Roskomnadzor, Russia's federal agency for monitoring and censoring mass media, has blocked access to Snapchat and FaceTime in the country, Bloomberg reports, citing Russian news service Interfax. The bans were reportedly put in place because the platforms were used "to organize and carry out terrorist acts, and commit fraud.It's not clear if either service is still accessible by using a VPN, but banning Snapchat and FaceTime fits with Russias crackdown on communication and social platforms that started after the countrys invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Facebook and X were blocked in March of that year, and Instagram was added to the ban list not long after. In 2024, the encrypted messaging app Signal was also banned, and more recently in July 2025, Russia threatened to block access to WhatsApp.Engadget has contacted both Apple and Snap to comment on the Russian bans. We'll update this article if we hear back.Banning or restricting these platforms is a way to exert control over where and how conversation happens in Russia and prevent the spread of "LGBT propaganda," if you believe Roskomnadzor's reasoning for banning Roblox but it might also be an attempt to drive people to use "MAX," a state-run super app that offers services like communication, banking and document storage. The app is part of a long-standing push to rely on Russia's tech industry rather than foreign companies, and could potentially give the Russian government an easier method for surveilling its citizens, The New York Times reports.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/russia-reportedly-bans-snapchat-and-facetime-194906404.html?src=rss
Amazon is reportedly considering discontinuing use of the US Postal Service and building out its own shipping network to rival it, according to The Washington Post. The e-commerce behemoth spends more than $6 billion a year on the public mail carrier, representing just shy of 8 percent of the service's total revenues. That's up from just shy of $4 billion in 2019, and Amazon continues to grow.
However, it sounds like that split might be due to a breakdown in negotiations between Amazon and the USPS rather than Amazon proactively pullings its business. Amazon provided Engadget with the following statement regarding the Post's reporting and its negotiations with the USPS:
"The USPS is a longstanding and trusted partner and we remain committed to working together. Weve continued to discuss ways to extend our partnership that would increase our spend with them, and we look forward to hearing more from them soon with the goal of extending our relationship that started more than 30 years ago. We were surprised to hear they want to run an auction after nearly a year of negotiations, so we still have a lot to work through. Given the change of direction and the uncertainty it adds to our delivery network, we're evaluating all of our options that would ensure we can continue to deliver for our customers."
The auction Amazon is referring to would be a "reverse auction," according to the Post. The USPS would be offering its mailing capabilities to the highest bidder, essentially making Amazon and other high-volume shippers compete for USPS resources. This move would reportedly be a result of the breakdown in talks between Amazon and the USPS.
Over the past decade, Amazon has invested heavily in shipping logistics, buying its own Boeing planes, debuting electric delivery vans and slowly building out a drone delivery network. Last year, Amazon handled over 6.3 billion parcels, a 7 percent increase over the previous year, according to the Pitney Bowes parcel shipping index. USPS, for its part, handled roughly 6.9 billion, just a 3 percent increase over 2023. That is to say that Amazon's shipping network can already handle over 90 percent of the volume of the US Postal Service (at least by sheer numbers).
The USPS has been in dire financial condition for some time, losing billions of dollars a year. Negotiations between Amazon and the public carrier have reportedly stalled, which, together with the agency's need to keep raising its prices, may create more urgency for the company to eliminate its reliance on the service altogether.
The Postal Service has struggled to modernize and adapt (its attempt to electrify the truck fleet was a bust) in a market where the likes of Amazon and Walmart are investing billions in delivering packages around the country at lightning speed. The ever-accelerating digitization of communication and heavy investment in privately owned shipping operations threatens the very existence of one of the country's greatest public goods.
