Google has detailed how users will be able to sideload apps from unverified developers once it implements its more restrictive policy towards downloading software on Android. The company originally planned to require all developers to be “verified” to distribute on Android, but softened its stance in November 2025 to allow carveouts for Android power-users and hobbyist developers.
For the average Android users, the ability to sideload apps will now be locked behind a multi-step one-time process. Users will first have to enable developer mode in settings, confirm they’re not being coached into disabling security, restart their phone (to cut off any phone calls), then wait a day and confirm their identity with biometric authentication or a pin before installing any apps. Google says you can enable the ability to install apps from unverified developers for seven days or indefinitely, but regardless of what you’ll choose, you’ll still have to dismiss a warning telling you the app you’re installing is from an unverified developer.
For hobbyist developers or students who want people to try their app but don’t want to create a verified developer account, Google also plans to offer free “limited distributions accounts” that let you share apps without being verified. These accounts will let you share apps with up to 20 devices without having “to provide a government-issued ID or pay a registration fee.”
Google is implementing its new verification process in the name of security, and has likened the requirements being asked of developers to “an ID check at the airport, which confirms a traveler’s identity but is separate from the security screening of their bags.” Neither the verification nor this new approach to sideloading entirely closes off getting apps from unverified developers onto your Android device, they just make it harder to download something dangerous directly from the internet onto your phone.
Google appears to be trying to split the difference on Android, tightening up what apps can be distributed via verification, while cutting its own Play Store fees and changing its stance towards third-party app stores. Requiring verification to distribute software extends Google’s influence outside of its own apps and app store, which is why some developers and digital rights organizations have publicly pushed back on the company’s plan.
Developers can sign-up for early access to the developer verification process now. Google says its new workflow for enabling sideloading and small distributions of apps will go live in August.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/android-will-hide-app-sideloading-behind-a-new-one-time-security-process-184651171.html?src=rss
The Steam Spring Sale is underway and as usual, there’s plenty of good stuff to add to your library. The seasonal discounts will run through Thursday, March 26 at 1PM ET. If there’s anything you’ve been waiting to buy, it’s worth checking to see if it’s on sale now, because huge chunks of the Steam catalog are at least a little bit off.
Recent releases don’t usually receive big price cuts during Steam sales, but you can save at least a couple bucks on several 2025 hits this time. The excellent Arc Raiders is $32, Doom: The Dark Ages is about $23 and Battlefield 6 is $42. Silent Hill f is half off at $35 for the horror fans, and indie appreciators can snag Hades 2 for less than $23.
No Man’s Sky is $24 for endless space adventures. Check out Ghost of Tsushima on PC for $36 or be the meanest cowboy in the west in Red Dead Redemption 2 for $15.
We usually spy some indie excellence on the sale list and this year is no different. Is This Seat Taken? is a few bucks off, as is Megabonk. Explore the islands of Tchia for 75 percent off. No Rest for the Wicked, a newer title from the team behind Ori and the Blind Forest, is $28. Perennial Steam Sale fave Stardew Valley is half off for the five of you who don’t already own it.
This spring, the steep discount section has a few especially notable titles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate, Fallout New Vegas and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator are among the games that are 90 percent off.
Now you’ll just need to play everything you buy before the Summer Sale.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-steam-spring-sale-is-here-with-discounts-on-arc-raiders-hades-2-and-much-more-184000691.html?src=rss
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Cardio zones aren’t real—not in the way your fitness app makes them sound, anyway. Yes, heart rate zones are a way to describe how hard you’re working during a cardio workout, like running or cycling. But the cardio zones everyone’s always buzzing about are just a way of bucketing exercise intensity into digestible categories. They’re a useful shorthand, but there are no physiological lines in the sand where your body suddenly switches from “zone 2” to “zone 3.” It’s a spectrum, and the specific cutoffs vary depending on who you ask (or what app you’re using), what formula they rely on, and whether they measured your lactate threshold in a lab or just guessed based on your age.
So when “zone zero” started circulating in wellness circles, my instinct was to roll my eyes. Relying on the zone framework in this way seems to add a layer of pseudoscience to what is essentially just…moving around more. To be fair, the underlying idea of “moving around more” certainly is a positive one, so allow me to break down what “zone zero” cardio even means, and how you can incorporate it into your routine.
“Zero” sounds like nothing, or if not “nothing,” then at best, it sounds like rest. But rest is already informally called “zone 1” in many popular frameworks (never mind that it’s arguably not a real zone, since sitting still is in no way a cardio zone). So, we now have zone zero slotted below zone 1 (rest), which means we’ve invented a category below doing nothing.
