When the superhero adventure game Dispatch made its way to the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 in January, gamers noticed that the game was censored as black bars covered up partially nude bodies and obscene gestures. Developed AdHoc Studio said it was working with Nintendo to resolve these issues, and it looks like a new update will bring back all the censored content if players want it. 

The HR Violations Pack for Dispatch went live Wednesday and with it a visual filters setting to change the censorship in the game. Players can now decide if they want to remove the black bars from the Switch 2 version or add them to versions on other platforms, but depending on the region, their choices can be limited. 

For Switch players in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, they will have access to full or partial coverage of characters’ bodies, while players in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Southeast Asia will have full coverage only. There are different options for coverage from the standard blackout bars, a mosaic effect or what the developer calls a Chaotic style that will offer more creativity with the censorship, such as one character’s naked private parts being covered up by a pair of jean shorts. Only the Japan region limits censorship in the game to blackout bars. 

“We’ve confirmed that Switch players can now see all the breasts, butts and birds (AKA, obscene gestures) they want in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand,” Nick Herman, co-founder of AdHoc Studio, said in a Discord message on Wednesday. 

The studio didn’t provide much of an explanation in January as to why the game was so heavily censored, but Herman cleared things up in his message on Discord, saying that when nearing the launch day of the game on Switch 2, the team learned that the game would need some censoring for certain regions. Without time to make all the changes needed for the different regions, AdHoc Studios decided to have all versions use the most restrictive settings, which appear to be for Japan, according to the previously mentioned region options. 

Dispatch is AdHoc Studios’ debut game, and it received praise for its story and characters, voiced by Aaron Paul and Jeffrey Wright. Last year, it was named one of CNET’s Favorite Games of 2025. 

Builders who pick up set 77256, priced at $22.39 (was $28), get a compact LEGO Speed Champions model that covers key looks from the first two Back to the Future films without needing extra purchases. The 357-piece count keeps the finished car at roughly six and a half inches long, a scale that sits comfortably alongside other vehicles in the same line for display or light play.

“>One of the notable features is the rebuild option. The instructions lead you through an initial version that looks exactly like the DeLorean from the original film, replete with a California plate on the back and the iconic tall lightning rod. Swap a few sections around and you’ll have the sequel’s DeLorean, complete with the Mr. Fusion unit strapped to the back, wheels angled out to give the impression of hover mode, and, of course, all the details you’d expect, such as the rear vents, the flux capacitor visible under the hood, and the time calculator display in the cabin.

LEGO Speed Champions Time Machine from Back to The Future Building Toy for Kids – Pretend Play & Display…

• MODEL CAR BUILDING TOY – The LEGO Speed Champions Time Machine from Back to the Future (77256) building toy for kids 9 years old and up lets young…
• 2 MINIFIGURES – Kids can place the Doc Brown and Marty McFly minifigures inside the cockpit for creative storytelling and pretend play adventures
• BUILD 2 WAYS – Kids can construct the DeLorean from the first Back to the Future movie with lightning rod and California license plate, then rebuild…

Transparent details and printed tiles make movie-specific elements stand out, even on a small scale. The interior work in the cockpit section is excellent, with enough space for the supplied minifigures to sit comfortably. If you prefer getting up close and personal with the model, you’ll appreciate the degree of detailing on all of the body panels, as well as the way the little light-up accents capture the eye when the model is displayed on a shelf.

This set features new prints of Doc Brown and Marty McFly, both of which are amazing (to fans of the film series). Doc wears a little clock around his neck that is set to the precise time as shown in the movie’s clock tower scene, and Marty wears a puffy jacket that can be removed to expose his shirt patterns and a few smaller elements underneath. Both figures have a variety of expressions to choose from, and they fit nicely inside the DeLorean for role-playing or simply decoration.

The build is ideal for children aged nine and up, but there’s plenty to keep even older fans amused. The digital instructions on the LEGO app are a godsend since they allow you to zoom in, rotate the model, track your progress, and do other things that would be difficult to do with a large print guide. Once completed, the model feels worthy of exhibition, but it’s not so large that it can’t fit into a small place if necessary.

It happened to me: I opened a Google Doc to write an article, and I was immediately confronted with a text box inviting me to “write with Gemini.” I looked for some button to swipe away the garish AI display, but I could not find it. It made me mad.

Now, instead of writing the article I’m supposed to be working on, I am writing about how to get the AI pop-ups off of your Google Docs screen, since it took me some time to figure out. You’re welcome.

The first fix is pretty straightforward:

• Click “Gemini” on the top menu bar above your document.
• On the drop-down menu, select “bottom bar preferences.”
• You can choose to turn off that bottom bar, which will get rid of that AI box at the bottom of your screen.

Full disclosure: I was so enraged when I set out to find “bottom bar preferences” that I initially missed it entirely. Instead, I clicked “Ask something else” and asked Gemini to help me remove itself from my life. AI may not be human, but Gemini seemed to have some sort of survival instinct, because it told me to click the “X” icon. That does not remove Gemini. It simply closed the conversation, the one in which I was asking it how to turn itself off. Suspicious!

