Fifty people in a virtual room all at the same time sounds like a recipe for chaos whichever way you look it, but evidently, it’s an upper limit that Skype is happy to go with. Followingtesting of the featurelast month, the folks behind the Microsoft-owned video chat software have now increased the limit for group calls to 50 people, whether video or audio. The previous limit was 25. “Every Skype group with up to 50 people now supports calling, whether you’re ringing just your best friend or 45 coworkers,” the company said ina messageon its website on Thursday, April 4, adding, “Whether you’re catching up with your friends, having a team status update, or a conference call with speakers based all around the globe, Skype makes it easy to get everyone in one place....

SomeFallout 76players in Australia who requested refunds due to the multitude of issues that plagued the game will be able to receive them. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC)acceptedan acknowledgment from ZeniMax, the parent company of developer Bethesda, that it likely “misled consumers” over their rights regardingFallout 76. Some players who purchasedFallout 76complained to the ACCC after ZeniMax representatives told them that they were not entitled to refunds after the game’s launch....

Quick Links Summary Star Wars: Huntersis a new free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game which provides a quality approach to team battling, with a heavy emphasis on itsStar Warstheme.The game offers fast-paced matches in different game modes with teams fighting against each otherin pretty traditional methods for the genre. Sadly, although it is aStar Warsexperience, there does not appear to be any type of force powers used by any of the hunters (playable hero characters) but the skills that are there feel solid and fun to use....

Stellantis is partnering with California-based startup Ample on EV battery swapping, potentially allowing EVs to swap depleted battery packs for fully charged ones in just a few minutes. On Thursday, the two companies announced a binding agreement to integrate Ample’s battery-swapping tech into Stellantis EVs. That will start with a fleet of 100 Fiat 500e hatchbacks that will be deployed by Stellantis’ Free2Move car-sharing service in Madrid in 2024. Ample currently has four battery-swapping stations in the Spanish capital, with a further nine planned, CEO Khaled Hassounah told Digital Trends and other media in a virtual roundtable....

Amazon will release awearable smart ringwith Alexa packed into it. Yes, you read that correctly — the new Echo Loop is a ring that lets you keep Alexa literally at your fingertips. Announced at Amazon’s Devices event on Wednesday, the Echo Loop has two microphones you can activate with a button tap, as well as the smallest speaker ever installed in an Echo device. There is also a built-in haptic engine that vibrates when you receive a notification or a call, or to notify you that your request has been received....

Even if you aren’t interested inexternal speakers to pair with your monitor, you may still want built-in speakers to handle basic audio tasks while you work or play. This is also a useful option in the classroom or at home where audio may be important but options for speakers or headphones are limited. These monitors have high-quality speakers at affordable prices so you’re able to get everything you need in one package!...

The smart home grew in such a dynamic way in 2020, fueled by the rush of adapting to a new normal of more people working from home, students learning remotely, and the challenges of figuring out how to have fun while quarantining. Companies from all corners of the smart home market adapted fairly quickly, so it’s really tough to pinpoint the single biggest trends we saw in the smart home in 2020....

If you’re not convinced the automotive world is about to undergo a dramatic transformation, take a look at the sports car segment — the most hallowed space in the industry — for evidence. Mazda is considering making the next MX-5 Miataeither a hybrid or an electric car, Chevrolet is allegedly preparingtwo hybrid variantsofthe new, eighth-generation Corvette, and Ford won’t rule out an electric Mustang. We’re not talking about the recently unveiledMach-E, either....

Google recently released its first foldable device to the masses with theGoogle Pixel Fold. Though it’sfar from perfect, I was pleasantly surprised with the device overall, and it’s become one of my favorite phones I’ve tried so far this year — though I think I’m one of the more favorable reviews in an otherwise mixed bag. Of course, Google’s a little late to the foldable market, as Samsung has been the reigning champion for that niche for a few years now, especially for the U....

Summary The newHunger GamesprequelSunrise on the Reapinghas a key advantage overThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The new book and movie were announced on the same day, with the novel releasing in March 2025 and the film adaptation following in November 2026.Sunrise on the Reapingcomes after the massive success ofThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the latest movie intheHunger Gamesfranchise, which grossed $337 million worldwide. Sunrise on the Reapingwill feature a Hunger Gamesthat fans have wanted to learn more about for some time – the fiftieth Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell....

The Lenin Museum. Credit: Yuri Litvinenko/Creative CommonsImage used with permission by copyright holder Apple computerscan be found all over the world, and plenty wind up in unusual places. But perhaps the one in the strangest place of all is the Apple II that powers the keystone exhibit in Russia’s Lenin Museum, 20 miles south of Moscow. The museum, still open today, first opened its doors in 1987 during the final years of the USSR and is dedicated to the country’s first leader, Vladimir Lenin....

There’s plenty of reason for AMD to be proud of the raw power in its new chips,especially its new 16-core gaming processor. But that’s only a part of the story coming out of AMD’s E3 announcements. When answering the question of why AMD really needed a new gaming chip architecture, it was all about cross-platform functionality. As it turns out, AMD just might be better set up to power games across vastly different platforms in this new era of gaming than either Intel or Nvidia....

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a video showing a flyby of Mercury, the planet closest to our sun. The images that make up the clip were captured by ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter last week during a flyby that took it close to the planet’s surface. The impressive imaging sequence (below) comes just a few days after ESA released a couple ofimages from the same flyby. The video shows numerous craters caused by asteroid and comet strikes across billions of years, including the 963-mile-wide (1,550 kilometer) Caloris Basin (at the 15-second mark), identifiable by its bright appearance caused by the highly reflective lavas on its floor....