Update, December 4, 2025, 2:24PM ET: This story has been updated with a statement from Amazon and more details about the "reverse auction" the USPS reportedly wants to conduct if it no longer works with Amazon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-reportedly-considering-ending-ties-with-the-us-postal-service-144555021.html?src=rss
If you've ever had something go wrong with your Facebook or Instagram account, then you probably have a good idea of just how frustrating the support process can be. The company's automated processes are so broken that some people have found that suing Meta in small claims court can be a more reliable way of getting help from the company.Now, Meta says it's trying to address some of these longstanding issues. In an update, the company acknowledged that its "support hasnt always met expectations" but that a series of AI-powered updates should make it easier for people to get help. The company is rolling out a new "support hub" on Facebook and Instagram that is meant to bring all of its support features into one place. The hub will also have a new AI chat feature so users can ask questions about account issues or Meta's policies. An in-app support hub might not be that helpful if you can't access your account, though. A Meta spokesperson pointed to its external account recovery tool, which is meant to help people get back into their accounts. Recovering hacked accounts has long been a pain point for Facebook and Instagram users. But Meta says that it's now improved the process with better email and text alerts. AI has also helped the company's systems detect devices and locations you've frequently used in the past. "Our new account recovery experience adjusts to your particular situation with clearer guidance and simpler verification," Meta writes. "Weve also expanded recovery methods to include taking an optional selfie video to further verify your identity."Meta is also starting to test a new "AI support assistant" on Facebook that can provide "instant, personalized help" for issues like account recovery or managing your profile. It's not clear how this will work, or if it will enable people to talk to an actual person who works for Meta. For now, the most reliable way to access live support is via a Meta Verified subscription, though many users report that the chat-based service isn't able to help with more complex issues.A Meta spokesperson said that the assistant is in the "early stages of testing" and is currently only available to some Facebook users globally. Those who are part of the test can find it via the app's new support hub. According to Meta, these improvements have already shown some success in helping people get back into hacked accounts. The company says that this year it has "increased the relative success rate of hacked account recovery by more than 30% in the US and Canada."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-says-its-fixing-its-broken-support-system-with-the-help-of-ai-185348328.html?src=rss
Cyber Monday may be long gone, but there are still some deals floating around on the internet today. One deal that wasn't available on Black Friday but made an appearance on Cyber Monday was a discount on the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle. It's back again today at both Amazon and Walmart you can get the bundle for $50 off, bringing the final price down to $449.
For Amazon, you have to add the bundle to your cart to see the discounted price. For Walmart, you'll need to be signed in to a Walmart account (which is free to make) and add the bundle to your cart to see the sale price.
The long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 came out in June and somehow beat our expectations. We gave it a 93 in our review thanks to features like its larger 7.9-inch LCD screen with HCR and very polished design. We were also impressed by its 256GB of base storage, magnetic Joy-Con and overall much improved performance.
Nintendo introduced Mario Kart World alongside the new Switch and we're big fans. It brings wall riding and rail grinds to the Mario Kart franchise in a bright, colorful space. The game is extremely replayable and a great option for anyone looking to quickly pass the time during their travels this holiday season. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-nintendo-switch-2-mario-kart-world-bundle-is-still-on-sale-for-50-off-right-now-150612988.html?src=rss
Amazon Lunas December lineup of games has been announced, and there are plenty of early Christmas presents to sink your teeth into. For those unaware, Prime members automatically qualify for Luna standard, the entry-level tier of Amazons cloud gaming service, and each month the company also hands out a number of codes for PC games that permanently join in your library once redeemed.
Among those claim-and-keep-forever games this month are the underrated open-world Lego racing game, Lego 2K Drive, the very pretty Metroidvania, B: Path of the Teal Lotus, and a couple of retro Fallout games, just in time for the new season of the Prime Video show. Heres the full list of games for December. Most come in the form of codes you can redeem on GOG, but a couple are tied to the Epic Games Store or Legacy Gaming.
LEGO 2K Drive
B: Path of the Teal Lotus
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
Fallout 2
Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection One
Gylt
Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Two
Christmas Adventure: Candy Storm
Gunslugs 2
Ashworld
Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Three
Dreamscaper
On the cloud side of things, Luna members can stream the likes of Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition, with Fallout 3 and fan favorite New Vegas already available. Quite the month for wasteland wanderers, then. Mafia: Definitive Edition, Hollow Knight and Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition also feature in the current library.
Amazon relaunched its revamped Luna service at the end of October, when it also added a beginner-friendly collection of smartphone-controlled multiplayer games for Prime subscribers to play at no additional cost.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/amazon-lunas-december-lineup-includes-hollow-knight-lego-2k-drive-and-a-few-fallout-games-180048528.html?src=rss
Based on what we've seen, Replaced is a gaming art director's dream. The long-delayed indie title has lush pixel-art environments, set in a cyberpunk fever dream. And now we finally know when it's arriving. Mark your calendar for March 12, 2026.If you've been following Replaced's journey, you'll know that's four years after its original release date. Shit happens! In this case, that included having to relocate from Belarus to Cyprus after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. It will be the first game from developer Sad Cat Studios. Thunderful Games is publishing.Gaming still from Replaced. "Pit's Diner," set in a dystopian cyberpunk world (pixel art). Various shady characters mill about.Sad Cat Studios / Thunderful GamesReplaced is set in a dystopian alternate 1980s America. In this timeline, nuclear winter has reshaped the world. "Step into a world where neon lights flicker over rain-soaked streets, industrial decay meets futuristic technology, and every shadow holds a secret," the blurb reads. You play as R.E.A.C.H., an AI unwillingly trapped in a human body.As for gameplay, it's a 2.5D cinematic action platformer. "Chain precise melee strikes with satisfying ranged attacks to take down enemies in high-intensity encounters while keeping the flow of exploration," the description reads. Expect plenty of running, climbing and kicking ass.You can see some of the dazzling art direction, fluid movement, and smooth combat in the new trailer below. You can wishlist Replaced now through Steam or Xbox.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pixel-art-cyberpunk-game-replaced-arrives-in-march-170253220.html?src=rss
When it announced the latest series of Kindle Scribe writing tablets in October, Amazon didnt have a specific release date to share beyond later this year. And now that were approaching the final weeks of 2025, the company is meeting its own deadline by sharing that it will be available on December 10. That detail is now posted on the Amazon product page for the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, if youd like to see the date for yourself.
