Last year, Belkin released a couple of cases for the Nintendo Switch 2 just in time for launch, including one that came with a handy battery pack. That one was simple and effective, but it felt a bit crude because it wasn’t much more than a basic travel pouch with a generic power cell tossed inside. Now, Belkin is back with a Pro version of its Charging Case for the Nintendo Switch 2, featuring a more sophisticated battery pack along with a higher price tag ($100 vs. $70). So here’s the question for any Switch 2 owners still looking for a way to protect their console while keeping it topped off: Is a more elegant charging solution really worth the extra money?

Belkin / Engadget

The pro version of Belkin’s Switch 2 charging case is a more sophisticated and versatile power solution. But it’s also more expensive, so unless you’re comfortable shelling out an extra $30 for the same basic features, you’re probably better off sticking with the non-pro option.

Pros

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• Included 10,000mAh battery pack
• Battery pack also doubles as a stand
• Built-in game storage
• Solid construction
• Hidden AirTag pouch

Cons

• Costs more than the non-Pro version
• A touch bigger and heavier too
• No included USB-C cable

Case design

At 11.7 x 6.1 x 2.5 inches and weighing 1 pound 12 ounces, the Pro Charging Case is a touch larger and heavier than its non-pro sibling. It also features a very similar design with the same color options and materials, including a tough polyester outer shell that’s balanced by a softer, velvet-like material and cutouts for your Switch 2 on the inside.

Once again, Belkin has done a good job of providing a snug cabin to store your console while still making it easy to take it in and out. That said, if your system also has an extra-thick protector or hardshell case like the Killswitch from Dbrand, it may not fit. There’s also a padded flap that swings down to protect your Switch 2’s screen that also pulls double duty as a place to stash up to 12 game cartridges, which is a very thoughtful touch.

However, the biggest change to the Pro Charging Case’s exterior design is a new cutout on the front edge, which allows you to top off other gadgets (or a Switch) by plugging a USB-C cable into Belkin’s included battery pack. Unfortunately, the case doesn’t come with a cord, which seems a bit odd until you take a closer look at the power pack’s layout. That’s because once you open up the case, you’ll see a second port designed to fit right into the bottom power jack on the Switch 2 without the need for a cable.

Other small touches on Belkin’s Pro Charging Case include a mesh pocket for storing things like cables, Joy-Con straps or cleaning cloths, which is very handy. However, my favorite thing might be the AirTag pouch that’s also hidden inside that pocket, which could give you a fighting chance of recovering your system if it’s ever lost or stolen (though I wouldn’t count on it).

Battery pack

Despite the increased size of the Pro Charging Case’s included battery, it has the same 10,000mAh capacity as what you get from its less expensive sibling. That means you’ll typically have enough juice for a little more than 1.5 recharges for your Switch 2 and its onboard 5,220mAh cell. Instead of relying on a simple external power pack like before, Belkin’s bundled battery comes with a second USB-C port and a kickstand. This makes it super easy to plug in your Switch 2 every time you put it in the case. This way, you know the next time you turn it on, it’ll be at 100 percent.

Alternatively, you can raise the kickstand to prop up the Switch 2 and game on it while it stays nestled inside the case. This might seem a bit redundant as Nintendo’s console already has its own kickstand, but Belkin’s allows you to continue charging the system while you’re playing without needing a cord. There’s even a handy display on the side of the battery, so it’s super easy to see how much juice is left, even when the case is closed. Furthermore, when you need to recharge the power pack, you can do so without removing it from the case or disconnecting your Switch thanks to that bonus USB-C port on the outside. Compared to the previous model, this is certainly a more elegant solution that provides some subtle quality of life improvements. The one downside is that the battery pack is somewhat awkwardly shaped, so you won’t really want to use it on its own.

Wrap-up

There’s no doubt the Pro Charging Case’s new battery pack is a more premium solution that’s easier to use and manage. When you need to recharge it, you can do so from the outside without opening the pouch. It also lets you charge a Switch 2 without ever needing a cable. The built-in kickstand is another bonus that helps elevate the whole kit from a simple case to something closer to a tiny all-in-one gaming booth.