The semantic confusion is worth calling out, because it reveals how the wellness industry tends to work: take something intuitive, give it a technical-sounding name, and suddenly people feel like they need an app, a heart rate monitor, and a six-week program to understand what they were already doing, or should have been doing all along.
Strip away the branding, and zone zero is a way to call out the sort of movement that falls between “workout” and “total inactivity.” This might mean your 10-minute walk after lunch, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or pacing while on a phone call. These movements might not register as strict exercise, but cumulatively, across a day—across a life—they can make a real difference.
The research behind this practice is solid, even if the zone label itself is flimsy. Prolonged sitting is independently associated with health risks, even in people who exercise regularly. One way to think about it is that the body doesn’t bank fitness like a savings account; it responds to the totality of how you move (or don’t) throughout the day.
Armed with this understanding of what zones are and are not, zone zero can be a great framework. For instance, if you’re an all-or-nothing exerciser, then zone zero is a way to remember that light movement still counts for something. Or if you’re someone recovering from injury, illness, or burnout, or for whatever reason structured cardio isn’t accessible to you right now, then zone zero is a great way to remember that you haven’t failed by not hitting the gym. Gentle movement—even the kind that barely registers on a heart rate monitor—is still movement, and it still has value.
But if you’re someone with a robust, consistent approach to cardio, zone zero is probably not a concept you need to think about at all. There’s no need to add yet another source of noise in the fitness world.
If you want to monitor cardio intensity—whether that’s the coveted zone 2 work, harder efforts, or just making sure you’re moving enough throughout the day—here are the trackers that do it best:
Garmin’s heart rate zone tracking is among the most accurate on the market for wrist-based monitors, and as my colleague Beth Skwarecki writes in her review, the Garmin Forerunner 570 has shockingly good heart rate accuracy. Unfortunately, the price (currently on sale for $496.97) might be a dealbreaker for casual users.
This is the best Apple Watch for most people, and it gets the job done for most people’s heart rate zone tracking. Plus, it’s the most seamless option if you’re already in the Apple ecosystem.
When it comes to heart rate, the Fitbit is a perfectly solid budget option. If you want more than a minimalist approach, you might find yourself longing for a proper fitness watch, like the Garmin or Apple options above.
For more, I recommend reading this piece from Beth to see how Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura, and Whoop all compare on measuring heart rate variability (HRV).
To put it bluntly: You don’t need to track so-called “zone zero” cardio. You don’t need a new metric for it, a dedicated workout, or a wearable that vibrates to remind you to stand up (though your existing wearable might already do that, and it can certainly be useful). The whole point is that it’s supposed to be below the threshold of effort.
What is worth taking seriously is the underlying behavior change this concept encourages. Take a look at your day and honestly ask yourself whether movement is woven through it, or confined to a scheduled block. If it’s the latter, consider incorporating some walking and stretching breaks into your day. Maybe zone zero didn’t need a name, but now it has one, and if knowing about it helps you move more, that’s a win.
A little more than a year after ditching third-party fact checkers and rolling back much of its proactive content moderation, the company says it will further “transform” its approach by drastically reducing the number of human moderators in favor of AI-based systems. The company says the change will happen “over the next few years,” and will allow the company to catch more issues faster than its current approach.
Meta didn’t say how much of its contract workforce might be cut as it makes this transition. The company employs thousands of contractors around the world to review content flagged by its AI systems and user reports among other tasks. The company said that as it shifts its approach humans will “play a key role” in “critical decisions” and aid in training and other tasks.
“Experts will design, train, oversee, and evaluate our AI systems, measuring performance and making the most complex, high‑impact decisions,” Meta said in an update. “For example, people will continue to play a key role in how we make the highest risk and most critical decisions, such as appeals of account disablement or reports to law enforcement.”
The company has been testing LLM-based systems for content moderation for a while and says that early tests have had “promising” results. Another advantage is that its AI can handle languages used by “98% of people online,” compared with the 80 languages currently supported by its moderation capabilities.
While Meta says its underlying rules aren’t changing, the new approach could dramatically change users’ perception of how Meta enforces its policies. The company already relies heavily on AI for certain rules, and many users believe that these systems make too many mistakes and make it difficult for their appeals to reach a set of human eyes. On the other hand, Meta, which stands to save a lot of money if it significantly downsizes its contract workforce, says its new systems make “fewer over-enforcement mistakes” and catch more of the most “severe” violations.
