expected Tesla to deliver 418,000 EVs last quarter. By 10:30AM ET on Tuesday, Tesla’s stock had dropped by over 10 percent compared with Monday. The company’s share price has plummeted by 72 percent over the last 12 months.

Samsung’s new wall oven lets you livestream a video feed of what’s cooking

Samsung is refreshing its lineup of customizable Bespoke smart appliances with a wall oven, washer and dryer. The Bespoke AI Oven has a seven-inch screen and touch controls. The cooking methods include air sous vide, air frying and steam cooking. Perha…

Samsung’s latest gaming monitors include an 8K, 57-inch ultra-wide display

Samsung is pushing further into the realm of humongous monitors with the next-gen, 57-inch Odyssey Neo G9. Some may find this model a bit more palatable than the 55-inch Odyssey Ark Samsung released last year, as it’s an ultrawide with a ratio of 32:9 …

NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti leaks reveal specs and potential price

NVIDIA is expected to reveal its GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics card at CES next week, but it preemptively leaked the specs. Thanks to new rumors, we have a sense of the GPU’s likely price too.

The RTX 4070 Ti is slated to have 12GB of GDDR6X memory with 7,680 Cuda cores that can be boosted to 2.61GHz, as Tom’s Hardware notes. NVIDIA seemingly expects the card to deliver 4K gameplay at up to 240Hz, or 8K visuals at 60Hz with DSC and HDR enabled. The company claimed the RTX 4070 Ti will deliver around 3.5 times better performance than the 12GB RTX 3080 in Cyberpunk 2077 when the new RT Overdrive mode is enabled.

It has been widely believed that the latest card would essentially be a rebranded version of the 12GB RTX 4080. In October, NVIDIA reversed plans to release that model and suggested it would rebadge the GPU.

Meanwhile, rumors indicate NVIDIA will sell the RTX 4070 Ti for $799. It was previously expected that the price would be $899, but NVIDIA may have lowered it after the US delayed tariffs on GPUs that were set to resume on January 1st. Based on the RTX 4070 Ti’s expected performance, Wccftech ran the numbers and found that, on a teraflop-to-dollar ratio, the GPU will offer 97 percent of the value proposition of the $1,599 RTX 4090.

We should find out official details about the RTX 4070 Ti, perhaps including the release date, very soon. NVIDIA has scheduled a CES edition of its GeForce Beyond event for January 3rd at 11AM ET.

Google will pay $9.5 million to settle Washington DC AG’s location-tracking lawsuit

Google has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine, who accused the company earlier this year of “deceiving users and invading their privacy.” Google has also agreed to change some of its practices, primarily concerning how it informs users about collecting, storing and using their location data.

“Google leads consumers to believe that consumers are in control of whether Google collects and retains information about their location and how that information is used,” the complaint, which Racine filed in January, read. “In reality, consumers who use Google products cannot prevent Google from collecting, storing and profiting from their location.”

Racine’s office also accused Google of employing “dark patterns,” which are design choices intended to deceive users into carrying out actions that don’t benefit them. Specifically, the AG’s office claimed that Google repeatedly prompted users to switch in location tracking in certain apps and informed them that certain features wouldn’t work properly if location tracking wasn’t on. Racine and his team found that location data wasn’t even needed for the app in question. They asserted that Google made it “impossible for users to opt out of having their location tracked.”

The $9.5 million payment is a paltry one for Google. Last quarter, it took parent company Alphabet under 20 minutes to make that much in revenue. The changes that the company will make to its practices as part of the settlement may have a bigger impact.

Folks who currently have certain location settings on will receive notifications telling them how they can disable each setting, delete the associated data and limit how long Google can keep that information. Users who set up a new Google account will be informed which location-related account settings are on by default and offered the chance to opt out.

Google will need to maintain a webpage that details its location data practices and policies. This will include ways for users to access their location settings and details about how each setting impacts Google’s collection, retention or use of location data.

Moreover, Google will be prevented from sharing a person’s precise location data with a third-party advertiser without the user’s explicit consent. The company will need to delete location data “that came from a device or from an IP address in web and app activity within 30 days” of obtaining the information

“Given the vast level of tracking and surveillance that technology companies can embed into their widely used products, it is only fair that consumers be informed of how important user data, including information about their every move, is gathered, tracked, and utilized by these companies,” Racine said in a statement. “Significantly, this resolution also provides users with the ability and choice to opt of being tracked, as well as restrict the manner in which user information may be shared with third parties.”

Engadget has contacted Google for comment.

TikTok will be banned on most US federal government devices

TikTok will be outlawed on almost all devices issued by the federal government after lawmakers passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill. Officials crammed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, which the Senate unanimously approved in mid-December, into the mammoth 4,155-page omnibus bill. The spending package was fast tracked in order to avoid a partial government shutdown. It will fund the government through September.

