While we all wait for the reveal of Nintendo’s next console, the company has once again announced something very different. This time, it’s a mobile app called Nintendo Music, which lets users listen to classic gaming tunes from Nintendo games spanning the last few decades, including Splatoon, Animal Crossing, and The Legend of Zelda. It’s only available to Switch Online subscribers, and it’s launching today on both iOS and Android.

The app features curated playlists themed around games, moments, moods, or characters, though you can also build your own. It also supports streaming as well as downloading tracks for offline listening. Curiously, it includes a spoiler feature that lets you filter out tracks that, somehow, might spoil a game you haven’t played or finished yet. And if you just want some Hyrule white noise, the app also lets you “loop songs or extend select tracks to 15, 30, or 60 minutes for uninterrupted listening.”

Tony Stark may rely on AI to help build and pilot his Iron Man armor, but actor Robert Downey Jr. will go after any executive thinking to use AI to replicate him for a role. Downey made his feelings clear on a new episode of the “On With Kara Swisher” podcast, where he discussed AI, deepfake technology, and his antipathy toward any effort to recreate him with AI, even after he passes away.

Downey isn’t too concerned about future urges at Marvel Studios to insert an AI replica of him into future films without his permission. The temptation is obvious since Downey’s most famous role kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe and he is even returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday film. Amusingly, both characters are well known for their use of AI and advanced technology, with Doom, in particular, sending out an endless array of robotic duplicates with AI versions of his mind and personality to carry out his bidding.​ Still, he trusts that the leadership of the studio won’t betray him.

Artificial intelligence can help accurately map and track penguin colonies in Antarctica by analysing tourist photos.

“Right now, everyone has a camera in their pocket, and so the sheer volume of data being collected around the world is incredible,” says Heather Lynch at Stony Brook University in New York.

Haoyu Wu at Stony Brook University and his colleagues, including Lynch, used an AI tool developed by Meta to highlight Adélie penguins in photographs taken by tourists or scientists on the ground. With guidance from a human expert, the AI tool was able to automatically identify and outline entire colonies in photos. This semi-automated method is much faster than doing everything manually because the AI tool takes just 5 to 10 seconds per image, compared with a person taking 1 to 2 minutes, says Wu.

The team also created a 3D digital model of the Antarctic landscape using satellite imagery and terrain elevation data. By identifying landscape details in the tourist pictures, the researchers could place the photographer, then the penguin colony, accurately within the 3D model.

This transformation of ground photos into a bird’s-eye view allows researchers to track how penguin colonies change in location and population size over time – which could prove especially helpful in remote regions of the world where aerial drone or aircraft surveys are done infrequently. Such tracking is important because Adélie penguins are considered a sentinel species, meaning shifts in their populations are an indicator of climate change. The AI-assisted technique can also harness historical imagery to track phenomena such as glacier changes that “occur very slowly and may only be evident by looking across decades of time”, says Lynch.

“Tracking of penguin colony population sizes and locations is important,” says Annie Schmidt at Point Blue Conservation Science, a nonprofit based in California. But it is just a “first step” towards a better understanding of the reasons for those population changes, she adds.

“This could be useful, especially as many penguin colonies are only rarely assessed by the research community,” says Peter Fretwell at the British Antarctic Survey. But researchers remain divided over the impacts of Antarctic tourism – the two large Adélie penguin groups evaluated by the researchers are often visited by tour ships on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula.

“Some scientists are worried that, by encouraging tourists to do citizen science, we are justifying their trips – which will be used by the cruise companies to sell more berths, fuelling the expansion,” says Fretwell. “Others think that there is very little on-the-ground impact from the industry, as it is well regulated.”

It’s important to keep your teeth and gum healthy, and if you’re the sort of person who has trouble keeping up with daily cleaning, or brushing your teeth in general, electric toothbrushes are an excellent option. Not only do the make brushing and cleaning your teeth easier, some of them have some very advanced features that are akin to some of the best smart home devices. To help save you a little bit extra, we’ve gone out and searched for some of the best electric toothbrush deals we could find and collected them for you below.