That said, after using it for a couple of weeks, I’m still not sure the added convenience is worth an extra $30 over the original. Due to the battery packs’ new shape, it’s less useful as a standalone power cell, and the rest of the case’s design is largely unchanged. Of course, it’s always nice to have options, and if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind spending a little extra for a more streamlined and convenient kit, Belkin’s Pro Charging Case for the Switch 2 is still very much worth consideration.

A cyberattack on a U.S. vehicle breathalyzer company has left drivers across the United States stranded and unable to start their vehicles.

The company, Intoxalock, says on its website that it is “currently experiencing downtime” after a cyberattack on March 14. Intoxalock sells breathalyzer devices that fit into vehicle ignition switches, and is used by people who are required to provide a negative alcohol breath sample to start their car.

Intoxalock spokesperson Rachael Larson confirmed to TechCrunch that the company had been hit by a cyberattack. Larson said the company took steps to “temporarily pause some of our systems as a precautionary measure.”

These breathalyzer devices need to be calibrated every few months or so, but the cyberattack has left Intoxalock unable to perform these calibrations. The company said customers whose devices require calibration may experience delays starting their vehicles.

Drivers posting on Reddit say that cars are unable to start if they miss a calibration, effectively locking drivers out of their vehicles.

According to local news reports across Maine, drivers are experiencing lockouts and some have been unable to start their vehicles. One auto shop in Middleboro told WCVB 5 in Boston that it has had cars parked in its lot all week due to the cyberattack.

News reports from across the United States show drivers are affected from New York to Minnesota, and drivers have been unable to drive because their vehicle-based breathalyzers cannot be immediately calibrated.

Intoxalock would not say what kind of cyberattack it was experiencing, such as ransomware or if there was a data breach, or whether it had received any communications from the hackers, including any ransom demands. The company’s technology is used in 46 states, its website says, and it claims to provide services to 150,000 drivers every year.

Intoxalock did not provide an estimated timeline for its recovery.

It’s a chilly March morning in the undisclosed mid-Atlantic hotel hosting Palantir’s developer conference. The defense contractors, military officers, and corporate executives in attendance are unprepared for the weather; they’d assumed the previous day’s mid-70s temperatures would hold. A cold rain turns to steady snowfall, and Palantir passes out heavy blankets. As people move between open-air pavilions, it looks like they were pulled from shipwrecks. Nonetheless, spirits are high. To this self-selecting crowd, Palantir is delivering on its promises. The company’s stock price is soaring. The gathering is infused with the giddy groupthink of a multilevel marketing event.

After securing an invite to the conference—a task made challenging by Palantir’s disapproval of WIRED’s recent coverage—I was eager to get an inside glimpse of the mysterious company. Founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel and his then obscure former Stanford classmate Alex Karp, the company has become part of the Pentagon’s AI-based combat transformation. In the past few years, though, its biggest growth has been in the commercial sector. “The commercial business is growing at 120 percent year over year. We’re very proud of the 60 percent growth in government, but they’re not even on the same glide slope,” says Palantir’s CTO, Shyam Sankar, who is also part of a four-person contingent of tech execs serving as lieutenant colonels in the Army Reserve.

Generative AI has helped fuel Palantir’s rise, supercharging the hands-on support the company provides to its customers. Early in its evolution, Palantir would embed “forward deployed engineers” into companies, helping them weave Palantir’s software into their operations. Large language models allowed Palantir to build products with more power, and now the engineers concentrate on helping customers build their own tools with Palantir’s technology. “Every time those models got better it seemed like they were tailor-made exactly for us,” says Ted Mabrey, an early employee who now heads the commercial business. Sankar elaborates: “Our whole thesis has been that we’re building Iron Man suits for cognition,” he says. “We were rate-limited by the number of people, the creativity of the questions, all those sorts of things. And then [with Gen AI] that rate limiter was eliminated, and that changed the rate of growth.”

The morning’s keynotes include a US Navy vice admiral, the officer in charge of the Maven AI battlefield project, and executives from Accenture, GE Aerospace, SAP, and the Freedom Mortgage Corporation. The range reflects the company’s trajectory from defense work to the commercial sector. During the breakfast hour I watch a demo from a family-run fashion business with 450 employees. CEO Jordan Edwards of Mixology Clothing says that he found Palantir through an Instagram ad, and that the AI-powered system has transformed his business. He uses Palantir’s software to help make buying decisions and then has it send emails to negotiate prices. For one line he sells, “it drove a 17-point margin swing—from losing $9 a unit to gaining $9 a unit,” he claims. Edwards now describes himself as a “forward deployed CEO.”