Other aggrieved Google Docs users have reported features that I have yet to encounter, like a “help me write” feature that hovers over your cursor while you work. This seems like something that would upset me, so it’s probably worth nipping that in the bud before it’s too late. Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” (He was talking about fire safety. I am talking about product design.)

Instead of turning off each individual AI feature like a game of whac-o-mole, we can disable “smart features” across our Google workspace via Gmail.

• First, navigate to your Gmail inbox.
• From there, find the gear icon for Settings and click it.
• Then, at the top of the menu, click “See all settings.” (But while you’re here, you should pick out a fun theme for your inbox. Would a little bit of whimsy kill you?)

• After clicking “See all settings,” scroll about half way down the page to find “Google Workspace smart features,” then click “Manage Workspace smart feature settings.”

• Here, you’re presented with two options: one that lets you toggle off smart features in Google Workspace (like those annoying Gemini pop-ups in Google Docs), and one that applies to other smart features (which I personally find less annoying). I only toggled off the first option, but if for some reason you hate when Gmail automatically makes calendar events for your flights, this is where you can fix that.

You should now be safe from annoying Gemini pop-ups that disrupt your writing process in Google Docs. You can rest easy.

RAMaggedon claims another one.

The rapid evolution of the global engineering landscape requires continuous education. For one week in April, the IEEE community focuses on its educational frameworks. IEEE Education Week, which just concluded its fifth year, provided a comprehensive overview of the resources available to professionals and students.

From 11 to 19 April, the organization supplied a variety of live and virtual events, online resources, and promotions that champion the cycle of lifelong learning.

IEEE President Mary Ellen Randall kicked off the week with the keynote: “Inspiring Tomorrow’s Innovators: How IEEE Educational Resources Can Open Pathways Into STEM.” The event served as a central point for programs that run throughout the year.

“Education Week allows different units to share resources with members and the public, covering everything from preuniversity programs to advanced professional training,” says Jamie Moesch, managing director of IEEE Educational Activities.

Coordination across the organization

The event relied on the cooperation of 120 IEEE partners. Involved organizational units included the IEEE Communications Society, the IEEE Education Society, and chapters and sections from around the world, including in Brazil, Colombia, and India. They produced 114 events, 23 resources, and 11 special offers.

“These collaborations help members remain current in a changing technological environment,” says Timothy Kurzweg, vice president of IEEE Educational Activities. “The goal is to provide accessible tools that assist members in both their own professional development and their efforts to mentor new engineers.”

“The week allows different units to share resources with members and the public, covering everything from preuniversity programs to advanced professional training.” —Jamie Moesch, managing director of IEEE Educational Activities

The participation metrics reflect a broad geographic interest. The IEEE Education Week website recorded more than 4,770 visitors, with primary engagement coming from India, Nigeria, and the United States. Nearly 240 digital badges were issued to people who completed educational quizzes.

To encourage participation, organizers enlisted 72 volunteer ambassadors to promote the week’s activities across their local networks and share key resources on social media.

Available educational tools

Here are a few of the virtual events held during Education Week—most of which are available on demand:

The Education Week website highlights resources and offers shared by IEEE organizational units, including:

• A half-off discount for members on IEEE e-learning courses. The catalog covers such topics as computing, power and energy, and telecommunications.
• IEEE Communications Society on-demand webinars. Learn the latest trends and innovations.
• IEEE Women in Engineering career-focused, upskill, and reskill webinars. The presentations cover a variety of topics including agentic AI, leadership, and robots.
• IEEE Innovation at Work. The e-newsletter covers emerging technologies, education, and training for technical professionals.
• IEEE Learning Network. Hundreds of continuing education courses, all in one place.
• IEEE TryEngineering lesson plans. The easy-to-use, engaging activities and plans help teach engineering concepts to preuniversity students.
• IEEE TryEngineering collections. The lesson plans and multimedia resources, developed with partners and IEEE technical societies, are designed to introduce technical topics and deepen student understanding.

Individuals who were unable to attend the live sessions can find the archived content on the IEEE Education Week website.

The website also accepts donations for education-related funds managed by the IEEE Foundation.

Updates and technical resources continue to be shared through the #EducationAtIEEE hashtag on social media channels.

Planning for IEEE Education Week 2027, scheduled for 3 to 11 April, is underway.

Camara Education Ethiopia will support the roll-out of 115 AI-powered digital learning hubs across Ethiopia.

Irish nonprofit Camara Education has secured more than $2.56m from Unicef to expand its AI-powered digital education across Ethiopia.

The funds will support the organisation through to December 2027 to provide children with its “large-scale” digital and transferable skills programme.

The initiative intends to expand access to digital education for “thousands” of students and teachers, particularly in refugee-hosting, displacement-affected and underserved communities, the nonprofit said. Focus will be provided for young girls and learners with disabilities, Camara Education said.

Many of the schools supported through Camara Education’s programme have limited or inconsistent internet access, making offline digital learning important for ensuring continuity of learning.

Partnering with Unicef will allow Camara Education Ethiopia to support the roll-out of 115 AI-powered digital learning hubs in schools and institutions, alongside managed internet connectivity and offline-first learning environments designed for low-resource settings.