Oral-B 3D White Battery Toothbrush — $8, was $9

For convenience, an electric toothbrush with a rechargeable battery is useful, but if you just need a quick solution for occasional use, the Oral-B 3D White Battery Toothbrush is cheap and effective. It comes with its own AA battery with replacements easily sourced. Its brush head has rubberized bristles while there’s an action cup that helps to whiten teeth by removing surface stains. It cleans with 14,000 strokes per minute so it’s speedy while highly capable of clearing away debris and reaching between teeth.

Oral-B 3D White Battery Toothbrush — $8, was $9

Quip 360 Electric Oscillating Toothbrush — $40, was $50

Quip 360 is the ultimate package. It comes with everything you need including a reusable handle, a replaceable brush head, a countertop stand, a charging cable, and a travel case. But also the 30-day charge doesn’t hurt. You can use it for virtually an entire month without needing to charge it. While brushing, you’re guided thanks to an LED pressure sensor and vibrations. That way you always get the perfect clean with up to 9.630 quiet oscillations per minute. A built-in two-minute timer ensures you’re brushing long enough, while the 30-second pulses give you an extra clean. An automatic shut-off turns it off and conserves energy when you’re done.

When you need to travel, toss the brush, attachments, and USB charger in the travel case and go. You should know this is a subscription-based option — though you can buy the toothbrush separately with a one-time price, if you want. The Refill plan ensures you get steady deliveries of the replaceable brush heads. That way you’re always using a clean brush. With your first subscription order, you’ll also get anticavity toothpaste for free. Normally $50, it’s available today for $40, saving you $10. That’s a great deal and we love this brush.

Quip 360 Electric Oscillating Toothbrush — $40, was $50

Colgate hum Smart Electric Toothbrush Kit — $30, was $70

Promising whiter teeth in just one week for many people, the Colgate hum Smart Electric Toothbrush Kit is ideal if you want some guidance. It has app support and Bluetooth connectivity so it can guide you to brush certain areas and better. A choice of three modes means you can choose the vibration level that suits you including normal, sensitive, and deep clean. As you brush, you earn points towards rewards giving you a sense of achievement. It also has a 2-minute timer feature, plus its battery lasts for you up to 10 days.

Colgate hum Smart Electric Toothbrush Kit — $30, was $70

Oral-B Pro 500 Electric Toothbrush — $30, was $40

The Oral-B Pro 500 Electric Toothbrush is a great budget-priced electric toothbrush. It has a precision clean brush head that removes 100% more plaque than a manual toothbrush. Gentle on teeth and the gums, its 2D cleaning action oscillates and rotates to break up and remove plaque with a choice of brush modes. There’s daily clean and sensitive depending on what you need on the day. At all times, a built-in quadrant timer breaks up the two minutes you should be brushing into four 30-second intervals so you know when to move to a different part of your mouth. With all the essentials, it’s hard to fault the Oral-B Pro 500 Electric Toothbrush at this price.

Oral-B Pro 500 Electric Toothbrush — $30, was $40

Usmile P10 Pro smart toothbrush – $37, was $49

One charge lasts for up to six months. That’s impressive. Even more so is the fact that this oscillating electric brush offers 34,000 brush strokes per minute for incredibly effective cleaning. The air-cushion brush head and bristles adapt to the shape of your teeth while absorbing excess pressure. Meanwhile, the smart ring four-zone brushing tracking helps ensure you never miss a spot while cleaning. Follow the smart ring to get the spots you missed the first go-around.

Additional features include USB-C charging, excellent on-the-go use with the long battery life, and extra brush heads — you’re golden.

Usmile P10 Pro smart toothbrush – $37, was $49

Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 5100 Rechargeable Toothbrush — $80, was $100

Simple yet effective this electric and rechargeable toothbrush features multiple brushing modes. Swap effortlessly between Clean, White, and Gum Care options, with the appropriate brushing styles for each. A built-in pressure sensor helps protect your gums and teeth helping you ensure you’re not pushing or brushing too hard. Moreover, a built-in two-minute interval timer tells you exactly how long you should be brushing so there’s no guesswork involved.

It comes with a charging stand, a gum care brush head, and a travel case — perfect for when you need to take your brush on the go. It will also beep to notify you when it’s time to change your brush head for a clean, sanitary brush.

Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 5100 Rechargeable Toothbrush — $80, was $100

Oral-B iO Series 5 — $97, was $120

If you want a really advanced electric toothbrush for under $100, this deal on the Oral-B iO Series 5 is the way to go. Not only does it have five modes you can pick from, Daily Clean, Whiten, Super Sensitive, Sensitive, and Intense, but it also has a pressure sensor to tell you if you’re pressing too hard or too soft. There is even an AI which helps optimize your brushing style to get the cleanest and healthiest teeth possible. Just be aware that you’ll need to have a My Bust Buy Plus subscription to get the discount

Oral-B iO Series 5 — $97, was $120

Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart 9700 Rechargeable Toothbrush — $340

Philips makes some of the best electric toothbrushes around so the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart 9700 Rechargeable Toothbrush is a worthwhile investment. It uses sonic technology to drive fluid between your teeth much like a water flosser, while also still brushing too via the several brush heads included. Able to brush at up to 31,000 brush strokes per minute, it’s incredibly effective at cleaning thanks to this two-pronged form of attack. A digital display gives you insight into battery life with a long-lasting lithium-ion battery useful for those who travel frequently or simply hate to plug anything in. Smartphone app support helps coach you about coverage, along with ideal pressure and scrubbing.

Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart 9700 Rechargeable Toothbrush — $340

The XR (Extended Reality) segment is set to become a core part of Android in the future. Lately, the evolution of Google’s mobile OS has been taking leaps and bounds with AI-powered developments. The next step could be integrating immersive experiences based on glasses or headsets. Google is preparing for this future by adding an “XR headset” category to install apps from the Play Store.

Google integrates “XR headsets” platform into the Play Store

Android is available in multiple forms and platforms. You can find Android powering TVs, smartwatches, tablets, and, of course, smartphones. The Play Store is present in all versions of the OS. However, not all apps are available for all platforms. Google allows developers to make a particular app available only for smartphones, for example. This prevents the installation of apps that are not properly adapted for a particular device.

As spotted by Android Authority in the latest Play Store update, there’s a new “XR headset” device category to install apps on. The source discovered the integration of the new platform into the Play Store’s remote app installation feature. This makes it clear that Google is preparing its app store for the arrival of Android-based XR hardware products.

Preparing for the arrival of the XR headset/glasses from Google and Samsung

Google and Samsung have been working together for a while now on the development of the Android-based XR platform. The collaboration could also result in an XR headset for the consumer market. That said, recent reports suggest that the project has shifted to the development of XR glasses. Whatever the case, the only thing that is certain is that it will be powered by a version of Android tailored for this type of device.

Samsung and Google aim to avoid repeating Apple’s mistake with the Vision Pro. Both companies seem to be working on a product whose price segment will be more similar to that of the Meta Quest headsets. This decision seems to be a good one, as Meta’s VR headsets have proven that you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get high-quality immersive experiences.

Speaking of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company has been looking for some time to integrate the Quest platform into the Play Store. For now, there is no indication that Google is doing this. However, the inclusion of the “XR headset” category in the Play Store could facilitate potential negotiations between the two companies.

Following the illustrious line of calendar-spanning corporate events like Lobsterfest and Shark Week, Apple tried something new this year with a celebration unofficially known as Mac Week. (Fortunately for Apple, it just so happens to coincide with its earnings call on Thursday!) The company’s three-day product rollout for desktop hardware centered around the M4 chip, built for Apple Intelligence. We recount everything Apple spit out this week, including a new iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro and other goodies like Apple Intelligence’s official arrival on iOS, iPadOS and macOS.

iMac (M4)

The M4-powered iMac has the same design (apart from some new colors) but with more horsepower inside. Apple says the all-in-one desktop is 1.7 times faster for daily productivity and 2.1 times faster for more demanding tasks like gaming or photo editing. Like all new Macs announced this week, it loses the measly 8GB of RAM previously seen in the cheapest Macs, jumping to 16GB as the baseline. (Woo!)

The new iMac still has a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display encased in an aluminum unibody design. However, it adds a new nano-texture glass screen option for reduced glare and a 12MP Center Stage camera that supports Apple’s Desk View.

You can pre-order the M4 iMac now, starting at $1,299. Deliveries and in-store sales begin on November 8.