The Senate voted 68-29 to pass the bill on December 22nd. The House approved it on Friday with a vote of 225-201. On the same day, President Joe Biden signed a stopgap bill that funded the government for another week in order to avert a shutdown until the omnibus bill landed on his desk. Today, President Biden signed the bill into law.

The legislation requires the Biden administration to establish rules to remove TikTok from government devices by mid-February. The bill carved out exceptions for elected officials, congressional staff, law enforcement agents and other officials. However, the House of Representatives separately banned TikTok on devices it owns and manages.

Earlier this month, FBI Director Chris Wray warned that China could use the app (which is owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance) to collect data on users. Some attempts have been made, including in the last few weeks, to prohibit TikTok in the US entirely. Several states have banned TikTok from government devices, including Georgia, South Dakota, Maryland and Texas. Indiana has sued TikTok over alleged security and child safety issues.

TikTok has attempted to soothe US lawmakers’ concerns that the app could be used for spying purposes. Since June, it has been directing all traffic from the country to Oracle servers based domestically. TikTok and ByteDance said they’d delete US user data from their own servers in the US and Singapore. In August, Oracle began a review of TikTok’s algorithms and content moderation systems.

As Congress was voting on the bill, news broke that ByteDance fired four employees (two in the US and two in China) who accessed the TikTok data of US journalists. The workers were allegedly trying to find the sources of leaks to the reporters.

The omnibus bill includes other tech-related provisions, including more funding for federal antitrust officials. In addition, the package incorporates the Computers for Veterans and Students Act. This requires the government to hand over certain surplus computers to nonprofits. The systems will be repaired and/or refurbished, then distributed to schools, homeschooled students, veterans, seniors and others in need.

There’s also another $1.8 billion in new funding to implement the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost domestic production of semiconductors. The omnibus bill earmarks $25.4 billion for NASA — 5.6 percent more than the agency received in fiscal year 2022, but less than the $26 billion the White House asked for. The National Science Foundation will get $9.9 billion, an increase of 12 percent. The National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will receive increases of 32 percent (up to $1.6 billion) and 17.5 percent ($761 million), respectively.

New York’s governor signs watered-down right-to-repair bill

Almost seven months after the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a right-to-repair bill, New York governor Kathy Hochul has signed it into law. But Hochul only greenlit the bill after the legislature agreed to some changes. Hochul wrote in a memo that the legislation, as it was originally drafted, “included technical issues that could put safety and security at risk, as well as heighten the risk of injury from physical repair projects.” The governor said the modifications addressed these issues, but critics say the amendments will weaken the law’s effectiveness.

“This legislation would enhance consumer options in the repair markets by granting them greater access to the parts, tools and documents needed for repairs,” Hochul wrote. “Encouraging consumers to maximize the lifespan of their devices through repairs is a laudable goal to save money and reduce electronic waste.”

The changes strip out the bill’s requirement for “original equipment manufacturers [or OEMs] to provide to the public any passwords, security codes or materials to override security features.” OEMs will also be able to bundle “assemblies of parts” instead of just the specific component actually needed for a DIY repair if “the risk of improper installation heightens the risk of injury.” 

The rules will only apply to devices that are originally built and used or sold in New York for the first time after July 1st. There’s also an exemption for “digital products that are the subject of business-to-business or business-to-government sales and that otherwise are not offered for sale by retailers.”

As Ars Technica reported earlier this month, representatives for Microsoft and Apple pressed Hochul’s office for changes. So did industry association TechNet, which represents many notable tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Dell, HP and Engadget parent Yahoo.

As a result, the bill’s revised language excludes enterprise electronics, such as those that schools, hospitals, universities and data centers rely on, as iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens wrote in a blog post. Home appliances, motor vehicles, medical devices and off-road equipment were previously exempted.

“Such changes could limit the benefits for school computers and most products currently in use,” Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG), a collective of consumer rights organizations, said in a statement to Engadget. “Even more troubling, the bill now excludes certain smartphone circuit boards from parts the manufacturers are required to sell, and requires repair shops to post unwieldy warranty language.”

“We knew it was going to be difficult to face down the biggest and wealthiest companies in the world,” PIRG right to repair director Nathan Proctor said. “But, though trimmed down, a new Right to Repair law was signed. Now our work remains to strengthen this law and pass others until people have what they need to fix their stuff.”

As The Verge notes, repair technician and right-to-repair advocate Louis Rossmann said the changes have watered down the law to the point where it’s “functionally useless.” Rossmann, who spent seven years trying to get the bill passed, called Hochul’s assertion that the changes were necessary to include protections from physical harm and security risks “bullshit,” citing a Federal Trade Commission report on the issue.

The right-to-repair movement has picked up steam over the last couple of years. Ahead of expected legislation coming into force, companies such as Google, Apple, Samsung and Valve started providing repair manuals and selling parts for some of their products.

Last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that aimed at bolstering competition in the US, including in the tech industry. Among other measures, it called on the FTC to ban “anticompetitive restrictions on using independent repair shops or doing DIY repairs of your own devices and equipment.”