Even though Palantir’s major growth is in the commercial sector, its soul remains in defense contracting. During its long struggle to become part of the defense establishment (at one point, it sued the Army to be considered for a contract), it adopted a focus on outcomes. Palantir likes to think that this experience forced it to adopt a level of rigor that has allowed it to eclipse its rivals in the commercial arena. One chapter of Sankar’s just-published book, Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III, is called “The Factory Is the Weapon.” Both Sankar and CEO Alex Karp believe that American industry, especially in Silicon Valley, has shown insufficient patriotism. Their hope is that Palantir’s example will inspire other corporations to produce national defense products in addition to their consumer work.

Karp’s introductory remarks at the conference emphasized how defense work defines the company, especially now that America is at war. Atypically garbed in a blazer (“This is to convince my family I have a job,” he jokes), he says that normally, he would be talking to commercial customers about how to make them wealthier and happier and help them destroy their competitors. (He refers to rivals as “noncompetition” because in his mind, they don’t rank in Palantir’s class.) But with an active battlefield in Iran, the company’s sole priority is now supporting the troops. “At Palantir we were built to give our warfighters … an unfair advantage,” he says. “It was, ‘Yeah, we’re going to really F- our enemies.’ And I take great pride in that.”

• Amnezia VPN Free is now officially available for users located in Brazil
• The free version only tunnels traffic for specific blocked websites and apps
• The launch comes as Brazil has enforced new mandatory age checks

Open-source privacy provider Amnezia VPN has announced that its free VPN service is now officially available to users in Brazil. The launch aims to provide an accessible, zero-cost workaround for citizens navigating changes in the country’s internet landscape.

Announced via the company’s official X account, the rollout is specifically tailored to the Brazilian market. Unlike the full-service Amnezia Premium, which encrypts all device traffic and allows users to spoof their location across 20 global locations, Amnezia Free utilizes a highly targeted approach. The free tier uses split-tunneling to route only specific, socially important websites and apps through the encrypted tunnel. All other internet traffic remains on the user’s regular connection, utilizing their actual IP address.

Ryan Gosling heads to space in Project Hail Mary, the big-budget sci-fi adventure movie from Oscar-winning directing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller that hit theaters this weekend. The film, adapted from Andy Weir’s best-selling novel of the same name, finds school teacher Ryland Grace immersed in a top-secret government operation. The sun is dying, and he’s enlisted to find out why and to stop it. 

If I didn’t mention the people involved in the movie, that description can easily be pegged to a variety of space disaster films that have come and gone. But this ain’t no Michael Bay movie. In fact, Project Hail Mary is unlike most titles of its kind in that the story avoids the bleak, hopeless tone that comes with galactic doom-and-gloom, race-against-time survival tales. And there’s an alien in there, to boot.

When I settled in for the IMAX press screening, the person introducing Project Hail Mary said it is ultimately a story about the power of friendship. I rolled my eyes at the notion, but I ate my words once the credits rolled. It is exactly that, and it shows how a simple emotional connection and a drive to solve a shared problem can bring together people from different backgrounds, including a rock-spider alien without a face.

“It’s a bromance,” Weir told me over Zoom. “It’s a story of two people who become friends and then work together. So collaboration, cooperation… I’m optimistic and have these positive views of humanity and stuff, and therefore I project those views onto imaginary aliens.” 

I had the opportunity to chat with Weir earlier this week about Project Hail Mary. I wanted to explore the story’s hopeful, fun vibe, and the celebrated sci-fi author taught me a few things he learned when he first brought the story to life.

“I believe humanity is pretty frickin’ awesome,” he began, “and I think we do great things, especially when we’re pushed. So, I think we’re an amazing species, and we do amazing things.”

That’s a perspective that makes Project Hail Mary such a breath of fresh air. I told him so, acknowledging the “science is cool” message the movie imparts early on, when Grace is seen teaching his students. In turn, he put on his proverbial teacher hat and schooled me on a deeper concept that underlies nearly all space exploration stories in science fiction.