The funds will enable the disbursement of 1,166 desktop computers, 826 tablets and 200 laptops, embedded with curriculum-aligned digital content and the Camara AI education assistant.

The programme intends to deliver digital skills, AI and technology training to more than 1,500 teachers and school leaders.

Around 7,000 students are also expected to be trained in essential digital and transferable skills. Learners will have access to structured progression pathways, including coding bootcamps, mentorship and job-readiness support, Camara Education said.

“This landmark partnership demonstrates the growing importance of digital skills, AI literacy and equitable access to technology in shaping the future of education,” said Ibolya Nemeth, the CEO of Camara Education.

“Together with Unicef and our partners, we are investing in practical, scalable solutions that empower young people and teachers with the tools, confidence and opportunities needed to thrive in a digital economy.

“We are proud that an Irish-founded organisation continues to play a meaningful role in advancing education and opportunity across Africa.”

The 2005-founded nonprofit works across Africa, including in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, providing learning solutions to underserved schools in the region.

Its initiative with Unicef, called ‘Digital and Transferable Skills Development: Transforming In-School Learning and Transition to Earning’, is delivered with support from the Netherlands, Mastercard Foundation and the Global Partnership for Education.

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A school student in Ethiopia. Image: Unicef Ethiopia via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Microsoft has revealed the next wave of Xbox Game Pass additions for late June. The lineup is headlined by EA Sports FC 26 and co-op adventure game RV There Yet?.

EA Sports FC 26 joins Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on June 18 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Cloud Gaming and PC. The latest entry in EA’s football series arrives just days after it left Sony’s PlayStation Plus promotion. This gives Game Pass subscribers a chance to jump in without paying full price during the ongoing World Cup.

Before that, Call of Duty: Vanguard lands on June 17. The 2021 shooter joins Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Premium. This continues Microsoft’s steady rollout of Activision titles following its acquisition of the publisher.

The rest of the month is focused on newer releases. Co-op roguelite shooter Abyssus arrives on June 25 for Xbox Series X/S, PC and Cloud Gaming. Meanwhile, RV There Yet? follows on June 30. The latter has proven particularly popular on PC, where it reportedly sold 4.5 million copies within its first few months on sale.

Brandon Lai wants to build a humanoid robot. He started with the upper body and quickly realized that off-the-shelf actuators would either cost too much or limit what the machine could do. So he set out to design and build his own. This latest version marks his second serious attempt, and it already produces usable torque in testing. He focused on a shoulder actuator sized for a roughly four-kilogram arm about half a meter long. The targets were straightforward. Peak torque needed to reach around 20 newton-meters. Output speed should fall between 40 and 60 revolutions per minute. The unit also had to run continuously for more than an hour. Keeping the cost near $150 per actuator would make it practical for other builders to copy or adapt.

The basic design is based on the MIT research into Direct-Drive Actuators, which use a powerful motor and very minimal gearing to maintain the joint feeling snappy while also allowing it to be back-driven by external forces. Brandon admired the spirit of that approach, but chose to make one significant adjustment. He removed the planetary gearbox and replaced it with a cycloidal arrangement. The cycloidal reducer promises more torque capacity in a small space and significantly reduced slop between the input and output.

The motor was built around a normal 110-size stator core from Eagle Power, which Brandon wound entirely by hand. He was able to get 254 twists of copper wire onto the core, divided into six different strands, each with six loops around the tooth. The parallel strands allow the motor to withstand much more current while maintaining a voltage that most controllers can handle. By winding it by hand, he had complete control over the electrical qualities, deciding what it would be like rather of having to go with what came pre-wound.

The spinning outer element of the motor, known as the bell, needs to be machined with very precise tolerances. Brandon forwarded the specifications to an online CNC service, and they returned with a smooth stainless steel cylinder ready to be fitted with a ring of powerful neodymium magnets. Brandon set the magnets in an alternating north-south arrangement and sealed them with epoxy after using a simple alignment device. The finished bell is a combination magnetic rotor and primary structural shaft that transmits torque to the output.

What we’re talking about here is the reduction and torque multiplication that occurs inside the cycloidal gearbox. We get a 10:1 ratio from having an eccentric input turn a lobed disc past eleven fixed pins. The output links directly to the robot arm. Brandon designed and printed the gearbox components for this prototype. This allowed him to make adjustments on the fly throughout development, but it eventually revealed its limitations in terms of precision. Once he acquired all of the elements, such as the motor, bell, and gearbox, he bolted them together around a brushless controller. Initially, he tested a custom printed circuit board that he had designed. Unfortunately, one integrated circuit immediately shorted out and began to smoke. So he swapped in a ready-made Makerbase X-Drive board, which continued to run the motor without issue.

Testing went from the lab to a simple load rig. Brandon fitted a 150mm lever arm to the output shaft and hung a 5kg weight from its end. This generates a torque demand of around 7 newton meters. The power came from a bench supply with current limitations in place. Under those conditions, the actuator was able to support and move the load satisfactorily, delivering approximately 7 newton meters of torque. If we had a supply that could deliver a larger current, we’d almost certainly be able to get even more out of it because torque scales directly to available amperage.
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