In the nearer term, Meta is introducing an AI powered “support assistant” that will help users with certain types of account issues. The chatbot, which is rolling out now in the Facebook and Instagram app, will be able to help users report content and manage appeals, reset passwords and manage other account settings. It will also be able to help people who get locked out of their accounts “starting with select cases in the US and Canada.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-will-move-away-from-human-content-moderators-in-favor-of-more-ai-183000435.html?src=rss
The FBI has confirmed to the Senate it is once again buying data which can be used to track the locations of US citizens. That may have surprised the people who thought the precedent in Carpenter v. United States prohibited it. But while that case examined if it was legal for law enforcement to obtain location data from mobile networks without a warrant, here the FBI and other agencies have found a way to skirt the Fourth Amendment entirely. Over the last few years, they have taken to just buying location data from the same companies which power the enormous online advertising ecosystem.
When your phone is connected to the internet, it broadcasts about itself, and so do the apps and platforms you use. That information includes your IP address and device type, as well as your longitude and latitude if your device has GPS. This data, known as Bidstream, alongside any third party cookies tied to your device, enables the process of Real Time Bidding (RTB). RTB is the process where your attention is auctioned off to the highest bidder in the milliseconds after you’ve loaded a page. In order to make the auctions work, these platforms need to know as much about you as they can.
As I explained in depth back in 2021, data such as your location and IP address is broadcast over the ad networks. This information can also be aggregated, licensed or sold to data brokers who can pair this with any “deterministic data” available. For instance, if you sign up to a platform and tell them your name, email address and annual income, that data could be licensed to a data broker. Even banks looking for new revenue streams are planning to license anonymized customer data to these companies. Data brokers can easily combine the two streams of information to build out a fairly extensive picture of you as a person, and what advertisers will be the most interested in you. Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult to opt out of this and, even if it were, it would be even more difficult to destroy the data already in circulation.
In 2018 French company Vectaury, which acted as an ad sales intermediary for mobile apps, was inspected by the French data protection regulator. Officials found the company had built a database containing the personal data of 67.6 million people without proper consent.
Data brokers don’t just harvest and hoard this data to make online ad sales, however, they will also license and sell its databases to others. Lawmakers believe that these brokers have sold this data to rival nations looking for ways to spy on US citizens.
In January, 404Media revealed the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) bought access to tools supplied by cybersecurity company Penlink. Specifically, it purchased access to tools named Tangles and Webloc, which can be used to surveil large numbers of people at once. The latter tool reportedly has the power to identify smartphones in a given area and time, and can then follow them on their journey through the day and back to their home at night.
Given the secretive nature of its business, Penlink does not reveal much about how its tools operate. A since-removed marketing page says Webloc automatically analyzes “location based information” available in “endless digital channels from the web ecosystem.” And 404Media’s report says these tools access “commercially available smartphone location data,” supplied by third-party data brokers. Forbes reports the system can also pull together data from a variety of sources, including social media, to offer a real-time view of an event. The Texas Observer says Webloc can use this information to enable “warrantless device tracking.”
A number of other US law enforcement agencies have also purchased location data from data brokers, including the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service. This isn’t just limited to government agencies, however, as anti-abortion groups did similar while targeting people visiting Planned Parenthood clinics.
The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of the people to be protected from “unreasonable searches and seizures,” made without probable case. But, as Dori H. Rahbar wrote in the Columbia Law Review, “the Fourth Amendment does not regulate open market transactions.” Aaron X Sobel, writing in the Yale Law and Policy Review, described the practice as “end-running warrants,” and urged legislators to close this loophole. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), is also pushing for legislation under the Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act.
It’s not likely that such legislation will be passed for a long time, and a cynic would suggest it’s not possible under the current administration. But, even if it is, it won’t address the bigger issue of the ad tech industry and its partners vacuuming up as much information about us as it can. When these companies — many of which aren’t even known to the public — are able to store up enough information on us that, if they were so motivated, they could follow our path through the day, it’s a sign something is very rotten indeed. If we’re concerned about governments having this sort of access, then we should be equally nervous about anyone else having it as well.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/dont-be-surprised-that-the-fbi-is-buying-your-location-data-182047627.html?src=rss
From people meeting friendly players to folks barely escaping thanks to a heroic sacrifice, Bungie’s new FPS is creating some memorable war stories
See zwiftinsider.com/tiny for current Tiny Race details.
Coatsink’s charming flight adventure game Skytail releases on March 26 for Quest headsets.