“I wrote down a list of everything that I think an alien species would need to have to get up to the point where they can make a spaceship,” he said. “What do you need?”

(Insert my baffled blink and shoulder shrug, here.)

“You need information transfer, which means you need language,” he continued. “You need to be able to communicate with each other, which allows knowledge to live beyond a given individual member of the tribe. It’s like grandpa told me how to weave this rope, and now I’m going to tell my grandson how to weave the rope, and that knowledge stays with the tribe, right?” 

Yes. But so far, this all seemed pretty basic. What does this have to do with spacecraft? I did my best not to interrupt.

“And then I thought of another really important aspect: having a tribe,” he continued. “You have compassion and concern for other members of your tribe. You’re like, ‘I care about that guy even though, if he dies, it doesn’t affect me directly.’ That evolves so that the tribe as a whole cares about each other. So it’s almost like a single multi-family entity, right?” 

Right, so not like Star Trek: The Next Generation’s alien species, the Borg. I was pretty proud of this statement, which I actually said out loud. 

And, without skipping a beat, he corrected me: “The most compassionate thing the Borg can do is assimilate people. Because then they’re part of the Borg, which is the best thing you can be like.”

I suppose if Weir didn’t make it as a writer, he, like Gosling’s Grace, could’ve carved out a solid career as a teacher. Anyway, back to the lesson…

“In order to get to the point where you’re making a spaceship, your species must have the concept of compassion and concern for each other,” he said, while watching my mind being blown in real time. “You would never have made a spaceship if you didn’t have that.”

What does this all have to do with the overall optimistic vibe of the movie? Well, as he told me, the film’s emotional foundation (which absolutely includes empathy, compassion and concern) is built on the friendship between Ryland and his new alien friend, whom he names Rocky. 

“When Rocky and Ryland meet in space on spaceships that their respective species built, they are both entities that, by definition, have to have this concept of compassion and concern for the other,” he said. “This concept of empathy and concern is a necessity to get where we are. It’s the best part of humanity. And I think any intelligent alien race we meet would also have to have it.”

I’ll be honest. I’ve been thinking about this conversation for days, putting this idea to the test against every science fiction movie I’ve seen involving space travel. Suddenly, I’m viewing the genre in a whole new, optimistic light. 

That led me to drill down into the movie’s good-feeling vibe, which is also in the book. Why did Weir decide to make this seemingly terrifying scenario feel, well, so joyful?

“It’s just an outcrop, an outgrowth of my worldview, I suppose,” he said. While there are themes of teamwork, friendship and hope throughout the movie, Weir added that he made Project Hail Mary without an agenda or clear-cut lesson. 

“All I want from any of my words is to entertain. There’s no messaging, there’s no moral. I’m not trying to change any of your beliefs or induce any beliefs. All I want when you leave the theater or when you put my book away is for you to think, ‘That was cool. I’m glad I experienced that.’”

Well, it was cool. And I am absolutely glad I experienced it. You win, Andy. You win.

Small asteroids occasionally come close enough to Earth to provide potentially significant resources such as water for rocket fuel and metals for construction panels. TransAstra, a Los Angeles-based startup, has developed a device to grab the rocks whole and draw them into a nearby orbit, where personnel can break them down into useful components.

Engineers equip a spacecraft with the company’s capture mechanism before sending it out to meet one of approximately 260 tiny asteroids, each measuring barely 20 meters wide and weighing around 100 tons. At the capture site, the bag unfolds from its folded condition and wraps completely around the tumbling boulder. Once it has a firm grip on the entire object, the edges pull in tight to keep everything secure for the lengthy journey back to their destination. The bag, or capture device, is the center of the entire operation. It is made of robust laminates used in aerospace operations, which have the advantage of remaining flexible even in the extreme cold of space. Last fall, a 1-meter test version made it to the International Space Station, where it was inflated, opened, and closed several times in a vacuum chamber. The same design is now three stories tall thanks to a $2.5 million NASA contract and matching private funds. The full-scale prototypes will be tested at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory just before the first genuine asteroid run can begin.

