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Backbone’s versatile pro controller is nearly matching its best price to date

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Backbone’s versatile pro controller is nearly matching its best price to date

Mobile gaming has come a long way over the course of the last decade or so, but we all know that smartphones simply can’t match the visceral, tactile feel you get while playing with a dedicated controller. Luckily, Backbone makes some excellent mobile options — including last year’s Backbone Pro, which is on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target right now for $139.99 ($30 off), its second-best price to date.

In many ways, Backbone’s latest mobile controller is merely an updated take on what came before. The handheld device consists of two oblong halves with an extendable strip of plastic in the middle, allowing you to use it with Android devices and iPhone 15, 16, and 17 series phones. It plugs into your phone’s USB-C port and, once connected, you can game with two full-sized ALPs thumbsticks, a responsive D-pad, and A, B, X, and Y buttons. It also features two programmable back buttons, a 3.5mm headphone jack, better ergonomics than your phone, and averages up to 40 hours of battery life on a single charge.

The hardware is only part of the equation, though. Backbone’s intent with the Pro is for it to function as a more universal gamepad, and as such, the company’s software pulls together games from Apple Arcade, Netflix, Google Play, and other services into a singular app, allowing you to discover and launch games with little fuss. What’s more, you can use it to stream Xbox or PlayStation games — either from your console or the cloud —and connect it to a wealth of other devices via Bluetooth, including your PC, Steam Deck, and Apple devices like the iPad and Mac. Sure, the beefy controller looks a little awkward when you’re using it without a phone, but it’s a small price to pay for its added versatility.

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NASA did eventually solve Artemis II’s Outlook glitch

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NASA did eventually solve Artemis II’s Outlook glitch

On Thursday, during Artemis II’s journey to the Moon, commander Reid Wiseman ran into a tech issue some of us back on Earth can relate to: Microsoft Outlook wasn’t working. In a conversation captured in NASA’s Artemis livestream and shared on Bluesky, Wiseman reported to Mission Control: “I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working.”

To take care of the issue, Mission Control had to remotely access Wiseman’s personal computing device (PCD), a Microsoft Surface Pro. During a press conference on Thursday, Artemis flight director Judd Frieling said NASA had fixed the issue, stating, “This is not uncommon. We have this on-station all the time. You know, sometimes Outlook has issues getting configured, especially when you don’t have a network that’s directly connected. And so essentially we just had to reload his files on Outlook to get it working.”

NASA uses a combination of its Near Space Network and Deep Space Network to stay in touch with Artemis II, relying on a mix of antennas around the world and satellites in orbit. Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas has to shift communications between these networks as Artemis II gets further away from Earth.

Aside from the Microsoft Surface Pro, the Artemis II crew’s gear list also includes Nikon D5 DSLR cameras, a ZCube video encoder, and handheld GoPro cameras for filming content for a Disney/National Geographic documentary. The crew was also allowed to bring their phones with them — you can even see their phones being stowed away in their spacesuit pockets in NASA’s livestream.

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Fox News AI Newsletter: Palantir CTO warns US has only ‘eight days of weapons’ in hypothetical China battle

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Fox News AI Newsletter: Palantir CTO warns US has only ‘eight days of weapons’ in hypothetical China battle

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.

IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:

– Palantir CTO warns US has only ‘eight days of weapons’ in hypothetical battle against China

– AI robot now helps travelers at San José airport

– New AI coalition targets Washington, Big Tech as group warns child safety risks outpacing safeguards

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Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar discussed the looming threat of China and his new book, “Mobilize,” with Fox News Digital. (Fox News Digital/Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

ARSENAL ALERT: The U.S. is wrong about military deterrence, according to Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar. America relies on the threat of its large weapons stockpiles to discourage aggression, but Sankar says the real deterrent is production capacity — “the ability to generate the stockpile.”

WIRED WELCOME: At San José Mineta International Airport in California, travelers can now get help from a humanoid robot named José. It greets passengers, answers questions and helps people find their way around the terminal.

DIGITAL DILEMMA: As artificial intelligence expands into classrooms, workplaces, and homes, a new coalition warns that risks to children and workers are growing faster than efforts to control the new technology.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, arrives to testify before the US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis,” in Washington, DC, on January 31, 2024.  (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

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The newly formed Alliance for a Better Future (ABF) is pushing for AI safeguards as Washington debates regulation.

DIGITAL WARFARE: For years, Silicon Valley operated as if war was someone else’s problem. Operation Epic Fury proved otherwise. The U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, launched Feb. 28, pulled American technology companies to the center of active warfare — not as distant suppliers, but as participants and now deliberate targets. In my forthcoming book, “The New AI Cold War,” I warned this moment was coming. Iran made it real.

Two F/A-18 Super Hornets launch from the flight deck of the U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 3, 2026.  (U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters)

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Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here.

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AO3 is finally out of beta after 17 years

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AO3 is finally out of beta after 17 years

Archive of Our Own (AO3) is officially exiting beta. The Organization for Transformative Works — the nonprofit behind the fanfiction site — announced the update on Thursday, which comes 17 years after AO3’s launch in 2009.

“Since 2009, AO3 has grown and changed a lot,” the announcement says. “We’ve introduced many features over the years through the efforts of our volunteers and coding contributors, as well as the contractors we’ve been able to hire thanks to generous donations from our users.”

The post highlights some of the features that AO3 has since its launch, including a tagging system, fanworks downloads, privacy settings that allow creators to limit access to their work, and more. Just because AO3 is exiting beta, doesn’t mean the updates will stop flowing:

As the AO3 software has been stable for a long time, the change is mostly cosmetic and does not indicate that everything is finalized or perfectly working. Exiting beta doesn’t mean we’ll stop continuing to improve AO3—our volunteer coders and community contributors will still be working to add to and improve AO3 every day.

One of the most significant changes to the site is the absence of the tiny “beta” label inside the AO3 logo displayed at the top of the platform. (AO3 briefly changed the beta to “omega” for April Fools’ Day this year).

You can keep tabs on the updates coming to AO3 by viewing its projects on Jira

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