Skytail sees players riding atop the back of a birdlike companion and using telekinetic powers to defeat enemies in the sky. Together, you set off on an adventure to rescue the titular creature’s kidnapped offspring. The new title from Coatsink was first revealed at the 2025 UploadVR Winter Showcase.
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A new trailer from Coatsink shows more of the gameplay players can expect. The telekinetic abilities are handled through different gesture controls, allowing you to tear apart, crush, or otherwise dispatch enemies in your path. The trailer also shows players freeing creatures from captivity, exploring islands, and forging a bond with the winged companion.
Skytail from Coatsink – Images provided by the developer
Coatsink’s previous VR titles include Jurassic World Aftermath, Augmented Empire, and most recently Men In Black: Most Wanted. Skytail releases on March 26 exclusively on Meta Quest.
At the time of this article, there is no news on any additional platforms. A new port of Jurassic World Aftermath combining the two part adventure was released as a launch title for PlayStation VR2 in 2023. Augmented Empire, originally an Oculus Go title, was updated for mixed reality and released for Quest 3 in 2024. Men In Black remains a Quest exclusive.
The dream of the metaverse may have died for now, but Meta has decided it’s not completely giving up on the VR experience in Horizon Worlds, the virtual worlds service that it originally envisioned as the first step toward said metaverse.
The news was announced via the Instagram account of Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth. “We have decided, just today in fact, that we will keep Horizon Worlds working in VR,” said Bosworth in an AMA on the platform in response to someone who expressed disappointment at the previously announced plan to end support.
He went on to clarify that only games and experiences that already support VR will continue to do so, while new games will be exclusive to mobile, and the majority of the team’s development focus will be on mobile instead of VR.
On Wednesday, Afroman won a widely watched defamation lawsuit that seven cops filed after the rapper made music videos mocking them for conducting a 2022 raid of his home that resulted in no charges and no marijuana found.
Videos for songs like “Lemon Pound Cake,” “Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera,” and “Will You Help Me Repair My Door” used real footage from the raid, pulling from security camera footage and videos shot by Afroman’s wife. Cops from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office alleged they were humiliated and received death threats after the videos went viral.
Accusing Afroman of defamation, cops individually sought damages as high as $1.5 million. But Afroman’s lawyer, David Osborne, argued this was a clear-cut First Amendment case. At trial, Afroman testified that cops had no one to blame for the reputational damage but themselves, arguing that “if they hadn’t wrongly raided my house, there would be no lawsuit,” The New York Times reported.
Google is planning big changes for Android in 2026 aimed at combating malware across the entire device ecosystem. Starting in September, Google will begin restricting application sideloading with its developer verification program, but not everyone is on board. Android Ecosystem President Sameer Samat tells Ars that the company has been listening to feedback, and the result is the newly unveiled advanced flow, which will allow power users to skip app verification.
With its new limits on sideloading, Android phones will only install apps that come from verified developers. To verify, devs releasing apps outside of Google Play will have to provide identification, upload a copy of their signing keys, and pay a $25 fee. It all seems rather onerous for people who just want to make apps without Google’s intervention.
Apps that come from unverified developers won’t be installable on Android phones—unless you use the new advanced flow, which will be buried in the developer settings.
Ubisoft is ending game development at Red Storm Entertainment, a studio responsible for several popular VR titles.
Ubisoft will end game production at Red Storm Entertainment. The studio developed such early Tom Clancy games as Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, and more recently worked in VR development, creating Werewolves Within, Star Trek: Bridge Crew, and Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR.
The cessation of game development will result in a reported loss of 105 jobs, with all game development jobs being made redundant. The remaining staff of Red Storm Entertainment will reportedly adopt a support role, handling global IT and Snowdrop engine support.
UploadVRHenry Stockdale
Ubisoft has recently closed multiple studios, laid off hundreds of workers, and canceled or delayed over a dozen projects amidst a “reset” which seeks to lower the company’s global operating costs by more than €200 million.
We had high praise for Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR in our review, awarding it our 2023 Quest Game of the Year, and noting it was “the most fun [we’ve] ever had with Assassin’s Creed.”
UploadVRHenry Stockdale
Speaking just a few months after the game’s release, Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot noted his disappointment in its sales numbers, and confirmed the publisher’s unwillingness to make further investment in VR until the medium “grows enough.”
Stranger Things fans will soon have permanent access to the Upside Down, as a full DVD set is now available to preorder. Stranger Things: The Complete Series comes in Blu-Ray and 4K UHD editions.