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TransAstra originally called the first significant effort the New Moon mission. An investor and customer paid for a research that detailed every process, from locating the correct rock to carefully parking it. Researchers from the University of Central Florida, Purdue University, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory all arrived to assess the flight trajectories, potential spacecraft requirements, and costs. The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of May, paving the way for a possible launch this year or next, with the spacecraft meeting its target between 2028 and 2029.

Once that bagged asteroid has arrived in a stable location within the Earth-Moon system, the real work begins. At the New Moon processing facility, robotic arms and heaters separate the water ice first. The water is converted into rocket fuel, which can later be utilized to power other spacecraft. The metals that remain are stamped into solar arrays or radiation shields, leaving only simple building blocks or shielding material, all of which remains in orbit, ensuring that nothing heavy is lifted off Earth.

For now the company is keeping its focus tight. Over the next decade the plan is to send reusable robotic craft on multiple runs, gradually gathering material from dozens or even hundreds of asteroids at a single processing location. Each mission is expected to bring back around 100 tons of material at a cost of a few hundred million dollars, which is a dramatic improvement over previous sample return missions that spent well over a billion dollars to retrieve little more than a handful of space dust. With so many potential targets within reach and missions stacking up over time, TransAstra believes the total haul could eventually climb to around a million tons of usable material.
[Source]

Amazon burned its fingers with the Fire Phone back in 2014. The device, personally overseen by Jeff Bezos, lasted barely over a year before Amazon pulled the plug and wrote off $170 million in unsold inventory. Now, the company is taking another shot at the smartphone market.

According to Reuters, Amazon is developing a new phone internally under the codename “Transformer.” The project is part of a group called ZeroOne, which focuses on building breakthrough devices. It is led by J Allard, a former Microsoft executive who helped bring the Xbox and Zune to market.

What will the Amazon phone actually do?

The phone is being designed as a personalization device, one that keeps you connected to Alexa, Prime Video, Prime Music, and Amazon shopping throughout your day. A key focus is AI integration, which could eliminate the need for traditional app stores entirely. Think less scrolling through apps and more just asking Alexa to get things done.

The concept is similar to what Carl Pei described as the future of Nothing phones in his recent SXSW interview.

Interestingly, Amazon has also explored a “dumbphone” version with limited features, partly inspired by the Light Phone. A simpler device could help Amazon pitch it as a second phone that cuts through the noise rather than adding to it. 

Will it actually work this time?

That’s the big question. The Fire Phone failed because it lacked popular apps, overheated, and gave people very little reason to ditch their iPhones or Android devices. Amazon faces the same challenge now, with Apple and Samsung still controlling roughly 40% of global smartphone sales between them.

Amazon is betting that a phone built around Alexa and its massive ecosystem might be different. Whether consumers agree is another story entirely. The timeline for Transformer remains unclear, and Reuters notes it could still be scrapped.

In my opinion, the dumbphone idea would be a better starting point for Amazon. Competing in an already saturated smartphone market would be difficult, so positioning an AI-powered “dumbphone” as a secondary device that assists with shopping could be an idea users get behind.

Following discussions first reported on earlier this year, ByteDance has agreed to sell its games unit Moonton to Savvy Games Group for $6 billion. Moonton is known for mobile titles popular in Asia like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which has been downloaded 1.5 billion times. The transaction is set to be finalized in the “near future,” according to an internal memo from Moonton’s CEO seen by Bloomberg.

ByteDance has been winding down its gaming arm and shopping Moonton since 2023, just two years after it first acquired the developer. Around that same period, the TikTok parent was shuttering its Nuverse gaming arm, which published notable titles like Marvel Snap and Ragnarok X: Next Generation. The company has since shifted its focus to AI, competing with Chinese rivals to develop chatbots and foundational models.

Savvy Games, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has been going in the opposite direction. Last year the company (via its subsidiary Scopely) acquired Pokémon Go developer Niantic for $3.5 billion. PIF was also among the key investors that purchased Electronic Arts in a blockbuster $55 billion deal last year. The Saudi fund holds a 7.5 percent stake in Nintendo as well.

The sale is the latest chapter in the recent gaming industry consolidation that saw around 45,000 jobs lost in a brutal three-year period between 2022 and 2025. According to a recent GDC study, one-third of US video game industry workers were laid off over the last two years.