As a refresher, this is the third generation of the Kindle Scribe line of E Ink writing tablets. This year was the first time Amazon made three different versions of the Scribe, turning it into a series of products. At the entry-level, the Scribe without a front light will start at $430, while the model with a front light starts at $480. The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, which, as it name suggests, can render colors, will start at $630.
All three flavors will feature the updated hardware and design thats a bit more symmetrical than previous generations, which had a thicker bezel on one side. Theyre also thinner than older Scribes and come with redesigned Kindle software that can help make note-taking a bit more efficient. Based on my hands-on with the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, it also seemed to render colors more vividly than competing devices like the reMarkable Paper Pro, though Ill definitely need to get a review unit in for better comparison.
For now, check out our hands on of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and review of the reMarkable Paper Pro and even of the last-gen Kindle Scribe to see if this is something you might want. While December 10 is cutting it pretty close to the holiday gifting season, its still weeks ahead of Christmas, so it might still be worth keeping an eye on.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/amazons-kindle-scribe-colorsoft-finally-has-a-release-date-december-10-170000910.html?src=rss
Meta is reportedly planning steep cuts to its metaverse division, according to Bloomberg. This is happening just a few years after the company changed its name from Facebook to reflect its renewed interest in that same metaverse.
Bloomberg notes that the metaverse department could get hit with significant budget cuts in the near future, with layoffs potentially occurring early next year. The budget cuts could go as high as 30 percent and will likely impact the virtual worlds product Meta Horizon Worlds and the Quest virtual reality headset. The publication did note that this isn't a done deal just yet.
Company insiders say this is all part of Meta's annual budget planning for 2026 and that the cuts were discussed at a series of meetings at CEO Mark Zuckerberg's compound in Hawaii. The metaverse team was reportedly asked for deeper-than-average cuts because the technology hasn't exactly taken the world by storm.
As a matter of fact, the whole metaverse idea has been a dud with investors, who see it as a drain on resources. Consumers aren't exactly keen on the idea either, even if they still buy VR headsets and traditional games. It's one thing to throw on a headset to shoot bad guys for 20 minutes but it's a whole other thing to, well, wander around a fake Abercrombie & Fitch for hours looking to spend real money on fake clothing for an avatar.
$META has spent $37.7B on reality labs over the last two years pic.twitter.com/ppW7uo2sGB Buddy Wiseman-Barker (@buddy_barker) December 4, 2025
The report does suggest that Zuckerberg still believes that people will one day spend the majority of their time in virtual worlds, but these cuts signal that he understands that this idea is still years or decades away from fruition. The metaverse sits within a company division called Reality Labs that has lost more than $70 billion since 2021. Zuckerberg has also largely refrained from mentioning the metaverse in public and in earnings calls.
So what will Meta be spending money on instead? It's reportedly focused on further developing large AI models and chatbots, in addition to hardware products linked to AI experiences like those Ray-Ban smart display glasses.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/meta-is-reportedly-going-to-slash-spending-on-the-metaverse-164547153.html?src=rss
If you like both electric vehicles and emotional roller coasters, 2025 was an excellent year. However, for those of us whose nerves are already sufficiently frazzled, the highs and lows of the last 12 months were a bit hard to stomach.In 2025, we saw the introduction of new, compelling models like the Lucid Gravity and refreshed Nissan Leaf, the latter available at a price on par with its internally combusted competition. From a product availability standpoint, 2025 was the year the EV market started feeling more mature and less manic.But 2025 also saw new heights of anti-EV vitriol stirred up during a particularly traumatic election cycle. The means of propulsion or badge on the hood of your commuter machine suddenly became an indicator of your political affiliations. Put simply, the car you drive is now a political statement, and its the latest unprecedented situation in an exhaustingly long and dire string of unprecedented situations. Yes, it's been a long year, and the pessimism of 2025 will surely carry us well into 2026, but not all hope is lost for EVs.Tesla and the DOGE effectElon Musk flashes his T-shirt that reads "DOGE" to the media as he walks on South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, March 9, 2025.ASSOCIATED PRESSWe've certainly seen some civic-minded CEOs in the past as auto executives have a long history of mixing their corporate interests with their political panderings. Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca was even considered a potential presidential candidate once upon a time. However, we have never seen the kind of ass kissing and cronyism we were privy to in this year's fickle friendship between Elon Musk and President Trump.Musk was (hyper) active on the Trump campaign trail, and wasted no time digging into what he described as government overspending. While the Department of Government Efficiency's efficacy is debatable, it certainly proved quite effective at decimating the accounts of Tesla investors. Between January and March, Tesla's stock price dropped by nearly half. Things didn't turn around until Musk left DOGE in May. Since then, Tesla's price has returned to its highs before the DOGE debacle. Its sales, however, have not. Q1 deliveries declined by 13 percent, then 14 percent in Q2. Deliveries bounced back 7 percent in Q3 as everyone scrambled to buy before the EV credits expired, but profits plunged 37 percent. Tesla's market share in the US electric vehicle space has halved, leading perennial pitchman Musk to start hawking everything from AI agents to spandex-clad robots anything to distract from the numbers.And it's apparently working. Musk's $1 trillion pay package was approved by Teslas shareholders without much worry. This could make him the world's first trillionaire, but only if he meets a series of aggressive targets and deadlines for sales, an area where the man has struggled in the past.The big, beautiful sales spikeA Tesla with a sticker referring to the car's purchase is shown on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 in Concord, Mass.ASSOCIATED PRESSElon Musk and Donald Trump's bromance wasn't the only fallout from the latter's second term. So, too, died the $7,500 federal EV incentive, which expired in September as part of President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill." That actually spurred a short-term sales spike ahead of the deadline. Many manufacturers even set new EV sales records riding that wave, but there's a disconcerting trough to come.We still need to wait a bit to see just how bad Q4 EV sales are going to be, but early indications are not looking good. J.D. Power's October report says that EV sales in September were a record high, making up 12.9 percent of new vehicle sales in the US. In October, after the credit expired, they fell to a mere 5.2 percent. That's a worrying drop, and it's already affecting product planning. Cuts in EV productionHonda's Super-One Prototype isn't coming to the US. Tim Stevens for EngadgetWhen I was in Japan last month, getting an early look at some next-gen hybrids from Honda, I wasn't expecting to hear talk of midterm American elections from the company's executives.But that's what was on CEO Toshihiro Mibe's mind. He's watching American voting trends closely to determine the nature of the company's upcoming releases.Mibe said that Honda has already canceled plans for some EVs here in America, instead focusing on a broader selection of hybrid models. It's not the only company to do so. Ram also canceled its 1500 EV truck, but the hybrid version is still supposedly on the way. Scout Motors, too, has been focusing more on its extended-range hybrid offerings. The company's initial pitch was purely electric trucks and SUVs. Lately, it's been prioritizing its extended-range EV options based on the feedback from its 130,000 pre-orderers. 80 percent of them want the onboard generator, an add-on that may prove a saving grace for this EV startup.There is reason for optimismSome manufacturers may be throttling back on their EV aspirations, but others are forging ahead. There's a delightful collection of battery-powered machines coming next year, and that's worth getting excited about.Again, the 2026 Nissan Leaf should be a hugely popular choice as its production ramps up. It's already hitting dealerships now, and with a starting price under $30,000, it'll be hard to beat. But, Chevrolet is going to try with a refreshed Bolt EV for similar money.If you've got more to spend, you've got more options. BMW's stellar iX3 crossover SUV is due soon, as are both the electric CLA sedan and GLC SUV. The most anticipated EV of the year, though, might just be the Rivian R2. This electric SUV will join the stellar R1S and R1T, expanding Rivian's segment footprint while also hopefully expanding its market reach. A $45,000 starting price makes it far more attainable than any of the company's previous offerings. A photograph of the Rivian factory producing the company's R1 SUV variant.Nathan Heleine / RivianIf the prospect of a fun, affordable SUV from Rivian doesn't have you excited for the upcoming year in EVs, maybe some promising news from Europe will. After cutting its own EV incentive program in 2023, Germany's EV sales fell off a cliff, dropping 28 percent in 2024. Cue the predictions of the demise of EVs by many local pundits.Since then, though, EV sales slowly climbed back up, and lately they've been booming, with German road traffic agency KBA saying the total number of newly registered electric vehicles increased by nearly 50 percent in October (year over year). Electric cars now make up 19 percent of the market there, and that's despite Tesla's sales cratering.There's no guarantee that the American market will follow a similar rebound, especially if the anti-EV political messaging continues. Me, though, I've decided I'm staying optimistic, as exhausting as that can be these days.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/a-shaky-year-for-american-evs-could-set-the-tone-for-2026-153000210.html?src=rss
"Reaching out" and "follow up" are the top corporate clich phrases that people can't stop using in their emails, according to recent research. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