This collection includes all five seasons of the hit show, which totals 25 discs. It’ll be available at brick-and-mortar and online retailers beginning on July 28. Prices range from $200 to $260, depending on the media type and edition.
Return to Hawkins this July with STRANGER THINGS: THE COMPLETE SERIES, available in Special and Deluxe Editions on Blu-ray and 4K UHD.
Pre-order in the US via Arrow: https://t.co/wJbH9FJvo1
Pre-order in the UK via Arrow: https://t.co/yXi3HBPA42 pic.twitter.com/ddYQVcB04J— Arrow Video (@ArrowFilmsVideo) March 19, 2026
To that end, there’s a deluxe edition available for true diehards. This includes the complete series, of course, but also bonus content like bloopers, interviews with the cast and crew and various behind-the-scenes featurettes. It also comes with a bunch of doodads, like a self-adhesive Hellfire Club patch, five posters, 25 smaller art cards, a fold-out map of Hawkins and a branded twenty-sided die.
There’s a collector’s box and each season comes in reversible sleeves with new artwork. Finally, this edition ships with a large artbook that includes original design sketches, concept art, storyboards and more. This is a pretty cool and comprehensive package.
The price might seem high, but Stranger Things consists of 42 episodes and they get pretty lengthy in seasons four and five. In any event, owning physical media of stuff you like is never a bad idea, given that everything on streaming is subject to the whims of executives looking to avoid paying residuals or whatever.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-complete-stranger-things-dvd-set-includes-25-discs-and-costs-around-200-172222577.html?src=rss
Ubisoft is ceasing game development at its studio, Red Storm Entertainment, best known for its work on the Tom Clancy’s series. While the studio is set to remain open, 105 people will be laid off, a Ubisoft source told GamesIndustry.biz.
Those who survive the cull will reportedly continue to work on the Snowdrop engine, used in many of Ubisoft’s tentpole games over the last decade, including Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora more recently. Red Storm had been working on an untitled Splinter Cell VR game that was canceled in 2022, as well as the also-canceled The Division Heartland.
The studio was co-founded by the author Tom Clancy himself in 1996 (taking its name from Clancy’s novel Red Storm Rising), and in its 30 years has worked on a large number of Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six games, among others. It also developed 2023’s broadly well-received Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR.
According to GamesIndustry.biz’s source, the layoffs at Red Storm are part of Ubisoft’s wider cost-saving reorganization, which has resulted in sweeping job cuts and game cancellations across the French publisher’s portfolio.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-ends-development-at-tom-clancy-studio-red-storm-170847892.html?src=rss
Just last month, OptiScaler also brought FSR 4 to Vulkan games which previously had no support for FSR 4
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There’s nothing sweeter than listening to your favorite album or watching your favorite movie with pristine audio. And if you’re a true audiophile, few brands approach the quality Sonos can offer. Right now, Sonos is offering major discounts in the lead-up to Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, and the Sonos Beam G2 + Sub Mini combo in particular stands out; it’s currently $749, a 25% drop from the $998 list price and the lowest price it yet reached, according to price tracking tools.
This soundbar and subwoofer combo is perfect for those who want to keep things minimalistic, whether for space or aesthetic reasons, without sacrificing sound quality. The deal includes the Sonos Beam Gen 2, which normally goes for $499, and the Sonos Sub Mini, which normally also goes for $499.
The Sonos Beam Gen 2 arrived in 2021 with Atmos compatibility, eARC connectivity, NFC connectivity, and a better processor than the Gen 1 from 2018. As a smart soundbar, it supports both Google and Alexa voice assistants, as well as AirPlay. Its flat, tablet-like design (measuring 2.7 x 25.7 x 4.0 inches) makes it extremely compact, yet it still produces big sound, as noted in PCMag’s “excellent” review. The Sonos Sub Mini is a smaller and more affordable version of the Sonos Sub Gen 3, perfect for a small apartment. You can learn more about it in CNET’s review.
The Sonos companion app has improved dramatically over the years, making for a much better experience, adding features like Sonos TruePlay, which calibrates the speaker based on its environment.
OpenAI announced it’s acquiring developer tooling startup Astral to strengthen its Codex AI coding assistant, which has over 2 million weekly users and has seen a three-fold increase in user growth since the start of the year. CNBC reports: “Through it all, though, our goal remains the same: to make programming more productive. To build tools that radically change what it feels like to build software,” Astral’s founder and CEO Charlie Marsh wrote in a blog post. The company’s acquisition of Astral is still subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