Mac mini (M4, M4 Pro)

Apple’s little Mac that could lives up to its “mini” branding more than ever. The 2024 Mac mini is a mere five-inch by five-inch box, two inches tall. (That’s only slightly bigger than the Apple TV 4K!)

The new Mac mini is available in M4 and M4 Pro configurations. Apple says the M4 variant is up to 1.8 times faster than the M1 model from four years ago. Its graphics are up to 2.2 times faster. It should also be much better for Apple Intelligence: It supports 38 TOPS (tera operations per second) of AI processing power. That dwarfs the 18 TOPS from the (only one-year-old) M3 chip. It, too, starts with 16GB of RAM.

For the first time, the machine ditches legacy USB ports. It has two USB-C ports on the front and three Thunderbolt USB-C ports on the back (along with HDMI and Ethernet).

The M4 Mac mini is available to pre-order. It starts at $599, while the souped-up M4 Pro variant starts at $1,399. It arrives on November 9.

MacBook Pro (M4, M4 Pro, M4 Max)

Most of Apple’s Mac sales are in the MacBook lineup, which makes sense. Not only can you use them on the go, but you can also grab a Thunderbolt cable and hook them up to the monitor of your choice to double as a desktop. So, the climax of Mac Week was the new M4-powered MacBook Pro.

The only new Mac with three chip tiers, the MacBook Pro comes in M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max options. Apple says the M4 Pro is up to three times faster than the M1 Pro, and the M4 Max is up to 3.5 times faster than the M1 Max. The M4 variant is up to 1.8 times faster than the M1-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro for photo editing. That jumps to 3.4 times faster for demanding work like rendering scenes in Blender.

Its Neural Engine for Apple Intelligence (and other AI) is over three times as powerful as the M1. Helping out on the AI front (and for all-around performance) is the same 16GB of RAM as a baseline.

The laptop offers the same nano-texture display option as the iMac and up to 1,000 nits of brightness for SDR content. It also adopts the 12MP Center Stage camera for much better built-in video call capabilities. The device has three Thunderbolt 4 ports and an estimated 24 hours of battery life — as Apple puts it, that’s the longest ever in a Mac.

The new MacBook Pro is available in familiar 14-inch and 16-inch models. The smaller model with the M4 chip starts at $1,599, the M4 Pro variant starts at $1,999, and the ultra-high-end M4 Max will set you back at least $3,199. The 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,499 with the M4 Pro chip, while an M4 Max flavor is $3,499 and up.

Apple Intelligence cometh

Apple’s first wave of on-device AI features is now in consumers’ hands, with no beta software required. This round includes writing tools like proofreading, rewiring and summaries, live call transcriptions and notification summaries.

The beginnings of a more intelligent Siri also arrived with this batch, including typed queries and an improved ability to recognize stutters or self-interruptions. You also get a neat new glowing border that announces to the world, “This ain’t the shitty Siri you’re used to!” But you’ll have to wait for the next wave of Siri upgrades for a more significant overhaul, like a better understanding of personal context.

Now, the bad news. Apple Intelligence is only available on a handful of recent devices in each of Apple’s major product categories. For the iPhone, that’s the iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max and the new iPhone 16 lineup (including non-Pro models). You’ll need a model with an M-series chip on the iPad, although the new iPad mini (with an A17 Pro chip) is an exception. As for Macs, you’ll also need a model with M-series Apple silicon, which stretches back to the last four years of models.

Apple Intelligence (round one) requires iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 or macOS Sequoia 15.1. The X.2 variants of each OS will bring the next wave of AI features, like ChatGPT integration and Image Playground.

AirPods Pro 2 hearing features

Not to be missed among the higher-profile announcements is a new series of hearing health tools for AirPods Pro 2 owners.

Announced at Apple’s September iPhone launch, the hearing features include a “clinically validated” hearing test, hearing protection (like for concerts) and the ability to use the device as a hearing aid if it detects mild to moderate impairment. (If severe, it will nudge you towards a professional.)

Engadget’s audio guru, Billy Steele, is the person to follow for more on these features. He’s extensively trialed them, including taking hearing tests with an Apple rep and test-driving AirPods-powered hearing protection at concerts.